Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 53 - Edmonton Oilers - Marty McSorley

Episode Date: January 22, 2020

Undrafted, made his NHL debut in 1983 for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He made a name for himself when he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers and took over the nickname "Gretzky's Bodyguard". Once there he would be a part of two Stanley Cups and the infamous trade that sent Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. Such a great dude. This one will not disappoint.

This is Marty McSorley. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. This episode of the podcast is brought to by Maz Entertainment. The once garage DJ, yes, you've got to start in the garage, I'm told, is now everywhere doing just about everything, live band shows, the casino, DJing, I mean, elementary school parties, weddings, dances, you name it. This guy has got it all going on. So if you're looking for a DJ or you're looking for a DJ.

you need some AV help or installs, give a call to Cody Mazra. I'll look them up, send an email Cody at MazEnertainment.ca, or his number 780-214-29-20. He can get you hooked up. Just this past weekend, we did Hockey Day in Saskatchewan. I made a quick phone call to Maz, and he did not let me down. In fact, he bent over backwards for me and got me exactly what I needed. Now, let's talk about that hockey.

day in Saskatchewan. We just finished the weekend, came off of a long week, a great week, but it was a lot of work put in by a lot of people. We had that Wade and Friends game Thursday night, the banquet featuring Dirt Rich, Jordan Pollard, Headliners, Marty McSorily, and Wade Redden, and Saturday saw Mid to AAA Men's and Women's, along with the SJHL, North Battleford, North Stars taking on the Notre Dame or Hounds. And then Sunday was capped off by all minor hockey playing including the home on hipman senior team at the end and uh was an unbelievable weekend for helman i don't think you know may never see that quality of hockey again and some of the standouts i got a list here about 25 people roughly that i think need mentioning

i'll start with joe mackenzie she was the quarterback of the whole of the whole event i mean without her she did the application i know like uh randy noble Ken Rutherford, Roberta Mills, put in a lot of hours on the video. But that's what won home on the bid. And then once you got the bid, I remember sitting in that first meeting going, oh, my goodness, now what, right? Like there's a ton of work that needs to be done in order to pull off something that big. And so I got a list here, and by no means are they in order?

And I apologize if I miss anyone. But obviously, Jill McKenzie played a huge part. She quarterbacked the entire thing. We ran a lot of things through her, Territliff and Katie Clark. did a ton. And I mean a ton. Banquet, merchandise, signage, tickets. They were just everywhere. Roberta Mills, posters, programs. She had to deal with me on the Thursday night lineup. I must have changed that. Almost all the way till midnight on Wednesday. She never complained, was a trooper and got it taken care of. Justin Clark dealt with all the liquor. Duane Perillette, safety and

parking. Trevor Shirtleaf was our communications with SHA. Justin Baby and Marvin Walters were game day parking tables and sponsorships they were awesome on Saturday we had all these teams coming in from out of town and justin baby as soon as buses pulled up he was on the bus and had them going where they needed to go and it was impressive to say the least robin hoffam was uh lined up entertainment did the sickest sponsorship and fred north donation if you hadn't heard fred north uh foundation matched up to 25 000 dollars on the friday night banquet we hit that so that's a huge addition to this Harley Newman my brother he did a ton on trailers trailers port-a-potty's trucking T-Bar-1 transport donated all the

trucking to get these buildings out there the Camp Shack and then the Madding as well Brad Simons always a huge contributor when everything anything happens in Helmand did the online auction help do the online auction Madding work penalty box all of Saturday. Jenna Wells, she did the online auction. I remember Brad joking and then he said, yeah, I'll help you. It won't be a big of deal. And then it got going and Brad got busy with one thing.

And Jenna took over everything on the online auction, did a very good job. Norm Jan's handled all the liquor permits. He was out there setting up. Greg Buchanan, the MC of our banquet, came out and did an excellent job. Dean Stang helped with setup and was running this way that way. Darren and Amy Nasby built all the stuff. centerpieces, Lance Calback, Kirk and Kent Thompson, work in the box. Travis Bygrove did an amazing job announcing on Thursday night.

He also worked the game Saturday night, and during Saturday, when teams were coming and going, was an on-site guy to help direct people. Corey McCall and Kurt Tenney also lent their talents to the announcing booth. Rochelle Bygrove helped do music and help take care and make sure that ran smoothly. Randy Noble was down there taking pictures left right and center and did an amazing job. She also helped line up Jason Whiting, who landed his talents. And I've already seen some of the pictures, and they are just awesome. Something that'll be, you know, something fun to look back on here as the years go by.

Jerry Wayhill and Jordan Schneider, I conned him in to running the light show on Thursday night, and they didn't disappoint. David, Larry, Mark Anger, and Warren Turby for being our volunteer. refs. Steve Nugent was the gopher. He helped set up. He helped do whatever. Ran for booze, whatever was needed of him. Tany Walters dealt with the food and Kyle Van Meter money and deposits. Now, if I missed anyone, I truly do apologize. I know there was, well, I should mention Graham Murray. Graham Murray helped run Marty McSorley back to Eminton on Saturday and he was down there with like everybody else. But this week was crazy. We had minus 51 and there's a group of us, knucklehead.

heads out there moving things and making sure things got taken care of and put where they needed to do. I know there was a lot of late nights every single day leading up to this event and during the event to make sure it went off without a hitch. And so my hat's off to all of Hillmon for making this event come together and work as smoothly as it did.

Now, I got to give a couple of shoutouts for listeners who've been listening to the podcast. Brent Ween said, man, the fire extinguisher story from Corey Cross was one of my favorites. A great episode. He was talking about the first episode of the year here that came out, the second part of Corey Cross. Josh Spiegel, a buddy of mine that I went to college with, said, hey, big fella, keep up

the good work. I have a blast listening to your show. Awesome guests with awesome content. Stories are classic. Love it, bug. Keep it up. And finally, Kyler Hope, who was a guest, episode number 25. You won a Royal Bank Cup here in Lloyd Minster and is now playing up in Alaska.

I said, hey, Sean, on the road to Fair State. Just finished listening to the pod with Biz. Unreal, keep doing what you're doing. Now, today, we got a great guest lined up. He was around Hillmond all weekend, and I cornered him and got him on the podcast. Now, here's your factory sports tale of the tape for Marty McSorley. He's originally from Cayuga, Ontario. He was undrafted.

his NHL debut in 1983 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won two cups with the Eminton Oilers and was a part of the infamous trade that sent Gretzky to L.A. In total, he played 961 games, 359 points, and amassed 300 or 300, 3,000, 381 penalty minutes. Now, hold on to your hats, folks, without further ado. Well, let's start it like this, Marty. Welcome. Thanks for joining me. Perfect. We could sit and talk off air the entire time, but it'd be good to actually capture some of this. We're just staring at the Cassian-Kachuk battle.

And I know last night playing with you, which was an honor, and I know Helmon was absolutely over the moon that you came. I think I could speak safely for everyone. It was really cool to have you in the building and a part of that game. So really thanks for coming and being a part of that. But as we sit and stare at that Cassian, he ended up getting two games for his suspension and chuck nothing. I guess everybody was curious last night what your thoughts were. Well, first of all, I was up in Slave Lake.

We had a hockey school for First Nation kits, and it was really, really awesome. I enjoyed it, and I drove over yesterday under the premise that we were going to have a little shini with some of Wade Redden and his buddies that he grew up with. And we were going to have a great time in a small town outside of Lerner, Lloyd Minister and I said, that's great. That's right up my alley. I walked in the locker room and I'm like, uh-oh. As 39 guys there. Yeah. And, you know, people all in the building and somebody said there's three 20-minute stop periods. I'm like, all right, I got to get this 56-year-old old, brickety body, get it warmed up because I know these young guys are going to be flying. They got family members. They got all their old buddies. Some of them have come home to celebrate the game with all their friends.

And that, I love that. I walk into that locker room and just a locker room alone. there in Homa, you could just see the pride that those guys had about different guys who have played there and different guys who've signed the tin of tobacco. And it was really awesome. And, you know, I really do. I am privileged and I get the pleasure, I go across Canada to raise money in a lot of charity events. And I get into a lot of buildings, whether it be like Dunville, Ontario or Yorkton or different places. And, you know, you'll play. I was in Swift Current last year and played in Hockey Day in Canada. Just the game itself, with all the guys, guys, the guys that come back, and, you know, the guys that have been in the one bus accident.

And just the story of hockey in so many of these communities is just so unbelievable. And there's so many really good players. And the players are really good. For me, as an NHL player, say, well, I played in the NHL. No, these guys are really good players. The difference was not very much growing up. And it just accentuated because you got an opportunity, maybe a made of junior B team, and then you had a chance to play in the Western Hockey League team or whatever.

It's not very much. And the guys that played in the universities and the college. are really talented players. And I just, I have so much fun with the game. So to walk in that locker room with those guys, just see the smiles and share the game with you guys and have a drink with the game after and talk about guys, a lot of the guys I'm familiar with.

And to talk to Kelly McClintock, who really puts his heart and soul into the Saskatchewan Hockey Association. Yeah. Boy, I'm glad I came. I really am. So it was really, really awesome. Yeah, well, it was a fun night.

Like I said to you earlier, like my phone won't stop ringing them, people calling and how much fun they had and the game itself and you know when we set up the three 20 stops and uh and a warm up guys are like oh we don't need a warm up whatever and you know the funny thing was is after the game everybody kept talking and saying man that was really cool having the warm up and like you know the music going and everything just like it just built and i mean i could safely say it doesn't happen every night where you got a full stand sitting there watching your warm up I mean, like, it just doesn't happen for most of us anymore.

Well, I got to tell you a story. I was in L.A., and I used to have the really long hair, right? And part of the reason, as soon as I got on the ice, people knew it was me right away, right? And so we're in the locker room before the game, so I grabbed a couple of elastics and just put my hair back because I was fixing my skates and fixing my stick and whatever. And Grette says to me, you can't wear your hair like that. Don't you do that. And I'm like, because he said it in front of all the guys. And I'm like, well, now I got to.

So I go out for a warm-up with my hair all pulled back and whatever, and he's looking at me, and he is sour. We're skating around a warm-ups because we never wear helmets in the warm-ups. And, you know, you're just kind of a chance to feel your edges and fly around. Kind of enjoy the experience. People all come in the building. So I know what you say. And especially in my first year in the NHL to go into the buildings and skate around for warm-ups, and I'm like, gosh, this is where Bobby Orr played.

This is where Gila Fleur played, right? Yeah, absolutely. Just to walk through the door, like the Montreal Forum and things. So those warm-ups and moments like that are really awesome. It's enjoying the game. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, well, it was a fun night, and I know I can speak for everybody that played in it. They had a blast, and you just added to it.

You're the cherry on the top. Thank you. So you asked about the Cassian. Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, I was in Edmonton for the game on Tuesday night, and I just, you know, the one thing I said to the guys is, don't make Kachuk relevant because he's not going to fight anybody. and if you make him the sole focus, boy, he's really won.

I mean, and I can't think that's what the league wants. I can't think that they want a guy who everybody in the league hates. When Cassian grabbed Kachuk and started pounding on him, I have to think there's 300 and 400 guys around the NHL that are standing up cheering. So what's that saying about what you're trying to do? What is the criteria that the league is saying, okay, we're going to eliminate this hit or we're going to eliminate this hit or we're going to this hit. I mean, when I look at those hits, if you go by the criteria, those are not good

hits. I heard Jim Houston when he was with Craig Simpson, when they're doing the game, say Cassian turned. Gassian did not turn. He was facing the boards the whole time. Was he hit behind the midpoint of his shoulder? Yes, he was. The first hit, I thought, was worse because the first point of contact. Look like the head. It was, in some parts of Kuchuk's body was the head. And I think And the first hit, Kachuk actually came up higher. Like, he did come up. And that's part of the criteria, and they suspend guys. In 1994, the one thing that I was pushing for,

and I know that the Players Association pushed for it in the last collective bargaining agreement, is that discipline not be done in the NHL offices. Because the marketing's done in the NHL offices. The influence on control is done under the NHL offices. And discipline should be something separate. Discipline should be the fourth-line player who steps on the ice for two shifts,

should know that his career is just as important to him as it is to a guy that plays 30 minutes a game. And he's going to be judged fairly on his actions. And he's going to be protected fairly. Because Zach Cassian there, the league did nothing to protect him. No. Nothing. And so if he hits Johnny Goodroll like that. He's suspended.

He's suspended. But at the same time, that's not necessarily fair for Johnny Goodro. If the league set your criteria. Now, I want there to be hit. in the NHL. I really do. But Zach Cassian putting himself in that position is a product of the rules and the product of how the game is gone. Like when I was a rookie, if you face the boards like that and you got hit, you came back to the bench and the veteran said, don't be stupid, kid. You can't do that. And you learn pretty quickly. But that's a product of that.

You know, and I'm, so I, under the criteria. Do you miss the old ways then? In some ways, because, like, even when Mark Howe and Steve Eisenman went in, the Hall of Fame. Steve Eisenman said at the time, he's kind of changed his tune since he's then became general manager and you know, you deal directly with the league on everything. He said, we're not better for taking the tough guys off the fourth line and bringing in instigators and taggists. The game's not better because of that. And what's really different is I could threaten guys and there was fear that there was going to be repercussions on things that happened, the egregious plays. And the players on the ice know.

what the intent was. The players on the ice know. The boardroom in New York doesn't necessarily know, or they don't necessarily get it right. But if the players on the ice knew that they had to play with respect and honor, or there was going to be a repercussion, not unlike race car driving or in baseball, if you hit plunk a batter, the next guy up on your team is going to get plunked, right? It's just, it's the way it is. And so you're taking it away from the players and you're putting in the boardroom in New York. And if you're going to hide guys like Kachuk behind those rules, that doesn't make the game better. But I'm all for the hitting. I'm all for hitting. I'm all for a game with contact. But you just have to set a criteria and the guys have to know what that is. Because

Zach Cassian wasn't expecting that hit, and nor should he expect that hit to come from behind the midpoint of his shoulder. Yeah. And in today's NHL, it's an illegal hit. Right. And And if I can tell you the same head, if it had happened on Connor McDavid, Kuchuk's sitting out games. And that, that to me is the part that really bothers me the most, right? Let's have some consistency

so the guys know what they're dealing with. Well, I think, I think for fans sitting and watching it, that's what they always talk about, right? And you sit and having a beard, the consistency, right? Right. It never lines.

It hasn't aligned for a very long time. Well, the one thing they teach guys is, if you're going in to make a hit on the boards, And the guy's got his back to you. You have to pull off that. You have to. That's expected. The ones where you wrestle with and you feel bad for a guy who's finishing his check is if the guy turns really quickly the last second.

Now you're saying, okay, the guy's just out there trying to do his job. But he took five strides to go after Cassian on that. Yeah. And he was facing the boards the whole time. Yeah. Well, that's what they term a defenseless hit now, right? Because he can't see it coming. Right.

So that's pretty much. illegal in the entire NHL. Again, if it happened against McDavid, you'd have seen Kachuk apologizing for it. Now, on the ride over here, I told you, I wanted to go back. I wanted to hear a little bit about growing up. You were talking last night about your brothers and your sister, and maybe you could just talk a little bit about your growing up on the farm and where you grew up, because we were talking about last night.

Everybody thinks it's Hamilton, but that's not quite the case. No, well, I played junior being Hamilton, but I, I, I grew up in a small town, just north of a small town on a farm with nine brothers and sisters. There was 10 kids. And we were three miles north of Cayuga, Ontario. Right on the Grand River, we had a farm. And a lot of hard work wasn't highly mechanized. The mechanization.

What did you guys farm? We had the cattle, pigs, lots of corn, wheat, oats, barley. Okay, okay. Yeah. So, you know, there, the soil was heavy and thick up top. It was a little bit more of a clay. but it was a lot of labor intensive to get the crops out of there, but the yields were good. And then we had about almost about three or four hundred acres of just floodplain,

which was really a treat to farm, to be honest with. And for us, boys, right along the river, there was an old canal that ran through our property that was built like in the 1850s to take the coal boats from Lake Erie up to Brantford, Ontario. No kidding. Yeah. And so there was a canal that was built through our farm. Well, since there, you know, it filled in a little bit. So my brothers and I would go down there and we'd skate all the time.

I remember being a little boy racing out to do our chores in the morning and before school. And then coming in and running, going to asking Dad if I can cross the highway and running down under the river flats and checking the ice. And if the ice was good, I was so excited. I come home from school and raced up before my dad could grab me to take me out to the barns to work, I would go down to the basement, put on some warm clothes, grab my skate. stick and bolt across the road down on the ice. And if I was down on the ice, my dad just left me there. It didn't pull me in for chores.

And so I'd love that. You're giving me vivid memories as a kid who grew up on a farm by Hillmont, and we had a dugout at the bottom of our hill. And I remember as soon as you got a few, I don't even know what it takes so you can, an inch or two. I forget what the, but us kids would go and stand on the edge, and if it didn't crack, you'd take a step closer. Right?

And mom and dad knew what you're doing. And as soon as you could walk across that ice, the skates went on and everybody was over there. Yeah, yeah. The great thing for us, the canal wasn't really super. It wasn't real deep. Okay. Right now. So for us as kids, if you fell through, you might be in a couple feet of water, right?

So it was good that way for us. It was safe. So my mom and dad, you know, they didn't have the concern of the river, right? Right. So, yeah, it was, we also had a big, long chicken barn. My dad had chickens for the longest time until they brought all the quotas and everything in. And so my brothers and our brothers and our, I would go in there and play ball hockey or shoot pucks or different things. And, you know, we put up the

sheet of plywood and put targets on it and shoot pucks at it. And my younger brothers, I would, you know, we would fill old feed bags full of straw and different things. And, and you would, they'd play gold, not with the pucks, but more with tennis balls and what have you. And, you know, I just stick the younger brother in that and the way you go. But my brothers and I would get playing in there. And there was only one door out. And, and, My brothers are as competitive as I am, and you're not going to end the game without a fight. And my oldest brother put the net right in front of the door, so there was no way to get out of there safely. So if you're winning 9-8 or whatever, somebody's going to get a whack across the shins with a stick and the goal's not in.

It missed. Oh, my God. There was many a day that there was cuts and bruises and what, tears. and what have you and leaving there, but I think it made us all better men for it. What was it like growing up then with 10? So you're one of 10. Yeah.

Not a lot of current. That is like, well, I can say right now that is absolutely unheard of one. But you could like field an entire team that way. You know, their oldest was a girl and then seven boys. And then my youngest two sisters, you know, all the girls were played sports. I think most of my athleticism, to be honest, we came from my mom. My mom was a very good baseball player.

Okay. And she had a really good sense about her. And I think that, you know, just thinking the game and all of that, I think came from my mom. My grandfather was, played hockey. In the old Ontario Rural Hockey Association, I got a little pendant from my grandfather.

He was captain in the Cayuga team, and they, you know, when he retired, and he was known as a fighter. Really? There was a famous poet across Canada, Doug Murray, was from my hometown. And he said, when the playoffs came around, because the team in Cougu would have to go play in the artificial ice in Simco,

there was no artificial ice in my hometown, that everybody would get on the train and go to Simco to watch Box McSorley fight. And he said, if there was a fire in town, there'd be nobody around to put it out. So my dad grew up with that. So with us boys, there was no, playing around. I'll tell you a story. I was eight years old. And I was playing with the nine and

10-year-olds in my hometown. And my brother Chris, who's a little bit of a lunatic, because he's older than I am, he's nine. And so we played six nations, and they beat us. And they were a better hockey team. They beat us. And they had some good kids on that team. Well, Chris just, when you shake hands at the end of the game, he punched the first kid in line. So I race in there. Two of us are fighting. I'm eight. Chris is nine and we're playing against in the nine and 10-year-old league. And after the game, we're sitting in the locker room. And this is just the mentality as how I grew up.

So we're sitting there, and the coach is like, there'll be no fighting on this hockey team. If you guys want to fight, you won't play on this team. And Chris and I are sitting there like, oh, boy, we shouldn't have done that. And my dad walks in and goes, you little bunch of cowards. He says, those two guys were in the ice fighting and you guys didn't jump in and help them. Because the other kids stood around there in shock, right? Now, that's not right, but that's how I grew up.

That was the mindset. You get in there and you pull your weight and you be seen and you be heard and you stand up for each other. And that was the mindset. And on the farm, there was no crying and run to the house. You know, my oldest brother said, if you run to the house, you're going to get it harder than you got it the first time. So you stayed there and you answered to it, right? And so I went to the OHL and it was easier in the OHL. than it was to play Junior D in my hometown or fighting with my brothers.

No kidding. Yeah. Because fighting the guys, and I did. I fought in the O.H.L. In 1980, 1981, that era. And, you know, to go step in and be a fighter right away because you want to put your foot in the door. And it was a way for me to get in and then to try to really improve my game, you know,

as much as I possibly could. And it worked for me in junior and I kind of kept that whole model and it worked with me all the way through that, you know, I was going to be accountable to my teammates. I was going to be like a big brother to them. And then at that point, I'd work as hard as I could to try to develop my skills. And I had some great people along the way that allowed me to continue. Like even my junior hockey coach, I would, I already had my grade 12. I showed up in the OHL and I would just go to the rink every morning. and I would go there and skate by myself for two or three hours.

And the rink guys I knew, they'd call the rink in Belleville and say, can we rent the ice rink guys? Nope, it's taken. And it wasn't rented. It was just they were really good to me. Those guys were great. And my junior coach, then I'd go down to the owner's restaurant. I didn't have much in the way of money.

I mean, coming from 10 kids on the farm. The owner, I'd eat lunch for two bucks, right? And go back to the rink and wait for the guys to come from school, and we'd play shini for an hour. Then we'd practice at night from 4.30 to 6. and our coach would skate us. Oh, it was just such a great environment for me. And so then when I went into Pittsburgh, it was the same thing.

I'm going to get on the ice early. I'm going to get as much ice time as I could. I was in Edmonton. Okay, let's get out in the ice. And it was such a perfect environment. There's times I would practice with the Edmonton owners, and I was having so much fun. And I think I told you today.

I walked in that locker room, and it was like hockey heaven for a kid that really wanted to play because I was surrounded by guys that were cheering for me. And nobody felt like you were taking anybody else's job. Dave Semenko was. awesome to me. He really was and I really missed the big man. He was, he was so good. It really just, every time I think of him, you just kind of, you know, you just give him a big sigh and just, you know, I love the big man. It was great. And Davy Hunter and Randy Gregg and all those guys

were just such good people, Lee Fogel and so, you know, they cheered for you. So every day I came to the rink and it was just so much fun. Let's get the gear on and let's get out there and let's practice. I would, some days, I would risk gather my gear and I'd go over to University of Alberta. I'd go to Nate and I'd practice with them later in the day. You know, there was one day we finished practice. My brother and a buddy from my hometown came out, and I said, they came down to watch practice. And the oilers always made the locker room was for family. Bring your family in.

They're welcome. And so practice ended and I said, fellas, let's go skate outside today. So I went in the back room and I gathered, grabbed a whole old hockey bag, filled it full of warm clothes and stuff. And grabbed five or six sticks. and some of them cracked and whatever and headed out. We got in the car. We drove to one of the community rinks and got out on the ice with the kids and skated for a couple of hours.

And when we finished skating, I got in the car and we're driving. The car is frozen. I'm frozen. My toes and the fingers and everything are frozen. But it was a really great couple hours with the kids and my brother and a buddy. And I heard on the radio, news of the Marty McSorley trade as soon as we get it. My brother's looking at me like, what are you going to do? I'm like, I don't know.

Shut up. And so we get back to the apartment. and I lived with Craig McTavish at the time, and I'm kind of like almost lost. And my brother's like, what are you going to do? And I'm like, I don't know. So a little later, 10, 15 minutes later, I called the other's office. And they said, hold for Glenn Saler's secretary.

And Diana, who was great. She's like, how you doing, Marty? I said, I don't know. I think I've been better. And she says, hold for Glenn. So Glenn comes on and goes, what have you been doing? And I said, I think I want to ask you the same question. And he says, no, what are you been doing?

And I said, well, practice ended And I got an old hockey bag And my brother and a buddy We went and skated outside And one of the outdoor rinks with the kids Huh? Do you carry a hockey bag? I said, yeah, we carried an old hockey bag

Out of the back with a bunch of warm clothes and stuff To carry sticks? I said, I had six or seven sticks We gave a couple of the kids Come up in the cracked and stuff He goes, ah, the media must have saw you carrying your bag and the sticks out of the rink That's awesome.

Really? Yeah. Somebody saw me carry it out of the rink and they race to the radio station and announced that I'd been traded. So Slat says, don't talk to any of the media. So I'm like, no problem. He said, see it, practice tomorrow. I said, yes, you will. And what year was that? Oh, that was like 86, 87, maybe? So I just go to the rink early and I'm getting my stuff on. I get out there early. And Slats come out of that coaching room and he was fired up. He got out in the ice and he turned and wheeled to the media and he's like, you guys made

that kid's life miserable. He keeps hearing. He's trying. He's traded and you guys are are trying to spread rumors he said your news has to come through me but see glen was smart glen wanted to control the media as much as he could and and he put out some fires long before it became bigger than it should be things and so he turned to the media and he was giving it to him and i just i'm just out there practicing happy to be still be aboard you know let's get i got I'm going to ask you about how, because you were undrafted, right? Yeah, junior and in the NHL. How did you arrive in Pittsburgh?

How did that come to beat? Well, I was intro, I came from the farm. I showed up in Hamilton, and the junior B coach was like, well, no, we're fine. And I said, well, can I just practice? I went out and practiced, and he said, well, why don't you come back? So we had another practice. He said, well, I'm playing an exhibition game. Come play.

And so I played and my mom, she worked on the farm, she fed everybody, came to the, came to the, drove into Hamilton to the game with about 25 miles from the farm. And first, end of the first period, I'd scored a couple goals in the first period. And a fight broke out and a third guy come racing in. And I popped them. The guy went down. Well, from that moment on, I pretty much made that junior team. But so my mom got there at the end of the first period to watch the last two periods.

and I was already out of the game and she'd say you boys there's no ice in the penalty box right and uh but you know yeah there's a great oh yeah there's no ice in the penalty but so then I got an invite to Belleville because it was an expansion team

and I was really fortunate because I went out there and one of the scouts ironically enough one of the scouts for the belville balls his name was John Mollett marvelous guy John was best friends with Walter Gretzky and John was from Brantford, Ontario and John had watched me play a few times

and then came back and watched me play in Hamilton and convinced Belville to bring me in and so Belville brought me in and they weren't sure their scouts of their ownership had taken me off the board after the first two or three days because they were based looking at all their draft picks and the coach GM Larry Mavity came in and he started berating him and swearing and cursing

with a gravely voice because he, you know, Mav played in the minors was a tough minor league player. says, I picked a team. He says, there's one kid not on there. He goes, I don't know what you guys are thinking. How are we going to go into all these buildings and play? Right. And so Mav kept me there and I had the opportunity to, I had the opportunity to practice and play. Like I said, go to the rink every day and just put weight on and mature. And at the end of that season, Pittsburgh gave me a tryout. So I worked my tail off that summer. I'd go down to the high school in my hometown. I ask them permission and I could use the weight room in the high school I'd run down there

and then run around the track and then go in and lift and I made a deal with my dad that I would be home for for the afternoon to work on the farm that I would spend my mornings at the high school training and so I then went to Pittsburgh and I felt I really felt great and I was on the ice and I never had a fight in training camp they pulled me in and they signed me to a contract if they didn't sign me to a contract I would have gone back through the draft. So they signed me to a contract and I went back and played Belleville as a 19-year-old. And then I went into Pittsburgh as a 20-year-old and I was like number 78

in training camp. At that time, they'd have 80, 85 guys in camp. And I was just hoping to get into an exhibition game. And then we got into a game against Washington. And they were afraid of Scott Stevens because Scott Stevens had run amok on some of those guys and they didn't want to deal with them. And Scott Stevens was a really great. shape physical kid you know with the with a fuse and went right out after first exhibition year and from that moment forward I think I walked in the locker room the next day I had number four hanging my stall and I was given an opportunity to play better than that though I was given an opportunity to make

mistakes you just you make mistakes and you really do we were not a good hockey team boy I was in Buffalo one night and Jill Bear Pro came down and beat my partner in the neutral zone and I came across the ice getting a good angle lining up Jill Bear Perot not so much to hit him is just get a good angle and chase him right off the puck in the neutral zone and then it was like oh my god where the hell did he go he went he went from my left across my body back to the right and going in on a breakaway and it was like oh my god I'd not seen anything like that in my life and you know when you turn around and a guy's name

tag's getting further and further away. And he goes in clankets in the net. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm welcome to the NHL. You know, and it was, I made a ton of mistakes, but I had a chance to learn there. And it was a rude awakening. Boy, what a step. No, I ask a lot of guys this question that come on here, but I think I already know the answer.

I always ask, was it hard work or talent? And all I hear is how much time you put in on ice and before and after. and I assume your hard work is what paid off to get you to where you got to. Absolutely. I mean, you know, we talked about it on the way in, and I loved the game. I had so much fun with the game. But I also realized that coaches would look at me because they knew that they could trust

that I was going to go out. And if the faceoff was in our zone, you put it in your teeth to get it out, right? or you're going to push the other team back a little bit and get momentum for your hockey team. And if I'm playing defense, nobody's going to get a loose puck in front of my net without having to pay a price or I'm going to battle my hardest for it. Right. So they weren't going to get cheated on effort. And that seemed to resonate with me for opportunity. Right.

And so I got more opportunities the more of that happened. And in Edmonton, I really believed that it was Mark Messier. It was about a month after I got to Edmonton. And I really got the sense that Glenn Sater wanted me to play. And by the way, I walked in that Edmonton locker room. And in Pittsburgh, they'd initiate the young guys at that time. And I'm not getting down on Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh's organization, Sidney Crosby.

And when Craig Patrick came in there, he was great too. And Bob Johnson was awesome. And so this was before all that. They would initiate guys and do things. But in Edmonton, you walk in that locker room and they were like, no, you're not staying at the hotel. You're staying at my house. Packed your stuff up.

Come on. Come on. You stayed at Mess. Mess. Oh, yeah. Mess is like, come on. Staying with me. Cough's like you...

What was that like the first night walking in? Oh, you know what? It's really intimidating. But the reason I got traded to Eminton is because Mess and I had a couple of big fights. Really? Oh, yeah. My rookie year. But Mess is the one guy that was like, this is awesome.

Oh, yeah. He just big smile and a laugh and a big hug is when I walked in that locker room, right? And I'm just, I'm what, 21? Yeah. You know, and it's like, oh, this, you know, great, welcome. And Paul Coffey's like, you need a car? I'll get a car for you. you know and until you get get on your feet and it was just like come on great let's go for dinner

the guys it was i really really it was such a great they were great great players but they were better people they really were i can't even stress that enough teddy green was great with me you love teddy green john muckler was really john muckler had a great appreciation for the game so i remember being on the bench you'd see somebody do something i'd be like oh my god did i just see that might be somebody in the other team kent niel came to play with us, he'd be like, wow, did I really just see that? Remember looking behind the bench and Muck kind of making eye contact because he knew it and appreciated it, right?

It was just awesome. And so to go walk in that environment every day was just, it was such a great opportunity for a young guy. So John Muckler was asked at Wayne Gretzky's fantasy camp two years ago. They asked him about Gretzky, right? You can go on and honorable Gretz. And great person and player and competitor and whatever. Mass, you know, gave points away to be that type of player.

You know, I want to take the face off on our end. I want to be the guy killing big penalties and all of that. And I know Mass gave points away. You look at his stats. His stats doesn't show what Mass really brought to the table for all those years that I was around him in Edmonton, that's for sure. But so, you know, John Muckler said, they asked about me. And he paused and he said, Marty made us better every day.

And boy, what a great compliment. That really, to me, was a great compliment because I had so much fun. I think Mess went to Slats. It was like a month after I got there. And so you realized pretty quickly, you got Mess and Andy flying around. You got Gretz and Yari and, you know, I'm going to fight for ice time here. And I'm going to do whatever I can to justify ice time. And so they came out for the practice, the trainer for the start of practice.

And he rode on the board in the locker room, you know, the line up 99, middle, 17 on the right, you know, 27th, Samankar, or whoever on the left side. And then he put 11 in the middle, nine on left wing, and 33 on the right. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm a mess in Andy's line. And so I'm thinking, first of all, how hell am I going to keep up? Because we played so many flow drills and whatever.

And so we practiced with them, and then the next day we played. I might be with MacTee or Krucilynski or McLeland or whoever. and great. And you play and hopefully you win. And that's what we stroll for and expected to do, really. And the next practice, I'm back on Messes line.

And one of the guys said to me, well, got him. It's almost, I feel bad for you. You practice with Messes line, but you don't play with it. Play with them. And I said, no, no. I get to practice with Mark Messier every day. Right? And he and Andy would fire the puck over.

I mean, they'd give me the puck, and they would go extra deep to make sure I could keep up on some of the regroup drills and everything else. No, I mean that. So they really cared and they really wanted to bring me along. Then when I scored my first goal in L.A. for Edmonton, you know, MESS was so happy for me, right? It really were. And I remember going in the Stanley Cup finals in 87.

And the guys talked about how great it is to win. And they talked about, you know, myself and there was a few of us, Craig McTavish, who had never won before and how it was important for them to give us guys the opportunity to win a Stanley Cup. And so that's... Well, I was telling you I watched the video or the interview of you. you, after you guys won your first cup with Emmem. Right.

And you just kept saying how they, uh, something about family, but you kept saying that they kept telling you, the grats and messiers, we'll get you one, kid. Yeah. We'll get you one.

Yeah. And you had this big grin and you're drinking champagne and I'm going like, imagine, like what was that? Like that night must have been, you know, we had a good night last night. Everybody had stayed out till the wee hours. But I met like, when in your first.

Stanley Cup. What was the party? Did you leave the dressing room? No, you know, it was so, it was funny because there's a lot of nights you'd celebrate, you know, and there was things to celebrate, but that night for me was almost like, I was, you're on the bench and you're so focused and you're going through two months of playoffs. And to me, it was just, I was so focused. And we're playing and, and Slats went down to three lines for game seven. We just rolled three lines. And Philly scored. the first goal of the game, Game 7 in Emmington. And you always dream as a kid, I'm sticking around the canal, around weeds and different things. I'm in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals.

We skate out for the seventh game of Stanley Cup finals, you know, in Edmonton. And I'm like, okay, this is real, right? Long ways from the canal. But so we went down to three lines and just rolling three lines, and the pace was awesome. And I was playing with Metavish and Puzar in the third line. And we just kept rolling the lines. And it was just great. I was having time of my life.

and you're flying and you're on the ice and Glenn Anderson scored a huge goal. Curry scored a huge goal. Glenn Anderson, two of them scored so many big goals for us. Glenn Anderson scored a goal to go up 3-1. And I remember at one point, I'd come off and I'm taking a breath and the trainer comes up to me and he kind of knows, give me your helmet. I'm like, what are you talking about? He goes, give me your helmet.

I'm like, Sparky, beat it. He goes, hey, cast me on the shoulder, looks up at the clock. There's like 26 seconds left in the game and we're up 3-1. And it just kind of hit me. It almost takes your breath away. You're just like, oh my God, this is real, right? And you're almost lost. And you just kind of sit there for a second, and the guys will jump out.

And then you jump out of the boards and you're like, you just kind of stunned. You're really, you're stunned. And then I saw my dad because my dad couldn't sit in the stands. He was too nervous. So he'd walk around under Rexal, under the stands, the big space there. And the security guards and everything, they knew him. and he was just walking around nervous as I'll get out. And he might get to where the Zamboni comes out and he'd kind of peek out and, you know, a little bit.

And then he'd go for a walk because he was just, he'd hear the crowd. And, well, when we won and they opened the Zamboni doors and rolled out the red carpet and, you know, and everything. So my dad just was in the Zamboony door and he was standing there with just tears in his eyes. And so I brought him out on the ice and just, you know, gave him a big hug. And I remember saying to him, we got our name on the Stanley Cup. because as a family as a kid you watch every spring you watch somebody pick up the Stanley Cup and hoisted above their

head you know Dennis Popton Bobby Clark there's so many guys and you're just like it was just so awesome as a kid to see and there I am giving my dad a hug on the ice on Rexall you know and so yeah you know when I the Oilers did a marvelous thing

for all the guys the last year at Rexall they had about 35 nights where they would honor a former player so there was a night they asked if I would come in and I said I would love to that'd be a great honor so I brought my my daughter and my son my daughter's 12 now and my son's 11 so there was like three years ago nine and eight so I flew them up with me from from California and they we were kind of around and they're in awe right we go into the to the locker room and there's media coming to talk in me

and they're I don't expose them to a lot of that stuff right and I don't say much to them about it And they were in awe. But when the morning skates ended, I took all their skates, and I'd put them in a small hockey bag, and I'd had my skates. Gene Princepe was great. He, you know, we got sticks and things. And Kirk Muller was assistant coached them with St. Louis. And the rink guys wanted to flood the ice.

And Kirk says, no, no, we still have 15 minutes left on our ice time. Marty can use it. So I stepped on the ice with the kids that put their skates on. And we're skating around Rexall, the last year that the Oilers played there. And I'm pointing up at the band. banners and, you know, talked a little bit about the guys that Jersey's retired. And my kids and I said, this is where your grandma and your grandpa sat when we won Stanley Cups. And, you know, this is where my dad came out on the ice and, you know, the picture of it.

And just give my kids a sense of it. And when we flew home, we got back to California. My daughter said, Dad, that was the best day of my life. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. But it's a great game. And the game of hockey is really, you know, I said it to you guys last night.

It's not really about the NHL. It's about playing. Because I don't know any other sport where the guys keep playing, right? I live down in California, and I said last night that Eric Caros is a friend of mine. He played for the Dodgers, but he's just a good guy. Ken O'Brien, the quarterback of the Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles, down-to-earth guy, just a really good man. They were both really talented athletes. And so they're like, where are you going?

I said, I'm going to Canada. They're like, what are you doing up there? And I said, I'm going to go play some games. They're like, you still play? I said, yeah, all hockey players keep playing. I said, we don't quit. We just change leagues. Right?

Yeah. And I said, so I'm going to go up and play. We got lots of charity events and different things that we play at. And they're like, why would you do that? I said, because it's a great game. I love to play. And it just dawned on me that that's hockey players. It doesn't happen in baseball.

much. It certainly doesn't happen at football. So I think that's where the game, I'm sitting with you guys last night in the locker room. That was really awesome. You know, I used to come home at Christmas time, and there used to be a tournament in my hometown on Boxing Day. So I'd come home and play in that tournament and then catch an early morning flight the next day to try to get back to L.A. for practice, because they'd make a practice on the 27th little later. But I'd played three, four games with my brothers on the Boxing Day, and in my home. Meanwhile, you skate probably every other, every day, because they didn't respect the rest. They didn't respect any of that stuff, you know, as a boat, grind, grind, grind, right?

But so, but you come home and you go and play. Yeah. I got to ask, you've got to remember your first NHL game. Oh, boy, yeah. Where was it? My first year in Pittsburgh, our first game was in St. Louis, and I didn't dress. The second game of the season, it was in Pittsburgh against the New York Rangers. and I dressed.

And Randy Carlisle was my defense partner. I started the game. So there I am with Randy. And when we lined up for the anthem, I remember looking across. And there's Anders, Heidelberg and Ulf Nielsen, who were two of the guys that played with Bobby Hall in Winnipeg. Mark Pavlitz was at the center, Barry Beck and Tom Laidlaw were the defenseman. And I believe Glenn Hanlon was a net for the New York Rangers at the time.

And I think Herbie Brooks was the coach, I believe. and then they dropped the puck and then the pace of the game started and I was like, oh boy this is a step up and I remember the game distinctly, absolutely. And Randy Carlisle was gruff, but really good with me.

And it was, that's the type of guy that if you have a chance to be exposed to and be around. And I remembered those things when I got to be older in my career. How about fighting? You're a guy who made a reputation for dropping the Mitz and listening, you know, growing up with your brothers and everything.

Did you enjoy it? Did it? Was it something you just knew you had to do to stay in the league? Were you ever nervous about, now I'm rattling off three different questions? No, no. About getting hurt, anything like that? It's funny because I'll run into a lot of the tough guys now and you find out that they suffered from anxiety and different things. Yeah, yeah.

It was really hard for them because, you know, they're, you know we fly into a city and they know they're going to be fighting this guy or that guy and they're preparing to fight and that didn't dominate my mindset for me was wanting to play i wanted you know i worked hard at being a better player and that was my focus the fighting probably came easier because that was probably a part of who i was if somebody gave one of my teammates a whack they're going to get it and i i grew up with some mean brothers i mean that they were there was My oldest brother, like he said, if I have to go to the house to get you, I'm going to beach up worse than they did.

And so there was no run into the house. You're there. And my oldest brother, I remember saying, it was three older brothers. If I got whooped by one of my brothers, he's like, you better get one or two good ones in. They'll be less likely to beach up tomorrow. And it just, it hardened you. And so when I got to the NHL, I was like, okay, fine, you're going to get it. And I had no problem doing it.

And it's like it didn't bother my conscience. I fired guys into open doors because I felt they played a little bit like Kachuk. And if they didn't show respect for the game, then I was going to elevate it to a point where they weren't going to be happy. And that's kind of the mindset that I had. When they brought the instigator rule in, I had guys, I had one guy speared Gretzky. And I went by the bench. And he said, take a penalty. Come on, I dare you.

Because he wasn't going to fight me. I looked at their coach during a TV timeout and I said coach you better put him on the ice and he better fight me because if not I pointed to their star he's going to get it and I looked at their star and I said you know I mean it and now the star is looking back at the coach

and the coach swears him and I said no no you decide who I get next shift that guy that fourth line player comes out in the ice and I said you better drop the gloves he drops his gloves and from that point forward we never had a problem with him it was done

it was over with and Gretz knew it but the threat to their tough guy or to their best player that's the way I got around it I made him answer for it but you almost had to shame him into it right? You can't do that in the game today

you really can't we were playing Detroit one night and I was maxed out on game of sclymonds and one more and I'd have to sit out two games we were trying to get in the playoffs in LA and there's like eight games left in the season and we were playing really well Detroit was in town

and we were playing as well as we played all year we were up four nothing at one point and so there was a Sean Burrckham came out and I don't know if he spared Yari or what he did so he walked did something to change the game right and he's on the bench and he gives me a smart ass line right and I'm like really so during a commercial

I go over to the Detroit's bench and the linesman's like, whoa, whoa, and I said, no, I'm just going to talk to Stevie and Koff. I was with Stevie during Gretsky's 99 tour during the lockout, 93, 94, or 94-95. And so I go, I'm in front of the Detroit bench right by their door. I said, guys, we got a problem.

Koff goes, we don't have a problem. I go, yeah, we got a problem. I said, Sean Burr just whacked Yari. And he goes, well, that's not my problem. I said, yeah, it is your problem, Koff. I said, I maxed out on Game of Scornix. I can't afford to take one. But I can't afford to let that stuff go on or one of my stars going to get hurt.

I said, if I see Sean Burr one more time, I'm going to break your arm or I'm going to break your arm. I look at Stevie and I look at cough. And I said, cough, you know I mean it. He goes, relax. I said, no, cough, I mean it. Stevie walked onto the bench, walked back behind the bench, talked to Scotty. Sean Burr never played another shift the rest of the night. Never saw him.

That was my deal. but the fear of what I'm going to do. I don't want to. Steve Eism was a marvelous player, and he was a pleasure to play against. And I wanted to play against him. I'm not looking to whack him. I'm not looking to hurt him.

I'm going to play them hard. Our team's going to win. Joe Sackett is the same thing. Marvelous player. One of my favorite players to play against. But everybody, respect my stars. And that was my job. So I didn't feel, I didn't feel bad about

the fighting because I was playing. I don't know how I would have been able to do like a Rob Ray. I felt bad because there was coaches there that wouldn't play them. And you look at the game sheet and you'd play 30 seconds in a game. And then in the 30 seconds was expected to be a fight. That's miserable.

And I just think that that's where coaches needed to, you know, somebody needed to say, give your head a shake. Right? Rob Ray could go on the ice and not give up a goal. He can be defensively accountable. Don't just sit him on the bench. That's where coaches, I think, you know, Mark, coaches like Mark Crawford and those guys, they didn't get it.

They didn't respect the players enough. And most of the tough guys were really good guys. I thought the world of Bob Probert. Dave Brown was awesome. Dave Brown did his job. He did it with respect and did it with honor. I have a ton of Craig Barubi. I was so happy for him when he won the Stanley Cup last year.

That was great. Because I'm not sure he'd have got an opportunity if they hadn't a failed so miserably at the start of the season. He got an opportunity and he made the best of it. And I'm so happy for him. And I hope he coaches for a long time in the NHL. And that's kind of how the tough guys are. So the fighting, I think, that people don't understand the thought process into it on how you can change the game or how you can police the game

and how you can think through the process, right? And, you know, so I also too, guys used to come out and want to hang on, just hang on and wrestle. God, I hated that. Because I wanted to play. So they'd come out and they'd wrestle and wrestle, and I'd go to the penalty box five minutes for wrestling. And I'm like, that's just a waste of my time.

So that's when I started to fix my jersey a little bit, that little Joe Phelman I had. I'd put that thing on and I'd hammer that thing on because it was so tight. And the biggest thing I'd do is I'd make the neck of my jersey bigger. So I would just tip, they'd grab my jersey and start of a fight to go to hang on

and I'd just dip my head and I'd pull back and I'd pull right out of the jersey. And now they're hanging on to a jersey. Now they got a fight. And so if we're going to, if you want to fight, we'll fight. But then I'll fight. I want to come back and play. And so I'd make it where the jersey would come off.

When the league changed the rule and forced guys to tie down, they said that it was because guys got caught up in their jersey. No, it wasn't. It was because four or five of the big guys, if you were going to fight, you had to fight. And so guys were going to get hit and they were going to hit hard.

And that's why they put the tie downs in. And I hated it. Because now you had more and more guys are willing to come out, grab you with both hands, and never let go and just wrestle. And to me, that's a waste of time. I got to ask, one of the other things you talked about this morning was playing in the NHL and knowing you'd made it in the NHL, correct?

Yeah, I mean, when you really made it? When you really made it, yeah. When did you know you'd really made it? There was a couple of things that happened. You know, Pittsburgh, my first year, it was almost like a graveyard for young guys there. Because there were some good young players that came and they'd just write to the minors. You know, or they played 10 or 15 games. and almost give up on them, where they wouldn't really develop them and bring them along.

And we'd go into Montreal and I'd see Montreal the amount of work and the guys like Lemaire and Larry Robinson and Jax LaPereireire and all these guys working with their young boys after their morning skates. I'm like, God, I wish I had that. I wish I had that type of those guys around me willing to work with me because you're doing so much on your own, right? and getting off topic Just when you made it Oh so You know the first year

Boy it was like I'm just trying to keep my head above water The second year I played the first 20 games Bob Barry was a new coach Right away put me up on right wing And I was more of just the token tough guy then Which I wanted to play defense And some of the guys that they brought up

Were guys that I played ahead of the year before and I just, it was not easy for me, but I really liked Bob. I really did because his convictions were correct in his sense where he really believed what he was doing was right and he did teach guys, he ran a much better practice or whatever. So I got to Edmonton and then all of a sudden I started to grow and I started to feel like I was having success and my understanding of the game, the speed of the game, how I played within the game from the practicing in Edmonton, just elevated. There was a night we were playing in Detroit.

And Gerard Galant, who just got fired, he's a good coach, too. He'll get rehired. He has to. He's too good a coach. It blew my mind that he got on the goal. I'm wondering what happened. So Gerard Galant was playing with Detroit, and he's out there playing against Yari and Wayne and, you know, being hard on him.

Gerard Goulon was a hard-nosed player. And so the shift started, Yari and Wayne are out there. We're in Edmonton. I stood up in the bench. Nobody told me to go. Yari. yelled at Yari Yari Get off

Yari turns Comes to the bench jumps off I jumped on I went right over to Gerard Go on put my stick into his midsection Pulled him right up beside me I said hey And he goes

What are you doing here I said I've come to kill you And he said Oh no you're not And I said I can get to you Anytime I want And he just bolted off the ice And I just circled right back by the bench

Yari, he jumps back on the ice. I might have been on the ice for 10 to 12 seconds. That's all. I sat down. Nobody told me to go, but everybody on my bench knew I'm looking after them. Yeah.

Right. And so that was a moment where I took, you know, the guys, it was where I'm standing up saying, okay, this is my team. And then there was a time, Hartford came into town and playing in Edmonton. And Barry Stafford, the trainer, used to come out of his little cubbyhole trainer room.

And, you know, he'd walk into the coach. It would be after warm-ups. We'd always dress a couple of extra guys in warm-ups, you know, young guys or whatever. And Slats would try to fit young guys in the locker room or into the games at different time, get them games and whatever. So Barry Stafford came out of the coach's room and went in the little his little cubbyhole and training room. And he came out and he'd go, you know, to a guy, hey, you look at him and he'd give it like the fish hook in the mouth, a little arm, meaning you're not playing. You're not doing a dress. And so I'm sitting there getting ready for the game. Mike Khrushinsky's beside me to the right and Kevin Lowe's to the left and Cruiser goes,

hey, Marty. I'm like what? He points up to Barry Stafford. Barry Stafford looks at me, he gives me the fish off. I'm like, no. Absolutely not. Staffie kind of stopped me and looked at me and I said, no, no, not good enough. Now I'm pissed off.

And I'm like, no. So I stand up and not happy. I'm not dressing. So I. I turn and I'm walking to the coach's room. I heard, hey, I looked at this mess. He's looking at me. He's like, where are you going?

I said, in there. He kind of pauses for a second. He goes, are you sure? Which was really great, because it gave me a moment to stop and pause, right? I said, yeah, yeah. So I knocked down the door and come in, the coach's room. So I walk in, and they said, what do you want? Muckler said, what do you want?

I said, well, I want to know why I'm not playing. Muck goes, because we decided it. It's our decision. And he was mad. And Slats reached over and put his hand on Muckler's arm. And he said, Slat says, why do you think you should be playing? I said, yes. I said, that's my team out there in that locker room.

I said, I look after them. They need to know I'm an everyday player. They need to know that I'm not in and out of the lineup. If I'm in and out of the lineup, I can't lead those guys. If something happens, I take responsibility for it. and I want to be able to clean up whatever. And I said, if they're not looking at me in the same vein, I said, I can't do my job.

Slats looks at me and goes, okay, you're right. And he goes, won't happen again, as long as you uphold your end of the bargain. I said, fine. I walked out of there, never sat out another game, and in my mind, that's my team to look after and I'll take the responsibility looking after them. At that point, I knew I arrived.

That's pretty cool. Yeah. But Slats, I told that story in front of Tony LaRosa. Tony the Rousseau goes, nobody would ever do that to me. And I wanted to say, well, then I have, that's what made Glenn say the great in my mind. Yeah. Yeah. I got to ask what it was like playing in cold Canada and then being traded to California.

What was that experience like? Yeah, I mean, first of all, it broke my heart. you know because they tore apart the best human angel history right and i was out of st john's newfoundland of bob cole's charity golf tournament it was probably the biggest event of the summer in hockey and john ferguson was there and there's guys from all kevin low was there and bernie nichols was there when i'm saying one from edmonton one from l a guys from all over the league and it was an awesome event and bob cole is so well respected you know the guys loved them and so i'm there at this event and I go for a run with Kevin Lowe and we come back.

And Don Koharski comes out of the bar and he goes, Marty, he goes, they just traded Gretti. I'm like, no. Because the summer before we traded coffee, didn't resign Kent Nielsen, didn't re-sign, Rayl Routzelainen, who was a marvelous player. Andy Mogue left and went, you know,

held out and played for the Canadian national team until he got traded to Boston. And now with Gretzky, I'm like, you can't, you can't do that. You can't tear apart the best team in NFL history. You can't. And so I was a little bit. So I called my agent, Mike Barnett.

And he was Wayne's agent. And he and Slats had had a good relationship. And I said, Barney, I'm going to call Slats. I said, they can't do that. And that's just me, being me. Yeah. And Barney said, sit down, big boy. I think you're in the trade.

Okay. And then it broke because then right away Slats called me. Because they had been trying to get a hold of me. And Slats called me. And we had a great conversation. He said, listen, I love having it on my team. He said, this is bigger than both of us. And it was about Peter needing the money, right?

And I know that Bruce McNaul, Wayne told Bruce Mcnail, if you send him the check. Because, you know, Wayne was involved with Bruce because Wayne had heard Peter in conversations talk about Wayne and Crybaby and different things, right? And so Wayne was with Bruce and said, if you send him the check, he'll cash it. meaning the deal will be consummated, which then slats can't fight for who we want. So it was bigger than all of us. Isn't it crazy to think the best team in the NHL history

needed the money? You would think it was a sellout every night. The money should have been no issue back then. Right. Well, when I was in L.A., when we first got there, Bruce increased salaries of guys, but there was tickets for $1,500. by the glass because Bruce did such a great job of selling that and Wayne was such a marvelous

ambassador you know when you talk about the difference so you go down there you got the weather but people were so fired up for the game guys like Magic Johnson you know knock it on the door coming in and you know he was so I'm so happy for you guys I'm so fired up and you know and you got guys like John McEnroe who are awesome and Sylvester Stallone and Ronald Reagan walks in the locker room and there's just so many people and after I'm I'm having a beer after the the game the one night and they're like okay marty uh or the security guard pokes his head in and i look and i said take them back to the skate room so i go and talk to grets and kelly rudy and uh tony ronado and thomas hamstrom and those guys we're sitting in the trainer skate room with peter jacobson

marco mera craig stadler freddie couples having a beer after the game i mean it was just awesome but you had to play and you realized that you perform there and when i when i mean to perform you You need to play at a high level and you need to win because that's the expectations of those really big markets. But Wayne was such, the responsibility he had to grow the game was enormous. And I knew it being traded and then I saw it firsthand where like after a game. I'm like, where are you going, gee? He says, well, I'm going out with the president of Sony pictures and, you know, we're going to have, you know, dinner. It was just his responsibility that he took upon himself to grow the game.

And boy, did it ever. and there's a lot of people that take credit for it and they can but Bruce McDonnell and Wayne Greske need a really big part of that well I got about five more minutes with you so we'll do the final segment I do in these interviews it's the final five brought to us by crude master Heath and Tracy McDonald here from local local Hillmont country they support the podcast really appreciate all their support and I know Heath is going to love that I got you on but five quick questions and you can do with them what you want.

But if you could have tomorrow 1D partner, or would you prefer forward lines? If you could pick your line mates, who would you want on the ice with you? Bobby Orr. Yeah, that's a good one. Because I grew up with Bobby Orr, and Bobby Orr changed the game, right?

And his first year and a half, because he was only healthy for a year and a half. And cough was marvelous. I had a chance to play with Koff in different places, L.A. and Edmonton and whatever. So I love Koff, but, you know, Bobby Orr was my hero growing up. Bobby Orr, I think Dennis Boblin

was a marvelous player. I did play with Larry Robinson who taught me so much. So there's Bobby Orr on there. Mess and Gratz. Mess and Gratz. Mess and Grats. And I, like, there's Brian Trache's marvelous, love Brian Trotche.

Samank, you know, I'm just making some honorable mentions on guys. Yeah, absolutely. John Belvo. because he was just so big and so graceful. Mario, I can't say Mario and I were good friends, but my God, he was talented. I played with Mario twice. I roomed with him for a month.

Where did you play with Mario? In Pittsburgh. Did you really? Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah, his rookie year, he came in, and that was my second year. He and I roomed together for a month.

So Mario was unbelievable player. But I had so much respect for so many guys. Like, Joey Mullen was a marvelous player. you know there's you go I look at guys I'm like just love that love that guy as a party Marty Broder I couldn't can't I coached Marty in 2004 lockout in a tournament in Europe tour we did and he was he was fabulous so there's so many great guys Fierzy right Trechak from Russia yeah he would have to me would have been really interesting I would have loved to have been around him I was around Dominic for Hasick for a tour and I used to

shoot on him after practice all the time and the one day I got to him from nine straight breakaways and he was so sour right so sour wouldn't leave the ice there's like 300 kids in uh in riga latvier waiting to come on the ice and he wouldn't be done until he saved it and he wouldn't let you take pucks out of the net he kept every puck in the net the whole practice and he wanted to count him at the end of practice that's how competitive he was loved it but so but masquettes and yari i have to i have to say that and then bob you are um number 33 why number 33 Oh, one of the first games I played in Edmonton, we were on the road. And so they said, what number do you want?

We got 32, 33, 34. And so the first game, I wore number 34, first exhibition game. Then I went to the trainer and I said, can I have number 33? They said, sure. So they put my name tag on 33. And I thought, well, that's is 11. Gretz is 99, right? It's kind of cool.

And what I'm really proud of, too, is I wore 33 and hardly anybody had 33. right? It really wasn't much. Well, guys like Jimmy McKenzie and Eric Cairns and, you know, there's a lot of tough guys started to wear number 33 after the fact. And I'm like, that's really cool. It's like, you know, when you see tough guys wearing number 27, and I have to say that's because it's a man.

You know? So 33 was awesome. And, you know, for me, I still, you know, I incorporate that in little things in my life or whatever. My son, you see him out there playing baseball. He's wearing number 33. That's pretty cool. Yeah.

If you could go have coffee, with one person, anyone. Muhammad Ali. Mahomet Ali. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good choice. Yeah, because Muhammad Ali, boy, he thought well past his sport. And what a great salesperson, tremendous athlete.

And I think, boy, he did so much for people, period. I think much more generous than people will give him credit for. So, Muhammad Ali, because I have a ton of respect for what Muhammad Ali accomplished. If you could party with one person. Okay. That's a really, really interesting question. Because I had the pleasure of a lot of different people. Well, I can tell you, Mass certainly know how to roll at times, right?

Mess would say, you know, green light tonight, fellas. We win tonight. We didn't play for three nights. We were rolling. And he brought everybody. So it was such a great environment because he'd bring people in, right? people were welcome family whatever we'll party and we're going to have a great time and it was just big smile on his face just that lust for life you know so that to me a young mark

messy was just awesome um i don't know maybe arnold sports andager because arnold has accomplished so much and i think that there's a quiet partier right there that lives there i think there's a lifestyle there that uh Arnold like Arnold is he's tackled a lot of things think of the governor of california and where he's come from and what he's accomplished, you know. Also, Elon Musk. Yeah. Right? Really, I mean, somebody like that is just, I mean, would he be fascinating to sit and have it very quick.

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, so, you know, I can go back in history too, like Genghis Khan. Right? But, yeah, no, I, you know, a young Mark Messing, because he just, he made, he just walked into a spot and it just liven right up, right? It was just awesome. Your final question then, before I let you go, is what is your best prank you ever pulled in the NHL?

That I can tell on the air. That you can tell on the air. Yes. Oh, boy. It doesn't even have to be prank. How about what you just do you, what story do you load? Okay. In L.A., they used to have a thing that they would put it across the clock, right?

Great Western Forum welcome to so-and-so or so-and-so Boys and Girls Club of Hermosa Beach, California, or the AAA group of Lawndale, whatever. And they'd put it across the clock during commercial timeouts or what have you. So I called upstairs and said, yeah, I've got some people down from Canada that are here. Can you put them up in the clock? They'd take a picture where there's names up and give them to you so you can give them the people. I said, yeah, I said it's a couple from Canada. I said, you know, they'd love to see their name up in the clock.

His name is Ben, B-E-N, and her name is E-L-E-N-E, and their last name is D-O-V-E-E-R. So we're sitting there in a little timeout, and I'm like, guys, watch this. Great Western Forum welcome, names go across, and then all of a sudden you see, a great Western Forum welcome to Ben and I leaned over, right? Now you've got people in the stands laughing, and Gretz turns to me and goes, did you do that? Did you do that? And I said, no, it wasn't me.

He goes, no, you did that. He goes, we're trying to grow the game here and be serious, and you're pulling crap like that. I'm like, it wasn't me, Greg. I know it was you. He's like, and he was mad at hell at me, right? And so the next game I call upstairs, and I said, yeah, they got, you know, busy time of the year, people out visiting.

I said, I got a guy here, I said, you know, an older gentleman, I said, can you put his name on the clock? And first name is H-U-G-H, and they write it down, okay. And I said, last name is G-O-R-G-A-N. So we're sitting there, I'm like, oh, you guys, watch this. And so we're sitting there, and it's like, you know, great this and that, Francis, whatever. I went, the Great Western Forum, I'm welcome to Hugh Jorgon. Now people are laughing in the stands, and we're laughing on the bench.

Did you do that? Why would you do that? Look around. All these people are laughing. They're making fun of this game. And Gregson's like, you've got to be more of a professional than that. I'm like, it wasn't me. He says, I know it was you.

And we're going back, and the guys are laughing. So then the next game, I call upstairs and said, yes, you know, I got somebody. They said, no, Marty, we're not allowed to put any more names on the clock. So, you know, things like that. Or I was, I was, 1993, we go to the Stanley Cup finals, and Bruce McNaul, he got us a plane because our travel was so miserable in L.A. So we had landed in St. Louis because we were, something was not right with the plane. So we're sitting off in a little part of the runway. We're all on the plane, and the pilot is walking back and forth, up from the cockpit to the back.

I don't know what was going on. And we didn't really tell us what, because the plane Bruce bought from the president of Mexico. That tells you anything. So at one point I'm like, okay, and I'm a free agent in the end of the year with the right to match, but it was a free agent. So I'm like, okay, guys, we can take off once the captain finds his hat. So everybody spread out around the plane. We'll look and see if the captain can find his hat. And he's, the captain is walking back in the plane.

He's looking at me. I'm like, where's your hat? The captain's looking at me. I'm like, everybody has to help the captain find his hat so we can take off. Now the guys are laughing and Bruce is shaking his head. Because, I mean, you're just, we're punched drunk at the time, right? We're sitting on a runway. Our travel is brutal.

And so Bruce is like, and I'm at the back, and the captain walked back up to the front. He's walking back. And I'm like, okay, 1,001,0002, whoever's got his hat, just give it to him so we can leave. And Bruce McNaull says to me, Marty, he yelled from the front. I didn't know you could count that high. And the guys are all laughing. I said, Bruce, I'll tell you how high I can count. one million, two million, three million, because now I'm playing out my, and the media started to

write about it. And now all the guys are really laughing, right? So, you know, just things like that. But I love Bruce. Bruce was a great owner. He really was great to us. I mean, yes, he did go to jail and whatever, but he was, again, a great owner. He loved the game, loved to be around it. It was a really great time. And so, but great stories, great people. Well, I'd love to hold you here for another 10 hours because I think this would be just fun to carry on, but I know you're busy guys. I really appreciate you stopping in and giving me an hour of your time. This has been awesome.

Thank you. I really enjoyed it. And anytime I can get back up to Lloyd Minister in this whole area and come up to see the people, I come up to Edmonton and I see people at the games. And I go up to the bar of the 99 lounge there and people stop and hello and have a drink with people that you've met from all over Saskatchew and Alberta in different places. I really enjoy it. So thanks.

I enjoyed the game last night. I enjoyed the guys, and we're going to have a great time tonight. I'm really looking forward to just kind of continue on the storytelling. Right on. Thank you. Thank you.