Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 139: Featuring Nate Schmidt, Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Reaves

Episode Date: January 7, 2019

On Monday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets the guys are joined in studio by Nate Schmidt, Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights. The guys talk about what it is like to play in Vegas, who is the clown on the team, some off the ice stories and a ton more. The guys also touch on some NHL news along with the World Juniors as well. Being that we are half way through the NHL season, the boys give their surprises and disappointments of the season thus far.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 139 of Spit and Chip. It's presented by New Amsterdam Vodka. Let's go around and say hello to everybody this morning. Get the sleep out of the eyes. Mikey Brinelli, let's go to you first. Producer, what's up brother?

What's going on guys? A little disappointed in my USA World Juniors hockey team last night, but we'll get into that. What's going on, guys? Not much. Get to that shortly. Next up, our buddy Ryan Whitney. What's up, Whit Dog? What's going on, fellas?

How are you guys doing? Mikey, you're upset. How do you think I feel? I played for the team twice. So, I mean, I feel like you were very cocky the entire time, and now it's just like, oh, well, okay. Well, no worries. Probably see you later.

Well, I was more cocky with my wallet, but that's a story for a different day. Okay. Fair enough. And last but not least, that boy, Paul Biznasty. Biznasty. Did you have a late one last night then, brother? I'm getting a little bent over on these early starts, boys. I mean, 10 a.m., that means I got to get up at 7.30 here.

But, hey, you wake up at 6.30, nonetheless. You wake up at 6.30 every day. Nonetheless, boys, the kid's been hot lately. And I don't know if we need to get into that. Just work benching. Single biz is back, boys. Single biz is an absolute catch and a half. Grinnell, quickly, let's talk about that disallowed goal. Was that the right call for the USA

team? I mean, I feel like his feet were in the crease, but he kind of got pushed in. Did he not? Yeah, that was insane to me. And it was insane too, especially like when the announcers the whole game are harping on it. Especially you don't see World Juniors go against the ref, like the World Juniors

announcers go against the refs calls too often. In the whole game, these guys are like, I just don't get how this was a disallowed goal. I mean, Whit, you just seem pretty upset about it too. I mean, that was bullshit, right? Yeah, I was shocked that it was no goal. IIHF hockey, it's always different. There's always something.

You get penalties for things you didn't even know was a penalty playing IIHF. It's always some sort of different rule, but if you watch that and you watch a hockey play and you watch the replay of the goal, it's like, how is that not a goal? We're playing hockey. There's as goals a goal can get.

But man, it sucked. It sucked. I had a feeling they'd come back. They came back quick. And then Finland. Dude, we'll get into Finland later. But that country, they're rock stars in hockey now. They are producing stud after stud after stallion after man rocket.

I'll tell you, the young guys in the league and the guys I saw playing out there, that Kako, Kapo Kako. Kako Kako? What is it, Grinnelli? Kapo Kako. Kapo Kako. Kako Kako? What is it, Grinnelly? Kapo Kako. Kapo Kako. Are we still thinking about hiring a name guy? This is a fun one to fuck up. The Finns are tough. Kapo Kako.

He's going to be second all after Hughes, but all these kids, man, they're like Russia now. Finland's kind of taken over Russia. Only five and a half million people in the entire country. That's just nuts. But, I mean, congrats to Finland. And the USA boys, they should be proud.

Sometimes you play your best. Sometimes you give it your all, and it's not enough. And those guys have a lot of great hockey in front of them. So tough for USA hockey. But we're still on the rise, boys. We are just flying high, USA hockey. It's just a meteoric rise, almost like spitting chiclets. And for all the people out there giving me shit

for my USA pick at the beginning of the tournament, I picked the USA, the United States, at the beginning of the tournament, and they lost with one minute left in the finals. So you can't be giving me shit saying that. I've made a terrible pick, and I'm an idiot. But you trolled, didn't you? You were trolling, right?

Yeah, you gotta. You gotta troll a little. It was a little nationalistic, too, but still. I think when you call yourself a genius and the team ends up losing, you're probably going to get a little grief fight. That's probably where you get it. No, no, no. See, all right.

I knew this is something. Fair enough. I call myself a genius because I said I wasn't worried when they were down to nothing and they came back to tie it 2-2. So, therefore, I am a genius. That was genius-like. I'll say this. It's awesome to see a lot of parity now at the World Junior level.

Before, it used to just be Russia and Canada running away with it all the time. Scott Wheeler on Twitter, verified account, not a big deal, writes a lot about hockey. World Junior medal count in the last decade at world junior is valued at three two one as far as points concern uh with tie broken by golds uh usa is at 14 canada is at 13 russia's at 13 um sweden is at 10 finland's at nine and uh czechoslovakia is at one with a bronze, or Czechs, I should say. My bad. But what?

Am I getting made fun of for correcting myself? No, you're just kidding. Just Czechoslovakia, I mean, like, that hasn't been said in, like, 30 years, maybe 40 years. Oh, I can't have a brain fart at fucking 5 a.m. I'm waking up like Brent Burns going hunting over here just so you guys can get your pot out at 10 a.m perfect tea time for you guys holy fuck but now saying that uh weird here finland oh they've only uh they've only won three medals in that time but all of them in gold so uh finland definitely definitely on the rise like you said but uh yeah the parody is

awesome and uh you know this isn't a jab at Russia because we know Witt likes to throw fucking jabs at Russians. But they're just like kind of not the same anymore. They don't really produce many NHLers. It's either they're a star or there's just no Russians. Dude, they haven't adapted with the times. Like training over there, it's still 1983. It's still Nothing makes sense. It's like Cold War hasn't

ended in terms of training for them. They throw medicine balls around like they're doing the World Strongman competition. They work out six hours a day. They skate two hours a day. Then they run. It doesn't work like that. I think in terms, not

only, like, it's physical, obviously, this lack of development of players, but it also goes along with, like, how they approach, like, teaching the game on the ice. So it's, I don't know what it is. It's true. They're always going to have their superstar here and there, but other players are just, they're not as strong. They have no depth anymore,

it seems like. Do you think they're doing that for a reason still, as far as training them the way they do? Because the old way they said it is like basically if you survive, you end up making the NHL because you're skating like two, three times a day. You're doing off ice. It's like you're in the army. Do you think that they're still doing that because they don't want their players

to leave and they want them to have to play in the KHL considering they have their own professional league there now do you think they're like really because i feel like they they want all these guys to stay over there and they want to grow their own nhl and then and that's where the guys are staying the the dollar values are starting to get higher and higher and they're paying these players more handsomely i mean you're saying it with like i mean this is maybe not the best example, but like Voinov who, who with the domestic violence situation in LA I mean, he's making more now than he was with the Kings. I think he makes like 5 million tax free over there. So, I mean, I don't know.

I would factor that in maybe to that. No. All right. What do you think? Yeah. I mean, the Russians were, I almost said Soviets. They were, they were the the country that was at the forefront of training i mean we we saw that documentary a couple years ago like those guys were basically teaching north america all these new training methods and yeah they sort of seem to have plateaued at some point and they're just not as many russian stars uh i don't know if something changed in the culture over there where russians maybe aren't yearning to play in the nhl like they maybe did a generation ago, because I think maybe a generation or two ago, the NHL represented freedom.

You know, when communism was still either still fresh in people's minds or had just ended, you know, the NHL represented freedom. It was it was a new ideal, maybe democracy. And I think maybe that faltered off a little. Russians, not Russians, not under communist rule anymore. So the NHL might not mean what it did say 25, 30 years ago. the communist rule anymore, so the NHL might not mean what it did say 25, 30 years ago. They want to play in the NHL. You're riding a bike, KHL, before every practice you've got to ride the bike. There's a big TV on.

Everyone's riding the bike with the NHL highlights from the night before, and guys are like, oh, fuck, like nasty goals happen. They want to play in the NHL. In terms of their lack of training or their training not changing because they want them to stay in the KHL like you said, Biz, I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I just think they're stuck in their ways over there. They haven't made adjustments. Technology hasn't really found them the way, I don't know,

America, Canadians found it. I don't think they talk about pliability over their training where now all these trainers are talking about stuff like that. So maybe it's a combo of everything, but either way, it was brought up because Finland has now kind of overtaken Russia in terms of hockey power. Sweden had before, I think, and now it seems like it's Finland,

Sweden, Canada, US in terms of the top four. You got their pride and joy drinking Dr. Pepper on the bench. I can't imagine Trump. Yeah, but if there's one guy that's like, why doesn't everyone drink Dr. Pepper on the bench? I score 700 goals. What the fuck?

That's true. Like you said, what's flying home from Chicago? They still smoke on the airplanes over there, so it could be a nationwide thing going on. Either way, World Juniors, great tournament, fun to watch. Unfortunately, it didn't end well for us, but congrats again to Finn.

I know typically people associate the all-star game in most sports, well, basketball and baseball, with halfway point of the season, but actually we're at the halfway point of the season right now. Every team has played at least 40 games except for St. Louis. Everyone's played around 40, 41, 42 games. So I think, you know, we're going to do a little halfway point, see where teams, players, divisions that might have surprised us, might have disappointed us.

Give a little more in-depth instead of waiting until the All-Star game. So let's go to you first, Biz. Who's been your biggest surprise, whether a team, a player, some other entity so far this year? Well, because I get to see them so much, I'm going to personally start in the Pacific Division. A surprise for me this season has, in a good way, has been the Vegas Golden Knights. I predicted them to miss the playoffs at the start of the season. I thought they were going to have

a Stanley Cup hangover. They had a tough start to the season. They started out one and four, and then fast-forwarding to even later on, they had a record of nine, 12, and one. They got spanked by the Calgary Flames 7-2. And the next game, they actually came in to play the Arizona Coyotes, and they ended up winning 3-2 in overtime. And since then, they've been on fire. Flurry is now leading the league in wins as far as

a goaltender. We ended up meeting them again, and they beat us 5-1 less than a week ago here now. And at that point, since starting 9-12-1, they were 17-3-3 since that period where they beat us in overtime. Max Pacioretty started producing offensively, and they kind of got in the rhythm.

Obviously, Nate Schmidt being added to the lineup was a huge boost for them and just adding to the speed and the way they play. I think they have a nice complement right now of puck-moving defensemen and stay-at-home defensemen. They get it done as far as a committee up front, and they've definitely just found their rhythm. And, of course, Marc-Andre Fleury is back to fine form, another all-star nod for him, just adding to this fucking Hall of Fame career.

Oh, by the way, speaking of the Golden Knights, we have Marc-Andre Fleury, Mr. Teeth Man. Ryan Reeves, you guys may have heard him. We talked about him a few times just briefly on this podcast. And Nate Schmidt, we had an unbelievable live interview by the way boys we got to do some more of these and they came into studio while we were all at barstool during the christmas break and uh it's it's a doozy so before we throw it off that was my surprise pick in the pacific division uh my uh the ones who disappointed me were the la kings i thought my boy uh my old

boys i used to play in the organization, not a big deal in the minors. I thought they were going to get it done this year. A lot of proud people in that locker room, a lot of big names, just still really unable to put the puck in the back of the net. Struggled mightily early on and really haven't recovered, still last in the division right now. And, you know, it's still time for them to turn around.

But nonetheless, I just think after getting swept out of playoffs in the first round by the new Golden Knights, I thought they were going to be able to turn the ship around, but not the case. I'll pass it off to someone else. That's my Pacific Division pick. Those are the ones I was studying the hardest. The team that's really surprised me is the Calgary Flames.

You know, they're a team that, what are they, top of the division right now. They're not going to catch Tampa Bay. I don't think anybody's going to catch Tampa Bay, but you know, they're a team that made some big changes over the summer. And when a team makes wholesale changes like that, you don't know what you're going to get in return. Sometimes you're really messing with the chemistry of the team. And we got to mention David Riddick. You know, they got Mike Smith as their starter. He's been struggling this year. 309 GAA, 886 save percentage. That's just not going to get it done in the NHL.

But, you know, Riddick's got a 237 with a 921. He was outstanding yesterday versus Philly, say, for that one goal he tried to play the puck. But he's been kind of their lifesaver. But also one of those guys they did acquire in the trade. I mentioned Elias Lindholm. What a tremendous season he's having thus far. 20 goals, 28 assists, 48 points in just 43 games, and also the rest of the offense in Calgary.

Johnny Hockey, tremendous. I mean, he was a phenomenal player, dude. He had a great game late in the game yesterday. Calgary started a little sleepy yesterday, but he had 62 points. Sean Monaghan's been lighting it up. Matthew Kachuk, 49 points in 43 games. Calgary's a team that, again, surprised me. In the same vein, Montreal and Buffalo, I'm going to throw those guys in there too.

I'll eat crow on Montreal. Once again, didn't think they were going to do anything. They're in a playoff position right now. They should probably continue to contend for a position. And Buffalo, man, I know Grinelli was all over them, but I'm surprised that they're doing this well and they're playing this consistent. Whether they do hang on to a spot remains to be seen, but those are my surprises so far.

What do you got with Doug? Well, I have a bunch of teams in mind. I mean, immediately, Biz, you bring up the Pacific. I'm not trying to harp on them, but as a disappointment, I'm shocked by the Oilers. I really am. I know people think I'm going after Edmonton because of the things we've had against each other.

It's not true. I do like them all. But I thought that they were going to be better this year. I thought that after the Game 7 second round loss to Anaheim two years ago, last year, whatever, they expected too much. People had them as a cup favorite. We talked about that. It was ridiculous.

It didn't end up being correct, but this year I thought they'd come back and really kind of figure out what's going on. They haven't. They have the best player in the world, and they can't really win at a regular rate. It just shows you need depth scoring. You need good drafting, but who knows? Maybe they'll be able to get it figured out. And then around the league, there are really so many surprises. Ari, I love the Calgary one, that team. Goudreau right now. Goudreau, I was watching a game the other night with a buddy who doesn't really like –

he's a fringe hockey fan. He likes it. He's not watching a lot. And he said we were watching Goudreau. He's kind of like McDavid sometimes. And he really is. At this point, he's dominating. Every time he gets the puck, he's kind of like McDavid sometimes. And he really is at this point. He's dominating.

Every time he gets the puck, there's a great scoring chance for Calgary, either for him or one of his line mates, Lynn home and Monahan, this insane line. So that's been a great surprise. Good call by URA. But then when you look around the league for me,

I just really am surprised by the Islanders, dude. I thought the Islanders were going to suck. So shout out to Frankie Borelli. I mean, I was shitting on him. I still have a bet they won't make the playoffs, but to be where they're at and get the kind of... I mean, they're on a six-game win streak right now, and so just

for a team that nobody even considered had a chance in doing anything this season, they're right where Buffalo is. So both those teams kind of surprise in a certain amount. I think Buffalo's been talked about way more than the Islanders have, you know, partly because of the studs they have, you know, the young guns, the Eichels, you know,

the other guys that really get you fired up about Buffalo, the Islanders have Barzell. And after that, it's kind of one of those teams you don't hear a ton about. So that team is obviously proven that they're going to be in the hunt the rest of the season. And then everyone else up top, their divisions, you kind of saw it coming. Tampa, Tampa, it's, it's 15-0--1 boys 15-0-2 in their last 17 that's you don't lose in regulation 17 games straight this is why we mentioned a couple episodes ago they're doing things that teams do that end up

winning the cup like dominate so much over look that much better than every other team that you're like all right are they this much better than the entire league? Because they've certainly looked that way so far. It's like if they go on to win the cup, like I think they're going to. I know Biz said maybe they peak too soon, but I think they're going to go on. I really do like them this year because they've shown nobody can compete with them when they're on top of their game. Yeah. No, I mean, that's tough to argue that, boys.

I want to talk about the Central a little bit. I'm not really – no one really surprised me. I thought Nashville, Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado, they're kind of all in the hunt right now. I don't think any surprise is there. You know, Nashville tailed off a little bit there from their complete dominance. They went through a tough stretch, but they've kind of reeled things back in a little bit. to me that that division it's just the biggest disappointments i think i had

st louis and chicago making playoffs at the start of the year and both those teams have just disappointed mightily uh especially st louis uh just has not worked out there uh you know maybe they they've only played 39 games also they got got some games in hand on the rest of the division, but they're going to have to go on a very big run here to even maybe consider getting a wildcard position. But once again, highly unlikely the way how close the league is and how top heavy that division is. I just don't see them doing it.

Minnesota had a great start and they've tailed off too. So, but I don't think any surprises in that division. I think it's going to be a battle with Colorado and Dallas for that third position in that division to make playoffs. Obviously, Winnipeg have been buzzing as well. So not many surprises, as I said, just more disappointments in the Central. Dallas, I don't know if you guys saw last night, Tyler Sagan had two goals.

They won 2-1. So I guess he still remembers how to score goals, and Dallas has picked it up since the – I mean, maybe Leitz thinks this is all him, that he woke them up. You could make the argument, but I think that they're really good hockey players, and they're figuring it out. Okay, wait.

So you're telling me if they go on a run like you just talked about Tampa Bay. Let's sort a number out of you. Let's say they go 12-3 and 2 in their next little stretch here. You think it has no correlation to that guy calling out the team? No, I wouldn't say no, but I would say that when he's walking around big pimping in his outfit saying, look at what the team's done since I shit on the two stars, since I shit on our two top players.

He'll think it was all him. I mean, he is getting tortured online for it, and he probably knew he was going to get tortured. shit on the two stars since I shit on our two top players. He'll think it was all him. Well, I mean, he is getting tortured online for it and he probably knew he was going to get tortured. I don't think he cares. I don't think he cares. He's getting tortured. I think that if they go on and go on a complete run,

he'll think it was all about him. And I disagree that it was all. I mean, yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't know the guy. I just think that like everybody's,

everybody's being very hard on him. And I was too. I thought his comments were over the line. I thought he was too aggressive and a little too vulgar. And he could have also handled it differently by talking to the players. But, you know, I mean, fuck, if they end up going on a run here, man, I think it was the right call. Sometimes you've got to shake things up.

And we talked about the San Jose situation last time. It's like sometimes in this industry when you're losing, you've got to get to a position where you're not going to make friends i mean another prime example of that is claude lemieux like even when he moved over to to arizona in the locker room he wasn't very well liked and and uh one of the players at the time who was playing for the team i won't mention who you know there was a riff in the locker room he He goes, he, he, because Claude Lemieux stepped up and talk and it wasn't necessarily his locker room and, and, and guys were pushing him back. And he goes, guys, I fucking won. I know what it takes. And in this locker room,

I don't think you guys do. And they, and, and they could never get over the hump. And I mean, was Claude Lemieux wrong? Like maybe he wasn't liked, but I mean, it for what it for what it was and as i said i think it was too aggressive he went over the top but i think that was a calculated decision and i don't think it was like years in the making it's just still it was just the goal scoring thing i wasn't happy yeah yeah i mean listen do i think he knew where to bring the the chirping and and where he would have sounded somewhat intelligent regarding the hockey side of it. No, I just think he just like rambled on about that side.

But nonetheless, I mean, the comments shook things up. Was he not liked biz in the locker room just because, because like he was an old veteran, like how come they weren't, weren't listening to him if he was such a like respected. Fucking asshole. Apparently I don't, I don't know Claude Lemieux. I mean, I've heard enough about him where, yeah, maybe he's not quote unquote the best teammate, but man, I play with guys that like Lemieux. I mean, I've heard enough about him where, yeah, maybe he's not quote-unquote the best teammate.

But, man, I play with guys that, like, maybe aren't well-liked, but I don't give a shit. If he's going to make my life more enjoyable because we're not getting yelled at by the coach or fans or anyone at the top of the organization because we're winning hockey games, I don't give a shit. That's what we're paid to do. And winning cures all. And if you're in a locker room

with a guy you maybe not aren't that crazy about but you're winning hockey games it's a lot different than if your team's doing shit because then everyone's at each other's throats i mean ask i mean listen a lot of great guys in that st louis locker room i bet you they're having a shit time right now doesn't matter it doesn't matter how cool the team is. If you ain't winning, it doesn't mean shit. You also look, Jamie Benn, I think he's out injured right now. He took that hard hit from Miles Wood and then

he called out the reporter. He's like, Jamie Benn will be back tomorrow. He's like, oh, really? So-and-so on Twitter. I'm like, oh, man, if you're a reporter and you put out that a player's going to be back the next day and then he tells you, oh, am I going to be back? You're like, that's an immediate panic if you're a member and you put out that a player is going to be back the next day and then he tells you, oh, am I going to be back? You're like, that's an immediate panic if you're a member of the media. One of the disappointments I have, and this will actually segue into our next point,

the goalies who were starters in 2017-18, those guys just are having a rough year. I mean, if you take a look at the top goaltenders, most of these guys are either backups, injury replacements, you know, you got Ben Bishop, Freddie Anderson, Vasilevsky, those guys are doing what we've expected them, but you take a look at the save percentage of a lot of starters from last year, Matt Murray, Devin Dubnik, Marc-Andre

Fleury, Volomov, Elliot Lundqvist, all these guys are all kind of in like the between like the 902, 912 range. That's just not a range where you expect you starting goaltenders, you expect them to have a better save percentage. And that's, like I said, our next point, goal scoring is up. At this point in the season, this is the most goals that have been scored since the 1995 season. This is the third most goals that have been scored at the halfway point.

6.1 goals per game is the third most, like I mentioned, since 1995. Scoring is up 4%. I wanted to ask you guys, why is that? Is it the smaller equipment having this much of an effect? Is it too many snipers? Why do you think scoring is up 4% this year? I think it's many different reasons. But to me, the main one being that it's so young and fast now. It's such a different league where when it was older

guys, they could figure out how to get around the rules. There was a lot of grabbing. There was a lot of clutching. And now it's 19 to 25-year-olds that are lightning fast. The game's never been faster. It's just an insane amount of speed. So defensemen, in terms of trying to break the puck out,

the four checkers right on your face, turnovers, all of a sudden, offensive zone time off that. It's line rushes. It's three-on-twos against where D thinks they have gap. All of a sudden, these guys are so fast. They're blown by defenders. They're getting better chances. And so the speed of the entire league has gone up so much

where these guys' skill level, because they're so young, so quick, that they're able to play with this skill level at a high speed. I mean, a lot of times before, or you've seen players who are very skilled, but they can't do it at top speeds. Now these best players, these young guys can. And because of that, along with, I mean, the goalie, the goalie equipment's one thing. I also think that shot blocking is down.

And I know that I don't have the numbers, so I could end up being completely wrong in this, but I don't see guys blocking shots like like they used to and maybe it's just a kind of a generation thing maybe it's teams deciding they're not going to worry about it as much i know certain defenders make their lives uh make you know they're living on blocking shots but it's just for me it's it's not as prevalent as it used to be so that along with the speed figuring out power plays power plays being more efficient it's just it's made for a more entertaining league and So that along with the speed, figuring out power plays, power plays, being more efficient,

it's made for a more entertaining league, and it goes back to the speed. For me, it also just amounts to these guys being young and skilled and not really giving a shit. They'll try anything out there. I think it's a case of these guys really knowing how to learn how to shoot these new sticks, and people might think I'm fucking crazy for this, but look at the way awesome Matthews uses his way he his deception where he'll pull and shoot and it's it's

not like he's fucking cranking this thing up man it's like a flick of his wrist and that thing is a lightning bolt going to the top of the net uh patrick line is another guy i mean of course ovechkin's been doing it a while but you're seeing more and more of these guys. Here, another example, Eichel. Like, these guys are shooting in stride. They're not, like, they're not fucking winding up. It's a quick pull and flick of the wrist, man. And another thing on that, when I say deception,

when they have the puck on their stick, I mean, when you see them kind of drag it and then let it go, it changes the angle on that goaltender very tough for them to to predict of where that release is going to come from and as crazy as this sounds that 8 to 12 inches that they move the puck as far as that drag means everything as far as the angle that the goaltenders take and and if you don't believe me ask that man so more and more kids are just learning how to how to shoot the puck properlyenders take. And if you don't believe me, ask them, man. So more and more kids are just learning how to shoot the puck properly and take proper advantage of the technology. Yeah, that's a great point.

That's pretty much what Matthews has mastered, is dragging it six inches in, and then the goalie has zero angle on the shot. Also, in terms of goaltending and why, you know, their number's not being as good already, when it goes back to the speed too, it's a two-on-one line rush where everything's so fast.

The speed of the players makes it even harder for goalies, more so than even defenders. I mean, you can have bad gap and keep backing up, but if a goalie's trying to get post to post and trying to make these saves on quick bang plays, it's nearly impossible now. So it's fun to watch, but it's probably miserable for guys to try to defend and for goalies to try to deal with how many offensive chances happen every game. I don't know. I mean,

I talked to goalies that the smaller pads is more, they're more worried about getting injured. I mean, they think they can still stop the puck. It's about not having a part of your body protected that normally is. So that kind of is a panic. I'm still waiting to see what ends up happening to end that. Guys, before we go move on to another division, I just want to talk to you for a second about Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service that finds and delivers clothes, shoes, and accessories to fit your body, budget, and lifestyle.

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The styling fee is only 20 bucks, which is applied to anything you keep from your shipment. Okay? Get started now at stitchfix.com slash chicklets, and you'll get an extra 25% off when you keep all items in your box. That's stitchfix.com slash chicklets to get started today. Stitchfix.com slash chicklets uh some great points there boys uh just to go back to the disappointments and and teams that have been overachieving i'm looking at the metropolitan here i think it'd be a disgrace if we didn't mention the new york islanders and all the success they've had of course bringing in barry trotz uh getting it

done by committee there they brought in a couple of these older guys like leo kamarov uh even even martin man i know uh you know a lot of people a lot of people online who have no fucking clue about the game like to say like oh look they brought another dinosaur back he's he's uh rekindled with clutterbuck and sezikis to get that good fourth line so they got their depth back of course they were having uh some great goaltending this season uh and and i i'm pretty sure i mentioned it last episode barzell starting to take over boys he is looking fucking in fine form uh and and on the flip side of of that division i to me it's philly i just what what a disappointment they have an unbelievable top six group. They got some solid D, like Gossespierre and Provorov. Is that how you say his name?

Oh, yeah. And once again, probably their main issue that has been for a while has been the goaltending. Hopefully they can figure that out with that new stud in net. So any other thoughts on the Metropolitan, boys? No, I brought up the Islanders, dude. I don't know if you missed it. I was on them.

I love them. Oh, maybe I was looking at my phone at the time. You were sure? I only brought up Barzell. Those other guys are important. I think you're 100% right on that. Well, let's dive into it. Who do you got in Metropolitan, R.A.?

Actually, I just wanted to circle back on the goaltending stuff that we were talking about. I don't think it's just one factor. I mean, there's so many factors that are going on. As far as – I think there's just so many nights, man, where obviously there's a gamble you notice there. Just collectively, there's just bad goaltending. Like, I know guys are getting beat on two-on-ones more and there's more speed,

but it just seems like there's just – overall, there's just been a lot of nights where there's just collectively around the league the goaltending's been terrible. As far as the blocking shots, which you you got to think that's coming from coaching. And I wonder if coaches are maybe thinking they're better off to have the goalies see the shots coming. And sometimes when you block a shot, it ends up going the other way, sends a guy in a breakaway. So I'd be curious if that's coming more from coaching or not.

But yeah, I don't even know if it definitely, I'm saying that the numbers could be that there's more block shots this year, but to the naked eye, to my fandom as a hockey analyst, podcast host, it doesn't look like it's as prevalent as it used to be. All right, and back to your question, Biz. New Jersey, man, they've been a disappointment for

me personally. I thought, you know, they might have got over the hump last year. Halsey had an MVP season. Looked like they might have turned the corner. Unfortunately, their goaltender has been subpar. Corey Schneider has been having a year from hell. I know he's been hurt, but when he has played, he's had a rough go of it. Keith Kincaid, people are hoping he might supplant Schneider as the starter. That hasn't happened. Mackenzie Blackwood has been a pretty good revelation so far. 1-8-3 GAA, 9-4-7, say percentage, two shutouts in just six games started.

So is he the future of this team? I'm not sure. It might be a little case of too little, too late for the Devils. But, yeah, they're my disappointment coming out of that division, Biz. Well, I think that pretty much wraps it up. I mean, we covered every division. Hopefully, if your team wasn't mentioned, you don't send us a death threat online. But what else do we got, R.A.?

I think maybe we should head out to Vegasville and talk to the boys in Vegas. Vegasville. Vegasville, right? I love how Hicktown's at Vegas today. It sounds to make us sound cooler. You had some pretty controversial comments in that interview, R.A. I'm interested for the fans to hear and react.

I mean, you might have to give me another sussy. Bad news. Hey, by the way, I have a great Flurry story. I'm so you might have to give another sussy. Bad news. Hey, by the way, I have a great Flurry story. I'm so mad I didn't bring up to him on this interview. I'm an idiot. Should I tell it after the interview? No, I think you should tell it now as a segue. Alright, so we interviewed him before the Cup and

they ended up losing, obviously. It wasn't the time to ask him about this story then because it was more about what's going on in the playoffs. But my buddy who's involved in this story, I'm going to, I'm going to say his name, Jack, really,

this kid's going to, it'll be once Jack hears his name, he's going to just be the happiest kid in the world. Like he's all about like getting mentioned, you know, but I got to give him credit. So when I was injured, um,

the year I ended up getting traded and the penguins won the cup, I started the year injured. I, after we went to the cup finals a year before, I fucked up feet, had to get my first of many surgeries. So I was going to be out until January. So a couple of my buddies, including Jack, we went out to Pittsburgh

around training camp time but I couldn't skate. So we were going to go out and I was getting rehabbed. We were just going to go to the Steelers game. And they were skating, obviously. You know, the captains practice biz before camp gets going, you know what I mean, a couple weeks before. So I'm like, before we went to Pittsburgh,

a couple weeks before that or some point in the summer, I was like, Jack, you have no idea how good NHL goalies are. You couldn't score. You couldn't score on an NHL goal if you had 50 tries. And listen, this kid, Jack, when we were 10 years old, he was the best hockey player on the planet. He would get seven goals a game when he was like nine years old. He was just incredible, and then he kind of stopped growing.

Still played at Amherst College, D3. It's nothing crazy, but he was a good athlete. But his shot at this point – I mean, this is a kid who got a diving penalty in men's league hockey. That's how we're going to describe Jack right now. That's just – That's a tough look on the pie. This is where he's at a diving penalty in men's league hockey. That's how we're going to describe Jack right now. That's just a tough look on the pie. This is where he's at in life and he can't shoot the puck. He cannot

shoot the puck. He never had a good shot. Complete muffin. So I'm like, dude, you're coming to camp and we're going on the ice and Fleury's a great guy. He's going to take 10 breakaways from you and you won't score one. You will not score one. Or maybe I said, maybe he'll score one, but if you get over two, I'll give you Is there any money on the line? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I don't think he lost anything to me. I was like, I think I said maybe you'll score one, but if you get over two, I'll give you a – Was there any money on the line?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't think he lost anything to me. I was like, I think I said I'd give him. I don't remember. It was four digits at least. And I told him, all right, Fleury will do it. Fleury will do it.

Fleury will do it. So I come into the rink one day. They're getting ready to practice now. We had been out the night before. So I come in. I'm like, hey, guys, this is my buddies. I'm on crutches. The people were like, some people were laughing, and some guys

were like, what are you doing? So, I'm like, Flower, at the end of this, will you take this, my buddies' breakaways? So, the kids are like, yeah, 100%, I'm in. So, at the end of practice, Jack borrows some skates, and he borrows a stick, I don't remember who, and like Gonchar and Malkin are out there, out there, like, watching, laughing.

Socorro's out there. Just a great bunch of guys that were all into it. So Jack starts at the red line, goes down, and Fleury starts doing the blind man. You know, he's doing like the hilarious, like, and he kind of lets Jack score. I'm like, Flower, fuck. What are you doing? He's like, oh, shit, shit, whatever. He kind of realizes Jack's already got one.

Now he starts, right? He starts the loops, breakaways back to the red line. He's not even coming close to scoring now flurry's trying it's like it was like a 10 year old shooting on him right the kid's getting so tired after five six he can't even make it back to the red line he's dying breathing heavy so stall jordan stall grabs puck he's like dude don't worry about it just make a quick loop to the top of the circles this kid can't even get back to the blue line at this point. But on the ninth try, dude, fake shot. Flowers now completely trying, opens up his legs, slides it five-all on the ice, and goes flying down the ice,

celebrating, also doing the blind man celebration, right at Conchard and Malkin, laughing, and they're dying. And I lost. I'm punching the glass on the other side. And I'm like, sorry, fuck. He's like like it was a good move it was a good move so i really actually wish i brought this up to him he definitely remember it but maybe later on in the year we can bring it up see what he has to say about it but on that we'll uh congrats to you jack and uh we'll go to the flurry the flurry reeves schmidt interview right. This interview is brought to you by Herbal Active.

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What do you like? What do you fucking chirp me online? Cause I wet the bed. But anyway, back to our herbal active ad read, uh, I herniated a disc in my back recently, my, um, L five S one. And I don't know if any of you folks have ever done that. It's fucking hell. I've done it a bunch of times. So I knew exactly what it was when it happened uh the drops and the the bomb helped me out of it in a week and and i've been sidelined for a month when i went during my playing days with this l5s1 disc herniation and i just rubbed the bomb all around it and what happens when you with the disc herniation is all the muscles around it will tense up this bomb, just like relaxes those muscles and was able to fucking help, um, bring me back to, to health. So, uh, the herbal active, uh, biz 20 promo code, um, for 20% off that's U R B A L A C T I V.com. You can go to their Instagram or Twitter to ask them any questions you have

about the 100% hemp-based CBD oil. And you guys are going to fucking love it. And I hope you enjoy the Biz 20 promo code SWIPER. We are now pleased to be joined by a couple absolute stallions from the Vegas Golden Knights in New York City to play the Islanders, the Devils, the Rangers with a couple nights off in between Nate Schmidt, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Ryan Reeves. Thanks for joining us, fellas.

Thanks for having us, boys. Yeah, thanks for having us. Which club did you go to last night? No, they didn't. You guys know I'm not going to Vegas last night. Jesus. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, what club were you guys at last night?

Sorry for going out. Sorry for getting away from my wife, kidding, going out at night. Jesus Christ. We just met. Yeah, what club were you guys at last night? Sorry for getting away from my wife's kidding going on tonight. Jesus Christ. We just met GSP, right? Yeah. You have met him before. Quick handshake, but first time I got to talk to him a little bit. He's so giddy, man.

He's smiling from ear to ear. He got back, he's like, I'm not going to. Hey, how are you? How are you? Hello. So excited to see you. I couldn't believe looking at that guy. That guy's reeves just towers over him, but he would probably dumb me.

It's unbelievable. I see these guys in the bar, and I was like, oh, I'd bang you out. And then you run into them, and I'm sleeping next to them. It's crazy. I just can't believe that. The cool thing about coming in this office, I mean, I've been here four times now. You run into people sometimes. We walked in yesterday, and a basketball almost hit me in the head.

It was the Harlem Globetrotters. I was like, what the fuck's going on? My first day here, Ricky Williams was here. Was he? Yeah, Ricky Williams. You smoked that shit with him?

I mean, fuck, dude. I worked with the Coyotes. Come on. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. The Arizona Coyotes, not a big deal. So guys, actually, Schmitty,

I'll ask you first. I'll ask you first. Speaking of drugs. Exactly, exactly. Speaking of drugs. Exactly, exactly. Speaking of suspensions. Start off later. The two of us are on the same page. Hey, we had your back on here.

Yeah, we did. I appreciate that. I was like, he says he didn't take shit. Did you read his statement? Don't listen to anyone who says he did anything wrong. But we actually talked one quickly about, you went over to Europe? Yeah. So what was that like?

Where'd you go over there? I went to Vienna. I practiced with the Vienna Capitals there. That's in Austria for our audience. Yeah. Not very worldly. They're like, vanilla? What?

How'd you settle in Austria? My agent, we just were calling around. I was asking any of the guys. Yeah. Matty Cater. Yeah, we were just calling around trying to find somewhere

and landed on Vienna. It was a beautiful city. I had a lot of fun. It was great. Got to go to London with the team to the Swiss Alps. Went to Zurich.

Yeah, yeah. I did some traveling. Might as well make the best out of a shitty situation. It's almost like you planned this. You got a little sabbatical. You're like, I'll be over there in shitty situation. It's almost like you plan the suspension. You get a little very sabbatical.

You're like, I'll be over there in two years. I'm going to set this up. It'll be perfect. Just save a locker room. And then cap it off with a nice new ticket. Crazy how that works. It's just crazy how that works. Congrats on that.

Congrats on being rich. Can we get this on? Congrats on being rich. Flowers are rich. Remo's pretty rich. So, Flowers. I robbed the bank, though. Yeah, you me. Rich flowers aren't rich. Remo's pretty rich. So, flowers? I robbed the bank, though. Yeah, you did.

He bought himself a new... Two years. Pay attention. Oh, yeah, but... Four million? How much? Five, five, five. Thank you.

Thank you. Fire girl. Thanks for coming. He even bought himself a new pair of mitts, and look at how he's been working this year. Dude, what do you got, six tux? So, when people say you're useless online, I'm like, these guys obviously don't check out HockeyDB.

This guy's got six goals. Yeah, you close your eyes and shoot a little more often, it's nice. Yeah, but you're the alpha in the league now. Like, you are. Like, who the fuck's going to fight you now? I mean, the childhood. What about Big Buff? I think him and Big Buff would be a problem.

No, I've tried. I've tried a couple times with Big Buff. No, I don't think that's really his game, though. No. Just mushing people under the ice when he's skating by. That's kind of his game lately. Yeah, he's a monster. But tell us about Austria.

That was great. We would practice and get bag skated every day by this Finnish coach. He would come out with no stick, no gloves, and just put his hands behind his back and just skate up and down the ice. He was so hungover. 15 laps to start a pregame skate for them one day. 15 laps. I got back to the bench, and I look up in the stands at the gym.

I go, where am I? I'm going to be the best shape of my life. I go back. They're not going to believe I came back and wasn't doing anything. They're going to be like, where'd you go again? Austria. No, it was great. Then every day I'd go out and do something around the city.

It was awesome. It was a good team there. A lot of good imports, guys. I got to know. It was something that you never know. Once in a lifetime experience, unfortunately. It was awesome. It was a good team there. A lot of good imports guys I got to know. It was something that you never know. Once in a lifetime experience unfortunately.

Hopefully. Yeah. If that happens again like you say I'm probably just taking the Euro. I remember saying I was in like

Pittsburgh playing good I was like man imagine going to Europe and playing next thing you know I'm on the way to Russia. I'm like fuck. Change quick man.

Change quick. Taping your paychecks to your chest. Wait what's going on? Oh, my flight leaves tomorrow? I said I'd never do this. Shit. Thanks for getting me traded, Flower.

Nate, when you came back, did you think you were in better shape going to Europe than you would have been if you'd been playing in the National Hockey League? Yeah. No shit, huh? It was, well, living in Vegas has its perks. No, but we came back, and like I said, I was bag skating every day, five, six times a day, or five, six times a week, not five, six times a day. But like I said, they take their skating a little bit more seriously.

They skate and skate and skate. What was it like? You were training with this team, hanging out with them all the time, and then the game come, and you just eat popcorn in the press box? Well, they told me I could go on the road, so I went on the road with them one game. The only problem is, this is terrible.

The GM and I flew to this place and the rest of the team bussed there. Oh, D-Bo. You are so fucking... That's NHL. I'm in the NHL. That's what we do.

The guys are like, no, NHL. We fly, we bus. We fucking have cold sandwiches. You have nice meals. We like... It's like a nine-hour bus right on from Zurich

and the GM and I are flying back and beat the guys back there to the rink the next morning. You're watching Slapshot by the 700th time on the bus. I felt great. Nice and rested. Changing topics here. You guys had a bit of a shaky start. If you guys could just stop laughing and let me ask my serious question, for fuck's sakes.

He's like being a journalist. I'm being a journal. You guys had a bit of a rough start to the season. You guys have been buzzing lately, though. Let's talk about the turnaround. A little hangover from last year, boys? A little too much partying in excess? Couldn't tell you about the first two weeks.

No, I've never even been to excess. I've never even heard of it. Hey, what are you talking about, bitch? We're buzzing now. Yeah. We're fucking flying around. Flying lately. I don't know.

Schmitty let us down, you know, so we're... Come on. Hey, like the first text, you're like, Schmitty,

what the fuck? Very strong correlation to when you got back and the team did start playing well, though. Yeah, we did,

though, but I don't know, obviously it's a big part of a team, right? It does so much for us and on and off the ice, always has that nice smile

and positive attitude and better talking. Always talking. But it's all the ice obviously is doing great too. Alright. We talk a lot

about pranks, Flower. How bad is it with him still? Is he still He's been pretty pretty quiet actually. Really, Flower? Pretty quiet.

Pretty tame since I've been here. I think I got lazy. I think. Well, we said the other day that the prank game's dangerous because once you're in, you're always watching your back. I was like, maybe you got tired of it. I can't keep doing this. It's been 12 years of me pranking people.

I got somebody good the other day. Who'd you get? What was it? You're snitching on yourself. Yeah, who knows? Well, this is going to come later. This is what happens when you get a microphone in front of you. on yourself. Yeah, we know. I never... Well, this is going to come later. It's okay. What happens when you get a microphone in front of you

and you say anything, you're finishing the story. Oh, shit. Because I never said I did it, actually. So this one time, he works in our PR, so he walks beside me and he taps me on the shoulder

and I look and he walks on the other side, you know, so I say, oh, you little shit. So you kidnapped his family? He's literally that huge. He's like Tiger in his room. So we went to Winnipeg. I read in the hotel, grab his room key, run to his room.

So I called for a wake-up call at 5 in the morning. Then put the phone under the bed. And then turn the heat up quick. And then I don't know, you know the trick in the toilet when you take that hose out of the... So it sprays you when you flush. Yeah, so you take it out.

You know when you flush, the water comes back in the tube. But that tube you can pull out and then you put it on the side, take the cover off, put it on the side and you put the cover on it. So you wouldn't be able to notice if you just went into the bathroom. It's very subtle. But then when you flush, it just keeps spraying. It never stops.

Spraying all over the bathroom. It never stops because the tank doesn't get filled up. So it just keeps... So this dude's room was 87 degrees. His wake-up call, he was reaching under the bed. And his toilet buried him in the face. Yeah. We're talking about chocolate.

I can't imagine if someone actually did something to you, what would actually happen. That's fucked up, man. Try it. We'll see. Did you put Tabasco sauce

on someone's toothbrush in Montana? Yeah. In Montana? When were you guys in Montana? Before the season. Oh, yeah. You do pre-season up there, right?

Yeah. The owner took us Up to his ranch Is it yellow Is it one of those What are those It's called Rock Creek Sick You're thinking

Of one of the Discovery properties What is that Yellowstone He's talking about The Kevin Costner TV show I think Yeah

Talking about Where rich people Have sick pads Tom Brady's Rock Creek Cadillac That's what That's unreal Remember when You shoe checked my dad My dad bought Brady's. Yeah, Rock Creek Cadillac. That's where I got it. That's unreal.

Fla, remember when you shoe checked my dad? My dad bought these fresh new shoes for the dad show. He's like, dude, I got these things down at Johnson & Johnson. They're unreal. Next thing you know, Fleury's putting, like, butter all over the toes. He's like, motherfucker. I'm like, you've got to handle this a little better, man. Look at it dead. Just leave it better, man. We're going to get dead.

Just leave it alone, Dad. Yeah, leave it alone. Do you remember the one time you had a dead mouse in your shoe? Yeah, we were talking about that. You did, eh? Oh, man. I still remember that. I was like, what the fuck? What's a dead mouse?

That one's been brought up a bunch. Real dead mouse? A real dead mouse. Dude, yeah. At Melon Arena, there's just mouse around. I put my shoe on. I was like, Melon Arena, there's just mouse around. I put my shoe on and I was like,

what the hell? It's kind of small. And next thing you know, everyone's over there. So nasty. That's war right there.

That's war. I'm not done. I'm glad you kidnapped my family. You know what I mean? Take them for a week.

Did you nail Bugs' shoes to his locker, though? No, we nailed Tanger's. Oh, Tanger's? I was saying yesterday, we tortured Tanger for a while. Oh, yeah, the other one for a while. And then I said to Biz, I'm like, okay, I think this kid's going to be unreal. I think I have to stop messing with him.

And then I got traded because he was so good. And I was just like, this kid got the last laugh. And three rings. Maybe Flurry was behind it. He's like, okay, the French guys, we And three rings. Maybe Fleury was behind it all. He's like, okay, the French guys, we will fuck with wit. And he's like, which was the thing? I'll take care of them. We're a Budweiser Canada podcast, but I wanted to ask Revo, you got a brewery.

I got a beer coming. A couple beers. Well, you got to start small. You're going to eventually have a brewery. A brewing company. 7-5 Brewing Company. Okay. Maybe you got to hit them with a promo code or something.

Yeah. Hit that promo code. Biz20. What made you want to get into that? What made you want to get into that? Business laws, a couple of cases. That's all that's going on here. Yeah, because then they'll resell it.

Exactly. I'll get you to sign them and I'll resell them. Of course. Got you. Why do you wear 75? Because I was a pigeon. That's what they gave me in training camp. Just stuck with it.

Just stuck with it. Couldn't change it, eh? No. I was the same age. I got called up with 75. You want to change it? No. You got asked?

I didn't even get asked. The next year, but I already played half a season. Oh, okay. One thing we didn't ask you about last time you were on the pod, and I can't believe we forgot, it was more hitch stories. Oh, man. He's back. He's back.

It's insane. I feel like he's always going to be with Edmonton at one point, right? Man, but he's lost some weight. I know. He looks great. He's back. It's insane. I feel like he's always going to be with Edmonton at one point, right? Man, but he's lost some weight. I know. He looks great. He really looks like he's been running. I was chirping him a little bit, but yeah, his clothes are bagging off him a little. He's doing good.

Yeah, he actually is. He was an Austria trainer with Schmidt. That's where he was. That's why he didn't have a job for the first 20 games. If you test him Something may pop up On that test too For a little itch

Tell us your favorite Hit story Oh fuck man Do you get weary Of doing it now Because he's back coaching A little bit yeah Because you never know

He just pops up everywhere I could play for He's going to line match Against McDavid And just really fuck you If you tell him that story Minus 10 He's like Go out and embarrass Revo.

The day he stole my soul, our whole line was me, Otter, Lappy. Oh, you told me this. Oh, man. So we just score. He throws us out, center ice draw in New York. They throw out Nash's line. Hey, hey, change, change. Puck hasn't even dropped yet.

You can just see he just starts boiling. Calls a timeout. Center ice. We skate over the bench. I don't like that fucking matchup. Burns our only timeout in the third period. You should have seen the boy that looks like, oh, dead's buried.

Dude, timeout. I couldn't just skate over and change. You know what I mean? Can't just win a draw and dump the puck in? That's all I do. That was common for me. If it was a D-zone draw, and let's say we were in Chicago

and I got out there against Taves and Kane, Tip was like, dude, I don't care. Just sprint out of the zone and get to the bench. We'll go 5-on-4 for five seconds and just get the fuck off the ice. Kills the confidence, though. Revo, I want to talk about the hit you had on Tom Wilson a couple weeks ago. Were you surprised you got tossed from the game for that?

Yeah, a little bit. I mean, we thought two minutes interference would have been suitable. I didn't even think it was interference. He's looking at his pass. He watched his pass. You know what I mean? I think he said it best last year. He shouldn't have been watching his pass, and I was just finishing my hit.

Did the same thing to Marchie last year. Yeah, and there's also, like, there was a lot of, there was a lot of, last year. He shouldn't have been watching his pass and I was just finishing my hit. Did the same thing to Marchie last year. Yeah, and there's also like, there was a lot of, there was a lot of, I wouldn't say like a backstory to you two, but you're like,

dude, I want to get this guy. I mean, we got some history. Yeah. It's no secret, we don't like each other. I hate him,

I'm sure he hates me. You know, we play the same kind of style and, you know, 1-0. It's so uncomfortable because like,

I love them both. That's just real life. Now we're never going to get any capitals on. We've got to play Peacemaker over here. No, because Wilson will come back and he'll say, did he say one nothing? But I don't think he would want to fight you, right?

You've asked him. We've fought. Oh, really? But it seems like now, or at least in the playoffs, he didn't want to last year in the finals No, I think the last one didn't go As well as he wanted it to

He's a good player He's a tough kid It's tough to see him hurt like that You don't want to see anybody hurt like that But I fucking hate the guy That's just how it is We're paid to hate each other And I played the same role as you

And man, there were some guys that i could stand when i played but like you know it's just that's just the nature of the beast man the paychecks are nicer than the friendships yeah absolutely yeah you gotta do what you gotta do you know when it's all said and done and like i said i love willie i love you and i'm sure if you guys ever met after your careers and had a beer you guys would i'm sure because i fucking hated you on the ice after that little slew foot we were friends off that was it prime example the reason i did that though is because i knew fast forwarded five six years as grinnell was going to put the video out we're going to get some content hits but prime example is we fucking hated each other and then the minute we got to training camp in st louis to be the jesters we were you're over you guys

were over my house first day. Yeah. Yeah, and a nice big picture ready for you there. Yeah, that's right. We were like, why don't you come over? I was like, this guy's the best. Jesus. Flower, do you think you'll ever...

Would you love to get in a tilt NHL goalie fight? Yeah, that was something I've... When I was a junior, I fought twice, right? Did you? Yeah. Really? Yeah. up in Cape Red

you were throwing knocks one time I broke my knuckle though so the coach

wasn't happy with that but then I was like I always wanted to score a goal and maybe

have a fight you know and any chance to go at an empty net yet I missed

a few maybe two you had one in preseason close but you would that would be like getting a hole in one when you hit your first one in preseason close but you would call it a muffin

that would be like getting a hole in one when you hit your first one in the water it's actually a three you don't want a goal in preseason sick math

he's a math guy yeah man a hole in one unbelievable eagle I'm like no it's par but you go back in the clubhouse and tell them

you hit a hole in one no I actually won't because I don't want to buy people drinks because this is wearing off on me playing in Vegas though I mean that's gotta be crazy it's the most unique But you go back in the clubhouse and tell them you had an old one. No, I actually won't because I don't want to buy people drinks. Because this is wearing off on me. Planet Vegas, though. I mean, that's got to be crazy.

It's the most unique city in North America. How long does it take for that novelty to wear off? Like, okay, there's the Strip and there's fake Statue of Liberty every day. When does that just become another part of the scenery? You know, we don't go down the Strip as much as you think. You know, living out in Summerlin, there's a lot to do out there. There's a lot of restaurants so you don't have to, you don't feel like you have to buzz down the strip just to get something done.

Yeah, but walking out of games at the end, after a game, sometimes you start giving yourself a little bit of an ear. You know that feeling when you fly into Vegas and you land right on the strip? You get that every time you land. It's like, oh man, we're like, we got a couple minutes here.

Hold on, it's only two minutes. They're just starting. Marky had outreach and they put all the cocktail servers on the glass and you're just like, fucking playing the whole game with a boner.

You're popping Cialis between the second and the third. You're like, let's fucking win this one, boys. A little duck and tuck can we find fun

the table tonight our find fun's almost out every day almost every week too it's unbelievable yeah your buddy's like hey I'm coming back you're like

dude you were here a week ago what are you doing how far do you guys live from the strip like is everyone all you guys live in the same area

yeah like 25 minutes. 25 minutes, yeah. But it's, like, there's six suburbs, huh? Like, really, like... I mean, there's nothing to do out there. You can golf, you can hike, you can do pretty much anything. There's a lot of shopping stuff out there.

Everyone lives out there. Yeah. It's nice, man. You live right on the mountains, too. Who are the biggest celebrities you guys have met? GSB. GSB. GSB. Lil Jon seems to be kicking around a lot Oh really? Yeah we met him at the ESPYS too

How was the ESPYS? It was unreal It was a lot of fun Really? Yeah Anyone like Yeah like anyone you just kind of blow you away Like holy fuck

Or not really No we didn't meet too many people, actually. I'm a big baseball guy, so I met a couple of guys from the Astros. I'm not a big celebrity guy. No, I don't feel like anyone will get any of those,

but he's just like, whatever, dude, what's up? Couldn't care less. Dude, I'll go with you, right? Right, right. 7-5. Were you guys surprised by the reception

you got last year? Because they never had a sports team in Vegas. I mean, everyone always said, oh, they'll be a good team, they'll be a good talent for our team, but we never saw it. And they were, I mean, it was crazy how much they took you guys in. Was that surprising to you? Yeah, for sure.

Nobody knew what to expect, right? And right from the start, from training camp on, they were, you know, our practices were pretty busy, and games, people made it the best arena to play in. It's always so loud, and it still is. Every game is so loud. It's out of control. It's honestly hard to play on the road sometimes.

It's so quiet. It's so in Brooklyn. The lights turned off in the third game. The loudest the crowd was was they were booing me because the lights turned off. That was the loudest they got all night. It was crazy. Oh, my God. I feel like Vegas, though, I mean, I don't think that's ever going to slow down either.

They have their first pro team, even when football comes. I think they're now diehard Knights fans because of the one year. I feel like going to the finals will forever keep people involved. I think it helps that the team was built in Vegas, too, where Oakland's coming to Vegas. Yeah, and that's tough for you. You're a Raiders fan. I'm a big Raiders fan, yeah.

Actually, it's not tough for you, though. No, it's perfect. No, it's perfect. I mean, I'm going to be at the games all the time as long as I'm still here. How did you come to the games? Jerry Rice. Followed him. I was a 49ers fan.

Wow. He went to the Raiders. I didn't want any part of Seattle, so stuck with the Raiders. And your old man played in the CFL, correct? CFL and NFL. Oh, he played in the NFL where? Washington, Green Bay, Miami. Didn't play a lot, though.

A couple coffee everywhere? Yeah, maybe. Half a cup. What position did he play? Running back. Beast mode? Yeah. Really? You ever play? lot, though. A cup of coffee everywhere? Yeah, maybe. Half a cup. What position did he play? Running back. Beast mode? Yeah. CFL MVP.

Did he? Yeah. Hey, can you explain to people listening that don't know the CFL, can you really get a point by punting it through the end zone? Yeah. That's the worst rule in the history of sports. It's stupid. I know.

There's a lot of weird rules in there. It's crazy. Hey, don't bash the CFL, though, because CFL have the craziest fans. You're going to get smoked. Well, listen, I'm going to dog the CFL because at one point there were six teams and two of them had the same name, the Rough Riders. Yeah, that's true. That is true.

It's like the original six. We got the New York Rangers. We got the Boston Rangers. It's like, holy shit. You might want to just chuck a different Name in the mix For the CFL at one point So you guys expect To be back on the

Stanley Cup final this year Or what Those gotta be the Expectations What are they gonna Say that No Oh yeah for sure

What is your guys Schedule like You got any good Road trips Is this like one of Your best coming east This one's nice That's good

We're staying At the same hotel the whole trip. That's the best. It's a nice touch. What about All-Star break this year? Any plans yet? I don't know yet. Looking at Hawaii.

Mike and the game. Mike, you come back from All-Star break. What? Carolina, Tampa, Florida, then Tampa. Right back? Yeah, right back into it. Three days in between Florida and Tampa. Oh, my Yeah, right back into it, three days in between Florida and Tampa. Oh, my God.

Get the base tan. Get the base tan. Get the base tan during All-Star break. Oh, my God. Floor it on your first trip. Floor it when you come back. Oh, man. Who's the prankster in the locker room other than Flower?

Who's the clown? Probably me. Really? You're the jester every day you get the voice going? He's the big mouth, I would say. He is? I'm loud, yeah. You're louder than Marchie?

No, no. There's no way. Sorry, yeah. Nobody's louder than Marchie. There's no way. Really? Marchie doesn't shut up. He could be outside, like down the street, and you'd be able to hear him.

Really? Do you guys give him heat when he pulled up in the Golden Knights Lamborghini? Dude, he catches a lot of heat. I thought it was pretty sick. I thought it was a little. heat when he pulled up in the Golden Knights like Lamborghini? Like, dude, he catches a lot of heat. I think it was, I thought it was pretty sick. I thought it was a little, I'm like,

I don't know, the team logo is on the car. What does he make, six million? Oh, that's not his car. Oh, no, that's not his car. Oh, I thought

that was his whip. No, no, no. What's wrong with this guy? I'll tell you, Holland Eberle drove around big old trucks

in Edmonton with their name and number in the back of the seat, dude Hall and Eberle drove around in big old trucks in Edmonton with their name and number in the back of the seat, dude. Hall and Eberle. No, they just gave it to him for a game we won, and then they kept giving it to him for game days. Yeah, they just dropped it off at his house. So he's a loud guy? Just a Frenchie, eh, Flower?

I don't know. Don't put us all in the same basket. He's different French. March is the sensitive French. This one's different. Who's the guy who's always going on dates and stuff? I heard Tuck's pretty active. Any single guys?

Tuck, he's the only single guy. I heard he does well for himself. He's a handsome guy. Is he? Yeah. What's a BC? When he wants to bestow me on a castle. I'll say if he's haunted. I. He's a weapon. Went to BC. When he wants to bestow a man rocket.

I'll say if he's hot at all. I'll tell you right now. Before you even look, I'm going to give you a man rocket. Really? Me?

I am or him? Oh, yeah. Oh, he's actually not bad looking. He's not bad looking. He went to BC. Do I hate BC? That's why you don't like him.

Fucking hate. Can you imagine Bugsy if he was in Vegas when they were in the league? Jeez. He'd be like, oh shit, I gotta get traded. Fuck. He ripped up Pittsburgh like Vegas. Flower, we give it to him on this podcast.

He came on one time and he was like the biggest nerd. He was like, yeah, he was trying to make the Olympic team. He was coming back with the Minnesota Wilds HL team. He was like, yeah, you know, I'm working hard. I was like, Bugsy, what are you talking about? Shut up. Talk to me like a normal human. I'm trying to make a comeback.

Before the year last year, did guys know that Wild Bill was that good? Oh, yeah, that kid's sick. He's a hand-to-hand. Nice player. Nice player. Hey, but like defensively good, too. Yeah, yeah, he comes back all the time. He's a hand-to-hand. Nice player. Nice player. Hey, but defensively good, too. Yeah, yeah, he comes back all the time. Good in everything.

Yeah, he's good to have. Good all around. I never even heard of him, to be honest. Neither did I. I never heard it happen. I'm not a big paying attention to... You don't watch much hockey. No, not really.

I know who I have to fight. What do you watch? Do you watch shows or movies? Yeah, a lot of Netflix. Watch a lot of NFL. What's your number one show right now on Netflix? I just finished El Chapo. Season three is fire.

Good? Absolute fire. I'm pretty down with that Ozark. I don't watch a lot of Ozarks. I haven't started that yet. The acting's very good. You know, slow moving. Slow to start.

First season, it's like Breaking Bad. You're like, okay, come on, let's get going here. Yeah, I've heard a few comparisons to Breaking Bad, but it it's like Breaking Bad. You're like, okay, come on, let's get going here. Yeah, I've heard a few comparisons to Breaking Bad, but it's nowhere in Breaking Bad's league. Nothing touches Breaking Bad. No, nothing does. What about Succession, Revo? You've been watching that on HBO.

Great show. It's about this guy. He's like a gazillionaire media owner. His family's all trying to line up to see who's going to take over the company after. But it seems like a drama, but it's really like a black comedy. It's called Succession. HBO, check it out. I'm telling you, you'll like it.

R.A.'s the show. Black comedy? I know. You should write it. It says black comedy. What's going on? Jesus. Let me clarify.

Not a comedy with black people. It's a black comedy. Kill me. Kill me. It's hilarious. Do you guys play cards on the plane? Card or just shows? I play.

What do you guys, poker or sharps? Don't you know? Oh, really? I think you might have told us that on the other podcast. Flower, you never play cards? No. Shows and video games? Surprise R.A. to Nasrivo, we play dice on the plane.

There's some dominoes. Yeah, dominoes. Dice dominoes. Dominoes. What do you have, watermelon at your seat? Just to bring a bucket of chicken for pregame. You know, you watch that black comedy and you brush that Kentucky Fried Rice. You like that blackish?

What do you think of black.com? Seriously, one of these better know what a black comedy is. It's not like a, okay, you got me nervous. I'm going to beat my roof when we walk out of here. You guys are going to stay in the room after we all walk out. We'll see what happens. Is he still there? Go say goodbye to Revo.

He's like, no, I'm all set. I'm going to text him a black comedy to watch. Oh, dude. What percent of goal time do you think is mental? I know we always say goalies are crazy and stuff, but how much is it? 80% mental, 90%? It just seems like because guys have a great year,

then they might have an off year, then they just seem to refocus again. It seems more mental than physical. Yeah, a lot. I think a lot is in there. Sometimes you play a lot, you're sick or you're tired, and you still can manage to have a good game. I, you know, sometimes you play a lot and you're sick or you're tired and you still can't manage to have a good game,

you know, so I don't know. It's tough to have a perfect number, but... It's pretty mental sitting there rubbing the post.

Yeah. Just talking to the post. Oh, yeah. I saw it last night and I borrowed it. I looked back and I'm like, oh, my God,

thank God that didn't go in and he's sitting there talking, hey, hi. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. sitting there talking. Hey, hi. I love you. McNabb's kid by me is like, make sure you tell him a little thank you from me. I have to say thank you from NABBOR. Maybe that's it.

Maybe it's NABBOR's fault. What's the story with the I'm a bad, bad man video? That was pretty popular. I thought it was some good play. And your wife roasted you, right? Didn't she? She always does.

Honestly, I kind of want to hear this too. I don't know. You didn't say that? Well, I saw it. I just saw it. Our PR guy. I don't know. You didn't see that? Well, I saw it. I just, I was gone. Saw our PR guy. I was nine hours in the video. PR guy that's here.

He said, you see that McGregor video? And I was like, yeah. So he's like, I want you to do one. Figured it was going to be a big hit. He knows what he's doing. I figured, take the shirt off, show something a little bit. Show these tats off. Every time the camera comes in the locker room,

I'll just... He's got those bands. He's like... Get the veins going. You gotta sell the game and you're not putting this body on. Hey.

Dude, I... Every time... Every time they interview... Hey, every time they interview Schmitty, it's like he's on fucking ecstasy after the game.

He's just sweating. I know. My eyes are bugging out, too. I get so excited, man. Dude, can you get this guy a relaxation drink? We better test this guy. If I watch the interviews, I'm like, oh, my God, this guy's wigging out after the games. I get so excited.

Dude, I think one time I was at NHL Network, and you did one of those interviews where they have you guys look at the big screen, you know those with NHL Net? I don't remember who it was. They're like, Nate Schmidt's bugging out right now. I was like, do they have a couple points? They're like, no, he just looks like he's lost his mind. I was like, I think he needs to go crank one out before his post-game interview. I was just like, let him relax a little bit. You know, looking at the camera.

Like the veins in your forehead are popping out. Like fucking Revo's arms. It's a big forehead these days, too. It's pulling back. It's pulling back. Just cut the cord. You got a new contact? You can bring it back.

Every time I walk in the room to Angle, Derek Angle always gives it to me. He's like, man, a couple more fell out last night and I'm like god damn and you know that cuts you so deep it just kills me

hey I'll be there I went like it killed me we went to the SPS and I was like it was kind of longer and I had one of the interns shave

like the sides of my head just pulled the thing right back as far as oh it got worse. And they look like butters from South Park, too. And people tweet pictures out of me all the time. That's why my hair is longer right now. We actually have a pill for that.

It takes care of two problems. Hims. Phase 20. We could throw a Hims promo code here. Hims.com. And it helps grow Hems promo code here. Hems.com. And it helps grow your dick. No, I'm serious. It's a dick pill and it helps with your hair.

That sounds like a... It's an everything pill. That sounds like something I could pop 60 games for. They spit when I'm spitting chicken. It's a spin of the next season. We're trying to get his hair back and his dick longer. He's playing the KHL all of a sudden. Did save 20% though.

Playing the game. In the KHL, they say you can do that. It's not frowned upon. KHL? Yeah. They'll be like, hey, your hair needs this, and you skate track. Thank you. Yeah.

I know Cialis' band is on the band list. Oh, how do you know that? Well, because, I mean, fuck, you want that extra half an inch sometimes, you know? You're going on a W after a Saturday win. Come on, man. He just gets on road trips, and some people just have their waters and everything. He's just like, all right, Cialis, perfect, ready to go. All right, I don't need any water because I won't be playing any games.

I got my hair gel and my comb and my Cialis. All right, guys. I'm ready. I have a covered wagon so I need to clean that and I need to take my Cialis and the road trip set.

A little insurance policy in case you potty too much. Right. Exactly. Thank you, R.A. That's all right. We are already on the same page about that one.

Anything else you guys want to talk about? Yeah, Flower, are you selling anything? I'm selling anything? Do you have any businesses? Do you start any businesses or anything? Oh, no, dude.

Just playing the game, you know? How long do you think you want to play? I don't know, man. I still have like three more years and we'll see. Yeah, it's not even a thought yet. I feel like you could play until you're 40, though. I don't know. I start thinking about it.

Like, guys, I see you guys. I'm like, I got to start thinking about my aftercareer, right? What's gonna happen And stuff Sad man Please don't retire You guys are doing well though Please keep playing

Please keep playing What's that You don't look close To retirement But all after last year And this year How many shoutouts this year Five

Five Yeah Yeah It's not even It's not even It's not even He's got five Didn't even thank his teammates.

Yeah, he's like, Go on. Schmidt's like, Schmidt, you weren't here for half of us. Well, boys, we appreciate this very much. Nice little road trip for you guys. And we're going to come out to Vegas. I'm still scared from when they played my prediction

that you guys were going to be terrible at it. Can you stop predicting anything to do with our team, please? Everything's wrong when I predict something. It's out of control. Rebo said the last time, he's like, dude, everything you say, the opposite happens. Stop making predictions like that. That's what they pay me for.

I had a buddy of mine after our L.A. series last year. He was like, man, you've got to listen to this podcast. We'd sit down and be like, fucking Vegas is going to be out in four. Every game, every game I took them. It was like, okay, I swear

it was like one of those repeating things. It was like, all right, game one, okay, they won, but you know, I got them game two.

Game three, I got them game three. No way they could sweep. No chance they could sweep. I was actually, one of the games, I think game three I was at home.

And my wife would be like, you know, occasionally, who'd you play with? Tell old stories, hockey, just make up stuff, just completely lie to her. No, but late at night, you made a sick save in game three. And I was like, fuck you, fucking piece of shit. Fuck off, screaming at TV. And she's like, I thought you played with him I was like yeah I fucking hate his guts

right now though oh that's a nice dude are you betting on those too I was like I got into my like 80,000 thread sheets I was like thank you flower

you help pay for these things how much do you lose on us oh geez probably like 3,500 not that much you idiot Flower, you help pay for these things. How much do you lose on us? Oh, geez. Probably like $3,500. Not that much. Pocket change. But then I took you guys... Against Walsh.

We Walsh, yeah. No, no, no, no. Flower came on the podcast, and then you guys won one more game. We fucked you guys over on that one. I took you guys against Winnipeg in two of the games and made it all back. Thank you for coming.

Revo, can we cap off with another Hitch story? Yeah, like, Hitch Chirp. Like, wouldn't you guys be like, give it back to him a little bit? Yeah, that's the thing. That's the one thing about Hitch

is you can give it back to him and he loves it. He fucking loves that Man The biggest time I snapped on I come off the ice And he's Chirping me Fuck you Reva

Fucking Get the fucking puck deep Slide Slide right Still chirp me Still chirp me Slide right again Still chirp me

Tells Yosey Fucking tell this motherfucker I turn around If you don't shut the fuck up I'm gonna slash you In your fat fucking mouth slide right again, still chirps me, tells Yosie, fucking tell this motherfucker. I turn around and I was like, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to slash you in your fat fucking mouth. I sat down. I was like, oh, shit, I shouldn't have said that. He probably called your line next.

Oh, yeah. Go, 100%. We're right back out there. That's how he was. I fucking love that about coaches. It's like that shove it up my ass mentality. Like a chick. Fucking prove me wrong. I'm going to slash you in your fat fucking mouth.

I sat right to his face. I was like right at him too. Yosey comes up to me. I'm just like, hey, you probably shouldn't tell the head coach. You're going to slash him in his fat fucking face. I'm like, I know. I'm going to go apologize. Walk up. Hey, Hitch, man.

Sorry. I didn't mean to say that. He's like, I don't even know what you're talking about, really. That's the thing. That's the one thing About Hitch Is he's not sensitive And you can give it Right back to him

When he's giving it to you And he's not gonna He's not gonna give Two shits a minute later Yeah I liked Hitch With my two weeks there I was kind of pissed off

He kind of liked us too He was like Hey guys We're gonna walk to the locker room I was like Why'd you cut me three days What do you mean I brought a lot to the locker room

I remember somebody Got ran on On the Blues And it was a preseason game. I want to say it was against Minnesota. Yeah, we both played that game. Fucking Joel Recklet. Yeah, Joel Reckler. I played with the record. Awesome guy.

Oh, yeah. You got to get him on the podcast. He's probably the most shredded person I've ever seen. Of all time. Like, legit, 12 abs. 10 more than me. Him and Schmidty were taking the same diet. I wish I would look like that.

But I think Revo fought Reckless, and then right after, Hitch is like, he's like, are you going to get out there and fight too, Biz? He's like, why are we giving you all that per diem? So I went out there the next shift and fought that. Really? Bickle? Was Bickle there next shift and fought that really Bickle was Bickle there yeah yeah Stu Bickle

I ended up fighting twice that night yeah I was pissed I was like this motherfucker trying to take my job I better get my fucking per diem

back tomorrow you hitch piece of trash dude I remember we'll end with this but during that tryout I like walked to the shower one time

didn't even know Revo he's like you're trying out for this team with that body I was like one time and didn't even know Revo. He's like, you're trying out for this team with that body? I was like, fuck you. I don't even know this guy. Wait till we meet. He's like, why don't you come over

to my apartment? I'll set you all up. Thank you very much, boys. We appreciate it. This is ideal. And Flower, 10 shoutouts I bet. Oh, jeez. He's a fucking idiot. Now he's going to stick at five. You know what I mean?

That's what I just said. Next shout out, next shout out, you get him. Thank God. But we appreciate it very much. Peace out. Thanks guys.

It was a lot of fun. Take care guys. That interview was also brought to you by Robinhood. Robinhood is an investing app that lets you buy and sell stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptos,

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That's chicklets.robinhood.com. Give it a try and get in the game. Once again, we can't thank Revo Schmitty and Marc-Andre Fleury enough. That was a great interview. Like I say, I always say, so we do them in person. They're just so much better. And Nate Schmidt, man, that kid is absolutely full of personality. Had a lot of fun talking to him. I can't wait to have him on again. We did mention before the interviews, the Flyers, man,

they are on the verge of using a record-tying seventh goaltender this season. They picked up Mike McKenna from Wavers. If he does start, he will become the seventh goalie to start the season. And it's only January. There's been three other teams in history that have used seven goalies in a season. That's over the course of an entire season. Brian Elliott was the purported number one. He's been out since November.

He should be practicing within a couple weeks. But it's crazy that they're only in January, and they've already gone through seven guys. Six of these guys have appeared in at least two games, so it's not like they're calling up a rando here and there. It feels like it's an e-bug situation waiting to happen where they're going to have to pull some guy off of a street close and start him at some point.

But we've been hearing about bonuses this week. I thought bonuses were done. I thought we talked about it before. Guys didn't get bonuses anymore, but apparently that's not the case. There's a couple of big bonuses this week. Elias Bettison got a couple. bonuses this week elias bennison got a couple uh austin madden's he hit some bonus levels too you got a pretty good bonus story for us right biz well because we were talking about the pyatt residence i went there and stopped by

and uh and he goes hey listen to this bonus story by the way taylor pyatt uh he'll never come on the podcast even the thought of it gives him anxiety. Unbelievable guy. Some people are just like not down to come on and tell stories, and we're cool with that. But I get to tell a secondhand story now, and then I looked at the good guy, so thank you, Pyatt, and here it goes. So he started off his career with the Islanders. He was drafted first round, eighth overall. And you guys might know more about this.

So when Joe Thornton was drafted first overall, at that time, there was really no way to compensate these young guys who were coming in and making impacts right away. So his agent kind of set the tone as far as setting up all this bonus structure. He was like one of, if not the first guy to set up all these crazy bonuses. Like if you get 20 goals, you get an extra, you know, 250K. If you get this, you get extra that. So Paisley was one of those

guys drafted first round eighth overall he ended up getting all these crazy bonuses in his contract uh and at the time too if you didn't hit them in your first year they would roll over and the money would roll over to the second year as well so basically like if you eventually hit it in your first few years you were even paid out so he ends up getting traded over to Buffalo in his first off season after his first year in the NHL. And he actually got sent down to Rochester to the minors to start the season. Halfway through the season, the team was struggling. He ended up getting called up and had a great second half.

Well, he ended up having a plus minus bonus. He finished that year with 10 goals, 10 assists. And going into the last game, he needed two pluses in order to hit a bonus. He finished that year with 10 goals, 10 assists, and going into the last game, he needed two pluses in order to hit a bonus. So he ends up getting put on a line with Miroslav Shatan, who led their team in scoring, and sure enough, in that last game of the season,

mind you, it was Rob Ray's last game ever. Paisey ends up getting a plus early on in the first period, right away, and a few guys on the team were aware of this bonus. How much is this for? I'm waiting to drop it. And I'm also waiting to look up the guy.

So Rhett Warner was one of the guys who knew about the bonus. Fast forward, they're up by a goal and the clock's winding down. There's a whistle. The other team calls a timeout Rhett Werner goes over to Lindy Ruff and goes hey Paisley's got a plus minus bonus he goes put him on the ice so Paisley gets put on the ice and of course it's Rob Ray's last game they throw Rob Ray out there well they win the draw the draws in their own end they win the faceoff. Their defenseman rims it around. Pisey gets it. He looks up.

Rob Ray is streaking across the ice. He clearly wants this fucking puck in his last game to put it in the empty net. Pisey has a split-second decision to make. Am I going to risk passing this to Rob Ray in his last game who can put it in the net? He does not pass to Rob Ray. He fucking gets the puck. He sprints to the red line, shoots it in the empty net,

ends up getting a $450,000 bonus for plus minus, $290,000 after taxes. And Rob Ray didn't complain. I don't even know if he was aware about the bonus, but Paisley ended up finishing the season plus four. He tied Tim Connolly for third place because if you finish in the top three, that's how he got his bonus. And then he ended up putting that money towards buying a cottage,

which I think he bought the cottage for like $600K. Now it's worth like close to $2 million. So really that bonus has turned into a lot more money for Taylor Pyatt, and I hope he's okay with me telling that story on the podcast. Now, saying that, do you have any crazy bonus stories, Whit? That was in the last game of the season. It hit a 450K bonus. Dude, I'm pretty sure.

I know we're all over Flurry this episode. I'm pretty sure that he had a huge bonus coming to him my rookie year. I think it was goals against the average. God damn, I wish we could find out. But either way, he didn't start the game in Toronto. It was the last game of the year. We weren't making the playoffs. And Terrian pulled, I think, Tebow had started, or I don't know who had started. It didn't

even matter because he put Fleury in and Fleury made enough saves to get the bonus, to get the goals against the average or save percentage, whatever it was, and ended up getting it. I think it was a couple million, dude. Or at least a million. Yeah, crazy money. And also, like, I remember I got a couple of – You just went up to me.

I got a couple of – well, no. I mean, Fleury's made – what's he made, 80 million? The one about Pye, it's hilarious because it's like, I want this money. I'm trusting myself. I'm not risking Rob Ray missing the – I wouldn't even care if Rob Ray would have caved my face in. Yeah. Yeah, until Pye's went down and missed it himself.

And then he's like, oh, my God, I really – I fucked Rob Ray and I fucked myself too. So he ended up bringing out Rhett Werner that night when they landed back in Buffalo. And they ended up missing their meetings the next day because they got so fucked up off the bonus money. Well, he went out and treated all the boys, whoever went out. But that's a heads-up play by Rhett Warner. Actually, Tyson Nash also hit a big bonus.

He wouldn't tell me the number. He's not a number guy. He doesn't want to, like, sound, you know, like, cocky with making a lot of money. And it was an ice time bonus. And he ended up playing, like, 25 minutes in his, like, last game of the season. He'd never played 25 in his career.

He'd never basically played half of that in his career. And Quinville just was keeping him on the ice for power play and everything. And he ended up – I think it was probably 100K. Back then, the coaches were helping guys out make the bonus money. That's the best when the coach looks out. I saw a story. Some guy in the New Orleans Saints, he needed a certain sack or needed

to stay, I don't know, whatever he needed for $400,000, but they wanted to rest all their studs in the last game of the regular season, so they paid him the bonus anyways and let him not play the game. Oh, wow. That's nice. That's very rare. You don't see that very often. Yeah. Especially in football.

No shit. They're like, get out there. Hey, we're going to cut you instead. Yeah, no shit. I know you got this bonus coming up. I know you got this bonus coming up, so we're actually going to let you go. Thanks for your services. Yeah, they are bloodthirsty. One other thing.

Shout out to the fan who had the Eric Johnson sign at the game Saturday night asking if he was wearing a thong. Did you guys happen to see that? I did see that. And also, thanks to the Colorado Avalanche for shouting us out. They actually tagged us in the tweet with the fan holding the sign. I thought that was pretty cool to have a team tweet out at us and shout out to her for that.

That was a brilliant sign. And then I did see he responded on our Instagram page. He said, no, it's a G string. So pretty funny interaction we've been having with some of the players lately. Go ahead, Biz. One thing that we have to mention is the fact that Keith Yandel made the All-Star game

is massive for this podcast. We will be having tons of player interaction when we go there. We still need to set up the logistics of it, but long story short, we're going to be reaching out to some teams and seeing if we can get some very, very fun interviews at all-star time. I just want one thing, Biz.

I just want to be the announcer when he comes on the ice so I can say, I fiendle from the Atlantic Division. Hey, guys, he also got his 500th point last night. Okay, thank you, Grinnell. Great, great input. I love that. That's a good job. We needed that.

Actually, I know we, before we move on to the next thing, I just saw on Instagram, we brought up World Juniors, but did you guys see when the Finnish goalie celebrated? He chucked his stick and it buried the USA kid right in the face. So as you lose the gold medal, you get a goalie stick right in the melon. Kidding me? That's a tough balance. All right, what else do we got here?

I actually had a couple of other interesting notes, I thought, from the halfway point. I always say on Twitter that the best time to be down a game is 3-0 early in the first. There have been 285 comeback wins so far this season. That's the most ever through 635 games of a season in NHL history. There have been 84 instances of a team overcoming a multi-goal deficit to win a game this season and 13.2% of games.

So that's a pretty high number, 13.2% of games a team has come back from a multi-goal deficit. So if you're like me and the Whit Dog, if you're a gambling man, you're never out of it. Dude, all right. This is why I love when I like a team that they go down 1-0 early. Live bet it. Boom.

And the odds change so much after going down 1-0 early in the game. You're like, dude, this is great. I got this game double now on way better lines. So, yeah, if you're confident in a team, they go down 1-0, don't be scared. Just hop, hop. Put some more on there. Hop on some more action. Plenty of time, plenty of time.

And, again, we always talk about the young stars in this league and how they're fueling the league and why it's so good. Ten of the 13 players to reach the 50-point mark this season are 25 or younger. The only three guys who aren't, Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby, and Blake Wheeler, almost half the players who have appeared in at least one game this season are 25 or younger, including 26% age 23 or under. So again, we emphasize all the time, youth, youth, youth. This league is getting younger, it's getting faster, and it's getting better, and it makes everything around it better, including this show. Guys, before we get to some more NHL news, I just wanted to talk to you for a second about Capapterra.

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Capterra.com slash Chicklets. Capterra, that's C-A-P-T-E-R-R-A dot com slash Chicklets. I also want to mention Chris Wagner, boys. I know we've talked about him on the podcast before, like when at the PGA event, everyone recognized me and not him, even though he's on the Bruins and I'm a part of Spitting Chicklets,

but yeah, he's a good buddy of mine. His grandfather passed away, so I wanted to say thoughts are with him and his family. And he scored a huge goal for the Bruins just on Saturday night against Buffalo. They got a big win, 2-1. So shout-out to Wags, who's, I think, R.A., I'll ask you, has had a pretty solid impact his first year as a Bruin. I mean, he runs around and hits everything.

Everyone knows him as the guy who just will nonstop be on the forecheck, hard-hitting, prick to play against. And he's got five goals now, too. So shout-out to him. He runs around and hits everything. Everyone knows him as the guy who just will nonstop be on the forecheck, hard hitting, prick to play against. And he's got five goals now, too. So shout out to him. Yeah, I mean, I remember when the Bruins acquired him back in the summer and Biz said, you're going to love this guy. He's a honey badger. I play against him.

He's a piece of shit. And that's a compliment. And a compliment, right. He's come as advertised. And like you said, five goals. That's, you know, at this point in the season, about what you expect from a guy playing the fourth line. I love what he brings. Scrappiness, grit, and like you said, five goals, that's at this point in the season about what you expect from a guy playing the fourth line. I love what he brings, scrappiness, grit, guys like that.

They've always been the kind of Bruins bottom six, and I appreciate what he does. Certainly, I think even guys, Whit, maybe you could speak to this. Do you think guys, I don't say go a little bit harder, but even playing for your hometown team, I sometimes think they're even giving a little more oomph when they're wearing the sweater that they wore as a kid. Yeah, I mean, I think especially for him, he knows that

the fans eat it up. Anytime he finishes a hit, it's just another extra beer bought for you when you're at the hop one night. Thanks, man. I saw that hit you checked. You checked that guy hard that night. That was unreal, Chris. He's like, thanks a lot, man. Thanks. Yeah, I play hard. I try to play hard. Yeah,

he hasn't had me on the podcast yet, but I will skate pretty hard and I finish all my checks. Well, first impressions, you know, he hasn't had me on the podcast yet, but I will skate pretty hard, and I finish all my checks. Well, first impressions are everything. I think he had a pretty good start to the season. And does anyone embrace lunch pail guys more than the city of Boston? Like, that's like if you're a fucking grinder. Like, look at Thornton. Yeah, that probably is the number one city, right,

where if you're going to be like the lunch pail grinder, hit everything, fight, you're going to just be beloved. I mean, Philly, Philly a little bit, but they'll want you to be just a little dirty. They want you to be as dirty as possible. I don't know. Either way, you're looking at a guy who's done a great job, so Wags will show it up for you. I love you.

I drew a blank, too. I wasn't talking about Joe Thornton. What's the other one? I'm fucked the fighter. Sean. Sean Thornton. I knew you were talking about Joe Thornton. What's the other one? I'm fucking the fighter. Sean Thornton. Sean Thornton. I knew you were talking about Joe.

Sorry, Ray. You ever get punched in the face a thousand times? No, I wasn't. Do you know what CTE is? Oh, Ray, Carcillo is going to be after you now. You're fucking making fun of me. You're talking about that. Well, I wasn't.

You were. Yeah, you made fun of his inability to remember. Yeah. You did, too, Whit. You said, oh, I did mention the honors. Oh, sorry, I blocked out. Yeah, exactly. Protected your ass.

You're on a roll today, huh, with Ryan Reeves as well, man. You're on a roll, R.A. Jesus. Speaking of remembering, some people speculate that Darren McCarty didn't remember that you were on the interview last week. Okay, thank you for mentioning this. Darren McCarty didn't remember that you were on the interview last week. Okay. Thank you for mentioning this.

At the end of the interview, and there was a couple times I didn't say hello at the start, assuming because he knew I was the one who brought him on because I got his number from his friend. And then I sent it right to Grinnell. So Grinnell lined up the interview. I just thought he knew I was on it. I don't think Darren McCarty has any fucking idea who I am. I think that he thought that two people were conducting interview. And at the end, I even, he goes, he goes by wit, by RA and didn't say bye to me, nor did he acknowledge me at the start. So for those of you who are going to go back and listen to the Darren McCarty interview or who, who haven't

listened to it yet, just, just try to look out for that. And I think that's fucking hilarious. By the way, you can't snub me. I'm a pigeon. I know that. I almost want to reach out to him and ask, or if nobody – please nobody tell him that. Maybe we can have him on again and see if I wasn't – Oh, it's too late now.

It's too late now. He'll hear about this. Oh, you think – I mean, someone's going to ask him, like, dude. And the funny thing is, it was halfway through, and I was like, I think one time he's gonna ask him like dude and the funny thing is it was halfway through and i was like i think one time he's like yeah you know what you two guys are doing he's something there was some little cool and i was like i don't think he knows biz is on this or who biz is like and then at the end that's what it was and he's like cra see you unless he just hates your guts for something i. Yeah, then I was like, I guess I'll just go fuck myself.

So I don't know. I guess we'll find out soon enough. And one more thing about a past podcast before I let you hop in there, R.A., is the Best Of episode that Grinnell cut up. I would say from the time that I joined on, we've gained a substantial amount of followers, even in the last, like, three months. So if you don't know about some of the lingo or haven't caught up on some of the guys we talk about a lot on the podcast i think the best of episode uh that was dropped a few episodes before

this would be a good one to go back on and just re-listen it's a long one but you know it's the best up so at least you're going to have more laughs and maybe a normal episode i mean other than this one because this one is a way to go with the Vegas Golden Knights boys. What are you thinking, R.A.? I just wanted to tell everybody thanks for the kind words they did have about the Darren McCarty interview. He was a pretty well-requested guy before we had him,

not just from Wings fans, from hockey fans all over, I think because of the way he played the game. Such a gritty guy. He scored, obviously, the cup-winning goal. So thanks to everybody who appreciated the interview. It was fun doing it. And also, everybody loved chirping my picture. I posted it with me and McCarty from the locker room.

Got a lot of chirps there. But I don't know how you can chirp a guy who snuck in the locker room and got a picture with a guy who just won the cup. Oh, he was excited. The only one to be excited to see you. It definitely wasn't fucking Chelios, that's for sure. All right. Well,

folks, I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Have a great week at work. It's been a fun one. I think the Vegas, I think this one's going to be a doozy. I think everyone's going to love this interview. So any final notes you want to share with the listeners before the week

starts, boys? Yup. Thank you very much for listening. That was a blast. And thanks again to the golden Knights. Continue to rip it up. Peace out. Have a great week, y'all. There's a thousand pretty women waiting out there They're all living the devil may care

And I'm just a devil with love as spare So viva Las Vegas Viva Las Vegas How I wish that there were more than 24 hours in the day