Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 148: Featuring Adrian Aucoin

Episode Date: February 7, 2019

On Thursday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets the guys are joined by Adrian Aucoin. The last time the boys heard from Adrian was in Chicago at the failed live show, so we got Adrian's take on that plus a bunch more. The guys also go around the league and touch on some news and trades while also discussing the Blackhawks and Patrick Kane. Can Chicago make the playoffs? Is Kane the greatest US born player ever? The guys discussed. The boys also dove into the topic of player tracking technology and what the means for the players. The guys wrap up with the story of Biz's first twitter handle and why it was deleted. 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. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Let's say hello to the gentleman this morning. Let's go to our producer, Mikey Grinelli, first. He looks to be the most awake. What's up, brother? What's up, guys? Pretty excited going to MSG for the first time tonight. Shout out to Kevin Hayes for hooking me up with some tickets. So Bruins vs. Rangers at MSG tonight. I'm very excited.

Nice. Kevin Hayes Sr. or Kevin Hayes Jr.? Kevin Hayes Jr. I know. I'm sure he hasn't had the pleasure to meet Sr. Yeah, he was a big ticket guy back in the day in Boston. What's up, Ryan Whitney, our other host? What's going on, pal?

What up, what up? And bringing up Kevin Hayes Sr., he's furious at me, apparently, because when I won $100 off him last year, because when the Bruins beat Toronto in the series, he says he paid me. So when he saw that I brought up his name or heard that I brought up his name, said I never paid, he wanted me dead. So I guess he did pay me. I mean, sometimes I don't remember things very well,

but I guess he handed me a $100 bill at Molinari's. So thanks for paying me, Mr. Hayes, I think. Hey, that's tough because then you're like, I don't remember. Especially this guy. This is the type of guy that, like, this is not the guy that wants people thinking he didn't pay me. Yeah, and he's going to drive up with that big white pickup truck on your front lawn, and now you got smoke.

Yeah, tough paying people when they're buckled. And there's a final member of the squad, Paul Bissonnette, Biz Nasty. What's up, buddy? Hello, everybody. And Grinnell, happy birthday, my friend. Thank you, man. You're going to be celebrating with some Pink Whitney's at that Rangers-Bruins game?

Multiple Pink Whitneys. I'll have some before, I'll try to have some during, and then I'll certainly have some after. You're 26 now, you said? Yeah, 26. I'm on the second half of 20s. I'm not in my early 20s anymore. You just went from prospect to suspect overnight.

I know. I know. It's time for me to perform. I can't be all talk anymore. I have to go out there and actually do it. 26 ain't bad. It's fucking late 20s suck, dude. Wait till you get to that. Speaking of 20s, the 20s are going to be pretty good for Austin Matthews considering how much money he's going to be banking away. He signed his extension that's been long talked about for about six or seven months now. Five years, $58 million extension, a little over $58 million,

11.634 average annual value. It's very heavy on sign-in bonuses. In fact, $54.5 million is in sign-in bonuses. Only $3.65 is technically salary. Obviously, there's reasons they do that. Boys, is this about what you were expecting him to sign for? Wits, we'll go to you first. Yeah, it is.

Not much surprise. A couple thoughts on the deal. Good expecting him to sign for? Which will go to you first? Yeah, it is. Not much surprise. A couple thoughts on the deal. Good for him. Good for the team. I think both kind of come out happy at the end of this, or right now at least. Now, talking about the signing bonus, Jesus Christ, can I go hang out with him on July 1st? Every year he's getting 15.2 on July 1st.

I think the next three years, and then the next two, it's like 7.5 right around then. So his salary is always around 700, 750 K. So his two weeks will be like business two weeks back in the day, but he doesn't matter because biz never had that first 15 sheet one come in the mail, or I guess direct deposit. Now just check your account on the morning of July 1st, then go rip it up for three weeks. But he's a professional. He deserves this money. Five on five. Incredible player. Incredible talent. I mean, when you think of the future of the NHL,

you think of Connor McDavid and Austin Matthews is maybe not right there, but 1B certainly. And the Leafs have now set themselves up, man. This is the thing. They got Marner to go. But his agent said today, this is Wednesday morning, that Mitch Marner's going to be in Maple Leaf for a long time. So they have their core in place.

They have Tavares. They got Riley. They got Kadri at four and a half. They got, you know, the Nylander situation. Now the team and the fans don't have to deal with something like that for Matthews and the possibility of an offer sheet. Now it's time to perform. The Leafs have a six-year window, including this year.

That's kind of what they're looking at. And that's when, you know, Tavares could even be out of his prime in five years. So they're really looking, you know, say three, four years of having chances to win every one of those seasons. And now it's game on because until you sign that big deal, it's all, you know, fun and games. But being one of the highest played players in hockey in Toronto, there'll be pressure. And I think if anyone's ready to handle it, it's Austin Matthews.

Insane structure on this deal. I actually read a tweet, and I'm still digging to find out information because I'm getting 50-50 on it. A CPA actually messaged a guy who tweeted it saying, you know, I don't, I don't think that's accurate. Send me the documentation. This is the original tweet from, from Kevin McGrann. And it said, according to tax treaty between Canada, United States as a U S resident, which remember like a lot of these guys who are signing these deals are Canadian residents, like the way they're structured anyway. As a US resident,

Matthew's massive signing moments of 54.5 million would be taxed at 15% in Canada. His salary 3.65 million would be taxed at the 53.53% mark. Basically saying that it's not in salary, so they can't tax it like they would a salary. Now, I've also heard it that it's not in salary, so they can't tax it like they would a salary. Now, I've also heard it, that it's not accurate, but that's a huge fucking difference. You're talking about $10 million more in your pocket, not paying that heavy tax that is in Toronto at the rate that Alistair Matthews would be getting paid.

So if his agent, in in fact structured it that way by knowing that rule that's an agent who deserves a pat on the back not the guy who forgets to sign in the no trade clause sending the no trade clause list and and then all of a sudden you get dealt the buffalo and then all and then you're out of the league four months later yeah so that's a that's a solid agent looking out for you it may not not be accurate, but as I mentioned, a big difference. And then as you said, Whit, their window is five years. Awesome Matthew set himself up to be one of the highest paid players of all time.

This is the type of deal you want your agent to get you not, and this isn't a shot at McKinnon or his agent, but fuck, man. I mean, Whit, I think McKinnon's locked into 2023 at 6.3, and then he sees a guy who I would say McKinnon's better than Matthews. Really? I would say at least comparable. I would say they're at dead even. Man, I would say McKinnon's number two right behind McDavid.

Just the way he controls the ice, and he's a centerman as well. So, well, I mean, so is Matthews, but you get what I'm saying. So, that's a little nauseating to look at that contract and think I should be making at least minimum 10. Yep. That's a tough one. Timing's everything in life. You know, you're talking to a guy that had 14 goals, 45 assists.

His restricted free agency year. Timing's everything, boys. That's how you get paid. Unfortunately, the timing of signing deals and the contract and the money when McKinnon signed wasn't there, but still, you got to be a little rattled knowing he's making double. Also, back to the Matthews deal. Huge win for him in terms of being 26 years old and being UFA.

And if you thought Tavares was a gong show this past summer, can you imagine if any team in the league could try to go after Austin Matthews? Who knows? Maybe he loves it in Toronto. He ends up a lifelong Leaf. But it also sets the team up nice, Biz, because they're giving up three years of having this guy in their prime,

but they're getting a lower AAV. If you're looking at signing him for eight years, his number would have been 13. It would have been a 13-per-year deal because you're locking up three more years of unrestricted free agency this deal only locked up one so the leafs are going to have a little couple say two to three million every year his deal now to add players to sign somebody else i mean like you said they still have to get marner done i think he'll come in right around nine nine and a half a year probably unless he goes eight years be ten. Either way, it was a win-win for the player and the team going the five years.

Austin Matthews said, we talked three years, we talked eight years, settled on five. So great job by his agency and good job by the Leafs to think actually about what they want to do and what their plan is. And instead of looking at like eight-year window, they're like, all right, we're going to treat it as a five-year window. Yeah, as you mentioned, that deal is going to take him through 2024. He's still only going to be 26 years old.

It's an incredible second contract. And this is a number that jumped out to me. Only two players since the start of the 1987-88 season have buried more even strength goals than Matthews over the first 182 games of their careers. Eric Lindros and Tim Mussolini. So that's the kind of company he's at right now as a goal scorer. He's still only 21 years old.

I mean, he's going to get better. Like I just said, he's an elite number one center and an elite sniper. This is money well spent, man. And like you said, Wits, he could have actually taken more. He is leaving some aside, sort of what Tom Brady does with the Pats. Like, you know, you want your team to get better. Well, you can't take all the money. You've got to leave some for the rest of the guys.

So, you know, kudos to Matthews for getting paid. Speaking of number one centers, Patrice Bergeron played in his 1,000th game Tuesday night versus the Islanders. Yet another player who had his 1,000th game this year. He's just the fifth Bruin in the history of the team to play that many. He also got two goals, including the empty net from Pasta. Biz, what's your take? I thought that was an awesome heads-up play by Pasta.

I mean, I would have had my head down, buried, looking, staring, right directly at the puck because there's no way I would take an eye away from it. But Pasta gave her the shoulder check, nice little buddy pass to Bergeron and a nice way to cap off a pretty cool night, especially with Edelman spiking the puck for the ceremonial faceoff. Obviously, they were probably drunker than maggots at that game, celebrating the victory. So Boston is just, man, they're pumping right now.

Yeah, Biz, I can picture you doing the shoulder check on the empty net breakaway and then toe picking as you take your eye off the puck. It's just being an absolute blooper highlight. But one of the chances I wish there was a way to bet on it. Patrice Bergeron would have scored the first goal last night for the Bruins. It was like, that guy is just a legend has done it all.

And we've talked about him. All right. When we started on your couch, you and I, when we didn't even have anywhere to put this thing, this podcast online, we talked about Bergeron, I think every other episode,

but he's 33 years old. He's having the best offensive year of his career. I mean, you're not supposed to keep improving at his age. He's tough as shit to the things he's been through. I mean, you remember he missed a year when Randy Jones buried him from behind. So a thousand games, what a career he's done at all. World Junior Gold, Stanley Cup, World Championship, Olympic, World Cup. I mean, fuck. How many things can you win? And you talk to Marshawn and Poshnok. He's the reason that that line's so good.

It's just an incredible player that will have his jersey in the rafters, and he'll be in the Hall of Fame. And Bruins fans are lucky as hell to get to watch him. I mean, basically, what's his 12th or 13th season in the Bruins? They've been good that long, pretty much since he came. That's when they came back a little bit. They had some ugly years for a while, early 2000s, late 90s, and because of him, he's really been the guy,

the straw that stirred the drink this past decade. Just to reiterate what you said, Whit, he is flat out a winner. The fact that he can produce those offensive numbers playing the 200-foot game he does as a centerman is unfathomable. There's a few guys in the league that can do it. I would say there's about four or five guys who can play the games as well as him 200 feet center ice in the league, and he continues to get it done.

I'm always thinking, okay, this guy is going to start deteriorating. You just said he's putting up his best offensive numbers of his career. Fuck to me. That's crazy. That's a very good team. I think they're going to need to beef up the D just a little bit if they want to make that run, though, boys. That's all I got to say about that.

Yeah, maybe another scoring winger. I think, too, Biz, would you agree that I don't know if any player has ever, like, talked shit to Patrice Bergeron in a game. Like, he's so universally respected that it's the type of guy that if a young kid said something, you know, we heard Sean Avery tell the story, like, if a young kid said something to Patrice Bergeron, someone on the bench, they shut the fuck up. Yeah, that's a fair assessment.

What was that? That was the Joee sackick uh sean avery yeah i'm gonna talk to mr sackick like that yeah it's mr bergeron and hey the best part of that story was abe's making fun of his suit coming in the rink it's just like dude you think fucking joe sackick cares that he's just strolling into the joe lewis like detroit you're bringing your Z suit out for that bar. He's like, no offense to the Joe Lewis, but fuck him. Oh, why do you think my – Yeah. In Detroit. I have bell bottoms on because I have to fit my money wrapped around my legs, Avery. Yeah.

I often hear parents say when they're teaching their kids about hockey, they say, just watch Bergeron and do what he does, and that's how you become a good hockey player. Obviously, having skill helps. One other note, too. We are bringing on Adrian Akoin a little later. He was one of the bad Chicago interviews we had. We had to recut it after because of the sound issues in Chicago,

but he was a fantastic interviewer, a pretty funny guy. Also, Wits, too, you just mentioned our early days on the couch back at my old pad. Happy anniversary to us, Wittdog. February 2nd of 2016 was our very first show before we were even with Boston. So we're just celebrating our third anniversary of Spitting Chicklets. So our first episode was celebrating a Super Bowl, correct? It was actually right before the Super Bowl.

It was right after the All-Star game that John Scott got the MVP. So we talked about that, and then we talked about the Super Bowl, which was Carolina-Denver. So quick three years, buddy, eh? So, it's just a year off. Funny that we have a coin on who, another guy who reached 1,000 games when I played for the Coyotes so I had to dig in about $800 to $1,000

out of my salary to get him a watch. Here we go. And then Patrice Bergeron had his 1,000th game. So, it just keeps haunting me. It was funny last night, Biz. Mike Johnson at NHL Network, said that to me. He said, I think one team I was on, a guy got traded, and all of a sudden we're all putting out money for 1,000 games,

his second game with the team. I'm like, oh, no. But he also did a good clip of Bergeron because he was making a tape to kind of show not career highlights but how good of a player he is. And the guys that make the tapes up were like, oh, we can get some goals. He's like, no, I don't want to just show his goals. That doesn't really describe him as a player. It's like it's not just the offensive things.

If you're going to show Patrice Bergeron's career highlights, it's the defensive plays. And it's the plays that on video would look like nothing. But if you play the game and you've been a teammate of his, you're like, oh, it's so good. Right side of the puck. Yeah, and he made that little pass, that six six foot pass out of the zone stuff that looks looks easy but really isn't all the little things that they say uh speaking of milestones biz we had another

one in the nhl last night it wasn't a player this time it was a coach a 52 year old paul maurice coached his 1500th game in winnipeg tuesday night versus san jose he did lose in overtime he's the youngest to achieve that mark only six coaches coaches have that many. Scotty Bowman, Joe Quenville, Al Abba, Barry Trotz, and Ken Hitchcock. He got his first job way back in 1995. He was only 29 years old when he took over the Hartford Whalers. He was with them for a few years, lost the cup in 02, went to Toronto, back to Carolina. He's bounced around a bit, but I think he's a coach who's really overachieved. If you look at some of the rosters he had he's never really had great teams up until I'd say the last couple years with Winnipeg and again he's 52 years old already coached 1500 games

it's it's not a stretch to think he's gonna pass Scotty Bowman at some point being that he's such a young guy either you guys ever play with him or have any experiences with him go to you first because well I ask a lot of questions he first of all he seems like an unbelievable guy he's great with the media he's got a great sense of humor uh players coach but yet still you know respected by his players where you know he runs a tight ship um one thing that stood out to me was when we were talking to Teddy Purcell and how I believe six or seven of the Winnipeg Jets work hand-in-hand with Adam Oates. Now, you know, some head coaches and teams are stubborn and feel weird about external people coming in to talk to their guys.

Paul Maurice has been extremely receptive to it. And, I mean, you're essentially getting another coach. And, I mean, Adam Oates put up how many points and he's telling your guys on the power play, you know, what they should be doing and giving them little tidbits. And that team's had a shit ton of success. I mean, you look at Wheeler, you look at Shifley, and of course, he's got some other guys there. But it's even to the point where, you know, he's saying, you know, when do you guys need the ice type of stuff? Like when you guys want to work on your skills. So not only a guy who's been around a while,

who has an unbelievable resume and who's an awesome guy, but to hear that he's so receptive to change tells me he's going to be along for a long time. Going to be a lot. What is it? Did I say that right? Going to be around for a long time. Going to be around for a long time.

God damn it. I knew what you meant. I misspelt my herbal active read. I was spelling it out the other day. Yeah, I said U-R-B-A-V instead of A-L. I've just been a mess lately. I need some more mental clarity. Hit me with my drops.

Well, listen, Paul Maurice, yeah, I mean, it's funny to think back. In the O2 finals, it was Detroit, Carolina. I actually was at, I think, game three in Carolina. I don't even remember what game of the series it was, but they brought the top five, like, rated North American players for the draft to a cup final game. So you got to, you know, interview with Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada, you know, do all the kind of media media rounds get to go in the locker rooms and I remember we got to meet Paul

Maurice met Iserman met a bunch of people but met Paul Maurice and at the time you know I was 18 like oh this NHL coach is incredible like you look up you look up to him he's in the cup finals he's talking about guys and what they're going through so I think it was Upshaw, Lupo was with me, Bomeister I wonder if those guys remember that. But either way, now I look at that, and Paul Maurice was 34 years old at the time. He's coaching in the Stanley Cup Finals,

and I'm older than him now. To think of the poise I imagined, not imagined, but kind of experienced that he had, and well-spoken. He's also funny. You'll see with the media, he's got a dry sense of humor. He gets them going. Sometimes if he's pissed off, he's funny about it.

If he's happy, he can be funny about it. And then also, you know, you see that Winnipeg's had a lot of kind of patience with the roster and the coach. And, you know, he was coaching in Russia for a year, and then he got hired by Winnipeg for the 13-14 season. They didn't make the playoffs. The next year they lost in the first round. That probably really pretty much helped them, you know, because then the next two years they didn't make the playoffs again. And you're thinking, wow, it's Paul Maurice going to get fired. But Winnipeg was smart and smart

enough. Uh, Kevin shoveled day off. I believe that's how you say it. He knew, all right, listen, this guy's a good coach. If I fire a good coach, that means I got to find someone. I don't think there's anyone out there better than him. And look at the success Winnipeg's now had. I mean, conference finals last year, I'd be not surprised in the least to see them win the West this year. And Biz, like you said, being able to work with guys and not be a hard ass and know when it's time to give in a little bit

in terms of oats and guys being able to get other voices, not just his voice. He doesn't have that big of an ego. It makes him a great coach. And I think guys really enjoy playing for him as well. Yeah. So he's a hell of a coach. Good luck to him and congratulations on his 15th time this game. So let's turn it over to Adrian Akoin right now. This was a fun interview. I hope you folks enjoy it. This interview is brought to you by Eagle Energy, the all natural caffeine inhaler. I've been talking about it and it's a sad day. We did a collaboration with 21 Savage for the Eagle Energy pens, which I mentioned is a beautiful all-natural caffeine inhaler. You don't have to drink coffee,

get that gut rot, or get the squirts and the shits like Grinnelli does at the barstool office that I keep hearing people complain about. This is great. This is going to give you that nice little kick. But our collaboration with 21 Savage, it's not going to be put on hold, but we just want to send him well wishes. He was deported from the United States. Apparently he was born in England, came here at 11 and overstayed his visa.

So we still have those pens. Now the Eagle Energy 21 Savage collaboration pens are probably worth more than what you'd buy them for at regular price. Would you not agree, Grinnell? Oh, without a doubt. It's a collector's item at this point. Exactly, and there's only so many left, so you can go there and get the 21 Savage collab.

It's the Biz20 promo code for 20% off. That's E A G L E dot energy, which is E N E R G Y. Reason I spelt that out is because I, I misspelt a few things on the last podcast regarding the ads and I've been getting roasted online. So Eagle energy, the all natural caffeine inhaler, you can go to their Instagram and Twitter, which are myeagleenergy on social media. You can talk to them about becoming a brand ambassador, about whether you want to distribute it in your area. So make sure you contact Elliot, who's the CEO, the creator of it. It's an awesome product.

I use it all the time. All the boys have used it. Great for that RV ride that we took all the way up the coast so you're not crushing coffee and, once again, clogging the toilet on the bus, which is something that Dana would do. But he's not a hockey guy. So moving away from that, My Eagle Energy. Follow them on social media.

If you have any questions about the product, hit them up. The all-natural caffeine inhaler biz 20 promo code for 20 off eagle energy ladies and gentlemen welcome uh one of my uh i think you say he's a good friend even though he's like 100 years old and he has like 20 kids he's basically philip rivers uh i play with this guy in uh in arizona with the ph Coyotes, the biggest wagon in the league. This guy's got over 1,000 games. I actually kind of pissed at him because he's one of the 10 guys who played 1,000 games in the Phoenix organization when I was there,

and I spent about $20K on 1,000 game gifts. But this guy, he's played a lot of places, has a lot of fun stories, one of the best teammates I've ever had. Actually, nicknamed the Sandman or Enter Sandman. places has a lot of fun stories one of the best teammates i've ever had actually a nickname the sandman or enter sandman uh adriana coin welcome to the spit and chiclets podcast yeah thanks for having me where are you at where are you where are you yeah that's all you came back with thanks for having me i thought you were gonna go back to him i'm just happy that biz biz got like 30 seconds of words without making a mistake and it's pretty exciting well actually he really didn't because you know we cut it correctly but he really fucked

up like the whole time at the beginning oh granola's gonna leave that in yeah marbles marbles all right well first before we get into everything we got to let everyone know that you you came you were nice enough to join us in chic, but it didn't work out. So now you're back. I want to get your first impression or first memory of meeting Paul Bissonette. Well, Biz came in highly, highly regarded in one of your boys, Keith Yandel, KY himself, as a funny dude who was going to be semi-challenged intellectually. So we weren't expecting much. And I think the funniest part is, you know, when he started this whole social media thing,

we thought he was absolutely off his rocker. And clearly, it actually pains me to say it, clearly he knew what he was doing I don't know how or maybe it was just you know some type of lucky twist the stars a lot yeah something happened and I you know I obviously everybody knows your story how you had to actually shut it down for a while and then come back with a new handle and all the rest of the stuff and I told the story you know when you guys were in Chicago that that was when the the Yotes were going through a tough time financially and ownership wise and Gary Bettman would come in and meet with the veterans on the team and meet with

the coaches one of the first times he comes in and he talks to us and clearly he didn't have a clue who we were at all and he just kept on asking where's this Paul Bissonette guy? Where's this Paul Bissonette? And he was so, you know, excited to have someone who actually wanted to go on social media. And, you know, I, you know, mind you, I don't think he was reading what you were writing, but someone must've filled them in that you were kind of funny. I don't know. Yeah. Well, I don't know about about that but let's not get carried away but uh so then biz comes in he acts like an idiot and people like

him and he got in a few fights and he did okay and then uh you know the rest is history he became kind of a fourth line locker room guy and you know he uh made a living so all right well i want to go back to uh because we're fellow terriers boston university and you're from ottawa you grew up in ottawa or right around there how do you end up i want to be you what how's jack parker find you just ripping clappers in what is it nippon not beyond raiders yeah and a p and close and close so 125 pims one year you kidding me yeah Yeah, well, you know, it was Canada, right? It was Canada back then. Everybody had to get dirty a little bit.

If you didn't bring the rest of Tim Horton's coffee, you'd get 10. Yeah, yeah. Well, I got drafted by the 67s in the OHL, and back then it was a goon league. And I was like, you know, what am I thinking? And school kind of came easy to me. So I thought of maybe going down to college. And I actually got recruited by a lot of schools because I went to a French high school. So technically English is my second language.

So even getting in with like a 300 SAT was doable. So I get recruited by all these schools. And BU was never even on my radar. And my last recruiting trip was to Michigan and red Barrenton calls me the night before my flight and goes, Oh, you're going to be the best seventh defense and we've had. And I didn't understand. I thought he like stuttered. I didn't even understand. I get off the phone. My dad looks at me like,

what's wrong. I'm like, he said, I was going to be the 70. So my best buddy at the time Stevie Thornton um he had already been recruited to BU he calls Blaze McDonald who was the assistant coach at the time Jackie Parker calls me they fly me in for the bean pot and it was like done deal like when you go down there and you see the bean oh it was unbelievable everything about it you know and I'd never actually been to a city that big. I was just blown away by everything. And, you know, as you know, Jack Parker, he's got a way. He's got a way with words.

He's a good salesman. You know, obviously he was a great coach and everything, but he was pretty impressive. So I was pretty excited about going down there. Hey, you call that other coach back up. You're like, hey, man, you're going to be the best coach I never had. Sorry, Blaze. No, you're like, hey, man, you're going to be the best coach I've ever had. Sorry, Blaze. No, you're like, hey,

sorry, Red. Sorry, Mr. Berenson, but Parker promised me the number six spot for the Terriers, so I got it back. Six and a half. You know what? I was actually scratched my first game at BU. Fucking Parker.

I almost left and went to junior. You're like, Dad, this is bullshit. I love you, Dad. No, you know what it was? And I get it. They played all their Boston kids.

I mean, that's the way it is, right? I mean, wit, right? It's all the way it was and then I had to earn my spot. Especially when you played. I mean, it was like all Boston kids

for a long time. It was all Boston kids. Even the kids who weren't from Boston pretended like they were from Boston. Adrian, we just said you're from Ottawa, the Ottawa area. Now, a couple years ago, the Sens had that Eastern Conference finals run. Everybody was kind of jumping on their bandwagon, but they weren't selling out every game. We always have this reputation for Canada that everybody's going to show up.

And then people were coming on social media and saying, oh Ottawa is like full of nerds it's all government nerds there is there any validity to that like there's just a lot of non-hockey fans in Ottawa specifically um I would say they're all fans but Ottawa is a different place Ottawa is probably one of the best places to raise a family you know it's very blue collar-ish um i think you kind of nailed it though it's very government like most of my friends there they're either government workers they're cops or they're teachers you know everybody has two kids their goal in life is to pay off their mortgage they're the nicest people in the world but they don't like to spend money they don't like to go out i don't think a lot of them enjoy life like i was one of the things when we came to Chicago and because of my green

card, we started spending our summers in Chicago. And then we ended up staying here with when I got traded to Calgary, found out that most neighborhoods in the U S when you find good people, like they're willing to have fun. Like, you know, it's a Tuesday night. Hey, let's go, let's go downtown for drinks. Hey, let's go on a golf trip. Let's do whatever. They're always willing. You go back to Ottawa and some of my best buddies are still there and uh it's not always as easy you know they have their own agenda and Ottawa is very like that and

then of course they built the rink like 40 miles out of town and you know you want to go to the drink you want to yeah sort of go to the game you want to have a few drinks and it's just it's not that easy so it's uh you know, it doesn't matter where you are. Everybody still wants a winner. So sometimes you've got to build it up, and Ottawa's a little finicky like that. Oki, let's start off with your pro career. We're going to talk about Vancouver. And who was your first head coach there?

Was it Keenan? No. No, I had Rick Lee, who was Pat Quinn's best friend. Pat Quinn's a legend. And it was funny. Like, back then, coaches didn't even talk to you. I mean, he ended up getting fired because we weren't good. We had such a great team.

They went to the cup finals in 94. That's right when I signed. And then from there on, it kind of went downhill, downhill. Pat Quinn had to fire him. I've never seen someone more angry than Pat Quinn coming in after he fired his best buddy. And Pat Quinn was a great coach. But even back then, like the only thing he ever told me in probably the year and a half he coached me was, don't go to your backhand, kid.

It sucks. That was it. Oh, shit. Never got mad at me. Never like was real happy real like he was awesome like and he was a good coach but there was no like personal you know what i mean we they didn't break plays down there they weren't detailed they weren't talking about specifically again we didn't even do video we had one video when i was there for the first playoffs ever it was like a pump

up video of showing guys fighting and beating the shit out of the other team that we're playing against. And the NHL, you guys had a video like that in the locker room. Yeah. Give me a break. It was awesome. Oh, that's like junior shit.

You put like the, it's like the song from, it's like the song when, when Rocky was in Russia training with their like, yeah, that's from there. We played, uh,

we played St. Louis. And the funniest thing is Russuss cortland who's one of the best all-time players i've ever played with they showed him beating the shit out of christian rutu but christian rutu was on our team now but he was playing for st louis before and it was like all the guys are looking around laughing it was just it was crazy hey and they and they didn't have it uh like synced up to the actual audio, so they had to hit the CD player to play the music. It was on a reel-to-reel.

Eight millimeter. Hey, so right when you got into the NHL, were you married then? No. Well, I've been with my wife since we were 16. Okay, so same thing in that. I mean, you're playing 95, 95 96 the beginning 94 95 are you what are you doing you're calling her from the hotel room after the game to check in and then the guys would head out like it must have just been incredible with no cell phones i can't even

imagine we had we had calling cards back then right so you'd like you know dial a number and then put your pin in and then it'd be like a long distance call. And it was funny because like there was no, there was almost no contact unless it was almost like an emergency or something, because you're not going to call him to say what's up. Yeah. I just played again. Great. Awesome. Okay. So the coolest thing back then though, and I mean, you guys are a little young, but all the guys would go out. I mean, we've all played on team where all the guys go out,

but back then it was like a religion. Everybody went out. Like after a practice, everybody would go to the bar. We'd go like literally play pool. It was like a scene at a slap shot. The entire team would be there, and then the married guys would go home, and they'd go have dinner with their families. Young guys would go home, take a nap, and then we'd go back out again. And then especially in the minors, sometimes it was like seven nights a week and you know,

our coaches were old school. So they got it. As long as you showed up and you know, busted your ass. And, but it was, it was, it honestly was like some of the most fun times in my life because everybody did it and everybody had a good time. All right. Can we talk about Keenan a little bit? I mean, in your relationship with him, obviously he's an iconic coach. Everyone talks about how fucking nuts he was. He was special. And I'll say this, before everything he did, he had a method.

Like, he had his own little genius, what was going to come out. Like, he already figured it out. So it wasn't like he would just fly off the handle for no reason. He pretty much planned everything. So he takes over. I'm injured, which like he's like yeah he doesn't like injured guys because in his world it means they're out of shape so i missed the first three games i play the the fourth game that he's there i play like 24 minutes and i was still pretty young so i'm like oh this is awesome you know i play the next game 24 minutes. And I was still pretty young. So I'm like, Oh, this is awesome. You know, I play the next game, 24 minutes, 23 minutes,

wherever the third game I play for him, I make a bad neutral zone pass. First shift of the game. Didn't play another shift. And I think I sat out for like four or five games after that. Oh shit. And he didn't say anything. No,

no. And then the only thing I'll say about Keenan is he, he would let you know where you stood like he either hated you or loved you there's no in between so it wasn't like you were trying to guess because clearly after that he didn't like me so i kind of knew it um you know and then i i think i was telling you guys a story at the bar where i finally been injured scratched and i was you know rattled and so i one day i show up at the r where I finally been injured, scratched, and I was, you know, rattled. And so one day I show up at the rink and I'm like,

I'm going to go ask him what I need to do. And the assistant coaches grabbed me and they're like, do not go up there. He's on a rampage. Someone leaked something to the paper, which we probably found out that it was him leaking it, blaming a player or something, who knows. But I get up there. I'm like, Mike, what do I got to do?

And he's like, oh, you'll never play in this league. You know, you're not good enough. You don't work hard enough. The phone rings. And it was his daughter and he sits on the phone and talks for like 10 minutes minimum. And I'm still sitting in the corner of his room in this little chair. He gets off the phone. He's like, you still here? I'm like, yeah. I'm like, he's like, where were we? I'm like, Oh, you're telling me how bad you,

I sucked. And he was like, that's right. You're still not going to get the, like, you know, get the fuck out of my room. You know, as I'm walking out, he goes, Hey, you're telling me how bad I sucked. And he was like, that's right. You're still not going to get the fuck out of my room. You know, as I'm walking out, he goes, hey, you know what? At least you had enough balls to come in and talk to me. And then I ended up playing the rest of the year. Like for like, we were already out of playoffs, I think, or something. He might have been right around the trade. I don't know.

But he was crazy like that. He loved guys who would go back at him, too. He wanted to challenge you. Oh, he wanted to. Unless he absolutely hated you. Like, there were some guys that he just, like, just, like, the one guy who he did not like was Trevor Linden. And when I got to Vancouver, Trevor Linden was, like, the ultimate captain, right?

He was, you know, after Messi, of course. And, of course, then we had Messi on our team. And then they went to, I think we went to Japan. I blew my ankle out, so I didn't go on the trip. Went to Japan and actually made Trevor gave up the C and give it to Messier. So it was just, it was like, it was a shit show. Absolutely. What's the most misunderstood thing about Mike Keenan?

You know, he obviously has a reputation, but what's something that people don't know about him? He actually is ridiculously generous and, but you don't see it. Like, he has so much fun doing certain things that people would never know because, you know, I mean, he loves that. He loves, you know, he likes people thinking that he's hard and everything. He's Iron Mike. But he, you know, and here's – so I'm in L.A. We're playing a game.

After the game, Corey Sarich comes running in the locker room. We're getting ready to get on the bus. And Corey Sarich is like, oh my God, Bublé, the singer. What's his first name? Michael Bublé. Michael Bublé is here. Michael Bublé is here. And I'm like, I know him, but he's like, oh, I got to go get his autograph for my wife.

And I literally joked around. I'm like, oh my God, you're such him, but he's like, Oh, I got to go get his autograph for my wife. And I literally joked around. I'm like, Oh my God, you're such a wuss. You know, like just teasing him. So Corey Serge runs over and gets his autograph and goes, Hey Michael, by the way, Adrian O'Coin just called me a fucking pussy. Cause I'm getting your autograph. Bublé comes out and he's like, where's Adrian O'Coin? And I'm like, Oh, Jesus Christ, dude, what are you doing? He goes, I'm your biggest fan cause he's from Vancouver. He goes, how could you like, Oh Jesus Christ, dude, what are you doing? He goes, I'm your biggest fan.

Cause he's from Vancouver. He goes, how could you like, you know, basically calling me out for ripping them. And then he was telling me all about Mike Keenan. He goes, Mike Keenan is like my surrogate godfather.

Like I met him early and he always looks after me. And he's like these weird stories about Keenan that people don't know. Like he's, he's, he's, he's actually a really cool dude, but on the hockey world, he's,

he's nuts. Was Buble like actually rattled? Or did we, or was he just kind of fucking around with you? I don't know, because I didn't stick around to talk to him. Hey, apparently that Bublé fucks. He's like a John Mayer type, and he just crushes. He's married now, but beforehand he was a dog. Just like multiple. I don't want to start any rumors but i heard

i saw him he's a lounge singer come on i actually know a girl fucked him i don't want to say i know that's why i know he fucks so you probably know a lot of girls who have fucked a lot of people all right hey what about the girl because I was dating her. I'm looking through this Vancouver roster. The first three names, Bure, Messier, Mogilny. And then that's number four.

First off, talk about Bure. Talk about the whole aura around Pavel Bure and Vancouver and what it was like being on the road with that guy. So this guy, he was exactly what you would imagine. He was a Russian guy who no one knew too much about.

He always did things. Actually, his best friend was Gino Ojek. I'm not sure if you were around when he played. Oh, yeah. Toughest, biggest, native, like this guy. He was crazy, and people loved him. Like, swear to God, I think, and I, I'm probably a little off on the numbers, but I'm, I'm really close. I think he has like eight kids with seven women.

And they're, they're all from the reserve. Like, and he would joke around. He'd be like, Hey, okay. How many wives do you think you can have on the reserve? I'm like, I don't know as many as you can afford, you know, whatever he was. Oh, he was on, but he actually lived on reserve in Chicago or sorry in Vancouver. Cause he got tax free money by living on there, but he was the best. He was one of those guys, old school throwback, tough guy who would take every rookie under their wing, like right away, like take us out. Always wanted to make sure you're taken care of, but he literally, it's almost like he was Pavel Burry's personal driver. Like he did did everything for him he got his food for him they had like a special relationship but burry he was exactly like you think he's like that almost that russian

mobster you never knew what he was up to there's always something i was telling you guys that one buddies around too or no like you know the russian guys in the room you're like who the fuck are these other russian guys one time we're in detroit he's got this guy that would meet us in detroit all the time the guy's shoulders were freaking he was like andre the giant we come in the locker room one day and the guy is doing push-ups in the middle of our locker room all right so like what all right nobody even the coaches don't say anything to him. Like it was crazy. Like literally coaches weren't going to like question this guy. He grabs a soccer ball. Cause you know, we kicked the soccer ball around. He throws it at the wall where the jerseys are hanging,

knocks the jerseys down and just walks out of the room. Nobody says anything. We're like, it almost felt like we were in Russia because nobody wanted to get killed. It was nuts. If you could only take Bure or McGillney, which one of those guys would you have taken? I would take McGillney. Really? Really?

Every day. Yeah. No, Bure could score. Well, McGillney scored more than freaking Bure. Not consistently, but McGillney, what, he had 76 one year? Yeah. I mean, they— But McGillney could pass but McGilney had more goals in his career. He played more games, but they play more games.

Still though McGilney was one of the coolest dudes ever. Okay. So here I am a rookie in Vancouver. He gets traded there in that PECA deal. So he comes over, his wife wasn't there yet. So he really had no one to hang out with with so he would take like me and brett heddiken out all the time and he would always be like try this wine try like he'd be buying like 500 bottles of wine back in the 90s and try this and he just wanted guys to hang out with so keenan loved him but would get rattled by him too right because you know keenan likes to kind of have a little bit of power over guys. And McGillney, I don't know if you know his whole story

of how he defected and everything. I think they're actually planning on the NHL network in a couple days. Yeah, so I'm looking forward to seeing that. But anyways, so the one time he's in the room, and Alex, he was not the most motivated guy because he was so fucking good. Like, he was so good it was scary he could pass he could shoot he could skate he could even play really physical like i've seen him bury guys in the corner grab the puck go and score because he was pissed off like at will but

he had to do it like only when he wanted to right so we're in the locker room keenan is all over him and we're like holy shit like you know normally he all over him. And we're like, holy shit. Like, you know, normally he's not on McGillney that bad. McGillney looks at me and goes, Mike, have you ever fucking heard how I defected? How they fucking threatened my family? How they fucking want to kill everybody? You think you're fucking scaring me?

And we're like, oh, shit. It was pretty crazy. But he was a good dude. Yeah. And Mike didn't know what to say because Mike normally always got the last word. And I was kind of like, all right, well, I guess that's...

That's why Keenan went and coached in Russia. He's like, fuck that guy. I'm getting the last word. I'll deal with Russia. I win. He's like, I'm going to have them threaten my family, but twice. Okie, I think I've told this story on the podcast before but mcgillney been sent down to the ahl the albany river rats

and apparently the story is is uh like i obviously he was away from his family because they were still in new jersey at the time and he goes into the coach's office and he's like hey uh he goes what's the fine for missing practice? And the coach is like, oh, I think it's like $250. So the next day he came back with a check written out for every practice for the rest of the season and handed it over to him. I wouldn't be surprised. He's one of those guys who wrote the rule book on like, you know, the VO2.

Remember, we try to go as long as we possibly can. After like six minutes, he'd be like, I'm done. That's not going to score. Like he legitimately did it. You know, the VO2, remember we tried to go as long as we possibly can. After like six minutes, he'd be like, I'm done. That's not going to score. Like he legitimately did it. You know, everybody says that, but he actually did it because he's like, listen, I'm still going to score. I'm still going to be awesome. And he wasn't, he wasn't a dick about it either.

It was weird. Like I said, he's a really nice guy. You know, he's the guy, his summer place, he lived in Malibu. Then he had a, he had a, he had a membership at Sherwood country. You know what I mean? He was one of the, he's the guy, his summer place, he lived in Malibu. Then he had a membership at Sherwood Country. You know what I mean? He was one of the, he loved life. We went, so during the lockout, I think it was the first lockout. I can't remember which one.

I think it was a part of three lock. One of them, remember they had that war chest and they're like, okay, we're going to give you stipends. How much money are you guys going to need a month? You got to write it down, right? And some guys are like, oh, $5,000 a month. Some guys are like write it down right and some guys like oh five thousand dollars a month some guys like young guys some guys like two thousand some guys like ten thousand he wrote 120 grand a month i'm sitting next to him like what the fuck what are you doing he's like what well you fucking guy needs to live like he

was serious he's like i need 120 grand like he was driving down to California after the season, and he was driving a Suburban, I guess. The joke is it got a flat tire, but something went wrong with it, so he just bought a new one wherever he was and just kept driving. He was awesome. Adrian, you had one of the most legendary leaders in sports for you, Captain, so much so they named a leadership award after him, but Marc Messier, you know

what was that experience like when if you were acting up or you needed to play better did he just give you the look did he get vocal what kind of a leader was he in the room he was a little bit of both you know I um because you know you look at some of the like best leaders now you look at like uh Jonathan Taze like Jonathan Taze is going to outwork you everywhere mess obviously played hard and he would joke around he goes when i came into the league he goes i was a big winger at the end of his career he was like a small centerman right so a little different time um you know in practice like he wouldn't wear a helmet you know he just kind of float around half time he wouldn't practice but that's the way it was back then right the the all-stars they would sit on the boards watch the other guys do the drills um but i give him credit because he freaking

he got it done on the ice he partied like a rock star off the ice but he knew more about other players he would still go home and watch hockey games he always wanted to know about rookies he was uh you know he was one of those guys who god i can't remember i think he was like 45 when i played maybe 44 or something but he was single so he could party with the young guys he could relate to the old guys he had no problem like you know talking to families he just he literally seen it all done it all um and he would tell us stories like you know he's literally about him all, done it all. And he would tell us stories like, you know, he's literally about him doing everything,

but you still got to show up for games. And one time we were in Edmonton, we all went out the night before we were out of playoffs. And he got really pissed at a few of us. And it was, it was kind of a holy shit moment because you're like, well, you were always saying how you party, but he's like, yeah, you know, time and place. And he was, he was a cool guy to have around.

Even when we had team parties, a lot of times he would open it up, say, bring all your friends, bring all your families, the more the merrier, and we would have some epic blowout. We'd have parties with like 300, 400 people sometimes. It was crazy. What's an example of something that would cause him to blow his top? Like for Mark Massey to really lose his shit, what would his teammates have to do?

A lot of time it was almost disrespect you know like towards the game which is kind of back then you didn't really see it as much because sometimes you know guys would go out before a game you know the night before but they would show up and you'd play guilty and you would bust your ass off and the problem was like the one time that i was talking about we were in edmonton which was still kind of his baby right and there's probably five of us who went out and we didn't play very well and we lost the game and it was kind of a pretty shitty effort and he just you know and i think him knowing that who he was and what town we were in um

but he would he was very good at kind of relating it to big days when they're in edmonton and winning and in new york and just saying how it worked and how guys played and you know some of his best buddies were like you know the dirtiest players because i mean biz you know it right when you play against your buddies sometimes you want to fucking kill them because you don't want them to say i got the upper hand on you after the game and a lot of that's just kind of learning experiences yeah i mean i would agree with that um it's i mean i think it's all in how you when you're coming up in pro you know we talked to simmer uh reed simpson today actually we were making interviews by the way for those listening and we just talked about

the culture and and to me there was never friends out there like if there was a guy in their team i was buddies with like you know some guys around warm-up now they're playing tummy sticks at center ice like that was going on a little bit when i was in the in the minors towards the end of my career and i would come in the locker room after um after warm-ups I'm like holy fuck a lot of buddies out there hey guys playing tummy sticks I'm like no fucking friends out there and like they're looking at me like I'm a little weird and I'm like you know they think you're an asshole I don't want to fucking bag skate Monday after our day off or Tuesday after a day off because you want to play fucking tummy sticks and have fun with your friends out there. Yeah. Well, social media has made it tough, right? Because everybody knows

everybody now. I mean, even my, my son who plays, he knows everybody in his fricking birth year, literally not only in North America, but he even like connects with some kids in Sweden and these other places. It's like nuts. When, when I started playing because of no cell phone, no nothing, I didn't know anybody like you want here's here's a perfect story two guys I knew right when I came in the NHL one was Stevie Eisenman because we had the same agent so he introduced me to him when I was like before I even played pro I met him at a couple golf tournaments like the ultimate professional coolest guy he would go out of his way I'm like 18 years old 19 years. He would go out of his way. I'm like 18 years old, 19 years old.

He would go out of his way to find me and talk to me for like 20 minutes at a golf tournament. Like he was the best first game against him. I'm playing. I'm so excited. I'm playing against Stevie. I was when a guy who actually played for an opinion as well, he two hands me in the back, like literally as hard as he could. And he wasn't a dirty player, but he was basically get the fuck out of my way. You know, we're not buddies. It was like, holy shit. The other one, all time legend, Walt Kachuk, who was best friends with my roommate at BU, John Lilly,

he would come down from the Olympic team, take us out every night he was in town. I didn't know the guy treated me like gold. I'm playing against him. I mean, he played a rougher style. Same thing. I'm battling him in front of the net and all of a sudden, butt end of the face, right? And he's like, get the fuck out of my way. And that was, you know, it was a lesson learned. But it was easier to hate everyone back then because you really didn't know anybody.

I mean, you guys know, as soon as you start going to those PA meetings and meeting all these douchebags, you're like, fuck. They're actually really good guys. It's kind of weird. You know what I mean? It really is, right? Yeah, and it makes you, it takes a certain person to, because some people are like, oh, he's my buddy.

I don't want to be a dickhead. That's not cool, you know? But if you're a real gamer, if you're a competitor, I don't give a fuck when the game's going on. How good of a buddy are you? Yeah, well, remember like back when, God, it was like Darian Hatcher and Jeremy Roenick, I think it was. Remember, they played on when, God, it was like Darian Hatcher and Jeremy Roenick, I think it was.

Remember, they played on the Olympic team together, they're best buddies, and then come playoff time, I think Hatcher broke Roenick's jaw. Yeah, it was like, fuck you. And I tried, you know, I wasn't that type of player, but, man, I freaking played my buddies even harder because the worst thing ever, especially at the end, I was like, well, I played hard, but I wasn't like... You didn thing ever, especially at the end. Well,

I played hard, but I wasn't like, you didn't fight, but you played hard. Like practice. Like you battled and you're a big motherfucker towards the end. Uh, very professional off the ice.

Like I remember that one summer you were training at Exos. And I'm like, man, this guy's like 58 years old and he's still cranking it. Good for him. All right. You got to go. You got one teed up for him, don't you? Yeah, there's one other guy I wanted to ask you about.

I'm not sure his name's ever come up on the podcast before, but Issa Tikkanen, was he one of the craziest teammates you ever had? Didn't he speak like a hybrid of Finnish and English all the time? He spoke so. The hybrid that he spoke was called Tikkanese because he was married to a Swedish girl, so he played in Sweden, but then he also was called ticanese because he was married to a swedish girl so he played in sweden and he knew but then he also was from finland but of course he spoke english but when he would get interviewed he would like mix them all three and the guys in finn the finnish guy said he couldn't

even speak finnish properly and the swedish he was he was so off the rails this guy so he comes up and plays with us and it was like non-stop and this is um back before my wife moved to Vancouver so you know still going out with all the guys I went out with him probably like three or four nights in a row and I'm like done can't do it he legitimately wrote the rule on he could not play well unless he went out what he was one of those guys like he had to go out today if he didn't go out he looked hungover if he went out he was fine like it was crazy just a straight savage oh he like so one time we're in montreal all my buddies from ot Ottawa drive up we're having the time of our life he's at the bar and my buddy's like oh my god that's Esotekian and I'm like yeah come over

don't you use it like seriously fuck yeah he's like he's even though he's a whack job he's still you know a teammate whatever this guy is such an idiot he was wearing all five of his Stanley cup rings at the bar in Montreal. I show my buddies. I'm like, Hey, I'm like, I said,

come eat my buddies. He literally just puts his hand in their face and goes, there you go, boys. Fuck off. I'm like, dude, I'm like,

they're, they're my buddies from home. And then he like, he caught himself. He goes, I think he thought it was just like fans wanted to meet him. And I'm like, no, they're my buddies from home. And literally's like oh literally hung out with them they like

started buying them drinks like he's he was nuts but you know what so you know so he was a nut and then when mess got traded to us all of a sudden he calmed down quite a bit like there's there's an example of mess in his leadership like he would control guys like that. Like he would keep them almost, you know, in line. So he was a different player. Then I heard when he got traded to Jersey, you know, Lou Lamorello running the tightest ship ever, he gets on the plane and he's like, Lou, where the fuck is the beer? Two games later, gone.

Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, times change. Okie, I want to talk about your time in phoenix i play with you that was that probably the funnest part of your career because we had much you know hockey why well i would say when i was at the islanders we had such a a wacko group um and we did so much better people thought and that's probably where i played my best hockeys at the islanders but phoenix was i don't know how to word it maybe like the easiest

you know just everything was simple for us then right we won we had good there was no drama and a lot of it had to do with that ownership stuff that was looming so we just had to create our own fun right and you know sometimes i kind of pity guys like you and some of the other young guys because it's not really the experience that you want as an nhl rookie coming in with like literally 17 guys who are 35 and older remember we had 31 children on our team no way oh buddy 31 we had 31 kids like Remember our locker rooms after? It was like fucking rock and roll. Like an alumni game.

Oh, well, that's why I was around. I was filling water bottles, and then I was watching kids. And dummying baby. Biz was dummying babysitters. Biz came over to my house for one. I can't remember. It was Christmas or New Year's. Oh, fuck off.

Yes. Hockey guy. He was so hungover. He was falling asleep. My kids were just bullets. I got five kids they were belligerent they loved them right because he would normally at the rink he'd play with them he did it he came over he was so hung over he was like falling asleep and he's like fuck man kids are fucking annoying i'm like get the fuck no no no Hey, I go to your one kid. I look him in the eyes. I go, hey, I need a little personal space. And your hands were destroying me after I said that.

I was like, dude, you crossed the line. You just broke their hearts. You broke their absolute hearts. I also love you, though. I want to talk about the Enter Sandman. We're going to get to your kids after this. Enter Sandman, crazy, crazy run for the Coyotes the year we won the division, ended up going to the conference finals.

But in the course of that season, it was a pivotal point for us. Like, it was like, and that's when we started trending upwards. We went into a shootout, and we went into, like, 15 shooters. And sure enough, Tip ended up calling out oki's number and oki went down the ice and would you wire slap shot glove side no quick snapper oh i lulled him to sleep with my smooth skating yes you did you you went in where they couldn't really catch your rhythm they're like is this guy even here in time? But then to turn it off, you ended up fucking being the closer. It was that first one.

Remember the funniest thing about that first one? We got to Nashville like three days early. Oh, yeah, we met Tom Green. Yes. And remember, that was right when you were like starting off with your whole – you connected with him somehow. Did you connect with him before or that was the first time? No starting off with your whole, you connected with them somehow. Did you connect to them before? That was the first time.

No, after, from then on. I went on, I went on. But anyway, I remember you guys were partying literally like rock stars. I'm like, I can't do that. So I just, but I knew him because my wife went to school with him. So they're at the game. We're laughing. All of a sudden we get to the shootout and tip asked me like the six shooter

and i'm like no he's like no you gotta go i'm like no so i sat back down then he asked me i think again then finally the third time he's like you gotta go and i went i i mean you know me i'm not a nervous guy my knees were literally shaking like to be alone in front of 20 000 people like it's weird i did not enjoy it so i'm like it is i no i'm saying it's like i would be so nervous oh my god yeah because you're like how would you know biz yeah fuck you wit well i was like well he goes yeah it's crazy i was like wait how do you know so i'm so there i am and i'm like there's no way I'm trying to deke. I don't want to be one of those douchebags on fricking ESPN highlights the

next day, following trip into the corner, knocking my teeth out. So I'm, I'm going to come down and just, I'm shooting. I'm going top corner, top glove.

That's all I'm going to do. I ended up scoring. We win next night. We literally was back to back. We go to Chicago. Same thing happens. I go on, like, the eighth round, freaking go down, do the exact same move, and then I think it was, like, five in a row.

Like, it just kind of happened. I was never in the first – never, and everyone was a game winner. And it was such a – it was, like, such a funny, fun thing, though, right? Like, our team just loved it. Remember, Verbata always got the tying goal, and I always got the winning goal or something like that. We had such a routine. Derby was automatic on the penalty shots,

but it just added to that year where we were having so much fun. The team was having – we were supposed to finish 15th in the West. That's what people predicted. We ended up going to the conference finals. And then you have that funny storyline where now all of a sudden, Oki's the closer. He's like Mariano Rivera for us. And we're having a ball

in the room. So it was a good time in Coyote Land. Yeah. How did you... Let me ask you, why did you continue to use a wooden stick till like last year? I... It was... I remember being like i have the oldest but this guy has a wooden twig and he's still shooting 100 i don't you know what i tried to

switch and because like frick man i was playing in like the 90s it was like remember back then these only took slap shots and i freaking couldn't take a slap shot with these new composite one piece whatever the hell they are so i just kept going and then all of a sudden i was i was using whatever it was ccm coho reebok i don't know they're all the same company they've changed factories so one game i finally ran out of my wood sticks like my last one broke in practice the night before so we're in Anaheim and I had they made I think Warrior made me a stick Easton made me a stick and then we had a dome pattern that I was trying remember Peter Mueller you guys remember him oh he always looked tired but he was so sick yeah his nickname was Eeyore. And then a Robert Lang, who is a legend, of course.

So I literally used four or five different sticks in warm-up. First period, I think I used Robert Lang's stick, and it, like, wasn't awesome. Second period, I used Shane Doan's stick, and I ended up scoring a goal. So now my stick that I still have, well, not anymore, but the sticks I used for that last year of my career were basically Shane Dillon's pattern with my name stamped on them. I scored more than he ever scored.

Suck it, Dillon. Not really. Adrian, like a lot of former Blackhawks, you've chosen to make Chicago your post-retirement home. So you're basically a full-time hockey dad now, right? Yeah. Don't your kids kids they don't even let you on the back of the bus if you got to take a roadie would have didn't they stick with the

front of the bus for a whole trip one time no well that was my my oldest boy so i got five kids my oldest daughter god bless her she doesn't play hockey so she's going to college next year then i got kyle who's my 16 year old he's probably going to play in the USHL Tri-Cities. Then I got Alyssa. She's a freshman. She plays triple hockey. Their team's freaking unbelievable. Then I got my two little boys, Cameron and Caden. They're both on their way.

They're nuts. These two kids, they'll drive you nuts. This sounds like the time R.A. was listing off the names to the new Seattle team. There you go. Fucking 25 kids. Anyways, kyle my oldest boy so he gets called up because uh on the affiliate list for this ushl stuff he can go play some games so they call him up because they have some injuries so i got to get him and myself to carney nebraska where tri-cities is which is not an easy place to get to so we end up flying through Denver get there one in the morning and he wants to practice so I get it all set get to the airport

no rental cars so like how am I supposed to I think so luckily one of the coaches came picked us up even though I told not to because I got a car they probably have like five rental cars but there was a rodeo in town so didn't have any. So he plays that first game, and then they're supposed to go up to Fargo, which is like a 10-hour bus trip. I'm like, oh, I'll rent a car, and still no rental car, so I come on the bus, and I'm like, listen. I'm like, my kid's got his first junior experience. I don't want to ruin it for him.

The coaches for Tri-Cities are awesome guys. The head coach. They probably were on the bus. What's that? The head coach. They probably wanted you on the bus. What's that? They probably were loving the fact you were on the bus. Well, they were, but my kid was. My kid's like, Dad, I just want to not get an earful from my new teammates. But they even loved it.

They're like, oh, this is awesome. So the assistant coaches who were running the show for that weekend, because the head coach was up running this, Anthony Noreen was up running this junior a challenge they're all in their 20s so they're like this is awesome you know we went out for beers the night before they're like this is the best these guys god bless them so my son landed in a great spot they're old school you know we're always talking about how the game is all business now. There's not as much fun. These guys, and Biz, you can attest to this. Remember Jans after a win? He would come in, do a dance.

One of the assistant coaches in this group goes in and does a dance after they win. Kyle was like, I remember talking to Kyle after the game. He goes, this place is awesome. And I was so happy. You know, like when I was coaching, doing player development in Rockford, it was more of a mental coach, like making sure these kids had more fun. Because, you know, the more fun you have, the better you're going to be. I know there's time to be business and everything, but like everything goes hand in hand.

When you're winning, you're having fun. You got to stay loose. You got to work hard at times. But so, yeah, so I ended up riding the bus and I didn't want to embarrass him too bad so of course no beer on the bus because otherwise i'd have to piss a thousand times so i literally like just dehydrated myself for 24 hours straight so i could just sit up there not bother him and it was like being back in the minors uh and and your uh your oldest son is committed to harvard correct yeah yeah So he got his mom's brains. I heard he's got some game, though.

He can, I don't know where he can, he can skate like his mom, too, I guess. This kid can fly. You know, he's doing real well. Now, the team he was on here in Chicago, they actually went back-to-back national championships. So there's a bunch of kids, you know, and now it's crazy when you start coaching,

you start realizing this whole birth year thing. Like when we, well, when I grew up, you didn't know anybody because you only played in your town. But now because of everything, you know, all the kids. So he's a 2002 birth year. So their draft will be not this draft year, the next year. And a bunch of kids from his team have done really well. So it's really exciting to watch. You know, it's fun. I mean, youth hockey is so much, it's almost like they're young pros already they literally do shit like his 16 year

old team no word of a lie skates better than half of the vancouver canucks 1995 team that i started with oh guaranteed guaranteed i'm telling you it's crazy you heard it here first you're gonna start a fucking little war going on here between the older guys oaky we want to thank you for coming on man and uh we're gonna definitely have to get you on again and maybe if we can get the audio figured out those live shows we'll uh we'll have you there too yeah you know what i'm just happy because the only thing i heard about that was i think you guys posted some pictures on something and it was funny because they were like, who is the little guy next to you? Who is so miserable? It was fucking Grinnell, right? Yeah. Grinnell. He's our producer. Remember RA was asking me questions. We were all laughing.

Whit was having the time of his life, like teasing the crowd. Grinnell was just sitting there motherfucking that sound guy. Remember he's like, I'm jumping. Yeah. And somebody asked me and I'm like he was so mad i know like it's almost like he didn't even know you were there he's like he was blacked out he was so mad he didn't even know what was going on hey because it was the proudest moment of uh grinnell's parents life because he was hosting thing and they all came in from boston on a big, probably the same bus you took to wherever the fuck you drove. But, yeah, he was pissed.

And I think they're going to be fighting it rough and rowdy coming up here. Yeah, we had a good time. It was awesome. Oh, thanks for it. Yeah, thanks, man. And good luck to, you know, your son and all your kids. So it's pretty cool to hear what they're doing. Thanks, guys.

That was great. Thanks so much, Adrian. Much appreciated, brother. That interview was also brought so much, Adrian. Much appreciated, brother. That interview was also brought to you by 1-800-Flowers. By now, most of us have started racking our brains about what Valentine's gift is truly going to make her day special. With 1-800-Flowers.com, it's really not that complicated. Roses from 1-800-Flowers are a no-brainer. Right now, when you order early, 1-800-Flowers has amazing deals on vibrant and

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Order today and save at 1-800-Flowers.com, code CHICKLETS. Big thank you again to Adrian Akoin for coming on. I spent some years with him with the Coyotes. He went through some dark days, of course, with the Blackhawks before they got really good. He was one of the guys that was helping them get those high draft picks. No offense, Oki. Speaking of another team that's struggling, the Edmonton Oilers,

and their fans are not happy already. They had another situation at the game last night, which was on Tuesday. Yeah, so one of our listeners sent us the video clip from the game Tuesday night. They're actually at the stage of the game with the throwing jerseys on the ice. Never a good sign for a team when fans are walking down the glass. Everybody sees them doing it. He takes the shirt off, big animated thing, throws it on the ice. I don't even think they threw the guy out because he's supposed to get thrown out

for throwing shit in the ice. Yeah, that fandom is pissed off, man. They burned through another coach. They brought in Hitchcock. They got some early results. They're just not a good team. That roster is still the same roster that Chiarelli has constructed. I don't know what kind of hope is in the future.

You've got McDavid. You've got Dreissel, but you've just got so many other holes in that roster. You want to say the future is looking good around the corner with those two guys, but I don't know, man. It's just like how do you fix this? It's a similar situation with Chiarelli left in Boston. He left a real salary cap mess. He needed a guy like Don Sweeney to come and fix it.

But what's, what do you think? I mean, how far, how far, how far down the line of good days again for Edmonton? It's not looking good right now. No, it's not. So if you're McDavid and Dreitz title, you know, you look at Matthews and say, he's got Tavares. He's got Nylander. He's got Kadri. He has Marner on the back end. He's got Riley. They just got Muzzin. They have a goalie in Frederick Anderson.

I know, you know, Koskinen was just resigned, but a couple of people aren't exactly sure on that signing. It's just, it's a weird time. And we actually, we actually probably, if there's one thing we are guilty of, it's piling on the Oilers. But, I mean, what are you supposed to do? And when you see a video kind of go viral of a guy throwing his jersey on the sand, do you remember in Toronto when that happened? I mean, it sucks.

If you're a fan of the team, it's depressing. I'm sure there's fans that actually hate that guy. I would never do that. Then there's fans that understand what he's thinking. Either way, I'm sure he was crushed. I mean, you're not sitting there sober deciding to throw your jersey on the ice. I don't know, man. I was just going to ask you.

Dude, nine Molson Canadians and you're just like, fuck this jersey. I spilled mustard on it anyways, throwing it on the ice. I think it's – listen, I, of course, love sports, but I would never get to a point where I think that my opinion of me throwing my jersey on the air is like, I'm upset about this. Come on. I know. I think the guy's

a loser. He spent money on it. Either way, he's probably trying to be funny. Man, I don't know. You look at the entire West. It's so bizarre. The Oilers fired their coach, which means at some point if you fire your coach, things are going horrifically for the most

part, and they're still only three points out of the playoffs. The Ducks have lost 17 of their last 19. They're three points back. The Avs have dropped 14 of their last 17. They're two points back. The Hawks were viewed as the worst team in the league, possible first overall pick, and now they're three points out. It's like

Canucks have lost 12 of 13 in the fall and then now they hold the wild card position it's like it's completely changed where the east is better than the west I mean there's going to be a couple first round matchups in the west where the main you know Winnipeg or Nashville they're going to have what looked like very easy series to win and when was the last time in the west you saw a first round bunch of first round matchups where you're like oh that's an easy one to win. And when was the last time in the West you saw a bunch of first-round matches where you're like, oh, that's an easy one to pick? Yeah, it's definitely flip-flopped a bit. And also, going back to the fan thing with Edmonton,

other than not giving them your money, there are so many limited ways in which you can show your frustration. I mean, I wouldn't do that personally throwing my fucking $200 jersey on the ice. I don't know, Ari. I could see you as a jersey-throwing guy. No, he'd, like, piss on it and video it on Instagram Live. Oh, he's the guy who would set it on fire, like a LeBron jersey when he left Cleveland the first time?

Nah, I wouldn't, first off, spend $200 on a jersey, let alone piss on it, then fucking light it on fire. You did mention some – He'd steal one. But I bought one and it fell off a truck. Wait, you mentioned some teams that are doing bad in the West, but you got to talk about the Chicago Blackhawks, man. This is a team that was fucking dead and buried a few months ago,

but Patty Kane has been on fire. We neglected to mention last episode. Well, I mean, he did mention the Blackhawks just to kind of clear the air, but I like how you're piggybacking that. Right. We can talk about them more. Patty Kane got his 900th point Friday against his hometown Sabres, the fifth fastest to the milestone for an American, by the way.

He's 12th among American players, including Brett Hull. I know some people don't include Hull on American lists or not. He's been on fire, 32 goals, 46 assists. He's got 78 points in 53 games. Dude, the Hawks only three points back of the playoff spot. Do you think they get in or what, Biz? Oh, I mean, so much momentum and guys who have been there before. Another guy who's been doing well lately is Strom since that trade.

I believe he's got 23 points in the 29 games. I'm going to have to look that up on Hawks. Ten in his last seven, Biz. Yeah, ten in his last seven. I told you guys that he's a player where he just needed to get his offensive rhythm and confidence. He needed his reps, and I didn't think he was getting all of the ones that he needed

in Arizona. I still like the trade for the Yotes, so we don't need to get into that, though. But it's amazing how quickly you fall out of the attention of the general public. All you heard about was Chicago for like that, you know, seven-year period. Even last year you heard about them when they weren't doing so good.

And before I throw it over to you, Grinnell, you know, as you guys mentioned, now they're what? They're three points out of a playoff spot. Patrick Kane all of a sudden came back in the picture. And even so, they haven't really been talked about that much. I don't think anyone's completely taken them that seriously where they can get back into a playoff position. And I wouldn't count them out, man.

And especially the fact that, like, a guy like Seabrook, who's kind of had his name dragged through the mud a little bit, like, you know, he's probably playing with a little bit of pep in his step, but he's got shit to prove now. There's a lot of guys in that locker room who have been counted out after winning three Stanley Cups. So who knows, man? Kudos to them for the turnaround and making things very interesting

in the West. What's up, Grinnell? Guys, we're also seeing Corey Crawford back on the ice, training with the team again. So, I mean, for a playoff run, that would be huge. If they can get Corey Crawford back in the mix, we saw the past few years how valuable that guy actually is to the team. So, I think that'd be huge for them.

Yeah, it's just about him being able to stay healthy. Kane, 50 points in his last 29 games, I think, or 31 games. Either way, it's been this insane clip. He's now second in the league in scoring, tied with McDavid. We're a couple years away from Patrick Kane's career not being over, but say, you know, say what do you think Kane has, another five years, six years? Yeah, yeah, I would say, yeah.

I mean, that's still a long period. That's a long time. Yeah, I don't want to call him small, but he's pretty – he's like a water bug out there. He can move around like that forever. Like I don't see his body deteriorating like any of these big guys where all of a sudden you're having hip issues and back issues and you know to me to me he's the perfect size and and he can get it done with the skills yeah and he's played you know he's been lucky very lucky pretty much injury wise for the most part in his career I know he's

battled some things but we're looking at you know, probably what will go down is the best American-born hockey player ever. Three Stanley Cups, it's just – it's incredible to see that he's still doing it because he hasn't slowed down even – I mean, all year he's been good. Even when they were struggling, it was like Kane has just been carrying them. They're winning games because of him. So unreal hockey by him. It's no surprise, but it sort of is because he's been so good for so long. You're waiting for it to die down. His hands are, his hands are

incredible. I mean, his vision, how much he loves the game. I, I, I absolutely love watching him play and yeah, you're right. Good for that team. I think biz, that's a good point. Guys are playing a little chip on their shoulder. Finally, you know, looking to prove some people wrong when for the most part, all, all of their career, it's been flowers and days. Speaking of the playoffs, boys, I want to talk to you for a second about SeatGeek. Buying tickets can be complicated, can be confusing, but there's a simpler way to buy with SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Whether you're catching your favorite musician on tour, shopping for the perfect gift or searching for a last minute deal to see your favorite NHL team, SeatGeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices,

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from sports and concerts to comedy and theater. Best of all, our listeners get $10 off their first SeatGeek purchase. Just download the SeatGeek app and enter the promo code Hockey today. That's promo code Hockey for $10 off your first SeatGeek purchase. SeatGeek, right seat, right now, right from your phone. I don't think it's fair if we don't mention st louis a little bit more either like i saw them play the coyotes earlier in the season the coyotes just wiped the floor with them at home uh they looked fucking horrendous they look slow sluggish uh like couldn't string passes together and i was like damn man like there's some good guys down there and guys that we got to spend some time with at that camp where we're on a PTO with. And I'm like, man, I think they're down and out.

And they have really turned things around. Binnington, their goalie, he was actually there. He had just been drafted when we were at that training camp. He's been playing great for them. They had a big win against Florida last night, which was on Tuesday, 3-2. And they play that playoff style of game, man, where they just wear you down. And maybe they're catching rhythm right now and learning how to win those tight games.

So congratulations to those guys as well who are just outside of a wild card position in the West. Whit, you just mentioned the best American player ever, Patrick Kane. He's obviously in that conversation. But, you know, what about the best Russian player ever? I think Alexander Ovechkin might take him that crown. Tuesday night, he had an assist to become the highest scoring Russian in NHL history, 1,180 points in 10,055 games.

He did it in 193 fewer games than Sergei Fedorov. His.62 goals per game is second among Russian players after Pavel Baret. His 1.12 points per game is second among Russians after Evgeny Malkin. He's 33. He's having another monster year leading the league at 37 goals. I mean, we've talked about this guy ad nauseum on the show because he's so goddamn good. Yeah, for my money, he's the best Russian I've seen play in the NHL.

What about you, Whit? Yeah, you can't take anything away from what the guy's done. It's insane. Just standing on the top of the circle, ripping one-timers. I saw something recently. He has 93 goals from that top of the circle on the left side in his career. So it's fun to watch someone else that just hasn't slowed down at all, although his team has certainly slowed down.

They had a big win against Vancouver, but they've been struggling. And, you know, if you look at the way he plays, I think people thought that three, four years ago it might start ending because it's physical. He's a complete animal out there, the way that he's able to score, get so fired up, and next shift, you know, maybe take a shift off. Nope, run someone over. So people used to be able to dog him. You can't anymore. He's got the up. Nope. Run someone over. So people can kind of, people used to be

able to dog him. You can't anymore. He's got the cup. He's got everything else. Maybe go down as the greatest goal scorer of all time. By the end of all this, by the end of his career, who knows what's going to happen? It doesn't seem to be slowing down right now. And, and I think that a lot of Russian guys probably always looked up to Sergei Fedorov. I think, you know, for those younger, younger Russians growing up that are Ovechkin's age, Sergei Fedorov. I think, you know, for those younger, younger Russians growing up that are Ovechkin's age, Sergei Fedorov was the guy. I mean, he went over to the NHL, he dominated one Stanley cups and, you know, he was kind of an idol to those people. So for Ovechkin to pass him, uh, is, you know, very special. Uh, piggybacking what Witt said, uh, greatest Russian player ever

right now. I mean, if he, I mean, if you want to debate it, I mean, he's still going to be around two years, so he's going to lap whoever we're talking about he's competing against. And, yeah, we talk about him a shit ton on here. I think he's the best natural goal scorer of all time. And Matthew's the type of guy who could maybe eventually pass him, but he's got ways to go. I want to know what happened on the ice the other night against Edler. I saw a couple videos of the trail of blood, R.A.

What happened to Edler with the Vancouver Canucks? Well, that was a tough scene. He's going to be out at least a week. He suffered an awful facial cut and a concussion. It was sort of a freak accident. His stick caught Jacob Voracek's skate, and when Voracek took a stride, he actually pulled Edler with him. And, of course, he trained as a hockey player.

Don't let go of your stick. And Edler held on to his stick and it kind of whiplashed him down to the ice. And he hit the ice face first, knocked him out. Like you said, there's a big fucking trail of blood. Awful scene. They had to get the stretcher out for him. Fortunately, that's really all it was, was a cut and a concussion. I mean, he didn't break any bones.

And if you see the play, it was really awful looking. You think maybe this guy's going to be out maybe for the year. But he's going to be out for at least a week with a concussion. Looked ugly. Could have been a lot worse. So sending good wishes to Alex Edler. Hope he's feeling a lot better. Quick story.

This one time in practice when I was playing for the Saginaw Spirit, we had this Czech Euro. They have the import draft. So he was one of our guys. His name was Tomas Chavi. This guy was a stinky bastard. Wouldn't wear deodorant. Like when I say stinky, he would walk on the bus and the bus would smell like rotten onions.

Anyway, that's, that's not the point of the story. Chris Thorburn was in practice. He was our captain in Saginaw at the time. And this Tomas Chavi was back checking him and he used to skate really hunched over. And like Thorburn was going to make a play on the defense and so he kind of like hopped over a little bit and his skate had come up and hit Chabi in the face. I've never seen a cut this nasty. It was the nastiest thing I've ever seen.

It cut him like basically from the middle lip all the way up to like the tip of the nose. So it was like, I would say it was a good inch and a half but off to the side and it was curved to the point where when he closed his mouth like you could see his teeth because it was like folding over oh oh it was it was it was awful and i felt bad for the guy because he was away from home and like i think he knew that everyone knew that he was smelly like we used to put deodorant in the stall and then and then something like that happens and like scars your face for life he ended up leaving like a week later to go deodorant in the stall and then, and then something like that happens and like scars your face for life.

He ended up leaving like a week later to go back home. Never saw the guy again. So shout out to Tomas Chobby. Um, you know, Edler, I couldn't believe he didn't break his orbital. I mean,

that could have been way worse. Uh, it was, it was, you could, yeah, it was hard to watch again. All right.

Because it happened so quick. There was just no chance for him to break the fall. Yeah. It was just, like I said, a fluke thing. You don't see that too often. I don't, I don't know if it's, because it happened so quick, there was just no chance for him to break the fall. Yeah, it was just, like I said, a fluke thing. You don't see that too often. I don't know if his stick got caught, like, in between the skate thing or if it just got caught on the blade or something, but it was, like I said, a whiplash effect,

throw him down to the ice face for us. Tough to see, but hopefully he's doing well. Yeah, Van's best defenseman, and they've been playing great, so they need him. Yeah, he's been there for 13, 14 years, too. He's been a rock for those guys. R.A., I got a question for those guys all right i got a question for you fire away well you've been doing so well on the bets lately i think people want a

shot at the title some random dude was messaging you about your negativity towards the flyers which which reminds you i thought you were a little bit negative i did too i knew right away you because you just said there's no chance they make the playoffs. Then they won again. And, I mean, what is the bet? Let's hear it. Let's hear what the proposition was. I love getting said I'm hot on Philly from wits. That's the funniest fucking thing going.

Well, listen, hey, I'll tell you that they're nice people but scumbags, but you right away didn't even give them a chance. You just go, they're not making the playoffs. You didn't even want to have the discussion. Yeah, I was pretty adamant about it. And this fellow said, you know, he said, I love the show, but I'm going to call you out for're not making the playoffs. So you didn't even want to have the discussion. Yeah, I was pretty adamant about it. And this fella said, you know, he said, I love the show, but I'm going to call you out for shitting on the Flyers. And he says, I want to bet you $1,000 that the Flyers make the playoffs.

And he said, no odds, just straight up. I was like, okay. So I clarified, okay, you say yes, they make it. I say they don't for $1,000. Next tweet back, he's like, oh, what about plus $1,300? I'm like, buddy, you just had no fucking odds. Right, but then someone also said, and remember, I'm not a gambler. Somebody said, you know, that's what people do.

They try to get as much as they can. Like, obviously, it sucks a little bit because it's on Twitter as opposed to just talking. So the guy messed up saying no odds. Writing no odds, he then. He should have shut his mouth which now i mean did you end up giving him odds or you're like no no it's not a negotiation it's similar to you know what rigs did with wits and i want to play it he's like oh i want exactly it's

like no exactly what the situation is so now so did you take the bet though at even odds i did absolutely i put my money where my mouth is now Now, of course, it's a random stranger on the internet, so, I mean, you got to do a virtual handshake. That's actually what we did. Oh, yeah, you're not seeing that money, but the fact that they come out and say no odds. You have everything. Say it.

Is he one of those, like, it's his name as his Twitter or it's like a fake name in a cartoon? Oh, well, at least you get to publicly shame him if he doesn't pay up. So you did take the bet, which, I mean, you'd be stupid not to. Yeah, dude, that's a great bet for you. Yeah, I mean, the odds, the real odds is shit, yeah. They would have been much different. But when someone offers you a fucking silly wage like that,

I'm going to fucking jump all over it nine times out of nine. The only worry you have is the card or heart, because we talked about them then. The night we talked, we had 41 saves. Like, you could end up getting Ken dried and rookie year into, into the flyers losing, making you lose a grant. Yeah. That would be ironic too, for all my touting of goalies on this show.

So yeah, I got a thousand dollar bet that the flyers don't make the playoffs. So yeah. And if, if the guy doesn't pay when, yeah, basically all, all we can do is internet chain. I'm hard and call some fucking buddies in Philly if we need to do that, but we don't want to. What else we got boys? Hey boys, all we can do is internet chain. I can call some fucking buddies in Philly if we need to do that. But we don't. What else we got, boys? Hey, boys, before we get any further, I want to talk to you for a second about Robinhood.

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Discover new stocks, track your favorite companies, and get custom notifications for price movements so you never miss the right moment to invest. Robinhood has given listeners of Spit and Chicklets a free stock like Apple, Ford, or Sprint to help build your portfolio. Sign up at chicklets.robinhood.com. Again, that's chicklets.robinhood.com again that's chicklets.robinhood.com uh some politicians in nassau county feeling pretty confident about the islanders current position as first in the metro uh they petitioned the nhl they want to have the islanders playoff games at

the mausoleum um on nassau county that's ultimately the league's call. I don't see why they wouldn't do it. I mean, fucking that – Farkley's place is a fucking joke. Terrible place to watch the game. The mausoleums, the true and proper home. I don't know. What do you think? What do you think Bettman's going to do here?

Do you think he's going to say, okay, have him there or what? Well, I don't know what they're going to do, but I made a hot take on NHL Network the other day saying that if they do get in the playoffs, which it looks like they're going to, they've been playing great. There is not one chance they win the first round if they play in the Barclays Center. There's no chance. They cannot

win a round playing in that building. Now, having said that, if they're at the Coliseum, I'll probably pick them. That place is incredible now. The passion in Grinnelli, didn't you go to the first game back there? Yeah, it was unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, if they are foolish now, right,

there's a lot of money involved in having playoff games. Actually, the one thing I'll say, when they made it against the Panthers, it looked pretty good in the Barclays. But still, I mean, the Coliseum is where you want to be. All the players live near there. If you could ask all of them, not even one is considering, yeah, I'd rather the Coliseum is where you want to be. I mean, all the players live near there. If you could ask all of them, not even one is considering, yeah, I'd rather be at the Barclays. I went to a game at the Barclays this year,

and there's like a third of the stadium can't have seats because you can't see one of the nets. It just doesn't make sense for them to play there. Like, there's seats where you can't even see from the blue line in. That just doesn't even make sense. When I think of that playoff barn, the older one that they want to go back to, I think of that series that they had against the Penguins. I think the Penguins won the series in six.

But holy shit, man, that's an atmosphere. That's what sells the game and draws new people in. I think you got to get back there if they make the playoffs. So that's a no-brainer. I mean, who knows if it'll happen but yeah the whatever the woman's name was that wrote the letter like oh wow you're really this is a huge move by you asking them to have games at the coliseum it's like the most uh obvious thing i've ever seen yeah there's a couple different politicians i guess and i think the only thing

that would probably hold it up is any pre-existing contracts that would prevent it. But because it does, like you said, it seems like the biggest fucking no-brainer for the playoffs right now. Biz, have you checked out this player tracking technology, the puck tracking technology? Have you read up on that at all? Yeah, actually they were talking about it when I was towards the end of my career and players weren't crazy about it for the simple fact that they didn't want it being talked about in arbitration and another big thing that the players were saying were they didn't want coaches coming to them and saying hey you're you know look at your tracking here and whereas like you know it's all feel when you're out there on the ice some guys like some guys don't do a lot of skating they're all about timing and being at the right place at the right time

I mean you often hear about the Brett Hall stories about how he would just hang back and he would always find, find that pocket where, you know, even, even now with, and I'm sure towards the end of your career, were you wearing heart rate monitors on the ice?

No, I mean, I think we had to in camp in Edmonton. And then I heard like the Rangers do it for every practice. I almost had a heart attack. Like if the coaches know, like some practices, your heart rate didn't get above 85, sorry I played the game in a rocking chair, buddy. Right, exactly.

Boyd Gordon mentioned it when he was playing at Edmonton and how they would wear these devices and it would keep track of their heart rate. Then after games, based on how hard they'd worked on the ice, they had to go do a workout according to that, that, that, uh, the calculations or whatever. So like your bike ride, your bike ride depended on how many calories or your heart rate during practice, right?

Yeah. And it's just like, like some guys, like for instance, like when I would get on the ice, I would be on the ice for about 25 seconds. I would be nervous as shit and my heart rate would be through the roof. Like when Joe Thornton steps on the ice and he's cruising around out there, it's just like he's tying his fucking shoelaces. Like he's so comfortable being out there because he plays 20 minutes a game. So to compare things, and as I mentioned, the tracking thing,

another thing that they do is I think they track your strides to see like if guys are working too hard and i don't know my my biggest thing is just like it's getting a little bit much with the analytics and all this shit where guys just can't uh can't play their game without hearing somebody's opinion on it based on technology imagine going up to jumbo get it done are you not imagine going up to jumbo like uh jumbo you actually uh you didn't burn enough calories during the skate today what but yeah actually biz they are going to implement it starting next year um they haven't said exactly when they'll be joining the nfl as the only other north american uh major

sports league to use the wearable tracking technology uh jack eichel said i hope it doesn't change the puck at all because they're going to have to put a chip into the puck. He says, I feel like maybe with a tracker in the puck, it could change the feel of it. You'd be surprised how close we pay attention to that stuff. The gear isn't as important as the puck. Guys can feel it.

So some interesting takes. Johnny Goudreau had a funny quote, too, about his shot. He's like, well, I don't want to see it, but the fans might like it, kind of poking fun at himself. Yeah, they're basically going to track who shot the puck where it was taken how fast the puck traveled how fast the player skated and uh also there was another part of um i thought was interesting wits from he and you they brought in the gambling aspect uh greg wischinski writes for espn he's a good guy he wrote an article about it he said this could affect him with gambling as well uh the idea of betting on a guy's ice time or how many shots a guy might take that's full degeneracy land for me and you wits

but uh hey if we can bet on it fuck it i'll take it now saying that they have said that they will not be able to use any of that information as of now in arbitration that may change down the road but that i think that's the biggest thing between the players and the NHLPA, or the owners and the NHLPA in Bettman, is that they didn't want that happening, so they got their wish as of right now. RA, I don't know if you saw, or any of you guys saw, the NHL's Instagram story last week, but when they were posting about the player tracking, they mentioned in their

Instagram story that player tracking would be used to help gambling. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Yeah, they're getting I love how they're just right in with the degenerates. Well, I think I think Bettman's in his mind. He's like, how are we going to compete with the other sports? Try to implement gambling in as many places faster than all of them and just draw the audience. Also worth noting, too, the NHL did sign that huge deal with the MGM.

So, you know, gambling is going to be fun and legal and all this stuff now. So they're going to probably be incorporating some of the MGM stats into everything. Yeah, that'll be very cool to see, R.A. Also, I wanted to mention quickly about the – I forgot about the Matthews. We talked about all the money in the signing bonus. I'm curious to see if that's brought up in the CBA negotiation only because a lot of teams can't really, they don't have the money to do that. You know what I mean?

Biz where like a team say, Carolina was like, we can't give a guy 15 million on July 1st, four year, three years in a row. Now some people say, well, fuck off. That's, that's your problem. That's, you know, the Leafs and their fan base have made enough money where the owners are willing and able to do this. But I think the teams will have beef about being able to pay these entire contracts and signing bonus. I think that will definitely come up. And the other thing about free agents with Matthews off the docket now

is we have an incredible, incredible lineup of restricted free agents this summer. And now that you've seen, there's no more bridge deals. If you're a star, and I'm going to mention some guys coming up that'll certainly, I think everyone will agree with our stars. You're going to get an enormous contract right away. And so this summer you got Miko Rantanen, you got Mitch Marner, Braden Point, Matthew Kachuk, Sebastian Ajo. I haven't even said Patrick Laine yet. So it's going to be a wild summer in terms of these, you know, 20-year-old kids, 21-year-old kids signing monster tickets and teams really figuring out right away who we have to pay. So it's an exciting time to be a young stud. stud and this is exactly what people said would happen when the whole landscape changed with the salary cap and younger players playing more prominent roles they get paid a ton of money

and then after that there's going to be more players making a million bucks league minimum ish a little over a million it's kind of kind of a little bit like basketball where five or six guys make all the dough and you know after that you got to spread out a you know not a ton of money to 10 guys 15 guys whatever it may be so uh it'll be an interesting summer for sure i think that's all the hockey news we have this this week well i just want to talk more about that i think the best gms in league are the ones that adapt to the new rules and find loopholes around it uh my my guess would be moving forward is yeah that's a complaint from the markets that don't have enough money to pay these big bonuses.

That huge bonus that they had to pay Weber in Nashville, that cripples a Nashville organization where a team like Montreal or Toronto, they're like, that's a front wipe. I would assume that moving forward that the percentage of contract that you're getting in signing bonus is capped at a certain amount that's another reason why i think matthews is kind of at the forefront of that and has it has exceeded it to like to stretch it out to make make them basically force them to make a change oh and i didn't mention that the one of the main reasons

is if there is a lockout, you're still getting that money. It's lockout protected, and it also, if you ever get bought out, they can't buy out signing bonus. Correct. And once again, not next year, but the year after, is going to be the potential lockout year. So even if they didn't play hockey the whole season, Matthews would only forfeit his $700,000 salary,

and he would still make his $15.2 million. And the point I was making uh last time that it was manipulated was when teams were signing guys to long-term deals but they were all front loaded and guys weren't going to play the last few years of their career well it got to a point where teams were doing it so ridiculously that they had to change the rule and uh i mean hosa did it uh who's another guy who got a nice long one well Kovalchuk but they actually shut that one down that was when I actually got my first Twitter account suspended but like Zetterberg I think if he

would be playing he'd make a million bucks right now you know it's like yeah exactly so some things to look forward to regarding the CBA negotiations which is always a good time with Gary Baird who doesn't love talking CBA it's like hey Biz what was the first tweet that what was the tweet that which is always a good time with Gary. Yeah. Who doesn't love talking to CBA? Hey biz, what was the first tweet that,

what was the tweet that you, that got your first Twitter account? Something about strippers. Oh, so I was talking about Kovalchuk signing that ridiculous deal. Cause at the time I think it was going to be the biggest deal in the history of the NHL. And I calculated like how many lap dances he could buy with the entire

contract. And I was just some simple math. No, but the one that got me in trouble was when they rejected the deal. I wrote, sorry, communist, back to the Soviet. And people were like, oh, it's racist. And I'm like, well, first of all, it's not a race. Racist against communism. You could say it's prejudice.

Was it my brightest moment? No. Am I backing off my statement? Yeah. I didn't need to say it. So my agent texts me and he's like, he goes, you got to delete that Twitter account. Nothing good is going to come of that.

And so I panicked because he told me the league might suspend me. I might lose salary. So I'm like, fuck. So I deleted it. That's his business salary. So then whatever. That was it. So I deleted it for a couple of days.

And then I get a call from the Coyotes. And I think it was Rich Nair, my boss now he's like hey he's like like did you delete your twitter account and i'm like yeah and i was like my agent told me to and he goes man everyone thinks that like we told you to and we're getting like emails to the team like saying like hey fuck you guys for censoring him like fuck this like we're not renewing our season tickets and and so they're like hey like do you mind like restarting this thing because they're like down with it right because it's just bringing the team publicity so i i revamped it up right before training camp of that season and and you know that was biz nasty 2.0 and here we are legend the legend began one one quick other little milestone

i didn't know leon dry settle became the first german to score 30 goals in a season and an nhl season one of three Germans with at least 100 NHL goals. So, give a shout out to our crowd friend Leon Dreisaitl. Also, I hope everybody out there is enjoying their Pink Whitney's this weekend with New Amsterdam Vodka. The best vodka out there. Take it.

If you haven't tried it yet, get on it and get a little pink lemonade. Make a Pink Whitney for yourself. And as always, enjoy responsibly when you have a New Amsterdam Vodka. Unless your name's enjoy responsibly when you have a New Amsterdam vodka. Unless your name is Brian McGonigal. Who the fuck is he? All right. Love you guys. you