Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 195: Featuring Sidney Crosby + Michael Russo

Episode Date: August 7, 2019

On this week's episode of Spittin' Chiclets, some are calling it the biggest episode in podcast history. The boys not only announce their new Pink Lemonade flavored vodka “Pink Whitney by New Amsterdam” they are also joined by Sidney Crosby. Sid joins to talk about playing with both Whit and Biz, scoring the ‘Golden Goal', some hilarious stories and a bunch more. The guys also touch on some NHL news and Ryan provides a hilarious Keith Yandle story.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 195 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by New Amsterdam Vodka. This is the episode everybody's been waiting for. It's August 7th. We're going to be bringing Sidney Crosby to you in just a little bit. We got some other stuff to cover first. Let's say hi to the boys first.

Biz Nasty, Paul Bissonnette, you look like you're at home today. What's going on there, brother? I was hearing online they were calling this the Blue Ball episode just teasing everybody because we had at the bank for so long so i was getting a good chuckle of that very excited to drop the podcast uh and the interview especially um granella you said you listened to it about four times in the editing process and you didn't get bored once very conversationalational, a very laid-back Sidney Crosby, and we couldn't be more excited for you guys to hear it. All right, next up, our producer, Mikey Grinelli.

What's going on there, big guy? What's going on, boys? Big show is all I can say. I think it's actually the biggest show in podcast history, so let's do it. Absolutely. We're also going to be bringing on Minnesota Wild beat writer Michael Russo of The Athletic to talk to him about the GM Fenton's firing last week. But last and not least, our boy Ryan Whitney has a

huge announcement for the podcast. Crazy announcement, Grinelli. It's so true what you just said. The fact this is our biggest episode. You want to know why and you want to know how I'm so sure of this? I actually have butterflies right now. Never before have I been with you fucking three

mutants and been that excited to speak and that excited to talk about something. But you guys can see what's behind me right now. And it's two giant fucking bottles of pink Whitney boys. And this went down. Let me go into the story a little bit for people who can't stand my voice. Fast forward. But I think you're going to enjoy what we're about to tell you. I'm the luckiest person in the world. I've said it numerous, numerous times. Had this idea. Maybe I'll do a podcast.

Hey, Biz, you want to do it? I'm still playing. RA gets in touch. Boom, we form it. People like it. So lucky. Fucking literally lightning in a bottle. You won the lottery.

Is lightning in a bottle the saying? Yep. Yes, it is. Okay, nice. Sure, it is now. I was pretty sure I messed that one up for a second. Then, Biz ends up hopping on board. Grinnelli hops on board in the meantime.

It just keeps growing and growing. So what happens? We have these rabid fans of the coolest people in the world, people that come up and meet me and say, thanks for what you do. I always tell you why you're thanking me. Thank you. Well, I got a biggest thank you ever for all you guys

because we brought up when New Amsterdam came into our lives, we were the luckiest son of a bitches out there to get New Amsterdam become our presenting sponsor. We formed great relationships with these guys. And they said, why don't we talk about what your favorite vodka drink is, right? When we start, you know, it'll be an organic conversation. What did I say, guys?

And by the way, it doesn't matter what you fucking guys said. That doesn't matter because what we're about to say is I said pink lemonade and vodka. What happened? You rabid lunatic fans started buying it and realizing how smart Uncle Witty is. It's the best drink in the world. I got people coming up to me. I invented that drink. No, you didn't. I got my brother-in-. I got people coming up to me. I invented that drink. No, you didn't. I got my brother-in-law, Steve,

dude, I drank that before. Steve, you're eight years younger than me. I've been drinking it since you were in diapers. This is my drink. People say, oh my God, you actually think you made up pink lemonade and vodka? Yeah, I did. You know why? It's called the Pink Whitney now. It's in giant bottles, guys.

We fucking did it.ember 1st in the united states you go into a liquor store you're gonna see a giant pink bottle that says pink whitney sir ryan whitney pink mr whitney and then there's a barstool logo the spitting chiclets logo and then there's the whole goddamn story on the back of the fucking bottle that's right behind me right now talking about how the spitting chiclets grew the spitting chiclets grew who are we boys we have a drink now it's just been the most incredible ride and to let people know that this has actually come true and biz will go more into um how it all went down but it's just very exciting to have sydney crosby who made me millions the same day we're releasing a trick that could someday make me millions.

It's an ironic night of all time. Unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Just to be clear, it's a pink lemonade flavored vodka with New Amsterdam. I'm not sure what dog made that. It's a pink lemonade flavored vodka. Well, I'll go into my first thoughts is I thought it was going to be a canned beverage, right? And then they come and present us, we're going to do it in a pink lemonade flavored vodka. And I was like, okay. And it's genius because you can not only take it as a shot. So it's going to be the new signature hockey shot. You know, you could maybe have a bottle after a men's league game. You can ask all cheers with a shot of pink Whitney afterward, which is going to be what just over 30% alcohol. cheers with a shot of pink Whitney afterward, which is going to be what just over 30% alcohol. Or I tell you how I drank it when we were testing them out is you put a shitload ice in there and you just pour it in. And then eventually when the ice melts down a little bit, cause I'm a bit of a softy with the hard liquor and you just drink it on the rocks. So you got tons of options. I guess I'll go back to when it all started is when you said it went and all these people were tweeting

us all these photos. I, my, my buddy, Jeff Jacobson was like, Hey, we got to get the patent on this thing. We got to, we got to file all the domains, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, you fucking rights we do. So we got on it, we hopped on it and we presented it to, well, of course, wit at first wit you weren't very, I wouldn't say you weren't receptive. You were kind of like, really? Like you think we should do that? And then. Well, uh, in a video people will be able to see where Biz and I did a special taste test.

And this all kind of began. Or it was in the middle for New Amsterdam. But our first experience with it. I told the story. And how Biz comes to me with ideas all the time. I'm like, dude, enough. My phone's ringing again from Snout Boy. How does he have more to ask me? And this was one of them where I was like, actually, I mean, that's a sick sounding idea,

but it just seemed like such a pipe dream. Like make an actual drink. The only reason that it changed my mind is because my wife said one day, why don't you try to make one drink? I go, biz has been saying that nonstop. Boom. Once both of you guys said it, I was like, you just called me on speakerphone and I forget and I'll get the ball rolling. Mr mr whitney thank you for answering my text finally

so the fact that you know we just i will say that i i i love it on the rocks i told i've told everyone that if you just pour one of these on the rocks it just it's like a strong pink lemonade vodka i mean you you do not need a mix if you want to mix if you want to lighten up and and so if you know i've had a bunch of these at many points in my life they can they can come up quick on you they catch you pretty quick i'll say this i'm responsibly i'm i'm very i'm a soft drinker i usually don't drink just hard liquor on the rocks but once the ice melted just the perfect amount you could even put just a little splash of water in it that that helped me but but when the ice melted i was like wow this is fucking nice and refreshing but they do sneak up on you yeah i was shit-faced after we were fucking dummy in a few of them probably a more neutral mix like a club soda or perhaps uh like a tonic

water if that's your speed too you know because you're not gonna you don't want to overpower the flavor the lemon the lemonade course, the pink lemonade. Oh, we got a chemist in the building, Mr. Arre. Just call me Walter White. Oh, yeah, exactly. I think that wraps it up. We do have some people to thank as far as how this all went down. I'll let you name them all off, Grinelli.

You got all of them written down. Yeah, so we'll start off by thanking our fearless leader, Dave Portnoy. None of this happens without him. Next, you know, we have the guys from New Amsterdam Vodka, Nate and Michael. They've been unbelievable throughout this whole thing. You know, from day one, they've been nothing but supportive and, you know, open to all the creativity and all the ideas that we have had. So it's been amazing to work with those guys at New Amsterdam.

And, you know, everyone from Barstool as well. You know, Eric and Ardini from the top, the CEO at Barstool has done nothing but support us and we can't thank her enough. Deirdre Lester, you know, working behind the scenes, making all the deals happen. She's been absolutely amazing throughout this whole process. MB, Mary Beth from Barstool. She's been amazing as well. So yeah, there's been so many people along the way that have helped us out guys and and you know we really can't thank them enough because without their support and without everything the backing that they've given us

you know we wouldn't be able to launch this amazing vodka of course all the people who are going to be selling all these cases to all these stores. Nate Barris, who was one of the guys who Grinnelli mentioned it's his birthday. I don't know if it's, was it today or tomorrow? Eight, seven, same birthday as Sid. Oh,

there you go. Okay. And then also Michael Sachs is the one guy you mentioned as well. Who's with new Amsterdam. So a lot of people to thank. We're excited for it to drop on September 1st. It will be in a ton of locations. And Canadian fans, we will get it to you as soon as possible

and you will be the first people to know. Yeah, Canada, we're on that. Trust me. That's where it really needs to be. Also, 8-7. Just an incredible birthday for people making WIT's dreams come true. Happy birthday, Nate. Nate and Mike are our boys, so it's been a great

relationship. And the one thing Biz forgot to mention, I couldn't believe it was, we went out to LA and we filmed a commercial and this was a full blown Hollywood set commercial. I think we're going to have to save the whole rundown of that night. Grinelli has a bunch of notes of what actually went down. So that'll be the, you know, when that, those commercials come up, we'll go into that more in depth. But a classic day. We'll have a behind-the-scenes video as well of the whole process of what it was like for you guys in the commercial,

how you guys got a little angry about how long the day was. So we'll have all that out there on our YouTube page. Before we talk over to Rusu, and since we're on the topic of drinks, R.A., I'm going to need all three of your opinion on this. And at the end of it, it's kind of a yes or no. I don't, I don't want you to kind of maybe pick both sides. So I'm going to give you a scenario. Okay. Well, I, uh, I was DMing with a girl on Instagram, right? And then, you know, whatever we're, we planned on meeting for drinks for a date. So the day we were supposed to meet up, I was kind of like, I'm a little tired. It was seven o'clock. I ended up taking a nap and just being in canceling. Well, later on, she's

like, Hey, do you still want to meet for that drink? When I'd woken up for my nap, it was like eight 30. I know weird time to nap, but don't even get me started on that subject. So I'm like, sure. Yeah, let's meet up. And then we picked a place to meet. We go there. Well, I go there, I go to meet her. So I walk in the place. She'd already been sitting down according to the text messages. She'd gotten up and went to the bathroom as I was, as I was coming in. So I was kind of looking for text back. She's like, Hey, coming out one sec. So finally she comes out, go up and hug her. She goes, Oh, we're sitting over here. And I'm like, I mean, what do you mean? We're sitting over here.

And I'm like, I mean, what do you mean we're sitting over here? She'd invited her friend and her friend's mom to the date without fucking giving me any text or warning that this was happening. And obviously I was rattled and I wanted to like go right then and there. I wanted to curb your enthusiasm moment where I'm like, hey, you realize that that's fucked up that you did that, right? Like no heads up, not like maybe like a friend, just like the friend and the friend's mom. Am I taking crazy pills or is that fucking insane to you guys? Yeah, that's unusual. If it's supposed to be a date, it's under the guise of a date

and she shows up with not only a third wheel, but a fourth wheel. That's the third wheel's mother. Unless it was a foursome, dude, that's just fucking some weird stuff, dude. I don't think you should be irate, yeah you should probably be a little irate i was just i wanted to communicate to her that like that like maybe five percent of the population wouldn't think that was psycho yeah yeah just say hey if you're gonna if we're gonna have company next time just give me a heads up so i can wear a better shirt say something fucking goofy like that and throw off the scent i would have 180 that's so. It would have made a head spin, dude.

You know what I would have done? I wouldn't have felt bad because walking on at the end of the bar, I would have sent him three Pink Whitney's from New Amsterdam. I'd be like, enjoy those. Okay, so I'm going to be just so painful with how many times I bring this up now. If you know me, you're going to hate my guts.

You're a new currency, Whitney. You're just going to be paying people off in pink Whitney bottles. I'm paying my bookie in cases of pink Whitney's. I'm going for a clean sweep here, Grinnelli. What's your assessment on that? I'd say run. I think that's the tactics of a crazy person. Well, I didn't.

I sat down. We made conversation. I'm a chameleon. I adapted to my environment. Not a big deal. They were great people. The mother actually took down the name of the podcast she might actually be listening to this episode so pump pumping her tires as far as the conversation concerned but we ended up whatever i don't need to go into details but i got to talk to her about

it later on and she thought it was completely normal and i and i and i couldn't get over that so that's the end of it. Good to know. Maybe we could put up a voting system on our Spit and Chicklets Twitter page. Good to know I haven't completely lost my mind. Just a little bit. But I think we should send it over to Michael Russo now. We enjoyed talking to him about the Minnesota Wild and the GM situation.

So without further ado, let's send it over to Michael Russo of The Athletic. This interview is brought to you by Cani Brands. You've already heard me talk about the cannabis company a few friends of mine have started. CaniBrands, the all-natural, hemp-derived CBD company making creams, balms, tinctures, and oils that help the world's highest performing athletes, as well as everyday scrubs like you and myself. Get a clearer mind, get a better night's sleep, and mend your injuries so you can feel amazing. Well, Chicklets fans, Can I Brands has a few more reasons that are sure to get you feeling amazing. Introducing Can I Brands' first ever Feel Amazing Sweepstakes Spectacular.

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we'd like to bring on the excellent Minnesota Wild beat reporter for The Athletic, Michael Russo. He wrote a tremendous article about everything that's gone down on there basically all season. Michael, welcome to Spitting Chicklets. Thanks for having me on. Big fan. Thank you.

Thank you. I want to jump right into it. In your article, you referenced the way Leopold and some close to him treated people, created low morale throughout the organization and that the culture wasn't the same. Like, what specific stuff are you talking about? Are we talking about, like, general rudeness, abrasiveness? Like, what kind of things, like, created this low morale,

I guess I was curious about? Yeah, I mean, you know, with Fenton, the big thing is, I mean, if you get to know him, you know, he is abrasive. He's kind of rough around the edges guy. And right away when he got to the organization, Chuck Fletcher, who was his predecessor, gave everybody pretty much extensions just to protect them because he was kind of waffling in the wind in his last year of his deal. And so Craig Leopold, one of the first things they did as owners, he told Paul, look, you know, I don't want any dead money. You got to keep these people.

So there was right away when he got here sort of an us against them type of mentality in in the organization but but he definitely didn't help himself he created dissension right away inside the front office he tried to take away titles he basically showed very little respect for the previous regime that was here and it was sort of just kind of uh the way that he treated everybody uh it was it was you know at times it was times tough uh from a beat writer perspective and, you know, at times it was tough from a beat writer perspective. And, you know, where it really started to go awry, guys, was, you know, and again, all GMs are like this. They want to keep stuff close to the vest.

But when all of a sudden news started breaking right from last year's draft all the way to the end of the season, he really did his best to try to track down exactly who those leaks were, going as far as really threatening a lot of low-level employees inside the organization and every single department. One anecdote that I wrote in the story was when I broke the Charlie Coyle trade. You know, that was one of those things where, and Paul never really understood this,

is that you couldn't keep things close to the vest. This is, you know, this is the year 2019. Things get out there. They get out there fairly quickly. Everybody talks. The second Charlie Coyle was traded, all of a sudden, you know, he starts telling people, other people start telling people. And next thing you know, that gets out. Well, I found out through a really weird way, broke the story. And next thing you know, he's, he is on the plane the way it's described to me, basically accusing everybody from equipment trainers to medical trainers to the team services person, the head coach, to PR people, accusing them of being my source, threatening their jobs flippantly. And this was something that had been an ongoing trend all second half of this season. It just kind of created this unbelievable, sort of, as I described, toxic atmosphere throughout the organization.

What's interesting is there's been plenty of people in the history of pro sports who are abrasive and aren't easy to deal with, that are running teams and franchises, but they win. And you know what I mean? People say Bill Belichick could be mean to reporters. They're always winning. So I guess when they didn't have the playoff success or even get into the playoff, it makes it that much easier for Leopold.

The thing that I'm curious about and I'm wondering your opinion on is he was such a big part of Nashville for so many years and he was around David Poyle who's so well-respected. And you mentioned this. It's interesting to hear that this all came about when he'd been around the game and seen how it had been done successfully for so long, no? Yeah, I agree, Ryan. all came about when he'd been around the game and seen how it'd been done successfully for so long no yeah i agree right i mean it to me um you know i think it was the thing that actually perplexed uh craig leopold i mean he owned that team uh you know up until 2008 and felt like he knew paul

fenn obviously it was a different role and you know what came very clear to me is when paul got here is that this is somebody that was really kind of pigeonholed into his one area in Nashville and never had to really deal with the press. Also, that's a very small market. So there's only a couple of press people. And I think that they can control that. Well, all of a sudden, you know, you come to Minnesota. It's a big market in terms of a large press corps. terms of a large press corps.

You know, me in particular, I just gained my 25th year covering the NHL and 15, you know, covering the team here. And so what he just didn't understand was that, you know, one, there's institutional knowledge, but two, there are external sources that you talk to on an everyday basis, agents and people like that. And it just seemed like he got here and just did not, from the very beginning, understand that, you know, one way to run the team and part of the responsibilities of running the team is that you need to have a relationship with the media.

And it just became an us-against-him type atmosphere for all of us, really, from the very, very beginning. Let's talk about another relationship. You mentioned when he was there, him and the analytics team didn't necessarily get along, and they'd hired a few good ones and all of a sudden there was turmoil in that regard he wasn't utilizing to the best of his abilities now most teams in the league if not all of them have an analytics team now and you got to work hand in hand and i know that there's always going to be a little bit of pushback to the old hockey minds to the new ones, but this one was catastrophic from the beginning, no?

Yeah, it really was. It was made abundantly clear at the very beginning that either he didn't understand it or didn't have a lot of respect for them. He didn't know exactly what they did, didn't really absorb the information, the data, and the research that he was getting from them. You know, there are stories, and I've seen it, where he referred to them with quote marks as experts.

And the big thing, and when this team started to go awry, you know, they were pretty much treading water around 8th, 9th, come mid-January. You know, Matt Dumba had gotten hurt the month before, and they started to really struggle. And all of a sudden, it became very clear. They went down to a sort of a front office retreat down in Florida in mid-January to start talking about, all right, let's start making some changes here. And he didn't invite either of the analytics team down there. Andrew Thomas, who was ultimately let go after the season, and Alex Mandryk, who now works for Seattle,

neither were invited. And one day after acquiring Pontus Aber, it was the big Niederreiter for Rastio, which was an absolute utter disaster. And if you look at analytics, I mean, it doesn't take even a genius to know this, but Niederreiter was an absolute analytics superstar where Victor Rask was an absolute analytics nightmare.

Again, whatever your spec level for it, it's a piece of information that probably would have helped having the analytics team down there. Then the big thing is after the season, he let Andrew Thomas go without knowing that even when he planned to re-sign Alex, that she had already decided that she was leaving the organization. So now suddenly, in a very important month of June,

where you want an analytics department or some more people to give you more information going into the draft, going into free agency, going into the trade season, they don't have anybody in analytics. So that was one big thing. And then the other thing, guys, that I wrote about in the story was that there was just immediate dissension throughout the second half of the season of uh you know frankly Chuck's old staff uh versus his old

his new staff basically uh disagreeing with almost every trade that he's going to potentially make there was dissension in the room anytime there was debate on any of these things he took exception to it the way it's explained to me. And, you know, ultimately, there were some potentially, you know, some overhauls to this lineup that a lot of people inside the organization didn't agree with that he absolutely made in the month of January and February. I just need to make a quick apology. I just said Leopold when I met, of course, Fenton when I asked my first question. So I just want to apologize for that. You mentioned red flags in your column. What were some of the red flags that perhaps Leopold missed when he hired Fenton? I mean, is going that long without – I'm sorry.

I meant to say it was a two-part. Is going that long without a GM job, is that in itself a red flag too? Well, yeah. I mean, I think he's definitely a red flag. I mean, the fact that he, for, you know, 15, 16, 17 years, I mean, the fact that he, for, you know, 15, 16, 17 years, applied and interviewed for several jobs in the league and didn't get it, I think is absolutely a red flag.

And then the other thing is, you know, I think a lot of what I also mean is that there was clearly personality differences with Paul Fenton and a lot of people in the organization. And if you sit down with Paul Fenton, that's not something that you're not going to pick up on right away in an interview setting, and they interviewed him a couple times. And so when Craig Leopold fired Paul Fenton last week, he basically eviscerated him. I mean, he said that, yeah, he can scout,

but he basically said that everything else that is required to be a good GM in this league that he didn't have, the ability to motivate a department, the ability to communicate, the ability to, in a polished way, get your message across to fans, to the media, to even inside the organization. The way it was explained to me inside the organization is a lot of people in the front office and the coaching staff never really understood what his vision was, that he wasn't able to describe it and get it across. And this is stuff that maybe if there was a hockey guy in the room and they interviewed him, they would have been able to ask those questions.

But somehow, whether they saw it or not, they decided that they weren't concerned enough that basically it was going to cost him from not getting the job. Okay, giving him benefit of the doubt on maybe the creative conflict side of things and maybe things got over his head and the emotions took over and he just got really negative. Let's talk about some of the moves he made.

What was the first big one where it was a head-scratcher to you where you're like, oh my God, not only is maybe this guy toxic around the arena, but he doesn't even know what he's doing. Well, you know, I will say it was the Beteta one. You know, the Ebert one's an interesting one. I mean, it was a nothing trade. He traded a minor leaguer, Justin Kloos, for Ebert. There was a red flag there that, you know,

here you have Anaheim going belly up in the standings. They lost 12 games in a row, and they're scratching every night their second leading goal scorer and it just seemed like you know that that that it was it was one of those things where he should have picked up on uh why they they were scratching him and he never seemed to do it and and clearly there was character issues there and and and things like that that just never wound up uh being picked up on from him, maybe because he was clouded. He had the scout size that he drafted him in Nashville and things like that.

The next day was obviously the Rask for Niederreiter deal. Very perplexing at the time. Yes, Niederreiter was struggling. He was making $5.25 million. He was basically on the fourth line and relegated to that. I think Paul Fenn just got excited when somebody wanted him and made the trade. It turns out to be a bad trade. Regardless, bad trades happen.

Chuck Fletcher's first trade here in Minnesota was trading Nick Letty for Cam Barker. GMs make bad trades. So, again, you kind of discount that. But then what happened is about a week later, he acquires Brad Hunt from Vegas, a left-shot defenseman. The team is starting to play really well. They've just won their third game in a row in Denver. And the next day, two days after claiming, after trading for a left-shot defenseman, he claims Anthony Petetto off waivers. Well, it just, the whole thing set off, basically began a trickle-down effect of screwing with the roster

for essentially the next month. You know, the first thing that happened is that Cunningham and Erickson-Eck were sent to the minors during the All-Star game and the bye week. And so right away, you have two guys that if, you know, three weeks earlier knew that they were going to potentially go down, they wouldn't have made All-Star game plans and things like that. So there was immediate animosity created. Agents had to get involved.

Cunningham was actually forward at the time. And the team was playing great. They were playing great. One three in a row. And all of a sudden, these guys are sent to the minors. Well, by adding Beteto and the fact that Eric Fair was coming off waivers, it meant that after the all-star break and the bye week, that Eric Sinek and Cunningunning couldn't come back up.

And it was like it just seemed like either whether he was ignoring the advice of his staff or whether, you know, simple roster rules escaped him. He made a major, major mistake there. And then what happens is they come out of the break. Predictably, they lose two in a row, and he can't get Erickson, Eck Eck and Cunning back up here. So what he does is he takes Nate Prosser, maybe the most popular guy in that locker room, and kicks him out of the organization, essentially down to Iowa. So that ticks off the team. And then JT Brown, a couple days after he had a baby, I believe, he also has to be put on waivers to get Cunning and Erickson Eck back.

And it just created now a month of turmoil of roster instability. Now suddenly, Beteto's here. Nick Seeler was playing great at the time. Nick Seeler's now being scratched for a guy that hadn't played in a while. And all of a sudden, the next month was just, I think they won one, or I believe one of their first 10 games in February, and pretty much the free fall began. But it was sort of a Beteto one that was, to me, epitomized real mismanagement. Well, in fairness, I think you have enough info here in this article where things were not going well. It sounds certainly that he deserved to be fired. But I would also like to talk to them because there's always two sides to every story.

And at least you could get that. because there's always two sides to every story. And at least you could get that. And in saying that, I brought up the move where his son was made the head of amateur scouting. It was also in your article. Well, he actually had a great draft apparently this summer. So it hasn't been that he showed up and he didn't do a good job. The thing I'm wondering, and I know it's a part of your job

and you're a professional, but you must be just despised by the fans. I mean, it was an article that's showing a lot of what went down. But have you heard from them? Or, I mean, do you just realize that that's part of your gig? No, I've heard from somebody affiliated with Paul. But, look, you know, it was a year-long, you know, kind of back and forth between Paul and me. You know, coincidentally, we actually met in June and met for two hours to kind of, you know,

try to, you know, work on our working relationship and, and figuring it out and actually, you know, last four or five weeks of his tenure here, it was actually going really well. So it was, it was funny because it's like, you know, I was critical of him all year and all of a sudden I'd start to actually, you know, really, you know, really start to, you know, watch everything that I was critical of him all year and all of a sudden I'd start to actually, you know, really, you know, really start to, you know, watch everything that I was writing, making sure that I was completely objective down the middle.

And that's the, you know, he still gets fired. But, but look, you know, it was a tough year. I mean, you know, any GM that's fired after one year, whether he had a plan or not, you know, it's, it's not enough time. And to me, that's, that to me is what shows you that there was some major red flags here that Craig Leopold had to address. You just don't have – it takes a lot for a GM to get fired in one year. It takes a lot for an owner to admit such a mistake.

It's an embarrassing decision by the organization to have to remedy this mistake and yet they still were able to do it and so um you know it's it's just been a tough tough go here um hopefully one day you know paul i'm sure he's not going to want to but hopefully one day paul and i can sit and have a beer and talk about uh what went down and i'd love to write his side of the story i obviously uh reached out to him to try to talk to him i I mean, the last thing you want to do, Russo, is write a negative article about a general manager of a team that you follow. It's the last thing. And listen, I know nothing about the situation.

If anything, I was backing him up on the last podcast, and so was Witt. But ultimately, you've got to call a spade a spade. And from what I've heard, it might have even been worse than the way you described it. Yeah. You could have recorded it for him. Yeah, no. I mean, trust me, this story could have been worse. I mean, you know, there's a lot of stuff. I tried to walk the line, be professional here.

You know, almost painstakingly, almost everywhere through this story, I tried to give potentially what the other side there to try to, you know, try to balance this story out because obviously Paul wasn't talking here. And, yes, I mean, you know, when a guy is fired, you know, there's a lot of people that kind of come dancing on his grave and is willing to kind of be a lot more loose-lipped than previously. And so I just tried to balance it out. But, look, you know, it was a tough season.

I mean, it was turmoil from the very beginning. You know, again, right away he started making changes. It was a tough season. I mean, it was turmoil from the very beginning. Again, right away, he started making changes, fired Bruce Boudreaux's best friend. It was constant. And again, as Craig Leopold said, without getting too specific into what some of the stories are that I haven't documented, is it just seemed like every single day there was something that Craig Leopold or Matt Make of the stories are that I haven't documented is it just seemed like every single day, there was something that,

that Craig Leopold or Matt make of the team president or other people in the organization had to fires that they had to put a pull out. And it just became overwhelming. And, you know, Craig Leopold this summer met with him a couple of times about his job performance, tried to get, you know, try to convey some concerns to him, hoped that he could help him improve in not just the way that he ran the team on the ice,

but some of the issues that he was having with them off the ice. And just slowly but surely, there continued to be a couple more instances that just, I guess, proved to Craig Leopold that maybe nothing was going to change. And he decided to make this decision to maybe keep further damage to just not only the team, but the brand. Michael, I was reading your latest piece. It seems like there's upward of about a dozen candidates for this job.

Another two-potter. Who do you think they hire in the second pot? Will the Wild be skittish about naming another first-time GM after what happened? You know, it's funny. I mean, there's a very small, limited number of guys that have GM experience that's suddenly available, and I don't know if they want to limit themselves. Again, Paul Fenton should have been much more prepared for this job, and he just wasn't.

So I don't know if you want to just let one bad hire or arguably bad hire just take other guys out of the running that might actually be potentially great GMs in this league. So I think that it's pretty much where at the time he said he wanted somebody with experience. I think now he is being a little more, Craig Leopold's being a little more wide open about this. The first two guys they did bring in were retreads, so to speak,

Peter Chiarelli, who I don't think has any chance for the job, and Ron Hextall, who I do think has a chance for the job. Ron is somebody, though, that has a lot of the same personality traits, apparently, as Paul. It's funny. I've talked to a lot of people here about Ron Hextall, and it's either you love him or you hate him. And I think that Craig Leopold and Matt Maker are kind of hearing that,

but I do hear that Ron Hextall had a great interview with him, and with Ron there's no BS. So I think that Craig Leopold kind of respects that from the next two guys that were in here. They, they did ask for permission to talk to Scott Melody. I'm not sure if he's interviewed yet. And the next two guys that were in here yesterday were Billy Guerin and Don Waddell. And the Don Waddell thing is just fascinating guys. I mean, this is a current GM and president on August 5th coming into Wisconsin

to meet with another team. And he's being allowed this by his current GM in Carolina. It's just nuts to me that you would not resign your GM and president by now. Oh, geez. Well, they're owners. You might be writing an article on him pretty soon.

Well, I mean, the stories down there that I'm hearing this week are just unbelievable. And Luke DeCoffee quoted him today where, man, I mean, the quotes and essentially the fact that he's essentially – basically it's sounding like he just thinks GMs are a pawn and anybody can do the job and I don't have to pay him. And Don Waddell – Maybe after reading your article, he'll rethink his decision. Yeah. Well, Waddell. Maybe after reading your article, he'll rethink his decision. Yeah. Well, Waddell, I'll tell you.

I mean, Waddell is, I can tell you, he sounds like, to me, he's feeling disrespected. And he is a legit candidate for this job. You know, he came here, and I know he hit the interview out of the park with Leopold and Maka. And so I think at the end of the day, he'll be one of the finalists. And then I know that Guerin had a great interview. Tom Fitzgerald, who, by the way, I'm watching the 1996 Game 7 Eastern Conference Final right now. He's about to score the winning goal, I bet, any second right now.

Tom Fitzgerald's up for this job. Yeah, Fitz, he's up for this job. He was a runner-up last year. You know, I mentioned Mellenby, Guerin. Mark Hunter will be in here for an interview. I don't believe Chris Drury is a candidate. They've talked to Brian

Lawton. You guys might laugh, but I know they're going to be big in the Seattle teams. Believe it or not, I'm not saying... Pierre Maguire must be on that list, I guess. I was just going to say that they are going to. So Pierre Maguire must be on that list, I guess. I was just going to say that, Biz. They are going to talk to Pierre Maguire.

Oh, actually. I don't know if he's a bona fide candidate, but I think that they do look at him as being somebody that's seen a ton of hockey. And, you know, a lot of times in these processes, you just want to talk to people and get their impression of the team that you have and the roster you have. And I think that's part of what you do in any of these GM searches. And so this is going to be a long process.

You know, Craig Leopold, after he actually left town today, he'll be gone until August 11th. Mike Madonna and Matt Makel do a lot of the work here in the next week. But then, you know, really, I think it'll be a week or two after that before they have their next GM. If I had to guess at this moment, I think it'll wind up at the end of the day being kind of Don Waddell slash Ron Hextall versus Billy Guerin

slash Scott Mellenby. I think it'll be kind of like the assistant GMs versus the ones with some heavy GM experience, and then they'll have to decide who they feel the most comfortable with. All right, Bruce, we've got to thank you for coming on. I know a lot of what you touched on you wrote in the athletic articles, one being the one when he was fired and then the one for the candidates. Some of our listeners don't have subscriptions to the athletics,

so this is what you get. You get a lot of hardworking individuals who get you behind-the-scenes information. And last thing I will leave you with, the funny comment you made about bringing guys in and just trying to get as much information as possible. Down Goes Brown tweeted this out. He goes, maybe a weird take, but while hiring Shirely would clearly be a mistake,

I don't think interviewing him is so terrible. Guy has a cup ring and has been a GM for two teams in different situations. Finding out what he thinks of current situation would be of value considering he's went both ways with it. Yeah, no, exactly. And that's part of this. I mean, you know, I think it's very valuable for an owner to get outside opinions about what people are thinking about his team.

And there are a lot of issues right now on this team. There's a lot of things that are going to have to be addressed. The GM of this new team is going to, you know, of the wild, is going to have to come here at a very late time, figure out the lay of the landscape, get in front of Jarrett Spurgeon, try to sign him to extension. You know, Zach Parisi has made it very clear this summer to me in a story I wrote a couple of weeks ago that he is not happy.

There's a lot of stuff that the new GM is going to have to talk about. And so, you know, getting opinions from other teams on the way that they look at this roster in a very tough league, very tough conference, very tough division, it's not only the bad thing. All right, buddy. Well, thanks again for coming on. And if you folks haven't checked him out on Twitter, what's your

at handle? RussoHockey. There you go. Love it. Thanks again. But I'm going to record her if you're not following him already. You do tremendous work, Michael. I think you make the team a lot more interesting than they are sometimes, so kudos for that. Yeah, thanks, guys. Anytime.

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When you choose a monthly plan, if you use the link, GetRoman.com slash checklists. GetRoman.com slash checklists. Big thanks once again to Michael Russo for joining us. I'm a big fan of his, man. I know the Minnesota Wild Wits, we've been goofing on them for a while. They're not the most exciting team, but he really is a great writer. He does a great job covering them. So it was good to have him on. And also I think we should extend an invitation to Paul Fenton.

If he wanted to come on the show and maybe give his stance, defend himself if he feels he needs defending. If he doesn't, fine. But the invite's there, man. We always like to give people a forum to give their side. So if Paul Fenton wants to come on, anyone who knows him, tell him the offer's there. A little bit of hockey news, boys, to get to.

It's the doldrums of August right now, but the Rangers made a big surprise, bought out the last two years of defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk's contract, which made him a free agent for a little bit until the Tampa Bay Lightning swept in and signed him to a very low-risk one-year $1.75 million deal. He's going to be healthy for the first time in a few years. He's definitely fully motivated, going to be on a cup contender. He said he had about a half dozen other offers out there, and several of them were for two years.

So he actually left money on the table to go to Tampa Bay. I got to be honest. I got to give a lot of respect to my partner over here, Paul Bissonnette, who called this thing to a T. You said it, Biz. Thank you for pumping my tires. Yeah, I actually saw that one. I was like, he got it right.

Holy shit. Well, I actually saw that one. I was like, he got it right. Holy shit. Well, I texted the group chat. As soon as he got bought out, I said, this has a high-end team making a run, signing him for a low-risk deal all over it, and sure as shit, the Tampa Bay Lightning scooped him out. I think that Shaddy has a ton to prove now. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him have a monster season.

I mean, he's in the perfect spot. You know, he's got this amazing team around him. He can move the puck so well. People may be questioning his foot speed a little bit, but I still think that if you basically, you know, disappoint a guy that much where he didn't see it coming, he said, I saw a couple of quotes. It was his dream to play for the Rangers. It didn't go the way he wanted. I think he's a proud athlete with a ton of skill, a great guy from knowing him personally. And I just think that it's going to be a huge summer for him to come back and have a monster year and really kind of show the Rangers they fucked up. But they had cap problems. They figured they had their guys who they wanted to be there.

And it all worked out that they weren't happy with how the years had gone for him. And it's on to a bigger, better, not a bigger, bigger better thing but definitely a better team so we'll see how he does but I'm rooting for him hey keep in mind his best hockey was with St. Louis when there was other guys to take the the limelight off him I mean he's kind of I wouldn't say left on an island on that back end but when he signed that big ticket all of a sudden the expectations under the bright lights go up and you know you mentioned the injuries factor where now he gets to slide into that Tampa Bay lineup where, you know, he'll be a second, maybe even third pairing defenseman. He'll probably be on the second power play unit. And maybe he'll get back to where he was in St. Louis where, you know, he was playing up to what he was getting paid. So best of luck to him. Awesome guy. And hey, turned a shitty situation into a nice one pretty quick. A chance at a cup. Yeah. He said, quote, I have a huge chip on my shoulder right now.

He talked to John Cooper and he said that he feels like they kind of, he kind of shares the same mentality as Tampa Bay does because they're pissed off after the way their season ended. Shattenkirk's pissed off for the same reason. And you know, they're hoping they make beautiful music together. So we'll see what happens there. A little bit of news out of St. Louis. Our buddy Joel Edmondson, he went to arbitration.

He got one year, $3.1 million award. It's a $100,000 raise. He was asking for 4.2. St. Louis had offered 2.3, almost right in the middle. So a $100,000 raise is better than taking a pay cut, I suppose. And also, I don't know if you guys saw any of these FCC complaints about the Blues swearing. Did you happen to catch that story?

I didn't. I saw you guys text that. What's going on? Just people out there who, you know, they hear a fucking swear, as I swear. They hear a swear on TV, and then they can actually complain to the FCC. They go online. They file a complaint.

And there's a couple of them here. Stanley Cup playoffs on NBC. F-bomb dropped multiple times. This is not complaint. And there's a couple of them here. Stanley Cup playoffs on NBC, F-bomb dropped multiple times. This is not acceptable. Children are watching. 10-minute delay with a question mark. Like these are people who sit around. NBC once again allowed at least 10 F-bombs, clearly audible, a few loudly during primetime coverage of the 2019 Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday, June 12th, 2019. Federal law prohibits obscene indecent and profane content from being broadcast on the radio or tv all bowl all caps enforce this law levy hefty fines i love

your voice for these people yeah and make them public to ensure future compliance or this deliberate disgusting show never ends i mean these are people watching a fucking hockey game the minute you win it it's a fucking hockey game. The minute you win it, it's a fucking rights boys fest. Every guy lifts up the cup. It's like a fucking rights boys button, right? Fucking rights. I mean, I was surprised that that wasn't the quote that people were writing in.

Oh, man. Because you got to imagine it. I think it's the same people who used to call in rules and fractions in golf. You know, biz people did that. I know. I've heard that. That's crazy. When I first heard that, I'm like, how could they see? Grabbing your cell phone.

His ball moved in the bunker. Yeah, how can they even see that on the television? Well, you can see it because you get 15 extra slow motion replays. Oh, they see it on the replay. That's gutless. Did that happen to Dustin Johnson when he was in that bunker at the? No, that was actually. That could have been somebody from home,

but I think they were already on that. Somebody when they saw the TV coverage, like in the scoring tent, that was nuts at whistling straights going there later this summer. Thank you. What was it? What we just talked about that. We just segued in the golf and I wanted you to talk about Garrett rank. He's a NHL official who ended up winning what?

The Western? The Western Amateur. He won the Western Amateur, which is one of the top amateur tournaments in the United States every summer. I mean, this is a field that's packed with the best college players, international kids. I mean, it's an insane event that's along the lines of the U.S. amateur. A lot of these guys are going to play in the Walker Cup,

which is basically the Ryder Cup for amateurs. So this win is just – I think he's the first mid – I don't know the numbers or the years, but he's the first mid-amateur to win it in a long time. Mid-amateurs over the age of 25. Basically, it's not your college studs, right? It's kids that are three years out of college. So if they're not pros, they're still great players,

but they're not playing nearly as much. He doesn't even play much in the winter because he's reffing NHL games. Yeah, I haven't read that he doesn't play much. If he doesn't, that's just incredible. I mean, this isn't a fluky win either. This is a guy who qualified for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock. So he's been a world-class amateur for a long time. But it's unreal.

I mean, I'm wondering, though, in the winter, I mean, refs don't have to go to pregame skate. He can't go out and twirl around for 18 in a cart in two and a half hours, shoot 67, and then go ref the Panthers lightning tilt. I thought I read somewhere where he wasn't really practicing that much in the wintertime. I actually played with him. I played with him somewhere.

I can't remember where, though, and I checked his hockey DB, and it didn't have any information about his professional career. So I don't know. Maybe I just missaw it or something, but I'm sure somebody will tweet it to me. Maybe it was in Wheeling, West Virginia. Whit, just to follow up, he was the first mid-immature to win the title since Danny Green back in 1997, and he was also the first Canadian to win this tournament since 1977.

Suck on that, Yankees. That is pretty sick, dude. Yankees suck. I mean, he's beating young studs that are beat. I mean, I don't know, maybe Garrett ranks super long, but I'm assuming he's not as long as some sophomore that's playing on USC carrying at 320. Yeah, like I said at the top of the show, there's not a ton of hockey stuff going on,

but we still like to get everybody up to speed on any news that has gone on since last episode. But I think it's due time to send it over to number 87. Personally, this is a career highlight for me. If you want one of the best players on the planet, we also want to say thanks to CCM. That was why we waited to drop it. So it coincided with their ad campaign campaign. But itM. That was why we waited to drop it. So it coincided with their ad campaign, but it was awesome, man. I hope everybody enjoys it. So we're going to go right to Sidney Crosby right now. Let us know what you thought. And a little cherry on top too

is Whitney has a Keith Yandel story after the Crosby interview. So make sure you stick around afterward. This interview was brought to you by Tommy John. There are a lot of underwear brands out there that claim to be big on comfort, but if that were true, then why are 75% of men and women dissatisfied with their underwear? My hunch is that they haven't tried Tommy John, the revolutionary underwear brand that's upgraded over 1 million lives. Tommy John doesn't just claim to be the most comfortable underwear on the planet. They actually have the stats to back it up. I have several pairs myself and I can vouch for it. How about this number?

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I got carpal tunnel syndrome flicking through this kid's Wikipedia. This intro is going to be long. It's going to be good. I'll start. The 2005 first overall pick. He won one World Junior Gold. He won one World Cup. He was leading scorer and MVP. Thanks for coming.

He won two Art Ross trophies. He's won two Hart trophies. Two Maurice Richard trophies as leading goal scorer in the National Hockey League. Two-time Olympic gold medalist. One of them caused me to get silver. Suck on that wit. Two-time Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP.

Three-time MVP voted on by his peers. Ted Lindsay Award and the Lester B. Pearson Award, and most important, three-time Stanley Cup champion. He's watched the Replacements movie 5,000 times in his life. He afforded me the chance to sit on my couch and just touch myself to watching Fred Koppel's golf swings on YouTube because he gave me so much money. Our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Hey! Holy shit! How are money. Our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Hey!

Holy shit! How are ya? What a treat, Sid. My first question after that intro and wit. Oh my god, did that go well? All the same intro, wow. What finally made you come on? This has been years in the making. Well, I'm a little disappointed. I thought I was getting

187. This is on Biz. Biz said that originally. He was on that. But here I was getting 187. I thought I was getting number 187. This is on Biz. Biz said that originally. He was on that. But here I am. Well, that'll go into superstition. Oh, God. We have about 30 minutes of superstition talk coming up.

But no, seriously, thank you so much for coming on. We're up in Coal Harbor. This is the... I mean, no, I'm sorry. We're in Halifax. Sid's from Coal Harbor. How special is it as living here in the summer? I mean, it's a beautiful town. It's like you'll never leave here, huh? I'm sorry. We're in Halifax. Sid's from Coal Harbor. How special is it as living here in the summer? I mean, it's a beautiful town.

It's like you'll never leave here, huh? I don't think. No, I mean, I've been coming back here since I can remember. So, yeah, it's just the people, the place. I have a lot of family here. It just feels right coming back here. So it's been a lot of fun. We got to plug where we're at, too, because your buddy set this up for us.

The stubborn goat. What a spot. spot hey leave me out of this uh no but but the bar itself i know you guys have the women's world championship coming here when's that coming next year 2020 so your buddy's like hey i might need a little extra business sid help me out so this is why the setup's here we come here a lot we We frequent here, so we thought it'd be a good setup for you guys, and they put on a good show here. And we found out that you kind of, when you're in town here, have to travel around a bit

of a security team. I wondered if you'd even ever go out. I can't even imagine it. Just so no pictures are being taken with alcohol in front of you. Just not like a full-on SWAT team, which I would have expected. Yeah, but if that was the case, we wouldn't get near him. So you should be thankful. A few guys looking out for you nonstop here.

Yeah, I mean, I go to the same places. So you see the same guys and they get used to the routine. But I usually hide out in the back here in most of the places. Should we hop right into the superstition talk? No, no. Actually, I want to start first um just our year playing together our we were rookies together so that year was wild i didn't make the team out of camp sid was the first overall pick coming in actually before the season i wanted to get your your thoughts and your memories on finding out that pittsburgh got the first pick like where were you then uh you know what? I don't remember where I was. I remember where I was.

Oh, you know what? I was watching the lottery in my basement actually. Yeah, I was at home. Where the dryer was that you shot into? Same room? Yeah. I was hanging out there. So here's my memory of it.

I'm down in the Cape Cod. I'm with my family. And all of a sudden, my brother comes bombing out of the house. Pittsburgh got Crosby. Holy shit, you're going to play with Crosby. Andby and i was like oh my god i could get so many points snapping break you automatically think of yourself i just yeah i immediately thought of myself but it was it was the best moment of all time what did you know about pittsburgh and the penguins uh well i had an agent who was living there d riz, so that was kind of random that he was in Pittsburgh

and the rest of the agency was in California. But then I had met Dan Potash on a flight who covers our team. Randomly you met him? Like two years prior to that, and E.J. Eddie Johnson, who coached the team a year before that at a golf tournament. So it was just random how it kind of worked out that I knew a few people in Pittsburgh prior to that. But we thought we were going to be unreal. We thought we were going to win the cup that year Ziggy

Paul came in Gaunch was the big signing and all of a sudden I remember I was a training camp oh yeah you were there too I was fighting Dan Carcillo at 8 a.m. oh my god that was so crazy I still can't believe that that can't they said no fighting and and I think probably in the first period of the first inter-squad game, me and Kirstie were throwing bombs at each other. There was Vandenbush. Oh, Vandenbush. Bonvey.

Bonvey. Did they go? Was Andre Waugh there that year or no? Andre Waugh was there that year. There was some serious tilts. And then we'd all go to lunch together and hang out. Yeah, that was pretty much it. Or Odie lunch.

Oh, yeah. Was Lyle O' odeline your first roommate but he used to call me after the od lunches at like four and asked me to go to dinner but you hadn't left the spot that you're at so they were talking about lyle odeline who by the end of it nobody would want to go to lunch with him after practice no because it would turn into dinner and then like post dinner bar and you're like what just happened one in the morning i went to i went to lunch at 1 p.m yeah i used to stay away from traveling dude where's my car uh we mentioned the fact that you randomly bumped into all these pittsburgh people we were talking about last night it's kind of like how the stars align with you you end up meeting andy o'brien randomly at some

summer camp and i mean i'm sure at the time you probably didn't know this guy was going to be one of the innovators as far as hockey trainers or really even trainers in general, and he becomes your guy. Yeah, it just worked out that way. I was at a camp, and he was from Prince Edward Allen. We were at Allen Andrews Hockey School, and yeah, I just liked the way he did stuff. I didn't really want to lift weights. I was pretty young. He was pretty good at explaining things

and how he moved and stuff like that. So I was able to connect with him, and he spent time going back and forth and spent a lot of time together in those early years. He was just getting out of school. I think he was at Western, just leaving there. So it worked out good for me. So incredible timing for both guys.

Yeah, it worked out good for me, yeah. What gave you that work ethic, though? Just something instilled in you from a young age? or was it like maybe your first season after doing summer training being like wow I feel much more physically superior than everyone around me based on the training or yeah I don't know what it was I think that uh I just like being athletic I played a bunch of sports growing up and I think as you know when I grew up I was always the youngest kid so I was a lot smaller than guys um you know I was playing with guys two three years older so I thought that's my competitive edge if I can start maybe doing stuff a little bit earlier weren't you a soccer

goalie I don't know I played everything well yeah and then all of a sudden in his warm-ups he couldn't touch the soccer ball remember early in his career he would you know he has this very regimented pre-game warm-up he's doing he has this very regimented pregame warm-up. He's doing all his Andy O'Brien active warm-up drills. And the guys would be playing soccer, and the ball would come over, and he'd be doing flips to get out of the way. The ball couldn't touch him. But now you play, right?

I always played. I just didn't touch it before I played. Make sure you get that right. He's always played, but the ball couldn't touch him until he was ready to play. I didn't touch it before I entered the game. That was the deal. You said a word I wanted to get into, work ethic, because it is crazy. I've told so many people, they ask about you, you do work harder than anyone I ever met.

And it's always been that way. You told me that even in your teens or early 20s weren't you getting up at like six in the morning in your room throwing half your gear on and going to skate alone yeah that was before there was a lot of hockey camps here and i used to we like may june there wasn't a ton of ice and that was the only time available before hockey camps and that was a grind but you throw half your gear on in the bed it was so early i was just like i'm not like i'm throwing my gear on here nobody's gonna see me i'm jumping in my gear on here. Nobody's going to see me. I'm jumping in my car. I'm the only one on the ice.

Yeah, so things have changed. What's up, R? I just was going to mention his rookie year. You obviously led the team in scoring, but I looked. He was also third in penalty minutes on the team. 110. He used to be screaming at refs. You were hard on refs earlier.

There was a lot of pressure that first year, guys. I thought we were going to win. 102 points I think he finished with and didn't get the call. That sucks. The only thing I couldn't list off there is the call there. It's like the commercial. Oh, Vetchkin. Were you gooning it up early?

No, that was probably a lot of tens. A couple tens. A lot of tens. A lot of tens, I remember. I mean, a lot of a lot of tens a couple tens a lot of tens that a lot of i mean a lot meaning what like probably two or three i remember bugsy telling me with uh i think five games left he said something like you're at 98 he's like you think you're gonna get i was like i'm not getting 100 there's no way i'm getting 100 i can fight it off sure enough i got 100 that night right away didn't even like and i got an extra two

i was so pissed that i got that i got 100 i just got teed up for an extra nice to have around your belt though kind of gives you a little bit of toughness oh you gotta love that i think i think i think you were the first rookie to ever have 100 points and 100 penalty minutes so that'll never happen again thanks for coming yeah we we briefly mentioned Zygmunt Palfrey was that the season that he just kind of disappeared in Nashville yeah do you remember that yeah he took a bad hit I remember there yeah yeah remember how good he was he was scary too yeah he was scary but yeah Ziggy was unbelievable like he just toyed with goalies could just knock any puck down you He'd give them any pass anywhere. He was incredible.

Like, so, like, underrated for how good he was, you know. Well, you saw him. Yeah, I was there. You saw him in camp. I was there in camp. You just mentioned Ovechkin. Now, you guys, your careers have basically been intertwined since you've both entered the league. Do you have any relationship with him at all,

or is it just all on the ice? Yeah, pretty much all on the ice. I mean, we see each other at different events and stuff, awards and things like that. But yeah, it's pretty much on the ice, and it's had its moments over the years. Yeah, he might say. I think that's to be expected.

We've been kind of built up against each other from day one, but we've had some good moments and bad ones, but that just comes with playing against them so much. Do you think that was created by the media early very early on but then it happened it like was it didn't even matter if the media yeah yeah i think it i think it added to it i think it's just it's an easy storyline right you got the canadian kid the russian kid the rivalry there between and it's just two totally different people as far as personalities are concerned the matching hat trick game the year that guys did it, that was sick.

We lost that game though, so better for him than me. Yeah, but you lost the battle you wanted to win. I had my guy. I covered my fucking guy. Where the fuck were you guys tonight? Hey, Joe Thornton would have said it. Joe Thornton would have said it.

Fuck, I didn't. What do you want me to do, get four? Jesus Christ. Man, it must. What do you want me to do? Get four? Jesus Christ. Man, it must have been so nice to get the cup first, though. Because that is such a big monkey out the back. Because they're always going to weigh you on your career achievements on the Stanley Cup. Yeah, I mean, to go play that team again after losing the year before, you think you're never going to get there again. I mean, that's the way I was thinking.

Remember Hossa left after we lost? Yeah. That was just crazy. Well, I have so many questions. So many questions. First off, talk about a fuck-up by Ray Shiro trading me for Chris Coritz. But he don't still. Want to take that one back, Ray?

That doesn't bug you, does it? Hey, when you won, it was 09, right? We lost in 08. Yeah. Did you think at any point that night of me, Bugsy, and Army, did you? Oh, buddy. Well, like so many thoughts went through my mind because I remember Bugsy sitting in the room after 08

and him knowing that it's probably a good chance that, you know, that that's going to be his last game in Pittsburgh. We lose in the finals. So that was brutal. He didn't take his jersey off for so long. I know. I know. He just sat there.

And then I remember, you know, with you guys, with Army, and, you know, obviously we came in at the same time thinking we were going to play together forever. You just think that. You don't learn the business until, like, the first trade. Yeah, you have no idea. So, like, just that went through my mind a lot. And that crazy game where we kept it alive in 08, that triple overtime, you played, like, just that went through my mind a lot. And that crazy game where we kept it alive in 08,

that triple overtime, you played, like, 53 minutes. Sid's like, I just kept seeing 19, Langley's body jumping over the board, snapping around. I was like, I played 57 minutes. And then Gaunch came back after, like, missing three periods and sets up the winning goal. But, yeah, all those kind of moments, you know, came back to me. But, yeah, all those kind of moments came back to me. But, yeah, we had such an awesome group,

and we all thought we were going to play together forever. And then so that next year, you guys lose game five, right? And you got blown out that game. And then you go back, huge game in Pittsburgh. And then game seven, Max Talbot, like what a guy to become a hero forever. The thing I don't think a lot of people realize is you didn't play the third period right second half of the game probably all i think like early second i want to say it was long it just went on a hit or do you remember yeah franzen i got i got hit by franzen he's massive you know big that guy was he just and he just hit all my knee

and it just jammed in the boards and And I got freezing and all that stuff. I thought, okay, maybe, and got up there for the third one shift against Datsuk and Satterberg, whoever was out there. I was just like, I'm going to cost us the game. You're a liability. It was brutal. For the first time ever. Worst feeling ever.

Worst feeling. That's not how you dream it up at all. No, you would have been scoring the OT winner like at the Olympics. It was brutal. but you know what just like seeing everything it was just totally different look but just seeing like all those little things you talk about all the time and we couldn't even get the puck past the red line guys were just chipping it past changing every 15 seconds i was like guys just stay over like yeah 15 nobody was like give us 30 boys give us 30 and then cronwell hit the pose orbar, I think, with like two minutes left. I was right behind him.

It looked like it was going top shelf off the bar. And then when he hit the bar, I'm like, okay, I think I'd be able to do this, actually. What a vulnerable feeling, though, especially for you being in the middle of the bench, having no control over it. It's like a kamikaze. And you're like, oh, I just wish I could bring my patience out there yeah and you want to you want to be a cheerleader right but at the same time that wasn't really i didn't really do that so i didn't work at the gate i didn't really want to act out of character either i just was trying to yeah all of a sudden it's like come

on boys they're like uh what is it on speed i know he just hurt his knee um do you think those two those two cup finals made you realize, or do you agree that Lindstrom was the best defenseman you ever played against? No doubt. Like, incredible. And Rafalski was really good, too, and he doesn't get a lot of credit. He was, you're right. But not even close.

Yeah, that just shows how sick he was. Jans always used to practice because he used to watch lynch from doing yeah where he would be c cutting backwards and you'd try to chip it and dump it in and he'd knock it out of the air and he was the best ever so yans used to make me do it in practice he's like can't even flip it in right jesus this can't get it off the ice he's trying to get it in trying to make me throw him yeah but then but then the coaches get so mad when you don't get it deep when a guy bats are there's like, what do you want me to do here? I think we had somebody on who was like, you try to dump it in on him.

I told the story about Bobby Ryan. Oh, it was Bobby Ryan. He's a great kid. Fuck, give me a break. That is the same type thing. It's the same type thing. So, all right, so you get that first cup, dude. I mean, talk about the celebration in Pittsburgh.

Because, I mean, I was there for four years and saw what a city that is. Sportstown, the most undercover city in the U.S. Like, just a great spot. So, do you remember that celebration still? Like, on Carson Street? Yeah, the parade was crazy. But, yeah, it happened. I think it was like a Friday night. We ended up being down there with a cup and just people on top of cars

and hanging the cup outside of Mario's there. You've made a few appearances at that place, I'm sure, over the years. But just, you know, like I couldn't picture it until I saw it. I never expected Carson Street to look like that. I always thought, you know, obviously it was Grand Street or whatever, you know, through the city, but not Carson Street. It was just mayhem there. Obviously I'm trying to think back. 16, 17

I don't think we even had anything close to that just because it was weekdays. It was weekdays. That's a huge difference. It wasn't weekends, right? We won on a weekend so it worked out. It worked out. Talbot who lived right behind Mario,

had that pretty sick modern play. Oh, that place was unreal. But he must have been on fire because, you know, an unexpected MVP in Game 7, he ended up scoring both goals. You were pretty close with him, too, as well. Because you usually gravitated more towards the French guys. Was it?

Oh, really? I hung out with Fleury, Dupuis, and Talbot, and who else, really? Army, Witt, Bugsy. I would say he could always go OT with the French guys more. No, he was OT with us. Actually, speaking of restaurants, Sid, if you still go to Maggiano's in Philly every time.

Must have been the Q influence. That's what I was going to link it to. That's what you put it together as. Yeah, it's just like Quebec League, loves French guys. There it is. We got it. Light bulb went off. I was in my hotel room last night.

I was connecting the lines and I got a mad scientist. So rookie year, you got a hat trick in Philly after eating at Maggiano's and I believe went there every game in Philly the next four years? At least. Man. What made you find these twins? That was so heavy. What a meal though. Oh, that was so heavy. What a meal, though.

Oh, family-style chicken parm. You know who introduced me to Maggiano's was Merle's. Merle's. I think Merle's was the one who got me going on Maggiano's. Merle's has been on here. So Merle's was, you guys were roommates, correct? Yeah. I had a brief stint with you, I think, as a roommate there for a little bit.

You had a day of me shaking my foot with my Celestis Lake syndrome. He's like, see you later. Frank, get me somebody new. Kunitz coming up. Merles and Armie were my two roommates. Colby Armstrong were the two roommates. But Merles, you couldn't get a better first roommate. Just always had something set up.

Always. Always. You get in, he's like meeting the lobby in 10 and you don't know what you're doing. You're just following Merle. You knew it was going to be good. Like out on the town, you mean?

Just like out to do anything. He'd set up dinner. He'd set up where we're going to watch the Monday night football game. Mini golf. It could be anything. Yeah, mini golf.

It's like, hey, we got this set up over here at this place. Merle is a big time set up guy. He's the guy you need in every crew. Oh, I love that. You just show up. He's a glue guy show up blue guy yeah blue guy and you show up and you always know you're gonna have a good time and all he ever asked for he's like i need i need a gum guy someone's got to be his guy so i was always gum guy so a lot of people have tweeted at me like a lot of people is

our little exchange skating around it during the cup finals you guys fucked with me about my breath you guys how long did you guys play on that one well do you remember that whole thing skating around during the cup finals. You guys fucked with me about my breath. How long did you guys play on that one? Do you remember that whole thing? You were in my head. That was pretty quick, I think. I mean, we always had something on the go, I feel like. I know, we did.

That group was so unique, I feel like, with Flower and George. When George was there, he was always up to something. Obviously, you guys had your little side bets going on all the time, which our warm-up revolved around the half moon with it with these two it was unbelievable oh my god oh my god in games the whole warm-up just stopped for these two like literally a thousand bucks a shot in warm-ups yeah in an nhl game yeah and like if you go first and you go down bar in and then like i'm like, dude, he ain't torn. And then Fleury kicks him away. I'm like, yes!

Then it'd get me fired up. But a couple times I lost, and I was just, I think, going into the game a little mentally weak because I just lost a couple hundred. 100%. Then you guys had the sprint contest, did you not? Do you remember that? That was the best.

I actually told Nate about that the other day. We're in the room. George is like, everyone on the ice in like 10 minutes. We're like, what's going on? But we're like, it's going to be good. We don't know what it is. It's going to be good, though. So we get out there.

These two are lined up on the goal line, ready to race to the red line. I don't know how much was on the line. I think Terry and two, didn't he? Oh, everybody was out. Everybody was out. Dude, Ray Sherrill was like on the stopwatch on the goal line doing it. We had some fun. All right, so you mentioned Fleury.

Great friend of yours, Stanley Cup champ. What was it like the years where a good buddy of yours kind of lost his game a little bit, lost his starting job? Everyone says how great he was to be around even when he was going through those times. Did you think the same? Yeah, didn't he didn't change at all i mean that's just hard probably the hardest thing ever for him knowing how competitive he is and um coming in at a young age and just carrying it the whole way like he he made it look so easy and that's not easy for a young goalie so you know we kind of take that for granted but the way he

handled it i mean you couldn't handle it any better. And especially being a goalie, there's that little, you know, it's a little different. It's a little more competitive. The ego side of goaltending is always there. Yeah, you have to have that to be good. Yeah, you would have never been good to begin with. What's that? You would have never been good to begin with if you didn't have that motor.

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, he handled it unreal. And he was so huge in us you know winning you look at some of the like that washington series oh my god i mean we got so comfortable with him just making save after save after save and then we'd get our chance and boom was that the second of the back to backs where he ended up taking over for most of that playoff what was the feeling like when they ended up deciding to go back to Murray, and I think it was even in the finals, or maybe it would have been the conference finals?

It was conference final against Ottawa, yeah. So I think we struggled a bit in Ottawa. I think it was game three, and I think Murr started after that, and he came in and played unreal. So at that point, you're that deep, and we had been through that in the year prior. Does that not even go through your head, though? Are you trying to just worry about and focus on your game? Or when you hear about the switching of goaltenders,

is everyone kind of like, wow, that's a fucking very major decision on a guy who's carried us to here? Yeah. We had a lot of the same guys the second year, so I think having gone through that the year before and Flower handling it the way he did and not making a big, that was the best thing about it.

Like it automatically wasn't a distraction. Obviously, you feel for him. We're teammates. He got us to that point. And we didn't know at that point if they were going to rotate after that, if Murr was going to go all the way. So you try not to read into it too much. It's part of the position, and we just try to go with it.

But it worked out. I don't want to insult Ottawa here, but were you guys shocked that that went seven games? I wasn't. I mean, we talked a lot about it. They were such a different opponent. They sat back. If they would have went to the cup final, I would have been rattled.

I would have been pissed. I'm like, they don't... You know, you guys... I think it was game seven overtime, was it not? Yeah, double. Yeah, I guess you scored that one. Cooney. Cooney.

The best one was when they were all wearing his jersey. Oh, that was the best. Because he missed the thousandth game and there was all coonets on the ice. That was in Chicago, too, I think, wasn't it? I was like, holy shit, I'm not going to sleep at night. Actually, what a great guy he is, though. Everyone's told me he made an impact right away hammering guys, too. That hit on Tiemann.

Oh, that's one of the biggest hits I've ever seen. He just, you know what, he can do anything. It doesn't matter if he's not scoring he's not scoring if he's not setting guys up he's doing all those little things that you don't really you don't really notice but you know that are so important to winning and um he just in the playoffs he always found a way to just elevate his game yeah going back to that first cup win Sid what was the most unexpected thing about winning the cup something that like no one told you about like holy shit I didn't know this was going to happen I think just everything that comes with it after like you think of winning you

think of like that feeling of hoisting the cup being with your teammates the parade probably is in your head just from seeing it you know on tv that kind of thing but it's just you know whether it's coming back home and seeing everyone huddle around wanting to see the cup and it's it i don't know it's the people that are a part of it as you you got older and made the NHL, it's you winning it, but it feels like it's such a bigger group that wins it. So I think just having that impact, I don't think you really understand it until you win it. How many years did you have to go before you didn't have any more roommates?

I got my own room pretty early i was lucky they were good to some like flower had his obviously he's goalie so i think he got his own pretty early but he used to be 500 games wasn't it he used to be 500 games but but it was still like when we came in i thought it was everyone had them because you were with like odeline for a minute and i was with i was with rex yeah yeah like nope they used to put the older guy with the young guy just so they could be like hey do everything and then pay the room bill uh speaking of roommates uh lemieux you lived at lemieux's place for a while there what a year it's supposed to be a year and all of a sudden you just moved out he's like all right once i win my third cop i'll

uh yeah at first was a little uncomfortable living at someone else's house. Yeah, I mean, right away. But he had four kids, and it's just a very normal family. So I guess it got normal pretty quick just because, obviously, you look up to him. He is who he is. But then you're in that family environment. You see just a regular guy obviously an amazing career but i was playing with him at that point too so oh yeah that was

pretty awesome i mean driver the rink every day and just kind of probably asking him every question in the book and um one of the best stories i have from my first i think it was like first couple weeks there they convinced me to get a dog right away so i was like i was like i was like first couple weeks there. They convinced me to get a dog right away. So I was like, I don't know if I need a dog right now. I can barely do my own laundry. So they convinced me to get a dog. I have a puppy. Still have the puppy this day. They're 14-year-old Sam.

But anyways, so I come back after the game and I smell something. I'm like, what is that? I'm like, puppy definitely like shits somewhere in the house. I got to find out where this is you know this is mario's house yeah so i'm like looking everywhere like all over the house finally i come around the corner and he's cleaning up all this shit like everywhere in the kitchen i'm like oh my god i'm like i'm like like so embarrassed i'm like mary let me just cleaning up my dog shit. Mario Lemieux is wiping off my dog shit.

I'm like, this is so backwards. This should not be happening. I would have been like, Mario, you told me to get the dog. It's not my fault. That damn Bissonnette brought another broadhead, Mario. Don't let him disarm me. Oh, yeah, yeah, is that what we're doing? Yeah, he was awesome.

He ended up retiring, I think, in November. Maybe it was December. But the whole family, he was awesome. He ended up retiring, I think, in November. Maybe it was December. But the whole family, he was unbelievable to me and still is to this day. Do you remember, Armie and I were talking about this. I was actually crying laughing. The text Mario sent you after the big night in New York you had, your rookie year. Taking a bite of the Big Apple? Yeah, Armie said he loved that one.

Armie's sitting there and he's just said like i mean i'm telling the story for him but army's telling me this like yeah i'm sitting there he's text gets mario lemieux i'm like holy fuck let me see let me see and sit at two and two against the rangers that night and mario just writes way to take a small bite out of the big apple kid and army's like oh my fucking god holy fuck that's mario lemieux but that's so Army, too. I probably was like reading on the bus. He's looking over my shoulder.

He's like, who's that? Like that Mario? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, geez, like, play it cool, man. No, no, no. He's like, say anything about me. Say anything about me. I got to talk about it a bunch of times today.

I love you, Army. Another teammate we wanted to talk about was Pascal Dupuis. Yeah. A throw-in. A throw-in on that. Yeah, that's crazy. That's crazy. Like like he's another guy like Cooney I mean he just did all those little things and I feel like those guys they're so

important to winning because they they do more than just you know score or set up guys they you know they just understand the game if you need energy that night they can bring that if you need a hit they'll bring that they're willing to play any amount of minutes whether it's 10 or 20 but if they play 20 they want to play 25 like it's it's just that they want to make an impact on the game somehow and he was one of those guys that just he worked hard uh he's willing to do whatever it took to to win so like we'll go back to the trade is that something that they call you in and say hey what do you think we need in our lineup to that's just that was just their move and then how long did it take you to evaluate the fact that he was going to be a big piece to you guys winning the championship um it's hard to say then you don't know it takes time I think for your team to just develop

chemistry and things like that but he But he was a good fit. Yeah, I think it started off with I played with him and Billy right away, and we had some really good chemistry, and it just seemed to fit. But we were so deep. I mean, we had so many guys that could chip in. And we had Miro Shetan that year. Oh, yeah. Tyler Kennedy. Sikora, Peter Sikora.

Someone would chip in. Fedotenko. Like, guys that just, you know, guys you wouldn't think right away as goal scorers, but like Feds was unbelievable. You get 20? Yeah. What about Garen?

When he came over, he must have made just an impact in the room. Yeah, big time. I mean, he's just so comfortable. He was so comfortable right away. It didn't take me time. First time I met him, I remember in the training room, he just started unleashing on me, just chirping me. I was just like, oh man, this is going to be... Did you love it though?

I loved it, yeah. You know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But just, yeah, it helped that he was older. He had been through it. He had been on a few teams before that. Yeah, yeah. Do you find people are tentative about busting your balls, giving like your stature in the room or whatever? Yeah, I think guys that I came in with were

obviously much more comfortable than than it is now we'll put it that way oh man these kids are so scared of everything these kids coming i was on the training table sign my iphone please sit um i'll go to the net hard no it's just different it's just different everyone did it didn't matter yeah you know where you were in the lineup or you know whether you played 10 games or 82 a year. It's just you were fair game. I remember my first year going to get a haircut and just being like, can you just give me

something that doesn't look like I got a haircut? Just something where I actually got my haircut, but it doesn't look like I got one. I need a half a trip. I'm going to get absolutely shredded. No matter how good this is. I'm going to be absolutely shredded. No matter how good this is, it's going to be awful.

So Sid's pulling into the arena, and we're playing Philly that night, and most people think he's stressed out about going up against Mike Richardson, but he's actually stressed that people are going to start screaming, where'd you get a free bowl of soup with that haircut? I can take it. Unreal. From the fans, it's fine, but from your teammates, that's just... That cut you deep. I had one thing written down.

You had a million things written down. Yeah, I actually have a million things written down here. I won't read them. Good, thank God. In the second of the back-to-backs, there was a little bit of taunting on P.K. Subban's part with the whole... The mouthwash?

The bad breath and then he was bringing the mouthwash like were you getting a lot of that information like is that something you just laugh about or were you irritated by it yeah I was a little irritated by it yeah I mean I think you could tell at the time when I was doing the interviews

it was just like the last thing I wanted to be talking about but I mean maybe that was part of it did it fire you up like were you like because I know at that point I think they were winning like the last thing I wanted to be talking about. But, I mean, maybe that was part of it. Maybe that's what made it. Did it fire you up? Like, were you like, because I know at that point, I think they were winning the series when he was doing that. No, they were, they just tied it.

They had just tied it 2-2. We won first two, and that was in Nashville. He had said something to Gensi, leaving the ice, and I just kind of went to kind of get in the middle and try to break them up and he kind of kept saying stuff and him and I went at it and nothing was said even remotely close to that but then to read that after

I was like oh okay. You're like alright we're making a show. I'm going to have to answer about this so it was more of that. Oh I'm loving it. It was more of that and then I think on top of that I ended up taking Listerine, carrying a bottle of Listerine into the game or something like that. Just trolling you. I think more so it's you're like, I don't even want to answer.

Like, I have to talk about this. That's what pisses you off. Yeah, he still jokes about it. We were just at the awards, and he was still joking around about it. I mean, it is what it is. But, yeah, I was just like was just like okay i gotta answer a question at the end of the day right well speaking of um that's just kind of little game you know that's just mind games it's nothing me and him had some good run-ins throughout the whole series i was

playing a lot against him you know i don't have anything against him for that i just i just was kind of annoyed that answer but all right that's what i wanted to know that's the answer i wanted the tom brady bill belichick school of thinking. Just don't ask me about nonsense. What about a mistake I made? And we need to go back into this for people who don't know. I made a bet that the man sitting right here would never score 50 goals in the NHL. Do you remember finding out about that?

Who fucking told you? It was definitely Getz laugh. I think it was gets he wasn't it probably gets yeah him or pears well either way might have been pears yeah might have been pears i you know this guy walks by me at the hallway of the olympics and says hey heard about your bet bud it's a sweet bet and then that year gets 50 are you fucking kidding me who did you bet i bet talbot talbot's like well you know, we're just talking about his game, and I was like, I don't know if I'll ever get 50.

And trust me, I'm blowing him more than anyone in the world, but I'm like, I don't know if I'll ever get 50. Look at his stick. He came into the league with this two-piece straight. It was like, I don't think it's possible. And Talbot, correct as he was, is like, dude, how stupid are you? You don't think he's going to get 50? And I ended up being wrong.

But just the fact that you ended up finding out about it, I was like, oh, no. If I start a podcast someday, he'll never do an interview with me. Not necessarily a wrong opinion, considering when you came in, I would say you were more shoot – or, sorry, pass-first mentality. And I think that maybe you realized people were catching on to that, where there was one year it looked like you came back and all you'd done on the summer break was work on your shot because then you were just sleeping everything yeah i had a wood blade wood okay oh that was why that probably didn't help me what's that people

could hate me nate this kid would get a hundred blades i'm talking to mckinnon yeah another superstar thanks for coming um i'm getting legit he watching him, you would get 100 blades and maybe throw away 85 of them? Yeah, because you could, but you could doctor them up. You could like,

bend wood blades. I've seen you in the training room in training camp. So when, look at it. Why did you finally go one piece?

What did you do? Because they didn't make them anymore. No shit. Yeah. So I think, I think it was 2010 I started.

And got 50. There's the One Piece commercial. Would you have changed if they would have kept making it? Probably not. I probably wouldn't have. No. You're not a creature of change. You're just a creature.

Still the same cup, correct? Still the same jock? Still the same one. And that's since age? Probably midget. Oh, my God. Yeah. Have you amended it at all?

did you fix any of it? it's just the same oh it's been Dana Hines Dana Hines he has dreams at night the one extra stitch in his jaw

that hangs down to his knee protects his knee bag give him credit that's probably like the worst thing he's got to do he gets it done

he keeps it together for me he knows the deal that's great he knows the deal one thing i want to ask you and the start of the question might come off as negative what's the weakest part of your game or maybe what's the thing that you need to work on more so than others in order

to keep that part of your game up to par or at least where what you consider par i'd say speed i mean that's just part of getting older as you slow down a little bit I mean you just got to slow that that curve yeah that's the biggest thing I mean the game's getting faster and faster and obviously as you get older you start to slow down a little bit and you know the more you can slow that process down the better but it's just you know it's just part of getting older do you think now like you play the game different mentally positionally like as opposed to when you came in and you were just busting through the neutral zone splitting the d every fucking time i think there's just more responsibility for for the center more than i mean

they always just tell you you know how about the d down low that kind of thing but now you have to like teams come so hard they pinch i remember like starting out there used to be like two teams that their d would pinch and that was like super high risk for teams to pinch the d now every team pinches there's so much pressure on the d that you have as a center you have to help out all the time if you're not there you're d or toast so so i think it's just i'd love to go back to that that way of just flying through neutral zone but you're not really going to have the puck much because you're not going to be able to help your D get out of the zone. I want to go back to high school for a minute.

You went to Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota, obviously well-known for hockey. What made you make that decision? And also, was that culture shock just going to a school in the American Midwest all of a sudden? Yeah, it was a big decision, but at the same time, it was one I felt really comfortable with because I hadn't really been introduced to call it U.S. college hockey.

So I thought by going there it would be good to finally get on the ice every day, which wasn't something I did. Here growing up we only practiced twice a week. Even at 14? Yeah, I think maybe three times in midget, but up to Bantam for sure we only practiced twice a week. Yeah, so that was a huge thing just to be on the to Bantam for sure. We only practiced twice a week. So that was a huge thing just to be on the ice every day and have the rink right on campus there. The education was going to be really good.

But, yeah, that just allowed me to go there and develop, play there and see what I wanted to do. If college was something I was interested in, that was the best opportunity I was going to have to really see it up close too. Were you one year? One year, yeah. So one year and then to the Quebec League. Yeah, and it was tough.

I almost stayed and did 11 and 12 in the same year and then would have been able to go to college. I remember North Dakota was probably up there. Yeah, just because Zach Parise had gone to Shattuck. He went there and they had just built that rink and stuff, I think, then. And that was just kind of a draw there. Did you have a ton of offers, or did it even get to that point where teams were offering? No, no one offered him a fuck.

I mean, if he was going to go juniors, that's when you pack ahead. Hey, that's something I would ask sometimes, and I'm glad it didn't click off in my brain, where I'm like, thank you for not saying that. Well, you know what? The NCAA rules are like, it's crazy, because it's all like... When you can legally commit and shit. I was a sophomore.

It's all coming back to me a bit, but the rules are crazy. You can't talk directly to coaches or directors. They can text you on a certain date, but the NCAA keeps things so under wraps. Yeah, so I feel like looking back then, it was like my coach would talk to the other, like the college coach, and he'd basically relay information. Morse code. It was weird.

I didn't know all these rules. I was pretty new to that whole process, but it wasn't as easy as just going on a visit and just laying it all out there. There was ways to do it. So when you were at Shattuck, you played and became real good buddies with Jack Johnson. You're now a teammate on the Penguins.

Is it true there was a time that you guys played on the baseball team, you got hit, and he charged them out? Yeah, that was crazy. Like, that's the last baseball game I ever played in. So I was pitching, and they were kind of, the other team was kind of chirping. They were squawking at you? Yeah, that happened every game, though.

It was just fun. Like, guys are going back and forth, and then he gets up to bat, and their pitcher, he starts saying up to bat and uh their pitcher he starts saying stuff for their pitcher but the guy starts brushing him off and he kind of moves in a little closer like kind of showing him hey i don't care if you're brushing me off i'm gonna move it tight tighter to the plate so i'm on deck and i'm like this is not gonna be good like you can tell he's like he's gonna charge him mound here at any point sure enough brushes another one back he goes out there he just starts beating the crap out of the pitcher like within two punches that guy's down first baseman comes over that guy's down second baseman throws his glove at him

like and he's done he's basically standing on the mound two guys are down i remember i ran like hockey mentality grabbed the catcher yeah i'm thinking he might blindside so on top of the catcher i was on deck so i'm like i'm like what just happened you know so the uh athletic director came up to us after and said you know you guys are gonna have to sit out you know the rest of the season and you know and he was like jack was so pumped he was so fired up he just got you know bench clear he loved it i was just like okay we were playing another sport just we had to play something spring term we played baseball but yeah that was uh yeah i haven't been

in anything like that i mean hockey wise but baseball that's the last thing i expected going to that even before shattuck um like the nickname like the next one like you were like a prodigy growing up and i'm wondering being here like living in cole harbour in halifax like do you think it was almost easier to deal with that if instead you're living in toronto right where it's just like kind of a gong show minor hockey and stuff do you know what i mean yeah i think as far as staying grounded i think it was easier yeah you know just because mean? Yeah, I think as far as staying grounded, I think it was easier. You know, just because that's the one thing. The friends I grew up with, the coaches I had,

it was all about team growing up. You know, it didn't impress them if you had great numbers. And there's tons of kids in minor hockey that have great numbers that it just doesn't work out. And I think they always kind of reminded me of that. And playing with older kids they didn't allow my my head to get too big there wasn't social media there wasn't even just to get info on other players you had to like just like go online and try to figure out who the best guys were yeah it was hard to do like you just couldn't you didn't know who was coming from message boards on like hockey future like that's their real websites exactly that's what that's what it was so i guess in that way it was probably a little You didn't know who was coming from... I was looking for message boards on Hockey's Future. I didn't know if they were real websites.

Exactly. That's what it was. So I guess in that way, it was probably a little bit better just without all the social media and stuff. But there's also some challenges, too. It's a small town, and there's nowhere to get away. And just when you get to that age where you're closer to junior and there's that expectation... I remember when I was in junior i was going to like high school and i was getting you know ushered in the back door to do my exams like i was like this isn't this is

come on really like well that's what you do but be honest that's when you probably realize like i'm not gonna have a normal life i mean it's never yeah and it was it was pretty good you know i think my parents did a good job and obviously with the friends and stuff i have they they kept it as normal as can be but it's just one of those things that it is what it is and um you make the best of it you're you're kind of private and you keep a kind of well you run a tight ship was that just something you always wanted where you just don't really want people knowing your business? Is that something that your parents were like,

hey, this is going to benefit you if you live it this way in the future? No, I think it's just kind of learned. I think whatever works best for you, whatever you feel the most comfortable with. I always felt like hockey was so scrutinized and there's so much expectation that came with that. And there's a certain level of, you know, when it came to my personal life, I just liked

having that for me. I didn't need to necessarily let everyone know what I was doing when I was doing it, but I just, I thought like that was something I could have for me. You know, hockey was something that everyone was well aware of, but my personal life was for me. Well, and as that goes on, though, you have to kind of work to kind of keep it private. Whereas early on, it's a little different. Whereas now, like, you know, you deal with like paparazzi and stuff like that. Do you have to have like a team around you?

No, it's not that. Yeah, it's Nate right over here. It's not that. It's Nate right over here. It's not that bad. I think, and after a while, you're in different situations, and you learn what works, what doesn't. Like having no caller ID when you call people. That, exactly. That's the most legendary thing. I've been just waiting since I got traded to get a no caller ID call

because some say blocked. Some have like you can tell it's a joke number. Sid's no-caller ID every time. So I'm like, this is him. It's him. Yeah, yeah. He said it's fairly easy, though. You just got to call your provider and set it up.

Yeah, because I was explaining what I thought was so cool. And then Grinnelli goes, my dad has that. I'm like, okay, well, that's just for me. All right. Actually, one more thing, Ari. Because we're getting into all these good memories that we're trying, but you've had some tough things to deal with in your career, and I really want to go into buying jeans, dude,

because it's just a disaster. I mean, dude, this guy buys these wide-ass jeans and then gets the bottoms tapered in. The old boot cut. You've never found a pair of jeans in a store. No chance. No, it's not easy. Grinnelli's salivating.

I know. He was broken off to Torrey Krug's quads. Look at these fucking things. Paige, they stretch. That's what I'm wearing right now. Pasha, fucking right, Paige. Send me a couple, please. How did he get so big?

He's born, dude. He's born with those things. Those fucking tracks. I do a lot of leg stuff, but I think that there's lots of guys that do a lot of leg stuff. It's just, I guess, genetics. Before we even get into the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, were you pissed off when you didn't make 06? I know, but looking back, no one even thought about it. Your name wasn't even in the mix, but then you start thinking.

At the break, you probably had 60, 70 points. Did you start thinking of it ever that year? Right before they started, I think it was when did they come up with the team? January or something? December, I think. December, yeah. So right before they were coming up with the team, I think there was a little bit of chatter that you know maybe an extra or something like

that but um just that alone i was happy with like i didn't expect to even be on that radar coming in my first year so um i ended up going to ramuski for olympic break actually that's what you did that year oh my god that's a hockey nerd to a t right there i know i had to tell you i wasn't gonna let that slip i gotta go yeah everyone's like where's the maldives uh no he went and skated with the oceanic all my buddies from junior were back there i was like i was happy to have a two-week break and obviously following the olympics but i didn't i wasn't upset at all like the fact that i was in the conversation i guess kind of got my hopes up a little bit but then once i wasn wasn't, it was like I was a fan. So 10 comes and, you know, in the end, you become a Canadian hero forever scoring that goal.

But people probably don't really remember that that tournament. We beat you guys in regulation. There were some question marks going on in the Canadian media. It was a little bit of a gong show for you guys early. Yeah, because of that game, probably. And then the goaltender was switched. I think Brodeur had been the starter, right? Yeah, I think after that game, Luongo went in.

And, yeah, we just, I think we just struggled. We struggled to find those line combinations. It's a short-term tournament. And a lot of guys, some guys have played together before, some haven't. And, yeah, I mean, it's a ways back, so I'm trying to jog my memory a little bit. That gold medal doesn't come back to me right away. There might have also been some distractions.

No, just early on, you know, like early on, there's always that feeling out process, but I feel like it happens so quick. You know, as far as like the team gets there, the next day you're playing, you don't. What about the golden goal? Like do you remember that shift? Do far as like the team gets there the next day you're playing you don't what about the golden goal like do you remember that shift do you remember like the feeling right after i imagine it's it could be that or you might not remember a thing it's kind of like that yeah i mean i i remember the feeling i had when prezi scored that's what i

remember the most i was sick to my stomach like i was like you've got to be kidding me we had it this is like you know you're what was it like a minute or 30 seconds under a minute i think yeah a minute and i remember like oh my god like you just funny it's funny you say that because i don't really remember that blacking out on the bench because you're so happy but yeah and then and i remember yours that you don't remember so perfectly. That's probably true. And then we came in. We only had 30 seconds, so we come in the room, and it's still kind of like lingering, right? And I remember Scott Niedermeyer was just so cool and calm.

I don't remember exactly what he said, but he was so like, I mean, he was convinced we were going to win. Judging by the way he was talking, I just remember, wow, this guy's been he was convinced we were going to win judging by the way he was talking i just remember wow this guy's been through everything we're gonna get this done like he's he just like had that quiet confidence as for the goal itself were you surprised you scored on that particular shot was just kind of a weird angle i know americans it was like well it was like kane's cup goal it was like similar, remember? It was like on the ice, weird angle. Yeah. And Miller was incredible.

It's cool because I used to do this drill growing up. I remember like probably like 12, 13, 14 years old. It was 10 pucks, and you just shoot 10 into the net. The pucks were scattered all over the offensive zone. So you didn't necessarily know where the net is sometimes you're just like trying to get 10 pucks in as best time as you can get so try to score 10 goals on an empty net so you just go to the puck shoot it from where it is yeah so it's pretty hard because once you get tired you're going you're skating out the blue line you're turning you're firing you miss puck goes in the

corner you got to go chase it down like it's just annoying it's kind of like a bag skate at the end but anyways that that drill you used to get those like bad angles all the time and you don't really look at the net a lot you just kind of like let it go and it was just one of those things where that puck just kind of popped out and for whatever reason i shot it but like it wasn't a like great angle it wasn't for whatever reason i shot it but most times you take that to the net and i think that's what miller probably thought i was going to take it to the net. And I think that's what Miller probably thought. He was going to take it to the net. And it was just a weird, like, a lot of times, nine times out of ten,

I probably don't shoot that right away. Like, it was just weird the way it worked out. So, basically, my gold medal dreams were crushed at a rink in Coal Harbor, Nova Scotia, 5.30 in the morning in 2001. Nine years prior. But, no, seriously, though. You know, it goes five hole. It's a pretty low percentage shot.

But I guess in overtime, maybe I was thinking no shot's a bad shot. Maybe they get to four and play, and that's something I would have done. All the minutes on your stick, you're like, get it off it. So what was the celebration that night? Celebration was really cool. It was kind of, I guess it was tough because the city was just mayhem and we were leaving like early the next day right away because we played i want to say we played a day later i think at home right away and uh i remember sitting around with uh webs and we went to the athletes

village it was like it was like this house they had where you know just any of the athletes could come in hang out so we brought um we brought a bottle of rum, I think, from the rink and just like had a couple of rums at the house there. But all the athletes were around. It wasn't just Team Canada. It was just kind of hanging out there. But the city was just so crazy. I was content to just hang out in the Athletes' Village and hang out with some other athletes there. I think the men's curling team was around a little bit.

I think it was Kevin Martin's group there. So they were around, and we were hanging out with them. It was a lot of fun, but it was pretty quick. Unfortunately, that's the thing. There's no parade. You don't really get to hang out with the guys that much after. Everyone kind of goes back to their teams pretty quick. Well, you talked about the struggles early in the tournament.

You could probably think of a few distractions off the ice. It was in Vancouver. You've got to imagine a lot of guys were going out, probably having a good time, taking in the festivities. Maybe not so much you, but other guys. I was. You know Drew Doughty's not staying in every night in Vancouver. You've got to bring up the Vitaly story, dude.

Well, I have to do a live ad read right now. Oh, can I do it? Have you guys ever heard him try to do an ad read? All right, let's get ready. I'll go to the bathroom. I'll come back in 25 minutes. The font is a little bigger than usual. So we're talking here about the Ribcore Trigger 4 Pro.

Now, what exactly is that, Sid? This is a CCM. Is that a skate? The trigger? The trigger is a stick. That's a stick. That's a stick. Okay, I'm sorry.

It's been a while since I played, Sid. Okay, used by NHL superstars like Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon, CCM's Ribcore Stick line is all about quick release, and the RibCore Trigger 4 Pro Stock is no exception. Featuring a new isometric taper shaft geometry and our new Agility Blade, the RibCore Trigger 4 Pro Stock is an incredibly lightweight and high-performance stick designed to put the puck in the back of the net quicker than ever before.

Nailed it. Not bad. I struggled with isometric. That's a tough one, and I don't know why it's capitalized. Should I do another one, Grinelli? The one-piece boot featured on the Jet Speed FT2 and SuperTACS AS1 skates. It's not complicated. CCM's one-piece boot is all about pure performance.

Highlighted by a more direct energy transfer and closer fit, the one-piece boot gives players faster feet. The one-piece boot is available on the Jet Speed FT2 and SuperTax AS1 skates. So that's two in a row. I did a pretty good job. Didn't get stuck on that one. You've been with CCM since you started.

What do you like so much about it? Yeah, it was Reebok. It was Reebok first. Well, they owned each other, didn't they? Yeah, it was CCM Reebok. So yeah, I think just Johnny Max. Do you remember Johnny Max or no? He was a rep with Sherwood before he came to CCM Reebok.

But he was just always an unbelievable guy. Always told you how it is. You guys know what it's like if you're dealing with someone and sometimes they're telling you that you're going to get sticks in a week. Oh, biggest line hockey sticks are in the mail. Biggest line hockey. That was the worst. So he was always great for that.

The company was always great. So, yeah, they're good to work with. As a young kid, Sid, when did you become aware that you were way better than every other kid? Great question. I didn't really ever have that in my head. Really? Everyone said, all right, I'm kind of blowing these eight-year-olds out of the water. No question i didn't really ever have that in my head really like you were never said all right i'm kind of blowing these eight-year-olds out of the water no i didn't like that's why i think like i was i was always two three years younger than the guys i was playing against and always felt like i needed to work so hard to like to stay at that level or to

play at that level and um that kind of kept pushing me to get better. Sorry, wait. When did you realize that, okay, I think I can do this for a living or I want to do this for a living? How old were you when you had that thought? He wanted it when he was four and a half months. I don't think you really, like I always, even before I, when I was drafted I think is when it really like hit me.

I think even in junior, like you're projected and then you hear stories about guys, I think, is when it really hit me. I think even in junior, you're projected, and then you hear stories about guys that get drafted early, and for whatever reason, it doesn't work out. So I don't think I ever let that creep into my head that, hey, you're a first pick, but it's automatic that you're going to play and have a good career and that kind of thing. So, yeah, I think that I always had that mentality, that underdog, or I've got to prove myself, that kind of mentality.

So forever, Mario's linked with Jager from their titles in Pittsburgh and the dominating teams they had. And for you, it'll be Geno. And I hoped a couple funny, if not one funny, Geno story would come to mind. My favorite being when he had five assists against the Maple Leafs and smashed a stick into 100 pieces. You remember that game? We beat the Leafs.

Why? What happened? We beat the Leafs 5-0 at home, and he had all five assists. And he got in the locker room, and he was so mad he didn't score. He smashed a stick in the old shower in Mellon Arena in 100 pieces. And I was like, Orp, he had five assists. It was just a classic memory. classic memory but I mean he's been he's been by your side for for every year but one and what a player he is huh incredible like just practicing with it you know you know what it's like practicing every day he just makes it

look so easy just knife through guys even in the game he'll be like cut in front of the net there's like a guy it looks like he's gonna pick his pocket and go the other way. He just knifes through and it's nothing. He makes it look so easy. I remember how you have the order when you go out onto the ice. His first game, he got hurt. I think he missed the first seven games we played that year because he hurt his shoulder in preseason. Then we had our lineup all kind of preset.

It comes down to him and i at the end of the line you know like who goes out last he's just looking at me i'm like we don't really he's like he was my second year bud fucking eat it do you remember what he said he goes three years super league i'm like what i'm like what he? I'm like, what? He goes, three years, Super League. I'm like, okay, okay. So he wasn't budging at all. I was trying.

I was like, rock, paper, scissors, every game. No, like, no chance. Rookie, first game. Telling the fucking 102-point man. You'd already had the C at that point, no? That was your first game with the C. It was. That was your first season with the C, was that was your first season with the c i

thought you got it might have been got a second year you had the a halfway through your 18 year old season i think when terrian came you got an a okay and then i was like oh this kid's 18 he's the assistant captain yeah but yeah so that was hilarious like yeah that's we still go in that order to this day he always he's always lasts. He's a bully. I tell people on the podcast, I used to be at the front of the line, not that I should have been anyway because I'm a drill buster, but he would just come over, take my puck, go right in front of me, and not even say anything.

Not like, hey, I'm going to lead this one, set the tone here. He would just be like, what the fuck are you doing at the front of the line and just push me out of the way. Yeah, but that's him. He's so funny. That's just him. And you know what? When you see it so often, you get used to it. How about him not knowing anyone's name on the team ever?

Like at rookie parties. Hey, he's better now. Yeah. He nailed everyone's name last year easily. So you can't get him on that anymore. He's done his homework. I played with him, but I don't know him because he didn't speak English then. And now he does interviews and stuff.

It's like I play with him, but I don't really know him at all. I'd love to actually see him now. He probably hates me because he's always ripping on Russia. We need your backstory of the joe vitale story and have you heard this yet yeah this has definitely gotten back to you so we need to know like when did you decide all right this is i guess actually that night you're probably this is going to continue until it stops like that's nothing for me like when i look back like i'm like yeah yeah i mean like yeah i did that but along with it. Like, he knew the second, like.

Yeah, it was a meal ticket. The second, third time I came back to tell him, like, I was like, okay, he's on board. He knows what I'm doing here. And then, like, I start to pick up little stuff. It's contagious. You'd be surprised guys come in and say, I'm not super suspicious. And all of a sudden, you see them doing stuff. You're like, okay.

You're like, oh, you are? Play it off. Are you stuttering the story a little more? Because at that point, you're kind of acting where he knows what's going on you know what's going on or do you have to tell it the exact same same and is it just smooth yeah i mean it's just i mean it's not word for word are you smirk you must be smirking because you're well aware that he's aware what the fuck is going on you're making him listen to the story for the 10th time. It's not that long a story.

It was a quick story. Can you tell us the story? Can we hear it? It was like, I think I heard that song on vacation or something, like in Europe. A couple lines? Yeah, it was probably a couple lines. It was like, hey, you know, that was the song I listened to. It was the soundtrack to Italy. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it was something quick like that. So he's just like, i went yeah exactly yeah it was something quick like that so he's just like like the second time i told him he's probably like what yeah he's like that's when he's like uh he told me that but then the third he realizes okay he was on board and then that's not even a lot what's something that you you did for superstition that was just like you're like okay what am i doing now like this getting excessive. The throwing of the water bottle. Is that still going on? Army started that. Oh, really?

That was a roommate thing. Like, he used to, we used to just, like, chuck the bottle, you know, the garbage can in the hotel room, just, like, messing around. He's like, if I put this in, I'm getting three goals tonight. He'd chuck it at the garbage. But, like, Army's probably responsible for half of my stuff because he was pretty superstitious too. Tyson Berry told me to ask you about the spin doctor.

Oh, this is a great story. What is the spin doctor? He's been retired. First golf club I ever got, that was at Air Lanes Golf Club, which is actually by the airport here. It's a nine hole. And I was on number one.

And this club came helicoptering across in front of me. I was like, what? And this guy just like chirped. He's so pissed. I was like, here you go, sir. I was young. I was like 14 or whatever. He threw it?

Threw it. Yeah, he was pissed. So I was like, here's your club back. He's like, keep it. I'm like, you sure? He's like, keep it. So I'm like, okay. So it's a 60 degree with one of

those huge faces like just got these probably illegal super illegal super illegal so i had that in my bag forever like i knew it was illegal but i didn't know to what extent this thing can like it stops the ball in the dime wherever you are like you can pretty much just like put the ball wherever you want to put it like with, with this thing, it doesn't move. So, we're golfing at Oakmont. Fast forward to, what's this, a couple years ago we were at Oakmont? Yeah, and Tice is there with Nate, and Braden Shen was there too. I'm in, like, thick, rough in Oakmont.

So, I bring out the doctor, you know? So, this is late. All playing for playing for money this is late out of the rough at oakmont this is green it ain't stopping this is late in the round too like this is huge yeah this is on 17 it's a huge shot i'm in trouble and i just stick it like two feet it doesn't even move and like nate is snapping just losing it was that the doctor was that the fucking doctor like you're done with that so i i was like okay okay last shot so i last shot with it like tired it i haven't used it since that round what a way to go out though for the spin had the lindstrom sandpaper finish that's what was making it so i'm not a golfer so what you're saying is when you're

when you're rough that thick when you're in rough that thick. When you're in rough on fast greens, the whole way to create spin on the ball is hitting it out of the fairway and down on it, right? And the ball creates spin off the club face. But in the rough, you're just hacking it, and it has no spin ever unless your club's named the spin doctor that you got from a guy in 2000. And you can replace the face on it. So I had all the extra faces, like the diamond face, I had the rubber face. Did you still have it? I was in the extra faces like the diamond face had the rubber face did you still oh

yeah do you still sharpen in the grooves the night before the match yeah do you do you still have it in your basement oh yeah i keep it around i throw in the bag we'll have to get a picture just for sentimental value dude i mean we got we got anything else for this guy this is great let me read the memo pad see if we got here i got one when you go into a game in philly said you get like a little extra jacked up because of the history there? And then peeing on your face? Yeah, basically. Hey, thanks.

That too. Yeah. Yeah, I think just, well, it's already in you because when I first came in, those games were, there was fights. It was just crazy intense. I mean, they're still intense now, but there was just that level of anticipation when you're 18 years old and you're seeing guys square off and off and go toe to toe it's just like there's a heightened awareness that

comes with that so um i think those games kind of prepared me for what the rivalry was all about and then it's just continued with you know playoff playoff series and that kind of thing but um i think you just you get up for those games knowing it's going to be a little bit more more of a challenge with with the crowd and with everything going on definitely a great rivalry for sure yeah uh i wrote down what was the last book you read uh hockey dreams by matt christopher uh the 2010 um men's ice hockey canadian team uh rap run around books book schedule okay stupid question sorry about that you ever have a job before hockey that's what i had written 10, men's ice hockey Canadian team runaround book schedule.

Okay, stupid question. Sorry about that one. Did you ever have a job before hockey? That's what I had written down. Any summer jobs? Just landscaping. Yeah, I worked hockey camps. That was the best. Yeah, that was nice.

I used to work hockey camps. They say we need you to run the drills. You can't set up drills for yourself in the corner. The kids are just staring at you not doing anything I want to talk about the contract a little too when you signed for 8.7878787 how lucky is Pittsburgh to get a hometown discount

because this guy is like OCD times 20 no it's you know what though it started what was the, what was the max when I, when I signed my second, I think it was 10. I don't know, I think OV got 10. I think it was 10. Maybe 10 and a half.

And I remember, you know, I was willing to take a little less, but taking a little less doesn't work if everyone else doesn't take a little less, you know? So, you know, you look at, at you know i think gino signed for less uh tanger might have signed for less um but gino signed after you and i'm like i don't know if this guy i mean russians are russians three years he still makes more than you does he not he does yeah now right because he signed like one year after he signed after the the new uh the new cba but um but yeah like I was willing to do that. And everyone else, I remember Cooney and Dupuis, they both signed for less.

I mean, Cooney had an unbelievable year that one year, the lockout year or the half year. And I think he could have made it just for $4 million per year where he could have definitely gotten six. He could have cashed in for sure, and he didn't. So, I mean, I was willing to do that, and it worked out. What was your initial impression of these two pack of heads when you first met them? Uh-oh. This is going to be fun. Well, Witt and I hit it off right away.

Yeah, we did. He was just chirping all the time. The bus rides with Witt, and who else? Who was joining you, Witt? Orp was always kind of like teeing me up for stuff. Oh, yeah. The bus ride used to sit right behind me and he'd just be carving like you didn't even want to like turn your head towards him because he'd just be carving everyone people on the sidewalk guys on the bus

like he was just carving everyone all the time but it was it was great and one person would cart me and i'd flip out like super defensive but then my i remember hanging with biz in the training room and uh and pit like shooting the shit a little bit but then i remember like what was it when what happened that you got sent down and you were like pretty vocal about it oh okay so i think i've told this on the podcast before so my first year at pittsburgh's training camp i didn't really get much of a sniff got sent down right away to the ahl and that was when terry was coach he came down i played four exhibition games in in the ahl had four goals and two assists well they just signed ryan lannan noel welch and

all these other defensemen and they're like yeah he told me that, too. And they're like, yeah, you're going down to the coast. And I'm like, the coast? I just fucking lit up your training camp, and you're sending me to the coast? And I'm 19 years old, and these college kids are like 30. Who are these old dudes? So I said, I was like, it was bullshit. I didn't really get much of a sniff. And that really upset the organization.

Well, then Shiro ended up coming in and replacing craig patrick and we didn't really have a great relationship and then i came to camp the next year and they said that we buried the hatchet and everything was going to be fine and i was supposed to dress the first inner squad game and i go in there i'm fully dressed in my gear and Yosey's like hey here's the lineup for today's game I go look on it I wasn't in the lineup I put all my gear on and as he put it up I go hey Yosey maybe you guys

could give me the heads up next time before I put my gear on they're like who is this guy Yosey wanted to kill me and he fucking hated my guts from that moment there until I finally ended up apologizing for it a few years later. But they ended up sending me right down to the coast, not even to the AHL training camp.

I fucked up a few times in the meantime, but then we buried the hatchet. I went from becoming a defenseman to a forward, fought 30 times in the American League, and then the next training camp, I believe, is the training camp for her. I was on the training table acting like I was going to be captain. No. So I brought it up because I remember thinking

he doesn't seem disgruntled or upset. He's here having a good time. There wasn't anything going on. All the money with him. I don't know. He's happy. He's getting that NHL per diem. Everything seems pretty good here. Then I made the team at a camp and we ended up going over to Sweden to start that DM. Yeah, like everything seems pretty good here. Like, you know. And then I made the team

out of camp and we ended up going over to Sweden to start that year. I was like, this is what the NHL is like. Actually, one way to wrap is because like,

man, like, I get shit on, right? People see my skates. Look at your skates. Those are terrible. Look at your body. You're so pale. Just tell everyone at home,

offside one-timer, dude. I did that as good as anyone. We were talking about this the other day with Nate. Guys, listen to this. I told Nate this. This is Sidney Crosby. There's nobody with the same side one-timer this guy had. You saw it.

And thank you very much for joining the Spittin' Ticklers podcast. Nobody. Nobody. Seriously. It's insane. Yeah, well, you just brought up Mike Yeo. I don't even think you practiced it. No, no, Mike Yeo.

You gave me a couple, and my limp-wristed curve, the puck went in the corner. And Yeozy goes, dude, that spot on the power play, he's going to find you every single game. Let's do this and get you good at it. And Yeozy would go out before practice with me and give me the pass where he would pass it from. And over the course of three weeks, I got better and better and then just started sniping because the passes kept coming from it was a pretty cool story of like coaching helping you figure out what you need going out helping you figure out how to do it and then him just giving these fucking on the tape perfect passes that i would yeah but even when they were on and shell sometimes they weren't though like they're in your feet or like ahead of you and i'd be like

oh this is what's he gonna do with this you're gonna stop it no i just one t right in the back and that reminds me of early on when you were playing with him on the power play. Sometimes you'd get frustrated because he would come to the bench, and he'd be explaining something, and you're like, Sid. Oh, we used to tell you. I told you that. I'm like, Sid, I don't see the game like you. Nobody sees the game like you.

Fucking lay off me. I'm trying my best. Oh, I'm bad for that, man. I'm trying to get better. Hey, buddy, that's just how it is for the best. And that's why I only lasted six seconds with him. Yeah, exactly. Well, dude, this is unreal.

I mean, the fact you take the time for us is much appreciated. So we wish you all the best luck on getting number four, man. No, thanks, guys. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Good luck beating the coyotes. That interview was also brought to you by Indochino. Every man looks and feels so much more confident when he puts on a suit. I know I do, and that's why I by Indochino. Every man looks and feels so much more confident when he

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you in a couple of weeks. So easy, so awesome. And this week, our listeners can get any premium Indochino suit for just $369 at Indochino.com when they get the chiclets at checkout. It's 50% off the regular price for a made-to-measure premium suit, plus shipping is free. That's Indochino.com, promo code CHICKLETS for any premium suit for just $369 and free shipping. It's an incredible deal for a premium made-to-measure suit. And once you go custom, you don't go back. What a thrill, guys. What a thrill. I mean, I just, I'm so appreciative that he brought up my backdoor one-timer. End of the frigging interview. I was lethal coming down that off-point wing.

I don't even know what it's called anymore. But God damn it, could I get some shots on that? So that was great, though. I really think that that was the first time a lot of people see that side of Sid. He's a private guy. I totally understand why he went into that, but he opened up with us, Biz. It was fun to get a chat with him, and it was really

cool after when he gave us the like, dude, we could do that for like five hours. I'm like, yeah, don't worry, I won't do a ten part documentary when you retire. No mention of my passing, unfortunately, other than the fucking grenades I was sending over to him but uh very

cool i hope you guys enjoyed it uh a very special human being and you touched on it where i respect the fact that he's private um there there probably are questions that we could have asked them that maybe dug a little bit in but we know he's just not comfortable talking about those publicly and we know he's a fucking awesome guy and he and he does some fun shit but there's only so much that he wants the fans to know and uh and that's why he's the fucking man he's like leonardo dicaprio of the nhl yeah and and mckinnon was great he we did him after so it makes sense he's coming next week so that was that was you know we get some more in depth into sid there but uh thank you once again that was a real pleasure for us. Yeah, big thanks to Sid.

I was impressed just how up of a down-to-earth person he is, just how normal he is because, you know, these guys get put on such a pedestal because they're good at sports. And he's just a regular dude. I mean, we went to the restaurant. He took us out to eat, him and Nate, and nobody really bothered him. People just let them eat and drink, and no one really bugged him. I thought that was pretty cool, the Nova Scotians. So I think it's fair to say we've now interviewed on this podcast

the best three players in the world at the current moment, McDavid, McKinnon, and Crosby. Was that a fair statement? Fair statement. All right. Those are the first two because McKinnon's coming out next week that you were fucking kind of sober for because the first one, you were crippled.

What was it like interviewing a guy sober? Yeah, I stayed pretty calm. I tend not to get like too like starstruck, even though it is Crosby and McKinnon were there, but I just did what we usually do. I prepared a little bit more. Probably I made sure I had some good questions. And I mean, it was a thrill, like I said, a professional thrill to interview him about the golden goal. I mean, I got to ask him how that transpired and did it surprise him the way it surprised Americans. And I loved his answer, man. I thought it was a simple answer, but it was such a Sidney Crosby answer. Like, yeah, it was just something I did as a kid and practice all the time and he won a fucking gold medal on it. So I enjoyed it, man. It was,

it was personally one of my top three, two or three interviews, no doubt about it. Love it. And we are going to have that golf footage coming out before the McKinnon one airs. And then the kangaroo court will follow the McKinnon interview. Ryan Whitney, you owe us a Keith, the animal story. Ooh. Yeah. So last night was a Monday night in Boston.

It was, it was a great event that Keith and myself were going into with a bunch of other NHL or tons of guys that I'll, I'll list them off quickly, but it was for the Corey C Griffin foundation and Corey Griffin was a really good friend of mine and a great friend to actually so many people, just one of the best people I ever met. He tragically passed away five years ago this August. And, um,

in his name, they've, they've created, created an incredible foundation and in that, and to celebrate that and try to get people to be talking about it more and I should give the website which is CoreyCGriffinFoundation.org just an incredible job they're doing so they got a bunch

of the NHL guys and some for some reason me together for kind of a happy hour where some kids came some autographs, pictures Brian Boyle and Corey Schneider gave an amazing speech they were both very close for kind of a happy hour where some kids came, you know, some autographs, pictures. Brian Boyle and Corey Schneider gave an amazing speech. They were both very close friends with Corey Griffin. Chris Wagner was there, Jack Eichel, Keith Yandel,

Miles Woods, so fucking hot. He's the hottest human I've ever seen. Noah Hannafin was there. Kevin Hayes, Jimmy Hayes, Jimmy Veazey. The list goes on. I think there was 25 guys there. Seattle means over here. Great night. But fucking Keith Handel. So we're driving in there. He picks

me up sick new Benz. Sick. White. I think sick black rims. And so he picks me up. We're driving in. And we get in there. I'm like, dude, you got gum. My breast kicking. I reach into his glove compartment or not the glove compartment, the middle console.

And I see a bunch of scratchies. I'm like this fucking guy. I'm lifting up. Like, when did you get these scratchies? You piece of trash. I look at the first top one. Numbers on the top. One of the winning numbers.

25. 25 on the bottom. $10,000. I go, dickhead, when did you, you have, this is a $10,000 winner. He's like, oh yeah, I actually got that when I got home when the season ended. I bought some. I actually, it's been in there two months. Get off. That's like a Boston Red Sox player story when he had like a hundred

thousand dollars left in the in the glove compartment when he went and got his car washed because he said yeah just keep keep whatever's in the glove compartment as a tip and the guy's like sir that there's like a hundred thousand dollars in here that is fucking nuts man and they'll save some money for the rest of us huh i thought it was crazier that this guy's going to make $100 million in his career and he's buying fucking scratch tickets. Exactly. Like, what the fuck? What the hell, man?

That is white trash, though. That is super white trash. Well, that's a good little story. R.A., before you go, I forgot to mention last week that I was in Minnesota. Well, that I stopped by the Beauty League. And it was a blast. Six teams they got going there. Probably the best summer skate.

Maybe Kelowna's like the other spot, but it was great to see a lot of the guys out there buzzing around. I went and trained with Drew Stafford and Derek Stepon at, what is it called? Perfect World Training with Jordy Murray, who's the coach's son, and he said he'd come on one time and give us some Andy Murray funny stories. And Zach Wark, so they were our trainers that day. The workout, I'm not going to say it wasn't hard, but it didn't look like you were doing a crazy amount.

It was all like band, hip work, strengthening, explosiveness. Buddy, my nervous system, I thought i was going to puke after the workout and i was only doing two sets of everything they were doing it this the new way they're training man it is fucking hard weights you just ruin your joints like mine are just crumbled now no heavy weights they we barely touched weights i think we did like one-legged squats and i had like a plate in my hand because i couldn't do the weight that they had but uh unbelievable no wonder the game's getting so fast because they're finally training the proper muscles in order to skate faster my ass was has been sore for fucking two weeks or however long i've been home jesus what kind of workout you do oh shit yeah that was probably from afterward

but i ended up um i ended up meeting up with bugsy at the Beauty League because he was there. I think he kind of interned coaches. And then Jeremy Clark. So we went to his gym for a bit. I ended up going with him to dinner. So I got to see Bugsy. He's doing awesome. His wife's on bed rest. She's got twins coming.

And, fuck, I can't even imagine having two Bugsys in you. Oh, my God. No kidding. Yeah, he's going to miss the golf trip. He's missing the golf trip because it's, you know. Maybe I could kidding uh yeah he's gonna miss the golf trip he's missing the golf trip because it's you know maybe i could come since i'm not a 20 handicap yeah we we filled it i would have loved to if you if you came i actually you wouldn't even you couldn't play this much golf like you wouldn't even i'm too slow no you just you wouldn't have you i you could never play this many rounds of golf in six days. You'd lose your mind.

But just to wrap up that Minnesota thing, I know we didn't get out to Dubuque League this summer. We are going to try to do it next year to get a bunch of interviews. I want to thank Derek Stepon and Alex Goligosky. They took me golfing that afternoon with Stepon's brother-in-law, and we had a blast. And they would have to agree. I'm not trying to plead my case before kangaroo court but i they pretty much agreed that i was a 20 so i'm just gonna leave that there for all you

listeners that's it sorry all right boys i think that should about wrap it up this week any other final thoughts jerry springer style or oh the coyote's got a new owner hello hello oh yeah he was like dropping uh swears in his press conference sure as shit he said in the press he's already rubbing he already rubbing off on him i love the edge of the coyotes yep the coyotes got a new owner boys alex maruello he took over 95 ownership andy burroway will keep five percent of the team but uh the commitment to win is very strong he's very vocal about it in his first press conference. And in the words of Billy Madison at Dodgeball,

the rest of you are big, big trouble. I loved how he stole your phrase during the press conference, said, sure as shit, he wants the team to be a contender. And I think that's key, Paul, is that he wants to build a downtown arena. I mean, that's the key to keeping you guys there and viable. And he seems like he's gung-ho for it, so you've got to be happy with the move. And he's got a downtown arena. I mean, that's the key to keeping you guys there and viable. And he seems like he's gung-ho for it. So you've got to be happy with the move. And he's got a construction background.

And some of you might laugh at me for saying that, but this guy's done it all. Very successful human being. And, fuck, now that we've got money to spend, too, you guys are hooped. All 30 other teams, you guys are toast. So Stanley Cup champions 2020, Arizona Coyotes. Book it now.

And you'll probably get in kessel um enormous week uh in the in uh the golf world of of myself uh wednesday tomorrow u.s mid-am qualifier pipe dream uh this would be like the ultimate thing ever if i got into this so not expecting much it's gonna go fire at flags. And then Thursday begins the Fallon Cup, which is the member guest at Wollaston Golf Club, the best member guest in the world. You can win big cash. There's a gross qualifying round.

You go out with your partner. Best ball gets you in flight. People don't even get in the tournaments. You know, you go out and you're firing 88 with your buddy. Best ball fucking take a hike. Try to get some reciprocals from the head pro to play at another course. So there's a bunch of hockey guys. Keith Yandel's playing with Brian Yandel.

Jimmy Hayes is playing. Kevin Hayes is playing. Noah Hannafin's playing. All the guys I mentioned before. So we'll have some stories of some funny matches, funny nights. Ideal AC Ducey Thursday night. That'll be special. I wanted to record it, people.

You can't film that, dude. The club won't like it. All right. It only would have got the club like 500,000 views and me dealing doocy. Oh, well. I'll have some stories from the tournament. I hope everyone enjoys their week ahead, and we'll talk to you soon. Yep.

Thanks to all our listeners. And once again, September 1st, Pink Lemonade Flavored Vodka, the Pink Whitney, will be on the shelves. Be sure to get it and enjoy it responsibly. Thank you.