Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 228: Ft. Jeremy Roenick

Episode Date: December 19, 2019

On Thursday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets the guys are joined by Jeremy Roenick. JR joins (32:07) to talk about his career, the current coaching situation in the NHL, some stories from his playing days and a ton more. The guys also talk some NHL news including the recent Taylor Hall trade. The boys also talk some golf and Rear Admiral wraps up with a Gambling Corner (01:58:33).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 228 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney, the pink lemonade-flavored vodka from our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka. Boys are down in New York City for the last couple days for the Bastille Christmas Party. Feels like we went to it last night, but we just had a few cocktails while we did some interviews. Let's see how we're doing today. Let's go to G. How you doing, buddy? I am doing fantastic. Yesterday, I received the nicest and best gift I have ever received

from Paul and Ryan. They got me a Rolex. The Rolex was great, but I think the words you guys said to me after meant a lot more to me. So I just want to say I thank you guys. I love you guys more than you'll ever know. Oh, wow. We're getting emotional here early. Yeah, I'll get some of me in a minute. You on an airplane? It's altitude up here. Next, we have the man, Biz Nasty, Biz Sennett.

Paulie, what's up, brother? All right, we couldn't tell you about the watch because we had to surprise you as well, and we meant everything we said. You guys have done a lot for us ever since you jumped on full-time RA. I think you've been incredible. Your interview skills have gotten better.

Your live ad reads, man. That's what really, the feedback I've gotten, it's the live ad reads what's been doing it the most. And Grinnelli, we love you as well. NYC has been a time. What a productive fucking day.

And Witt, you normally have a rule, but you sucked it up for the boys. Witt says three interviews only in a day, which is a – I'd say that's a fair number because it does suck a bit of energy out of you, especially the interviews that we were getting. And it sounds like, oh, my God, Witt, how lazy are you? Three in a day? There's 24 hours. The guy Gary Vaynerchuk wouldn't respect that work ethic. a day there's 24 hours the guy gary vaynerchuk wouldn't respect that work ethic but i'll tell you right now three's exhausting sometimes especially you know you're trying to get people to kind of say stuff it's almost work where you're like please come on we're trying

to bring your personality out well you know what yesterday's interviews we didn't have to do much work because i don't know do i want to say who yeah just drop them all right well in the morning jeremy ronick comes in now jeremy renick, one of the greatest hockey players from the United States of America of all time, he came on with us before. It was on the phone. What a different vibe. JR had a permagrant on the entire goddamn interview and just kept saying after. That was so much fun. That was so much fun.

And he told a story that maybe might go viral, just a classic back-in-the-day old-school hockey-type story. Well, then who comes in but a guy i've wanted forever and i mentioned during the interview scott gomez holy just hit the play button on that guy yeah why i love him watch you go i can do 43 interviews a day if they're all like scott gomez we just said one word and then gomer went but he has an amazing memory and ability to remember all these funny stories that he had throughout his career. And, I mean, we didn't even get out of his third year in the league. And it was about an hour and a half.

So he said, I'm back on whenever you guys need me. We'll get into more parts of his career. But Stanley Cup champ, awesome interview. And then we had, who did we have after this? Sean Avery. Oh, Jesus. Avery in person who came in and a talk that was all over the map, a lot about his acting. He's in it.

I mean, he'll let you know in the interview. The guy's in a Christopher Nolan movie coming up, who's one of the, if not the biggest, right up there in terms of directors in Hollywood. A great interview there where we saw some sides of Sean Avery that make him tick, I'll say. Yeah. And then we capped it off with Shane O'Brien, everyone's favorite, Joffrey Lupo, and Andy McLaughlin, former BC goalie, who's now in the scene with the Upshaw, Lupo, O'Brien crew.

Biz called him a pack of hyenas. I said the only difference is hyenas don't travel across the world to different parties. They just stick in one little forest here. I said they're hyenas with air miles cards. I think I just said hyenas stick in a forest. That's worse than when I said pigeons had feathers. But either way, hyenas are maybe in the desert.

I don't know. It was a productive day. It was a pleasure to be here. And as always, when we're in person, it's a lot easier. So I will say one other thing. Oh, yeah. Good job. Congrats, guys.

Merry Christmas. Mikey, the watch will look great on you. You got to get that thing fitted. Gave R.A. a stack of cash because he's a degenerate and he can gamble it away. So yeah, appreciate you guys very much and the new year's coming and we appreciate the listeners.

Kind of a slow podcast, hockey news-wise besides the Halsey trade, but we got a nice interview with J.R. that I think you'll all enjoy like you just said I was going to get to it after G thanks so much guys I'm not a watch guy they didn't get me a watch they got me a

monetary equivalent I guess we could call it so it was very much appreciated and like G said the words matter even more because it's nice to be acknowledged and it was great to hear that stuff from you guys so thanks for that so we can end the stroke off session we only that stuff from you guys. So thanks for that. So we can end the stroke-off session. Yeah, R.A. would have wanted a Bruins watch,

and the second hand would have been just a hockey stick. It would have been the biggest piece of shit watch ever, so we gave him cash. It's like, R.A., you want a few grand? Do you want us to put a live AR in for you? That'll pay four times what we're going to give you. But no, it was great. It was a beautiful gesture, and me and G are very happy and thankful. So, like you said, the big news, Taylor Hall,

he had been pulled for a couple games, so we knew it was imminent. The Devils sent them to the biz nasty, the Arizona Coyotes out in the desert in exchange for – I'm sorry, they sent Blake Spears with them as well in exchange for a 2020 conditional first-round pick, a conditional 2021 third-rounder, along with forward prospects Nate Schna, Nick Merkley, and defenseman Kevin Ball. The Devils retained half of his salary. The 2020 first-round pick from Arizona is top three protected. It converts to 2021, if so.

And Halsey said they won't be discussing a new deal until after the season. Already made an impact last night. Great assist to Oliver Ekman-Lassen. Talk much? Long day. No, we're not. Yeah, we're not a good name, guys. But, Biz, you know, you're pretty fired up.

What's this mean to the Coyotes, brother? Well, I'm happy for the fan base. Happy for the boys in the locker room where, you know, maybe a little bit of pressure gets taken off. Well, some of the offensive pressures maybe get taken off everyone, right? Because now it's being spread around. But the pressure to win now has now been bumped up tenfold, correct? Correct.

I will say, though, Halsey would have done anything to have some pressure to win because where he came from, you just knew you weren't going to get consistent goaltending an entire team play in jersey and he said it best in his quote any player will tell you to hop up that many points in the standings and be in first place as the as the season starts to wind down you need to be in a race to get yourself going and he's had a lot of years in the nhl he hasn't even had a chance to get into the playoff so i think that the pressure's there but i think that he's fired up and for arizona to have an mvp uh on their team i mean that changes the the pressure's there, but I think that he's fired up. And for Arizona to have an MVP on their team,

I mean, that changes the entire market there in a sense. Like all of a sudden, like you said, a great first win for Halsey, a great assist. They beat San Jose. Well, now maybe they score a couple goals at home. He gets going. Kessel gets going. That's a team you don't want to miss watching,

especially out west. You catch them late night, and it's a fun team to enjoy play. Why don't we start with dissecting the trade? I mean, based on the fact that it kind of is a loner at this point, I thought Shiro did a good job of getting enough for a rental player. Some people thought he could have gotten more and waited longer. I think there was a respect factor involved where he's like, hey, I'm not going to keep dragging this out, and Halsey's going to have to keep sitting out, right?

That was apparently, you know, one of the reasonings. Some New Jersey fans weren't happy about the return, but at the end of the day, if he's not prepared to sign an extension with any of the teams that you're going to trade him to, you're a little bit vulnerable because you're going to get what a loner would get and uh i i i thought it was a decent return i i now on on the other side of it i think great job john for for getting halsey even as a rental for giving up what you did um and and and now we get a motivated guy who's still in search of a contract right so it's not necessarily a bad thing for the coyotes that they haven't locked them in just yet.

I'm assuming that's going to depend on what happens from here on out. And, I mean, I don't think Arizona's ever had the amount of pressure to make playoffs they have now this year, as far as a roster's concerned. Oh, now especially. Still a couple big injuries right now in defense. And I think once our lineup's full, if we're, I say we're, like I'm on the fucking team, like an asshole. If they're able to stay healthy once they get healthy, because they still have Jarmoson coming back who's been skating. He's a world-class shutdown defenseman.

He eats shots for breakfast. Blocks shots. He's just like, you know breakfast he's steady Eddie and then you got Jason Demers when he's playing good hockey he's still a top four in the National Hockey League Biz can say where he's on the team because he has more kills

than anyone else on the Coyotes here's the thing Oliver Ekman Larson has had a real slow year offensively I'm not going to call out his 5 on 5 play or his defense but offensively Shrekman Larson has had a real slow year. Offensively. Offensively. Exactly. I'm not going to call out his five-on-five play or his defense, but offensively for a guy who's been accustomed to getting a good amount of points,

he's been slow. A player like Halsey can actually, I know it sounds crazy, change an entire offensive defenseman's demeanor, and what happens? He scores the first frigging game. And I know it was a lucky bounce off of him. Still, he's getting a shot from a danger area. And I'll say this as far as puck luck this year, man.

Normally when you send those nice point shots in that guys are getting a piece of and then all of a sudden it's a scramble and boom, it's in the back of the net. None of them have been seen to find the back of the net so far this year. And I'm kind of like, damn, man, these are like, I've seen 10 in a row at this point.

And I'm like, damn, usually Oliver's able to get one of those. And I'm sure he's frustrated, and they wrote an article in The Athletic about it. And you guys know me. I'm the biggest fucking Oliver Ekman-Larsen fan on the planet. Like, I might as well get a fucking tattoo at this point. But if I'm a fantasy owner, and I know maybe some of you have dropped him, I would snag him up. I think he's going to start heating up. No, I think the puck luck might change.

I would snag him up. I think he's going to start heating up. No, I think the puck luck might change. And you said you're just adding another dynamic offensive player where, fuck, now you've got two decent power play units. Yeah, also, I mean, like Oliver Ekman-Larsen, the one thing when you're saying maybe it comes back to the mean, or is that what it is? A regression to the mean?

A regression to the mean. That's one advanced stat, and of course I don't even know what advanced stat it is, but a listener will be able to tell us where. They can tell if a guy, like the way he's playing and the way he's scoring, if it's like so much below the average of the NHL player, like they're like, all right, this is going to change. And I wonder if maybe he's one of those guys that's hitting numbers

where it's like it's a matter of time. So we'll see. But having a Hallsie, a guy you can send in on two-on-ones, he can pass the puck. He's going to shoot him in on breakaways, and it just changes the game for him. A prime example of that is when I think right before that winning streak that Calgary's been on is the shooting percentage for, I think it was Lindholm, Monaghan, and Goudreau. And I said, these guys' shooting percentage are at an all-time low. They've never seen this in their entire career. And then all of a sudden...

Maybe I was thinking of shooting percentage. Well, I mean, that's one of the stats. But if you're getting the puck towards the net and yada, yada, yada. But we've been stroking Oliver off and up. But as a team, I'm happy for the guys in the room. And I'm hoping this also not only gets Oliver going, but gets Kessel going as well. Because there's a guy, I mean, he still only has seven goals. I mean, unless he got one last night against San Jose.

I mean, we were working all night. I didn't really have a chance to catch the game. No, it's Buds. But this is a boost to the whole entire lineup. But JR does make some great points about this team moving forward in the interview that, I mean, I'd have to agree with. I don't want to waste what he said and burn it. Now, Biz, wasn't Arizona able to keep their top two prospects,

two or three prospects? Yeah, I mean, if you consider Barrett Hayton in one of those types of prospects, although he has been up and I wouldn't say made an impact so far this year, but I like what I see. He's got offensive ability that will come out just like all of a sudden spur of the moment where I think this could be a special player, and I'm happy they didn't give up on him just quite yet in order for short-term gain and potentially a loaner. So I don't think he was ever in the question.

You can't give him if it's not a signed deal. He's just fifth overall. Right, and I think that New Jersey fans had this idea in their head that they were just going to get a lot more in return, and I know some of them are frustrated, but if Halsey wants to wait until the offseason to sign, all of a sudden you're losing a huge dynamic in what your return's going to be, and that's out of your control.

Now, let's go back. Let's look at it from this point of view i still think adam larson traded for the assets and what you've gotten production wise out of taylor hall for those years that he was there i still think you end up winning the trade right like i mean for for the first rounder they got a third rounder that's going to be a potential another first rounder if he does resign. I mean, it's a fucking gong show of a structure. Like, these things come in and I'm like.

Yeah, I stopped reading right where I see, like, the second name. It's like the intern. It's like the intern has to throw in, like, oh, yeah, ask for a conditional seventh if, like, he fucking, he gets seven kills at a bottle blonde downtown Scottsdale. Like, what? Like, where are they thinking this shit? Do you know much about the prospects that went to Jersey at all? Have any of them been up with the club at all? No.

I think Ball was probably the biggest name prospect. But, guys, I'm not Bob McKenzie. How the fuck do these guys keep track of all these kids? They work their balls off, I guess. They're doing more than three interviews a day. Yeah, McKenzie knows who's leading the league in the ESPN shit, and who's getting drafted to the East Coast, and who's getting their rights retained.

Yeah, you gotta keep... Holy shit, dude. It's tough to keep track of. He must have like seven assistants, like the seven dwarfs just running around for him. He actually doesn't know anything. He just has an earpiece in at all times. People are just giving him info.

He's a robot. Bobby, we love you. All right, moving on. The Chicago Blackhawks, they completed their investigation into Mark Crawford, all the shit that went on there. And they actually decided to suspend them until January 2nd, even though he didn't do anything under their employ. Crawford also released a letter at the same time the Blackhawks did,

in which he apologized for past behavior. And he said he's been in therapy since 2010 to deal with these issues and you know this was a guy he was like the young wonderkind he won a Stanley Cup his second year as a coach I think he was 35 and then he's out of the league within seven years so like he probably said he had to look in the mirror himself and like well what the hell did I do here and he's basically had to work his way back in the league an assistant in Ottawa for a few years and you know I think he's you know made some fucking amends here I think he's made some strides I mean he's been a model citizen in Chicago it does feel like they're kind of feeding the masses a pound of flesh a little

bit here like because again he didn't do anything as a Blackhawk he didn't do anything like Peters did we're like okay we can't have this guy here and uh well we had Sean Avery he talked about it he was pissed I mean I'm not sure what him what dropping his interview his name was included in the apology and he's like fuck i didn't want that because then it looks like you know playing him as a victim it sucks that people have to wait for the avery to come out to to hear his stance on it but avery avery dove into it because he felt that he was at the forefront of it just with sopelal and even another guy whose name was in the apology was Patrick O'Sullivan. Now, I'll say I felt it was a very sincere written apology. And I think majority of people were like, this guy has – he never – well, I don't want to say – he seemed to not cross the line of like getting too crazy.

Like this is not a Bill Peters situation. He seemed remorseful and caught it even before he was called out on it. So this, to me, is a way different ballgame. Great point. And Patrick O'Sullivan chimed in again. I know we touched on it last time we talked about Crawford. I would still say,

and I would have no problem saying this to Crow, obviously, to me, the most intense, significant thing that you did was probably going after O'Sullivan for maybe things that had happened in his past. O'Sullivan didn't get a phone call where it's just like, hey, like that kind of was like the one thing that crossed the line. And it's evident how Patrick O'Sullivan still feels about it. Well, if you're you might as well make the phone call. And it seemed like Patrick O'Sullivan was kind kind of like i never got a fucking phone call like you know i mean i would imagine that that was probably one of the things he went to get help for is is trying to calm down things he's saying to someone when in

the heat of the moment about a fucking hockey game so but nonetheless we've spent enough time on this and and i'm happy that he's able to continue coaching and it has addressed his issues my only thing is it's kind of bullshit he wasn't reinstated right away. I mean, it ended up... I think because of what's happened... He's already been suspended. Like, why does he have to wait until January 4th? Put him back in right now. I think

he's a victim of the process now because of what happened. I think they need... The NHL and the league knows to show they're actually taking a strong look into these types of allegations where yeah but listen if you fucking get in trouble for a crime and you're in jail waiting the case and then the case

happens and you become innocent by the judge and then he says hold on you got to do four more days in jail because like right yeah oh you're saying because right now he doesn't get reinstated back until what January January second right I yes I would agree. He should be coaching the next day that that statement came out.

All right, we realized there was a couple things, but he's in help. There's been no issues lately. You're back coaching. No, wait another two weeks. It's probably overcompensation for the fact that all this other stuff has happened, and it's just kind of like maybe a reflection period. But yeah, I agree with you. And it kind of sucks because the league's between a rock and a hard place

having to deal with the fucking PR nightmare. I don't know, maybe they talk to Crow and it's all good. He's like, yeah, I understand. Yeah, they're just satiating the people who want blood, basically, because they could say all the – it's appearances, basically. Like, okay, this is his punishment for what he did fucking 20 years ago for a different employer. Listen, I think Crow's an interesting Like, okay, this is his punishment for what he did fucking 20 years ago for a different employer. Listen, I think Crow's an interesting guy, at least from what we hear,

and hopefully eventually all this shit maybe doesn't chase him away from doing an interview because there's still a lot of things that we'd like to talk to him about and accomplishments he's had in the game of hockey. Absolutely. Hey, boys, like we mentioned, we have our Christmas party down here tonight, and I'm sure many of the listeners will be doing the same over the next couple of weeks. So make sure to drive sober or get pulled over. Everyone knows about the risks of driving drunk.

You get in a crash. People could get hurt or killed. But that still doesn't stop everyone. You get arrested. You could incur huge legal expenses and you could possibly even lose your job. We all know the consequences of drunk driving, but one thing's for sure, you're wrong if you think it's no big deal. Drive sober or get pulled over. This season, NHTSA wants you to remember to plan ahead if you'll be celebrating. If you plan a drink, plan for a sober driver to take you home. If it's your turn to be the designated driver, take that role seriously and do not consume alcohol, even one drink. Drive sober or get pulled over. With NHTSA's support, state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation are stepping up enforcement to put an end to drunk driving, showing zero tolerance to save lives.

So don't be a peck ahead and drink and drive this holiday season or ever for that matter. Love it. Some other news. This is big news. The L.A. Kings have put Ilya Kovachuk on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination. The two sides were having a standoff. It was kind of weird. He was still traveling with the team but not playing. He's now a UFA and free to sign with anyone.

The Kings are still going to have a $6.25 million hit this year and next year. Total disastrous sign for the Kings. Next year, they're going to be paying about $10 million to three guys, not even in the league anymore. Well, right now, Kovalchuk's not technically. Fnuf and Richards. But he's a UFA man. He didn't look good in L.A., but do you think he'll look good somewhere else? I mean, did I take too many mushrooms last night,

or did I see that there was potential that he's going to Boston? I think people throw that out there. Whenever there's a guy who's older that was a scorer at some point, Bruins are like, get him for our second line. Actually, Business Boy reported that. Igor Aronko, our Russian correspondent. No. I mean, maybe there is.

Why the fuck are you laughing at me, Igor? I just can't see it. JR will go into this as well because it goes into me saying, well, JR, I think you have a lot of credibility when you do call people out because of the career you had. And he says, yeah, I talked about Kovalchuk. I said when they signed him, the guy won't finish out the contract. Well, you'll know something about myself, Ryan Whitney talking right now. I show respect for my elders, especially hockey elders, who were way, way, way, way, way better than me.

So I didn't say anything to his face. But, JR, I said the same thing, buddy. I probably said it before you did. This was a done deal from the get-go. Kovalchuk had been over in Russia, what was it, four years? Yeah. Whatever, three to four years. But you do not get better as you age three to four years in hockey, one.

You certainly don't become better and good enough to play in the NHL, aging in those years in the KHL. And he probably didn't have the exact same desire in the weight room as when he was young. They paid him way too much money, and it was from the beginning a show of like, there's no chance this works out. I think he might have scored a little early last year,

but I can't picture him going to another team and lighting it up because he doesn't move very well. Maybe if he was a third-line guy and he was willing to commit to play defense and stuff, I don't know. I don't know him personally, but it's kind of tough when you look at his age and you look at what he's done these past two years to think that a contending team would have a spot for him up front. I mean, is it worth the fly if I say the Bruins just because we mentioned them?

I mean, it's been the rookie men, veteran minimum on a guy. If he sucks, you just let him go. Low risk. Oh, I'm not saying at all that a team shouldn't do that because of low risk and because of maybe he actually does pan out. I'm just saying personally, I don't think when he gets the chance, if he does, it will work out. Okay, I get you.

I have nothing to say. You've pretty much covered all bases, Whit. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right. I have nothing to say. You've pretty much covered all bases, Whit. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right. A few other news items. Phillies' Joel Farabee got a three-game suspension for absolutely bundling Winnipeg's Matthew Perreault at a late interference.

I don't know if you caught it. Perreault was watching his pass a little bit, but it was a late hit. Bundled them three games. I mean, that's pretty appropriate for what he did. I thought it was a dirty hit. I think it was deserving of a suspension because it was blatant. All right, I'll say this. Stupid play by Perot.

He drops the puck, and he's just staring back. I mean, you've got to know who's out on the ice. You've got to know your surroundings. You can't be watching a drop pass. But current NHL, respect for players, it was a dirty hit. And it was an unnecessary hit. If he has the puck and he's looking behind as he's dragging it, well, you're

separating the man from the puck. The puck was gone. There was no need for it. Maybe threes one game too many, but it was a dirty play and I totally understand why they suspended him. God, traditionalists are going to hate that, right? Because it's only like a split second, but it's just unfortunate he was injured. It's just unnecessary.

Right. And that's where it comes down to player safety is what they're saying is like that's the type of hit like you know you're gonna put your fucking uh your colleague in danger i guess could you call him a colleague even though they're combating against each other a fraternity brother maybe yeah and and yeah i guess it's just unnecessary and that's that's an old school hit where no one's even i mean christ we haven't sent it to the jr interview like wait wait till we get talking about the jaw story i remember knowing it was like you had three seconds right after you released it you're like one one thousand two one

thousand three mississippi now but now it's yeah i feel within a second it's like he was late. Like that was like a fraction of a second too late. Yes, yes. And that's it. And now he's going to – you said sitting for three games? Yep, three games, yeah. God, I mean it's just like – Suspension first year in the league.

And remember, like people are like, oh, there's still problems with head hits in the league and no player safety. It's like these kids grew up where that was okay right so hopefully the next generation where everyone's aware that that's not you'll see less and less of that it's i mean it's a fast sport i'm not saying this fucking this kid's a scumbag but let's hope it you know that that that what do you call it that filter makes guys stop in that situation moving forward so we don't even have to deal with it and we don't have to argue about how many fucking games

a guy should get suspended for stuff. Yeah, man. I mean, three games, that's a lot of cake for a guy. That should be enough of a deterrent, right? Yeah, it's a pee-pee whack. Yeah, definitely. A little bit of a surprise out of Buffalo. They assigned Casey Middlestat to Rochester of the AHL.

He's got nine points in 31 games, four goals, five assists. They just wanted to work on his game a little bit so you know he's been with him for so long it is a bit of a surprise when a guy does go down like this but he's still a young kid i don't think you know this means he's got a tough future or anything no and when you're dealing with these young guys is you don't want to be giving them reps in a situation where they're playing like bottom six and you're gonna basically turn them into something that you don't want them to right you don't want or don't want them to become excuse me and you know if if you if you are a scorer and you're a skilled player and you know you have a good 200 foot game

you want them to go down to the American League and maybe dominate that position if there isn't enough time for reps at the National Hockey League level, because next thing you know, all of a sudden this kid, you don't want a prospect like that just dumping it in and not making plays and not being confident. And all of a sudden you turn him into just like a checker where you can go pick a guy like that up in the offseason and pay him a million bucks, right? I mean, go get a Boyd Gordon repairman

if you want a guy of that depth to just do the basics so um it's it's nice that right now they have that luxury their their team's playing fairly well and and after the initial uh you know the initial uh success early in the season they haven't dropped off like last it's's very lucky that Eichel, having the season he's had, becoming the legit superstar he is, that Buffalo's able to do this with a young, high-picked guy, and it makes total sense. What sucks for him is nowadays, if you go down to the minors,

you're considered to be like, you're not going to be a stud. Like, that ain't true. Not often do you see a kid not have to go through the minors and learn to be confident and play pro hockey and play a certain way. And it's all about reps. Biz said it best. You need young players, especially ones who you consider high-end offensive players, to be confident. They need to have those touches you're saying, Biz, and they need to feel confidence. Well, when you don't have it at the NHL, you're so young, go down and get it in the AHL. And I'll tell you right now, yes, the NHL is a way better league.

If you go down as a skill guy and you play really well, I got sent down from camp when I should have made it. It ended up being my rookie year. I went down. I had, whatever, 14 points in like nine games. It was so sick. I had four assists the first game. It was like, what am I doing in this league?

Well, yeah, I'm going up when I got called up, and it's a way better league. But my confidence still was so high that I was a way better player had I just stayed up there from the start. So I don't think it's a big deal at all. And when you look at all these superstars that didn't spend time in the AHL, well, remind yourself, Brad Marchand spent time. There's plenty of players that have spent years, if not one or two, in the minors and have still become very elite high offensive and skill guys.

Another example of that is like Barrett Hayton going back to the World Juniors. This guy has been at the NHL level. He's been learning how to become a pro. But at a certain point, you're like, we need this guy to get his offensive confidence back. That way he can come back to the coyotes because they're better this year he can't play in that top six role because there's other guys who are able to do that there and and play at that nhl level on a more consistent basis more so than what this young kid's doing that's not not taking anything away from this kid's ability you just

don't want to expose him and put him in the fire, and all of a sudden his confidence gets shred. So there's got to be a process to it. Now they send him back to World Juniors. He gets to go light it up. He gets to put in all those situations. He gets to touch the puck in situations where he would normally be doing it now moving forward in the NHL level. And you've got to get those juices flowing again

because sometimes guys all of a sudden get put in that role, and then they're that forever you just you transformed a skill prospect because now all of a sudden for a half a season or a year he stopped making those plays and now he's not comfortable making them and there's a little insecurity to his game in the skill department the last middle stat thing i'll say is um when assistant coach uh don granato he was in the hospital for a while so the head ahl coach chris taylor came up and filled in as the assistant and buff so now it makes a difference coaching with young guys he was up in the nhl watching middle stat play now he's going to be his head coach in the minors and he knows exactly hey listen

that that play might not have worked when you go back up. Let's talk about something here. And so you have a coach that was with you while you were playing in the NHL, makes it a lot easier to think back, hey, man, that's a play you won't be able to get away with. That's a play you need to hold on to it longer. Good job. So I think that will make a difference that he's really familiar with the head coach in Rochester. Yeah, and he's still only 21 years old.

He has one full season on his belt. Why do you have to be nasty at 21 now? Today's NHL, because it's so young. There's so much pressure. As soon as you draft these guys, they need immediate impact. All right, well, have patience, and there'll be a lot of guys who turn into great players at 23, 24, and GMs who are willing to hold on to them

will be benefiting from it in the future. Spit that one out. A couple of big words there. Spit that one out. By the way, I said last episode was a horrific episode. Yeah. Two out of ten. I think I'm at a 9.3 right now.

I'm just flying. I had that in mind. My mind's working incredibly well. I had that in my notes. I said we needed a bounce back performance. And I think so far we've been okay. No pressure. We're a pump of ourselves.

Amodium's doing the job. Working for me. Hey, boys, we talk about physical fitness a lot, but there is another side to the game that's just as important. I'm talking about mental fitness. Calm, the number one app for sleep and meditation, has teamed up with LeBron James to help train your mind. LeBron and Calm know that your mind is like any other muscle in your body,

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like rain on leaves, and so much more, like sleep stories and meditations. For a limited time, our listeners can join LeBron in using Calm with a 40% discount to an annual membership at Calm.com slash chicklets. So unlock content to help you focus e-stress and sleep better get started at calm.com slash chicklets that's calm.com slash chicklets uh i wasn't paying attention the entire time lebron is in lebron james yeah oh he started the app yeah he uh yes it's right's right here. Do you ever use those apps where you get the ocean, the waves crashing in? Nah.

I just kind of... They're nice. They are relaxing. You listen to it to go to sleep right now? Yeah, I struggle with sleeping, so when I'm not using my can-eye brands, I use stuff like that. Oh, look at Grinta. Getting that nice plug in. Good work, G.

Young Skywalker, hey? I'm Yoda. You're dropping Skywalker names. One quick note. We're going to send it over to J.R. because it's too good of an interview to not wait any longer. We all haven't fucking talked much. Detroit defenseman Danny DeKaiser is out for the season.

He's got back surgery, so he's not going to be playing all year. Probably not the worst thing, I mean, this season they're having. Yeah, yeah. Take your time. Rest it up. So without further ado, boys, let's send it over to JR. He was a fucking beauty the other day. Yesterday.

Yeah. You know what? Now that it's out, two days ago. You're right, R.A. I concede. All right. Off to JR. Our next guest is making his second appearance.

He's a legend in Chicago, a legend in U.S. hockey. Some may say he's becoming a legend on NBCSN as well. He's got over 500 goals, over 1,300 games. A true beauty of the game. Welcome back to Spittin' Chips. Beauty, beauty. Jeremy Roenick, J.I. And in studio.

In studio. We knew this is what we needed, although your first interview was phenomenal. But now we've pretty much moved on to all live, and it's that much better. I thought you were calling in through a walkie-talkie the first time we talked. It was underwater. Listen, this time, no, everybody can understand every goddamn word I'm saying. And still, unfortunately, I can't say fuck like you guys do all the time, but I will give my best to give you everything that I have today.

And by the way, Biz, thanks for trying to scare the shit out of me in the coffee shop. You know, walking in with a- Well, you did. I saw jr in the coffee shop and i waited outside because i knew he would probably want me to pay for his coffee considering he was doing us a favor so vet move i stayed out in the rain waited for till he paid and then walked in oh hey jr he's not very discreet by the way he comes no no he comes in in a tan like oh yeah bane coat if whatever that is and a sweatsuit i said you just come from the gym, bro? He's like, no, man, I like to be comfortable in the studio. In the studio, I always wear the fart catchers, the jogging pants.

Thank God you did that because I'm sitting right fucking next to you. That's what I'm saying, buddy. Very good. Fuck, you went on quite the trip this summer. I did. My whole life is a trip, but I did go on a- That's a fact. A you trip, not a work trip.

That was a you trip. A me trip. I went with go on a U-trip. Not a work trip. That was a U-trip. A me-trip. And I went with my wife and Catherine Tappan. I was the king of Portugal. No. I swear to God. I heard it's phenomenal. Bro, when you walk into every place and you have two blonde bombshells on each side and nobody,

I'm telling you, your chest pops out a lot more. Because they don't even know who they are over there. So they're just like, who's this random guy with two women? Who is that guy? That guy must be somebody. I'm like, fuck yeah. That guy's a boss.

I was like, damn yeah. Damn right. So I walk in. And it was so funny. I was in the pool. We were in the pool one day in Portugal. And we're down the Algarve. And we're in a nice little hotel, beautiful resort.

And it's a small little pool. And I'm swimming with my wife and Catherine. And they got their bikinis on. They look fucking smoking, right? It's a kid show, JR. Be careful. Careful. Cold water.

You know? Ass and boobs everywhere. It's great. It's great. It's great. By the way, if you're gonna go with two bonds go someplace like in the summer where the pool is out oh katherine awesome co-worker katherine's great she's like your daughter yeah but i tell you tell you the story so

all of a sudden this this this older lady was sitting there with her husband and she uh she's staring at us the whole time staring at us the whole time. Is that Kigadin? Staring at us the whole time. And finally, I think her curiosity rose to a level where she's like, I got to figure out what the hell's going on here. And she walked right into the pool and comes right up to us and say, okay, what's the situation? I respect that.

Tell me what's going on. Two on one, no back checkers. That's what's going on right now. Three on one now, baby. No, I just said, I'm just having a very, very wonderful trip. That's what I said to her. And she's like, are they both with you?

And I said, yes, they are. And then Catherine gives me a lion. And Catherine says, will you shut up? She starts yelling at me because I play it off like, you know, we're going to bed together every night. The three of us and my wife and Catherine are very close friends and they scream and yell at me. But listen, it's worth the yelling. There's no question. Absolutely.

Now, if it really came to fruition, that would really be good, but it's never going to happen. No, God, no. No. They know the JR. Do you ever have conversations with her about how hard it was and is to be a female

in a male-dominated industry? You know, she talks about it all the time. Catherine talks about it all the time. She doesn't give a shit, though. She just comes off as very confident. I'm telling you right now, Catherine Tappan is one of the most professional people in all. And I'm saying not women, men, just across the board, one of the most professional sports personalities that I know.

And whether it's doing football, whether it's NFL or going to do the Notre Dame games, she is as prepared as anyone. Her personal life takes a backseat to what she does for television. She wants people to respect her for her knowledge of sports, not just because she's a pretty face. And I think she really, really, really cares about that, and she wants to make sure that she's not going to get pushed around in anything. She is true blue, one of my favorite people in the world, and I'm lucky that I'm next to her, and she's a good friend of mine

because there's nobody that wants it more and that will kick someone's ass if they disrespect her. My whole beginning into the media world, she got me the job at NHL Network, which kind of started everything. So we're going to sit down with her. We hope we are at the Winter Classic where we'll see you in Dallas, but I think it's long overdue that we chat with her because she's crushing it. I've seen her since day one. She was with Nessun in Boston

when she was raw and starting out. Oh, yeah, that is where she started. Yeah, I mean, she was raw, just getting into it and butchering names literally. And she's gotten unbelievable. The level she's at right now, I mean, she's like the queen of NBC right now.

I still butcher names. I butcher the English language. I make up my own words. Listen to a Coyotes broadcast. You'd think you'd be listening to a Mites game when I start talking. But I think that's what makes it so good. And Catherine and I, when we get on the show together, we laugh so hard. Because we'll be sitting there doing the show, and one of us will say something that is so totally wrong and so misspoken.

that is so totally wrong and so misspoken, and you'll see us, one of us will pop up, and then we're screwed the rest of the segment because we can't talk, because we can't wait to get the commercial to say, what the fuck did I just say? What did I say? What did I say wrong? You're like, give me a replay of it.

Look at your Twitter, who's getting mad at you? Yeah, I always say in the replays, the come from behind, right? All the time. Every time I say, ands, the come from behind, right? All the time. Every time I say, and watch the guy come from behind. You know, the hard back pressure, right? Always brings a smile to everybody's face. Hockey porn.

Yeah, hockey porn is right. Hashtag hockey porn. How many dates a year do you do? How many games a year are you doing? Because playoffs is, what, every other night? It's every night, pretty much. The first half of the season is kind of light for me. Then the second half of the season, my schedule really amps up.

I think I have about 110 appearances on my contract. But I haven't been on in three weeks, two weeks. So this has been my nice Thanksgiving. It's good. I've got some other personal stuff I have going. But starting to win a classic, it's going to start really amping up. I'm going to be on NBC a lot. And we got an all-star game.

We have the other outdoor game in Colorado Springs. Yeah, we're going to be there, too. Yeah, which is going to scare the shit out of me because the Air Force want me to run through some of their stuff. Yes, you got to be doing something. You should be in a jet. You're like Top Gun. Bro, I'm telling you right now. Have you seen the new Top Gun trailer?

I'm telling you right now, if I survive, if I'm calling you on the 16th, I'm going to be the happiest. You kind of look like Val Kilmer. You could play his stunt double in the new one coming up here. Dude, I'm going to look like Val Kilmer with puke all over myself. Trust me. What they want me to do, I vowed I would never do some of the things that they're asking me to do, and I'm doing it only for the love of God. You don't say no to a lot of shit, though, JR. You don't say no to anything lot of shit though, JR. You don't say no to anything.

People know JR's in. By the way, I said no to this in regular life, but now that I have to do it for television, you guys know, when it's television, I'll fucking do anything. That's what I love about you is you just fucking dive in. Where was it where I saw your face painted before a game on NBC?

The Vegas cup, Ronnie, was with the dudes banging the drum before the game. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I dressed as Elvis. I came down and I sat. I kicked somebody out of their glass seats as Elvis in Vegas for the finals. Do you come up with these ideas or is this one of your producers being like, I bet you I could get them to do this? You know what?

The producers usually come up with the ideas and then I expand them because they can only go so far in their requests, in their thinking of what a what NBC will let me do and what I want to do. So I'll take it to another level where I will say that sometimes the guys at NBC, they want us to do things that if you're watching it, it's like that doesn't make sense. Like you can't go from this to this you can't go from that to that there has to be a transition to where the stupidity is followed by more stupidity by more stupidity and then you can't start off with the dumbest thing you got to build into it exactly and and people know when you're you know when i did the um when i did the um the leprechaun uh dance, which was crazy, I'm literally not doing the dance.

There's this young little 13-year-old phenom that was doing it. My feet don't move that well. But you see me from top to bottom. But they wanted me to do something before that. You know it's not me dancing. So let's do this chronologically. But let's do it even more. Let's make me look even more fucking stupid so that people laugh because that's the whole thing.

We want people to be entertained. We want people to laugh because if they don't, what's the sense of doing anything? So for me, it's the – and what you guys do here, you guys make people laugh every single day. We're not polished. And you make people – And you talked about messing up names and not you know not being as polished but i think people kind of kind of like that because we're you know we're fuck-ups i hope you know we're we're clowns we like to entertain and and i mean like you look at a guy like be any other way man

that's how you are and that's why i don't want to be any other way that's why when i see a guy like patrick sharp step in and like this guy's like he's a robot how does he he's like he knows every name he never stops looking at the camera like he wants to fuck everybody. Everybody wants to fuck him back. He's just eye-fucking the whole country. I wouldn't let my wife watch NBC if he was fucking on it. Seriously. It's the hair.

He is so beautiful. I'd have to think about it if he asked me. I'd have to think about it. Oh, God, yeah. I'd let him hit me right in the seat. I wouldn't say no right away so face to face hey what about i love sharpie is one of the greatest greatest greatest guys on the planet i played with him in philly he's one of my best friends oh you guys played together yeah we played together in philly and uh i just think

he's great i think he's been great for nbc yeah and uh you know him and jonesy do well together but um it's it's nice. I mean, it's good to have, again, a beautiful face that talks well, that knows the game, because it's totally the opposite when me and Anson get on there. It's just a shit show, which I think people also enjoy, right? People like to see the difference. One thing that I will do, I think, a little bit more than anybody else is I'll rip it. Like I ripped the Edmonton Oilers last year for being – I think –

You don't hold back. That adds a lot though. But I will say it's a lot easier for you to do that having the career you had. It is harder for guys who weren't Hall of Fame players to say those things because, in a sense, people are like, dude, you suck. But for you, it's different. It's easier. You know what I mean? That's a good point.

Well, I appreciate that. And I do agree with you. You know, where across any of the airwaves are there people talking that have my credentials? I'm not tooting my own horn. But, you know, 500 goals, 1,200 points, whatever, 20 years. And you're right, and I use that to my benefit. Trust me.

A lot of people say, J.R., you suck. Why wouldn't you? I might suck, but I'm not fucking wrong. I might not be able to say it smooth, but I'm trying. You know what I'm saying. But that's the case. I'll admit when I'm wrong every single day. Like, let's take, for instance, you know, the Kovalchuk.

You know, when Kovalchuk signed in L.A., I said, worst thing L.A. could have ever done. Sign that guy. Sign that dog to, you know, a three-year, $6 million contract. I said, I guarantee you he will not finish that three years out. Oh, you tweeted that out? Yeah, I tweeted it out. I said it on the air. I said it everywhere.

I said it will not happen. I said that's going to blow up in their face. And what happens yesterday blows up in their face. Do you ever get any higher-ups call up, like GM's calling a bitch about anything you ever said? Yes, one time. And my boss is who I respect tremendously. And I obviously try to be very careful of some of the things that i say because because of my boss because because of my boss and because of nbc but he's he keeps a very close tabs on on on what i say so obviously with don cherry getting fired with all the coaching

stuff that's happening you know he's making sure you know i get the text jr be careful today you know be careful today we don't want to you know so know, so I did say something about Jeremy Jacobs one time that I totally regretted and got a call from one, you know, Jeremy Jacobs to Gary Bettman to my boss. Smithers, go ahead, J.R., to the carpet. It goes down the ladder. Yeah, but, you know, that came from me as a fan, right, from a fan growing up in Boston, That came from me as a fan, right, from a fan growing up in Boston, knowing how Boston has grown as a team and as a system.

But I have all the respect for the Boston Bruins. I just got caught being a 17-year-old fan in my job, and I can't do that. You don't want to repeat it? No. I'm going to stay away from Jeremy Jacobs. I guess with the ownership thing, i want to ask you a question recently you know there's been some articles coming out about like even edmonton not selling out games and they're having their best year in how many years and and uh six teams now uh valued over a billion dollars do you think the the ticket prices and all that has just gotten too ridiculous where we're alienating our core fans,

like the lunch pail type people? Listen, I don't think there's a choice, right? I mean, look at you have these mega contracts getting doled out left and right by all these teams. You've got Panarin making $12 million, you've got $13 million, $10 million. You've got all these huge contracts. And now what's the cap at? $12 million, $13 million, $10 million. You know, you've got all these huge contracts. And now what's the cap at?

$82 million? I think next year it'll be up to that. Right, the TV deal's kicking in soon. Yeah, one more year. And that's going to be huge for the National Hockey League. There's no question. But the teams, I mean, the teams have to make money. The owners have got to do their best to try to make money.

It's their team. They spent the money. They should be able to have the opportunity to make money. The only way they're going to do that is through their television rights, through selling tickets, merchandise, and so on and so forth. So, you know, are they overpriced? For sure. They were overpriced five years ago. Now I think it's just like maybe too much.

You know, when does it come down? Are the contracts going to come down? No. Yeah, they're not going to like it. Well, I mean, I would say I would argue that maybe because the owners use that as a bit of an excuse and kind of drag the fans into the last lockout. Maybe I'm not saying they're going to take a huge hit, but like, I mean, there's got to be. Maybe they can just stall the rise of the prices.

I mean, I don't know. Maybe take a lesson. I said six of them are valued at over a prices. I mean, I don't know. Maybe take a less of a profit. I just said six of them are valued at over a billion. I mean, I don't know. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here. I truly believe that you're fighting a fight that you're not going to win in that aspect ever. That's fair. Billionaires don't lose many fights.

No, and that's fair. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate. And by the way, I'm with you. I wish and hope that every person can afford to come watch hockey game. We think the game is the best game on the planet, right? Especially watching it in person is so much better than watching it on the television. It's incredibly more exhilarating. But yes, there's no question that the prices are always going to be the conversation.

Well, I'll say billionaires don't make money and become billionaires by giving away money. But the best owners are guys who truly look at it as a hobby where they literally do it. It's nothing to them. Like, look at the new Mets owner. Like, it doesn't even matter. I will tell you what the guys, the guy who I've seen that has done probably the two guys I've seen do the most in terms of their. And I don't say they don't care about it, but where they're willing to pay to spend the money. You've got Vinik in Tampa and what he's done with the community.

And that team is so well-known now. That city, with their fan base, with what they've done in the city, with the hockey, with all that stuff. And to tell you the truth, what Rocky Wurtz has done in Chicago, granted it's an original six team. Where they were? Rocky Wurtz has done in Chicago. Granted, it's an original six team. But, you know. Where they were. Listen, when he came on board, when his father passed away, when Rocky came on board, hired John McDonough. And what he did is he spent money and he spent money in bushels and he didn't care what it was going to take. He built new building.

He built the new practice facility. He brought all the old players back in the ambassadors group to make sure that he gave the the fans back the people that they remember he gave the players the money the locker rooms that they spend money on you know craig leopold same kind of mentality these guys they they think about the quality of their team and their players and they want to take care of them and the quality of the of the product that they're giving to the fans. Now, sometimes it doesn't turn out, but it's not for a lack of trying that I've seen with some of these owners.

So, you know, hopefully it continues to go. One other thing I wanted to ask you about was a big pickup by the Arizona Coyotes, an organization you played for, and I'm sure you've seen how patient that fan base has remained and now all of a sudden, I would say a contender in the West. Well, for sure. You guys got to hope, right? Because this is what I think. Yes, this is the greatest thing that's happened to Arizona since 96, right?

When we came. This is the greatest thing. I mean, Kessel was really big, but now we have an MVP. We have an MVP that's now an MVP that's now in Arizona. And you guys know as well, and this scares the shit out of me if I was a coach or a GM. Here you have a team that wins hockey games by being gritty. Here's a hockey team that wins with four lines playing in-your-face fuck-you hockey. Two to one. like yeah defensively

like grind it out every single night but they have a mentality and they're prepared to go out every night and they know what type of game they need to play in order to win and rick tockett has done one of the most unbelievable jobs of making sure that that team has learned how to win because before they're scared shit they get the puck they just throw the fucking puck up the boards and hope for he's teaching them how to win he is given he's he's he's built the confidence in this team to play the way that they need to do to win with the roster that they have now all of a sudden you have a hall of fame not not hall of fame our mvp that's going to come in and i just hope everybody doesn't go yes yeah the cavalry can't, no, it's a lot of work to be done here. The Calvary has arrived.

Okay, now we're going to win hockey games because we've got Taylor Hall. They can't stop playing the game that they play. Actually, Taylor Hall's got to come in there and try to play his type of game within the system that they play and the mentality that they play, which means he's got to be hard every night. He's got to be fast every night. I think, though, I really think in hearing about Toc, it's similar as talking about you and your credibility,

being able to call people out. Everyone respects him so much that all these young studs, especially guys like Halsey, they'll listen to him. They'll really trust. And he'll put it right on you, too. I mean, I think that he's... Wait, you ever been around Toc? He's intense. I wish I had. He's intense Wait, you ever been around Tuck? He's intense.

I wish I had. He's intense. I never have. He's the scariest... So intense. He's scary as shit. But he's not a prick to those guys. Oh, no.

He's the greatest guy. He's one of my best friends in the whole world, bar none. I love him more than... He's the reason why I went to Philly back in 2001. But he is intimidating. You look at him. I've known him for 30 years and he's still intimidating to talk to.

He walks in a restaurant, you think he's like a mob boss or like a Russian, you know? Hitman. A KGB. Hitman. Yeah. Oh, yeah, he's the hitman. No question, he's the hitman. Big tan, bald head.

Listen, I would not want to be the guy in the locker room when the assistant coach comes to you and says, Hey, Toc wants to see you in his office. Fuck! But it's a conversation, though. He's going to call you out, and then he wants to hear what you have to say back. And I think he's definitely willing to listen. Oh, Toc's – absolutely. He's a guy's guy.

100%. Toc is one of the most fair coaches and fair people that you'll ever have all he wants is all he wants is a hard effort all he wants is hard work he wants you to play the system properly and he wants you to play it

the way you know way he played it and that's with honesty and integrity and play the game hard do the right things right and do the right things

at the right time and you know one thing that he will not stand is laziness if you're lazy and not prepared, he will eat you alive. He would have ate me for breakfast. That would have been his pregame meal, me. Jay, you mentioned a few minutes ago about this sort of reckoning for the old way of coaching.

Now, you played for a pair of guys in Chicago, Keenan, then Darryl Sutter, back-to-back. Like, talk about what the effect they had on your career. You obviously had tremendous success playing for those guys, but also why that style of coaching probably doesn't work anymore or shouldn't work anymore. Well, because they can't grab you around the throat anymore. Did Keenan do that to you? Yeah, my second preseason game in 1988.

So you're 19. No, I'm 18. I literally came from my junior year of high school. Tony Monti was sitting in math class, and I have Mike Keenan with his hands around my throat, threatening to end my career. You're like, it hasn't even started yet. Oh, great. Another article's coming out.

True story. But no, I wrote it in my book. And it was different back then. I wouldn't sit here and say, oh, Mike Keenan, you know, he assaulted me. I would never say that. Yeah, you're not a crying victim. No, of course not. Actually, Mike Keenan, I give Mike Keenan pretty much most of the respect and reason

why I turned out to be the player that I was. Because this one night in Kalamazoo, this is my second preseason game, I was 150 pounds coming out of Thayer Academy High School. My second preseason game, I was 150 pounds coming out of Thayer Academy High School. Now, by the way, back then, NHL teams don't draft U.S. high school kids. It was like Barrasso and you. Yes. Yeah.

And we were the only ones. And then you had Lawton was drafted out of high school, as was Phil Housley. Besides that, it doesn't happen. So here I am, 18, 150 pounds. I'm playing against the Minnesota North Stars at Kalamazoo. And I was 150 pounds playing against 230-pound guys with no teeth, receding hairlines, like people that would eat your kids. And wouldn't get a penalty. Yeah.

No. Just terrible. So I would get the puck. Guys would have the puck. I'd skate at them. They'd pass, just terrible. So I would get the puck. Guys would have the puck. I'd skate at them. They'd pass it. I'd swing away, chase the puck, swing away, chase the puck. Well, Keenan wanted everything to be mean, hard, in your face.

He wanted every check to be finished. And I didn't hit anything in my life, nothing. So I came to the bench, and he ran down the bench, and he grabbed me around the neck, and he ran down the bench, and he grabbed me around the neck, and he squeezed me behind my, what's the- The windpipe. Windpipe. Your Adam's apple?

Yeah. He grabbed the whole fucking apple and squeezed it. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't even breathe. And I'm dying. He pulled me back, and he says, you ever swing by another fucking check, you're never going to play a fucking from my end. And he's spitting in my face. And I'm sitting there and I'm like,

I can only hear parts of his words, but the one thing I did hear is, you'll never play a game for me. And I had literally a tear in my eye. Scared shit. So next shift I get out and I go as fast as I can. Guy passes the puck. it was like 10 seconds after the pass boom I hit him and I ran to the next guy he had the puck boom I hit guys as hard

as I could as fast as I could and it hurt like hell you answered the bell but what it did and by the way the ice bags that I had to put on after, Mike Keenan put big Donzie shoulder pads on me to make me look bigger. Oh, I've seen pictures. I was wondering why that was. I was well protected. I looked big, but I had big Donzie. I mean, Donzies actually weighed almost as much as I did. But what I found in doing that, I could score goals, I could make passes, but I could hit hard because of my speed.

And your shoulder pads. But now I use myself as a human torpedo because if I didn't, Keenan was going to bench me. So was I afraid? I was afraid of getting hurt, no question about it. I was afraid of the pain and all that stuff. That started out that way. But I was more in fear of what was going to happen if I didn't do it

by Keenan keeping me out of the lineup, right, keeping me out from playing. So I found that the fans cheered when I scored goals, fans cheered when I got assists, and fans really cheered when I knocked somebody on their goddamn ass, you know? And that became- You ended up throwing huge hits as your career went on. Oh, huge hits. That just became a big part of your game. I hit Kelly Kissio so hard in San Jose, he did a full flip. Full flip. And then after the period, after the period, who's our boy up in Boston?

Tough guy. Which guy? No, the guy on WAAF. Yeah. Oh, fucking buys it. LB. Yeah, Linden Bires. Oh, yeah, he's one now.

LB, I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. Concussions, bro. Suck on that one, LB. LB, my bad. I do love you. I never get remembered either. By the way, I walk into my house and I see a blonde lady in my house. I'm like, who the fuck are you?

It's my wife. Don't worry about it. Seriously, I have really bad concussions. He answers the door when the telephone rings. So LB, so I hit Kelly Ciccio. He literally did a full flip and landed on his stomach. And after the period, Lyndon Byers, who was not playing in the game, thank God, period, Lyndon Byers, who was not playing in the game, thank God,

ran into the locker room, in the San Jose locker room, and absolutely yelled at every single guy in that locker room, went on an absolute hissy fit in the locker room. We're not getting you. Screaming at everybody that they didn't chase me down one by one and beat the shit out of me after I did that. He went absolutely nuts. Did you ever end up playing against him in the future? No.

I mean, Lyndon's a friend of mine. It was the current. Yeah, when your team doesn't come to respond to one of your top players and one of your most liked players getting his head knocked off. Kissio was a veteran, too, back then, too, right? Yeah, he was a veteran. Yeah, exactly. When you were with Chicago and you were lighting it up but also throwing hits,

who was the guy kind of protecting you a little bit so I had a lot of guys we had members of Chicago Blackhawks were we were the rough and tumble um you know in the Chuck Norris division right so I had I had we had Stu Grimson Dave Manson Mike Mike Peluso Bobby McGill we used to have this one guy from Vancouver okay this guy's name was Wayne Van dorp what a name just listen to the name okay and i'm telling i got van dorp okay here here we go again i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna preface this by saying the sweetest nicest one of the greatest teammates you'll ever have you know big teddy bear but after the game nine cents short of a dime have no no idea of anything in life but to play hockey and fight right so you know this we're driving down the highway going to the airport one day

and there was this beat up beat up beat up van i mean this thing was barely that the wheels were wobbling and it was and it said buy me on the side with a number on it sure as shit wayne calls the number hey bro i want to buy your van the guy's like really it's like yeah i want to buy your van well when you want to buy he goes how about now i'm right next to you the guy goes for real he goes yeah pull over buys the van buys the van and then and then he he puts moved into it he did no sure shit he did he put he put like panels in it he like put like he built panels into this thing and he put like put a carpet in it and literally it i think at times he did live in it for a short period of time but it was his favorite thing in the world this beat-up shit box of a van that he that he bought going to the airport

that he saw on the highway. But he was tough as nails, man. Tough as nails. You don't mess around with this guy. Biggest head I've ever seen. Guys with the big heads, I was just like, dude, I'll break my hand on his head. I love the guy. I see him every once in a while when I go to Vancouver. He's the

nicest, nicest, nicest guy in the world. But man, thank goodness we didn't have to worry about him with our, you know, anything that's smart. I'm trying to think. What else do we got to cover? All right. You got any questions over there?

I have a horrible memory. People will say, oh, I love that interview. You talked about that. I don't remember any of our interviews. So I apologize if we did this the first time. What led into you being the best Sega NHL player of all time? Did you know that you were going to be that good when that game came out? And what year was it, 95? 94 Sega, yeah, 94 Sega. best Sega NHL player of all time. Did you know that you were going to be that good when that game came out? So there's-

And what year was it? 95? 94 Sega. Yeah. 94 Sega. And you were in Swingers. That was the coolest thing. Yeah.

It's not so much for me as for Iona Keyes. Good. Yeah. To make Gretzky's head bleed. The fact you're in this, that cult movie. It's my claim to fame. Yeah. Did you know that was going to be in before that?

No. I'm watching Swingers all of a sudden. They said my name. No. I said, holy fuck. They just said my- Rewind it. Rewind it. Call a lawyer. They No, I'm watching Swingers all of a sudden. No. I said, holy fuck, they just said my name. Rewind it. And you're like, call a lawyer.

They just said my name. Oh, you didn't know. No. Vince Vaughn just said my name. And I met him in a bar like three years later in LA. And he's standing with his buddy up against the bar. So I went up. I said, hey, Mr. Vaughn, how are you?

I wanted to thank you for putting me in your movie. And he was like, oh my god, JR. I fucking loved you. Growing up in Chicago, that was total respect, putting me in your movie. And he was like, oh my God, JR. I fucking loved you. Growing up in Chicago, that was total respect putting you in that game. Total respect putting you in the movie and all that stuff. That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Forever. Yeah.

But there's a couple of stories kind of behind it. I met the people that were creating the game. And I said, you know, make me nasty. He's like, I love you. I'm like, well, if you love me, make me the best player in the game. You're Bo you know, make me nasty. Yeah. He's like, I love you. I'm like, well, if you love me, make me the best player in the game. You're Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl. I'm number three all time rated best video gamer of all time. So listen, I'm going to brag about that till cows come home.

That's my claim to fame. There is not one time in the course of a day, either on social media or in person that people mentioned 94. I swear to God, it's the number one thing that people say to me. But what really happened, what they say is that they had, when they were making the game, there was a glitch in the game. There was a literal, a glitch that whatever happened, by the way, glitch with me, go figure. It happens every day.

But there was a glitch in the game that when they made it, the glitch actually made me faster and better. So it made me like a 98 player when I should have been like an 89 player. Right? And I'm like, fucking right. And any guys complain about it or trip you about it on the ice? No, not on the ice. But I have people saying, you know, I got through college betting, playing Sega on you.

And our frat, it was against the rules. It was one of the rules. You couldn't be Chicago. I got through college betting, playing Sega on you. And our frat, it was against the rules. It was one of the rules. You couldn't be Chicago. Yeah, you won't play, but you can't use Rona. Yeah, spin around top shelf. Spin around top shelf. Spin around top shelf.

Spin around top shelf. You played for, like I said, Keenan, then Sutter. What precipitated your trade from Chicago to Phoenix? Things were so good in Chicago, and then all of a sudden they send you to the desert. Yeah, it's one of the – you know, every says, well, do you ever change something in your career? Would you ever do something different? Um, do you ever regret anything? And, and every time I say it, there's, I'm always one that stands by everything that I do and everything I say, I wouldn't go back on anything. But one thing that I would do is go back with my relationship with Bill Wurtz because it was his team

he was the owner and we got into a contract squabble he said I'd be a Blackhawk forever I wanted $4 million at the time in 1996 by the way you had Eric Lindros was making four and he was making four three coming without a game play

I scored 100 points three times 50 goals twice. Not a big deal. Not a big deal. Went to the Stanley Cup Finals, all that stuff. I wanted $4 million. Pay me my money. That's what I wanted.

Pay me right fucking now. And you're bringing other aspects, like the entertainment value, and you're the mayor. But at the time, it's when the salaries were really escalating, and Bill Wurtz didn't really believe and want to do that. And so we got into the arguments and obviously the name calling back and forth. And just like you said over there, Witz, billionaire is not going to lose. And he ended up getting sick of me and trading me away.

I disrespected him in the way that I shouldn't have in a way that at that time. You didn't realize even, right? No, but I thought I was right and I know I was right. But the way that I said it and the way that I went about it was totally wrong. And, you know, I deserved I deserved to get sent out at the time, you know. And unfortunately for Chicago and and myself, it's not good. And unfortunately for Chicago and myself, it's not good. But I would go back and change the way that I treated Bill Wurtz because it was not the proper way for a player to act

when they wanted to get a contract done. What was the public's reaction? Did they know all the drama was going on behind the scenes? Were they mad at you for being greedy, or were they mad at him for not bucking up? I think it's a 50-50. I think everywhere you go. I mean, I talked to people that stopped watching the hawks when they traded me you know and i have people

that yell at me and you know people that get mad at me like a perfect example and the guy i respect tremendously is pat foley pat foley who is the play-by-play guy for the hawks one of the best play-by-play guys in the world how long has he been there oh he's been there since early 80s you know yeah early he good. He's tremendous. And I've had a great relationship, but I think my relationship with him got tainted. And the way that he looked at me, not the way that I look at him, but the way that he looked at me when that whole situation went down in 96. And I think he respects the way I feel now about the whole situation. But I think our relationship, and he really was mad at me the way that I dealt with it because he saw it that way on the Chicago Blackhawks side.

And I always respected Pat Foley's criticism towards me or at least asking me questions about it that kind of allowed the waters to calm. And I think that's what's really important. Because I love the Chicago Black. They drafted me. That was the team I had in my best years. I think you always thought of them as the Blackhawks. I mean, I want to have a great relationship with the Hawks. I want to have a great relationship with the Rocky Wurtz, with the fans. And I do.

Every time I go to Chicago, I go do an event. My events are packed. People come out and they treat me really good. Same in Philly. I was in Philly for three years. Everywhere I go in Philly, they're the greatest. I think it's nice when guys of your stature, especially when you're on the

come up and you want to make what the other guys are making, the ego steps in a little bit. Now for you to realize that. I don't have an ego. Well, you fucking did, JR. All right. I didn't have an ego. JR, I looked for a clip online. I don't think it's on there because it was so old.

I want to say it was the 93 season. What the fuck are you talking about? Phones and internet didn't exist then. How old do you think I am right now? No, I'm old. It's not online. It's so old. We found the scriptures.

It's more than it happened pre-internet. We went to a tomb. By the way, I do turn 50 next month. Oh, that should be a decent party. It was the old forum. And I'm pretty sure... Did you that should be a decent party. It was the old forum. And I'm pretty sure, did you go teeth first into the crossbow up in the old forum? No, I put Desjardins teeth first. Oh, okay.

No, no, no. I did it to somebody else, though. Desjardins and I were battling in front of the net. And the puck kind of flipped around. And he turned around to look for the puck. And I cross-checked him right in the back. And he went face first. And his teeth went straight into the crossbar into the crossbar and just shattered everywhere

and um you know I loved it he didn't like it he didn't like it at all and but what was crazy is I became a Philadelphia Flyer where he was the captain of the Flyers and we we respected each other but I there was definitely not uh there was a chummy, chummy relationship between me and Eric Desjardins because of that. We loved playing with each other, but deep down inside, he's like, fucking motherfucker. Yeah, every day you look in the mirror, he was definitely. Every time, yeah, he's like, he's a cocksucker. One other guy I want to mention, a guy you were teammates with, you played on Team USA with, but he seemed to have a real hot on for you. It was Darion Hatcher.

What was the deal with that? Why was he always going at you? Well, he went after me because I went after Medano. You know, we talked about LB going after people because they're going after your top guys. Darion Hatcher was one of the best American captains that I think we've had in a long time. The first American captain to win the Stanley Cup, which is really cool. think we've had in a long time the first american captain to win the stanley cup um which is really cool but i knocked out mike medano in in um in arizona about i think it's about two weeks before the playoffs started and um with a hit yeah behind the net he was coming around the net i like to do

those you know cut off at the side and cut off at the pass those are 10 gamers now and he was coming around the net he threw the puck back. It might have been a little late, but I crushed him and he went down. Now, let me preface this. I went after Mike Medano all the time because that was my measuring stick. He was my measuring stick. He was the guy that I thought was the best player, the best American player ever. So every time I played against him, I wanted – he went first overall.

I went eight. He was always America's boy so I every time I played against him I wanted to beat him wanted to make sure I got the best of him so unfortunately I got suspended for hitting him from behind once in Philly which I regret tremendously and I got I hit him in Phoenix and knocked him out behind the net and then two days two days later we're him in Phoenix and knocked him out behind the net. And then two days later, we're playing in Dallas. And in the paper, next day, it's retribution coming. It's front page. It's like payback's a bitch.

So I know it's coming, which, by the way, I love. It's fine. I was geared up and ready to go. Literally, first period, they're coming at me left and right center. I come around the net. As I come around the net, Craig Lugwood slashes me in the thumb. My thumb snaps in half, and less than a second later, Hatch comes

in with the elbow. Broken jaw. Broken jaw. That hit watching it now is brutal. 40-gamer. You want to talk about aim? That elbow was perfect to the jaw. I mean, it happened so fast. But he's 235, 40 pounds, and he comes to the running start and jumps with that elbow. Cracks my jaw in five or six different places, and I'm moving my jaw.

I can feel my jaw moving around. I can feel the bones. I can feel the bones. You're trying to move your jaw, but your thumb's broken in half too, so that's moving around also. Exactly. Well, I go back to the bench. I go back to the bench, and I'm showing my trainer. And I'm literally,

if it wasn't for the skin keeping my things, I could literally pull my portion of my jaw out of my mouth. And I'm looking, and I'm bleeding, and I see the lady that's right in the first row she sees me and i see her go right down she goes passes out right in front yeah so they get a they get um he gets five minute major this they got a slashing penalty in the major penalty so

we have a five on three and here my jaw is flapping all over the place and trainer's like we got to go we got to get out of here and i'm like fuck, fuck no. We're not going. We have five on three. Get the fuck out of here. I didn't go this part of it. I'm going on the ice, okay? Because I want to score a goal so bad. So I can score a goal and I can give everybody the bird going off the ice. Then I'll leave. Yep.

Because that was what I was going to do. I was going to score a goal. I was going to go to center ice. I was going to give everybody the bird. T.O. style. I was going to give everybody the bird. I was going to give everybody the bird and then I was going to skate right off the ice and go get surgery. That's what was in my head.

But I went there with five on three and every time I got hit, I could hear my I could feel my bones cracking and my jaw flapping all over the place. I played about three and a half minutes of that five minute penalty trying to get a goal.

And finally, we didn't score, got to the bench, and my trainer's like, okay, you got to go now. So I went. But this is actually another cool story because I got my stuff off. I went to the hospital. I'm sitting in the waiting room waiting for them to come give me – and I'm standing around and blood into a cup and i'm feeling bad for myself and all of a sudden the guy comes uh the ambulance comes in and they rush a kid into the emergency room right in front of me that got in a car accident and his leg got severed off and his leg is sitting like kind of on top no way and i saw this and i'm like all of a sudden my jaw didn't feel so bad and when i watched this young kid his jaw would have

dropped severed yeah well it didn't my jaw did drop so watched this young kid. Your jaw would have dropped. Severed, yeah. Well, it didn't. My jaw did drop. So I felt okay. The doctor came in, did the x-rays. They said, hey, listen, we can fix your jaw here. You got to be here for about two or three days, or you can go back home and get your jaw fixed. I'm like, get me the fuck out of this town.

I'm not waiting here another second. I want out of Dallas. I don't want anything to do with this town. I'm out of here. So we flew back to Arizona. I couldn't eat. Couldn't drink. Because I had surgery the next morning.

But I'm spitting into a cup blood. Because blood is literally streaming out of my mouth continually. So I'm spitting blood. I went through two cups. And we were playing poker. I was just going to say, were you playing cards? Of course you were. You motherfucker.

He's like, I actually played cards. It was my biggest win of the year. Oh, yeah. I'm playing cards. I'm spitting into a cup. I'm like, you know, playing guts. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You can't deal. You motherfucker. He's like, I actually put my, it was my biggest win of the year. Oh yeah, I'm playing cards. I'm spitting into a cup. I'm like, you know, playing guts,

you know. You can't deal because you're some. Yeah, I'm like trying to talk with my mouth all over the place, you know.

I'm in. I'm in. How'd you make out? Check. Did you win some money? Sip with these money on that one? I don't even know. I don't even know,

but literally, we landed in Arizona. We came down. There was a limo waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. A limo waiting for me took me right to the hospital to get my jaw fixed. It was amazing. What about the story I read about early in your career, you got Craig Berube. I don't know if it was a soccer punch, but he said, I'm going to get you back.

It took him 10 years, but he ended up getting you, right? Yeah, it was 94. I think it was 93, 94. No, it was 93 because it was in Chicago Stadium. And Hextall was in that. And by the way, one of the craziest, craziest goaltenders and one of the greatest guys. Great goaltender, but mean. And I ran him.

Like I ran him in the net with the puck and knocked him over. And he lost his mind. Lost his mind. Paul Holmgren was behind the bench and the next period they were going to get back it's a broad street bullies man they're not going to let and Hexall wanted to get at me so I come on the ice Holmgren sends Craig Bruby out after me and you know it's like back then your top guy gets confronted by a bunch of people. Everybody jumps in, right? So now there's a big fight and it's in the corner. There's a big pile up. And in the pile, the referee grabbed Ruby's arms, right?

And I'm free. He's a green light flashing. I'm free. And there's just body parts strewn all over the place, right? And the referee has him. So I have my free hand. He's screaming at me. And I know the angel

on my right saying don't do it jr don't do it you'll regret it for the rest of your life and i have the devil over here good knock the fucking guy's head off and i listened to the guy in red and boom i cold cocked him with his arms being held by the ref yeah while he's being held totally against the rules totally you, you can't do that. You know, it's not the first rule I ever broke. But, you know, as I was skating off the ice, Ron Hextall fired a puck at me, missed me by about this much at center ice. He could whip it.

Oh, he could whip it. He could whip it. But anyway, he said, I'm going to get you back, man. I'm going to get you back. It's going to take forever, but I'm going to get you back. Every time I played against him, I'd jump on the ice. Here, Craig would step up on the bench. Johnny, get off the ice!

Johnny, get off the ice! He'd get off the ice. He'd chase me around. I'd go back to the bench. How the fuck did I get you? Screaming. Then he's getting more angry every year. By the way, he got in my head because before the game, I'm sitting in my locker going,

what line is he on? He's on the fourth line. Okay, I'm on the first line. I'm as far away from him as I can. I'm sitting in my locker going, what line is he on? He's on the fourth line. Okay, I'm on the first line. I'm as far away from him as I can. I'm not going to see him, so on and so forth. But then when I went to Philly, my first year, end of the first year, Chief got a player coaching job for the Phantoms. And the Phantoms, the Flyers, shared the same arena, practice arena.

They had one side of the arena. We had the other side. But they were separated by two doors. And obviously, Chief can go wherever he wants. So he came from the Phantoms over to see all the boys, see the trainers on the other side. And I'm sitting there taping my stick in the locker room. And he comes in.

I'm like, hey, Chief, what's going on? Hey, JR, what's going on? Boom! Takes a crack at me. It's one of those ones you see little scars. Because I told you I'd fucking get you. Hey, nice to have you here. You want to play golf later?

Sure, let's go play golf. Played golf that day, drank beers with him. It was a good story. It was a good story. But that's the type of person that Craig Berube is. He is a stand-up, solid quality person that you will not ever get the best of. He'll make sure that he's going to get you. I mean, what he did for St. Louis last year just totally depicts the type of person

and the type of hockey guy that Craig Bruby is. I love him to death. And, you know, I respect him even more that he chased me around for five years. Before our rate goes, who do you like this year? What teams? I like Boston again. And I think Boston, they're going to come right down. Their team is just so solid.

I mean, when you have Bergeron, Marchand, and guys like Pasternak scoring at the rate that he's scoring at right now and still have the leadership like Chara, I just think they've got to be the odds on because they play the same game every single night. I'd like to say the Washington Capitals. I picked the Washington Capitals preseason because of the talent level, but it depends on what day of the week, whether they're going to play.

A perfect example, again, last night, they played Columbus. They shit the bed. They play down to their competition a lot, and I want to see a team play the same way every single night Boston does that. Washington, I still think, is going to be really really tough but i'm they always beat boston too in the play oh yeah it's like not who the bro well they know how to turn by the way they know how to turn it on and off which is why i'm not as hard on washington anymore because listen they turned it on the playoffs a couple years ago when it's yeah and they know when to turn it on

and off and they know they're going to be in the playoffs and they know that they can they can turn it on so i'm going to be a little bit easier on them. I just don't like, you know, the going through the motions and, you know, thinking you're going to win just because you tie up your skates. And they do that a lot. They have the talent to do it. Ovechkin is the best goal scorer that we have seen in maybe three, four generations. It's crazy.

You think he gets Gretzky? It's going to get close. It's getting oddly closer and closer. I think it's good. I think it's more of a conversation now because he's continuing to score goals at a rapid pace. Maybe not as fast as you saw.

Here you have Pasternak at 28-29. You still got to keep him in that conversation. You go out to the West, I still think Colorado is going to be tough to beat. St. Louis is going to be good. They're resilient, but for some reason I I just see Colorado, if they hit it up. And they've been battling injuries like crazy, too.

Exactly. So they keep winning. Ari, you had one? Yeah, when you were running game in Chicago, the other tenants in the building, the Bulls, a guy named Michael Jordan was doing the same thing. What kind of relationship, if any, did you have with him, and what was he like? You know, it's funny. I had a conversation.

I was actually on Toronto Radio this morning talking about that. I talked about my story with Michael Jordan playing 36 holes and him going out and him potting 52 and beating Cleveland the same day. And they asked me, did Michael get mad at that? Did he yell at you? Did he call you? And I'm like, no, I didn't hear from Michael. So if I don't hear from Michael, then I'm okay.

And who gives a shit? It's 1992. A hundred grand a hole, probably. He makes like 80 million a year still. Oh, he makes about 250 million a year from 1992. Listen, I don't think Michael cares, really. To me, I think the story of a sports phenom and a freak of nature that can go out, play 36 holes, can drink 15 or 16 beers, and go out and still perform at that level,

to me is a freak of nature, is a superhero. So I think I upped his legendary status. I mean, we all know he gambles. By the way, it's not a big secret that Michael Jordan gambles. I gamble, he gambles. It's not a big secret. Was he always pushing the limits? Because he drank beer before a game? Oh, he pushes i was drunk playing the game in detroit in 1994 or 92

uh 92 um you know for the chicago blackhawks we thought we were going to go on strike but two games left in the season we're in detroit was going on strike at three o'clock before the game we're loaded we're we're across the street at the uh at the uh at the canadian ballet um you know getting ready for uh you know for the call that we're gonna be on strike well that call never came and we're in the bar at three o'clock in the afternoon for a seven o'clock game and we are 10 sheets short of the win we are absolutely smashed we had to go back and play detroit how are you we tied three three i i had a goal and assist it was unbelievable it was really really it was unbelievable just play 36 holes then do it and then you've reached jordan so yeah so but i will say that the jordan's that the jordan story was really good and the only thing that i had is i had a very very good friend

of mine um who were all the three of us are friends um He texted me, and the only text was, don't give away our secrets. And I'm like, they're not secrets. By the way, you said, did he push the limits? He was on the same course I was in Jupiter, and seven carts out there. The Bear Club? Seven guys, medalists. The Bear Club.

Seven guys, seven carts, all of them playing music, all of them with $5,000 Nassau's against every other guy. All of them with cigars? So what's... $5,000 front, $5,000 back, $5,000 overall. You have six of those matches, and nobody's sharing a cart, and they're playing 36 in, like, five hours. With cigars in their mouths, all going.

So the worst guy could lose about 100 grand? Yeah, probably. I mean, you can get roasted, but the fact that Jordan also has a guy that just has, like, all the cash on him, too, that you have to pay him or get paid. You need a bag, man. The golfing stories. Have you played the Grove, his new track yet? The Grove 23?

Yeah. Haven't got there yet. Oh, that's going to be cool. I don't know if I'm going to get the invite after the story, but that's okay. I think you're welcome everywhere. One other running mate I want to ask you about when you were in Phoenix, Big Walt. Oh, my gosh. I don't think there's enough time in the day to talk about Big Walt.

When I came to Arizona, listen, the first time I had the opportunity to talk to Walt was when I was with Chicago in 1990 or 91. And Gretzky's team, who I played for in junior, Hall Olympics, wanted Walt to come play for them and he was going to BU. But they wanted me to call Walt and say, hey, Walt, come play in Hull. It's a great place to play in junior.

So I did. I called Walt and I said, hey, you know, Keith, this is Jeremy Roenick. You know, I know you're thinking about going to BU, but you should think about maybe going and playing Hull. And Walt goes, no thanks, JR. I'm going to go to BU. Screw that junior stuff thanks JR I'm gonna go to BU screw that junior stuff and I'm like okay well whatever that was my first introduction to Keith Kachuk

like here I am I'm in the NHL and he's not and he's big time and he's and he's big time in me and I love that about it that was great but then I then I got to know him when he got into the league. And then when I came to Phoenix, my whole perception of Big Walt became the Big Walt I think that we'll all know and love. At least that would know him. When I first met him, he says, when I came to Arizona, Big Walt goes, I have two rules. Two rules. Rule number one, give Big Walt the puck. Number two, remember, give Big Walt the puck. So I'm like, good, we got it.

We got it. Good. Perfect. And, you know, Walt, we know he'd strut through the locker room. He wore a white robe around the room, the boss, the big timer. But one thing that Walt did is he played the game hard. He played the game the way it's supposed to be played, and he demanded everybody else to play the game. He would sit on the bike every single morning.

He'd be the first one at the arena on the stationary bike, and he'd ride it right next to the door. And here you have young kids come in, and he'd be like, what the fuck? Why am I beating you? What the fuck? I'm on the bike and you're just getting here? Let's go. Get on the bike. You know, he was the guy that pushes everybody.

If I'm doing it, you're doing it. And another thing that he did is he took care of everybody better than anyone. So I would say I learned a lot from, from Walt, but the one thing that I learned the most from Walt is how to make sure you take care of the people that take care of you, the trainers. Um, we w we'd go to Edmonton and we'd have a guy that, that Walt brought off the street, gave him money, cleaned him up, brought him into the locker room and he would sit then he would work the locker room with us. Um, he had a couple of those guys that he literally would give money to and make sure that they'd bring him in, cleaned him up, brought him into the locker room, and he would work the locker room with us. He had a couple of those guys that he literally would give money to and make sure that they'd bring him in, get him a hotel room, get him food,

made sure that everybody would tip the trainers, right? He would tip every trainer in every city. He'd make sure that the young guys tipped the trainers. He's the most respectful captain and most caring captain and the meanest captain. One of the best goal scorers I've ever seen. But I'll tell you what, I've never seen a guy that is more loved, that was more loved because he demanded to treat other people the right way and play the game the right way.

I absolutely love him. I got lost thinking about my next question, but did you just briefly mention the homeless situation where on on the road he would sometimes uh yeah find homeless people and you'd bring him in to finish off the pre-game meal because sometimes there'd be so much food left over he would bring guys into the period he'd bring him to the pre-game meal to have lunch with us and then he would bring them up after sometimes and let them shower in his room too right he would buy that he would get them a room yeah he would let homeless he would get them a room and he's just like salt of the earth he would get them a room. He would let homeless, he would get them a room. He's just like salt of the earth. He would get them a room.

And obviously, there was one guy, Red. That was in Edmonton, Calgary. We would bring him around still when I was with the Coyotes. He had started. We would give him per diem and he would just like sit there with me. I was a healthy scratch. So me and Red were basically best friends.

Wait, Red's got more than me now. It's true. Red would sit in the chair. He dozes off. I steal his per diem pack. Red would sit in the chair. Red would sit in the chair outside the locker room, and we'd come in. Ready, Red? Yeah, guys, let's go.

Come on. Let's go. Come on, guys. Give us our pregame talks. Let's go, guys. Ready? Let's go. Let's go.

That's all he would say. Let's go, guys. Time to go. Let's go. We'd have a big bag of popcorn next to him, and he would just eat popcorn. It'd be all over his face, and we'd all be giving him knuckles on the way out to the ice while I would be standing next to him. Yeah, and he had his scruff.

He hadn't shaved and smelled and all that stuff. But Walt, when we came in, we got to the hotel. Red was waiting in front of the hotel. And as soon as we got there, Walt would would grab him go in, get him a room go in, shower him up, shave him get him all ready for the game and after the game if we were playing in Edmonton

he would come with us to Calgary if we were playing in Calgary he would come with us to Edmonton and then wherever we stopped wherever we were leaving Red Walt would go around to every guy 100 bucks, 100 bucks, 100 bucks 100 bucks, 100 bucks. 100 bucks. 100 bucks. 100 bucks. 100 bucks. Every single guy had to give Walt 100 bucks that

Walt would give to Red. Red's like, potty fucking shit. So Shane Doan and Stan Wilson and the training staff, they kept that tradition going when Walt left. So that's how I got introduced to him. Well, that shows you about Walt and what kind of influence that Walt had. Walt had influence on me. Shane Doan, who I think probably the the salt of the earth's best people on the

planet because he had guys like you and Walt showing the way just as much as he had unbelievable parents and he's a great person to begin with but that's set he carried on that tradition yeah and that's and that that's the type of person Shane Doan is so yeah it's all started from Walt back then and um yeah it. I think Red passed. Yeah, Red passed. Yeah, he did pass. Pretty good run, though, for what he was doing. Oh, really good run. Really good run.

And there was another guy in Vancouver, had some mental problems, but Walt also took good care of him. So that's just the type of person that Walt is, one of the most giving people I've ever seen. We could sit here for hours, but we haven't even gotten to what's going on. And one of the main reasons you're here with the JR, is it fantasy camp? Can you explain that whole situation? Well, I have my camp is just it's grown leaps and bounds. I started in Chicago and, you know, I started with 50 kids overwhelmingly well. Then we went to 100. Then we went to 100.

Then we went to 150. And I think we're going to cap it at 150. And I'm going to do that only because I'm on the ice for every second with these kids. Every second I have five or six other instructors on the ice making sure that every kid is taught the right way, is being shown how to do something, what they're doing wrong, what they're doing right, getting them excited about what they're doing right, teaching them to love the game the way that we did. So for me, we have one week from I think this year in Chicago, it's the 19th through 24th in Phoenix. It's the 29th through the 2nd. And then we're going to Philly this year for the first time ever. We're going to go to Philly uh from the I believe it's the 16th

through the 21st of August so I'm really excited about going to Philly but we have two two ice sessions a day two off ice sessions a day then lunch and we have a personal growth session where we talk about life with the kids talk about being a good person that's awesome you know talk about not just hockey not just hockey it's about being a good And these kids, you know what I love about it? These kids come in on the first day of camp and they're nervous. You know, they won't. They're tough to look at you. They're nervous.

They don't know what to say. You know, I'll shake their hand. They won't look me. Well, they probably see the way their parents look at you and they think this guy must be some type of God or something. They're scared. But by Friday in Portugal, but by Friday, by Friday, when they leave, they're all running up to me, hugging me, taking pictures, high-fiving.

Hey, JR, see you next year. It's now JR. And it becomes a friendship. And I think that's what I love about it the most. I'll tell you a story. I was in Portugal this year with Tracy and Catherine. We're sitting at dinner. And I get an email in my, in my inbox.

And this is just after the camps are over in August. And I start reading this letter and it's from a mom telling me about how inspired her son was about my camp, how he's, you know, he's, he doesn't like to go outside. He doesn't have many friends. He's not confident and all this stuff. And, you know, she wrote, she went on all this stuff, how my camp changed his life, changed the way he thinks, changed his energy, what he does. And I'm sitting in front of Catherine and Tracy,

and I start crying, full ball out crying, knowing that my camp touched somebody like that. But it touches a lot of kids in that way, and we get a lot of stuff. So it's growing like leaps and bounds. You go to jr hockey school.com find out uh all the different schools three cities now it'll be three cities eric kleinex helping you know correct so he works for the coyotes with harry knuckles he's the best he used to help out at gretzky's hockey school as well so they had a very good formula and and you guys and them have been very successful

and it's nice yeah it's really good and you know we have by the way we have great swag on my website our our swag our swag sick well so listen we're trying to get rid of it all we're gonna do like 50 off we've got to get ready for next year so if you want to get on and buy some real cool swag jrhockeyschool.com i'm doing the shameless plug so deal with me for a second. People love it. JRHockeySchool.com. The merch is sick. It is sick. I'm telling you, it is so sick. We got some really good camo stuff.

Our hats are off the charts. Really cool designs. We'll try to plug it. When we post this interview, we'll plug it for you. That's how we work here. You also have something else going on, though, and another reason why you're here with the digital play. Yes.

So I team with some really smart people, which I usually do surround myself with smarter people. Oh, so that's why I don't see you very often. So my boy John Coy came up to me with a new digital platform, and it's Rivals.com. So what we do is we bring the fan engagement to the game, to the event, whatever it is. It could be maybe it's Justin Timberlake doing a concert or it's a hockey game or it's a

basketball game, a football game. So what we do is we do a charity-based trivia game for certain teams, for charity-based. Okay, so let's say the Coyotes are playing the Kings, and it's the Jeremy Roenick Challenge that's going to benefit the Ronald McDonald House. So what we do is I'm going to tweet out all my fans the opportunity to pay $10 to play this trivia game. So what you do is you answer 10 questions pregame

of things that might happen during the game, right? Who scores first? How many shots are going to get? How many shots is Kessel going to get? How many saves is Ronta going to have? So it's just totally basic, right? And there's also the team uses their social media to plot to throw it out the charity throws it out and we charge ten dollars to play the game and that ten bucks

goes to charity and and 70 of that money goes to charity and the other 30 goes to the team and then you know so on and so forth but the charity is what the real important part is because charities nowadays need more ways to create revenue with the new rules and regulations, government regulations. So it's a good way. By the way, it doesn't cost the team anything to use the platform. But what it does is we get data for the teams. We get emails. We get data.

But what it does is it brings new fans to the game. It acquires more attention, retention to the games. People stay longer. We pay more attention to everything. Right. And by the way, people will pay $10 to play a game knowing that money's going to charity all day long. Well, and some people don't want to gamble gamble, but they like to see, oh, yeah, it's

And by the way, it's a good point because it's not a gambling. It's almost like a sweepstakes, right? It's a trivia game sweepstakes that literally you can test yourself against other celebrities, other people. There's a leaderboard. You can see where you are. You can bitch slap people on the leaderboard. I got you. You can go back in and you can change your bet to how many chips that you're actually betting on that one question to try to move yourself up and down the ladder.

There's a lot of really cool things that Rivals does. But what it does in the end, in the end game, is it gives people a good way to watch the game and a good reason to watch the game because you have special prizes at the end. We just had one with the John Anik Challenge where the MMA, we did a competition with MMA, and the winner got to go to Washington, D.C. to meet John Anik and to meet some of the fighters and so on and so forth.

And go to the fight? And go to the fight. Oh, wow. And that's all copped. We just had another one where the winner gets to go to Baltimore, gets two Juju Smith Schuster shirts, two tickets, gets to meet Juju Smith, goes watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play Baltimore. And also players and teams can work where you guys work with their charities.

Right, exactly. So if I started one, let's say we did a Pink Whitney charity or something, we could run a sweepstakes where maybe you come to one of our events, one of our pawn hockey tournaments, whatever it may be, and everybody wins. Yeah, if Spitting chiclets has their charity and you guys want to do a rivals game we're gonna we're gonna go out invite all of our fans to play the rival game let's say you get 50 000 people that play pay 10 to play the spitting chiclets rivalry that's 500 grand yeah you know your charity is making you know is making

and everybody's having fun and everybody's having fun but what you're doing is everybody's having having a good time watching the game they will stay longer to see if they're they're you know if they win if their their guesses come true come right so you know and what is it for the team so the team's going to give away um maybe they'll give away glass seats for a future game or they'll give away glass seats for a future game. Or they'll give away a meet and greet with biz and wits. Who knows? Might not raise much money.

Bullshit. You guys are probably the biggest things in hockey right now. But what I will say is it's a great, great platform to have. I think more people are going to learn about it. And just think of this. I mean, we're going to do it through NCAA. We're going to do it through NHL, MLB. Where can you see it on social media?

It'll be on Twitter at what? John, you want to come in here? Yeah, John's going to give us the Twitter, the Instagram. John, come over here and chat a little bit about it. This is my buddy John Corey. He's going to tell you a little bit about it, how you can get involved in in it you'll be seeing a lot more of it because we're just we're doing the pilots right now we just did two mmas we're doing the jeremy roenick challenge which is going to be the winter classic at the end of the month okay so first question who will control the opening face off okay that's pretty basic which team will cross the blue line first which team will have the

first shot on goal so as the game goes on, you can, as you said, gamble more and adjust your points. How many chips do you use? And then the questions maybe get a little bit more intense. But like I said, for people who aren't necessarily even that familiar with hockey, it's still pretty basic. Very basic, but it allows people to get engaged in the game and play. And listen, there won't be ties because people are answering different questions and they're betting different percentage

of their chips available in order to play. What's the website? What's the Twitter? What's the Instagram? JRcharitychallenge.com will be live next. As of right now, it's live. Follow JR and his Twitter account, his Instagram. There'll be swipe ups.

You guys, I want all three of you guys on the leaderboard. When you make your bets, you've got to get all three questions wrong to lose any. So you're going to get one right, you double your chips. Two right, two and a half times. Three right, five times. It's great cross-promotion. We're working with Juju Smith-Schuster's foundation, even for JR's. So we get some football fans watching hockey.

We had some football fans participating in MMA along with JR's fans. So the more we can cross-promote to raise money for charity during these contests, the better off it is. And what's great is that the website keeps – the software keeps tabs of everything. Like you don't even have to do anything. You can go in and look to see where you are in the platform, in the leaderboard, and you can literally go back. You know, John's getting a little technical by saying if you miss three points, you lose everything. Or if you double, double, double. You don't even have to worry about that stuff.

The computer does everything for you, which is really cool. Once you see this stuff, you can tell it's so easy. And by the way, if you're like me, right, colored by numbers, granimals, okay, that's me. I want it as easy as possible. To play this game is so easy because when you get the invite, you press play game, get chips, answer questions, done. Then wait to see what happens. It is so easy to play, and you can actually watch and remember and literally track the games that are going. It makes it more fun to watch a game, by the way.

And we talked about how expensive tickets are nowadays for fans. I'm going to talk to Arizona Coyotes and see if we can do where a lot of the consolation prizes are tickets to games. That's what we do. Yeah, exactly. It's good people. But listen, for a way to generate charity money, okay, everybody gets a 501c3, right? Is that what it's called? 501c3 money. Okay. Everybody gets a 501c3, right?

Is that what it's called? 501c3 charities. Yeah. So everybody's going to get a chance to write off their 10 bucks if they want to, which is important. But listen, for 10 bucks to play a game, to make the game more exciting to watch. And I think a lot of teams around the National hockey league around the nba around nfl they need to have more fan participation things involved because maybe there aren't as many people in the building maybe they need to find a way to attract more attention and

here's what's crazy is this next generation as much as we want to think they think like us they don't they they they constantly want to be stimulated mentally. So even though they go to a live sporting event, I'm there to just watch the sports. They want to be on their phones all game and doing that. They want to show people that they're doing something rather than just enjoying what they're doing. And hey, that's the way it is.

So genius concept. Polling has 70% of all millennials will pay $10 to play a game, play anything, right? They're not big gamblers, but they'll pay $10 to have a chance to win something. they're not big gamblers but they'll pay 10 bucks to have a chance to win something sure i mean that's most millennials will do that not right now it's a millennial generation that's really running a lot of the social media is that how we are is that right john yeah yeah so well jr that's incredible last thing i have for you i forgot to

bring up before i spend a lot of time i love going going down to Bay Hill. There's a legendary video of you basically wrestling an alligator down there. Arnold Palmer was the biggest legend ever. Give me that whole story and what he said to you after. So I'm down with my buddy Brian Thompson, who's the member at Bay Hill. He invites me down to the member guest every year. And so this is the first day of the member guest. This is about three years, maybe three, four, three years ago, four years ago. And, you know, I don't think it's a shocker.

I like to have a couple of cocktails on the course, maybe just before I start, just to get to calm the nerves a little bit. And by the fifth hole, by the fifth hole, we were just on cruise control, feeling good. Striping it. Striping it. Striping it. So, you know, there's just an alligator that was sitting on the bank, sunbathing. Didn't look too vicious, even though it was an alligator. For an alligator? Yeah.

So I told my buddy, hey, get a camera. Let's go. Come near me. He's like, no, man, I'm not going near that thing. I'm like, just take the video. No, man. I'm like, come closer and closer. I'm not going.

No, man, I'm not getting close. You're going to throw me. I'm going to throw you on it. Just come near me. He's just sitting there. And I wanted to see if I can if I can just grab him, touch him. I've never touched an alligator. So I get closer and closer and closer.

And I jumped at it and I got his tail in my hand and he slid it off into the water. And I'm like and closer and closer. And I jumped at it. And I got his tail in my hand. And he slid it off into the water. And I'm like, that was awesome. But what I didn't think about was, what if that alligator was having a bad day? He would have turned around and, you know, fucked me up bad. You'd have been chubs. Yeah. But I was saying, you know, I just played on my instinct that the alligator would do its instinct and just run into the water.

Right? Luckily, my instincts proved correct. But the greatest thing was is that after the round, we're in the men's grill and we're all having a couple of posts. Great men's grill, Don. Yeah, great men's grill, having some post-round cocktails and talking about our rounds and all this stuff. And in comes Arnold Palmer, walks in, and it's like eyes all pop up. And Arnold comes right over to the table, and he looks at me and goes, Hey, hockey boy.

He didn't know my name. Hey, hockey boy. Will you leave my alligators alone out there? They're scared fucking shit right now. I'm like, Yes, Mr. Arnold Palmer, yes. I'm sorry. Hey, hockey boy. This is this is fucking you've told us a couple crazy stories he says he says hey hockey boy will leave my alligators alone you're scared

shit out there and i'm like yes mr arnold i'm really sorry i didn't and he started laughing and he sat down and had a beer with us and what a great way it was it was amazing it was one of my the highlights and so listen even if that alligator would bit off my arm, to me, Arnold Palmer having to say that to me would have been worth every ounce of my heart. As good as that story was, I don't think it'll go viral. The fact that you got drunk in your second last game of the season and still had one-on-one, buddy.

Have you ever told that story? Say that again? When you got wasted in Detroit thinking there was going to be a strike and you had one-on-one. I mean, it was crazy. We were across the border. So we were in Windsor. I told you. Yeah, the Canadian Ballet.

The Canadian Ballet. I see when you said that. I guessed that. I was like, I think he's talking about some Ripskies. We were at the Canadian Ballet, and it was literally 345. We got the call, and they said, we're striking tomorrow, not today. What? What do you mean tomorrow?

We're shit-faced now. So we had to zip across under the tunnel. Of course. Go through. Have you ever told that story before? I don't think so. Wow. I think you have a lot of ones that you haven't told.

Oh, God. That's going to be nice for us. We came in, Mike Keenan saw us walking into the locker room, and we smelled of something three days ago, right? It's like, Mike Keenan's like, don't talk to me, don't say anything, but all I got to say is you guys better fucking win this game

tonight. He's like, I can't even choke out his laptop because I broke it in 88. Was he happy with the tie? He was fine with the tie. Tie was good. Tie was fine. We escaped. You're on the road. We played. That was probably the top three most play with guilt situations I've ever had.

JR, thank you so much. We'll save the other two for the next podcast. There's definitely more. There's definitely more. I've heard a few. I just wasn't comfortable enough to bring them up yet, but we'll get you on episode three with those for sure. Thank you very much, JR.

Thanks so much, JR. Much appreciated, buddy. And check out the website and the hockey school. Yeah, so make sure, Rivals.com. Check it out. Pay attention. Boom. Big thanks to JR for stopping by,

and we got talking a little, or we didn't talk about the golf match, correct? I don't know. I can't remember. No, we didn't. Okay, but there was another golf match that I want to ask you about, the President's Cup. Did the United States have a come-from-behind win? Yeah, they did.

Most unlikable United States team you've ever seen. They got Patrick Reed, one of the biggest losers in pro sports. Just a complete clown. Donkey caddy punched a fan. I was almost upset they won because, in the end, this clown Patrick Reid was an asshole at the Ryder Cup in France, throwing all his teammates under the bus after the tournament. Then they go

to the President's Cup. He doesn't even make it on points. Tiger picks him. I'm like, how are you picking this guy after what he just did in the Ryder Cup? Well, what does he do? He gets caught cheating before the President's Cup. So the whole fucking time these guys are in Australia, they have to answer questions about their idiot teammate, so he's being a complete distraction.

Him and Webb Simpson are thrown out three matches in a row. They lose all three. Tiger just keeps throwing them out, and in the meantime, his caddy pushes a fan. It's like, how bad can you play while also being as big of a distraction as you could be in golf, yet he goes out in singles

and dummies the guy in the U.S. win. So great win. I mean, whatever. It was just a bunch of guys. I can't stand Bryson DeChambeau either. He's painful. Why? Slow?

Very slow golfer, but more like he put on all this weight. Now he just talks about it. Like, dude, just do it. Why do you have to talk about everything you're doing? He's the guy who has all the same length clubs. Yeah, I mean, he's an incredible talent. He's just painful, I think. And so I wasn't really, in a sense, loving rooting for that team with those guys on there.

I love this guy. But President's Cup, it's no Ryder Cup, but it was fun to watch. The course was sick. I'm going to Australia to play golf. I promise everyone that. I'll come with you. I'll drink the coffee. That's all I want.

Wait, I'm not the biggest golf guy, but I don't even know if I heard of the President's Cup much before this year. It seemed like it got a lot more shine this year for some reason. Yeah, well, being on in primetime, although I'm sure it has been before. Well, Tiger was the captain, I'm going to say that. But also, the U.S. has only lost the President's Cup one time, so they just dummy the rest of the world. And you've got guys from Korea playing with guys from Australia, playing with guys from South Africa, where it's just such a sense of not the same team where Where you play the Ryder Cup, it's Europe versus Europe. What's the difference as far as picking your team?

Isn't it the exact same rules? Like it's U.S. versus the world? Not including Europe, because Europe is the Ryder Cup every other year. So every two years they have a Ryder Cup, and in between those every two years they have a President's Cup. And President's Cup's the world minus Europe, and Ryder Cup's Europe. So Europe's... And they seem way closer, and there's more history behind it, and you's Cup is the world minus Europe and Ryder Cup is Europe. So Europe's... They seem way closer

and it's just more... There's more history behind it and you can't compare the two. Is that why you named your son Ryder? I love the name Ryder. I like... No, I mean, it makes sense.

It's crazy. Kind of. I remember when we were talking about names, I was like, what about Ryder? And she's like, I actually like that name.

I'm like, this fucking kid better make the Ryder Cup team. She's like, it's better than Green Jacket. But... No, that's an ra joke i like that he's a big golf guy we got another lacrosse goal michigan goal whatever we want to call it i know it's got 17 names andre svetchnikov second time he's done it man this has got is this gonna gonna become his thing a guy's gonna get better at this are we gonna start seeing this a lot more they already are getting better at it everything they're just these kids are more and more skilled they get this the

stick handling coaches now so moving forward yeah there's going to be a window here where you guys are going to start seeing some fucking crazy shit dude yeah you're also going to see him continue to try this as long as it's working i mean that's that by the way his season he's over a point per game he's very young that's a stud in the league. I think watching him is a joy. But I do think that as long as he's doing it and it's succeeding, why wouldn't he continue to try it? The only thing is now goalies will be like, wow, when he goes behind the net,

I have to kind of think it's coming. Because I think it's probably hard for goalies to even think of trying to get your glove up or blocker up as a guy turns the net from behind you, usually thinking about a pass to the slot. I wonder what the next crazy move is going to be. That's kind of one that you, oh, my God, the lacrosse goal. Is there going to be a player that invents a new one? Where it's like the alley-oop scene from Semi Pro,

where everyone's just like, what the fuck just happened? Can you pick it up lacrosse style and then skate down the ice? I was wondering that. Like, as in, like, almost like cradling it. Robbie Schrempf used to do it. It was below your shoulder. Robbie Schrempf used to do it

when they would do these shootouts for, like, blue and white game. You know, they'd bring all the fans in. It's like an afternoon, like all the school kids or whatever. And he was able to, when he was going down on a breakaway, put it like

flat the paddle flat down on the puck and then like whip it back where he could like scoop it up and he would lacrosse style it going down the ice and he would do a couple fucking spinoramas and shoot fucking lightning bolts out of his asshole and then end up firing the puck in the net so i don't know if you're allowed to have it on your stick like that during play though yeah so this is a hilarious conversation because we have zero, we have no clue what the real answer is. We're just speculating.

Yeah. What do you think, R.A.? You think it's legal or not? I think you could, yeah. I think there's no, I mean, that would be like traveling and basketball. I don't think it's a rule against it because it's probably pretty easy

to just fucking whack the guy's stick and knock him out. Yeah, but if a guy's fast enough, who knows if that could be a next part of the game. Who knows? Well, we'll have to keep our eyes open. Our boy Hazy started a program down in Philly, Hazy's Heroes, to support first responders. Started on Tuesday night, and it's going to be continuing over the next few seasons.

He's going to donate two tickets to a first responder and a guest from the tri-state area to enjoy the game. The pair will also be welcome post-game for a meet-and-greet with Hazy, and get an autographed item to round out their night. Very cool. Nice thing he's going to do to recognize local heroes. Didn't Luke Shen had, what was it called? Luke's Troops, maybe? What did you say his was called?

Hazy's? Hazy's Heroes. Hazy's Heroes, yeah. It's nice when the players do that. Some of these guys get boxes for charity. I mean, not to take anything away from Hazy because he's only getting two tickets. You cheap fuck.

Just kidding. Love you, Hazy. Great work. $50 million. And, hey, another additional note about Philly. Remember we were down there, the firemen come in and dropped off some shirts for us. That's right.

Well, that team, the Philadelphia Warriors, a lot of guys who were in war, it's kind of a rehabilitative team for a lot of those guys. That's right. Well, that team, the Philadelphia Warriors, a lot of guys who were in war, it's kind of a rehabilitative team for a lot of those guys. That's right. Brad Marsh, former NHL, coaches them well. He played over 1,000 games. He did get a Rolex at the time, but he never got a silver stick. Well, this team all pitched in and got him a silver stick.

Hear that, G? These guys have to play 1,000 games to get a fucking Rolex. You just fucking have to cut a couple fucking interviews. Yes, I did see that. Good for him. That was a very nice gesture from the team that he coaches. And they even got the Warriors logo on the stick. Yeah, it was pretty cool, man.

It's just, you know, that's a big thing for those guys. You know, if I'm in, they make decent money, but I'm sure it cost them a pretty penny to do that. And Brad Marsh was pretty moved by it, too. Yeah, well, the Heritage H hockey company or whoever makes them reached out and we were talking about uh potentially doing something for guys who haven't gotten there so uh good job by the heritage hockey company and that's a quick free uh free swipe up right there great job great story uh according to darren drager the next new shiny toy that gm's gonna focus on is uh crider chris crider from the the New York Rangers. I'm assuming his contract's up

this year. It's pretty standard when guys are going to get UFA this summer. They're going to get dealt. No, he hasn't speculated where he's going to end up, but basically now that Hall's been moved, everybody's going to kind of focus on Kreider, it seems. Damn, what do you think the return for a guy like Kreider is at the deadline?

I mean, that's a nice little add. I mean, it's a nice little add. I mean, it's usually the standard first-round pick, maybe a top-six guy, a defensive prospect. Well, I mean, think about it. I mean, for Kreider, you could be getting close to what you maybe got for Halsey, right? If a team gets desperate enough, now that the biggest name at the deadline

has already been scooped off the market. Who would be another guy as far as free agent names coming up that's probably going to go at the deadline? Tyler Toffoli. He's a guy I don't – I mean, I don't put him in Kreider's level. Toffoli's really dropped off, unfortunately. He's just not the same player he was when he broke in with the Kings.

They had that – But one guy could fit in with the team really well as opposed to one. I'm not going to say that I'd rather have Toffoli than Kreider, but there'll be some teams where they see Toffoli fitting in better than Kreider. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say probably more of a natural goal scorer too, right? The type of guy, if he gets hot and he starts finding the back of the net, then he can get him in bunches.

So, yeah, I guess he just bent me over. I think he had issues early in the year. He might have got scratched. But, I mean, he's got more goals than Kreider right now on the season. I will remind everyone, I think one of my best tweets. Was I off? My best tweets I've ever sent. I'm going to have everyone go back and look.

January 14, 2016. You want to see the dumbest play of all time? Check out Chris Kreider in this video that i tweeted out so hell of a player and he's going to make a great impact i just watched it he made one of the dumbest plays i've ever seen my life is incredible to go off side the most blatant off sides you've ever seen but he is a playoff type player the way he skates he's on the four check he's he's but he's like 230 pounds people don't even understand how big the guy is so he will uh he will be a great find for a team that's looking to add

speed, penalty kill ability, and the chance to get on the forecheck and hold the puck in the offensive zone. He can cycle it. He'll be a big-time target. I guess I was off-base a little bit. I didn't realize Toffoli was having a sneaky okay year. I think he really picked it up lately. Okay. And he's

been on a bad team for the last couple years, so on a better squad, he might perform a lot better. Well, I'm sure we will see it soon enough. Okay. And he's been on a bad team for the last couple of years. So, you know, on a better squad, he might perform a lot better. Well, I'm sure we will see it soon enough. We got some good news from the OHL. Niagara Ice Dogs goalie Tucker Tynan, who got that gruesome injury last week, he's out of the hospital. He's back home in Chicago, going to rest and recover. And hopefully we'll see him next season.

Man, that injury was so gruesome. We talked about it. Don't really have to go into it again, but it's nice to hear he's home. What's this James Harden bodyguard stuff that you were talking about? Oh, this is fucking the most ridiculous thing after Witt pointed it out. You want me to melt your skull, listeners? Biz? Let me explain to everyone what exactly went down.

James Harden was playing against the San Antonio Spurs. And as a rebound came down or after a bucket, he bumped into a guy. He blatantly began the contact. Well, what do you know? The guy said, fuck off and stood up right to him, pushed him back, pushed him pretty hard. And it was blatant that Harden didn't want a piece of this guy. And the ref came bombing in. Well, what happens next?

I'm watching the video, and I see a guy in a suit run out, and he separates Harden. Don't go at him, you know, the old, like, I'll get you, hold me back, hold me back. Well, he's got this guy sitting there, and he's trying to hold him back. I'm like, oh, yeah, his teammate ran on the court, a guy that's a healthy scratch. They all sit on the bench. Or maybe it's an assistant coach. Hey, Harden, we can't lose you. Don't get in a fight.

Turns out it's James Harden's bodyguard. Are you kidding me right now? The guy is not even a part of the game. You can't go on the court. Buddy, you're not at a club trying to bribe a bouncer that's talking shit to hard and bribing for a nice table. Or one of the stalls. Dude, you can't go on the court. He has to protect himself.

You think all those other guys, what if all their bodyguards start jumping on the court? All of a sudden, it's malice at the palace every night at the NBA. I'd love to see it. And I just couldn't believe it. I guess the guy got kicked out. Like, bro, you're not at a private terminal getting ready to go on your jet fighting some other NBA guy because his plane's bigger than yours. You're not protecting him there. He's in the middle of an NBA game.

So bodyguards, can you imagine Crosby had a bodyguard and he's hopping over the glass when he gets slashed by a guy on the Montreal Canadiens? Like, who is that guy in a suit? Is that the coach? No, that's Crosby's bodyguard in the middle of an NHL game. Just the most foolish, look at this league, what a dumb league, NBA stinks. Is that true, R.A.? Yeah, I mean, to have guys— Is that not true of seeing, like, what a shocker.

That guy would jump in the middle of an NBA game? Thanks for remembering to bring that up. Because you're defending him when you go to the supermarket and you make sure nobody asks for too many autographs. You're hopping into a fight. Yeah, it's fucking ridiculous. Oh, God, that was funny. No doubt about it.

That should really be looked into by the league. Biz, didn't you have something about a girl with no teeth or something you wanted? Oh, God, I don't think I should tell that story. Okay. One of those ones where- That sounds bad, like just dirty. Yeah, dirty. All right, so-

It was an old- It wasn't necessarily that old. It was three months ago. Yeah, let's leave the no teeth lady for another podcast. We'll table that. Just want to let everyone know that BetMGM is the home for spit and chiclets, hockey gambling this season. Definitely want to check it out. The same guys that bring you the world's most spectacular casino resorts

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Again, you've got to be in Jersey, and it's going to be your first time using it. I'm going to swing over to the gambling corner. I look the next few nights, man. I'm struggling a little bit with picks lately, but I'm going to jump on Nashville Thursday night. I hate betting against Ottawa. I've made some money off them this year. They're a scrappy team. They play good, but Nashville's a better team.

They're playing a lot better lately. They should go in there and get a victory on Thursday night. I have no idea what the money line's going to be, so I'm going to take the Preds on the puck line, assume they'll be up fucking late, or even if they need an empty net, I'll have to do the rain dance for that. But Nashville puck line Thursday night over Ottawa. The lone play I have on this corner.

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Must be a New Jersey to place bets. Restrictions apply. Visit betmgm.com for the full list of terms and conditions. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLE. I have a Thursday play. Who do you like? I love Winnipeg.

I was just going to say that. Winnipeg is playing great hockey. Playing great hockey. And they're quietly doing it. I don't think a ton of people are talking about the Jets. Man, they have looked great. And Chicago's had their struggles, their ups and downs. I love Winnipeg in that game.

I'll be hammer time. I like the Sabres over the Flyers. Flyers are going through some injuries right now, are they not? I don't know. Flyers won a big win last night on Tuesday night. But we'll see. Never mind. We'll see who's right.

We'll see who's right. I retract my statement. Calgary over Montreal I might sprinkle too. I'd go Coyotes over Wild at home. Oh, shocker. Well, no, I'm not. Here's the thing, though. I'm not that confident in them at home right now because they're 500.

They're very inconsistent at home. How was his first home game? How was his first home game against Minnesota? And I would go Yotes.