Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 240: Featuring John Carlson

Episode Date: January 30, 2020

On Thursday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson. John joins (48:59) to talk about his new merch collaboration with us, playing with Ovi, winning the Cup and a ton more. The guys also talk about the major news from Barstool Sports that the company has sold a minority stake to Penn National Gaming. The guys wrap up with some NHL news and a gambling corner (01:50:15) from Rear Admiral.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 240 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney, the pink lemonade-flavored vodka from our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka. We're all back from St. Louis and getting our sea legs back because holy shit, what a time, what a time. We had another outstanding time with all our listeners. Saturday night was when we last left you, so we had some events we want to catch you up on, especially the game. So we got a few closing notes before we put a bow on things, but

let's say hello to the gentlemen first. Mikey G, nice new sweatshirt. We'll get to him in a second. What's going on, Mr. Producer? Yeah. All right. Thanks for the compliment. This day's long time coming. Been working on this merch collab for a while. We'll get to that in a little bit. Absolutely. Next up, Ryan Whitney, the wit dog. Lots of compliments on your Saturday night performance. You were buzzing last episode, buddy. Yeah, I really was. I think it's a lot easier when we're in person. We get together.

We get vibing. We get grooving. And, you know, it's like you really know when someone's about to say something. You really know when Biz needs to talk. You really know when I need to talk. I make it clear. So being together really helped. I appreciated all the client notes of saying that I was really on top of my game.

Now, a sense of it, part of it is troubling because it almost shows that my podcasting career is similar to my playing career in that I had nights I was unstoppable. I had nights you couldn't stop me. I had nights I was getting first assists. I was getting goals. I then had nights that I had three, four turnovers

that led to goals, that I'd get beat one-on-one wide. I'd end up turning one right, right over at the end of the game to maybe give the team, you know, the winning goal was just up and down. And now I'm noticing there are great episodes for me and there are episodes when I'm struggling. So I more want to find consistency in my second career because in my first career, it didn't go that great in terms of that word. And it's a major word. I think you've been snapping around quite a bit lately like you've been on a good run here i think i'm finding out yeah maybe maybe i just get hot and cold maybe there's days i'm like podcasting ain't for me and then maybe there's days i'm like i couldn't live without this life just don't blow your vocal cords and

end up on a fucking khl podcast oh i mean that's. And that was the last member of the crew, of course, Paul Biznasty, Biztinet. What's going on, Mr. Media? A little under the weather, guys. You know, just a tough, tough trek to St. Louis. The cold weather got to me. I'm a little baby born in Canada, but spend my winters in Scottsdale, Arizona. And speaking of Scottsdale, Arizona, I just caddied for Shane Doan at the waste management open all day today had a great day with um Archie Bradley was in our foursome uh we golfed with uh Matsuyama Hideki Hideki Matsuyama did he win the waste management the last two years I don't know if he's won the last two years but he's like a top 20 player in the world I think one of the

best ball strikers he like doesn't puck great How about the pause at the top of his swing, though? Okay, so what I noticed about him, especially on drives, was he was activating his glutes. He put every bit of his legs into his shot, and you could tell when he did have that little pause, and he goes, and he breathes right the fuck into it, and he was crushing it. He's got tree trunks for legs, it. He's got tree trunks for legs too.

He's got tree trunks. And then also we, so the way they did it this year, where they have one guy golf with you for nine, and then they would go work on their game, and they would have another pro come in. And we got this guy, Vaughn. He's been on the tour a while. He lost his card at some point.

Really good guy. His trainer. What was his name? His caddy. Last name, I believe, or maybe first name Vaughn. Give him the heat, Ricky. All right, all right. But anyway, his caddy was a big-time Carolina Hurricanes fan,

so we were talking hockey quite a bit. But ultimately, just a great foursome, a great day, and there was a ton of fans out there. And I even got to shoot on 16. How was – oh, yeah. How did you do – I saw the video, but what happened on that? You hit the green or no? I was just short.

I would say about a foot and a half short, which sucked because then you get booed. But I hadn't shot a shot all day. I was caddying for Shane Doan, so I got off the bag. And you could see my back swing is a nightmare it was a shane weber half clapper how how did donor play donor was all right yeah he was horrible no no he could he could strike a ball i mean maybe didn't hit as many putts as he would have wanted to but yeah all around a good day and biz i want to thank you for nominating me for the Infinity Dangles

after McDavid nominated you. I had to take the challenge, and it's funny. I actually was getting some new skates. I was getting hooked up. I'll get to that a little later for my thank yous. I only did one take. I know some people probably did two, three takes, so I just did my one take.

We're going to drop that a little later, so everyone will have a chuckle at that, I'm sure. Let's go. Can't wait to see it. All right, let's jump into the news. Our owners at Barstool Sports, they're in the news again, but this time it's good. Penn National Gaming has bought a minority stake in Barstool

for $136 million in a deal that puts the valuation of Barstool at $450 million. In 2023, Penn will pay another $ 62 million to bring its stake to 50%. All I can say is, wow. Having been part of this pirate ship for going on 13 years now, and to know that Dave opened a newspaper at a time when newspapers were dying daily and turned it into this, it's just fucking stunning. I'll go to you next, Witt, because you've been here since pretty much day one as well.

What's your reaction to all this? Um, I mean, I couldn't believe it. The, the, the, you know what the number ended up being.

You kind of started hearing things the past couple of weeks. I think there was an article or two that came out mentioning that, um, at some point they were going to be selling it and then it was going to be to a gambling company. So it is gambling company or hotels. Like they own everything. They own casinos and shit, right?

Yeah, Penn National Gaming. It's the perfect partnership. And I actually read the story that Dave said that the day that gambling was legalized, he went into Erica's office. He's like, this is it. And you think about all the people who follow Barstool, whether it's for sports or pop culture, and they've made it so big where you can pretty much find anything you're

interested in is covered at Barstool. And the way they've grown that through like hard work, you know, what Dave did at the beginning and then Big Cat and Kevin and Keith and like all the people that started it, it's, it's really cool to see. And like, I, I just, I think that if you look at the way he said it in that,

this is it is all, all the people that fall that how many people love gambling now, dude, it's so popular. Everyone I know gambles. No, granted it's a, it's just like my,

my small group of friends, but whether it's sports betting or going to the casino, which it could turn into, and then you got clubs and restaurants. It's like, it just seems like they're going to do perfect together. So fuck, I'm jealous.

I wasn't involved early. All these guys with, uh, now how much money do these people have? Dave's got way more money than me. Now I can, I'm not happy about that. I mean,

I still have many other things I could go into, but the fact that he's that rich and that it's gone down the way it has, starting off as a fan, I just couldn't be happier for all those guys. They deserve it. Did you ever think about investing in it, Whit? Was that ever an option for you?

He never even said he would take investors. I actually asked him one time, what if I had offered you like a ton of money for like a stake of it, right? Right. When you were starting, he's like, ah, how much? I think I said like 500 grand. He's like, I probably would have done that. I mean, like, all right. Maybe I said a hundred grand. I don't even know. But if I was smart, if I had any sort of brain, I probably would have tried to get involved early, but I'm still in early enough where we'll, you know, we're part of the hockey team there guys i don't

understand like four 450 million it's valued at now like can that ever go down i don't know like how so how do people know that like all right i'm getting this and i'm getting this money in five years i heard people say that there's so many people that work there in five years i'll get money like what happened how do how do you know you're guaranteed like are you guaranteed a certain amount? Is this the stupidest question of all time? I'm not, I'm not on the equity train. So I really couldn't answer that. I don't know. I don't know how it works.

Cause I'm not part of it. Unfortunately. I think it's getting a little bit personal too. What? I mean, like just like, I don't know. I don't even know what people have as far as the percentage of concern. I don't know. I don't know anything. When you talk to me about like that evaluations of companies and what that means for stocks i dude i'm a math guy not when it comes to that that's way too advanced additions

sales guy gaz i saw a tweet he sends can't wait to see the next stool president they ryan whitney um what do you call it cor Grinnell measuring, measuring, measuring contest. Hey, gas. Let me tell you something. First off, you bald fuck.

Like, why don't you stop trying to stir the pot and worry about your million bucks you got now? Yeah. You heard it here. Everyone. Gas is a millionaire. Are you shitting me? Gas fucking.

How are you a millionaire? What are you? What have you done besides just bury the bodies and wear a hat every day you sit oh fuck dad's coming dad's trying to stir the pot and dick measuring contest with dave i mean listen dave's got more money than me that's great that's fabulous i i i can't argue that anymore but he can't buy height he's still five seven and a half i'm telling you he went to nursing school at michigan like there's just things about him that i'll always have over him and one of them is athletic ability and kind of just if you go back to the caveman days i'm smashing dave's head against the

wall like he's smarter but i bigger i stronger in my head that holds weight i'm an athlete he isn't he has a big brain mine isn't as big but it's still quite large in a sense of being able to entertain people so dave you you congratulations but it's still quite large in a sense of being able to entertain people. So, Dave, you, congratulations, but you can still fuck right off. I played a pro sport, and now I'm doing this shit. You've just only done this shit. Go try to get a baseball scholarship back in the day before you threw it at your shoulder, and you can come at me.

But, Gaz, fuck off, too. He's a shit trying to get me going. Okay, he's back, baby. Oh, my God. I actually do love Gaz, but fucking Azzy Bald. Oh, he's a good dude. All of them are awesome. It's been a fun ride.

It's been crazy. And I know our listeners might be wondering, you know, what does this mean for spit and checklets? And all this means is that we're not going anywhere even more so. You know, it's like if anything, we're just further solidified. Erica's staying, Dave's staying, which is great i mean dave is bostel erica has brought us this far nobody wants to see her go anywhere so everything's just going to keep on humming along and uh ideally we'll just keep getting better and bigger and better ideally

so if they had if somebody had told me earlier like two days ago to buy a bunch of stock and i did it would like could I have gone to jail for that? Well, I don't think it was public before now it's going to be public now. So before, so I don't think basically if they, if somebody knew they were being sold, it was like,

wait, buy this now it's sold in a week to this company. Cause then the stock's going to go up. Wow. I mean, that jail time. Well, it was,

it was rumored in the newspaper. So I don't think, you know, it wasn't like you had insider information. If it's a story, as I'm saying, you wouldn't think, you know, it wasn't like you had insider information if it's a story in the newspaper. As I'm saying, you wouldn't have been able to do it with Barstool, but if you're saying a company in general, I mean, it depends how many shares you bought.

Yeah, it might raise some eyebrows. I know insider trading can get you fucking in trouble, but it seems like you should be able to maybe get a little bit of a warning. It's kind of like, you know, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying type thing. Yeah. Yeah. Good luck with that one. You're in a fucking front of a federal grand jury.

Oh, man. This is a good time to mention this episode's guest as well, because he just made a business deal with Bastl and Chicklets. Washington defenseman John Carlson. He just dropped his merch collab today, I believe, with Bastl. Grinnelli, you had a big hand in this. Fill us in, buddy. Yeah, we've actually been working on this for quite some time now,

and it's something that we're hoping to do with a lot more NHL players going forward. And Alex, John's manager, came to us, and he basically wanted to do a deal. He wanted to have John's name attached with ours, which is a pretty cool thing that someone who is probably going to win the Norris this year, and he could even win the heart is, is reaching out to us and asking us to do a merch deal. So we put together sweatshirts, hats,

crew necks, and t-shirts. And this is just the beginning. We're going to, we're going to keep working with John down the line. We have a great interview with him as well. And it's, it's,

I'm happy to work with him. Who was the last defenseman to win the heart trophy? Probably Bobby Orr? Pronger. Oh, Pronger, that's right. Fuck, we just had him on. I'm a clown. I am a clown.

Rick from fucking Red Deer is punching. He's punching the fucking, what's the little tape recorder in the middle there? Because you know he's driving a fucking pickup truck. And by the way, if any other players are out there interested in collaborating with us, reach out, man. The more the merrier. They've are out there interested in collaborating with us reach out man the more the merrier you know they've been working out great in the past we've got had charlie mcavoy now we got carlson i'm probably forgetting another one so hey if you want to get on the cash change cash chain fucking check in with us uh we last checked in at st louis we

weren't quite done we still had a saturday night to play with not to mention the games are still going on the pacific did beat the Atlantic 5-4 in the final game. David Pasternak was named MVP. Boys, we kind of had the Avengers call kind of split up at that club. I had to check out, man. That place was just too loud. I know I'm the old guy, cranky old guy, but I had to go. Plus, when Wayne Gretzky, you get invited to his birthday party,

you kind of have to go to that too. Oh, my God. You just casually dropped that. Okay, R.A., how was R.A.? Talk about a script. He wrote that thing down on the plane home and was just waiting for four days to drop that. Hey, how was R.A. at this party? Were you buzzing around?

Were you moving and shaking or what? Well, by the time I got there, it was kind of quiet. Over? No, it wasn't over. They could call last call, but there was still plenty of booze flowing around. And it was weird. I don't know him, obviously. And, you know, I was waiting to grab one of the sons,

but I ended up meeting their mom. But I didn't want to just go, like, hey, Wayne. Like, I know you don't know me. I met your sons last night and met your party now. I mean, listen, all right. The fact that you're saying you wouldn't want to do that, you went in and grabbed the cup and didn't know anyone. Like, why wouldn't you go say hi to Gretzky?

Well, I don't know. It was his birthday party. I mean, I don't know. I guess I wanted to be introduced to him, but I did get introduced to Holly. Kelly Chase's son took me. He goes, you ever meet Holly? I was like, no. He's like, come on, let's meet him. I was like, oh, this is fun. So I went over. I was like, Holly, we tried

to get you all week. He's like, spitting check that's his hair. I was like, he was fucking feeling pretty good. I think he thought when we said like in person, I think he thought like there's going to be like a studio audience. He's like, I don't want to do that live shit. He's like, I can just call in. I'm like, he, when we said like in person, I think he thought like there's going to be like a studio audience. He's like, I don't want to do that live shit. He's like,

I can just call it. I'm like, yeah, it goes, but we'd rather have you in person, Brett. So, uh,

it was pretty cool meeting him anyways, but, uh, we, Oh, so, so is there a misunderstanding thinking that we are inviting him to a live recording in front of people?

I think, yeah, I think he heard when maybe in person or live, I think he might've thought, well, not might've, he thought like, you know, there's got to be people there,

whereas not just us. So it's just ill communication. But, you know, I'm sure we'll bump into it again soon enough. Well, I mean, now I guess the cat's out of the bag. We did not get Brett Hall. I don't know if we mentioned that last episode. It was unfortunate. He's definitely one of the guys we wanted to sit down with,

but still got a ton of other great guys. And we've strategically put some guys in place in order to roll that out. Now, one thing that I want to talk about quickly here, as far as our YouTube channel, we will be dropping that Sandbanger Invitational with Jimmy Hayes and Tim Stapleton. I've seen it and helped out in the editing process. I definitely think it rivals the first one,

especially considering we had two cameras and, and a lot more going on. I think it, it, it added a few different elements. We tried a new, a few new things out. So I think you guys will enjoy that.

We're going to drop that when Grinnelly, I believe on Tuesday, on Tuesday, Tuesday, February 4th. And then on, on the following Monday, we'll be releasing the Tim Stapleton

and Jimmy Hayes podcast that we took in Dallas. Now, mind you, at that point, Jimmy Hayes was a little bit fucking buckled. And by a little bit, I mean he was a lot buckled. I got you, Jim. I got you. I'll help you out with the edit. Too harshly. I still think people are going to really laugh at it, though.

Not really saying at him, either. I'm saying, let me tell you, he's got the voice of an angel. I'll leave it at that. Yeah, he does. Actually, where did you guys? Did you just stay at the wheelhouse for the rest of the night? Because I did come back there, but they were already closing up. I was out of there early, too, dude.

I don't really. We just went home, right? Grinnell? Yeah, you did, but you did see firsthand when you were sitting with me, multiple people did come up to me and they did think I was Quinn Hughes playing in the NHL. Oh, no, like four or five people

did. I forgot about that. Legit walked up, hey Quinn, great game, great job. He's like, dude, I'm not Quinn. If I wasn't sitting there, there's zero chance he wouldn't have told them that he's like actually Grinnelli. 100% would have told them I was Quinn Hughes. The night you went out and other people were saying it, you even admitted when they said great game, you're like, thanks a lot.

My knee's a little sore, but it was just a great skate by me. I'm really happy with my effort. Yeah, so I checked back. There was no one there. I walked back to the hotel, and I hear, like, it was pretty loud in that side room off the lobby. I was like, oh, what's going on here? I pop in, and it's Biz, Ron McClain, Elliot Friedman, and a couple other Hockey Night in Canada folks just doing a little hot stove at about 3 in the morning.

So that was actually pretty cool between that and the Gretzky party. I felt like I was at Canadian fantasy camp all night. Some awesome good shit. The one highlight from the game I think we got to talk about was when Matthew Kachuk dished to Leon Dreisaitl and Dreisaitl scored and neither one of them like celebrated at all. It was like they didn't, it was almost like Kachuk was trolling him by passing it to him.

So there was actually a tweet or a video where it shows that after Dreitzel scored, he said something like, fuck you. And, yeah, and somebody said it was towards Kachok, but then there was another report or not report, but somebody else said that he was actually saying it to McDavid because of something that had happened earlier. I don't know, but the fact that they did connect on a nice little goal made it pretty funny considering that we are recording right now,

Wednesday evening. The game starts in an hour and a half. I'm fired up. I wish we could have done this after. That's too late for the old wit dog. I got a flight down to Florida tomorrow, too. Two weeks I'm going to be there. Not too shabby.

You're going to R.A.'s trailer park? Yeah, I got a beautiful spot right on daytona beach there's uh there's a couple trash barrels right near the my backyard which is some crab grass but it's awesome you're you got uh free tramp stamps you and your wife oh yeah matching tats that's the way you get into the apartment complex you just got to turn around and show them your tramp stamp. They put the barcode on your lower back. Breakfast in bed, a fucking trash bucket sandwich for your breakfast.

If women's fingernails aren't over three inches long, they ain't getting in. Oh, shit. All right, before we close the door on St. Louis, I just want to send a big thank you to all the fine florists out in St. Louis who took care of the Chicklets crew all weekend, all week. It was very much appreciated. Unfortunately, flying with flowers is a nuisance and you can get in trouble. So we appreciate everybody who took care of us all week.

All right, boys, I'm sure you guys noticed we were in St. Louis. I'm bringing back my New England winter beard, so I need to keep it looking neat and trim, and that's why I'm rocking the Philips Norelco OneBlade. Philips Norelco has the most innovative electric grooming tools to help you do what feels right, and the Philips Norelco OneBlade is the one tool that will let you trim, edge, and shave any length of hair with a single pass. It's easy to use for both your face and your body. It's your style made simple. OneBlade does it all. Go to philips.com slash Norelco Barstool to save $5 off the Phillips Norelco one blade face or one blade face and body shaver by using the code CHICKLETS.

I'll be definitely using mine. I'm getting the beard back for the old winter. All right, boys, moving along. This one just came over the wire a few minutes ago. It was kind of passed off as if it was a given that the new Seattle team is in fact going to call themselves the Seattle Kraken uh John Hoven uh if I'm saying that right of Maya's Manor which is a King's blog he said a quote from everything that I've heard it looks like Seattle Kraken is going to be the name uh but then when you kind of read further down in the story in the comments he did actually say I do want to say that in situations like this, I'm always a little reluctant

if there's somebody trying to do the ultimate swerve and mislead information. I was told by a source connected to the situation. So he's kind of like, well, it might be, but it might not be. I know people have really been hoping for this one. Whit, you got any comment on this? So it just sounds like a little bit of backtracking is going on. Yeah, I mean, he's not backing 100% when he does say, well, they could be misleaking info.

So, I don't know. It sounds like he may not trust the source 100%. But like I said, it's been kind of making him around, so we did want to actually mention it. But we'll have to keep an eye on that one, of course. Well, I mean, let's talk about it. Are you guys okay with that name being the cranking? Well, it's the cracking, but yeah, if it was the cranking. I love it, man it was i was gonna say it would be a cool slogan cranking it and like you do all these weird

things for playoffs to why did i think it was cranking that's weird you're probably horny right now and just looking to crank one out yourself but cracking's perfect because it was on ra's list right i mean you had 47 so so your odds were, you know, you were plus 800 to guess one of the names, right? But Kraken was one of them, right? Yeah, that's one a lot of the fans are going for. I think the logo is actually really cool, because it's sort of a squid-octopus hybrid animal.

It doesn't actually exist. But the way the tentacles are kind of wrapped around the letter S like that, I think it would be pretty cool. But there's been a fake one making the rounds, the Seattle Bitch Pigeons. Have you seen that? The fake logo. It's fucking so funny. The Seattle Bitch Pigeons.

Dude, they would go on to get the first overall pick 40 years in a row. The Bitch Pigeons. Yeah. I don't know why I love it so much. Like, I love it. It is fucking funny. There's some 11-year-old that made that joke, and we're just loving him right now.

The full name is Rain City Bitch Pigeons. Oh, I kind of like that. Rain City's actually nice. That'd be good for the hoop team. Give him season tickets. Supersonics, never should have left. He should get his own box. And just a little follow-up to the Seattle Twitter,

the franchise obviously doesn't have the name yet, but they did call it a rumor. They responded to the report. They made some jokes about seeking high and low for it, but they did refer to it as a rumor. And one other note, too, the Seattle Sockeyes, that's another name a lot of people have been going for. I like that.

But this is kind of funny business. Not as good as cranking, though. Cranking would be my first choice. Of course it would. You're always cranking. Like Whit said. No, the Seattle Sockeyes is actually a book series. It looks like it's like horny housewives or something. So there's actually a patent already on that. So this guy who writes these books already has protection. So if they wanted Sockeyes, they'd probably have to buy this guy out or pay him off. Miz is going to start a fan blog called Cranking It to the Sockeyes.

It's going to be the perfect message board for all the Seattle fans. The Rain City bitch fucks. The belly button suit blog. You know? Like a weekly segment. The Mapa Hawaii message board.

Oh my God. Well, all right. Well, obviously boys, we're going to shift gears a little. So we'll get fucking serious whether you want to or not. Now,

Sunday, we landed just absolutely stunning news. And we were all coming home. Kobe Bryant killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. Also lost in the accident where his daughter, Gianna, John Kerry, and Alyssa Altabelli, Sarah and Peyton Chester, Christina Mouser,

and Ara Zoboyan, the pilot. And the reason I named them all is because I got so sick of hearing the media say Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others. It feels sort of disrespectful to the other deceased. So I felt we should name them right away and not kind of put them as a postscript because they're people, too. But I don't mean this in a disrespectful, dismissive way. I texted you guys, but this feels like Kobe's death is almost like what JFK was to like prior generation.

Like just people are just like it's a collective mourning. You can feel it globally. Where were you when you first got the word, brother? I was sitting on my coach. I landed, got home, and I actually was on Instagram, scroll, he's not dead. And then I went on Twitter. It wasn't necessarily even like everywhere yet. You kind of have to search for it. Maybe I just saw it like that immediately. I was kind of that up to date with Twitter at the time.

But then it started coming, and then I saw TMZ. And that was when – TMZ gets everything right now. TMZ's – if they say something like that, I'm pretty sure now they're as accurate as anyone else. And I was just like, holy shit. I was so shocked. And for somebody who's shit on basketball my entire life, doesn't watch it, wasn't a Kobe fan. And I couldn't believe how actually like not torn up, but just sitting there and how shocked I was. I, I was, I felt so sad. And then you started hearing about the other people and then the reports. And it was the, it was a crazy couple of hours with, um, checking Twitter and, and, and incorrect news

and things that, that they were presented as fact. And then like, away it's like the first um celebrity death or enormous death while twitter was going is that not true i don't remember yeah i i was thinking of a comparison as well wit and and that's why i mean i can i i thought of one pain stewart when he died in a plane crash when he just won the u.s open and golf and he was on top of the world and i believe he was going to be coming out with the, he was going to be the number one ranked golfer in the world. And, and then that plane crash.

So, I mean, it was this, not only the sports community guys, but this guy had, it, it, it was just such a good human being.

And there's all these stories that start rifling out afterward of, of all this charity work that he was doing, where he was like only one rule, no PR. So there was a story that came out when he was in Arizona. Someone had reached out because a little girl was going to be passing away and she wanted to meet Kobe. And she thought maybe she was going to get a signed basketball from him because they're in and out of town, right? And somehow it got to the to the pr guy for the for the lakers and he mentioned he says no problem tell them i'll have a car bring me over

and i'll spend some time with a little girl sure enough they landed after practice the one day here limo took him over met with him played basketball with the little girl for like an hour and a half and colby goes to the to the lady to the mother she he goes is it a financial thing is everything okay financially and she's like oh absolutely not and she goes if it is let me know and I'll take care of it and she's like oh my god oh my god like thank you so much and he's like my only thing is no PR so this is the type of shit this guy was doing behind the scene and the impact he had and I feel like at a point in time too he was made out to be the bad guy um in the during the colby and shack era because i think i think you could tell how intense colby is right so when he was you know getting angry at teammates

it's just because he wanted them to raise the bar of you know in the level up to what he was was giving so i i was always the biggest Colby fan guys and and as I said it's so sad because this guy spent his entire life and dedicated every ounce of energy into becoming the best basketball player and after doing that now it seemed like he was actually starting to get to enjoy life and spend more time with his family and then obviously the relationship between him and his daughter who passed away that just even brings it to like another fucking level and and wit i don't have children and and i was i cried most of the flight because i ended up finding out before the flight just because it's an it's a very intense thing right and this is coming from a guy who's never

had the emotion of bringing someone else into this world. And I'll let you go from here with like the, the wife and the two or the three other daughters, they just had a newborn. Like, Oh, I couldn't even imagine. Yeah. That's,

uh, that's what made it. That's it's so hard. I, I, every single time I see the, these videos of him with his family or his daughter. And it's like,

I, I mean, I, I cried a bunch of times just because I was sitting there with Ryder. And you're seeing like the new, there was a video of him recently and he's teaching his, you can tell they're front row at the game. And you can tell he's talking about a play

that just went down. He's kind of moving his hands. Looks like he's describing maybe something that happened, offense, defense, teaching her the game. And it's just so heartbreaking to think of the family and what they're going through and all the families that were involved. I mean, there was a couple with a child on board that passed away. So, you know, someone in that family lost their mother, their father,

their sibling. It's just – it was a legitimate, ultimate tragedy to hear that. And I'll be honest, like i've been uh pretty critical of colby bryant like i i couldn't stand him i mean i i'm not gonna be a phony and a fake uh now part of that was what with what he'd went you know had done earlier in his life where listen he paid a girl two and a half million dollars because uh you know he did sexually assault her listen you can't not mention things like that now having said all that you could tell and i believe that people can improve and become a better person over time and grow up and mature and i'm not saying the girl whatever happened there's ever

have to forgive him but i am saying that this guy looked like such a special good dad and and and somebody who cared so much about his family and not only that like talk about he cared about being better like every day that guy worked to be be better he was never satisfied he had a quote that if if he didn't uh if he wasn't more successful after basketball then you know that then he was when he was playing then he'd consider it all a failure it's like always about getting better it's's always about improving. You can never stop learning. You can never stop becoming a better person. I think he was like the ultimate example of that. So to see him die where he's, he's at the height of his, of his powers as a human, I mean, he's a global superstar that was only getting better and going to do more and accomplish

more along with being a family man. So rest in peace to all those victims and the, and the families. I feel so sorry. And I, we think that we were thinking of all of them. It really is already a time where you could tell it's a couple of days where everyone was mourning. Cause you're thinking of family and, and what every single day means. It's like corny as hell. I said it when, when Riles passed away, but every day is such a gift. It's so crazy to think that nobody has a clue when it's going to end. Yeah, I mean, I've actually been even taken aback, not in a bad way, just that, like I said, the enormity of the grief, the mourning. And, you know, he was the millennials, you know, the athlete.

I mean, he was like what Jordan was to me and you. Kobe was their Jordan, so to speak. And, I mean, you just think it's kind of going to slow down and peter out a little bit, and it's just omnipresent. And it mean, you know, you just think it's kind of going to slow down and Peter out a little bit and it's just on the present and it's just, wow, it's, it's, it's an unreal tribute, but you really put her pretty well with, there was some complexity there. It's, you know, and I think, you know, people didn't want to go there early. There was a woman from the Washington post.

She just saw, she was tweeting old story out and they fucking suspended her. Well, I actually, oh, sorry. I actually disagree with suspending her, but at the same time, she's an idiot. That's going to come out in the next couple days. The minute that this guy dies and people are seeing that, there was no need for it that early. But to not mention it, that isn't real life either because the guy had different aspects of life

that need to be brought up when you talk about what he did as a human being, you know? I was still fairly young when that all happened. Like, I don't even understand how it all went down. I don't think we should dive into it. No, we don't need to. Yeah. Yeah, we don't need to dive into that.

Very unfortunate incident, and, you know, our condolences to his friends and family. Did you see the little side note? I guess I think it was Mike Tirico was telling a story about his last game, Colby's last game when he scored 60, and he pointed out Gordon Haywood stepping into the lane because Colby was taking a free throw at like five seconds left with 59. So if he missed it, he'd only have still at 59, and Haywood stepped into the lane.

So if he missed it, he would have got another shot at it. And Tirico was like, oh, that's why basketball is the best. Gordon Haywood stepped in the lane just in case he missed it he'd get another shot at it and like hayward tweeted he's like uh there's a rumor going around that i stepped in he's like that's not true at all like he totally fucking shot it down because he's and then he's like that's fucking you think colby wants me fucking cheating so he can get an extra point like he kind of made the whole fucking point it was just kind of funny that he i guess appropriately dunked on him but anyways with said, we can move on to something a little bit more optimistic, I believe. And across the pond, defenseman Zach Sullivan of the Manchester Storm and Business Old League,

the elite ice hockey league over in the United Kingdom. He came out as bisexual, and he's believed to be the first ever pro hockey player to play while he is out. I will read his tweet here. Quote, with this being the first ever EIHL Pride Weekend, I feel now is the best time to speak out about what I have known for many years. I have battled with mental health problems over this issue, and with the support, understanding, and acceptance from my family, friends, and teammates, I finally feel ready to say I'm bisexual.

I have never been more proud to wear a jersey before, especially one that celebrates all gender identities and sexualities. End quote. feel ready to say I'm bisexual. I have never been more proud to wear a jersey before, especially one that celebrates all gender identities and sexualities, end quote. Boys, I'm sure you guys, you know, they have played with gay teammates. It feels like it's a matter of time we get on North America. But how much longer is it going to be, you think, Biz? I don't know, but it would fucking suck to have to hold that a secret or to think that you have to hold that a secret. I mean, I couldn't imagine how hard it would be on guys to be going through that and be too nervous in order to tell their teammates.

But if I would have had a guy I played with tell me he was gay, I'd be like, okay, awesome. Congratulations. I'm happy that you're able to come out and tell everyone who you actually are, and I wish you nothing but the best. And for people who think differently than me and tell everyone who you actually are. And I wish you nothing but the best. And, and you know, for people who think differently than me and, and,

you know, have something to say about it, whether it be because of religion or just because you don't believe in that type of stuff. Wow. And so be it. I, I,

if you can genuinely give it any type of thought, I don't think that they're basing their sexuality on your feelings. Okay. They're just doing what their fucking brain is telling them to and their feelings are telling them to. So I'm happy for him. I'm glad that they got to celebrate that and wit do you not agree like if i would imagine that at some point in my career i played with at least a few gay players who you know just didn't feel comfortable at the time coming out

i can i haven't played in the nhL in seven or eight years. It feels like 37. I mean, it honestly feels like it was a lifetime ago. But I can give you a Billy guarantee that if a player came out to the public as gay in the NHL, his teammates wouldn't give zero fucks. They would be happy for him. They would be supportive. They would be happy for him. They would be supportive. They would be on his side. Nobody would say a word to him otherwise

because it's all about being on a team and being a good teammate and supporting who you do things with. By the way, who gives a flying fuck what somebody does with their personal life if you're working together towards one goal? The only way that that guy would ever catch shit from any teammates if he wasn't showing up to play, if he was dogging it in practice,

he was doing something that hurt the team. I am very confident in that, Biz. I would think you would agree. I mean, listen, like, it's so hard to think of somebody who is out there and is gay and is on a pro sports team. And there's plenty of them. There definitely is. And to think that the stress and the anxiety it must have to not be able to,

like, share who you truly are with the people you're with all the time, like that actually makes me really sad when you hear that. It actually makes me really happy to think of people, not only in the sports world or who, how much of a relief it must be when they do find they come out and tell people that they care and love, like who they truly are. I mean, that's like, that's a really like feel good, must be such a feel good moment for people. And so to think about athletes being able to hopefully someday do that in

North America, it could only help them play better as well. I mean, how much easier would it be if you're carefree playing as opposed to trying to hide a secret? So, I mean, if you ever care about something like that, you're a piece of shit. Yeah, and in this day and age, I mean, like you said, it's easy to say, oh, if you're a good teammate, it won't matter. But if you're that person, man, it's so much stress because, you know,

Zach referred to his mental health. And, you know, when a person has to exist in a closet, they have to live a lie all the time when, you know, when they're around people. That's why I know if you've ever seen the great movie Brokeback Mountain, I know everybody made jokes about it when it came out. But Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, it's actually a fantastic movie. And that's sort of the point of it is that living in the closet, it's not healthy.

It's, you know, to have to fucking, to lie and exist in this, live in this way. So, you know, the first guy who does it, yeah, he's, you know, he'll be an endorsement zillionaire. I think Biz mentioned that before, but I don't think it would be an issue in hockey. Hockey's a pretty tolerant sport. And frankly, I think as a society, it feels like it could be any day now.

What do you got, Biz? Well, and you mentioned mental health. And I think it'd be rude if we didn't mention Bell Let's Talk, which is actually on the 29th of January. Corey Hirsch, who reached out to me, he wants to come on and tell his story. You know, he's got a – I mean, one aspect is very sad and tragic and i'm sure most of you know his personal story so we're going to get him on um hopefully soon in order to come on and shed light on that topic michael landsberg is another guy who's heavily involved guys we know

that probably 50 maybe even more people that listen to this podcast at one point in their life or even right now are going through some shit and we all do. I do. I go through, I, you know, I, now that I've been doing all this stuff with,

with former players and I'm, and I'm seeing a lot of them now, one of the questions I always ask is how you doing? Some of these guys, you know, they, they go through spurts just like me and you. And,

you know, they'll, they'll be like, ah, I was in a rut there for a couple of weeks, but finally got myself out of that so guys i know sometimes we get your dms or your twitter messages we love you guys whatever you're going through you're not the only one and feel free to talk to anyone about it and even even reach out to us who knows maybe you catch us while we're on

our phones and now you did bring up the bell let's talk this I just want to mention the story um this I forget which outlet did it but uh Patrice Bergeron and Jamel Smith Jamel Smith was his teammate for three games the Bruins had picked him up on waivers and Bergeron sensed that something was off him he knew he had had a concussion and Bergeron just simply went out of his way to check in on him and and that kind of changed the trajectory that that Jamel Smith was on and it was just such a simple gesture. And I think that was the message Bergeron said, like, you know, don't be afraid to check in on someone because it can go a long way if

someone's in a dark spot. So great job bringing that up. Shit, man, I feel like I need a drink. And I'm glad that Bud Light has a new drink, the old Bud Light Salsa. We know what you're thinking. There's no Bud Light in it. Well, it's a light and refreshing hard salsa with a hint of fruit flavor. 5% alcohol, 100 calories, and it comes in four delicious flavors.

Black cherry, lemon lime, mango, strawberry, and you can get the variety pack as well. So go try it for yourself as it's just hitting stores in the U.S. right now. And sorry for all our Canadian friends. It's not there yet. Take it up with the old LCBO. And if you really love chick chicklets try it bud light salsa mixed with a little pink whitney it's a perfect combo uh now we do we do need a name for it because we're going to have it at our pawn hockey tournaments pink whitney and bud light

salsa it's delicious but we need a name so tweet at spitting chicklets and bud light with your favorite name for the drink and we'll put it on the menu for the tournament if you get picked boom we'll hook you up with a bunch of spit and chiclets and Bud Light swag. So check that out. What do you got, G? So I've been moderating the spit and chiclets Instagram, Twitter, trying to see any good names for the Bud Light Seltzer and Pink Whitney mix.

We haven't got that many good ones, but I do like the Fizz Nasty. Oh. I love the Fizz Nasty. You're not the only one who got your own drink, bitch. I love the Fizz Nasty. Oh. I love the Fizz Nasty. You're not the only one who got your own drink, bitch. I love the Fizz Nasty. That's from Jason Hoffman, too. The Fizz Nasty. Nice.

And now coming back with the Blue Bissinette. One-two punch, bitch. Nice. I just want to say the Bud Light Salsa is going to be going down smooth at the lakes. You know what else is going to be going down smooth, too, Biz? My Strides and my fresh new Bauer Vapor 2X Pros. That's right. I'm back on the ice. I got some new blades. My first pair in about 25 years. I also got geared up as well. So I got a few thanks I need to send out. First off, a huge thanks to the CEO of Bauer, Ed Canale. He heard the squeaky wheel on chicklets. And thanks

to our queen, Erica. She provided the grease for the wheel. I ended up going to Pure Hockey over in Medford today. Jimmy and Keith took care of me. Excellent. Keith was particularly helpful. This is actually my first time trying on and buying new skates, so I felt like a little kid. Keith was a huge help. And I know everyone goes on the internet nowadays. I do too. But, you know, if you can support your local brick and mortar stores, do so because, you know, a lot of people are depending on that to keep functioning. So, again, a huge thanks to Bauer and everybody over there for suiting me up. I'll be the best dressed guy on the pond, but the worst skater.

That a boy, all right. All right. Moving on, a couple of other notes before we go over to our interview. I don't know if you guys caught the AHL Skills Challenge. Martin Furk had a 109.2 mile per hour shot for IRL Club Biz, the Ontario Reign. Webber won it with 106.5. Is that the – I mean, that's the fucking hottest shot you've ever heard of, right? 109.2?

It's the hardest shot ever to be measured in hockey, I believe. Right, it's got to be, yeah. I mean, this guy, you guys want to talk about a guy with a cannon. Martin Frick. Now, by the way, Martin Frick became the first player in NHL history to ever own a last name without a vowel in it. So this guy isn't only somebody who can shoot in complete seed. He's won in how many NHL plays have there been in all time, R.A.?

What do you think your guess is? NHL players all time? Yeah, 5,000? 15,000. Oh,000? 15,000. Oh, really? Well, I mean, if you're including guys who played one game, two games. 5,000, I said. Who knows what the number is?

He's one in whatever that number is. So it's a really cool story, kind of. I mean, not just the guy's shot, but his career took off. He spent three seasons, I think, up and down in the AHL on the coast with a cannon the whole time. He's always had that. I was reading about the fact when he was 12 years old, he was playing in a game in the Czech Republic, I think,

and hurt one goalie with a slap shot in the first period. Kid broke his hand. See you later. Second goalie comes in in the second period. He hits him in the stomach. That guy's out of the game. The team had to forfeit. They had no goalie left because this kid's fucking shot was so hard.

They asked him, how'd you get a shot this hard? He said, I don't even know. I just shot pucks in the backyard. I loved Ovechkin and Kovalchuk. So the fact that he was able to figure it out that way is really cool. But granted, I got away from my story. So he's up and down in the AHL and the cheeser, and he's kind of trying to figure it out.

Well, then he's up with Grand Rapids to start off 2016-2017, Detroit's AHL team. Gets scratched the first seven or eight games. Healthy scratch. All he's doing is working his balls off. He's in the rink before anyone, working out in the gym. Finally, they lost whatever. At some point, he hasn't played coaches.

I'm going to give this kid a shot. Didn't leave the lineup one more time that year had 50 points in 65 games then won the calder cup and then was up in the nhl the year after that so right now he's down in the minors he's been up with la for four games this year he's got three goals and with the ontario reign he's at a just about a point per game he's got 20 goals in like 30 games so a guy who not only can like shoot the puck i don't know about his hockey sense like that's not necessarily i think his strength but with a cannon like that you think he'll get another chance his sticks a 70 flex so like that is as whippy as you can imagine for people who don't understand i mean guys like shay weber and zidane ochara they use fucking – 120? Redwoods.

They use Redwoods. They're just big old lumbering, hummering, fucking Paul Bunyan-like defensemen. And this guy, instead of having like a really stiff stick, that gives you a fizz nasty, he actually has so much whip. He has so much whip, kind of like Brett kind of like brett hall so brett hall first the first shot was 104 and then he's like well i already won the competition i'll give it a go 109 point whatever that's just heavy i do have a theory though that uh i think in those all-star games where no matter where they are they i think they juice up the uh guns is that the only name in NHL history that doesn't have a vowel? I'm pretty sure.

I'm like 95%. I got a new twig tool. Actually, you know, I got the kind Jake DeBrusque has with the hole in the top. That's the kind of stick I got. No way. Oh, they sent you the new one? Yeah, I got the brand new one with the hole on top. And? Well, I haven't

busted out on the ice yet. When are you going to go play hockey? You know what, dude? Honestly, no bullshit. I actually googled fucking MDC rink down the street in Salty to see what their fucking stick hours are because I got this stuff. I'm like, honestly, I want to just go fuck around a little

bit more. So I want to take advantage of this stuff. You're going to have every single guy in the Boston area reach out to you now saying, join my beer league team, all right? We want your team now. Oh, please. Oh, dude, the other thing about Frick, because I knew the thing I forgot. He fucking whiffed one time trying to shoot a puck and sprained his ankle.

That's how hard this kid's going at it. So you got to realize the speed, the speed from the core. It's about the core and your golf swing too. That's where you need to have power and speed to hit a fucking puck that hard. And we got one last note before we send it over to Carlson. We do have big congratulations to our buddy,

Tim Stapleton, who was inducted into the Illinois hockey hall of fame since we last met. I'm sure he was probably just getting heckled with people telling him, just tell the gas stories about the whole time he gave his speech. But hilarious dude. I think I said that. I think I mentioned that one recently. Okay.

I don't remember from last show. Either way, if we said it twice, then double the congratulations to our boy anyways. So also we're going to be bringing up John, John Collison in one sec. I just want to mention this interview is brought to you by can I brands biz. You want to fill us in on a little of what can I brands is all about. What's the all natural CBD, man.

They got a bunch of products. They got the can I boost, they got the can I sleep, can I fresh, which is nice. They even have now in these little, little tubes where you can spray it in your mouth. Easy to on the go.

I take the tinctures before bed i also travel with those um it's just great i mean most of you know what cbd does it helps with inflammation in the body uh inflammation is the leading cause of disease for those who didn't know that um you can go to their website canibrands.com of course you're going to get a biz20 promo code for 20% off. I mentioned last time there's been such a positive response to it and people love it. I'd say the Sleep is probably the number one seller. The Cani Fresh is just basically during the daytime, straight fresh CBD, good for a little boost,

as is the Cani Boost. Because we've been selling it at such a good quantity, we were able to purchase now more, which we've been able to slash prices. So we've taken, I think it was just over 20% on the overall price of the product. And we're still offering the biz 20 promo code for 20% off. So I'll let you keep going on that. No, like you said, just go to, I can't, I brands.com.

Use the promo code biz 20, get your 20% off your next purchase. And without further ado, Washington defenseman, John Carlson. Just go to canibrands.com, use the promo code biz20, get your 20% off your next purchase. And without further ado, Washington defenseman John Carlson. Well, our next guest is probably currently the best two-way defenseman in the NHL for my money anyways. He's been with the Capitals for his entire career, 737 games so far. He capped it off. He was a key cog in their cup run two years ago. And I don't want to jinx him, but he's probably looking at adding a little more hardware after this season.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the podcast, John Carlson. Thanks, guys, for having me on. Love what you guys do and listen as much as I can. Thanks. We appreciate it. Now, we understand we have a recent collaboration on the way between Chicklets, Barstool, and yourself. Do you want to talk about that a little? Yeah, real excited. Nice opportunity for me.

You know, nice stuff to rock around, and hopefully the fans like it. And it feels like yesterday you fucking entered the league, already over 700 games. I mean, it's probably flown by for you too. Yeah, that's lately I think I just turned 30. That was kind of like a big one for me where i was like wow um you know it's here in 10 year anniversaries of this 11 year anniversary and you're like wow this is uh this is going by quick and obviously it's been uh it's been going pretty good so um a lot to uh be

thankful for but excited to uh you know be able to keep playing playing here. It's been pretty sick to see the run. I mean, you had like six, seven years when you're an offensive player, but not like lighting it up and then just these last two and a half. It's awesome. But I remember when you came on the scene, like not knowing much about you and just, you know, the hockey DB. And I was like, this kid's from Massachusetts. So I think a lot of people are actually curious where you were born,

where you were raised, and like where did you play growing up? Yeah, so I maybe learned how to skate in Massachusetts. That explains it. You got great wheels. Skate's for joining the club. The state produces wheelers. Everyone always comes up to me, hey, are you from Natick? I'm like, no, I've never – the only day I've spent in Natick was when I was –

In the mall. No, in the hospital. When I was born in the hospital when i was born in the hospital yeah so i grew up in marlboro for you know four or five six years um before we moved to new jersey and that was um you know big boston sports guy still just my uh my cousin yeah of course my uh my dad's side of the family still lives there marlboro shrewsbury um and then my mom's side all in New Jersey and you know I would obviously fell in love with hockey early and those guys in mass played hockey so like we kind of were always the ones to um you know gravitate towards was your dad going did he

go to Jersey for work or was yeah yeah yeah my parents got divorced and um actually my dad moved first moved to Jersey City and then my was like, what am I doing here? All my family's in New Jersey and be closer to dad. And, you know, worked out well. But we still go up there, try to, you know, stay close to those people. Thanks for sharing that. I'm also a child of divorce, not always easy to talk about. But I think a lot of people were very curious about it

because, like, that's how the NHL does it. They just literally list where you were born and spent the first three days of your life. But I love the loyalty. Do you think Brady comes back next year or what? Yeah, I think so. I think he's playing his cards right. I think he's...

Wants to get paid? Yeah, rightfully so. I think he deserves a little bump from what he's had in the past. And I think more so than getting paid, I would say he probably just wants some more ammunition and maybe have a little more of a say in bringing in some top dogs to throw to. If he wants to be back and they choose to not have him back

is when I'd lose my mind. So I think that they want him, and he's probably going to realize, why would I go anywhere else? I just don't see another situation that would interest him enough to throw away what he's probably going to realize, like, why would I go anywhere else? I just don't see another situation that would interest him enough to throw away what he's had there for so long. You're actually a super fan of Tiger Woods as well.

Yeah, big Tiger guy, always have been. As he walked in, he made a bogey. I'm watching online, like, holy fuck, Carlson, great fan. You just made a bogey. Yeah, huge fan. I think for me, I took a lot of grief for being his number one fan, picking him in Masters pools when he had his down years and stuff and made a lot of people wrong.

Was college ever on the board for you for a while or was it always going to be juniors? Yeah, so my thing was played, I guess, junior hockey in new jersey and uh all the way up through the ranks and i was like didn't really know if anything could come of it really i honestly i was a pretty good player and all that but um there was no clear path i think once i moved on to skip a couple years when i went to london i realized how simple it was um you know in your head to see how people progress this guy played on this team you know growing up minor hockey he went and played in the ohl he got drafted he went played in the minors for a couple years

and then he made it there was no really um you really kind of leader of that pack from New Jersey. I was kind of amongst a lot of other guys around my age. So there wasn't like, oh, well, I'm doing really well in this league and 14 and under. Like this guy, you know, a couple years. Like a lack of infrastructure for youth hockey, basically? No, I just think someone to look up to. Like, oh, you know, this guy, you know.

He did it this way. I could do it that way. You don't have to see it. Exactly. And so I was like, man, some colleges started to look at me when I was a little bit younger. I was like, if I can get a scholarship and go play hockey in college, get a degree, that'll be pretty cool, pretty fun uh move on with my life and obviously things progressed pretty quickly but i was going to go to umass amherst i was committed there the original cal mccarr yeah um yeah i was going to go there and you know i was in the ushl and we started kind of getting into the nitty-gritty on, you know, hey, you're going to get drafted pretty high here. Like, you know, you might want to think about other things.

You might want to just reach out to a few people that you trust and see what they think. And that was, you know, kind of led me away from going there. But at the time, I was like, man, scholarship to college. And I wanted to play in the Hockey East east um you know to be up by my family up there and um yeah and then things changed quickly so you were first rounder out of the ushl right yeah so i mean that's not that common maybe it's becoming more common now but in time that there must not been many first round picks in that league no it was out of coming out of that

league yeah yeah it was pretty wild like i said even whatever that september of that year i played in indiana indiana ice um what a name yeah uh what great spot too loved it there but you know i was like yeah college college college and then someone came up to me like hey you see the draft rankings i was like what are the draft rankings? It's like Keith Yandel. I was the opposite. So to hear people this good, I'm like, you're kidding. So you were just not paying attention to that stuff. You were just playing.

No, like I never checked the draft rankings before in my life. Like I didn't know. I mean, I guess I assumed that there would be some, but it wasn't like I was searching what people are saying. At that time, it wasn't that popular anyways. But, yeah, and the guy's like, yeah, you're like, I think it was like 17th or 18th or something like that at the time in one of the early on. And I was like, what? I'm going to get drafted? And no less, you know, pretty high. Yeah, exactly.

So after that, it kind of started getting serious. And then the people in Indiana, the coach, and he was kind of trying to play me up a little bit. And, hey, this guy's here, this guy's there. She had a good relationship with the coach. Who was the coach there? Charlie Scott at the time was the coach, the owner of the team's brother. Great dude.

Nice gig. Yeah. Yeah, they had it made over there. Good spot to live. I was in high school still, and I still have friends from there. They were just the nicest humans coming from New Jersey. And you were dealing with Colts fans, bro, right? That was in the midst of the...

Yeah, but I was only there for one year, so it wasn't like by time it got down to it, half the year and football season's over. Can't talk Jersey hockey legends without mentioning Jimmy Dowd. You must have known who he was and his story, though, right? Yeah, absolutely. So he, you know, at the time, this was actually right around that time I was in the USHL. And they're like, oh, you're going to have to go to the Combine. And I'm thinking, like, oh, the Combine.

Like, what's that? Like, you know, I got to get a trainer. I'm thinking, oh, the combine. What's that? I got to get a trainer. And so someone hooked us up, and we chatted on the phone for a couple, 20 minutes or something. He set me up with some guy he was working with.

But, yeah, it meant a lot to New Jersey hockey. But, like I said, that wasn't even a pathway for me. How did the situation work out with London? Were you even drafted to the OHL, or did they just talk you to coming? Yeah, no. So basically what happened was – Bring me back to the Brinks truck. I don't know. I'm not going there.

They actually started paying me not to say it, so it's nice. I'm on the payroll. They send you a hoodie? Yeah, yeah. That's how I got my new Escalade. I think they gave my dad one of those zip-up coats, one of those. But, yeah, so at that time I was kind of weighing my options. A couple people from the OHL.

I wasn't drafted, I guess, the first time around when you're 15 or whatever in the OHL draft. So I was up for that year, and we were trying to get something together with with Kitchener I'm Pete DeBoer and Steve Spot and Adam Graves came down to New York City to meet me have lunch hey this is what we think you know it's a great fit they I think they just won the Memorial Cup the year prior to that so I was excited I was all for going to Kitchener. And we didn't talk to a single other team. Every other team said, oh, I'm going to UMass.

Like, that's it. Don't even bother drafting me. And then the day of the draft came and they're like, yeah, the hunters just keep calling us. Like, we're not answering our phone. We're not even going to get into, you know, like, might go he might not go 50 50 this was a done deal then so then they just drafted me without without talking and what round i think it was first round damn that's a big gamble i was old too i was you know 18 17 18 at the time so um yeah and then turned out to be the best thing ever we

were really good um obviously playing for the hunters was was awesome and uh that year i think the boar got a job uh it was his first job maybe it was in new jersey new jersey yeah new jersey maybe so he was gone anyways and that was a big thing why my guys were like, yeah, he's a great coach, NHL-ready coach. He'll get you prepared, and it didn't work out that way. You spent one year in London. Then you get drafted 27th overall by the Washington Capitals, and I would say probably one of the more well-ran AHL teams,

if not the best-ran organization in the AHL, and you spent two years there, or for the better part. Yeah, yeah. So I went after junior. Then the following season I played a little bit, went to world juniors, came back, got called up, and I think that was the Olympic year, and I wound up finishing the Olympic year. And I wound up, you know, finishing the year with the caps,

the year we lost to Montreal in the first round. And then I went back after that. Was that the Halak stole the series? Yeah. And it went seven. It seemed like we had maybe 60, 65 shots on that. He just played out of his mind. That seems like 15 years ago too yeah and

the other good one with that was uh placanic was saying stuff about jose theodore in the paper and i just there was just a huge feud going on between the two of them i don't even remember that yeah or his turtleneck while chirping yeah something, something like that. And it was interesting to be around Jose's really prideful guy. And he took it to heart. And it didn't work out for us. Do you think he got in his head? I don't know. I think Jose played great.

I think, honestly, the most memorable thing about it was just Halak. I remember a game at home. I think it was just a lock there was i remember a game at home i think it was 60 65 shots and it might maybe not a shutout but maybe we scored one goal he like he also uh he glanced right over being a usa hockey legend ot winner you scored world juniors well i know in saskatchewan it was yeah so we try to avoid that mean, what a team that was. I don't think they'd won a gold medal since like 2004. They'd been a little bit of a long time. And what do you remember about that tournament?

Yeah. How'd you get a two-on-one in overtime? I think it was four-on-four. So they had one coming our way. You pinched. No, I was back. For once. I was actually back.

Yeah, for once. and goalie big rebound and it kind of just hit me in stride almost you know they they it was kind of the same side one timer drop pass so I was kind of going from this guy and moving maybe a little out to try to you know take away his time and space so he took the one timer was on the ice boom and it hit me in stride going the other way uh on a two-on-one but i just remember at that time you know living in canada and just hearing it my billet family oh we gotta watch the canada game tonight i'm like well i don't care about the canada game the year prior um and i was a little salty about not making the team the year before as well.

So it was nice to score that one. And also, you know, now I got that on all the Canadians. It was, like you said, it was a while. I think they won five, six, seven straight. I thought it was. Yeah. I really remember watching that being a nice celebration you had too. Yeah, Mike Canubo actually, when I finally got to the Caps,

he came up to me and said, hey, I owe you a real nice dinner. He's like, at the time, we had 13, 14 Canadians and maybe two or three Americans. He's like, I've been losing every year. So it was nice for him to finally cash in. Bruce Boudreaux was your first NHL coach. The guy was already a legend. He was in Slapshot. Then he appears

on HBO's 24-7, enhances his profile even further. What was that experience like playing for a character like that? Yeah, great hockey coach. I think he really knows his stuff. he turned the caps around before i got there um you know i think had a huge huge part in that and um it was it was crazy that was the the winner first winter classic i played in against pittsburgh and all the 24, whatever they called it at the time, 24-7.

Just the perfect guy to showcase to the league. And I think it brought a lot. I think that's what kind of hockey needs is those big personalities. And I think that a lot of people had eyes on it just because they had seen a clip about him cursing or a clip about him with so-called ketchup on his face and all that but i think it was on barbecue sauce yeah i've heard because we've seen you know a lot of those guys that worked on the production team they're still around the nhl and different facets and different you know certain things and they're we're always like the guys that that were there

for that like hey what happened like You guys aren't idiots here. He didn't just come in after eating a Big Mac or something and you guys said, hey, you don't have ketchup on your face. I guess they were saying, I don't know if filter is the right word, but something was off with the lighting that was dry skin was turned into ketchup for many people. That's a wicked conspiracy theory. He's like, I was set up.

That's what the camera guys say. That's what the camera guys say. Well, it was a cool story, too, because he coached them to a couple Calder Cup victories, and he was one of those guys that got to move up. And he had, similar to the situation that's going on in Toronto, where he'd seen some of those guys find their game in the minors, and then he inherits that team at the perfect time where, you know, the Alex Ovechkins were kind of just getting into their stride in the backrooms.

So you come in at that time too, and, I mean, you guys had these dominant teams for so long and unable to get over the hump, and even with him. But, you know, how did you guys eventually just figure things out? Yeah, I think a lot of learning. I think a lot of, you know, the biggest takeaway for me is after we won, looking back at it, not, you know, leading up to it, thinking what didn't happen, we didn't do this, we didn't do that.

I think when we did win, you kind of have this realization of just how hard it is and how tedious it can be to win. Like little breaks, little games in the series that, oh, we dominate a team, you know, the Rangers many times, Pittsburgh, and we lose that one game of the series. We might lose three others that we deserve to, but that one game that kind of just flip-flops, I think that was my biggest takeaway is that year. I think we played a lot better, but also there was a lot of those games where we'd dominate and win,

and then we wouldn't play our best. We would get dominated and just find a way to sneak one in and make a huge difference. I think, you know, I look back at Pittsburgh and they've always played us really tough. We've never beat them until that year in my career. And, you know, they probably took it to us two games that all of a sudden after 20, 40 minutes, just the tides turn,

we get a lucky one or a good bounce and um kind of find our stride again and all the years prior it just it wouldn't happen and then finally it's like you put yourself in position that many times at one point you're gonna have a comeback when you're gonna get by him and it's like when you beat them i think everyone was like that might be it they might have once you get over that that barrier it's like we're going to get the cup. Yeah, I think that was the craziest part. It was the biggest sense of relief, I think, for everybody in the whole entire organization because it had been so much disappointment in the same spot it seemed like all the time.

And, yeah, I think we played well and free leading up to that, but certainly after that series it was like, this is destiny. No one's going to stop us now. We almost celebrated just as hard after we beat Pittsburgh as we did when we won. That's how much of a weight was off the guys, especially that have been around forever. So it's funny.

We try to ask guys about guys they played with, retired guys, and you obviously are playing with guys. I won't go to ovechkin first i'm kind of more interested as being a defenseman and tried to be offensive you came in and it was kind of coming to the end of mike green's run of like dominant nhl offensive defense but i mean he scored 30 goals one year your rookie year he had over 70 points how much did you learn from him because everything i've heard about him he's a great guy and i don't think he gets brought up enough and talking about like dominant offensive years in the past decade or so yeah i i still think he's he's a dominant player i think yeah he has had some injury stuff that's derailed him a little

bit and you know throughout seasons but i when we play him i'm like he looks the same to me he glides around yeah he floats on the ice he could fly plays hard and uh and certainly has you know touch better than a lot of guys always get blown away they they seen him put up all these points and score you know 20 30 goals in a season and you come into one of the you know captains practices or whatever before the year and if you didn't know anybody on the team you'd go out there and be like who the hell is this guy like he's dominating like that's just how he was always and i i still think so but yeah people always list me as an offensive defenseman and yeah i i think i

i like that part of the game a lot but like you said he was there um dennis weidman i didn't play on the power play skin in two was getting minutes yeah so i made it as a shut down defenseman like into the league like yeah i could you know get up the ice and contribute a little bit but i think a lot of people now they're just like whoever has a lot of points they're're just like whoever has a lot of points they're just an offensive defenseman they can't do anything else and a lot of cases you know i had those guys in front of me jason are not the one year played on on the point ahead of me yeah there was you know i didn't play on the power play waited it out and it's four or

five years it's funny because if you think about guys like they got to go in and change their game a little bit. They didn't need you to be an offensive guy when you came in. So you'll be in the minors to be running that power play unless you want to play some D. Yeah. And, you know, I think that was a good lesson for a lot of people is just try to stick to what you know, too. I think a lot of times people will try to completely change their game just to get that one little shot or to find a little spot for them in the lineup where now I think the AHL does a better job of helping on the best players. They're the best players down there, and then they move up,

and they're kind of plugged right into a good spot where like you said before the guys are just trying to change everything about that on that they never killed penalties oh i'm going into the coach's office now you're gonna be a penalty killer dude you didn't do that there why are you gonna do it here exactly we had someone on talking about a similar situation was there ever a moment of frustration where where you saw these guys getting these reps and eventually you were like, hey, when am I going to get my fucking sniff here, buddy? Yeah, well, I think more so I was probably on the second power play unit, but we've kind of been notorious in Washington.

You're a heavy. A minute and 55 seconds for the first unit. I played the top at least, not the left side flank, so I maybe got a little bit extra time than the 155. Well, that and they were probably putting it in the back of the net within the first minute too. Yeah, over my whole career, I think we've been damn near the top five or ten. What is your first, without putting you on the spot what's

your first memory of ovi like you know your interactions with him and as you came in the league is he is he talking to rookies or is he more just like you're just you're on your own a little bit yeah i think that's a big misunderstanding with him and uh i'm glad i'm glad that we won because i got to win too yeah yeah um you know for him i he just gets such a bad rap all the time he's the nicest guy to everybody um you know maybe not invite you out to dinner every night or something like that but he's just a joyful guy to be around all the time and doesn't matter who you are he's gonna come make funny a joke around um great teammate make you feel like you're at home. And as a captain, I think people do it, but it doesn't seem natural.

I think he's just a natural, fun-loving guy that likes to chop it up. Normally you don't hear that about guys who cross the saucer. I was just going to say, you're saying natural. It ain't natural to mix the marinara with the white sauce. You don't want to go to Den-A-Hoo. Is he a sauce crosser? He's the sauce king. Gordo said he used to piss all over the toilet

seat too. He's just a farm animal. I haven't checked his toilet, but my mom comes from a real Italian family on that side. And my aunt had everyone on the team over to her house for dinner. One day we played New Jersey the night before, and they make this big Italian feast, like the most normal to me,

but for everyone else. Every Sunday for you. Hey, what's going on here? What the heck is it? We had piles and piles of food and obviously pasta and uh at the time one of my one of the ants that was cooking and stuff ovi goes up to her and said hey um it was my aunt ellen do you have any uh ketchup and she's like excuse me no they just started dying laughing but she was blown away.

They still talk about it to this day all the time. My old school Italian. Do you have ketchup for my pasta or meatball? Whatever it was for. They would slave into the kitchen all day. No, no. Asking for A1 talk. Okay, so here's another weird thing I heard about as far as food and beverage.

Oshie, he likes to mix red wine and Guinness. I don't know if likes is the right term for that. I think it's similar to the chug through the shirt. It's a gimmick? It's a party trick. Is there a name

for this beverage? I forget. There is a name. I just don't know what it is. But yeah, he pulled that one out one year we had a party in raleigh like you know the last pre-season game and we stayed over a couple days and that's when i the first time i've seen that one but i don't know the name for you sorry uh another like do you know the name no brick sorpik was talking to me about it there's another guy we wanted to bring up as well during this interview but you had a question oh i was gonna i was gonna bring up backstrom just he re-signed that deal no agent fee thank you um

i get to go on a golf trip with him every other year but great guy i figure you might have some funny stories or at least kind of be able to fill people in on how he might be quiet but he's also funny as shit oh yeah he's he's the total you know i alex seven was kind of the guy he speaks english but he just flies right on the radar doesn't tell anyone he speaks english and just do as little as he has to like every russian ever yeah and and nick is not exactly the same but but he's very underrated, obviously. He gets cast in the shadow of Ovechkin all the time, and I think he loves that, and he can just go about his business. Yeah, we've been great friends for years. We go all-star break the past three or four years we've been together down in Miami.

Great golfer. I don't know if – Great stick. Yeah, unbelievable. I think he's the guy that's good at everything, though. That's what I sense out of him. He's got it all going. Yeah, we had some tennis going, and he just picks up a racket,

and he's great at tennis. Fuck you back. You still have 12% body fat. How are you still good at all this? Oshie, I would say, is the most – the guy, you give him anything. He's in the top 1% of everything. Give him a basketball, he'll just start draining threes. Good golfer.

Including looks, too. You're like, come on, dude. You got it all. What the hell? Good flow. Yeah, but Backstrom, just – I've never seen a guy be so precise passing the puck ever. He's just – I was blown away um you know

killing penalties against him when I came into the league and practice and stuff and he I think it helped me as a player really just to you know watch where the puck was going through me all the time yeah I think a lot of guys make a lot of good plays, but for him, it seems like if you spotlighted him, he would make 20, 30 unbelievable plays a game. And if you're running the point on a power play to be the guy where you are, you're almost like, oh, there's no chance he gets it to me now. And then you finally start realizing after a couple games, all right, this is still going to somehow get through this guy. Yeah, it's almost like you double clutch the first little while

just thinking like, oh, he's going to wait or try to back out and find a bigger lane to thread it through. And then you just, you know, what I've learned is you just got to be ready all the time. Yeah, it's fun. It's been fun to play with those guys. During your tenure in Washington, coaching's obviously been a big side story, I guess you could call it. And after Bruce, you went to Dale Hunter. Did that

give whiplash to the room collectively or what, going from a guy like Bruce to a guy like Hunter? Yeah, I think it was a huge change. I think he was kind of, you know, I've had maybe five coaches now, I want to say, four or five. And he was kind of totally on the opposite end of the spectrum. In what way, like just in your face? No, he's definitely not in your face. I think he's just a stern guy that if he says something, he sticks to it. It doesn't matter who you are, what's going on, what position in the standings during a game, up or down.

If you're not doing your job, he's going to let you know and you're going to sit down or whatever it was. And that was a huge culture change for us, I think. And I would say before we won, I thought that was our best chance that season to win. Now, you had him before in juniors right i had him in london so you already kind of wouldn't do what to expect from a little bit then yeah i i i think i've actually that was probably one of my worst years for whatever reason um i thought it would it would go better you know having that good uh relationship with

him and stuff but as a team i i think he he put that in the back of our mind and um you know that helped us all the rest of the rest of the Adam Oates was another guy who stepped in right yeah and he came on the podcast was he very similar as a head coach where he would work guys a lot with guys a lot individually which at that time I don't think that was very common to have that interaction with players it was more here the x's and o's and but would you sit down to video yeah so personally yes um I think a lot I loved him I thought he was a great coach because I was I'm open to anything if you want to talk to me about an idea of any kind I'm you know I'll listen and try to do my best obviously I think a lot of guys um you know

there were still a lot of those old school guys back then that he was trying to change them for the better what he thought um and they kind of were like hey i've been working my whole life and i made the nhl and i'm not going to change how I shoot the puck or change my curve or change the way I pick up a puck off the wall. Instead of just, okay, yeah, what do you have to say? What are you coaching me up on? And find a happy medium between the two. I think a lot of guys got scared off by a lot of his intricate ideas.

Philosophies. He's an interesting guy. His theories have kind of been proven with the way guys that he has have played. I think the one year he said that 29 of his 31 guys had career highs and points and stuff. So clearly there was something there, but as you said, there's probably some tension with older guys just setting their ways.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they just would not. They would almost completely. They'd probably play worse because of it, too, thinking in the back of their mind, like, oh, he's telling me to do this. And then when you screw up a rim or whatever, when you're picking up a puck off the wall or something and you screw it up, they're just mind-fucked forever.

I wouldn't have done it that way. Exactly. You're thinking, this is how I would have done it. Oh, he told me this. This is why I screwed up. And then he's probably thinking, I told you to do it that way. So I think a lot of loss in translation. Like an old dog, new trick type thing.

Exactly. Instead of just embracing him. Instead of listening to the probably best passer ever. Are these the type of conversations with other guys that go on behind the scenes where clearly there was probably some frustration where these guys are maybe even telling management like, hey, this is not working out with this guy here? Yeah, at that time I wasn't, I wouldn't have been, I guess, in that loop um i would say so i can't speak to that but i know personally for me he changed the way i played i think uh hit one of his big things was the back end using your back end all the time and i think that completely changed my game and you know open really open my game up of not just being on the forehand all the time.

And I think it's easy. That's just like a little easy thing that in practice he would blow a drill down. If you had it on your backhand and you brought it to your forehand and made the play versus just making the play on the backhand, I think that really helped me, and i still think about it all the time when i'm practicing to to make sure that you feel confident because i think if you look at the top crosby if you look at the top you know 25 players their highlight reels are on their the ones you go wow that was unbelievable all on their back end all the plays whether it's a pass or a shot or what have you.

I might have had a nervous breakdown if you would have told me to go with my backhand in a national hockey game. No, you were just going to righty. I think you would have been one of those old guard guys that were – Hey, I love that I'm even pumping Sid to one of his bitter rivals in Washington. We got the Orp Dog, Brooks Orpik. He's married. He's a husband. He's a husband.

He's a father. But have you ever seen anything like a relationship between him and a weight room? Yeah. How much is Orp and how much he loves working on it? I will say that they did an amazing thing, the Cavs. They did for his 1,000th game. They put on this big, and I think you might have had a couple takes, but they also did one for the guys in the locker room.

So they had Witt. Malkin had a couple takes, but they also did one for the guys in the locker room. So they had Witt. Malkin had a good one on there. I was told, hey, you've got to make a video saying congratulations on your 1,000th game. Don't worry. Nobody will see this besides the boys in the locker room who are going to play it. So I was like, perfect.

We'll put it out on Chicklets now. I don't think I said anything that bad, but he texted me. He's like, dude, the guys started laughing. I was like, yes. We'll put it out on Chiclets now. I don't think I said anything that bad. But he texted me. He's like, dude, the guys started laughing. I was like, yes, that means I won. I made the Washington Capitals laugh. So what did you say? I was like, you were at the golf course.

I was at the range in the middle of the winter. I'm like, what's up, Warp? What a teammate. And then I was like, I think Terrine and Andre Savard thought you had to play the defense. And now I'm at Old Sandwich because me and you had enough money to join here from the NHL, and you got 1,000 games at a cup or whatever. Had you guys won it yet? No.

No, you hadn't? Yeah, so I got him the cup. Oh, yeah. Did you get a ring? Malkins is pretty good, too, about his protein shakes, but this guy is just diesel. He still is. I mean, I'm like i'm like hey you working out still he's like no i'll do the elliptical like seven days a week but he's not like lifting

giving a stretch from uh 7 a.m to 11 30 then elliptical till 2 but but no i'm not working out he's like the rock or mark walberg get up at 2 30 a.m yeah Yeah, exactly. Just so serious about that. What's the suit story I heard about with the pant legs? Oh, yeah. So I'm pretty sure it was Ovi. It hasn't actually been totally sure, I would say. We were in Florida, had to wear the track suit back on the plane, which I think none of the coaches the coaches and management didn't know what was going on at the time too and so i go get on the bus and everyone

sits on the front of the bus and i'm coming in flip flops and and uh sweat pants um didn't go over too well what what happened they just i actually don't know i think it was just you know they thought i was being cocky or something like that. And then cut your pant legs and your shoe? Yeah, that was pretty commonplace back then, not so much anymore. I haven't seen it done probably since. Maybe some socks. Well, you can't, quote, unquote, bully anymore.

There's none of that business going on in the National. So you've kind of seen a transition and how these young guys are just a little bit different right they don't they don't communicate like they used to yeah i think it's it's different but i think the stupid thing would be is to not embrace it i think a lot of guys hey this would have never happened when i was young and it's probably true, but that's just not how it is now. And if anything, you've learned that in the past couple of years, you need those young guys to step up in a big way. And I think with the mental side of the game, in a lot of them,

the best thing you could do is pat them on the back. I don't care if they're all hockey nerds and they're not funny because then our generation is the last really funny messes that we're in the NHL. As long as they're not releasing any competitive podcasts. They won't swindle our opportunities like we did. They would do it on just typing,

not speaking. I mean, there's so many interesting characters, even on the team now, that Vrana, who's been having a pop-off season. Actually, Grinnell predicted predicted that one i think he's got already 20 goals doesn't he yeah i don't know exactly how many goals he has but he checked the game notes buds he came out um just an unbelievably dynamic player i've never seen someone skate like that and we talk about mcdavid andichel and all those guys. They're fast, but just from being around them all the time.

I feel bad for other teams' defensemen because the puck gets turned over and he is gone and making people look silly. I tell them all the time, hey, stop trying to make a play through people. If you see that guy still turning when you're skating at him, just skate by him. Like, you have that speed, and, you know, you're making it easier on him, getting a chance to knock it away from you. Everyone, I think, has the same question.

Every night, every highlight's the next morning, you get the OV one-timer goals. How bizarre is it that they just know it's coming and a lot of it has to do with you and basham getting him the puck but it's it's actually unstoppable in a sense because no matter what he'll get one by you yeah yeah i think that's that's the crazy part is just how teams literally will just game plan like we when we watch film we literally only watch film on if it's another team basically on maybe like like a Stamkos or something like that because we see how teams play them differently.

And you know that they're game planning the entire PK session based on him, and all it takes is one. We don't even have to give him ten shots. As soon as he gets that one chance to you know get it around the block or he's deadly and teams know what's coming and goalies know what's coming and uh it's been nice to be able to pass it to him it's nice for you after a couple times they're cheating then all of a sudden the down low pass opens up so you're just like all right i'll get a second assist instead of the first one big Big deal. They both count the same in contract negotiation.

Well, we don't want to take too much of your time. We've got to get to the cup celebration. That was probably one of the most iconic. Is it still going on? Yeah, exactly. I mean, OV and then the fountain ordeal. And just talk about it all. Yeah, well, I would say first off, what a place to win in Vegas.

You know, their first year um no one's ever done it before in vegas um it was pretty fun to to do it there and um and then when we got home i think we as a team like to have a lot of fun no matter what um and that certainly uh certainly played out and i think a lot of guys came out and were like, yeah, we want to share with the fans and we want to be close to you guys and we're having so much fun. And then it just kind of happened organically that everything we did, it was summertime, nice out, and everywhere we went,

there was a big crowd. And we used that as finally we've been trying to hide our end-of-the-year parties and trying to hide, you know, going out and having a good time and having beers and stuff because we never got to that point. And now we're like, hey, screw you guys. Like we're doing this our way. And then people obviously loved it. There is a story about your flight being delayed

because one of the guys had slept in or he was lost or it was basically a scene out of the hangover right there wasn't uh there wasn't one guy uh there was plenty of guys that was you know pretty firm on the bus times in the nhl usually but uh there was a couple you know search parties trying to trying to wake some guys up. No names? Is there one name we could throw at this? No. All right.

It's in the vault. I respect it. Hey, well, there's NHL bus times, and there's NHL bus time after you win the Cup in Vegas. So subject to change. Yeah, absolutely. You always got to realize. What about, you're playing in D.C. Talk about connections.

Bastion's a golfer. Any, like, Augusta possibilities for you? I hope so. I feel like that should be pretty easy for you to get done. But yeah, it's tough though. I know, I know. But DC, Stanley Cup. Well, Augusta's fucked. It's only open.

Yeah. What's it open like now until the Masters? Yeah, it closes pretty much right after the Masters. But did you see those Maple Leafs guys got out there? That's what I heard, yeah. I guess I would love to play there, but I don't think I would not go on vacation. Well, let's see a local DC member listening up. All right, well, we appreciate this so much.

I think I got some leads. All right, all right. So there you go. I think I have some leads. You might have just ruined your leads. No, no, no. I think they're pretty firm leads. Actually, so there we go. I think I have some leads, but... You might have just ruined your leads. No, no, no. They're pretty firm leads. Actually, I got one more. One guy we haven't mentioned yet, and I'm surprised,

is Barry Trotz. And what was he able to do to get you guys over the hump? Because, you know, it had become a thing. You know, Washington can't get over the hump. He comes in, it took a couple years, but he got yous over the hump. Of course, he left because of his contract bullshit, but what did he do different that other coaches weren't, that you guys were able to win? Yeah, I think just, you know, he's an old school guy and, you know,

by the book and he says something and he sticks to it. And I think, you know, he was there a couple years. So I think things, as time went on with him, were nailed down further and further. And I think that's when it comes playoff time it's good to rely on your structure and i think that's you know his strong suit is is preaching that structure all the time and um you know because the teams we played were all good and had our number in in years past to um a few things, make some adjustments. But I think the big thing is knowing where everyone's supposed to be all the time.

And that kind of led to our transition game all the time, whether it was in the neutral zone or in the D zone. It allowed us to, you know, attack other teams more than it seemed like we had been. Well, that was awesome. Very informative. Great to finally chat with you. And listen, 40 points over the last 33 games, and we got a 100-point D-man.

So no pressure, buddy. But what a season you've had, and we appreciate you coming on. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. For sure. Let's bump. Oh, yeah, and check out that new merchandise. Yeah, they'll be selling it on the store at Barstool. Is that good?

I don't know. We want to send a big thanks to John Carlson for joining us last week in St. Louis. I had a real good time talking to him. I think it was sort of like Duncan Keith. You know, he was a guy who was a bit quiet. Not a lot known about him, but I thought he opened up. I think Capitals fans are going to be really happy to hear what he had to say. Yeah, it was great.

He's on a run right now that's pretty legendary too. We'll knock on wood, but Norris trophy in his future. You could easily see Washington winning another Stanley Cup. I had a blast talking to him. I didn't know if he was going to be quiet, but that was a lot of fun. He kind of let us in on some

pretty cool things. If Alex Ovechkin asking your aunt for ketchup, an Italian family, that's just fucking slap your knee funny. Yeah. It was a fucking hilarious story. So, all right. Jumping back into the hockey news, the battle of Alberta, like we said a little while ago,

it was back Wednesday night and one oiler who will be around for the next 15 to 20 Zach Cassian. He was a pending unrestricted free agent, signed a four-year, $12.8 million extension, comes out to $3.2 a year. Biz, what's your take on this one? Oilers re-upping Zach Kassian. When you said be around 15 to 20, what did that mean? 15, 20 battles of Alberta.

Like basically 15, 20 times they have them. All right, thanks. Sorry, I got a little distracted there. The brain't clicking um in the second half of this podcast um listen I think he means a lot to that team and they really like him and I think Edmonton is very well aware that in order to compete you do need a little bit of of jam in your lineup because we have seen that with the last few Stanley cup winners. Of course, being getting to play with some of the guys he does play with,

maybe his numbers and puck possession is a bit inflated and they did pay him based on, on I guess what he's doing now without the help of those guys around him. I do think it's a bit of an overpayment, but I'm happy to see him get fucking paid because he's a great dude. And I think that characters like that are are are still relevant in the game um and especially for a guy i mean we've mentioned it before on here he's he's come from from a dark time um and given the episode we've already talked about the bell let's talk he's uh he's a different human being he's really transformed his life around and i'm happy that he ends up getting his big ticket. And I would imagine the way he spends money,

that'll last him a lifetime. Very well said. Was that a shot at him? No, he's just not a donkey. Oh, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Seriously, he's not going to be buying Ferraris and shit like that. Yeah, congrats, dude.

I mean, he said it himself. He said, Kachuk didn't want to fight me when he told me I was a fourth liner. Well, now I got 12, 13 goals, whatever it was. So he's having a good year, and he's going to need to have a good year. For them to win the Stanley Cup, he'd have to have a pretty significant role in the playoffs, which is kind of the type of hockey he's built to play. We'll see how it plays out. But if they like him and he likes it there,

it makes sense that they work out a deal and not go to UFA. One other extension of note, 23-year-old Pittsburgh defenseman Marcus Pedersen signed a five-year $20.125 million extension, just over $4 million a year. He was scheduled to be an RFA, a goal and 14 assists, and 50 games played in his second season with the Pens. This reminds me of Simon Calgary. His name escapes me.

Anderson. Anderson, right. A guy who maybe not a lot of people are familiar with, and the number might have jumped out at a few people. What do you know about this kid? I don't know that much about him besides that he can move the pocket defense pretty well. He was with Anaheim and then,

you know, obviously ends up with Pittsburgh, but with what they've kind of done this year and battling injuries and stuff and like the hockey he's played, you got to think that that plays a huge factor into looking how valuable he's been to them in which they've been one of the top teams in the league all year. So I don't know a ton about him.

And this is kind of one that I think a Pittsburgh you know fan that's watching every game or a guy who's covering that team day-to-day would be able to fill you in a lot more only because he doesn't he doesn't he's not going to wow you with his stats you said he has one goal this year I mean so it's more about the consistent type play you got to think like if you're thinking of a player that we know we've talked to Rob Scuderi like you don't if you don't watch every penguins game you wouldn't have known how good he was or kings when he was there kind of a player like that but it is good money he's making more uh his contracts more per year than mine mine ever was so he could tell me to suck on that one if i ever met him i got nothing aav had me beat, actually, I'm sure you saw this one, Biz.

Nice little skirmish the other night. PK Subban and Brady Kachuk. Yeah. Just talked to Brady last week. Wow, that was a pretty good tussle. I mean, yeah, Brady kind of manhandled him. It looks like PK kind of second-guessed himself as to whether he wanted to fight or not.

I mean, he was cross-checking in front of the net. So, I mean, I would, yeah, obviously give the edge to Brady Kachuk. And it's been a tough year for Subban. You know, I think it's better for the game when he's having success on the ice, you know, just because he is a popular figure for a lot of people. I mean, that's just the numbers talking. And I was reading a stat, and this is not to continue to rag on PK, but on the power play so far this season, when he's on the ice,

the New Jersey Devils have been outscored. What? Four to three, yeah. So that was a tough stat to read. So things just have not been going well for PK. We know Brady is not shy, as we've interviewed him in St. Louis, about how he likes to get down and dirty sometimes. So he's a tough customer.

Brady's a tall kid who probably hasn't even completely grown into his body yet. He's actually no chance he has. And Subban is like thick. Like, dude, that guy's like a tank. So for him to actually be able to out-muscle him and slam him down, that shows that he's a tough kid. And I think that Walt's made it clear that Brady would punch Matt's head in before

when we were talking to him. Mind you, I only saw the finishing clip of that. That could have been the end of PK's shift. Maybe that's also why he second-guessed himself. So we don't know the backstory on that one. So I guess we can move on. Yeah, and I'm sure people saw it on the Instagram, but we did have Brady, Matthew, and Keith all at once. And it felt like kind of like what having the three stooges in the room and

Keith is Mo is like Mo's the leader. Yeah. You know, he like kept like fucking pushing up Brady's microphone and like telling him what to do and shit. It was fucking it was like a little sideshow to the whole interview. So anyways, hey, and after that all star game bonus, Brady certainly won't be looking for any money from anyone, but some of you listeners might be because life can be unpredictable, and you don't want to affect your bank account. Whether you want to lower your monthly expenses or pay off debt sooner, Earnest Student Loan Refinancing has a solution for you.

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you need. Start saving today. Our listeners get a $100 cash bonus when you refinance a student loan at earnest.com slash chicklets. And that is E-A-R-N-E-S-T, not earnest like the guy, earnest as if like you're an earnest person. That's $100 cash bonus when you refinance a student loan at earnest.com slash chicklets. Go to earnest.com slash chicklets today. Terms and conditions do apply. All right, boys, flipping over to our next story here. We have a pretty significant suspension in the queue as the expected number one overall pick in June's draft. Alexis Lafreniere was hit with a three-game ban for a headshot. The Rimouski forward was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct

for Elbow and Quebec's Thomas Caron. Did you get a look at this hit? And if so, what was your take on it? Yeah, suspension made sense to me, R.A. I mean, if you look at it, kind of just stuck his shoulder out. Little unnecessarily. Yeah, unnecessary or unnecessarily. Unnecessarily? If you want an adjective or an adverb.

Well, it doesn't matter because he didn't really need to get suspended for that fucking little breakdown of unnecessarily suspended suspended. You'd be kicked out of the podcast industry if we talked about misspeaking spoken words.

Well, it was a suspension worthy hit by Lafreniere. We got to get his name right. He's going to be first overall. Lafreniere? Well, I think it depends how your level of French is. I grew up with a kid whose last name

we pronounced it Lafreniere. It was spelled the same way, but I know sometimes people say Lafreniere like they just kind of shorten it. I got this one, guys. Fizz? Yep, yep. Our sometimes people say Lafreniere. I got this one, guys. Fiz, yep, yep. Our French Fiz. Correspondent. Lafreniere. Okay.

I thought three games was a little light based on how dirty that hit was. Now, hey, listen, I'm imagining, considering he's going to be first overall pick, he's not exactly out there throwing flying elbows every game, so this is a bit of a pee-pee whack for the first one. I'm sure if he does it again, they're going to handle it appropriately, but if that was pretty vicious, no?

Yeah. Am I taking crazy pills here? I don't know. Have you got any? Have you been holding? Do you have any? Witt, still Mississippi. M-I-S-S-I-s-i-p-p-i nice all right boys moving right along here this is a funky stat i came across

austin matthews he's two goals behind pasta for the league lead but did i i found that a leaf hasn't led the nhl in goals since 1946 gay stewart did it that's i mean that's kind of fucking an insane long time for a team to not have a leading goal scorer, huh? Fucking what, Doug? That's actually wild. I would never have guessed that. Wendell Clark, Matt Sundin. I guess they don't jump out as possible leading goal scorers in the league,

but still, that's been a long time. He easily could get it. He's got another one as of right now, Wednesday night against Dallas. So I just think that if he's not the top goal scorer in the league, he's top three, Ovechkin, Pasternak, him, obviously I leave out others. But when you think goal scorers, you think the guys right now who are the best at doing it.

Austin Matthews is popping into everyone's mind since the minute he got into the league. And not to shift the complete focus over for Matthews, but Eichel as well he had 29 the other night which bumped him up to his career high he might have tied his career high or broke his career high we still got how many fucking games left this year so um eichel's popping off as well so these young guys who i mean we talked about it before how they kind of change the angle as they come in it's like a a minuscule toe drag, and they got that whippy stick,

just like Ferk, for fuck's sakes, 70 flex, and a quick flick of the wrist. The next thing you know, it's top cheese. How's your mom with the Polish princess back, baby? How are you? And yeah, Matthews and Eichel, both in the suite last week, so they'll be joining the show over the next couple weeks. Looking forward to bringing them to you. A couple of the returns to the lineup after the All-Star game.

Sammy Blais returned to the Blues lineup after missing 28 games due to a wrist surgery. And Jake Muzzin returned back to the Leafs, so-called conscience of the Maple Leafs, as Coach referred to him as. A couple of big additions for those guys. And here was another quirky stat before we throw it over to the corner. Actually, the corner's coming in a second. Jean-Gabriel Pagiot became the third player to register his first 20-goal season at age 27 or older in this season.

Alex Golan did it and Brian Rust as well. So basically, a little late bloomers, but never too late to get some cabbage. That's for sure. But I did want to talk to you for a second about hydrant. If you're running a little low on steam, you want to kick the coffee habit, but you're worried about your energy levels. To avoid that morning sluggishness and that sluggishness and that midday slump, you need to make sure you're hydrated.

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All right, boys. We've got a couple notes. Actually, this is a big one, Witt. Kind of buried the lead a little bit here. We had a lot to talk about. Monday night, hockey fans across the U.S. and Canada will be able to watch the Beanpot College Hockey Tournament here in Boston.

If you're not familiar with it, it's four local teams square off against each other, and the winners of those two games play the following week, and the winner gets the beanpot. How many of them did you play in? I played in three of them. I won two of them. The other one happened to lose in overtime. But like Boston University, it's beanpot university.

They have the most by, I think, 10. They got 30. Jack Parkey tells us we don't even play in third-place games. BU's been in the second Monday night early game like 10 times, maybe 15 times in 60 years, whatever it is. We always at least won that first game. So the first Monday of February, there's a five o'clock game, there's an eight o'clock game.

The place is packed. It's such a sick experience. The next week, the losers play at five o'clock. We didn't play in that game. That was always like Northeastern and Harvard, basically. They stunk. Us versus BC, we show up 8 o'clock, second Monday in February. Freshman year, I got a big draft this that summer.

It's a huge moment. It's a great game. We played Northeastern in the final that year. The Whitdog scores. He scores freshman year. We win the beanpot. Are you kidding me? I dreamed about playing in the beanpot. Every kid that grows up around here dreams of playing. You used to always go in, take your son. It's just a great experience. And I got to win it my freshman year. And what a ride home. I mean, you go over, you're immediately, you get a couple beers, you take the bus home.

Now, the bus goes right onto Calm Ave going over this bridge while the seniors got to get out there. They'd walk right over to the dugout. That's where you just get crushed after the beanpot. And we'd have to unload their gear, you know, because they're seniors. They just took down the beanpot. I remember flying back over there. Dude, we had class the next morning at 8 a.m. Spanish class.

And Parker's like, you better be at class. And I was at class. I was crushed at class. I was probably fluent in Spanish, actually, at that time. And I was sober up, couldn't remember one word. But awesome experience, awesome tournament. And the fact that everyone will get to see. Many people won't care, but if you're from here,

you know how big of a deal it is. Dean Park University. And if you are from here, you know how big of a deal it is. Dean Park University. And if you are from other parts of the country, like Canada, there are a lot of future pros who do play in this, as like the Whit Dog just mentioned. The first game Monday night, Northeastern versus Harvard, is at 5 o'clock, and the second game is BCBU at 8 o'clock. That's a big rivalry.

Just to let people know, in New England, the games are on Nessun. Outside of New England, in the States, they're going to be on the NHL Network, and up in Canada, they're going to be on TSN2. So, it's pretty exciting news for people who are playing in the Beanpot. What's up, Witt? Also, I should say, my close friend, Justin Miser, I've mentioned him before.

Freshman year, he's a freshman with me. He got the winner. Beanpot Championship his freshman year. How do you think that night went? Alright, boys. Well, at least for today, BetMGM is the home for spitting chicklets for sports betting this year. The same guys that bring you the world's most spectacular casino resorts and top-notch entertainment have a new sports betting app in New Jersey.

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Check out the promotions page every Friday and opt into the promotion and place a pregame hockey bet of $10 and you'll get it matched in another $10 free bet that you got to use live during the game. Talk about a chicklets bump. All right, now moving on to the dreaded corner. The last game was purely a patriotic pick. Hark the music again. Yeah.

Whatever. I bet the U.S. It's funny. I did bet one unposted game and actually did fucking win Ottawa on Tuesday night. Hopefully that swung my luck. Just one pick. I got to go fucking slow. I got wallop. I can't be throwing two dimes down when you're digging out of a hole.

So one play on Saturday, the old Columbus Blue Jackets. They're sniffing the playoffs. They've been on a roll since before the All-Star break. I think they continue to roll. They're in Buffalo Saturday afternoon. We're going to be in the Blue Jackets. We got to go a little light because, like I said, we got

creamed. We're going to go a nickel on the money line, and then we'll go 250 on the puck line. Again, one play, Columbus at Buffalo, Saturday afternoon. Columbus, a nickel on the money line and 250 on the puck line. So hopefully we get off to Schneid again, fade, follow, whatever. I don't take it personal. I am on a fucking bad bender. So one more note, though.

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Place bets. Restrictions apply. Visit BetMGM.com for the whole list of terms and conditions gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLE-UP all right boys it's been a long episode uh we got a nice interview for everybody but i think that pretty much wraps it up eh buy carlson merch buy the john carlson merch and the nbd hats we just dropped some really cool nbd hats so buy those as well so so so and guys you actually know what i'm feeling a little bit generous and we're not going to be dropping a podcast on monday following the super bowl so therefore the podcast will be dropped on february 4th which is the tuesday morning but

because we're not getting you the pod because that's such a crazy day as far as media surrounding the super bowl and you guys will will have enough to deal with that, is we will, in fact, though, drop the Sandbagger Invitational with Jimmy Hayes and Tim Stapleton brought to you by Boinkies, and we'll drop that on the Monday, February 3rd, so you guys can digest that. We'll talk about it a little bit on the February 4th pod, but then we'll follow it up the following Monday,

as I mentioned, with Tim Stapleton and Jimmy Hayes. Great job, Biz. The Fizz Nasty Fizzness man, Paul Bissonette. As always, we'd like to send a huge thanks to our awesome sponsors. Special thanks out to Phillips Noroco. Big thanks to Bud Light Salsa. Another big thanks out to Earnest. And a special Big thanks to Bud Light Salsa. Another big thanks out to Ernest.

And a special thank you to Paul Biznasty's company, Can I Brands. And finally, we want a special thank you out to Hydrant. Hopefully you folks are taking advantage of these situations. Oh, and also BetMGM. Check them out as well. So thanks, everybody. Take care. When it comes crashing down and it hurts inside You gotta take a stand, it don't help to hide

If you hurt my friends, can you hurt my pride? I gotta be a man, I can't let it slide Have you heard my friends? Have you heard my pride? I gotta be a man I can't let it slide I am a real American Fight for the rights of every man I am a real American