Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 247: Featuring Luca Caputi + NHL Trade Deadline

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

On Tuesday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Luca Caputi. Luca joins to talk about coaching in the OHL, phenom Shane Wright, buying clothes from Biz and a bunch more. The guys open the pod talking about the Barstool Pond Hockey tournament and David Ayres, the EBUG that came in to play for the Hurricanes against the Leafs and now has the whole hockey world talking about him. The boys also break down the entire NHL trade deadline, giving their insight on the big trades that took place. The guys wrap up with some NHL news including some injuries, signings, Ovi's goal quest and more.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 247 of Spit and Checklets presented by Pink Whitney from our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka here on the Barstool Sports Podcast family. We are coming to you from the Liberty Hotel in Boston and Business Suite Overlook on the Charles River. We're in town for the Pond Hockey Tournament this weekend. Let's say hi to the boys first. Grinnelly, producer, busting his balls.

Played a little hockey this weekend. How are you feeling, buddy? I feel sore, but I will say this. I sit here as the captain of the pond hockey team, embarrassed in front of you guys. I let you guys down as the captain, and I will take full credit for all the losses and everything as a captain. You don't get credit for losses.

Well, as the captain, that was on me, and I'll be better, boys. I'll be much better. But I will say this. I had my guy. The craziest part about all of it is we're going to Canada now. Where these kids do this all winter long. Waxed. This might be a massacre in Canada.

And I'm not putting my name on it. I'll be up there. But I have a few days here in order to whip you guys into shape. But we'll get into that during the episode. I'll let you continue the intros, R.A. Yeah. Next up, boy, the wit dog, Ryan Whitneyney it's nice to see you actually in person not in a hotel room down in florida with a golf course behind you i know that's where you'd rather be

but yeah exactly it's it's not cold here today though so i'm in a good mood and it's a pleasure to be with you guys as always when we get together these episodes seem to flow a little bit more easy kind of more our style i want to say thank you very much. I missed the cut. I missed the cut. I didn't play good. 80-79. I missed the cut by about eight shots, nine shots. Could have been ten shots. Just not good, but I had a blast. The members at

Palma Silla, this tournament they put on, just the coolest thing I've been a part of, so I can't wait to be back there, and I want to say thank you. It just sucked not playing well, but I met some great people, and I appreciate it. And be back there and I want to say thank you it just sucked not playing well but I met some great people and I appreciate it and Grinnelly I wanted to bring up to you you did though have some guys that you were not happy with uh yeah yeah there's definitely some guys on the team that I think everyone was not happy with and let's just jump right into it Rudy wow Rudy what the fuck buddy you're, buddy? You're a national champion. You're a national champion. Rudy's been taking a beating since this game.

What did you see out of him? I will be very honest about the situation. I saw about 40% to 50% of the overall action. Okay. Not enough to really... While I was watching, I was not impressed. I was impressed by YP. I loved his work ethic. I thought Riggs. I was impressed by YP. I loved his work ethic.

I thought Riggsie was actually pretty decent as well. I thought the ultimate real big letdown was Rudy. I was actually disgusted. And it just so happens lately he's – we talk about the production that we try to put on for you guys and the Sandbagger Invitational. He was one of the cameramen sent out to do that one well it was a windy day uh he didn't bring a fucking camera stabilizer uh sometimes while we were talking half of our head was cut off i wasn't i wasn't too pleased

with his performance at the sandbagger on a production standpoint so to our following i am very sorry and then he's coming out with all these TikTok videos. And I don't know, is this guy behind the camera or is he in front of the camera? Like, that's a question for you, Dave Portnoy. Is he a content guy or not? Okay. And if he's not a content guy,

why is he in front of the camera and then not worrying about his other responsibilities? So then he gets picked for our pawn hockey team. And also another disappointment just around the time, as I mentioned, too many TikTok videos. Get in the gym. Get your cardiovascular going. This is unacceptable.

He's got no lungs. So Rudy's been on a bit of a tough stretch here. So I'll allow him the chance to redeem himself north of the border. Did you have fun up in New Hampshire, though, outside of the hockey? I had a great time. I thought the turnout was unreal, not just the people who came to play, but I met so many listeners and fans of not just the Chiclets or the Bostos who came.

They woke up that morning and drove there just to hang out. I mean, some people drove two, three hours. I thought the event itself was a pretty good success. It was a tremendous success, so we've got to give out our thank yous here. Lisa Litvak was the one who was basically given the reins on most of it from Erica because it was Erica's idea, and they executed it perfectly. She came over from the NHL Network. Grinelli has some other names we need to thank.

I know all business. Pete was one of them. Yeah, Scott Crowder. He and his team ran everything. They were unreal. His pond hockey classic, they do that a few weeks earlier. It's an unbelievable tournament. Sean Brown and his guys at the Common Man, they made Friday night and Saturday

the party at all the restaurants at Lago. They are unbelievable. Seth Michelson, he was unbelievable. He's another guy with Barstool. He was running the whole show with Lisa. He was fantastic. MB and her team, Ian Solomon, Nick Mulcahy, unbelievable. And then just to go back to the people from Barstool. He was running the whole show with Lisa. He was fantastic. MB and her team, Ian Solomon, Nick Mulcahy. Unbelievable.

And then just to go back to the people from Barstool, Spider, Pete, Jen Simmons. A lot of tummy sticks here. Well, that's the thing, Witt. So many people were there because this was such a big event. We've never done something like this before. It was so big. And I said it to Brian Yandel before.

I think there was more people behind the scenes there from Barstool running this shit as opposed to just talent there. 100%. And we expected, what, 500, maybe 600 people to show up with participants and then walk-ups. There were, I think, 1,100 people there. So this turned into a winter fest. So next year what we're going to do is we're more than likely going to go back to that same location have you know the same band and then maybe even put on a dj as well afterward uh get more alcohol lines so we're going to start doing these over uh canada and the united states where we get to come and see all of our fans and throw on these awesome pawn hockey tournaments and have some fun biz i

uh i did get in a little scrap what did you what did you think yeah i gave a guy a black eye so we're gonna get some pictures online hit him with his rolex you got so anyway it was an awesome event grinelli it was fun you helped in putting it on as well let's move on to some hockey stuff that's not barstool related absolutely um one thing we've talked about in the show for a long time i've had a small obsession with i guess is the e-bugs emergency backup goalies and we've been lucky enough to talk to uh what's his name he actually got into a game in chicago but for the first time ever an emergency backup goalie got the w david ayers who normally is a zamboni driver for the ahl mollies helps out in maintenance at the old maple leaf gardens he's practiced with the Leafs a bunch.

He's practiced with the Mollies a shitload. He comes in because first Reimer got hurt, and then Mrazic got hurt in a vicious collision with Kyle Cliff. But we can get to that collision itself later. So now all of a sudden, this guy who drives his Amboni, helps clean the building, does all this blue collar stuff, he's deciding the game. He's in the game. And I've always said this to Witt. call of stuff he's deciding the game he's in the game and i've always said this to wit it's crazy to me how you know so much on the line the nhl the playoff rush that it takes two fluke injuries like that not even fluke injuries just two injuries to have a guy literally off the street deciding a game and he got the win the first ever win by a ebug goalie in nhl history i think that

that rule should never change even if even if they're available to have another goalie there that's a competent one it should be a normal civilian who is just off the street because it is to me one of the coolest things in all of sports when a normal member of society gets thrown in a professional game and then all of a sudden this guy ends up fucking getting a w first star of the week in the nhl he got a W. Luongo tweeted he's had more career wins in Toronto than he did. Listen, I actually, before we get into the whole situation, and let me tell you how my night went down when David,

actually, I'll go into that now. So I go out to dinner with two of my buddies, and we're with the wives. It's a great little Saturday night. I had just flown home from Tampa after missing the cut. Oh, well. So we're going to dinner, and we're sitting there, and all of a sudden uh one of my buddies gets a text from a big group chat where he's like dude uh carolina's goalie's out emergency goalie coming in there's eight minutes left in the second period what's going on here like we should live bet it so we go we go and we try to live bet it well what happens is it's not on the board so

we're sitting there and we're figuring they probably know. They're that ahead of it. Excuse me. Holy shit, do I talk much? They're that ahead of it where they know, all right, well, there's now a civilian in this game who's 42 years old and drives a Zamboni. So we've got to take this game off the board. Well, what happens next is all of a sudden Toronto gets the two goals. So I clip up.

I pull up the NHL app and I pull up. Let's see how these goals are, boys. The first one. You guys saw the first one. Just, I mean, he looked as civilian as you could look. It was on the ice from Tavares. Five hole. One of the worst goals you'll ever see.

And the next one's a point shot. Not really his fault, but he still looked kind of terribly out of position. He was at the top of the crease. So what do we do? Point shot. Not really his fault, but he still looked kind of terribly out of position. He was at the top of the crease. So what do we do? We lay the absolute hammer down on the Toronto Maple Leafs live. I'm like, this is a lock. They just scored two goals quick.

Now they're only down one. They were down four to one. They're going to get eight goals in the third period. So I pulled this up and watched it on my phone, and I watched it unfold. And let me tell you, to lose when you think you're that good and to see him come in and shut the door and not give up one goal, not only was the perfect slap in my face, because the karma for me to bet against this poor guy was just horrific. I'm trying to make money on a common man,

and this guy just shut me up and just slapping me. So I really respected the hell out of it. But just watching it and see it all go down and then seeing the Maple Leafs and Dubas, and oh my God, this team has been bad for a month. And they just lost to not only a men's league goalie, but a guy who drives the Samponi. Who is scheduled to be their backup goalie practices with

your ahl team sometimes it's one of the craziest stories and to have it happen to the maple leafs and to have it all go down that way where he did look horrific at the beginning and let me let me tell you at the beginning i explained the situation to the girls the wives they had no clue what an emergency goalie was and And they were so shocked. They actually all said, why wouldn't you put in a defenseman or a forward? And I said, well, because you're actually better off with a guy who knows how to play goalie. Like, we wouldn't even know how to put the pads on maybe. And then what if they get injured?

Right. So I kind of understood why they asked that. But I started thinking, as R.A. has brought this up before, the craziest part is the guy could play for either team. As R.A. has brought this up before, the craziest part is the guy could play for either team. So I start thinking, well, listen, if you got Rick from Red Deer or if you got Terry from Toronto and you think of how much they love their team, if this guy had any true passion for the Maple Leafs, he's getting into that game, dude, and literally letting in any single puck that goes at him. And they couldn't and the league couldn't do a thing about it. I'd actually fear for his safety at this point in Toronto.

A guy could do that and be very obvious about letting pucks in, and what are they going to do? You put him in league. Yeah, exactly. This is on you. Hey, let's talk about live betting. I'd be hitting up my old lady saying, hey. Well, I kind of thought that was going on after the first two.

I'm like, Jesus, Airzy. I mean, you're looking. But congrats to him because a lifetime dream for this guy and one of the coolest stories of the season. And his wife was live tweeting the events because she's thinking, hey, he's just going to the game. He's got a seat. She's on the couch at home watching television.

And next thing, her husband's in the fucking game, bro. She goes, she tweets out, fuck me. She did? Yeah. Oh, my God. I retweeted that. She had some great ones after that. But now, all of a sudden, this kid's on the biggest media tour.

And what I mean by kid, I mean grown man. Well, another thing, too, is that you see a couple things that just make you shake your head and really appreciate it. The first was the interview after the game. I don't know if you guys caught it, but it is so good. You could tell he's really nervous. He's got the Hockey Night in Canada towel, which is every player's dream to get that. You know, Biz, the towel post-game or intermission. You get the logo out, and he's got that, and he's talking.

He's like, yeah, I went into the third pair. I said, all right, boys. He was just one of the boys. I got us, guys. Don't worry. And he mentioned that, oh, I forget who the player was. One of the players. It might us, guys. Don't worry. And he mentioned that, I forget who the player was. It might have been Hala who just got traded. He came up to him and said, dude, even if you give up 10 goals, who cares?

Go in, do the best you can. Have some fun. Have some fun. And so that part really, the post-game interview, it was so good. And to see how fired up he was, that got me. And then you come to find out that this guy got a kidney transplant. Yeah. I think 15 years ago from his mother.

Yep. And what a story. I mean, dude, that guy, he could easily not even be here right now. And he got to live a dream. His dream came true in front of the whole hockey world, in the center of the hockey universe, as we all call Toronto. And I deserve to lose that bet because it was a win-win for me to see it happen like that. I'll let you take over right now, all right?

The oldest goalie all-time to win his regular season debut, 42 years old. So he's in the record books? He's in the record books. And I think if the Leafs somehow missed the playoffs by one point, and it was because of this one, that would be the most Toronto Maple Leafs thing ever to miss out on the playoffs because they lost to the Zamboni. Did he drive the Zamboni in whatever the arena is called? I think it's actually the old Maple Leaf Gardens.

I think that's what it's called now. Are you talking about their AHL rink? Yeah. I don't believe Rico Coliseum was the old Toronto Maple Leaf. I just wasn't sure if he drove the Zamboni in the NHL arena. You might get slammed for that because you said it at the beginning, but whatever.

It's all good. And I also, actually, I did read one comment that referred him as a former Zamboni driver. So, you know, you got to be careful. Now he has a win in the NHL. He's moved on. Also, Carolina Hurricanes handling it perfectly. Of course, doing the whole media car wash tour like two days in a row,

but also bringing them down to Carolina for their next game. They're selling his T-shirt jerseys, which part of the proceeds will go to him, and then part of the proceeds are looking into doing it into a liver foundation. Yeah, well, probably the kidney thing. A kidney, excuse me. Oh, God, my brain's not working right now.

And he's going to do the siren sound too. Then they rev up, you know, whatever. So they're going to, and I think they're declaring it David Ayers Day. Yeah, appropriately enough. Now, I want to ask you guys, like, how do you think the Leafs feel in the room after that? Like, and not to belittle the guy, but you lost to the guy who's not in the NHL. Like, I mean, are they feeling, like, extra shitty after that or what? Well, I thought after the game and their response to the Penguins clobbering

when they ended up beating them back 4-0. It was a great step. I thought, oh, here we go. I thought, okay, that was the pee-pee whack they needed. All right, let's go here. And then for that to happen after, it's like same old consistently inconsistent. Sheldon Keefe had a great quote after. He said, didn't even matter if they had a goalie.

We were horrific. I think they gave up 50 shots. I mean, when they get the game to 4-3 after the two goals when Ayers came in, the third period comes and they come out and give up two quick goals. It was just a really bad effort and it was funny. The 4-0 win, I think, had a lot of Leafs fans very hopeful for. All right, it's been a rough couple weeks here. That's a huge kind of win against a top team to get us going

and then you just have your lowest moment of the season. All right, guys, it's embarrassing, right? It's embarrassing to lose. You can lose a game in Toronto in a normal setting in which your goalie plays and you play against a normal goalie and nothing's different and be depressed after that. So to add that, it was just like a slap in the face while you're down. We have to go back to the Clifford collision.

Yes. And, I mean, any person who's ever played hockey and most people are in a full agreement that he's going to make a play on the puck. Mrazic makes a split the second decision. Then he commits to it. It was just unfortunate. To me, that does not lie on Clifford. That is accidental collision on Mrazik's part.

That's his fault, folks. No way Clifford could have expected him to do that. If you think otherwise, I think you're fucking dead wrong, and you need to change your opinion. Yeah, unfortunately, Mrazik was concussed on the play. Clifford was penalized for charging. But, I mean, what's he supposed to do? Not pursue the puck? He has as much right to the puck as Mrazek.

And I think he actually does beat him to it. I watched the replay. I slowed it down frame by frame. And I'm pretty sure he gets his stick on it before Mrazek does. It was just an unfortunate collision. It was just one of those things that happens in hockey. And, unfortunately, Mrazek got the brunt of it right there. If you come out of the net like that, it's like get your head up, man. You have to be aware of what's coming.

You don't have the safety of your crease anymore. And there is 100% respect to not run over a goalie. But we're now talking behind the net. We're now talking when they're playing the puck in a usual fashion. When a guy's going balls to the wall to a loose puck down 3-1, you don't necessarily know a goalie's coming 40 feet out of the net. Well, and on that angle as well, it's hard because if he's looking at the puck, he has to see Mraza coming out of the corner of his eye

and also assume that he's still coming by the time that thing's near the blue line or at least at the top of the circle you watch the replay and it doesn't look like he remotely had any chance or i'm not gonna say that he had no chance it doesn't look like he ever saw him though you see clifford staring at the puck and until the last second yeah how are you supposed to know yeah look like both guys go come in and didn't see each other so put it this way mirazic has a puck coming at him like that he ain't coming out of his net the next time. After something like that, let

the guy get it and make a save and let your back checkers get back. No coach ever wants to see his goalie going on a loose puck when you're talking about it being near the hash marks on the ball. Well, either way, we hope he's feeling good. I do got a quick word. If you're an athlete, you know how hard it is to find clothes

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Use the code SPIT. All right, boys, we're going to head on over to the ice right now. Lots of good stuff going on, and we want to send out congratulations to our boy Crossing Sausage, Alexander Ovechkin. He became the eighth player all-time to score 700 NHL goals, the first Russian to do it. Next up on the list is Mike Gardner, who has 708 goals. Ove's the second youngest to 700 after who?

99, Wayne Gretzky, who was just 29 when he did it back in 91, and only Gretzky did it in fewer games. Gretzky did it in 886 compared to Ove's 1,143. Witt, we've been talking about Ovi seemingly every week. Another milestone. I mean, what more can we say about the guy? Well, we've said so many things about this guy, R.A., since we began this podcast.

We've mentioned the ability to play at such a high pace while also playing so physical like a bull and yet rarely ever missing games to injury. I don't think he's ever missing games to injury. I don't think he's missed a game to injury since 2016. He knows exactly, everyone knows exactly where he's going to score from, yet he continues to do it. It's just like the superlatives go on and on.

The type of player he is, you may never see someone like him again. But what I thought when he hit 700 was truly like the race is on. It's now like, I don't know what happened. Hitting 700 is like, all right, 894 is now his goal. Because I think that you're, I think he's going to at least get to second. I really think that that's almost a, not a guarantee, but I think he'll be number two. And then it's, can he catch Gretzky? So you continue to see him just not slow down another

40 this year and he's what does he have 20 games left he could easily get 52 this year and he took a little while to get 700 we talked about that but now it's become realistic and we've continued to bring it up and biz thinks i think you've mentioned you think he's going to do it but that's what i thought about and i actually thought it was pretty cool that the quotes Gretzky had in which, you know, after the record, or not the record, the 700th goal happened, Gretzky went out and said that I'm a big believer that records are made to be broken, and what I accomplished I'm very proud of. It's hard to do what I did, and it's really hard to do what he's doing now,

but there's no question in my mind that he has a real legitimate chance of doing it. The two things that you need, you've got to stay healthy, and he's proven that over his career he plays hard and he stays healthy and secondly you've got to be on a good team and he plays on a good team so to hear gretzky kind of come out and mention that i think he also said i'll see you at 800 because everyone's thinking like is this a real possibility now and i think he's proven it to be um maybe at least a chance of this going down i mean i was gonna say you've pretty much covered it all there i think he's proven it to be maybe at least a chance of this going down. I was going to say you've pretty much covered it all there.

I think he's the greatest goal scorer the world has ever seen. Oh, yeah, your tweet had a little bit. It cost a little bit of fire. Yeah, I mean, let the debate begin. I think if he passes Gretzky as far as number of goals, given the fact that goalies are so much better. Bigger. They're bigger they're the best athletes on the ice uh there's been always going to be counter arguments as well

though the hooking and grabbing back then the fact that there was a red line the technology was nowhere near where it is now so there's always going to be that that fight and the fact that gretzky did it way faster. But here's the thing, though. When Gretzky hit the 90s and goaltending started getting way better, his goal production deteriorated very quickly. So what Ovechkin's doing in the second half of his career is I believe we've never seen anything like it

and anyone been able to maintain that number of goals he's scoring at that rapid of pace so to me by the time it's all said and done he will undeniably be the greatest goal scorer of all time debate over people people also love to throw Mario just based on the fact that how much he did it for little amount of games that he played. So Mario, I believe, is the top or one of, if not second or third, as far as goals per game, and it's over.6. Yeah, I got just the goals in front of me, not goals per game. Listen, we don't need to go on.

They're all incredible. They're all being the top three, and he just announced that he's having another baby. So congratulations. Stay hot, Ovi. Holy shit, this guy's scoring on and off the ice. And Gretz said that when it gets closer, hopefully he can follow around Ovechkin similar like Gordie Howe did

when Gretzky was chasing his record. Oh, he was following around then? Yeah, yeah. Howe was kind of going game to game. You know, he wanted to be there when he broke the record. And you know, Gretzky could score fucking five goals in a game back then, so he had to be there for a lot of them. Also, too, Ovechkin has 27 hat-tricks, natural or otherwise,

11 40-goal seasons, and the last player to 700 goals was Jagger back on March 1, 2014, when he was with the Devils. So it's been a few years since we got one. But the trade deadline, that's what we're all here for. That's what we're delayed for. And speaking of the Caps, the rich got richer as the Metro leading squad traded for Canadian Ilya Kovalchuk. The Caps sent their third rounder in June to Montreal,

and the Habs will retain 50% of the salary. And per Dmitry Filipovich yet again Kovalchuk is currently taking up cap space on four different teams that's hilarious and our boy our boy Igor giggles Aronko reported that Kovalchuk had a choice of two teams and he picked the caps over the bees biz let's go to you first for your take on this deal I'm gonna have to see it play out I mean he had a great start in Montreal. Towards the end, he wasn't producing like he had been when he first got there,

so that Cinderella story kind of wore out. I believe Burger Van said that they would be open to re-signing him once free agency hit, but the fact that they're able to get him for a $750,000 contract and then flip him for a third rounder, I mean, hey, you've got to score that as a win for Bergervan. And as far as the Caps are concerned, I don't know. I mean, it could be one of those things where you think

it's going to be some fairytale ending because Kovalchuk's going to get to play with Ovechkin, and I'm sure they have a history, and I'm sure they loved playing together when they played in the Olympics and World Championships together. So who knows, though? Do I think that's the move that's going to end up getting Washington over the hump? No. I think that maybe he's able to get into that lineup

and make some type of contribution. Who knows, though? Maybe he's the type of guy who's going to be an in-and-out guy. I don't know. I don't know where he lies in a way better and deeper lineup. And I think you'd be stupid if you're Washington to scramble up the depth lines in order to implement a guy who he doesn't execute those roles to the best of what it should be.

So interesting move, to say the least. I really like the Dylan one, but hey, we'll see how this one pans out. Very well said. Kovalchuk made me look stupid at the beginning in Montreal, but you know, there were still games when you could see there's a pace could be an issue.

I think he made it clear though, that he chose to go there. Right. All right. Did you say that before? Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

I didn't know. I might've missed that, but it makes sense. You try to win a Stanley Cup with Aleksandr Ovechkin. They're very good friends. You've seen pictures of them together on each other's Instagrams. Tons of national teams together. So I think that's obviously his choice, but I don't know if he'll be able to play at the pace when the playoffs,

especially the second, third round, gets going. But I've been wrong before about him. Am I crazy when I said that his production did drop off? I thought we mentioned a couple episodes after that little scoring streak he had. He went six games without a point. Yeah. So he'd been struggling a little bit offensively. But, hey, I mean, we've been wrong about him before, as you said, Witt.

So best of luck to them. And what else we got? Kovalchuk was also extremely complimentary of Montreal. It was the best decision he's ever made in his entire life. It's like family there, and he also encouraged upcoming free agents that are going there if they're hesitant to go to Montreal. He's like, absolutely, go ahead.

It's like a family there. Awesome. That's really cool. I wonder, would you set a line over under of how many playoff goals each score? What would you set it at? I'd say four and a half. Okay. So that tells me you think they're at least going two rounds um yeah i guess yeah yeah that's what you think about how long yeah i think the caps i mean you

know i like that number they're built they're built to second 10 so are you a believer you're going you're going over four and a half yeah well i'll set the line of four and a half i don't know if i'm necessarily betting it right now but i I think 4.5 is a fair number. Either way, I did just mention he picked the Caps over the Bees. And speaking of the Bees, they made a move to solidify their middle six as they traded for Anaheim's Andre Kasha, and it cost them this year's first rounder, defensive prospect Axel Anderson. And they got rid of the David Backus deal.

They had to keep 25% of it, but that's a deal a lot of people didn't think they'd ever be able to unload, but they did. As a Bees fan, I like this deal by Sweeney. If this kid can stay healthy, man, that middle six for the Bees just got that much better, and it'll have that ripple effect on the lineup. I don't know how good along the walls he is. I know he does work hard. He does play with a good pace.

Really skilled. He's really skilled. He is undersized this could be one of those moves that end up panning out just because he's surrounded by better players and even though he's a little bit deeper in the lineup he's still playing with guys that you know maybe could help him add to those point totals so this could end up being a genius move and the fact that they're able to get backacchus off the books, at least 75% of it, I don't mind it. Although there was an article, I wouldn't put this in the same category though, R.A.,

is Dom, I can't pronounce his last name from The Athletic, he wrote an article about the amount of teams that when they give up a first rounder for a player to help them for a push, how often it doesn't actually pan out. So it's, I don't know, in today's NHL, that's why I said I think it's a little crazy some of these teams are making moves and giving up their future when they're, to me, nowhere near a contender at this point. But going against that and contradicting myself, it seems like there's a lot of teams that think that there's not really a big front runner this year and that's why teams are taking a stab at it they think if they just get

in the dance that everybody's got a fair chance to win it now do you see that as the case i don't think that everyone who gets in has a chance to win it but i certainly think it's way much more open than other leagues now the Bruins aren't really one of those examples because they realize they do. What would you say the Bruins have three years from now? That's their big window, the next four years, right? I mean, when Bergeron's going to be done, when Trower's going to be done.

Yeah, I mean, you understand that Kasha also, it's Kasha, right? He has another, he's also signed next year. And I think they're thinking, when you talk about finding the second line And the scoring depth that you need in the playoffs This is a kid from Czech And you think of David Krejci

And what he can do Every single time the Bruins make a run To the cup finals If he's not their best player he's right up there So they get a guy like him Who's able to center this kid They're from the same country. He has skill.

He's able to score. So it's going to be, can he fit into the Bruins system of everyone's pretty responsible. Everyone plays on that D side of the puck. And if he's not willing to do it, he won't play. But they have him signed for next year too. So I think that was important to have a little term on it. R.A., I believe I was talking to you and you said, and this wasn't an insult to him, but you said Krejci is very particular about who he plays with correct yeah he's been known to be pretty finicky about his

wingers over the years and is that why the Heinen thing didn't work out uh I'm not sure that Krejci was why that's another trade too we were just about to get to that wasn't the only trade between Boston and Anaheim Boston also sent in a separate deal Danton Heinen uh in exchange for Nick Ritchie uh I think they might have just felt like Heinen hasn't really turned the corner. He looked like he was going to be more of an offensive threat, I think, early in his career. And he just, I mean, he's pretty good in his own end. I just don't think he really contributed a shitload this year.

But I don't think it really had anything to do with David Krejci. I think they wanted to get tougher. And not to get too far off base here, but one of the frustrations, at least i would have as a fan is i believe keeping heinen was a reason that achari was not able to be re-signed with boston and that would frustrate me seeing the success he's having in florida right now so let's not go too deep into that but uh what do you guys think of getting richie i think that if you look at when they got beat up

and pushed around against the Blues, this is a guy who will allow you not to be beat up and pushed around. He kind of does that to the other team. So I don't know how he's going to fit in offensively or where in the lineup. I'm guessing at the bottom of the lineup, but still he'll be able to bring a physical element that if you think of their team, Wagner brings it. You know, Bergeron's physical in his own right.

Would you say a poor man's Pat Maroon? Yeah, I think that he's big enough. Yeah, I don't think he has the offensive skill that Maroon has in terms of hands down low and around the net, but physicality-wise he can bring it, and he's not going to let his team or line be pushed around. So I see the move in terms of looking at how you lost in the finals. And Heinen, I think, has kind of gone down offensively each year in the league.

I mean, there's times he kind of gets it and nothing gets done. I'm not saying he's not good away from the puck, but when he got it, it seemed that the play would kind of fizzle out a little bit. So they're ready to move on and try to kind of change the way they play in terms of personnel being a little bit heavier after the shit-kicking the Blues gave them. Yeah, I think they basically kind of put Koschei, I mean, not that they traded Heinen because of Creachy,

like you said, but they basically put Koschei in the second line and Nick Ritchie will toughen up the bottom six. All right, I think we've talked about the Bs long enough. All right, absolutely, buddy. Yeah, the Oilers also made a big move, traded for 34-year-old defenseman Mike Green, who will be UFA this summer. He waived his no-trade clause to go to Edmonton.

In return, they sent forward Kyle Brodziak and a conditional pick to Detroit. Biz, what was your take on this one, picking up Mike Green? I have not watched a lot of him. He has struggled with detroit this year that's not a good indication of where he's at as a player because their team in general has really struggled um that's snapchat steve we're bringing some bottles in the background there if you heard that noise uh but uh i i would imagine if the oilers thought to sell properly

that this is a guy who can come in, maybe help take a little bit of pressure off a couple of their D-men who are power play, penalty kill, and playing a decent 5-on-5 amount in order to not only bolster a very good power play, especially when Neal comes back, but as I said, if down the stretch and they do squeak into playoffs, maybe a guy like Darnell Nurse doesn't have to focus so much on power play time more so five on five shutting down other guys

other teams top lines and also being a fucking mutant in front of that on a penalty kill yeah I think that if you if you see the side of Oilers fans who don't like the deal is Mike Green's been pretty poor on the power play in Detroit this year. So if you bring him in to kind of help with that, they'd almost rather maybe give Ethan Bear a shot because of the numbers you've seen Mike Green put up. But everyone has bad numbers with Detroit this year, man. I mean, this is like they're going down as one of the worst teams in the last 10 years. So you can't really judge a guy based on what you've seen this season.

10 years. So you can't really judge a guy based on what you've seen this season. Now going back, you know, the past couple of years, Mike Green is certainly not what he once was in Washington. The skill playmaking wizard that could just score the way better than most forwards could. But if he can go in and help a little bit,

I don't think he's going to be playing a ton of minutes there. I think that if you get him on the second power play, maybe even the first power play, if he's feeling good and get some sort of mojo with McDavid or Dreitz title, it's kind of a low-risk move by them. And if you look at kind of who they gave up in Brodziak, who isn't playing a huge role with them and is older as well, that you give a defenseman, it's like you can never have enough puck movie defense.

How do you think I lasted so long? Well, the way I described it is that's what they're thinking best case scenario. Worst case scenario, he becomes an insurance policy. Exactly. In case one of their guys who does work a power play goes down and, hey, they got a repairman to just get in there and fix the job. Is that the only deal they made or I believe? No, they made another deal with the same team.

Oh, Anthony Siu. Yeah. Well, there's also got Andreas Anthony Asiyu and forward Ryan Kufnuf, Sam Gagne, a second in 2020 and a second in 2021. Anthony Asiyu, obviously the centerpiece of this deal. He's in the last year of a two-year, $6 million deal. He is restricted after this year.

Still just 25 years old. Whit, let's go to you on this one. I think if you've watched Anthony Seale play in his five or six year NHL career, one guy you could always say is imagine if he played with McDavid because last year Anthony Seale was dominant some games. 30 goal score on a bad team. This year he hasn't been great but the wheels are at a level that you think of Connor McDavid. I mean there's not many people that could actually keep up with him. Well, this is one guy who will.

That doesn't at all mean that they're going to play together or that it'll work. But at least in your mind, you think of a guy who can score and can skate the way McDavid can. Wow, what if this does work out? So it makes sense. Now, I've never heard a good thing about this guy's attitude. I really haven't. And I haven't heard much this year but beforehand it's like you know there's a cockiness there in terms of acting like you maybe have done some things you haven't really done yet uh now when you get a 30 goal season it's

maybe a little bit easier to kind of show a little bit of cockiness you you did have a season in which not many do uh every year in the nhl but i don't know i mean he makes three million he's got 10 goals so you can see why detroit's thinking well we don't want him in NHL. But I don't know. I mean, he makes $3 million. He's got 10 goals. So you can see why Detroit's thinking, well, we don't want him in our future plans, and we don't really know what's going on. But he's going to be ready to move on. And they get a couple assets. I mean, what did you say?

A second-round pick? And what else? Let's see. Besides gags? Gagne, a second in 2020 and a second in 2021. Okay. So two second-round picks. I mean, you can find some good players there.

I do feel bad for Sam Gagne who I got the chance to play with. An unreal guy. Played in the NHL at 18 with Edmonton. Then you saw him bounce around a little bit. Went back there this year and was doing well. I think he battled a little bit of injury or right now he might be injured. I might be mistaken there.

He gets the chance where it looks like Edmonton's going to make the playoffs and could possibly go on a run and gets traded to Detroit. So you feel bad for a guy like that, but you understand that there is an ability that Anthony – a chance that Anthony Seale could just break through there and pop off. I completely agree. We can move on after that. Yeah, lots of folks are wondering where Ottawa center Jean-Gabriel Pe pegeau is going to end up and he's going to long island uh the isles gave up a

few picks for the 27 year old pegeau is making 3.1 million this year and he would have been a ufa after this season but the island has also re-upped them six year 30 million dollar deal uh let's see in return the sends add to their bounty of picks. The second rounder in 2020 is for certain, while the other two picks they got are conditional. We can waste a half a show talking about the conditions. No conditions. You folks can look them up online. They're just way too much detail to go into these.

But Peugeot, man, did you think he was going to end up on Long Island? I always say I expect the unexpected. I think this is a perfect example why. Yeah, and then you look at their lineup too and you're like damn they're pretty well spread out and they got that fourth line that plays very physical and that has great chemistry together uh once everyone gets back healthy and yeah that's a perfect little little fit in there too and they end up signing to extension i don't know if you've mentioned that yet, five years at $5 million per, which, I mean, from what I hear, that's a pretty solid deal. I mean, of course he's going to be happy with it,

but another one that I would call a win for Lou based on what he probably could have gotten free agency. So nice move by the Islanders. They show a team that at the beginning of the year I wrote off. I didn't think they were going to be able to repeat and get to playoffs again, but I believe that they do have a very solid team. And once again, is it the year where anyone can merge as Stanley Cup champion? Is there really a frontrunner given Tampa Bay, their non-success last year?

We will see. This trade, not often do you see something go down and pretty much the majority of the reactions be be the same and that what a deal and kind of the perfect fit for the islanders this is a guy who is like a big time two-way center he the the offense this year I know he's always been good offensively but I don't know if it's been like this level. I mean, he's probably going to get 30 goals. He's got 24 already, 40 points, 60 games, while also being, I mean, this is a really good penalty killer.

You can put him out there against top lines. Now Broussard can play wing in Long Island, right? He gets pushed back to wing because they were short one center, and it's like the Barry Trotz type player. You know, we talk about matt barzell once in a while maybe tries to do a little bit too much yeah in terms of what barry trotz wants i don't think you're going to be dealing with us with pejor if he doesn't have a play he gets it in deep he's smart he's really really good defensively people don't really understand that that's probably the best part of his game so if you look at that whole lineup and how they play the perfect addition i

love the deal when i did see the return in the first, second, third round pick, I thought it was a lot. So it made total sense that you see him sign the extension because I don't think you could give all that up for just what you thought was a rental. It made sense when you saw the return that there was going to be an extension in place. In a sense, they're doing lots of asset management. If you take a look at Cab Friendly, how many picks they have. Well, they also sent Vladimir Nemesnikoff to Colorado for a fourth in 2021, to keep on adding. We won't talk about this one long, but another one where, to me, the risk to reward, this could end up popping off.

He plays at a very high pace. He's very high skilled. We all know that's how Colorado likes to play. And if they're just adding another guy to the lineup who's able to do that, whether he fits in or not, who knows? But guess what? They only gave up a fourth rounder for him. To me, that's not bad at all.

And I'm going to call it now, as I did on Sportsnet National Broadcast today, not a big deal, is I think that's going to be the undercover best deal, the deadline, based on return for a fourth rounder. That's my call right there. Wow, that's your call. I think he's going to... Domestikov, the deal of the year. I would, based on return.

So, like, the fact that they gave up a fourth rounder, I think they're one of the front runners in the West. And, yeah. And he's going to fit in nice. Yeah, I think he's going to put up some points there. Glad and nice. Actually, boys, we haven't mentioned our guest. We're not bringing him on quite yet,

but we do have Luca Caputi coming on a little bit. He played professionally for several years, and he's currently the associate coach of the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL. Just want to mention that. Like I said, we we get several more trades to get to before we bring on Luca though uh this was a trade I think a lot of people were surprised by Vincent Trocek uh was traded by Florida to the Canes uh for Eric Holler, Lucas Walmark uh and then a couple prospects E2 uh Luster Renan is a Finnish name and a defensive prospect, Chase Prisky.

He's currently in the AHL. You know, Trocek, he's battled some injuries lately. When he's on, he's one of the better bargains in the league at 4.75 mil per season. He still has two more years left after this one. Let's see, 10 goals, 26 assists in 55 games played this year. Whit, let's go to you first. Were you shocked, seemingly everybody else, that he ended up in Raleigh?

No, I wasn't shocked by that. I mean, I was surprised at where he ended up, I guess. I wasn't shocked that he was traded because you heard his name kind of being out there. You heard Brodine in Minnesota that we talked about. You just heard different rumblings that the Panthers wanted kind of a defenseman back. And it ends up being a haul of players. Oh, no pun intended with Eric Hall being one of them. But it seemed like ever since Troach's injury, you know, it wasn't going the same way it had been before.

And I think he was in, was it last year at the beginning of the year or midway through the year? So he's got 10 goals right now, but still 36 points. And I think he could really help Carolina and it's a good trade. But I also think of how much that they gave up, right? I mean, granted, you don't know how long Eric Hall will be there. But that Chase Prisky, he was really good in college. He's a rookie. He's a first-year pro.

He's having a good year in the AHL. So maybe that's a defenseman that can kind of help. I think Florida or thought Florida would get somebody that could help him now try to get into the playoffs. But instead, they make a trade that I don't necessarily think makes them that much better. You know what I mean? If you look at the deal, you said this too, R.A.

Will the Panthers be that much better than they are right now in getting rid of Trochek? I think what happens is they maybe see him as a depreciating asset based on what they're paying him in salary, and they saw an opportunity where maybe he does have this year and maybe one more year left, but where they think he's going to kind of start tailoring off. Hey, I haven't watched him enough.

I haven't seen him play since coming back from his injury. I can't make that call. I'm just saying is play since coming back from his injury. I can't make that call. I'm just saying is that maybe a thought process behind why they got rid of him based on the fact they have not been getting the goaltending that they expected to get, what they paid Bobrovsky. Maybe they also think, hey, it's just a matter of time before the goaltending does turn around and he does catch fire. So maybe at that point in time, hey, we can see an opportunity to move him.

Things are going to get better in that, and still we're going to maintain and maybe even be a little bit better than we have been at this point. And the Canes certainly weren't done with just that trade. They also sent their first rounder to the Rangers, defenseman Brady Shea. I don't think anyone saw that happening. That was a big deal. Shea has four more years on his current contract.

Annual salary cap hit of $5.25 million. That was a big deal. Shea has four more years on his current contract. Annual salary cap hit of $5.25 million. That's a big deal right there, Whit. Another defenseman move. Yeah, a guy that I think he makes over $5 million a year. Five and a quarter. Five and a quarter. And maybe the Rangers think that they weren't seeing a player that is worthy of that pay.

I think that there was times when Rangers fans loved seeing Brady Shea. I mean, Jesus Christ, by the way, you're losing maybe the hottest guy in hockey, too, off to Raleigh. So, tough loss in the man rocket department for the Rangers. But I don't think that they saw a guy who was kind of growing into the player when he came into the league earlier that they thought

the ceiling would be. Now, this is maybe them just thinking, all right, we're paying this guy a ton of money. We got Tony D'Angelo coming up. He's going to be restricted, but the year he's had, they want to pay him, right? He's a D-man. And then this Adam Fox kid, he'll be up in a year or two. He's a rookie, and he's

lighting it up. It's kind of an asset where you look and you're able to move him. So Carolina gets better. They need a D-help. They don't have Dougie Hamilton with that injury, so that's tough. didn't didn't stop there they got Vatanen as well right yep not done yet Gaines also got defenseman Sammy Vatanen from the Devils for a second round in prospect Yane Kukanainen another Finnish name tripped me up Kukanen but he's in the AHL right now he's had seven games with carolina

last year i will say this about carolina they have the biggest balls when it comes to making moves like they're like they're throwing in 2d into their lineup but you don't know how that's going to shift play you don't know if they're going to fit into that system i mean credit the coaches if they're able to get these guys on board and dialed in to exactly how they play very soon. Because holy shit, man, they just fucking make moves, man. They are not afraid. I love that fucking team. And now they're doing the David Ayers thing.

They just get it, man. Oh, absolutely. And I would say this little Kane segment is brought to you by Budweiser, the beer that's helping bring guys together. Along with Bud Seltzer, Budweiser Canada is back, and our official beer of spitting chiclets for 2020. Bud is helping us guys get together for pond hockey in Toronto this weekend. They're sponsoring the Laying In On The Line Hottest Shot Contest,

where the winner can go up against our boy Grinelli to see who wins a signed Budweiser buzzer in the year's supply of Budweiser. Wow, that's a pretty good deal. Yikes on my behalf. It's an easy win for whoever gets up against him. Yeah, I was going to say, I may even jump in on that. And Witt, Biz, I'm not sure if you saw this part, but the late on the line bet for Pond Hockey about Grinelli.

What's the over-under and how many goals Grinelli will score at Pond Hockey? Let's go to you first, Biz. Well, Grinelli, how many did you get in the New Hampshire one? I think I had four. Oh, but who's counting? Oh, I was definitely counting. All right. Okay, so we'll set it at four,

and we all know the competition's going to get harder, but I'm going to get confident in the fact that you will be digging in a little harder in order to redeem yourself, so I'm going to say over four. So what do you think, Whit? I'm on the under. No doubt about it. Because of the Canadian competition. Exactly. These guys,

it's like, you're a small fish, or a fish in a barrel, right? What's the saying? Big fish in a small pond? Big fish in a small pond in New Hampshire? Go up to Canada Men's League. Go see the pond hockey up there, Grinnelli. You might get one goal.

You just tried to collab two sayings that involve fish. Yeah, I know. So what are you guys going to bet on it? I'm hungry. I don't want to bet too much because I'm betting on them to fail. You decide. $200. All right.

Sure. Let's go. Done. All right. Budweiser is the classic lager. A beer as dependable as the friends you share it with. We can't wait to get together in Toronto for Pond Hockey. If you're anywhere near there, make sure you come out, watch all the games,

and say hi to the boys. We love interacting with you folks. Meanwhile, back to the trades. We've got a bunch more to get through here. There were quite a few, no doubt about it. Let's see. Robin Lehner, he went from Chicago to Vegas as the Hawks got Malcolm Subban, a second rounder, and defensive prospect Slava Demon in return.

Vegas also grabbed Nick Cousins from Montreal for a fourth rounder in 2021. Let's see. The Leafs sent Goli Michael Hutchinson to the As for defenseman Callie Rosen. The Hawks also sent, sorry, I should have did that. The Hawks also sent defenseman Eric Gustafson to Calgary for a third round in 2020.

You guys want to chime in? Well, I want to hop in on the Vegas Gold Knights. Part of their issue this year so far has been goaltending, although they have been playing well as a team lately. Currently the hottest team in the league with six wins in a row, seven, two, and one their last ten. Malkin has been good since uh since deborah's moved over although he does let in quite a few goals and the team's been able to help him out as far as goal support so no brainer here because flower has not been up to his old ways uh so far this year overall

this is an insurance policy a guy who only has the rest of the year on his deal so if it doesn't work out hey no no really risk associated to it although what was the return what did they give up to get him uh it was malcolm subin uh but but second rounder and uh defensive prospect so you know second round is a good little deal. Second round is a very healthy return. Especially because he probably won't be re-signed by Vegas. Can't imagine that. But it is good to know for a team that is planning on going to the Cup, trying to make another run, that they have some depth.

Because if Flower isn't playing his best or somehow or ever to be injured, I think it's fair to say if Malcolm Subban was their backup and the guy coming in, they don't really have much of a chance to go on a run, whereas Leonard could get real hot and help them continue to win even without Fleury in net. Yeah, and it might be to light a fire under his ass a little bit too because this guy could steal your job. Oh, at this point, yeah, if he comes in and plays great and Fleury struggles,

I mean, they could go with him. I mean, it's all about who's feeling it and who's playing well the 10, 15, 20 games leading into playoffs. Absolutely. Another name people are very curious about, Wayne Simmons. He ended up in Buffalo. Buffalo, I believe, about eight points out of the playoffs

right now. New Jersey got a conditional fifth rounder in 2021 for him, and the Devils also retained 50% of his salary. You guys, I mean, you would have thought he would have ended up on a better contender, I guess, right? Yeah, but I also think that Buffalo's trying to show the team and the fan base we're not out of this.

We think we can go on a run. I mean, you've seen what Eichel's done, and if this guy can really come in and score and help us, then you never know. I mean, chances of them getting in are very slim right you can be realistic and look at the chance of of them getting into the playoffs being eight points out right now is is probably not going to happen but they weren't sellers and they weren't well they they made they did make a couple other trades but they at least brought something in where it doesn't show the team that all right we know we're done and we're kind of just going to ride this thing out until

the regular season ends. Yeah I was shocked to see it but hey who knows I've seen crazier things They also flipped the Sabres they also flipped forwards Connor Sherry and Evan Rodriguez to the Pens for our forward Dominic Cahoon which you know we talk about they want to look like they're keeping

the season alive but and then they do kind of a salary dump there. It seemed like more than anything else. So a couple other moves here. Let's see. Our buddy Nate Thompson, he went from Montreal to the Flyers for the Flyers' fifth rounder in 2021. So good for Nate, man.

I'm assuming Philly gets in the playoffs. He'll get a nice kick at the can. The Flyers also snagged Derek Grant from the Ducks for forward Kyle Criscolo in a fourth in 2020. And the Pens, they also picked up Patrick Marleau from San Jose for a third-round pick. Should the Pens win the Cup, the pick becomes a second-rounder. Were you surprised that Marleau got dealt biz or no? Yeah, I was a little bit.

I could see why Pens would want to bring him in, though, just for a little bit of experience. I mean, they're clearly in a make-a-run mindset. So, no, I'm happy for him. I was sad that Joe Thornton didn't get to move over to Boston. I think everybody was dreaming that one would happen. That would have made for an unbelievable storybook. Yeah, I don't really have much else to say. Buddy Andy Strickland out in St. Louis,

he noted this morning that Big Buff will not be playing anywhere at all this year. There was some scuttlebutt that he might get dealt before the deadline, and people didn't know what he was doing because it's Buff, and he kind of disappears, but he's definitely not going to be playing this year. His future, obviously, will be determined at a later time. And we got a big congrats to our good pal, Scotty Upshaw, who officially hung them up. I don't think it was a real surprise, but he made the announcement on the year.

He's a good friend of the program, so we want to give him a big hug and a big congrats on a dynamite career. Right, Biz? Absolutely. Shockingly, he did it on television where he looked as handsome as possible, and the makeup crew had hit him up right beforehand. television where he looked as handsome as possible and the makeup crew had hit him up right beforehand he had his uh his uh his jersey on from what's the fun spangler cup jesus christ biz figure it the fuck out um and and i mean yeah congratulations on a what 15 year career yeah great run for the

up dog he said it's time it's time to get on the golf course i'm sure you'll be seeing him on tv he's a guy that doesn't seem like someone that might take retirement the wrong way. I mean, I think he's ready to just be living it up. He's been living it up since he was born. Yep. No doubt about it. Good luck to him in the future going forward. I'm pretty sure that's all the trades now. There was a shitload going on. We were doing interviews all day. I don't think we missed any major ones. There might have been one or two we didn't mention that might not have rose to the level of getting mentioned. If we did miss

one, we apologize. I think we got them all, but we're going to move along with some other stories. Our beautiful boy Hank, Hank Lundquist was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career on Friday night in Raleigh. Igor Shosturkin and Alexander Gorgiev

basically the two goalies who started that night. He never watched the game before. Also, we do want to note before we kick off, I'm sorry, I should have got to that first. A couple guys were in a car accident today. It was Igor Shosturkin and Pavel Buknevich. They're both okay, according to John Davidson. We just want to send our best wishes to them.

Obviously, terrible news to hear. You know, you hear car accident, but it sounds like they're going to be fine. We just want to send our best wishes. But anyways, back to them. Obviously, terrible news to hear. You know, you hear car accident, but it sounds like they're going to be fine. We just want to send our best wishes. But anyways, back to Hank. He's going to be 38 next week. He's got one more year left at $8.5 million. He has a no-move plus, so he doesn't have to go anywhere

if he doesn't want to. Are the Rangers trying to force his hand here or what? I can't say that that would be the case. I mean, it's pretty shocking though to see him not be one of the two goalies. You know, I mean, for them to be saying, listen, our best chance to win if the starter goes down isn't you, it's crazy. I mean, you want to say that it would make total sense that they do move on. Now, he doesn't have to.

He deserves to finish his career as a New York Ranger if he wants to, and then they'll be forced to trade one of the other guys because of Hank's contract. I don't think they want to be doing these three next year. You've got to think before next season that they're down to two. And if it's Lundqvist and he can see a team where he would be the starter and maybe get a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, maybe he does want to move on.

But in the end, he's deserved because of the contract he signed, because of prior performance and what he'd done as a Ranger. And since he came into this league, he has the right to not go anywhere if he doesn't feel like it. So I'd just be surprised if this becomes the norm where he's the third goalie and not even dressing for games, that if he'd want to sit part and have it all end like that.

We'll see what happens. But right now it is weird that – What a shame that would be. I know. It's such a weird thing. It's like the game – I don't know what his relationship with is with – it's Quinn, right? Yeah.

Whereas it's such a difficult decision for him. I mean, you'd think as a head coach, especially a new guy who just stepped in, I know how I would be. But whereas it's such a difficult decision for him, I mean, you'd think as a head coach, especially a new guy who just stepped in, I know how I would be. I'd say, hey, this guy's earned the respect of this city because he's put so much blood, sweat, and tears into this organization. He's going to get the net until he doesn't want to

or the GM stops signing him to contracts, right? But then on the other side of it, he's getting criticized by the whole city if he's him to contracts, right? But then on the other side of it, he's getting criticized by the whole city if he's not winning games, right? So is Quinn being thrown to the wolves at this point? Is he telling Hank, like, hey, listen, man, I got to put these other two guys there because they're my best chance to win

because if I don't win, I'm not going to be here much fucking longer. Yeah, you can't worry about feelings. I mean, last year was his first year as coach, and they struggled. This year, you could say david quinn's done as good of a job as anyone in the nhl right but in the meantime of maybe getting a few more wins and the team playing better which they have i mean they have been one of the better teams as of late and you're burying a legend in the city it's hard because if you turn half the fan base on you because of that decision, are you digging your own grave

for when things aren't going as well? Yeah, I just – if you're winning games right now, it's like what fan is going to be mad at me? Diehard Henrik Lundqvist fans? Maybe. It's such a difficult job being the head coach of an NHL team. You know, and since January 7th, the Rangers ranked third in the NHL in wins, tied for first in regulation wins, tied for third in points,

and tied for fourth in point percentage, and also ranked fourth in goals per game, fifth in goals against per game. So there's been some serious improvement from that team. They're just four points out of a playoff spot right now. And, you know, I mean, you got to roll with the hot goalie. And, you know, it's just a tough position for Hank. And this might be a case of when they drafted a couple goalies

who they thought eventually could take over for Hank. It just so happens they won the lottery and got two very good goalies. Not saying that they drafted both of them, but now they're in control of two very competent NHL net minors. I'm not saying Hank can't go in somewhere else if he wants to and perform up to NHL competent number 1A standards. But it seems as though they've got a couple guys who are better than him. A couple other names, guys who didn't go anywhere,

and in fact they're going to stay put for a little longer before we do get to the interview. Chris Kreider was a guy that everyone thought was going to get dealt. He's staying in New York, signed a seven-year, $45.5 million extension. Rocco Grimaldi down in Nashville, he signed for two years, $4 million. He didn't get traded. He's staying there. And Jake Muzzin signed a four-year extension for $22.5 million. So those people are staying put.

They're not going anywhere. And, boys, I think we should take a breath and send it over to Luke Caputi. I like that. It's been a lot of talking, guys. We're sorry. I like that. It's been a lot of talking, guys. We're sorry.

Our next guest, Italian fellow born in Toronto, Ontario. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fourth round, 111th overall in the 2007 NHL entry draft. Played his junior hockey in Mississauga. Now he's back in the OHL. Now is an associate coach, he's actually coaching Shane Wright, one of the next prodigies coming out of the Ontario Hockey League.

Welcome to the Spit and Chicklets podcast. Luca Caputi. Thanks for having me, boy. Looking forward to it. So we got to keep this PG so we don't get you canned from your coaching job. Yeah, you're a junior coach, and we've been known to get people just gaspiped, so we'll keep it careful with you. No, we're good. We're good.

So you were actually a coach in Guelph to start out your coaching career after transitioning out of playing, correct? Absolutely. Started there. Actually, it's a funny story. Not really funny, but it's timing and who you know, and I was prepared to play, and that next

coming year and golf had an opening at the assistant coaching position and i played for mike kelly he's my junior coach in mississauga he was the gm there at the time and kind of everything just fell into place and i ended up doing three years there great ownership and and all that it's funny i i was going to ask you about when you finished playing, because you played over two years in Sweden, good seasons, and I was wondering why you shut it down. That makes sense. How did you know, though? Like, is it I want to get into coaching and my heart's not fully into playing

or this is the toughest decision I've ever had to make? Like, what went into deciding, all right, I'm going to change my career to the next level, next step here? Well, it was both. I actually had uh in the same season when i went to toronto i ended up getting traded the one year from pittsburgh um i had uh hip surgery and uh sport hernia surgery in the exact same year and i never really was the same so i was and i you know i transitioned to sweden obviously you know you're

on the back nine at that point and i got engaged so the one year i did in sweden i was engaged and the next year my wife had come over in sweden so i did two years there and she had a great job she took a leave of absence from her job so it was just it's all timing right like you you just everything's all in the place and i knew i wanted to be a coach and it's funny because the other day I kept everything from Pittsburgh, all those training camp booklets, those rookie camp booklets, anything, you know, Todd Richards or Dan Balsma or Todd Reardon had said, I'd write it down if I thought it made sense and something that I wanted to, you know, pursue.

And it is. And I'm really passionate about coaching, and I always knew I was. So it just kind of fell into place. And here I am five years later. I'm a coach in the OHL. Well, it's a pretty mature decision because, you know, there's always still that fire in there. But good for you, man.

And then right when you got into it, how hard was it transitioning? I mean, going from being one of the guys to not being able to really be one of the guys, if you know what I be one of the guys if you know what i mean yeah that's my next point it's it was the hardest thing yet like i've ever done because i went from i trained all summer so august 10th i i think i had my interview with mike kelly and then i met bill stewart was the head coach who offered me the job so within a two-week window i went from being a player being around the gym I worked out at Biospeed with Matt Nickel for two years and you know there's Camilleri and Wayne Simmons, Stewart Brothers, Tyler Steggen they have a whole slew of NHL players there and you go from being a player and then you got to separate yourself from that because you're you're the

authority figure and and it was tough it It was really tough to transition back quickly. But it was awesome. They were good with me. Obviously, they knew I was green. And it's funny because when you go into something new, you're super passionate about. You're feeling your way through it. So they allowed me to make mistakes and all that.

And that was a key component in, you know, being who I am today and the coach I am today. Luke, I'm not sure how many games you played underneath Michelle Terrian, but what, if anything, did you learn from him as far as coaching? He, I just remember him being, you know, holding you extremely accountable. And he had a great supporting staff. And, well, and Mike Yole for sure. He took me kind of under his wing and he told me what was right, what was wrong.

If I was doing something good, he'd be in my ear. And if I was doing something wrong, he'd be in my ear as well. I didn't really talk to, you know, Michelle too much. But my first game in the NHL, remember uh my first meeting with him I was I was scared to death um actually my flight the night before had been canceled so I didn't even think I was getting the call up and Ray Sherrill sent me a text message not to worry you're coming up and I showed up I think Whit can attest to this I showed up late to the morning skate everyone was dressed and they, like, the standing ovation in the bell center.

Just coming in my suit. Everyone, it was like 5 to 11, I swear. Everyone's going on the ice. I'm rolling in in a suit and had my bag over my shoulder. And then Brooks Orpik was my roommate that day. He kind of calmed me down. It was pretty awesome, that feeling. That's incredible.

I guess we should dive in your NHL career a little bit. Of course with the pittsburgh penguins after spending some time in the minors then you ended up getting traded to your hometown team the toronto maple leafs like that's i mean i couldn't imagine the amount of texts you got the day you got dealt back home yeah it was it was uh surreal so both teams were playing pittsburgh and toronto at the time and i my phone started blowing up and and uh says you'll have a good laugh at this i was at josh richard richards the equipment manager for hicksbury i was at his wrestling event god so we had an assistant trainer yeah yeah head we had an assistant trainer in wilkes-Barre who used to do backyard brawl slash gymnasium wrestling. What was his name?

The Ice Crusher? He was head, the Skull Crusher, I think. Something like that. Okay. He'll be listening in Texas. My phone is just like illuminating. It's crazy. All my buddies, you just got traded to Toronto and I hadn't heard from my agent.

And actually, me and you had the same agent, Mark Guy. I texted him. He's like, strong groomer out of Toronto. And lo and behold, the next day I was in Boston getting ready for a game the following day with the Leafs.

It was surreal, that 24 hours. Hey, Biz quickly went through, though. I had a couple questions about it, especially your first year pro. You played in the Coast,

the AHL, and the NHL the first year out of junior, right? Yeah, yeah. Did you start in the Coast? Well, no. Oh, boy. Did you get a little pee-pee wax sent down to the Cheese Toast League? Yeah, yeah.

Made a couple mistakes there, young, youthful mistakes, and things that made me better as a person. They hold you accountable in Pittsburgh, 100%. It doesn't matter. I was in the NHL two weeks before, and it doesn't matter who you are. If you're not abiding by the standards there, then obviously you're going to be held accountable. And obviously a huge learning lesson makes me who I am today.

I really preach. I tell every one of my guys, junior here or our guys, my story. And so that you build those relationships so that you can turn up the volume and the noise when you need to and they respect you for it. But I had to learn. I had to learn. And Biz was there. He saw it.

He knew. Caputi, I'm convinced that Pittsburgh had Wheeling as an ECHL team that way if if you did kind of get get off the tracks a little bit they'd send you there and no offense to Wheeling West Virginia but if uh that that place will whip you into shape to try to get better and get back to the next level so uh it definitely worked we got to talk about uh now you're assistant coach with the Kingston Frontenacs. You have this Shane Wright kid who got, what do you call it, exceptional status when you're allowed to play in the OHL as a 15-year-old? Yeah, absolutely.

So he's an 0-4 birth. Last year we were able to draft 0-3 birth years. He was granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada. So he went through a whole slew of testing, you know, psychological and all that, and he passed with flying colors, and they gave him the status to play in our league, and we were lucky enough to be able to select him first overall.

What type of psychological testing, like what type of questions are they asking him? You know what, I never even, I don't even know. I just know that it's like very extensive because it's like very extensive because it's it's uh it's a privilege and a right to be able to play in the chl just as a 16 year old so to be a 15 year old i think they they want to make sure that you're you're ready for it especially because they're so young and vulnerable and moving away from home they want to make sure that

you know they're mature enough and and ready for that you know it's a huge it's a huge uh yeah obstacle so i think that you know nine times out of ten they want to make sure they check all the boxes and make sure the kid's really ready to make that step well luke i'll also that's a perfect explanation of what the whole status is i i did a little bit of research and four guys in the ohl have ever had it and that's john tavarez conres, Connor McDavid, Aaron Eckblad, and Sean Day. So this is the fifth player and Shane, right?

Wait, didn't Shane, Jason Spezza get it as well? No, he didn't. Really? He didn't. It started in 05.

So maybe Spezza was before that, but the issue being the WHL has never given out exceptional status. They just had three kids apply for next year. So Elliot Friedman says, one of those kids, you assume, will get the first WHL one. And I apologize for not knowing the Quebec League, but if you don't get 150 points in the queue, you're

a scrub anyway. But I'm wondering... I think the Valeno kid had it. I'm pretty sure that's why he's playing in Grand Rapids and he was eligible to play for team camps. I'm pretty sure he had it, yeah. Yes, yes. Okay, so my question is, right away when you met Shane Wright,

did you know that he was mature enough? It's not even on the on-ice thing. It's just meeting him as a kid and a person because 15 is so young. But you knew right away he's a little older than his actual age, it seems? Yeah, absolutely. So the first formal experience we had with him, we introduced him to the public at city hall which is across the street from our we have a beautiful facility here right on the

water it's right across the street he he was able to without a script name everybody in our organization hockey ops that selected him and thank us for that and i thought that was super impressive for a 15 year old kid and no script just looking at the camera knew what was going on dialed we're eating our boogers he's fucking listing off all these names yeah but he wasn't there was no script he just knew he knew what was going on and just like i said mature prepared and ready ready to like nothing's going to hold him back because he's got that we talked about yesterday biz that crosby like mentality he wants to be better he makes everyone better around him that's why he's wearing a letter he's you know he was 15 years old first youngest kid i think in chl history wearing a letter but it's not because

of anything other than he he raises that bar every day he's learned from jacob brahani who's our captain um but i think that's ingrained in people. He just does it right. Nothing will stand in his way. And outside of the personal accolades, all the on-ice stuff, he's had a fantastic start to his junior career. He's been able to maintain a 90-plus average at school, which is incredible. So the kid, nothing's going to really stand in his way.

Yeah, he just has that mentality day in and day out. Well, you've got to think that those should be some proud parents right there. And I think that when you say he's had an outstanding start, I'll mention that Connor McDavid's 16-year-old year or 15-year-old year, he had a point per game. John Tavares is a little above point per game. And right now, Shane Wright is at a point per game. So you can imagine the names he's gunning with at a young age.

And on the ice, when we talk about his type of game, is it Sidney Crosby acceleration? Is it vision like Panarin? I'm wondering what kind of player is he? You know, he reminds me of Mark Scheifele. And his favorite player actually is Matthew Barzell. The one he rolled, like his role model, I would say, is Matthew Barzell. The one he – like his role model, I wouldn't say, is Matthew Barzell. But he reminds me of Mark Scheifele.

He's able to hit gaps, does everything right, right-handed shot. You know, he's able to scan the ice. When he has the puck, he's looking for guys. He's making – you know, he's cutting back. He's making people around him better, and he pushes the pace. Like, he plays at a pace where everyone has to elevate their pace when he's on the ice, already at 15. So you can imagine.

And he knows he has a long way to go. We have stuff we need to work on as an organization and as a team and him individually. And he's cognizant of that. Very receptive to it. But the sky's the limit. I don't know where his ceiling is. It's so high. As far as physical play, is he adjusting to that?

And have any guys from other teams tried to take liberties based off his name? And do you guys have someone there to, you know, maybe protect him a little bit? Yeah, well, it's not like how when we used to play in the older business. You know, you have that three-fight rule, and then it's an automatic two-game suspension. But I would say that not really liberties, but if you're playing against him, you want to be physical and take his time and space away. So there are certain instances where he's been hit hard, and then we have guys, and it's just like the kind of bond you want

in the dressing room is it doesn't matter who you are. If you're going to take liberties, then we're going to stand up. We're going to defend ourselves. And I think that's the way hockey should be played, and that's what our kids believe in. Luke, I want to ask, where and when did you first meet these two chuckleheads? Was it at the same time in the same locker room, or did you meet them at different years?

What was that like with these two? No, Biz, and before I tell this story, I'll tell you that. He took me under his wing, good, bad, indifferent. He was always a role model, to be honest with you, and probably the reason why we still talk to this day. But he actually sold me used clothing out of the back of his pickup in the Mellon Arena the first time I met him. And the best advertising story I've ever seen.

Nice clothing, though, like not junk. I just ever seen. Nice, nice clothing, though. Like, not junk. I just think he has an addiction to clothing. I got it. I stole it from Russia. And sold it to you. I had a little bit of, I came across a little bit of money in my shorts there.

And he had this backseat where he had all his clothes. I don't even know where they came from. And he's like, I'll give you this for 10 bucks. And the next thing you know, next thing you know, I'm 100 bucks deep, but i had a whole new wardrobe and then it progressed so he like i said he took me under his wing so then we ended up going to woodbury commons which is just outside wilkes-barre on uh on practice days one o'clock in the afternoon you're a rookie you're there late and is i give him credit he's a tireless worker he'd be the

first one in last one out whether he's grooming himself or getting an extra workout and it didn't matter. And then, hey, you want to go shopping? Sure, let's go shop. The next thing you know, he's the best guy to shop with. He'll make you feel like a million bucks because as soon as you buy something, he's going to buy two things. And so you're 800 bucks deep at the end of the day. And then it progresses to, you know, King of Prussia mall. And in, in Philly, after I got a call up,

I buy a laptop and then he's, he's laughing at me that you can't go up there with that knapsack. He's like chirping me. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, you got to get a better knapsack than that. So we ended up getting,

I ended up buying a computer, a knapsack and Gucci shoes that day, just because he's the best to shop with, you know, he's going to spend more. I've been's the best to shop with. You know, you're spending money. He's going to spend more. I've been through the same instances with Biz. I know exactly what he's talking about. I can't imagine the amount of heat I'm going to take online

after this comes out. Well, it's so funny because Luca, I can see it now. It's like, hey, dude, this Abercrombie shirt's sick. I paid a buck 24. I wore it once. Got a kill. You give me 75 for it. And I already had it dry cleaned. And then all of a sudden, you're a rookie. You're like, okay. And I'll even throw in the seashell

necklace for free. I'm going to say I got it for cheap. I'm going to say I got it for cheaper than he paid for sure. Well, I hope so. It's infatuation. Do you remember those sneakers you sold me? Those gum Converse

sneakers, the gum sole. They were like yellow gummies like we can fucking move on all right let's talk let's this should never end let's keep going i i hustled you no that's good he sold you underwear like i said the guy took me under his wing he's unbelievable that's why we still talk to this day yeah uh hey you still got those hairy legs hairiest fucking legs i've ever seen in my life. Yeah, they're gross, I know. Hey, you're back to the bus lifestyle.

Are you crushing movies, or is it video like most of these rides? Yeah, movies only kind of when we win. Yeah, we do a lot of video on the bus. You don't want to, after games, you want to get it done, so the next day you're kind of preparing for practice and stuff like that. So you get your video out of the way nine times out of ten on the bus. And if not, you're just waking up early and getting it done before, you know, probably their eyes open. Are you a huge movie buff?

Not so much. No, not so much. I only watch Slapshot, Younghot young blood and our power play tape all right power play i like power play i watch a lot of power play i was gonna say all right if you're you're a coach in today's game you have to be watching video constantly now luke i gotta ask you this from when we played in the ohl to now how how better are the resources and and what type of drills and skill work are these kids doing in practice more so than we were doing back then? Yeah, great question.

It's tenfold. Like every week you get one-on-one video. You obviously have your special teams meetings, but one-on-one video, five-on-five, and then what we take pride in here in Kingston is every drill is like you're incorporating some sort of skill whether it's a cutback or you're getting off the wall making a play or you're you know and then and then you want to build that foundation where those little details hitting the net calling for pucks putting passes on the tape early and

often in practice you want to do that now so that when you're ready to win it's just ingrained in the culture and then they hold themselves accountable and you're really just coaching so we're we're at that point where we're just we're still um on they're trying to turn the corner with that but every drill has a purpose it's it's it's thought out methodically and uh myself and curtis who's our head coach curtis foster who i think was your D partner in Edmonton there. We do a lot of work pre-practice and planning those little details and trying to incorporating them. And we still got a ways to go, but I think that, and we believe that, if you do it early, when you're ready to win, like I said,

you're just coaching. Curtis Foster had an absolute ball. Cannon. Cannon. Still does. Does he light the junior goalies up with clap bombs from the point? Yeah, he does. When he gets, like, once in a while, he just lets one rip. It's like in the net and out the net.

It reaches, like, the far blue line from the netting. One quick question about the meals on the bus. Have they improved the post-game meals? Is it still Olive Garden or Eastside Mario's? Have they improved that? Well, we try. We try. And actually I'm in charge of that. You try. You gotta

obviously, any type of edge you can get and you gotta know what you're feeding them. This year especially, if we have a game the next day, we try to feed them at the rink, whether it's grilled chicken pasta or something after the game, we try to incorporate that ownership. Doug Springer, you know, Doug Gilmore and our GM, Darren Kiley, have been unbelievable with that.

And Jeff Toohey, actually, who's just come on board. They've been real strong in implementing that. And we want to know what they're eating. We want to, you know, control what they're eating. And like I said, coaching and any type of hockey operations within our league, you're just looking for an advantage because everyone's prepared. Everyone, you know, kind of sees what's going on,

where the game's going. So you just want that edge. And if we can control how they're sleeping, control how they're eating, I think that gives you all the benefit in the world for the next day when that puck drops at 2 p.m. Sounds like a cult. Nah.

I'm fucking with you, Jesus Christ. I know, I know. Hit him with a tranquilizer dart. Everybody's going to sleep. We got Baza in the OHL. You know what I mean, though. I know. We're fucking with you.

You mentioned a real legend, killer, Doug Gilmore. I don't know how often he's around and how involved he is, but is he talking to the coaching staff? Is he talking to players? I mean, what an invaluable asset to have as a guy who's always around, a true legend in the game. Yeah. I mean, he just actually took a position with the Leafs,

but when I came here a year and a half ago, he was involved in hiring both myself and Curtis. Okay. And, you know, he kind of trusted his staff more than anything. When he's around, you listen. Obviously, Doug Gilmore and Biz can attest to this. He stayed at my parents' house. I have a big – and I'm just walking underneath his –

he's got a banner here in our rink. I'm just walking underneath it. But I have a big picture of him in my bedroom of my house. It's a shrine. It had a candle. Yeah. A little lozenge there.

He was one of my idols growing up, so it's pretty awesome that, you know, he was my boss for a year and a half. And like I said, he just, you know, he trusts his people, and when he speaks, you listen. That's pretty much his, you know, that presence that he has. Luca, what's the hottest part about communicating with today's teenagers, just keeping their attention? Oh, another great question.

Well, I call it two minutes or less. So whether you do 18 clips or two, you have two minutes or less of their attention. And I really think it's about building relationships because it's not like when we played. You got to know what buttons to press, when to pull on the reins, when to ease up. And I think that if you build those relationships, when you turn up your volume, you turn up the heat, they respect you that much more for it.

So you got to build their trust. And once you have their trust, then they respond the right way nine times out of 10. And it's something I've learned. It's taken five years, really. And I'm still, you know, green. And I'm still learning. But it's something that it's an everyday process.

And like I said, you have two minutes of their attention maybe. And then you got to, you know, you got to be on to the next thing. You mentioned food a minute ago. Are you a sauce guy or a gravy guy? Sauce. That's such a random question. That's so random. What's the rule with phones?

Like no phones in the room or does it change on the bus? Yeah, I know. We have a bag. Actually, we implemented the rule recently where we just take them because I just feel like, you know, when we went to the rink as players, I don't remember.

You could joke around, but I don't remember after meetings ever joking around. So I think they should be just talking about the game and, you know, conversating between one another and making sure they're prepared. And like I said, any advantage you can have, we do take the phones now. Well, it makes sense. And then it turns into the guys just you're all shooting the shit you're with the boys in the room i mean because even if it's two or three guys that would be on their phone and everyone else would be doing the same thing

well those two and three guys they're now involved and you're doing stuff you're playing ping pong things like that it just makes total sense yeah it's it's something you can control and part of being at the rink is being professional. And you guys know if we can teach them to be pros early on, even life lessons, just being professional at anything you do. And Biz is going to say it's like a cult, but it's really just life lessons. And if you can teach them those and they can mature earlier than later, then I think they're further ahead in life. Luke, you mentioned the first time you crossed paths with Biz,

but what about Whit? He must have horrified you early on somehow, no? No, he was awesome. I mean, like I said, I showed up late the one day. We got on the plane. We played the next day. I remember I didn't leave my hotel room. I've never been so sore in my life the next day.

We had a back-to-back. I think it was Miro Jutan's 1,000th game, actually. You've never been so sore in my life. The next day, we had a back-to-back. I think it was Miro Jutan's 1,000th game, actually. You've talked about that story on your podcast. Didn't Terry and Healthy scratch him? They scratched him. Yeah. 100% that happened. Frank Bonomo,

team services guy, came back through the plane and told you what time you had to report to the rink. So he either said, I think, 11. or 630, or 530, which was obviously the time to report for the game. But then a couple days later, I still, I don't know how, but I managed to still be up. And then after practice one day, he's like, hey, you want to go to a movie?

Him and Stolze. Well, what else was I going to do? Was I going to walk across the street to the Marriott? Go with them. It was awesome. You've got to go to day movies, dude. They keep you out of the bar. Matinees. Babcock got that move from Terry

in A Health and Guys Before the Milestone. Interesting play by Terry. Luca, what about any memories? Granted, it was kind of quick, and I hate to put you on the spot, but of Sid or Gino? Yeah. I remember, I'm pretty sure Biz was up one day with me while I was up.

We were all in the bathroom, I think. You know, they had those DuPont registries in there. Oh, yeah. I used to fuck it. The nice cars and the nice houses. It's just a rich person magazine. I'm pretty sure Sid said, hey, this car looks

pretty unbelievable. And I was like, I just overheard it, right? And then I think Biz confirmed it after because he told the story to a hundred people after. But he said,

I think this car looks sick. Biz, in disgust just said so buy it and he threw it back at him it was pretty funny i mean the guy's making probably a hundred for sure for sure you remember that yeah that car he's and you're just like so buy it i i i am so respectful to the fact that sid is probably the most conservative person on the planet. How long did he have that first Range Rover he bought? It was a gun metal Range Rover. I remember it.

He had it for 12 years. It was like the first Range Rover sport ever created. Yeah. He had the concept. He had the concept. The only other story I remember of Sid is we were in, just before the Olympics, we were in Vancouver, and I'm pretty sure he was meeting with a Reebok rep in a sushi place, and like half the team ended up going there just after practice and off day.

And he paid the tab without saying anything, just walked out the back door and just speaks to the type of person. What a cat. All class. All class. Hey, we've taken enough of your time, and I know you guys got to practice this afternoon. Good luck to your team, Luca.

This was very insightful as to how junior hockey organizations are being run and what we should expect from the next wave of hockey players because this game is just getting better and better. So thank you for the insight. Good luck to you. And it was interesting hearing the psychological aspect of how to be a coach in today's age alright boys appreciate it

thank you have a great day man give those legs a trim those hairy capeles and big thanks to Luca Caputi for joining us for a nice little chat enjoyed having a conversation with him biz how about him roasting me about the Abercrombie and Fitz right on the back of my hair yeah you recently closed biz that's just like it's too good it's too on brand for you how's the original swipe up exactly there's the original swipe that's

actually where conditions were invented i would be like i'll trade you this abercrombie with the the seashell necklace and you give me 20 bucks and conditional on the fact that if you wear it to the bar and get a kill with you owe me another 20 bucks you owe me another 20 but i'll throw an abercrombie fierce cologne for the next time you go out so it's like we got which i've used once well i talk about swipe up i wonder if zach bog. Well, talk about a swipe up. I wonder if Zach Bogosian thinks he got a swipe up. He went from getting waived by the Buffalo Sabres, had his contract terminated. Then a couple of days later, he signs with the Tampa Bay Lightning for one year.

One point three million dollar deal. Obviously going to be prorated. Goes from Buffalo eight points out of the wildcard to sunny Florida and on a contender. Not too shabby, huh? What? No, I thought this deal, you know, it makes sense, right? They're bringing in a guy for depth. And just for him, I mean, to have that moment of, it's embarrassing, right,

when you do get waived and you didn't want to go to the AHL, so everything gets terminated. But then when you hear your agent say, hey, there's some teams interested, and Tampa's one of them, you just start feeling a lot better about yourself. So I don't know how much he'll play. I'm sure he's going to go down he's going to get the the vibe of how that team is they're going to see how he looks at practice he'll get a chance and who knows if he really is a part of this lineup and playing a lot of minutes or at all when they end up getting to the playoffs and try to get back what they lost last year in that embarrassing first round I don't

know if Zach Bogosian will be a big part of that, but no matter what, he's around a winning culture, and he's not playing in the minors, so everything's good in his book. All right, Biz, I know you were pretty impressed with the way Brendan Dillon endeared himself to his new Capitals teammates immediately by punching Gino Malkin a few times. I think you said you thought the stripes got in the way a little bit too much, and it wasn't the first time this season. Not as bad as the one the other night between Kyle Clifford and Edmondson, I believe.

That was the other one where the ref was like grabbing Clifford's arm from behind him while he was in the midst of this thing. There's a lot of pressure from the league in order to break these things up as soon as possible because of today's climate and we don't have to go into it but this one like it was i mean somebody could have gotten hurt like the ref ends up getting tangled up between those guys and they are throwing bombs at each other dylan ends up getting malcolm with a few uppercuts and gino's got his head completely covered knocked his helmet off yeah yeah it I think. Yeah, there were some bombs being thrown there. But, I mean, man, Geno's just one of those superstars.

Like, he doesn't mind getting in the mix. Now, I'm not saying he's the toughest guy, and I'm not saying that sometimes when he realizes he's bit off more than he can chew, he kind of puts his arms above his head so he doesn't get clocked and have to miss time. But Geno ain't fucking backing down. He's going to stand his ground. And, yeah, there are people who are tougher than him. But as far as toughness and skill are combined in the whole package,

I don't think there's anybody with a bigger chip on his shoulder than Geno. I agree with you right there. I think he has the ability to snap. He's kind of a snapshot out there. And then he saw, I mean, that Dylan is like 6'4", 230. That could have worked out better for Dylan either, the fact that he gets to show his new team, hey, I'm already in this rivalry and we just dropped the puck.

Well, it looked like Gino was so willing for the linesman to get in and end it before it got serious. And Dylan was so willing to make sure that that didn't happen. And he finally just rips away from him and you see that right hand get free and Gino does the smart thing and cover up but yeah Biz you really do say that in a sense all the Capitals guys

are like alright here we go. Like Gino thought he was yelling at the fucking guy at Louis Vuitton to keep the doors open and Dylan was like hey I'm not your fucking bitch boy. Yeah three years Super League didn't mean shit to him. Yeah I'll tell you what though three years Super League taught Gino how to eat an uppercut sandwich. In the same game, our recent guest, the Norris Trophy favorite, John Carlson, he assisted on Kyle Hagelin's first goal to set the franchise record for points by a defenseman

when he passed Callie Johansson's 474, Scott Stevens' third and last, Kevin Hatcher's fourth, just to give you an idea of the names he passed. So congrats to John Carlson huge accomplishment team's been around for 45 years or so also if you're a big fan of his check out his merch on the Barstool Sports website we dropped out of a couple

JC74 oh R.A.'s fading off a little bit folks it's been a long episode and for R.A. to have to drive the bus and read off all these trades his brain is probably fried so hey let's do episode. And for R.A. to have to drive the bus and read off all these trades, his brain is probably fried. So, hey, let's do some stick taps for R.A. right now. All right.

Not too many. Hey, everyone, if you're in the car, maybe a little tap on the steering wheel. R.A., we love you. Thanks, boys. Thanks, boys. I appreciate it. It's my job. But, yeah, it's been a long day.

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All right, boys, we're grinding, we're grinding. We're getting to the end almost there. The Red Wings are officially eliminated from playoff contention in their 63rd game of the season. It's the earliest elimination in the NHL since the Senators were eliminated in game 63 of the 96 season. The Wings are the first team to be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention prior to the trade deadline since the 0-4 Penguins. Boys, it's been a slag for the Red Wings this year. Is the signs a bright future on the horizon or what for this team?

Or is it going to be more suffering? I think it's going to be a couple years of suffering and that's kind of how it has to be now. You got to get some top picks. You got to hope that they pan out and become next level stars and that's how you climb out of it. Detroit had that 25 year run

where it was every single year they're competing for Stanley Cup. I never thought I'd see it. Exactly. And that just shows that this league, it happens to every single team. You see Edmonton be bad for a longups. I never thought I'd see it. Exactly. And that just shows that this league, it happens to every single team. You see Edmonton be bad for a long time. You see Detroit now and Pittsburgh struggle. It's just the nature of the game. I wouldn't be shocked if, for whatever reason,

all of a sudden it turned around quick. If you get a couple studs, I mean... I wouldn't be surprised if they get that overall pick. They got to get first and they get Lafreniere, however you say it. And he's nasty. And then maybe he's still struggling. You get another top three pick. It's it can happen quick.

Yes, but it has to be done correctly. And I think that if you've got one guy to do it, Steve Eisenman is the guy who wouldn't trust him to rebuild. He saved it once when he was a draft pick as a player. Can he save him again as a GM? I believe he can. Yeah, it's almost like any time a team in any sport has a dynasty, the bill always comes due at some point, you know? Also, Bobby Ryan spoke to the press for the first time since entering EAP,

the Employee Assistance Program. That must be such a tough thing to do. I mean, it's hard enough to talk to your family or friends about having addiction issues, let alone having to go in front of like schlubby sports writers asking like personal questions. So, you know, kudos to Bobby for coming out and answering some questions. And, you

know, we hope he's doing well, man, because it's a bitch of a battle. And he's playing soon, I think he said he's going to be back soon. That's what I figured. If he's talking to the press, he must be coming back soon. And like I said, we wish him nothing but the best. That's a nightmare to. If he's talking to the press, he must be coming back soon. And like I said, we wish him nothing but the best. That's a nightmare to go through anyways. But to have to do it in a public forum, it's so much harder.

So, you know, we're wishing the best for him. And also, R.A., another guy who just went and opened up about his, you know, I wouldn't say his mental health, but where he was at the beginning of the season when things weren't going well was Looch. And I don't know if this is the case for Bobby Ryan, but sometimes when certain guys aren't playing up to their contracts, they become the punching bag in the media. And some of these guys are affected more so than others by it.

And hockey just doesn't become fun anymore because they feel like they're going out there and they can do no right. You know, they're the big dumb goon and they're overpaid. They're useless out there. Anytime they make a hit and maybe it's like questionable to today's standards and they're getting dragged through the mud again online. It's just a big goon fest again.

So it's like these guys are, I don't know. I'm not saying the reason why, you know, Bobby Ryan ended up turning to the bottle was that, but like that's why I don't mind being a little bit less critical on these guys because I know what some of them have to go through mentally. And, I mean, could you guys imagine if you had a fucking tough six months at work that you're in the front page of the newspaper

and they're dragging you through the mud? It would be fucking difficult, man. Yeah, yeah, it's tough. No matter on how big and tough these guys are, there's always a mental aspect to it. So just congratulations to both those guys for overcoming their issues early on in the season, and I hope they continue to get success

and move towards becoming better. For the front page of the electronic section of the Boston Globe, Eric from Staples has sold seven printers this quarter and you're just getting ripped on I mean it's not that easy when you got when you got the whole world seems like kind of coming down on you so I'm very very happy to hear that Bobby Ryan's doing better than be playing the game he loves again because you know what he's been through as a young kid as well and I'm very happy for him because i got the chance to get to know him and play with him and he's a great person so just to see somebody battle that is hard and then to know that he's now doing better

makes you feel good uh and it's nice to have guys who like to have fun in the league as well and uh how about our boy hazy gets the ot game one of the other night then does a little strap on like he's got a wrestling belt i mean he's he's a character he's a showman he's an entertainer and all those people who were bitching about him early in the season of philly because he only had x amount of goals i think they're fucking chewing on those words now though he went yeah i do i think that he's been a great addition to that team and yeah i mean he makes a lot of money well that was the perfect timing that's what happened you hit the ufa market at the right time like he did that That's what went down. And I think that he's gone out there and performed. Is it 20 goals now or coming up on that?

Could end up getting even more. So I think that when you get to the playoffs too, which it looks like Philly should get in right now. I think they're third in the Metro. I could see them getting in, and then I could see Hazy having a really good run because he's a playoff-type player. He's a big guy.

He leans on people. He can play both ends of the puck, you see him on the PK, he's constantly breaking up DDD passes, getting chances offensively even when he's down a man, so I love him as a guy, I'm very biased he's a good friend, but I also think he's had a hell of a year. As far as just

sneaky good at hockey and great with his stick, I would put him on par with Mike Richards just the way he's breaking up plays. Yeah, he doesn't kill you with his speed, but just his hockey sense is out of this world. He's looked very, very comfortable out there, so much so that I wonder if he's wearing Tommy John underwear, Biz.

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I know it's been a long day. Another injury for Columbus as Oliver Bjorkstand is expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks due to to sprain and an ankle fracture. The 24 year old has 21 goals, 15 assists in 49 games. It's another huge loss that Columbus can't afford in the playoff chase. Also a little late breaking news. The other day,

we already know Minnesota has the winter classic next year. They will be playing the St. Louis blues at, I believe target field where the baseball team plays will be there as well next year. So many St. Louis Blues at, I believe, Target Field where the baseball team plays. We'll be there as well next year, so meaning St. Louis. Boys, any final notes or thoughts before we wrap this bad boy up? No, no. I think that it was an exciting deadline day for a year in which tons of trade went down prior to Monday.

It was still a decent enough action-packed day day and we got to make our appearance on Sportsnet. So it was a win-win. The only other things I had written down were McDavid's return. He looked like he was fine. Hadn't missed a step. And the Ben OEL. I don't know. I'm going to give Ben benefit of the doubt on this

dirty hit. Gave a pretty good shove to my boy OEL and I love Benner but fuck man. That was mmm mmm Who's the bear guy fist? The meme. Arthur. I put the Arthur fist shaking

like I was angry like I wanted to protect my old teammates. It was all good after that though. The Coyotes ended up putting a beating on the Lightning, so it made up for it. That pretty much wraps things up here from Boston. A lot of talking as far as the trade deadline. Yeah, a lot of trades.

We love you guys, and that's that. And we'll see you Thursday. Have a good week, everyone. Peace. As always, we want to say thanks to our Dynamite sponsors. Hopefully you folks are taking full advantage of their wonderful deals. First off, thanks to everybody at New Amsterdam and Pink Whitney. Also, big thanks

to everybody at Mugsy Jeans. Hopefully you're checking them out. Big thanks to Bud Canada for taking care of the boys this week. Also, thanks to Simply Safe. Welcome aboard to the Spittin' Chicklets family. And thanks as always to our old pal Tommy John. Make sure you check out their website. Have a great week, everybody. Stock car playmate with a loser in the cruise control Babies in Reno with a vitamin D

Got a couple of couches, sleep on the love seat So it keeps saying I'm insane to complain about a shotgun wedding And a stain on my shirt Don't believe everything that you breathe You get a parking violation and a mangan on your sleeve So shave your face with some meats in the dark Saving all your food stamps and burning down the trailer park Yo

Cut it So I don't care at all I'm a loser baby So why don't you kill me So I don't you kill me? Outro Music For the body, for the hate And my charm is a piece of wax Falling on a termite Who's choking on the splinters So I don't want to hear the door

I'm a loser, baby So why don't you kill me? I'm crazy with the tears, boy So I don't want to hear the door I'm a loser, baby