Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 249: Featuring Chris Pronger

Episode Date: March 2, 2020

On Monday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Hall of Famer and Stanley Cup Champion Chris Pronger. Chris joins (33:09) to talk about winning the cup, playing with Whit, how he acted in the locker room and a ton more. The boys also recap the Barstool Pond Hockey tournament from Lake Muskoka this past weekend and all the craziness that happened up north and then guys wrap up with some NHL news, including some big injuries and a hilarious Canadian road rage story.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 249 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka here on the Barstool Sports Podcast family. And boy, was the Pink Whitney following up in Ontario this weekend. Wow, what a month in Ontario. Oh, I'm sorry.

We were there for four nights. It just felt like a month. Unreal time, unreal tourney, unreal interviews. Let's say hi to the boys. Let's go to Whitney first. I want to save G for last. What's up, guys? Muskoka, Lake Muskoka, Gravenhurst, Ontario. Did not disappoint. I would say that was a rousing success.

We can go into it later. I'll let you introduce everyone else. But it's great to be home, but what an experience. Absolutely. Let's go to Biz next. Mix it up a little. What's up, Biz? You're home, it looks like. What's going on?

Yeah, I'm in Welland, Ontario right now. I got to see my folks last night before they actually left for Scottsdale, Arizona. So I'll be spending the next month with them. So look for the Coyotes to go on a massive run. But I'll explain why I missed the Coyotes game on Saturday at the end of the episode. But luckily, I was able to spend some time at Pond Hockey with all our fans. And as I said, I will let you guys know why I came to Welland on Saturday night.

Well said, Biz. And last but not least, we're going to go to producer Mikey Grinelli. Gee, how we doing, buddy? How you feeling after a weekend of skating on the cold pond? I feel good. Fresh off the Muskoka Miracle. I know we're going to get into that in a little bit, but I feel good. It was a nice 10-day heater for the boys.

Ton of interviews, ton of work done. So I'm just excited to be back in New York. Yeah, and you know what? I'm going to tummy stick it. I saved Gee Lodge for a reason. You know, a lot of these players on the Boston team came with heavy pedigrees and maybe reputations that preceded them. Mikey didn't.

He played, what, Division IV or V high school in Massachusetts? Division I, baby. What heavy pedigrees were brought? Bahavid, Denver. I mean, those two right there. You know, like, you know, Chief played prep school, you know, Elton, Western Mass.

Either way, I don't think people had high expectations for G, and I don't mean that disrespectfully, but I told him, and I'm saying it now, on tummy sticks or not, he was probably, not probably, he was the most consistent player over the two weekends,

including both weekends. I thought he played excellent. I mean, he played defensive. He was a defensive defenseman. Yesterday, he fucking turned it on like Brian Leach a couple times. Wow. I was very impressed with Mike, man. Are we breaking down the pond hockey, like, playing-wise?

Well, I think he's rebuttaling to all your golf breakdowns. So we're just going to even it up here. I'm stroking on G a little because I was very happy. I was very happy for him. he's rebuttaling to all your golf breakdowns. So we're just going to even it up here. I'm stroking on G a little because I was very happy. I was very happy for him. I was happy with the way he performed. And, you know, yeah, he was the captain. I know people goofed on it, but he certainly set the example as the captain.

Well, let's get some honesty out there, too. I was very happy for Barstool. They got a win. They could have won, actually, all three of the games, but I owe the London Laundry a bunch of guys who I'm guessing are from London. I owe them a little shout-out because that was the team Barstool beat. Barstool caught them on a back-to-back. So Barstool's up there warming up and having some food.

And the London Laundry play a nail-biter down to the 30th minute and have four seconds of ice cleaning, then Barstool comes on. So they said, listen, you know, I'd like a shout out because we kind of feel like we get taken advantage of a little bit, but still a wins when I told them doesn't matter. Complaints are only for losers, but I'll get your name out there. So it really gets your name out of the mud. We have a few more thank yous for Pond Hockey.

Last thing I'll say about it is moving forward, we're going to look to do maybe a few more of these and turn them into a bigger overall experience. So the teams, we have 32 teams in each of them. We're going to look to expand the size of that, and anyone who doesn't end up landing a team in the tournament, you're going to be able to either travel to us and come hang out, and maybe we'll get a big tent going, hopefully some DJs. So we're going're gonna look to scale up i know it's been a long time since i said that on this

podcast we're gonna look to scale up the pawn hockeys we also had kelly babstock a professional woman's hockey player to the to the team and oh my god she was our best player she was bodying people she was throwing it around out there. It was unbelievable. It was domination. Got to give her a lot of credit. You beat me to the punch, G. She was unreal. I mean, Erica told me, you know, asked ahead of time, hey, is it fine if we add her?

I was like, hey, we need all the help we can get. We're losing rigs. And she was, I think you called her a honey badger after the end of the game. G, and she was gloating after that. Like, she was, like, so proud that you called that. But she was more than a honey badger. She had skill up the wazoo.

And I Googled her after. And she's the leading scorer in Quinnipiac history. She broke the record her sophomore year. And she played men's lacrosse in high school. She led the team in fucking scoring on the men's lacrosse team in high school. Holy shit. And I mean this in the most complimentary way ever. She's a bulldog out there.

And I got to hang out with her. I was just seeing the picture last night. She was the only one who was still out from the Boston crew. Her and memes. I went and had a couple beers with her. Awesome kid. She's like one of the boys. It's awesome hanging with her. I'll throw this one over to you.

Chicklets memes guy in real life. That guy is a character. Beautician. It makes sense that he makes memes because he is a meme he he's a cartoon character when i met this kid first of all i couldn't have been happier one second and because i was like there's no chance he's actually gonna be as like great of a guy as i think and then when i met him and he said no word of a lie this is how he talks hey whit man thanks so much for letting me come bro this is sick man it's just great to meet you guys i love being here with about 100 milligrams of edibles i said memes you are perfect i his face

will never be out there i think that's part of the part of the allure yeah that's even the word i'm thinking of but what a guy. I think collectively we decided we don't want his face being out there because then some people will try to find a reason to hate the guy. Let him just be the Wizard of Oz behind the scenes. He keeps chucking out what's the kid's slang

nowadays? Fire memes? Yeah. That's pretty good, Biz. So for some of you listening who don't have Instagram, load it and follow this Spittin' Chicklets memes guy because he makes jokes and videos associated with the ones that we make on the podcast. And some shit's just really even random.

So whatever's going on in that brain of his that day. Yeah, he's an absolute beauty. Plus, he's got the full mullet, too. Can I talk about something I wrote down from the day? So you meet all these teams, great guys. And we had a chance to meet a lot of the people on Friday night, and then we were around all day Saturday. So teams, I mean, there was a team from Tampa, right, Mikey?

People came from everywhere. People drove 12, 13 hours. It was just like a group of people that you were really happy to get to spend time with because they were all great guys. Well, then all of a sudden, the Barstool game is being played, and this team, the Blenheim Blades, Junior C, they come in. If there was 13 of them, nine guys were just chirping their dicks off. They were all over the entire bar still.

Hey, you fucking rat. Nice visor. And then all of a sudden, hey, wait, you fucking pussy. I was like, Jesus, who are these guys? So I got one kid with the worst mustache I've ever seen in my ear for what felt like five days. with the worst mustache I've ever seen in my ear for what felt like five days. And he is the chirpiest, loud-mouthed, little Junior C. Blenheim blade you could ever imagine. And finally, someone comes up to me and lets me know,

you know this kid, he's got one penalty this year. This kid has a hooking penalty. He's the softest kid on the team i said what i said i thought you were the sean avery the brandon prust i thought you were the guy who just went out and chirped but fought and got penalties you're a one penalty guy and he is now backstepping like like like a james bond character i, he is flying backwards. He's trying to make up excuses. And I'm like, get out of my face.

You are a fraud, Blenheim Blade, Ben. I think his name was Ben. Well, what happens then? I not only beat him on the ice, I got one of his teammates sending me a tweet on the way home, a message, this kid's passed out, looking like he's going to throw up in the car. Just a horrible display by the blend and blade named Ben,

who tried coming in there being the chirper and ends up getting dummied by me verbally and then murdered by my drink physically. So let me tell you, Ben, better luck next year. Oh, shit. Yeah, I don't know if Ben slept all that much. Do you remember this kid, Grinnelli? Oh, yeah, he was giving it to me,

and at one point I skated over, and I was like, hey, did your team get in? And he's like, no, my cock's too big. And I was like, I'm going to skate back and let you try again, because that was the worst joke I've ever heard in my life. I must have been busy trying to open up my weed joint holder. So in Canada, we got to talk about this, guys, because I think we're about a 50-50 split on listeners.

They got these childproof locks on these joint holders that you buy in Canada. It hurt my hands. It took me 30 minutes to open. This is fucking ridiculous. I tried one time for you and i couldn't but every time we gave it to somebody else they did it in 17 seconds or well so it was not i think we were really struggling all right well it was like doing a rubik's cube but there were no instructions on it you kind of had to figure it out for yourself let alone if

you're already high trying to do it you nailed it i. I have to solve it in a Rubik's Cube before I want a couple puffs of marijuana. Anyway, we should probably move on. We do have those thank yous, so let's get them out quickly. Absolutely. Big thanks to Rob with On the Pond. He's the guy who ran all the stuff. Great guy. He had the fellow Peterborough Peach Jacket on as well.

Enjoyed talking to him. Shout out also to Devin Murley and the Ice Crew. I know they had dealt with some squalls earlier in the day. There was a little bit of snow out there, so they, as well as the winning teams, did a good job getting the snow off there. And last but not least, our buddy Seth Michelson. He was pretty much

the point man on this stuff in both Winnipesaukee and Muskoka. And it was fun to have a couple with him Saturday night, too. So he was fun to have a couple with him Saturday night too. So he was unwinding and it was well-deserved. One final note, Lisa Litvak too. And Witt, I believe you do owe Biz 200 bucks. I did crush that four goal over.

Perfect. Yeah. All right, take it off your tab. All right. Sounds good. And you did mention Peterborough Pete's on the tracksuit jacket of the guy who organized the whole thing. And that's a nice little segue into our guest today. He played for the Peterborough Peets not very long

because this guy was probably the greatest two-way defenseman of all time. Is that fair to say, Ryan? I can't give him that one. As far as the entire package, I meant't give him that one. As far as, as far as the entire package, I meant how he brought it physically. Uh, you know, he was one of,

he was one of the best to ever do it. Let's, let's leave. Let's put it that way. I mean, first ballot hall of famer, Chris Pronger, a guy who,

I mean, you'll hear me verbally. I'll give him a little bit of a verbal BJ because he was my idol. I mean, I used to have pictures of this guy on my wall. Prongs loved hearing it, but it was a great interview and we really appreciate him coming on. He could have done way more too. That's what I kind of felt at the end. He's like, oh, that's it.

Alright, boys. Well, meanwhile, moving on to the ice. Some great news for our buddy, All Right Frankie, as it was announced that the Islanders will play all of the 2020 and 2021 season home games at the Nassau Coliseum, including all playoff games this season and next. The state had provided six million in upgrades to the old bond, and the new bond is about 20 percent completed, should be ready for the 21-22 season.

Isles fans have to be psyched almost as much as the Islanders themselves, eh, Whit? This is so much better. Like, you got to think right away for players. They're thinking, we got an atmosphere that gets you really fired up and ready to win. When they played in the Barclays and they beat the Panthers, right, or did the Panthers beat them? You remember that series a couple years ago?

It was actually pretty good, it seemed. But nothing compares to the Coliseum. The weird thing is they haven't been good there. So you're kind of surprised if you're thinking, well, this should be like a real home ice advantage because the place is tiny and it does get wild. But they haven't actually lit it up the way I think you thought they would. Yeah, I think it's a wicked advantage for them, although you said they haven't had much it up the way I think you thought they would. Yeah, I think it's a wicked advantage for them,

although you said they haven't had much luck in the past. They're a dangerous team if they end up sneaking in. Right now they're in that first wild card position, but they have not played well as of late. 3-5 and 2 in their last 10. But as I say, I think that's the type of team, it doesn't really matter where they land. They are what they are.

And if they can play their game, I mean, we saw it last year. They can do damage. And if they got that noisy Nassau Coliseum, man, they can definitely fuck with some opponents' heads. Absolutely. And, well, now that Isles fans don't have to schlep out to Brooklyn anymore, they'll definitely want to check out the old Game Time app for the hookup on tickets.

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and I think this week it was Bobby Ryan. The Ottawa forward, he's in his 13th NHL season, his seventh in Ottawa. He returned to the Ottawa lineup Thursday versus Vancouver after undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse, alcohol issues, and he ends up scoring a hat trick on three shots in addition to having a scrap with Chris Tanev. Just a great scene.

And when he got the third one, it was a very emotional scene for him. At the end, you can kind of see him wiping the tears away. Biz, I wanted your reaction on this one. It's awesome. It's awesome to see. I mean, we all love a comeback story. And for him to be as open as he was about all of it, especially coming into that game, I think that helps a lot of people

probably out there suffering from the same problem. And then to not only get back in the lineup and do what he did, man. I mean, I think overall it's been an incredible NHL season. There's been a lot of positives and a lot of cool storylines, and this is definitely at the top of the list, man. So congratulations to Bobby Ryan. We're all rooting for you. And you played with him, didn't you?

Yeah, I played with him. So I was so fired up to see that. And, I mean, you can't put yourself in his shoes, but I started thinking he has to just be so overwhelmed because what he's been through and then the time away, I'm sure he feels like a new person in some ways, right? And then you're getting on the ice again, but you have – he couldn't have had much expectations. He hasn't been playing.

And then so you're sitting there at the end of the game. How would you not get emotional? You were thinking about taking it shift by shift. Next thing you know, you got a hat trick and it just shows the guys he's touched by god when he was born this guy's one of the most skilled players i've ever seen he was enormous with insane hands unreal shot he could do it all crushes guys so it's it's been uh certainly a grind for him the past few years or who who knows how long he's really been struggling and so to see him get back and have success it's like you could not be happier for the guy and not only that like like moving forward i'm sure it's been a tough couple years aside from

that um we talked about you know how much he makes and maybe underperforming before that but now he finally gets this not even his home crowd the entire league now he goes into any building and people people love him people are happy for him people are supporting him and wanting to do well where he was probably in a bit of a rut because you know he was there's there's scapegoats on every team who are overpaid so it's good for him in that regard and i hope moving forward he's able to build off this and and you and get back to where he was. There's a funny little addendum to the story as well. There's a rookie on his team, Josh

Norris. He was actually calling for the puck on the empty netter and Bobby said you can actually hear and see him on the video calling for it. I'm staring down an empty net from five feet away and I got a guy touching the rafters. I've been all over him this morning. Young guy, if you get your first coin

in the MDNet, people ask who you scored it against. What do you say? We'll get him his first in due time. That's a great point. I never even thought of that. I would have fucking took it though. Josh Norris said, yeah, that's been the chat of this morning. Some of the guys have already gave me a nickname. A poo from the Simpsons who works at

7-Eleven because it's always open. Hey man, I'll take it. And then they said, did you by chance tell Bobby you were calling for the puck because he would have had a Gordie Howe hat trick because he would have had an assist on the empty netter? Josh Norris, yeah, we'll go with that. So that was a pretty funny little follow-up to that. I would say the guy who was in net who got pulled.

Yeah. I would take it. That's a good question. But anyways I would take it. That's, that's a good question. But anyways, obviously, like we said before, wishing the best for Bobby Ryan going forward.

It's, uh, you know, sometimes I see the media. It's interesting. I talked about it with Derek Sanderson last week before we started recording. And, uh,

they, someone athlete was referred to not Bobby as a former addict. And Derek says that there's no such thing as a former addict. Yeah. You know, you're an addict for life and it's a, it's a former addict. And Derek says there's no such thing as a former addict. You're an addict for life, and it's a daily struggle. And sometimes the media tries to wrap things up in a bow sometimes. But either way, having said that, we wish the best for Bobby going forward. Moving right along, Leon Dreisaitl, unreal.

He made history in 2018-19 as the first German to reach the 100-point mark in a season. He became the seventh skater to record multiple triple-digit campaigns with Edmonton, joining Gretzky, Curry, Messier, Glenn Anderson, poker face, Paul Coffey, and current teammate Connor McDavid. Dreissel became the first Oilers skater to reach the 100-point mark in 65 games and fewer since Messier back in 89-90, and the first on any team since

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov last season and aside from Dreissel and Kucherov only eight other different players over the last 26 years have accomplished defeat uh guys is Dreissel overshadowed a bit by Connor because he's fucking putting these sick numbers up but I don't know if we hear about him as much as we should. I wouldn't say overshadowed, but right now, you've got to be looking at this guy as the MVP of this entire season. If he maintains this trajectory as far as the amount of points he's putting up, and, I mean, even when Conor was out, I think the first game he was out recently when he had that, what was it, a quad contusion?

I think he had three points in the first game. And correct me if I'm wrong, I believe so far this year he's in the mid-20s as far as multi-point games. So this guy is just getting it done every fucking night. It's unfortunate that Connor has dealt with some injuries, and we all know that he's the greatest player on the planet. But as far as this year is concerned, you, I would say, the Edmonton Oilers have the two best players on the entire planet.

Would you not agree, Whit? Yeah, I just, I think it's so cool when they step up the way, the way he stepped up like you're bringing up is because that's, that's the extra factor. That's why I've said before it's crosby malcolm where there's plenty of people out there that will argue there's pittsburgh penguins fans that'll definitely argue with you that malcolm's a better player than crosby and all that shows is that he's that dominant it's never really going to be considered like one way above

the other do you know what i mean they're both good, and that's what Dreitzel's proven. Like, man, I don't really need him. That sounds like way worse than it actually is. I'm kind of just saying he could be doing this on any team, and that's what he's proven, especially with him missing time. So for him, this MVP chance coming down in the crowd the other night, like, Oilers fans realize the way Penguins fans have realized we have two superstars. It is not one guy that's really carrying the other night. Oilers fans realize, the way Penguins fans have realized, we have two superstars.

It is not one guy that's really carrying the other. So the thing is now, it's like take advantage of it because Pittsburgh's winning cups and they've done it. These two, obviously there's plenty of work left to be done, but there's no reason that they couldn't reach the same highs that the Crosby-Malcolm duo have if they get a little bit of a different supporting cast and then things also bounce their way because luck definitely is involved.

And we mentioned it, I think it was last podcast, when McKinnon and Kucherov are going against each other in that very intense game they had in Colorado where McKinnon reverse hit Palat. But we talked about those guys. It was essentially a cockfight. Like these guys are the best players in the world. They have all the skill set.

And they also have that drive where they want to be number one. There is no number two. They wake up every morning. They go to the rink. They say, I want to be the best fucking hockey player on the planet. It just so happens that not only do these guys both have the tire package, they both have that drive and they're on one team. And you don't see that very often. I mean, you could argue that Ratnan, I don't think he's quite there with McKinnon yet. I think that

he's able to get there, especially if he's able to avoid injuries moving forward. I mean, other than Crosby and Malkin, who else has a dynamic duo to that extent? Well, I mean, Backstrom and Ovechkin over the years, I don't think that Backstrom's at the same level as those guys. But Taves, Kane, I mean, it's very uncommon to see guys. I mean, these are MVP winners. I mean, these are guys. Taves has never won an MVP, has he?

You know, it's like you want to play off MVP. Here's another question for you, R.A. When's the last time two teammates finished one and two in scoring? Has to be Yager Lemieux. I was going to say, I'm thinking early to mid-90s Penguins. So we've been stroking the Edmonton Oilers off long enough here, but you guys got quite the duo. Yeah, and since 93-94, the fewest games played to 100-point mark,

Lemieux, Jaga, Gretzky, Lemieux, Francis, Kucherov, Federov, then Dreisaitl. So he's in some pretty heady company right there, and I'm sure he'll continue on this trajectory. Moving right along, Las Vegas. I'm sorry, the Vegas Golden Knights. They don't like to be called Las Vegas. Let me hop in here.

Was there not something about Dreisaitl releasing a cologne in Germany? Is he from cologne, Germany? Isn't that a part of Germany? Please tell me that's what it is. He's from cologne, Germany. Fuck you. We all, Germany. Oh. Fuck you. We all make mistakes. Yeah, I just.

So what did you, like, Google his name and then see Cologne, Germany? Or Cologne and. Probably. I love you. So Vegas won their eighth straight to match a franchise record. They moved six points ahead of Vancouver and Edmonton, who sit second and third in the Pacific, respectively. The Golden Knights trail only the Lightning and Islanders

for the longest win streak of the season and become the first team in NHL history to post multiple such runs of at least eight games through their first three seasons of existence. The Sabres and the 1917 Senators are the only other clubs to register at least one. But one thing I wanted to talk about, how about the little reverse hit that rest of the line

and throw on Revo, boy. Revo wasn't expecting that. I think he hurt himself, too, on the play because he ended up going down a little slow, didn't he? Yeah, he was definitely a little startled there. Well, I want to give credit to Vegas in a different way because when Kelly McCrimmon fired Gerard Gallant, he took a lot of heat, right?

Well, DeBoer's 12-3-2. So when you want to chirp and, wow, what a joke of a firing, and there was a lot of people out there, you kind of don't see the same voices now saying, wow, it looks like they made a good decision because obviously the team was kind of floundering a little bit, not playing up to its potential. I know they didn't have a losing record when Gallant was fired, I don't believe.

The biggest issue was goaltending, Witt. They weren't getting the goaltending, and the advanced analytics were there. They were outplaying teams, one of the best puck possession teams but i get it something something had to change so and something did so the only worry now is stone got injured he uh he's like a week to week so i mean what is there four weeks left in the regular season so week to week sounds a little dangerous you need a guy back playing at least a week hopefully a little bit more before the playoffs, get your legs back. But they're just a really tough team to play against. They match up well with anyone. I think bringing over Leonard was a great decision

because they just now have that security if Fleury doesn't play his best, which this year he has been a little up and down. But, man, that patch already, I think he got his 30th. I think he's now six-time 30-goal score. His shot is so good. He came down the wing the other night. I'm forgetting who his 30th. I think he's now six-time 30-goal score. His shot is so good. He came down the wing the other night. I'm forgetting who they were against. Just far side, bar down, made it look so simple.

He looks quick, too. He looks like he hasn't lost a step at all in the past couple years. So having him as a forward that's just able to light it up and hopefully Stone's healthy. And then, like, Stastny's second-line center. People kind of will bring up that maybe his stats aren't where they should be for what he gets paid, but I know guys love having him on their team. I know he's a great teammate.

I know he's super skilled, and he's played a long time. He's a smart player. So that's why Vegas is good. They're deep. So I just think that they could go on another run. And it does come down to goaltending. But now Pete DeBoer has them obviously playing a way that I think the management saw it going earlier in the year

when it wasn't as successful as it is now. When completely healthy and playing well, I think they're the best team in the Pacific Division. And I'd have to agree with you. If they're able to get Stone back and playing to what he's capable of with the rest of the lineup the way they're playing right now, I can't see why they don't head to the conference finals, and this is coming from an Arizona Coyotes booster.

And, yeah, you were correct. This was his sixth 30-goal season. So one other team that has been on an absolute tear, the Nashville Predators. They were kind of looking dead and buried not all that long ago, and they clawed themselves back into the playoff position. Currently, as we record, they're the second-team wildcard out in the West with three games in hand over the two teams right below them. GM Poyle stood pat at the deadline, didn't really make any moves.

He just figured, hey, this is what we got. This is what we're going to go with. And Thursday, they kind of got a little bit of a miracle win. Michael Gremlin scored the game-time goal, 0.1 second left. And then he got the OT GWG to beat the Flames. So they're kind of pulling these wins out of their ass. It's like, you know, you see this with teams like kind of gelling at the right time. The Preds, not the only team that seems to be pulling things together right time,

but I believe the Flyers as well. Six in a row, eight of the last ten. And right now, they're just one point behind the Washington Capitals. I know the Caps are playing right now, but they're one point behind the Caps first place in the fucking Metro. I said going into the season, I just like their entire lineup. I like how physical they play. Philly fans must be pumped because that's a Philly-style team.

And our boy Hazy, of course, you mentioned him last episode contributing offensively, but it just seems like that whole group is galvanized right now. They want to fucking play to win and keep going as far as they can into playoffs because we mentioned how important it was to have a close-knit group in order to go the distance. And I just really like the way they're built. If their goaltending can keep up.

And that's also after that Oscar Lindbaum loss that they're doing this and they're climbing. They could potentially win that division. I would not be shocked. Washington has been struggling as of late, 3-6-1. Not as bad as our boys Pittsburgh. I know I took a little bit of heat for that when I picked Washington as a cup contender instead of the Penguins.

Then after that Toronto win where they spanked them up and down the ice, they've been struggling since. So that division well up for grabs, and it's good to see. I fucking love when the NHL has parity. But the Metro's changed so much because if you look, Washington, like you said, has been shit. The Islanders have lost six of eight. Columbus has a bunch of injuries.

And Philly has just taken over by dominating the teams that they were supposed to, that they were kind of evenly matched to against. In the past three weeks, they've played Columbus twice. They've played the Panthers twice, and they played the Rangers twice. I think they went 5-0-1, or if it wasn't 6-0. And all those teams were kind of fighting with them at the time for the wildcard spot.

They just blew them all out of the water. So now they're looking to actually win the Metro. I love how you bring up how close of a group they are. They seem to all really love playing for one another. And they brought in Terry and Mike Yo along with Vino. I mean, Vino, that guy's been a really good coach around the league. They said on the broadcast today, they dusted the Rangers. I had the flyers. Thank you.

They said that Vino is the third winningest coach in Rangers history, and he must be up there for the Canucks. So they bring him in, along with Terry and Mike Yo. Guys, they were also head coaches. I mean, that's a good coaching staff. They know what they're doing, and they got a team that's taking a little while to figure it out,

but they have the goaltending. That guy, Carter Hart. Jesus, Carter Hart. Guy's going to win a Stanley Cup someday for the Philadelphia Flyers. I hate to say it. Even AV says it that way now, too, in his presses. Does he? Yeah, he did it a couple weeks ago in a scrum,

and then he did it the other day. He's like, yeah, kind of hot. Let me start. And he kind of laughs to himself. I don't even know if the media laughs, but he cracks himself up when he says it. This league's gone from the two-goalie system now to the three head coach system so you're gonna start seeing teams hire three head coaches that got canned oh well plenty of fucking shoes from this year that's for sure yeah well

we're gonna send it over to pronger in a second but first we do want to tell you that the interview is brought to you by bud light salsa and we know what you're thinking. It's a light and refreshing hot salsa with a hint of fruit flavor. It's got 5% alcohol, 100 calories, and comes in four delicious flavors, black cherry, lemon, lime, mango, strawberry, and you can get the variety pack as well and mix it up a bit. So go try it for yourself. And if you really love chiclets, buy Bud Light Salsa, mix it with Pink Whitney. It's a perfect combo. Personally, I'm a big fan of the strawberry. Blends in well with the PW. What's up, Biz?

And they call that a fizz nasty. Ooh, they sure do. So without further ado, we're going to send it over to Hall of Fame defenseman, Chris Prongo. Wow. You guys know. You guys know this is how it starts when you get an idol of mine. We got a guy right now that is one of the best defensemen to ever do it.

I got a chance to play with him. He's a member of the Triple Gold Club because he won the Olympics twice. He won the World Championships. He won the Stanley Cup. He won World Juniors. He won MVP. He won a Norris. Holy shitwit. Get to the point. won world juniors he won mvp he won a norris holy shit wit get to the point my idol growing up and i told nick lidschum that but i was kind of lying to him because it was really you chris pronger thank you for joining us you played a little bit more like nick lidschum hey i'll take that soft as warm butter soft as warm butter but i'll take it so how you been good what's going on, dude?

Oh, man, just busy. You're hanging in St. Louis now. You're here for the All-Star break. Okay. Yeah, I was with the scouting last week, and then prior to that was in Florida for pro and amateur meetings. Oh. So what do you think of being on that side of it now?

I feel like you picture yourself as a future GM. It's, yeah, I mean, it's 50,000 feet, right? Easy. When you're coach, it's day to day. It's the grind, the monotony, the video, all the stuff that they got to grind on every day. And on the management side, it's, management side, you're looking at players. I mean, you could be talking to teams for two years before you make a deal. You know, it's slow moving, especially now with the cap and where it's at.

Most teams are butting close to it and need some relief. Yeah, they need some young talent to kind of offset the big dogs. So you need something to get the competitive juices flowing again and you think that might be it? It's hard when you're watching the games and you have no say. Well yeah, because you'd be on the bench screaming at everyone, get the puck in!

Can't do that anymore from your coach. Nobody's listening. Let alone coach. Try being up in the press box going, no. You're seeing it right before it happens. Like, don't do it. Don't do it. No. And yeah, but it's life after, right?

Let's get into the management stuff later. Let's take it from the top here, right? Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Born in Dryden, Ontario. Oh, Dryden. You in Dryden, Ontario. Oh, Dryden. You have a brother, too. I'm sure you guys used to play quite a bit of pond hockey.

We did. We had some pretty vicious road hockey games out on the outdoor rink as well. A couple of good stories about that. Is he older or younger? Two years older. Oh, so he bullied on you? Yeah. Who made you so mean out on the freaking ice

box jesus christ uh i think it just came naturally i'm just an ass i'm just born an ass hey suspended eight times in your nhl career so nowadays you'd be labeled as a goon yeah some of those were accidental so oh i didn't mean to slash Pat Peek in the throat. It glanced off his stick. It rode up his stick. It can happen anyway. Rogue is learning. I mean, I apologized. I actually remember watching you when they did that hockey night in Canada,

pawn hockey thing, three on three, and you and your brother were on the same team. That was kind of a cool little event. That was pretty neat. Yeah, that was fun. I'm surprised they don't do that anymore. Yeah, they should. Yeah, that was pretty cool. We, that was fun. I'm surprised they don't do that anymore. Yeah, they should. Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Get all the retired guys going. So, 93, drafted second overall. The funniest part about that draft is Alexander Daigle went first overall. And he said at the time, I'm really glad I went first because nobody ever remembers who went second. It happened to be this guy. So, that ended up not being the truth, Alexander. The backs of his legs paid a pretty bad price for that comment. But it didn't make you happy.

My stick slipped. Love it. Pierre Maguire was your first NHL coach. Second. Paul Holmgren was your first? Paul Holmgren was the first. Brian Burke was the GM when I got drafted. Then he immediately apparently didn't like it

very much and left to go work at the league in the nhl office and was the player safety head at the time uh then pierre mcguire took over for paul holmgren and then paul came back and took over once the team was sold to paul carmanos or Peter Carmanos. Jimmy Rutherford became the GM. Paul Holmgren became the coach. It was a lot of moving parts there my first couple years in Hartford. I guess we'll have to go back to Peterborough and how you got drafted and developed, but that first year in Hartford,

I noticed you had quite a bit of penalty minutes. You finished with about 113 in that range. 6'6", 190 pounds. Yeah, not bad. Right. Because you were so big and coming into the league as probably a bruiser defenseman at that time or known as, did you feel like you had to step up and play that physical game

and maybe concentrate on more of that aspect than the offense and playing and doing all the other things? Yeah, I think it was really, as Witt said, I was not the thickest of draftees coming out of junior. I was obviously tall, but a little slight when it came to the weight. You know, it was trying to find your legs, you know, try to find your sea legs, try to figure out how this whole league works. You know, at the junior level, I was able to play against Eric Lindros

and some of these guys and realize just how big the NHL players are. And then you get in the locker room and we got 80 guys at my first training camp. No way. And there's a collection of meat, as you might imagine. The early 90s. We had about seven fights in my first scrimmage and training camp, and I'm just like, oh, boy, this is going to be interesting. So fast forward, and I'm like 195, 200 pounds and 6'6",

a little bit of a beanpole, and just trying to figure out how to play the game at the NHL level and survive. Because I'm big, you're being challenged physically in front of the net, in the corners, and you've got to learn ways to still play big but not let people know you're not that big yet so a little bit of smoke and mirrors i think that first year and then uh as i got a couple summers of training things started to come together and i got a lot stronger and and things kind of

progressed from there but that first year was it was a lot of learning so there was a chance that you were going to go the NCAA row because your brother played at Bowling Green, and then you ended up deciding Peterborough. Did you know you could be in the NHL at 18, or was it more like, I think just the OHL is better for me? No, I think for me, I had to go back one more year of Junior B. Yeah, you were ready to move on.

Yeah, I was ready to move on, and I think had I gone back another year, had I been able to come out that year, I would have went to college. But I had to wait another year. It was a draft year. I think I was rated second overall in the OHL draft and went in the sixth round. I was going to college. And everybody to this day still doesn't believe me, but I was going to college.

I had recruiting trips to north dakota uh you would have fit in maine maine meets korea was going to maine then so i was thinking about going to maine um michigan state michigan my brother was at bowling green so i'd already been there a few times and then uh uh i think maybe denver okay i gotta hop in here we talked to guys about the recruiting trips. Is that what they call them? Yeah, official visits. Official visits. How many did you go on?

I didn't go on any because I had them planned. Those were the five I was going to. That might make me go back to Junior B, a couple official visits. Had I gone, I think I might have. Yeah, Stratford might get me back one more year. So you decide on Peterborough, and you go play in that shoebox of a rink with square corners.

Beautiful. You probably love it. Beautiful. What do you credit your development to that quick in that two-year span where you were able to jump into the NHL at 18? I think, number one, we had really good veteran leadership. Number two, Dick Todd had been around forever and had Mike Ricci come through

and a lot of star players in the NHL and in the OHL. And then Jeff Toohey, our assistant coach, I worked with him every day after practice, before practice, and just trying to be a hockey nerd and try to hone my craft and work on my game. Things just started coming together. Every year it seemed like as I moved up a level in competition, it took me a little bit to adjust, and then once I adjusted,

then I started taking over. And it was just a matter of continuing to move that rung one up to get that competition level and push yourself and challenge yourself to see if you could keep up. Yeah. What about that draft year? Was there any chance you go number one, or was Daigle kind of the whole year? Seriously, like did you go into that draft knowing no chance?

No, I knew. By the time we got to the draft, mean i went to my i don't even know i went to a meeting but i went to a meeting with him like well we're taking alex so you can just sit here or you can leave they make you do the jumping test no i wouldn't do any of that stuff i'm like no uh then and then i knew right away they told me they were taking him and i think prior to the draft he'd already signed so we knew right away that he was going the intrigue was san jose had the second pick and we knew that they loved victor koslov they had already scouted the bejesus out of them and i don't know spent countless hours watching him and we all knew that he was their guy because he was supposed to challenge Degg for number one overall in the draft and had a tough year and slipped a little bit.

And it was – I remember the night before the draft, my agent, Patty, tells me, you know, you've got to stay in tonight. Just don't go out tonight. The draft was in Quebec City. Come on. Oh, wow. What do you think? I'm going to sit in my room in Quebec City?

Exactly. So me and my brother went out that night, and I'm on the dance floor, and I look up, and there's Rick Bonas, the head coach of Ottawa. Oh, no. And I go, I know. He's not drafting me anyway, so this is great. That's unreal. So, Chris, you end up drafted by half.

Were you just happy to be drafted, or were you kind of bummed out because of the situation with the team at the time? Where the fuck's half at? Yes. No, you know what? I wasn't. I didn't know much about it, but, you know, I knew some of the players that were on the team,

and not personally, but knew of them and obviously watched them play. And, you know, I was intrigued by the trade Berkey made to move up to get me and kind of his vision for what he had plans for in Hartford. And, you know, to be honest with you, I just wanted to play in the NHL. I didn't really care where it was. I was just excited to try to make the team and be a part of the NHL and live my dream. That was a pretty young team, too. Was there a lack of leadership on that team when you were there, you say uh no i think pat verbeek was a great captain

um he was a madman wasn't he yeah we had him we had andrew castles i think just you know from from the ownership it was kind of hopping around moving players around and moving pieces around i think the trade that really hurt him was the Ron Francis trade. Yeah, that'll do it. I think that kind of set them back. Had he still been there, he would have been a focal point of our team for a long time. And they just didn't get enough back for him. So two years there, and talk about giving up on a guy quick. I mean, granted they got Brendan Shanahan, but you're coming into your own,

and like you said, it would take you a year or two to figure it out before you started dominating. Were you shocked when you got the news? And how did you find out you got traded?

It's so funny. I end the year. This is after the lockout. Then we play half a year. I have a meeting with Jimmy Rutherford and he tells me, Chris, we're building around you.

You're our core piece. The kids are dead. Yep. You around you. You're our core piece. You know it. You're our core piece. My words are strong as oak. Jerry Maguire. So, as soon as I hear that, I'm like, oh boy, this is going to be a tough goal. And in my contract, it said I had to

train in the summer in Hartford. And I said, Jimmy, I got to be honest with you. I cannot come back here and train in the summer. The city's a dump. I'm 20 years old. It was a tough couple years living in Hartford. I lived with a great family, great friends to this day. They're amazing.

But other than that, it was tough. Yeah, there's nothing. I was still 20 years old. I couldn't go out. Everybody knew how old I was. So I was like, thank God there was no social media oh you'd be done but it was it was tough so i was like you know what i need i want to stay home so mid mid-summer paul holmgren flies up to meet with me who's still a head coach and see how i was doing how my training was going we go fishing

for a couple days he He's flying home. Again, no cell phones. Flying home. And he stops. He flies through Thunder Bay and he calls back to the office. And Jimmy Rutherford goes, so how was Chris? Good. Well, I just want to let you know, we just traded him.

No way. I literally just spent three days with our head coach. You're like, what did I say? Jesus. I was like, wow, Homer, you really had my back there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, Homer's like, why'd you fucking send me up to hang over for three days with our head coach. You're like, what did I say? Jesus. I'm like, well, Homer, he really had my back there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, Homer's like, why'd you fucking send me up to hang over for three days? Exactly.

Did you think that that had something to do with it at the time? No, no, no, no. It was too quick? No, not at all. Not at all. He had just left, and then I got a call from my agent, and I'm sitting there with my friend who was living with me in the summers, and he goes, I get the call, and I'm talking, and I'm like, all right. Really?

Oh, and all of a sudden my face perks up, and I'm smiling, and he goes, what's up? I go, just got traded to St. Louis. He's like, awesome. Boom. Spin the top off a bottle of whiskey and had a great night. Oh, my God. I mean, you get to St. Louis and talk about you go from a young team in Hartford with not much success. Now you're in a room with Brett Hall, Al McGinnis.

Gretzky was there the first. Yeah, we traded for him. So what a difference. And, like, are you going into that room pronger of nowadays where you're loud or are you just kind of quiet at that point? I can't ever picture you not being very loud in every locker room. I wasn't necessarily loud. ever picture you not being very loud in every locker room i wasn't necessarily loud you know i think more more so during the game in the locker room you know with furzi you know furzi's quiet and in his in the zone but furzi and holly holly would pretty much enough said right there yes

holly took charge of the room jeff corten all al we had a lot of veteran leadership craig mctavish was there um we had a lot of guys so um i didn't really have to say much that first year i couldn't even imagine the amount of jokes and trips going around the locker room like that mark bergevin was there oh him him and cortenel were relentless on one another just pulling pranks left and right we talked to cortenel about that didn't we he was a prankster those two were vicious. I think that's when Bergevin was on the cover of the Hockey News as the funniest guy in the NHL when he was on the

Blues as a jester. Yeah, we had some good times. Your first coach in St. Louis, Mike Keene, what was your relationship with him like right away? He was known for his head games. Yeah, it didn't get off on a very good foot. I was excited to be in St. Louis, but didn't train very well that summer.

I probably was a little excited about the move and didn't fit training into my schedule, to put it lightly. I knew I forgot something this summer. I got there and started skating with the guys and we do our VO2 testing. He was huge into fitness and VO2 testing and it was not very good.

But I always worried about being able to play the game and not worried about that stuff and he was not happy and i was in the not the fat club but the bike club furzi was in the fat club with me for different reasons always in that club he sent furzi home and told him to get into better shape. We were both riding the bike and getting to know one another. But that first year was tough here in St. Louis. It was getting booed every night, traded for a fan favorite. You know, Shani was beloved here, and it was hard. There was a lot of nights going to the bar by myself after games, Thursday and Saturday nights, where it was like, okay, just take the pain away.

This is brutal. Really? Yeah, but think about it. You're what, 20, 21? I had just turned 21 when the season started. You're not your dominant self yet. Yeah. Was training something that you hadn't really gotten into yet,

being as physically dominant as you were for your age all those years? And then all of a sudden, was that something that just made it click? Because from what I hear, you're known as a workhorse on and off the ice. Yeah, I didn't train a ton. I lifted when I was in Hartford in the offseason. I didn't have a regimen. I didn't have discipline in how I ate and discipline in my training schedule and all that stuff.

I was still pretty raw and just relied on my talent and my hockey sense to kind of navigate around the rink and didn't have the physical aspect cornered yet. And he was all over me. And, you know, we had a lot of guys on that team that Al was in great shape. And Al introduced me to Charles Poliquin who became my trainer and you know has taught a lot you know taught Gary Roberts and resurrected Gary Roberts's career yeah and you know he's been a staple for in the in that field for a long long time and uh recently passed so uh rest his soul but he was unbelievable for me when i first met him i'm al

he came in to see al and i walk into al's house and charles is right here walk towards me it's like five steps from here to that wall and i walk the five steps he goes you got a sore knee left knee i go yeah goes how's that that left shoulder you got rotator cuff issues? I go, yeah. Five steps. No way. Just pinpointed everything that was wrong with me. And then he does the fat test, and I'm like tall and skinny. I'm like, I got this.

He goes, you're 14%. I'm like, what? Just from pinching you? No, like with the calories. Oh, yeah. I was going to say, this guy's real good. He like names their last five girls. Well, for me anyway.

Yeah. So I'm like, wow, this guy's amazing. And then I start training and following his protocol and the supplements and, you know, eating habits and how you eat and when you eat. And then you start seeing the results the next year, and the rest is history i just that would became my you know and we would he basically turned me into a binge drinker because he's like hey you gotta stop drinking but i'm like dude you know i'm at 23 24 i'm going to

weddings i'm going to this i'm going to that i go that's not gonna happen but he's like okay i would rather you drink 24 beer in one night than drink six four days in a row. Yeah. Because he's like, if you do it one day, the same damage as six is 24. How many times do you get me at the hospital? Pump your stomach. Brock's like, man, I'm going hard on Saturday nights. I'm driving one night.

He's like the guy from China right now who drinks like 100 drinks in a in a row you were the original but you didn't have social media at the time exactly so i go out one night with some buddies and i'm like all right i'm driving i'm not drinking all right this is what this is i mean i literally had my calendar and i'd x out no drink yep this is a check mark so i go out i'm like yeah i'm not a big pop drinker. Soda pop for you Americans out there. Losers. Anyway. Pop. Pop. You ain't fucking pop.

It's pop. It's pop. It's pop. Go back to driving. So I grab a Coke, and I'm not paying attention. I'm not drinking, so I'm kind of like bored. What am I doing? Next thing you know, I got a 12-pack of Coke into me.

Next thing you know, I got six more. I leave this party at like two. I wake up in the morning with the biggest hangover I've ever had in my life. That just tells you how much sugar and how much crap is in a Coke. Yeah. It's disgusting. Yeah. So I don't drink pop anymore.

Chris, when you were in St. Louis, playoff success kind of alluded the team you had here. Thanks for that. Sorry. Suck on that one, buddy. Hey, President Scopey, let's focus on the Pulse. Thank you for that. Let's focus on the Pulse.

Don't worry. I haven't been reminded of that very often. Let's go back to the Pulse. Like, how frustrating did it get at times? Because, you know, you finally won the fans over. They were all over you because you replaced Shandy. You win them over, and then, you know, the playoff success didn't follow. Yeah, no, it was very frustrating.

There was a lot of teams where, how did we not win and then you look back okay well we lost to detroit twice we lost to dallas once a year they won we lost to colorado twice it just wasn't in the cards it just it's hard it's as we all know it's hard to win the stanley cup a lot of things have to go your way you got've got to have a hot goalie. You've got to get timely goals. You've got to get some lucky bounces. Injuries play a factor. There's a lot of things that go into it other than just playing.

Realistically, when you look at it, St. Louis last year, my God, Bennington comes out of nowhere, and there he is. Yeah. Now he's in the All-Star game, and he's a Stanley Cup champion, and on and on he is. Yeah. Now he's in the All-Star game, and he's the Stanley Cup champion, and on and on and on. Well, I mean, I don't think you'd ever throw anyone down the river, but there was a goal technique.

Well, maybe I would. All right, I was waiting for a little bit of a time. He mentions Binnington early, but he doesn't mention his goal. Well, because they won. We didn't. Had Fierzi not been hurt and injured, I think we would have had a chance. What's the back story on that when he did get hurt?

Oh, you mean when Kipper jumped on him? So we had Kipper on. He feels bad. Yeah, he felt terrible about it. I pushed him to the right, and he jumped to the left and landed on Fierzi, and he buckled back and tore his ACL. And I'll tell you what, what's more impressive about Fierzi, if you haven't seen his movie, watch it.

It's quite the story. But he tears his ACL, and he had some other issues with it. I don't know if he had his PCL or whatever, but he's on the ice the next day practicing. He's like, put a brace on it i can play i'm like no way as a goalie going up and down i'm like coco oh my god that's crazy i'm like that's the type of mindset you need in order to be a star like that and i'm just like oh my god and this is the year he played started 79 games he got pulled in 12 of them or something like that, but he started 79 games.

And if we gave up a goal in the first 10 minutes, Mike would just yank him. Ah, you guys aren't ready. See you later. You guys aren't ready. That's one thing I want to touch on was the relationships in St. Louis, and that's a great backstory towards that Fierzy incident. Al, I mean, I can only imagine how much he took you under his wing at the start. And just what was he like off the ice?

What kind of personality does he have? He's pretty quiet, you know, intense on the ice. You know, you wouldn't think from his stats. And he's a better defender than most people would give him credit for. Everybody thinks of the big slapper and power play and all that stuff but played hard and uh and defended hard and and i think a lot of times the defensive side of his game gets gets overlooked but uh off the ice quiet unassuming uh you know family guy just kind of goes about his business and and prepares you know he's a great guy to learn from and watch how he dealt with the media, how he prepared for games and practices, and very professional.

I've always thought that people who know the game, they know how incredible Al McGinnis was, but he doesn't get mentioned a ton when you're talking about some of the best all-time defensemen, and his numbers are just out of this world. But what about Brett Hull, too, because we ask everyone. When you came over, right? You come over, and you're not the star yet. You're not the dominant defenseman yet.

So was he hard on you even at the beginning? Or he kind of knew, listen, this guy can get it tape to tape to me. Yeah. I could still pass. A lot of the things that I did later in my career, I could still do then. So I think they could see the talent level. did later in my career. I could still do then, so I think they could see the talent level.

You know, I don't know what was said behind closed doors behind my back, but, no, he never really, you know, I was Mike's bitch. I was in his office every day after every period. My partner, Igor Kravchuk, would pinch. It would be a three-on-one. I would slide. They would score backdoor, and score back door and he go when she take the back back door guy what are you doing there oh pull me in the office for that I'm like

how about you talk to my partner about fucking pension did you ever give it back to Keenan did you give it back to yes I don't know when I got traded there I talked to a lot of guys that that played for him in New York that played from other teams and like hey you can't you got to tell him to F off back.

You got to. So the first couple times, you know, you're trying to be respectful of your coach. You're trying to, you know, use the power behind the bench. And then ultimately you're, all right, listen, how many times can you pull me into your office and tell me you're going to trade me? Fuck, I mean, come on.

Either do it or fucking stop calling me in. Finally finally towards the end as i'm losing my marbles and i'm like all right this is ridiculous i almost got into a fight in the parking lot with a fan after a game who was motherfucking me so i'm like fuck this i he starts chirping i go you know what just fucking trade me yeah just take the pain away some people don't handle this place some people will never realize like the emotional pressure that comes involved with well just like being a second overall second overall pick now all of a sudden you've been traded for shanahan who was loved here um but but hey as as maybe hard as it was at the start things got very good here you end up winning a heart trophy yeah no absolutely and i think you know we talk we always people want to talk about the good times and when you bring up the

bad times they kind of oh really everybody who's gone through they always have adversity and they always have challenges they gotta overcome it just so happens that mine were different than some other guys and in a different way uh some of some people have physical issues and i did later in my career, but early on, a lot of it was mental and understanding what you had to do to be effective and how you needed to play, how you had to prepare, how you had to bring it every single night to be this guy.

I just wanted to ask about the Hart Trophy season. Going into that year, that offseason, was there anything different that you did talk us through? Yeah, I think, you know what, that was probably one of the only summers that I wasn't hurt. No, I drank. That was probably one of the only summers where I wasn't injured, where I could just train and not rehab an injury,

rehab my shoulder, rehab this, that, or the other thing. And I got after it. It was, I was in the best shape of my career. I was strong, man. I was picking guys up with my stick and tossing them. It was, that's as strong as I've ever been. Is that, that's a Paul Quinn, if I'm saying his name right? That was, so you're already with him at this point, right?

I was with Charles. This is probably my third year with him. So it's now starting to take hold. It's maybe my fourth. Yeah, I think it was my fourth year. So it's all starting to take hold, the training, the methods, the eating, all that stuff. And you were the first defenseman since Robert Gordon Orr to win the MVP.

Ever heard of him? Yeah. The game just slowed down. Yeah. The game just, it just slowed down. Yeah. That year, it just must have been. It slowed down, strength, skating, everything just, you know, and then Al got hurt and we didn't skip a beat. It was, as far as the season, if you look at my stats, point-wise, it was obviously

my high. My penalty minutes were down a little bit i think um i think my ice time was up because al got hurt you know so there was a lot of factors that kind of played into me winning and i and realistically the only reason i won is because jagger got hurt and he missed i think 12 or 15 games so the pittsburgh writer didn't vote for him that's how i won he must not given him an interview after the game. Well, I'm sure that probably played into it. Or he crushed his old lady or something.

He saw Yags leaving his house. He's like, what the fuck? So after Keenan, you get Quenville. Is that like going night and day? Was that like salvation for you after Keenan? Yeah, it was. I think when Joel came in in he was trying to be himself and be different than Mike I think he wanted to try to establish a relationship

different than Mike and and obviously the way he played good stick and and the way we defended was different Mike was more of a motivator not much of an X's and O's guy. And Joel brought in systems and brought in a hockey sense into the game plan and how we played and why we played a certain way and tried to bring everybody along for that. Plus he was a brain in his office every day. Yeah, plus I wasn't getting bitch slapped.

That's probably something where he goes in like, I know what Prongs was dealing with before. He also was in Hartford when I got drafted. Then he got hired by Colorado as an assistant with Crawford. Oh, okay. So he won a Stanley Cup there as the assistant. He was an assistant in Colorado when they won.

All right. So like the end of St. Louis, give us that breakdown, how you end up in Edmonton and what all happened there. I knew I was being traded. I knew they were shopping me uh edmonton at the time was not even mentioned to me there was four or five teams florida um la a couple other maybe boston this is pre chara this is right before they got chara um so there was a few teams that

were banded around by my agent these are the teams that have interest in you. And then I met a 30th birthday party. I obviously had a couple. You've had some wild trade stories, man. And I get a call. I get a call. He's waffled every time he gets traded. I get a call, and it's my agent saying, you've just been traded to Edmonton.

I'm like, what? When did they get into this? They weren't on the list. I'm like, I didn When did they get into this? They weren't on the list. I'm like, I didn't have a list. I'm saying the list that you're hearing. Oh, yeah, no. And I'm like, what? But before we even get to that, why did you know you didn't want to resign?

Or why did you know you were going to get traded? Well, I knew they were shopping me. The owner was going to sell the team. My contract was up, but I could have taken my qualifier. We'd just gone through this lockout. I was told, well, once the lockout ends, we'll know what system we're in, and we'll talk extension. Well, then there was a few choice words said about me,

and I didn't take kindly to it. And there was a lot of back office stuff that I was not a fan of regarding me over over the years and i just had had enough and i said fuck it go ahead trade me right fucking yeah pretty much pretty much because my agent had been hearing it for four years and i'm like i don't know why i'm the bitch i'm the best player here like why am i getting worked over by the management right yeah i'm doing what i'm supposed to do anyone else got a heart trophy on this locker room, guys? Fuck you. You know, I don't like talking about myself, but, you know,

I was the best player on the team. And the way they were treating me, it wasn't – listen, there's double standards, but I don't need somebody kissing my ass, but don't treat me like a piece of shit. Right, right. Don't make me the issue. Yeah. And there was a lot of shit said about me to my face kind of, but not.

That was bullshit. And I finally told my agent, all right, finally I heard a story about the president talking about me, telling me I was going to be too old. Now he's going to be too old. Free agency is going to be 27. Oh, he's going to be a fossil. He's injured all the time, this and that.

I'm like, oh, really? See you. So I told injured all the time this and that i'm like oh really see ya so i told my agent what i heard and i'm like i've had it i can't take this shit no more so did you welcome the trade to edmonton uh i welcomed the trade the second part i welcomed i welcomed the trade just because it was different and you know i just needed a different outlook it was a mistake signing the five-year deal i should have just signed my qualifying offer played the year and left uh i got sold a bill of goods on some other stuff and my knee was a little sore and i was like i'll take the money take the guarantee yeah and i i shouldn't have you know that's partly my fault i was sold a bill of goods that's my agent's fault team's fault just why

didn't why do you say it was kind of a mistake because you think after having so much success in edmonton when you guys ended up going to the finals that you could have signed for more well i could have signed for more but it just it would have gave me free agency and it would have gave you wouldn't look like such a bad guy. First off, I got fucked. Coming out of the lockout, there was three guys that were going to be unrestricted if the rules went into effect the way they were. Marty St. Louis, Sergey Gonchar, and me. And they said, well, we're going to stick with the current rules this year,

which made it 31, so the three of us could not be free agents, and then we're going to start the next year. And I was like, all right, this is bullshit. And then Gaunch actually signed the next year. He just waited with Pitt, but you had already. I had already re-upped. I didn't realize that. So there was three guys that got screwed out of the lockout

amongst a whole host of players, but out of the free agency side, we got screwed. And I just... Had I waited, I could have picked where to go. Did you... I mean, aside from that... I should have waited, but... And how you got bent over on how much money you made.

I still think you made close to $100, you fucker. I should have had $150. Going into that season, were expectations that high to have so much success in Edmonton? I will say this. I really liked our team. We brought in Michael Pecka. As the season went on, we brought in Jaros Pacek.

Jason Smith was solid on D. Jason Smith was solid. Matt Green was a young kid coming in. We had Marc-Andre Bergeron, who I played with for the first half. We had a young Hemsky. We had Horkoff. We had the moulay, Ryan Smith. We had... Just taking your shots. i tipped that one problem oh yeah

let's get into these characters on that team so you know it's steve steos we had ethan morrow we had a good group of guys and it was a great locker room and i i like the way we played we played an up tempo physical style um and you knew mac t because you'd play mac t who i played with and and in talking a couple of guys when i came in they're like oh thank god you're here i'm like why we never we know you know mac t and you know you're up here and you know we need days off we never get days off i said well you never get days off because you guys run so hard i go you got to pick and choose your spots, guys. You got to slow down.

They were insane. They went hard. Was Rafi Torres on that team? He was there. Stoli was there. Stoli. I heard these. Young Raf.

Young Stoli. Morton was young. Hammer. A bunch of good guys. We had a good group of guys. I'm trying to explain to them. I go, guys, I will get days off. First off, we need to put the work in on the ice,

and I will get us days off. But you've got to take care of yourselves in the days off. I go, there are going to be green lights, and you guys can go run amok and do what you do. But you've got to take care of yourselves, too. We've got to play. So it took a little bit of time, but, you know, I would just go in and talk.

Some days I was tired, but I'm like, fuck it. They're not getting it yet. We need to practice. To sum up how much fun they were having, Rafi Torres, you know, you'd ask these guys, you know, what was the run like? How fun was it in Edmonton at the time? And Tico would always give me that look like. I don't remember that. He goes, Biz biz i used to pull up to the club i used to toss my car keys as high as i could in the air and i'd let the i'd let the the valet guys fight over him i'd walk

right into the club and i guess this is torres you know he's saying the story like he's like he's elvis or some shit so that but, I mean, you guys just sneak in the playoffs and like roll us and catch us. Third, second last game. Second last game, we beat Anaheim in overtime. So just inconsistencies throughout the year where you're like. No, we beat Colorado. Pardon me.

We beat Colorado in overtime. Yeah, we just, you know, we didn't have a number one goalie. You know, Cox was having a tough year. Juicy Markkinen was okay, but he wasn't having a stellar year. We didn't have a number one. I mean, we lost to St. Louis twice. We outshot them 40 to 15. And I think we lost 4-2, 5-2.

They had 15 shots on net. You can't win. We had 40 shots on goal, and they were good shots. I'm just like, we can't be losing these games. We're dominating the game. We got the puck for three-quarters of the game, and we lose. Yeah. So once we got Roley and we got comfortable with him,

then it brought the other guys up. When you're not a number one, but you're a number two, and you have a number one, that elevates your play because you know you don't have to go every night you could prepare the way you're used to preparing and be a number two and you're seeing how a guy who's done it for a long time gets it done exactly so i mean but that so in in st louis you guys win the president's trophy losing the first round well fast forward a few years you get detroit 124 points first round this year when you're on edmonton and you guys get a win there i mean how going into that series what was even the approach like how do you how do you beat this wagon of a team of all-stars

you know there's a couple things one we went two and two that year against them so we knew we could beat them uh number two we were young and cocky and you know i don't think yeah i think you know i don't care where that is yeah um and number three which is so stupid we we used to go 2-1-2 on a four check well we went into the trap we went 1-2-2 and i heard the stupidest thing i've ever heard in my life somebody in detroit no i don't think it was a player. It was like the media. Oh, they're cheating. They're cheating. They're playing the trap. Pardon?

I'm sorry. Well, they always play the 2-1-2. Why are they doing the 1-2-2? I'm like, let's call an adjustment. They're like, and they were dumbfounded that we were playing as a patient game. This young group of kids playing this young patient game and trapping. What are you talking about?

I'm like, what are you talking about? That's what you play. You go left wing lock and you play a one, two, two. I'm sorry, we're cheating? Yeah, that makes no sense. So anyways, we played hard. We played physical. We played fast.

We got timely saves and goaltending. No, we were not scared we we felt like we could beat them so you it was obvious at that point you were the guy in the locker room who kept everyone accountable one of the things that keeps getting brought up on the podcast when your name comes up specifically is how after a period if you didn't if you weren't happy with the performance by some guys, you have no problem coming in and saying, Whit, what the fuck is that? 20 minutes. The game started an hour ago.

This is what I think of intermission's prongs. He'd be cutting his fucking fingernails. I don't know why you did that every intermission. And then he'd be like, let's go, boys. Enough with the turnovers at blue line. You know who you are. I heard you know who you are 5,000 times. I played with him for a half season.

You know who you are. And you did. Everyone knew who you were. But was it like in Edmonton? You had to be just calling guys out. Let's go, boys. No, you know what? No, because we were a young group.

We had Gator, Warrior, Hard Nose, Quiet Leader. out let's go you know what no because we were a young group we had a we had you know gator warrior um hard nose quiet leader um you know i think early on i was harder on guys just to we're here to win yeah we want to have fun and we want to party we want to do all the things that happen in the nhl but we're here to win hockey games and play the game and i think once we figured that out then my other guys took charge and other guys like hey let's go you know where you start they expect it ethan morrow's talking to his line and and hork's talking to his line and and stevie is talking to his partner and i'm talking to gator and mark andre and like it now it becomes a culture and a team and and guys are looking out for one another but they're also like hey you better get your shit going hey I've seen you we need you

yeah you you can be better and and also on the flip side the positive side you're like hey great shift great great period let's get another one of those or you know just you know it's not always about jabbing guys it's fun doing it but also the positive when a guy makes a great pass or uh you know sacrifices himself you know that Detroit series I think that was one of the biggest things that I noticed about our group we're trying to lock down a game and Sean Horkoff dives there's like two seconds left he dives face first to try to block a shot like that sacrifice and guys start believing and guys understand what's at stake and how bad you want to win that's when you see things take hold and and leadership and you don't have to say much when you see that because guys on the bench are going holy shit did you see hork it's our number

one center on the team and he's diving face first to block a shot and one thing for you too is yes he had a visor on but still is at that point you're probably halfway through your career center on the team and he's diving face first to block a shot and one thing for you too is yes he had a visor on but still is at that point you're probably halfway through your career and with that team that's the first time at any point you'd made a run for it yeah no absolutely so how much did you take away from that in transitioning over to anaheim and i guess that goes back to when we interviewed brian burke what's up well? I got more questions about Edmonton. Okay. All right.

He wants to segue. I got more questions. I was just going to pump his tires in the fact that when you did end up going over to Anaheim, Brian Burke, when they had their meetings to address what they needed to address in order to maybe get over the hump, they said, what do we need? And Brian Burke's answer was Chris Pronger. Yeah. Well, and they got him.

But we'll get there. My question is, you get to the finals, okay? And fucking poor Rolison, he gets injured in game one, but not only did that happen in game one, you scored the first penalty shot in Stanley Cup finals history. What do you remember about that? Thanks for that, Whit. Yeah, exactly.

I was trying to glance over that. I had to bring that up. You didn't want to tap me too hard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, how did you even get the shot? Well, here's the thing. I was on the ice with the fourth line. George LaRock wasn't going to take it.

I think Chopper was out there, and I can't remember who. Be careful what you say about fourth liners. Yes. No, no. Hey, they were a valuable part of our team. But they were taking the shoot. We weren't taking the penalty shot. He was not taking the shoot out. Guy covered up the puck in the crease with his hand.

Boom. So you pick anyone. We practice shootouts every practice. I always scored. Got my move. You saw it in the video. The funny part about that is that I hurt my back lifting like four days before that because we had a nine-day break, which makes no sense.

No chance to have health. We went in five, and you're going to penalize us for not going seven. It doesn't make sense. So nine days off I'm lifting Whatever I kind of tweak my back I'm like oh boy

This is not good We're Three days out So I'm taking Flexol Flexerol So I'm on a little muscle relaxer

If you notice in the video I'm like at the far end Kind of You're out to lunch A little out to lunch You know Oh Guy moves

All right Let's go Thank God I was relaxed Yeah and kind of, ooh-hoo. You're out to lunch. A little out to lunch. You know, oh, Guy Mosley was like, all right, let's go. Thank God I was relaxed. Give me another one of those. I'll go in there like fucking that. I need another one. I was like, ooh-hoo.

It's like my move. When did the team start getting like aspirations of shit, we can win the cup here? Was it after the Detroit series or was it a couple more series later? I think we gained confidence

with the Detroit win win i think as we went along we were down to nothing to san jose coming into oh i didn't know that that's we were down to nothing we lost two one goal games tough games in san jose then we come home and they were oh ron wilson i ran into him walking into the rink, and chest was puffed out, head was, and I'm like, okay, we'll see. I think it's over. They get up in that first, in game three, I think they were up 3-0.

I mean, they were steamrolling us. And Nabokov went out to play the puck, screwed up, Sammy Samsonov puts it in, and it just, we made a save a save we scored a goal and the momentum just flipped we won that game in triple overtime hork i think yeah then we won game four then we won game five then we won game six and it was over wow and then we're like all right and then we're playing anaheim who we had beat i think we were four and0 against them. We're like, alright, we got this. Got off to a great start against them. Won two in their building.

Came home. Won game three. They won game four and then we won game five there. I feel like Samsonoff was on that team. It's unfair I think to Carolina, but you got to think if Rolison's healthy, you think he'd win this. No doubt.

Juicy came in and you know the sad part about us losing game one i still to this day don't know why we were doing it we were rotating backup goalies oh so it was conklin played game you know came in when roly got hurt conklin was in oh and then we were rotating our backup goalies that's like talk about not having a really a backup plan you know like so and and cox had been playing better so it's nothing against him he played good but he hadn't played in i don't know how long so then he goes back you know roly gets hurt they score to make it four four i'm thinking all right well let's just go to overtime right there's a minute left let's just go to overtime, right?

There's a minute left. Let's just get this to overtime, and we'll win it. He goes back, stops the puck. I'm going back. Gator goes back to pick it up. He leaves it on the other side of him. Brindamore grabs it, empty net. Yep.

We just gave that away. We were winning 4-1. It's over. So then in game two, for whatever reason, we thought we'd try to run him out of the building and took about 100 penalties, and that one was over quick. Now seems like a good time to transition, Anaheim. This is getting depressing. Thank you.

I know you're biased, but do you think that might be the most underrated Stanley Cup final this century? I feel like people don't talk about it. This century? That's pretty heady right there. Well, no, just the 2000s. No, I think... That's a decade, isn't it?

Yeah, last time I checked. A century, 100 years. Last time I checked, two decades. Centuries, 100 years. No, no, I mean this century, meaning 2000, not in the 1900s. Like from 2000 until now. Okay, okay.

I think a lot of times it gets lost in the shuffle because the year before there wasn't a Stanley Cup. Right. And then it was the Calgary-Tampa series. So, yeah, I mean, it was good hockey. Yeah, it was. When you look at how some of the games were won, Fernando Prezanti scores in overtime in Game 5 in Carolina, shorthanded to win it.

You know, Stevie Stahels is in the box going, holy shit. And the next thing you know, woo-hoo-hoo. Good thing they weren't doing the storm surge back then i made it chop somebody's head off oh you are you not down with the boys playing dodgeball okay well that's fine but not when i'm out there yeah now that you're retired you're cool with it yeah i'll do whatever you want but if i'm playing it's like them doing the michigan go ahead and try it you'll take your take the one guy's wrist you're're going to get some lumps somewhere, and it may not be on that play, but you're getting it. You're going to learn very quickly.

Don't do that when I'm on the ice. All right, well, moving into Anaheim, had you requested the trade even before playoffs, during playoffs, or was it right when the season ended? No, they knew. Okay. Yeah, they knew. So it's almost harder for you as you guys go on you're

like oh jesus you're in the finals and you're like okay we got a legit chance you get into game seven like all right we got this like we're building steam we're starting you know juicy market it's playing great in that everybody's kind of over the first couple games in carolina we win that great game in game five we steamroll them in game six back home. We're like, alright. Now we're rolling again. And they score a shitty goal like eight minutes into the game. And then we...

No. Then they score again. We score to make it 2-1. And then we had a five on three. I don't even know if we got a shot on net. Which sucks. And then they scored a late empty netter, and it was over. But we just couldn't buy a goal. What was the reason you wanted to leave Edmonton?

Were you just kind of over the weather and maybe were the direction of the organization? No, just a number of factors. Family. I was sold a certain bill of goods that wasn't accurate and just wasn't working out you know it just at that time did you have a list or was it still could have been i didn't have a list no no they edmonton went by the teams that expressed interest and dropped a piece of paper here's what we want that's what berkey told us berkey said they they they put down what they wanted they wanted uh loophole latticemeed, the picks,

and they said, okay, let's do it. I almost got traded to Toronto. This close. Oh, Jesus. They offered Stajan, and Edmonton wanted Steen, and they said, no, we're not doing that. Which is weird, because I believe Steen was a throw-in. No, then they immediately, later that summer, traded him to St. Louis for Stepniak.

Correct. And the story goes that it was a Koliakovo deal, and they called and said, hey, I heard that things aren't necessarily going that well with Steen right now, and we can get him as a throw-in. And they had him throw Steen in, and the rest is history. So it was Cabriolet, him, and two firsts. Well, there you have it.

You never know. And all of a sudden you're in Anaheim. Yeah, 364 and a half days of sun with one morning of drizzle. That's not bad. Yeah, like hitting the lottery. Wearing your Tevas to the rink every day. Yeah, you know, shorts and a flip-flops. And you go from having Al McInnes early early on in your career now you're playing with

another guy nita meyer now this guy is effortless just one day i wish i could skate like that just one day remember the little sweat he'd have a little dime size i i remember in the olympics in o2 he we're in elevation in salt lake and he's out there he takes a two and a half minute shift he's gone through two partners i'm supposed to be up and he just changes because he felt bad he wasn't even tired i'm taking a 30 second shift going i gotta go let's go i mean he's just out there skating around You know Norm just kind of cruising You're like oh my god So you guys did you

Were you paired together during that season No it was him and Bosch And then me and Sean O'Donnell And then Huskins and Joey D That team beat the shit out of people We had a tough team Like that was like I think that was your highest penalty minute season as well was it

No I had One year here I had 180 Oh well was it no i had uh one year here i had 180 oh okay but uh yeah no i had a few it was uh you think about it we had fedora got hurt so we made the trade for peros we had sean thornton then we got mayday we had odie we had bosh we had i mean you start going down the list we had a good uh and you guys that could play and you went from managing the young. We had a good guys that could play. And you went from managing the young guys in Edmonton to maybe manage a few here in Anaheim.

Yeah, we had Getze, Perez, and Penns. Oh, my God, those three. What were those young bucks like? Were they doing the same shit? You know what? It was trying to, like Edmonton all over, you know, just, hey, there's a time and a place, boys. I get you think, you know, and now they're probably looking at it like,

oh, now I know what they're talking about. They're the same age now where it doesn't happen every year that you get this type of team, and it doesn't happen every year where you have a legit chance and you can do it. Like Penner had 20 goals in the first 50 games, and then he just pulled up on the gas, like, eh, I got my 20. And Marchant goes, you know you have a bonus at 32, right?

But he'd already took like 12 games off, right? Finished with 29. Oh, Jesus. Come on, Dustin. Come on. That's why they have bonus structures in contracts. So guys, there's no keep them going. Yeah, you got to keep them going.

What was your first impression of this guy here when he ended up in the room? Oh, we were paired together. I was carrying him. He was lugging the mail. Well, actually, I was called by the Hawking. He was a poor Chris Pronger, so I still have that hung up. I can work myself over to seeing that cut out before my draft. But it turned out to be a poor, poor, poor man's Chris Pronger.

What about you and Randy? How did you guys get along? Oil and vinegar. I liked Randy in the sense that he was detailed and structured and wanted to teach the young guys how to be professional, how to train, how to prepare for games and things like that. And then there was the other side where we just butted heads. I like them, but we just butted heads. And you don't have to get along with everybody.

You don't have to like everybody or whatever. It's not all kumbaya all the time in the locker room, but when you're playing the game, you appreciate his detail, you appreciate his intensity, and you appreciate the way he – I like the way he wanted us to play. That's the way I like to play, and it suited suited my game and you guys end up getting over the hump you win your stanley cup i mean we got to dive into that a little bit yeah it was uh it was you got sussy that series i remember i did and i got sussy this series before that but who's counting? But who's counting? You know? That was, finished that game with a separated shoulder.

So had we lost that game, doubtful I would have played the next game. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, I got hit. Kind of funny behind a net with, Neal hit me from this side and. Fisher? No, it was Chris Kelly or somebody hit just. Nobody. It was just... Nobody.

It was just like a... Random. Random. I don't know. I just kind of went into the boards like that. Could you even raise the cup? Yeah, I had some juice in there. There we go.

Shoot me up to raise this thing. Oh, yeah? Getting a little... Well, that shoulder might be separated again. You keep dropping that mic. It's getting sore. At least when Randy said, did you ever win a Norrish,

you could say, yeah, and I won a hot too. Well, you couldn't say it to him and Norm. No, no, no. How many NARCs did you get with? None. Fair enough, Randy. Thank you. What was the celebration like? Besides, you guys had like a parade in the parking lot, didn't you? Yeah, it was good,

man. The nice part about being on the West Coast is that it was a 5 o'clock game, so we came outside to the party and it was still light outside so that was you didn't have to go till four in the morning to catch a real good buzz how good was jiggy man and play jiggy was awesome you know and to go through what he went through in the first at the end of the season with his son and in that first, not knowing what it was, I'm sure was tough on him. You know, you could see his head was elsewhere when we're practicing.

Right. You know, he was there, but he really wasn't. You know, which is why, you know, they made the right move in starting Briz. And, you know, it just, when you watch the games and you're there and you're seeing it, you're like, okay, you're waiting for the moment when they can pull Briz and put him in because you know he's our number one. We're riding Briz because he's playing good.

Right. But at some point, the other guy's going in. You know he's going in. It's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of when. Oh, God. We got to dive into Briz too, man. That guy is just a special human being.

Probably the weirdest player I've ever played with, hands down. He's a different breed. He's a goalie, but to another level. Oh, man. That's describing it perfectly, I would say. Yeah, he, all the talent in the world, could be one of the most athletic goalies I've ever played with, yet, like, you're just like, really?

Had I not been hurt in Philly, I don't think it would have ended that way because I'd played with him in Anaheim and knew how to handle him. I got hurt 13 games in, so he could kind of do whatever he wanted. There's a goal, and it's a tip-in, and he's giving it one of these with the defensemen. I'm sitting at home in the dark watching the game going, you motherfucker. Waves like, Chris, this is not good for your recovery.

And I'm watching him going, every time a goal's going in, he's blaming somebody. I'm like, Jesus. I'm trying to stay out of it and trying to get better. I try to. I hate watching goalies do that. Yeah, but I also think that probably the media pressure and just everything involved got him to a really dark place

where maybe that's what I'm saying. And we had Sean Burke on on the podcast and he touched on that and he said he told briz he goes if you sign in philly you're you're going to be done yeah like that's going to be it right and and he's and he but he said he knew briz and he knew he knew he was going to go after the money and i mean i don't think anyone expected to unravel that quickly yeah no it was you lose your teammates when you do that. And when you do it over and over, and then you do it in the paper,

and then you go into the lunatic zone with the solar system and... Yeah, tough to keep people in the team. Almost like it was a cry for help at some point. Yeah, you're just like, there's something going, why are you, he's something going on. He's drawing attention to himself when he should be going the other way. You shouldn't be drawing attention to yourself. You should be trying to work on your game, get better,

and then silently come in and be good instead of drawing attention to yourself for non-hockey-related issues. drawing attention to yourself for non-hockey-related issues. Yeah, I personally don't think he's got mental issues. I think he's just the goalie to the extreme, like you said. And he's trying to draw people in when he doesn't have to, especially in Philly when you're a goalie. They're coming for you. Speaking of Philly, so what precipitated your trade from Anaheim to Philly?

Another great conversation with the GM. Hey, Murph. It was, he took over from Berkey and I think just wanted to remake the team in his own way. Well, going back to that series against Chicago, you and... Buff. No, not Buff. Well, yes, they had something going on. But in the media-wise...

Oh, picking up the pucks or something? Oh, eager? And eager. Yeah, they didn't like that. I don't know why. Yeah, you picked up their... I didn't realize. Now, where does it say on the puck that the winner and is there a rule in the book that says the

winner gets to keep the puck did you have like a big bucket of pucks in your garage is there a rule i i last time i read the rule book there's no rule in there that says when you win the game you well they might put one now the prongs rule because you now it's clear that that you did it out of spite and you were bitter about the game but you know it's clear that you did it out of spite and you were bitter about the game, but it's funny because the media gets around with it. It's another storyline. Did you purposely do that just to try to get in their kitchen?

I did it the first time to piss them off, yes. The second time, I had them pissed off, and I'm like, eh. You know when a team, they always do this stuff after the games, and they show them, oh, here's the board. We're keeping pucks.

I'm like, oh, you're not getting this part it's gonna be a fake wheel first game we lose it's over they're gonna snap and i wish i would have kept game one i never did i got it i got in the room and i just chucked it in the garbage i kept game two i still got it i should have brought it what about game six this is like We should make a presentation to the Blackhawks organization and say, you know what? After all these years of hurting my feelings, I'm finally ready to let this go. I'll relinquish your bus.

And then he spikes it. Everybody still thinks I had game six, but I wasn't even on the ice, so how could I get it? Nobody even saw the thing go in besides Kaner. I want to go back to the series against the Bruins. Had you ever been part of a comeback like that before, down 0-3 and coming all the way back? Not 0-3, down 3-1.

Okay. In St. Louis here, we beat Phoenix. They were up 3-1 against us, and we came back and won. No, it was – but you know what? It's funny. We were down 3-0, and we easily could have been up 3-0. They were super tight games. Both teams were playing good.

They got the bounces when they needed them. And once Richie ran over Krejci and screwed up his arm, they didn't have the depth up the middle, and we kind of took over from there and won game four in overtime and then kind of took charge from there and won game four in overtime and then kind of took charge of the series from there so unfortunately like not for for most guys the careers end in a tough way and glad to see you doing great now but there were some tough times huh and why don't you fill everyone in for what happened i think it was a stick in the eye and yeah yeah no i got a stick

right in my eyeball as the stick was coming up i moved if i had not moved it would have probably shattered my orbital and all that stuff but may not have done as much damage uh the brunt force of the stick was totally into my eye i had like a one stitch cut and the rest of it was trauma inside my eye i mean it was bleeding and um so i had a vestibular concussion that i got diagnosed with later obviously i had some eye trauma my eye was blurry and a bunch of other stuff but uh yeah that was uh that was nice what's the very first thought in your head when that happens like when i got hit yeah oh my fucking get off the ice yeah get off you know you go you get hit like that and you go

down for like that split second you're like fuck and you're just like in your head you're like get off the ice you know just do not lay on the ice get up and get the hell off and figure out what's going on because i just couldn't see and i you know you're kind of not opening your eye you're kind of looking for blood you're you know you don't, you know, you're kind of not opening your eye. You're kind of looking for blood. You're, you know, you don't know. You know it hit you in the eye and you're like, oh, fuck. What is the outcome of this going to be like? Right, Jesus. So it was, you know, scary initially.

But how old were you at that time? 37. So it's like, did you have any idea at that point? Like, when did you realize, all right, I'm probably done? Well, I get hurt. I lay in bed for nine days, you know, try to get the swelling out, you know, putting these drops in to flush out the blood. Then I ride.

I had a bike in my house, so I rode the bike for five minutes, like super slow. Then I went outside for a walk. Then the next day I went on the ice at the rink and then the next day i practiced and then the day after that i played so nine days ahead yeah so um i didn't feel good playing but i'm like well i just took freaking two weeks off so i'm thinking in my head i'm justifying it as, well, you know, I'm lightheaded. I'm a little nauseous. I'm like, well, I'm out of shape. You know, you can spin it.

That's how I felt every training camp. This is normal. This is normal. I feel nothing. How did you play those games? Do you remember? Yeah, it was all right. It wasn't great.

The first game was actually in Tampa. When you held it? When we held it. Oh, yeah. And we were like, all right, here wasn't great. The first game was actually in Tampa. When you held it? When we held it. Oh, yeah. And we were like, all right, here's how they're going to do. They're going to stand there. And we're like, all right, we're just going to stand here. And he'd see me one time, like, come on, Marty.

And he's looking over at the bench. I go, you don't have to look at him. You can come on. Come on. So that one game was nothing. It was a no-hitter. Then we went down to Florida. I think we won that game.

And then we went to Carolina. And then I slid on a two-on-one. It's weird. You slide a two-on-one, and it was fresh cut. I slide and kind of run into the boards, and I just could feel my head snap out. Oh, fuck. Oh, boy. And that kind of run into the boards and i just i could feel my head snap oh fuck oh boy and that kind of jarred me again and the whole time you know you get a little bit of headache you're a little lightheaded you're a little dizzy and i'm just like it'll go away it'll go away so then the

next game at home we're playing phoenix and hansel hits me from behind and kind of elbows me in the head. And I, you know, I felt it. And then I freaking snapped. And I look at the ref first, you know, the first reaction. You got to see if it's going to be a penalty first. I look. And instead of freaking attacking him, I go right at the ref. I'm like, what the fuck? How is that not a penalty, you fucking stupid idiot?

Hansel's like, yes, he's not going after me. As only I can. can and you know which normally i would have went the other way but this thing you know i just you start doing stupid shit and kind of i mean i chased him all the way to the penalty box he's like get away from me i'm like no why is that not a fucking penalty and then the last game was in winnipeg you know how loud that building was this was their first might have been their first year it was great yeah it was it was their first year it was so loud so loud and i was like so loud oh my god i got a headache i'm lightheaded i was doing shit on the ice i remember

tanner glass had a coincidental penalty and i knew he was in the box and i go back i pick up the puck and i knew he came out and i'm like i just picked up the puck and i just casually turned into him and thank god he kind of saw me he didn't hit me but he could have freaking killed me he could have killed me and i never do that and i'm just like something's up i went to take a one-timer and i fell down. I mean, it was not pretty. And I'm like, okay, finally I went off the ice. And after the game, I'm like, we're going home. I need to see a doctor.

This is not good. Something's up. Something's not normal here. You know, normally it would go away or you'd start feeling a little bit better. It was going the other way. So I'm like, something's going on here. It's not right. So then that's it and um fuck man how long how long have you you know just sitting in the dark room and trying to get your head right how long were you foggy for so so then i went and

i went to umc umpc upmc upmc upmc and pit and and mickey collins Collins and worked with their group for better part of four months probably and just trying to get a handle on things and figure out. And he's looking at me. We're going through my chart, and he's looking at my injuries, and he's looking at my head stuff. And he's like, well, how many concussions? I go, well, documented, and he goes, zero. I go, zero. He's like, well, how many have you had?

I go, I don't know, 20. I know. You can't even. I mean, i don't know 20 i mean i know you can't even i mean i don't know i go what do you consider a concussion like you know what back then versus now i mean 100 you know every time you see stars is that a concussion is it you know i get a stinger i get this you know the all the verbiage we used to use um you know now the guy i got hit one night in la in the playoffs in 97 i think it was glenn murray hit me you would never know never know i was out and it was an innocuous hit like nothing it was just he ran into me but he just hit me in the jaw and we both went down and i luckily i was right beside the bench and i got up

and i kind of got off and i sat down i'm like i called the trainer i'm gonna go dude i got two bright lights right right in my eyes right here he's like what i go i just got knocked out over there he's like can you play and i'm like yeah Yeah, that's a stupid question. I'm still on the bench, bro. Just ignore the lights. As I'm like this, I'm like, oh, yeah, I can play. I just sat back in the rocking chair and used my peripheral vision. I just didn't do anything.

Just kind of moved the puck and sat back. I remember waking up the next day, and I was foggy, but not thinking, okay. I wasn't even thinking it was that, but now knowing all that I know now, it was that. I got hit one time in Dallas when I was with Hartford. When they first moved there, I got hit one. No clue, got smoked into the boards by the bench.

That was another one. I can go through now and pick out all the times i got hit in the finals against chicago by buff he went he went to hit me and i kind of reverse shouldered him and i was far enough away from the boards that my head hit the glass i mean i was out of it for a couple minutes but i'm not leaving the game for that yeah you know i got hit but i got hit by gary suuter one time. Again, these are just random. If you were to watch it on TV, you would never think. Damn, looking back on it now.

Can you guys give me a minute? I've got to count my fucking coffee. I'm having an epiphany right now. I'm not even thinking about the punches to my face. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, shit. So where were you, little little happiness where were you when you got the call about the hall of fame i was this is a great story i was at the uh

albert pujols golf tournament here in uh at metal brook country club in st louis and i was playing with a group of deaf people and And I get the call from John Davidson and Lanny. And I kind of walk away from the cart. And I'm talking. And I'm pretty far away. And the guy's reading my lips, right? Because that's what he does. So I'm talking to him.

I'm like, oh, thank you. This is great. I appreciate the call. This is so fun. I look forward to the call and catching up, blah, blah i get off the phone i get back into the golf cart we start driving and he goes hey congrats i'm like what he goes oh i read your lips congrats wow that's unbelievable i'm like oh all right he's like hey don't worry i won't tell anybody okay yeah coming out tomorrow yeah no and he's like i think, don't worry. I won't tell anybody. I go, okay. It's coming out tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. No, and he's like, I think everyone read your lips, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hate to break it to you. The entire tournament knows. Yeah. That's awesome. So what about now? I mean, you and your wife started, I believe, a travel company, luxury travel company. Yeah.

How did that all come about? You know what? She, it was her baby in the beginning. You know, she's been trying to figure out something to do, and our kids are getting older, and we both have a passion for travel um it's something that uh she kind of took the reins on early and wanted to start a website and and social media and all that at the time i wasn't on social media as you know and uh i think the the the biggest point for her was when she was growing up, her father had colon cancer and had stage 4 colon cancer,

and he wasn't in great shape. So he wanted to travel with his family. He wanted to go see parts of the world that he might not be able to see with them. And so they go to China one year, and they plan the trip. And these trips kind of kept him going, and he would go throughout the course of the year to his treatments and all of the rest of that stuff. Something to look forward to.

Something to look forward to. And then they would go on another trip, and they'd go to Egypt, and they'd see the pyramids and do all that stuff. And as they kept going, it was like spurning him on, and he's wanting to get to that next trip. So she sees travel as happiness and power and healing people. And we've obviously talked about a lot of this stuff before. And she's like, you know, I really want to do something.

She's really into health and wellness and spirituality. And she's trying to figure out what to do and how to help people and and we start talking about trying to mentor athletes and mentor uh players but but more importantly mentor the wives and the children you know so when i get hurt everybody asks me every single day how you doing you okay you know when you come back how you feeling? You okay? You know, when you come back, how you feeling? How many times do you think somebody asked her or the kids how they're doing? Yeah. Zero. You know, so there's an opportunity there to help mentor

and help athletes and their families, whether it's post-career and they're struggling with what to do next, whether it's they're in an injury and, you know, they're newly married and got a baby in the house and the wife's eyes wide open and not knowing what to do and try to be an outlet for that. So as we continue to brainstorm and talk, we love to travel. We love seeing new parts of the world and creating experiences. I know when I played, I didn't have a travel agent.

And you go back to the same place. You don't see anything new. You just get into your same old rhythm. I wish I had somebody to be like, you're going to spend that money on travel? This is what you should do. And whether you want to, you know, our niche is health and wellness and all over the world,

but we obviously do everything. And when you're talking to somebody and you're trying to steer them in the right direction, you've got to ask the right questions. You might think you want to go to Mexico, but really you mean the Caribbean. Yeah. No, the Bahamas or whatever.

Or maybe you mean you want to go to Africa, but really you want to go to Asia. And there's all kinds of questions that need to be asked. And so anyways, we start talking and, you know, she's like, I want to start this travel business and I can be a consultant. I'm like, okay, great. And then I went to Vegas for this travel show,

Virtual Travel Week. And I'm like, I had a blast. I mean, these people are all happy. They all work together in helping one another. Even though they're competitors, they help one another. They push business to one another. It's pretty impressive, the network of people in the hospitality industry that they sell happiness. And they kind of push it to people.

And I wanted to be a part of it. It was pretty neat. So I kind of joined forces with my wife, and we reb rebranded our website wellinspiredtravels.com and uh we're now getting ready to kick things off and kind of get started but you know i think the value prop for athletes is the mentoring side and and being able to travel to places you may not have thought of and that you guys can fill them in on we can can fill them in on. We've got a great staff underneath us doing the bookings and doing all that stuff. And it's going to be great. We're excited about it.

We're just getting things started. And she's passionate about it. I'm passionate about it. We're invested and want to, you know, I think another important part of it is philanthropy. And we're donating 5% of our commissions to World Pediatric Project, which is an organization with one of their headquarters is here in St. Louis. They travel to third world countries and bring teams from the states down to do surgeries and help those either that don't have the medical needs or don't have the money necessary for situations and

various medical needs that either can't be handled by the medical staff there. Sometimes they'll fly them here if it's a more needy situation, but we're excited to partner with them and help raise awareness about that. I got a two-parter. What's the favorite place you've been so far and what place are you looking forward to go to the most? Favorite place. I think it all depends on what you want to do.

I was just down in Cabo after Christmas with my family, and we went to a couple great spots. Went to the new Ritz-Carlton Zadoon, which was fabulous. Went to a great spa, great fitness. And what's neat now is because health and wellness is growing and that industry is growing leaps and bounds when i was traveling when i was playing it was hardly you could barely get a gym in a hotel now they're building these big fitness centers inside the hotel or if it's in the downtown

quarter they're partnering with equinox and and different places like that to to have a big gym like the one in boston i think it's the four seasons or the ritz i don't know i mean i don't stay at those kind of hotels unless he's on a trip with me unless he's a big shot well i was gonna ask you where is a fun place to go to where maybe you're you're you're balling on a budget imagine him in asia just sticking out like a hospital we're seven inches tall we're in the luxury travel business. Okay, okay. Fuck you, Bronx. All right? I can refer you to another guy.

I'll stick to Craigslist. Me and RA will be going to Fort Lauderdale. I've seen your Instagram. You're pumping a lot of product there, bro. All right. Maybe you can give me a free trip and I'll give you a swipe up. Quickly, have you ever been on an African safari? No, but that's on the bucket list.

You know what? Since we started doing this and doing all the research and talking to people and meeting people, it is impressive how big my bucket list is. There's so many different places in the world that I want to see. There's a handful that I definitely don't want to, but there's a lot of places in the world that i want to see there's a handful that i definitely don't want to but there's a lot of places in the world i've been to europe and i haven't been to the middle east i haven't been to uh i've been to japan a couple times i've never been to china i've never been to australia be another one terrible what's going on there um the maldives another one i'd like to go to uh africa south america there's a lot of spots i

haven't been to but if you go on well-inspired travels you can see my map oh quick plug for the prongs i'll save my money or borrow with visa put it on your mxmex. Is it also about getting people out of their comfort zones a little, maybe expanding their horizons? Because people sometimes, like you said, they do the same routine. They go to Aruba, maybe the same hotel all the time. This is our hotel. This is where we like to go. Absolutely.

And by the way, I was the exact same way. We used to go to the same spot. It's either an easy flight or you like it there you you don't want to try something else because it could not work because it could not work yeah because you're like oh shit what if it does what if it's not as good but when you have somebody doing it for you and checking on all those things and mapping out and coordinating and and making sure that all that is and probably better, then that's what we do. We take the hassle out of it. And there's a lot of people.

I used to book my stuff online. I used to, you know. And if you want to do that, feel free. But there's a lot of people that don't have the time or don't have the wherewithal to know the GM or make a phone call to so-and-so or whatever to handle things in a little more professional manner and get you the different perks that are available

that you need to know people for. Well, Bronx, this was awesome. We're done? We didn't even go into the Olympics, but fuck. What have we done? An hour and a half already, buddy. Oh, shit. And listen, let me tell you something.

It goes by fast, huh? I got Cam Jansen messaging me which hotel to come up to because we got him next. You got that? Oh, God. a half already buddy and listen let me tell you something it goes by fast huh it goes by so fast hotel to come up to because we got him next you got that oh god i remember the last thing i'll say no hey you got to get him to tell you the story about when i elbowed him in new jersey there we go that's one talk first point right there uh last thing i'll say is when i signed on to go to the national development program uh one of the top 83 birthdates in America. Thanks a lot. The guy sent everyone a piece of paper.

What do you want for equipment? I need to know what skates, what sticks, what gloves you want. I just sent a picture of Prongs. He had the tongues out. He had the long cuff gloves. And this guy, Jose, I wonder if he remembers the story. He's like, you fucking sent me a picture of Chris Pronger? I asked you what kind of gear you want. I just wanted to look like him.

So to get to interview you now and play with you is really cool. Thank you. And what's crazy is that same guy you're talking about, Jose Ortiz, was my equipment manager when I got to Saginaw for the Spirit. No. I had Jose Ortiz. So we'll have to talk about that during a separate podcast. But Prongs, we'll get you back on.

You should maybe have him on. Hall of Famer. You should get Jose on. Maybe just a 15-minute segment because we don't want to know him too much. Prongs, you're a fucking beast. We'll talk about the Olympics next time. Yeah, let's do it. Absolutely.

As always, huge thanks to our guest, Chris Pronger. It was great getting him. He kind of had not the most friendly reputation with the media when he played, but he certainly opened up. His Instagram is he's very open there. And he seems like a pretty kind fellow. And I enjoyed talking to him, man. I know what did too, as a, as a guy who looked up to him. But now we're going to move on to our weekly mash segment, where we let you know which superstars are hurting from the last time out.

And unfortunately there's a couple of big names on the list. Stamkos is hurt. He's going to miss six to eight weeks after core muscle surgery. I mean, Tampa's pretty firmly ensconced in a playoff spot right now, but you don't want one of your top guys getting fucking surgery this late in the season. Ranges, they sit. They don't trade Chris Crider. They extend him.

They keep him for the next few years, and what happens? He breaks his fucking foot blocking a shot. They haven't given a timetable yet on his return. Originally, Brock Bessel was supposed to be re-evaluated in a week. Now it's going to be up to eight weeks, so not good. Another team that's making a playoff push, losing a key player. Thatcher Demko has been named the Canuck starter in the meantime because Matt Baumachstrom's out.

And a couple of the deadline pickups by the oil, they're already dinged up. Andreas, Anthony, Anthony, Anthony, I don't know how I put you. Anthony, he suffered a lower body injury Wednesday, but it doesn't appear to be serious. However, Oilers defenseman Mike Green will be out of action for three to four weeks with a sprained MCL. And Mark Stone, we mentioned a few minutes ago, he's out with a lower body injury as well. His status is still being evaluated, so we don't have an update quite yet.

A couple other notes here. Jay Bomeester, his first game back at St. Louis, he was up in probably the press box or the team's box or whatever. He got a really touching stand-and-go from the Blues fans. He gave a nice little wave. The guy was fucking near death.

And, you know, he come back from that thanks to the staff and the fucking faculty over at Anaheim. So it was great to see him give a little smile there. How about Nola Chariwit? He cracks 20 goals for the first time in his career, doubling his previous career high. Man, you would love to have this guy in the Bruins still. What a season he's had.

I don't know if he'll ever get 20 again. I'm sure he would actually admit that, right? I mean, some years everything goes perfectly, everything goes in. But he brings so much to the table that scoring isn't really what you counted on him for when you signed him. So to get all this, it's such a bonus because the guy plays hard. He's a street beast. The Panthers, though, man.

Fuck. Jesus. Another skunking today. They lost 3-0. It's like when they traded Trochak, that was the weirdest trade, and we talked about it then. And then you just go out and you see Huberto and Barkov are making like $6 million. You have these two studs completely underpaid, and you still can't even get in.

I don't think they're going to get in the playoffs now. No, I think they're toast, and it's just a bit of a meltdown. I don't know how many in a row they've lost at home. Might be 10. Yeah, it's been rough sailing right now. They are presently three points out of the second wild card spot, and they got two teams between them. So, you know, like I said before, they're not dead yet,

but they're not dead yet, but they have yet to get a consistent Bobrovsky all season. And, you know, when you're paying a guy fucking 10 sheets, you should be getting a little. And you got Spencer Knight, like the best goalie in college hockey. You drafted him in the first round. It is like, what is going on there? No doubt about it. Well, it's been a tough break for a lot of these guys. And if any of them have allergies as well, they're going to need to check in with our friends at Roman.

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Stop wandering aimlessly through the allergy treatment aisle at the pharmacy. Go to GetRoman.com slash Bostel for a free online visit today. That's GetRoman.com slash Bostel. All right, boys, moving along here. What else we got? today. That's getroman.com slash Barstool. Alright, boys, moving along here. What else we got? Austin Matthews, he's the second player in Leafs history with 45 goals in his age,

22 or younger. Joining Rick Vive, who did it back in 81-82. Vive has the Leafs record for goals in a season with 54, and Matthews has 16 games to get those 10 goals, so he might break the record, see what happens there. We just talked about Achari.

Hey, I sent it in the video. Did you guys watch that Russian Mites line brawl? We tweeted it out. Oh, man, that was very intense for a young kid's game. Wow. How old are Mites? Seven? I think they were Mites. Those kids weren't older than eight or nine years old,

whatever division. We're going to be seeing them on a rink shrink near you. Witt, I got to ask you about this LeBron James flop. Have you seen the most recent one? It's insane. Oh, my God. When they review that, can they not give him something? That's so embarrassing to the whole association.

What a league. I don't know why I didn't say what an association all this time. It's a stupid association. It wasn't even – when you look at the replay, you should be like, oh, my God, dude, you should get a game suspension that's that's that's just as i mean it's worse than hockey i think because basketball it's been going on forever but man is that a tough look when you see this giant barely even get touched by a pinky fingernail and then go flying down. He's 280, isn't he? It's got to hurt when you're going down that hard.

I think that if the league was smart, they would suspend him for a game. Just smarten him up. He's embarrassing the official in that situation. Because now, after it happened, did they actually go review it to see if it was like this guy actually throwing an elbow to his face? I don't know. I only saw all the the clip that went viral viral everywhere and yeah i don't know like what ended up happening or how it

even got reviewed i think a hundred percent considering his history that they need to just suspend him for a game and say enough with this nonsense he literally got touched by a pinky i know it's more energy to do what he did than it is to just brush off the fingernail. I wonder if he gets asked about it after the game about the flop and how defensive he would be. He's a bit sensitive. I know he's going to – Oh, he's sensitive.

Remember the one time he wore the short suit and he had the Birkin bag? He had a $55,000 purse. I will say that's a boss move i'm gonna start strolling around purses fuck that you you could pull off a purse i could totally see you in that jacket i'm getting on hockey in a purse for those of you who didn't know what a birkin bag was like her maze does these special bags that are very hard to get. I think some of them might even be half a million dollars. They're like gator skin and shit. So I'll be at the next Pond Hockey with my Ralph Lauren jacket and Birkin bag full of weeds.

I bought a Birkin bag that's filled with shrooms. They charged me $100 extra, but it's perfect for Pond Hockey. Hey, Justin Bieber's taking this Bennington thing pretty seriously. with shrooms they charged me 100 bucks extra but it's perfect for pond hockey hey justin bieber's taking this uh this binnington thing pretty seriously this stick handling on jets now did you guys did we talk about wayno mocking him on his on his pj no no that was hilarious yeah wayno looked funny as hell doing that wayno had a 40 a gray goose in his belly and he was buzzing oh he was feeling perfect on the PJ, just imitating Justin Bieber.

But if you go watch Boys on the Bus, you see Wayno dying, laughing at a dinner with the fellas. I mean, this guy's got a comedy side to him. He's the great one for a reason. So, you know Bieber's big time if you get Gretzky on a private jet imitating you, stick handling righty

through cones. And happy 26th birthday to Justin Bieber, my fellow Canadian. Excuse me. How about that Canadian road rage? Did I say Beater? Justin Beater? How about that Canadian road rage we saw? So me and Witt are in an Uber, and this biker comes up, and he looked like he had a bit of steam coming out of his ears.

He was upset because he felt that he was cut off. I say i didn't notice our uber driver cut him off i think he might have been making this up but i'll let you take it from here wet so this guy on the bike comes bombing up and starts knocking on the passenger side window and she puts the window down clueless she's got no clue what's going on. None of us said. He's like, excuse me, miss. Now, I saw this guy banging on the window. I'm like, this guy might pull a shoot us. Like, he looked pissed. And this is now I'm used to Massachusetts Road rage.

This guy, the window goes down. Excuse me, you actually cut me off back there, miss. She said, I did? He goes, yes, I was taking a right and you cut me off. She said, oh, I'm sorry. He said, no worries. I just wanted to let you know. Have a good day.

I go, holy shit. I said, Biz, if I had just recorded that, that would go viral. I would say Canadian Road Rage and there would be a viral video. They were hugging each other. It was the most... Could you believe... You wouldn't even seem that surprised by it.

Yeah. No, I didn't say much. I was just absorbing your reaction because, as you said, you're used to mass road rage. I will say I've seen incidents in Canada where it's not that nice, mainly when I'm affiliated. That's probably my American blood rubbing off on me. Excuse me, miss.

You cut me off back there. Anyway. Sorry. Sorry. I love your poppy. Even the buses say sorry on them if the roots are off. I noticed that up there, too. Sorry.

Sorry how buses are late. I love it. I noticed that up there too. Sorry. Sorry how buses are late. I love it. I love fucking Canada so much. Terrible candy selection though in Canada. Actually, do you ever have these? Remember Whoppers? No. You don't remember Whoppers? I'm not saying you ate

them, but they were fucking around. I know exactly what Whoppers are. They're still around. You ever try these bad boys? No. Maltesers or Maltesers, no free ads. Dude, they make Whoppers taste like fucking garbage. These things are so good.

And you bought those in Canada? Yeah, I think you gotta go to BJ's. You don't see them in every convenience store like you do other chocolates. I grabbed some at the airport today. I also grabbed a little Canadian maple syrup as well. Beats the shit out of that fucking... For your

Lego waffles, Eggo waffles tomorrow? No, a big French toast guy. I like my French toast. R.A.'s got his Eggo waffles, three every morning. Probably toast those things up for like a minute 15. Covers it in maple syrup, butter, and like cream cheese.

Bagel my egg-o. Hey, we'll go into that Russian mite story real quick. If you did want to hear the translation, Slava Malamud, who we've mentioned on the show plenty because he covers a lot of Russian stuff, he provided a translation for it. So it is pretty funny. I mean, you know, if you want to get into it a little bit further.

We actually had another pretty cool story. Saturday night, New Jersey Devil Joey Anderson, his younger brother Mikey was called up by the Kings, so Mikey's first ever game was against his own brother in the NHL, man. You know, whatever, however your career turns out, that's got to be a pretty

pissing memory to start off, eh, Biz? Very cool. Good, good stuff. And the otherL, man. However your career turns out, that's got to be a pretty pissing memory to start off. Very cool. Good stuff. The other video, I showed it to Will. I hope you saw. I told you to check it out in the email. Brendan Dillon. He's been with the Capitals for two games and he has a dap with every

fucking guy in the aisle. You know how they had the camera on the team before? It was like watching someone like America's Got Talent where everything was so perfectly choreographed. And he just got there. He had something going with every single guy and then he finishes with like a fucking lightsaber clash with Ovi. Did you see it,

Biz? Oh, yeah. It was sexy. Now, how does I want to ask you, how did the daps come out? Did you ask a guy, hey, let's get one going here? Did you have a system a system biz when you played? No? No. I didn't have any superstitions.

I just fucking went out there and didn't do anything. What about you, Whit? I was sitting there, like, shaking my foot, trying to get it comfortable in my skate, while also cracking my knee, because I was going to crack my knee 50 times a day. So I was more worried about, like, my body not falling apart as opposed to just like dapping up.

I was very surprised to see how he would know all those already. I actually was like, is there some sort of like symbol where the guy knows that everyone has like similar ones where, you know, I mean, I, I'm telling you, I've been racking my brain to understand how all those guys have memorized little handshakes already with them. Because you don't do it in practice. It's not like they're sitting around practicing it,

unless I'm way off on the current state of the league. Yeah, either way, props to Brendan Dillon because it was pretty impressive. He fought. I'm watching this Minnesota-Washington game. I got Washington up 3-2. Brendan Dillon has a fight, OV two goals. He's definitely getting the hat trick. Oh, he's got two. Okay, yeah.

I get it on the side, but I get distracted if I'm staring at it. I'll tell you what, if I did all that dapping and slapping, I'd be tucking out and I'd probably need a little bit of hydrant for myself. I'll tell you that right now. Did you know that 75% of us are walking around everyday life chronically

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And enter the promo code CHICKLETS for 25% off your first order. Drinkhydrant.com and enter the promo code CHICKLETS. All right, boys. I have this other note here. Dude, this is the guy I was talking about earlier. Pavel Frantzouz, goaltender for Colorado, who may have stolen Philip Grubauer's job. I know Grubauer's been hurt.

He made 30 saves to help Colorado improve to 8-0-0 in its last eight games as visitors going back to February 4th. And they established a franchise record for the longest road winning streak, eclipsing the previous runs of 7-0 back in the day. And Frantzouz improved to 6-0-0 in his last six appearances, dating back to February 19th, with a 1.32 GAA, 9.57 save percentage in the shutout. And he allowed two goals against, so a fewer in each game. The undrafted goalie, who also recently signed a two-year contract

extension with Colorado, also moved to 5- and on his last five road outings, dating back to Feb 9 with the 138 GAA and a 957 save percentage with a shout out. So Colorado. A lot of numbers there. Didn't Murley tell us about this guy? Yeah, he did. Yeah. So the Murrells knew.

The Merman is going to be a dad any day now. So this is what just proves that there's so many goalies out there. It's why we keep talking about the two-goalie system where it's more about splitting up the season because a guy like this just comes out of nowhere. Comes from the clouds, as they say. And he's lighting it up. Now, granted, they have a really good team in front of him,

but still a surprise top goalie that people didn't know anything about before this year for the most part except for merles all right boy boy shifting gears here um did you guys get a look at that basto sports the new mural they slapped up i did yeah i was looking at it and it took me a few days to realize that i look like uncle junior from the sopranos if he had a bad case of eczema. And, Whit, I looked at you, and this ain't an insult. Like, you remember Mad Magazine? They used to do their movie parodies.

You look like James Caan from, like, a Mad Magazine parody back in the 70s. I don't know what you're talking about, but I believe you. Like, none of it. I don't know. Oh, James Caan. It's a guy from Godfather. I know him. I'll take of it. I don't know. Oh, James Conn's guy from Godfather. I know him. I'll take him.

That guy's fucking handsome. But just the way it's drawn, it kind of fit that mold. I mean, gee, you got the fucking, you look the best of all of us. I have a mustache, though. I have a mustache in it. I'm a little shocked by the mustache, but I look handsome. I do look handsome. And, Biz, I didn't think you were bad.

I think you better look impressive than the painting realized. You could have drew me as a stick figure, and I wouldn't give two shits. No offense to the mural, but I don't need that notoriety on the wall there. But it's an honor, though. That tells me we're a good piece to that puzzle. Yeah, absolutely. All right, boys, I don't know if you had any final notes or thoughts you wanted to share.

We had a pretty busy last couple weeks. I know you had busy. I mean, bouncing all over you. Well, you're in Welland now. But Boston, Hampshire, Muskoka. Yeah. We've been – I like the Johnnyny cash song i've been everywhere man so i don't know let's be honest i think everyone can tell we sound a little bit down maybe our

jokes aren't as crisp as they usually are um i've had a difficult week um you know just as far as travel's concerned but the news i got earlier in the week of my old coach, Mark LaRose, passing. That's the reason why I didn't end up traveling back on Saturday to Arizona for the Coyotes game. It was nice to be able to spend some time with you guys and everyone in Muskoka, but that was really on my mind. Mark LaRose played a vital part in my career. That was the first ever AAA team that I'd ever made in Welland. career um that was the first ever triple a team that had ever made in welland um you know i was he he just believed in me and saw saw it from an early age and and i you know he taught us

accountability he taught us work ethic he he dipped into his own pocket in order to pay for ice time so we could all get better we had seven nhlers in a in a small timeframe reach the NHL, and he had a hand in getting all of us there. Cal Clutterbuck, Dan Girardi, Dan Paillet, Andre DeVoe, Jamie Tardif, myself, and Nathan Horton, who's from Dunville, but played well in minor hockey growing up. And actually, Dan Paillet was was playing he was like playing house league because Mark LaRose coached Adam so he would go to all the house league skates to see you know who

who might be the next kids coming up and sure enough Dan Paia who's playing house league at the time was just so much bigger and dominant than the other guys we used to call him horse growing up because he could skate like the wind and he went up to Mr. Pye at the time and he said – actually, I think he yelled to Dan on the ice. He goes, who's your dad? And Dan Pye was like, why am I getting yelled at? And then finally pointed to him, Mr. Pye, and he said, your son needs to play travel with me next year.

He's far too good to be playing house. Oh, so this guy was – he was just so involved. He was the man. He was always – his team's better. Yeah, but in a good way because he was well-intentioned. Oh, yeah. He wanted to get a hold of him. He wanted to provide him with the ice time

and the skill sets that he felt that he could provide everyone. So it was nice this morning. I ended up going over to their place and had brunch with the place, you know, and had brunch with the son, the daughter, and his wife. And it was an emotional day. After that, I ended up going to watch a Junior B game in which Tyler Bilby, my friend coach, is St. Catherine's Falcons.

They played against Pelham. So it was just good to be in the rink and see some familiar faces and be back on home soil. So if the energy wasn't there tonight or, or the last episode, I apologize, but it's been, it's been a rough week.

Buddy, you don't have anything to apologize for. You were, you've been a rock star and I, I was really bummed to hear that news. I'm really sorry for you and anyone who knew him, especially his family. But,

oh yeah. I mean, I feel like tonight, you know, it's like, you feel like you just go on stage. If you're a comedian and you get, I feel like tonight, you know, it's like you feel like you just go on stage if you're a comedian and you get tomatoes thrown at you and a hook goes around your neck and pulls you off.

Some nights, man, you just feel like a loser. So we'll get them back. We'll get them back. So hopefully. I mean, even the best, they lose games. Well, you think I was fucking you two who are out all late last night not getting home early the way you were bad too don't go don't think you were ripping it up um but just to go back to mark larose i just wanted to dedicate this episode uh as shitty as i've been to him and

really all minor hockey league coaches uh all throughout canada the united states over the world really you guys uh you don't get enough credit. You're kind of like teachers. You know, you deal with all these fucking rugrats and all these crazy, wacky personalities, and then the parents to boot, which we've seen plenty of times on the Rink Shrink episode. But thank you to all you guys for all you do. You know, I'm forever grateful.

I just want to give a quick thanks to my – when we were in Philly, we met a couple of firemen. Those guys were actually in town for a different tournament. So, my buddy Devin, him and all the Philly fight apartment boys, it was great to hang out with them. And also, I ran into the University of Toronto hockey squad. They were in one of the bars I was in. Awesome guys.

They loved the show. They were asking for you guys. So, I told them I'd give them a little shout out on the show University of Toronto Hockey and um also the couple guys at Soft Choice I don't know whatever company is they they uh they took care of RA with a little late night uh dispensary action and one last shout out two guys from Yellowknife they weren't even in the tournament they came down from fucking Yellowknife just to hang out I think that's what like a fucking nine hour drive biz from Yellowknife. They weren't even in the tournament. They came down from fucking Yellowknife just to hang out. I think that's what, like a fucking nine-hour

drive-biz from Yellowknife to Toronto, if not more. I know it's a six-hour flight from fucking, and that's in Canada. Those two guys, they weren't even playing. They came down to hang out from Yellowknife. A six-hour flight is like a three-day drive. I thought they said

six hours, but either way, it's a hike. What's Boston to LA to drive? I never did it, but I think it's got to be at least 25 hours, 50 hours. There's no way they drove that long, right? If they did, God bless them.

They flew like... They had a couple of connected flights. But bottom line is they came quite a distance to just hang out and not even play. And there was a lot of people who did that. So big thanks to them. And I think that should wrap it up. Everybody have a fantastic week. And we'll be talking to you Thursday.

As always, we want to thank our awesome sponsors. And hopefully our listeners are taking advantage of the deals they offer. Of course, always saying thanks to our friends at New Amsterdam for the Pink Whitney. Next up, we hope you're checking out Game Time if you're looking for some tickets last minute. Of course, Bud Light Salsa, you want to check that out. I love that strawberry. That's my favorite. Also, if you're having some allergy issues, like the usual issues, go to Roman.

They'll hook it up. Get Roman and get taking care of your allergies. And last but not least, you need to be hydrated correctly. So check out Hydrant and buy what they're selling. Everybody, have a fantastic week. And thanks to everyone that came to the Pod Hockey Tournament. Absolutely, man. It was an absolute blast.

I know we didn't talk about it a ton, but it was awesome. The turnout was great. People were great. And I love Canada. I left your house this morning About a quarter of the night Could have been the Willie Nelson Could have been the one

When I left your house this morning Was a little loud tonight It was in Bob Cajun I saw the constellations Reveal themselves one star at a time I drove back to town this morning.