Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 281: Featuring Gary Roberts

Episode Date: July 30, 2020

On Thursday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Gary Roberts. Gary joins (48:02) to discuss life after hockey, his 1st retirement then miraculous return to hockey and winning the Stanley cup. The guys also discuss the new franchise the Seattle Kraken and if they like the name or not. The fellas then break down the current situation with the Arizona Coyotes followed by their Western Conference Preview. The boys wrap up with some golf talk and a farewell to our friend Eddie Shack.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 281 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports podcast family. Speaking of Pink Whitney, I've seen enough of you two pigeons already after just two days of exhibition games. Holy shit, boys. But hey, hockey is officially fucking back.

How good is this? Whit, go ahead. Oh, you don't want to describe to the people how amazing it is that hockey's back on TV all day long? Saturday, there's five frigging games, dude. R.A.'s going to smoke 15 bowls and literally watch hockey for fucking 17 hours. He's going to be blind by the end of it, but he's going to have a ton of action on the games.

I'm sure everyone will. And, yeah, I mean, I was dogging this whole thing. to have a ton of action on the games i'm sure everyone will and um yeah i mean i just i just i i was a dog i was dogging this whole thing i was all over it and now that it's back and it seems to be going great and i love the audio and the visual and it just i'm just excited it's i can't believe it in a sense it's working all right did we just hear correctly did ryan whitney admit he was wrong i don't know if you used those actual words. I'm somebody who's never really flip-flopped on decisions. I usually stick one way or the other, and I'm flippity-flopping in here,

like my ears. I will say this, and I know that some people may not see it as the real Stanley Cup, just given with everything that's going on. To me, it even surpasses it. I personally am in so much need of the NHL getting back going and the way they've been able to execute it up until this point. And just like not only the players, man, as long as they know what they're doing for hockey fans right now

and providing that entertainment, to me, it's fucking awesome. And if anything, it should be put just as much as a Stanley Cup, if not more, just given the fact that now you're at the center stage. Seems as if though baseball's maybe fumbling what they got going on, and we did it the right way, as a hockey community anyway. And then, of course, NBA's getting going as well. But if they're able to execute this, this is going to be prime time, top four major sports, doing it the right way,

competing for the greatest trophy ever created. Well said, Biz. And you know what? Hey, hats off to the NHL and NHLPA. I was skeptical like Whit, and they've done everything in their power. They've spent the money. I mean, we saw the first couple exhibition games. By the way, I was never so excited to watch exhibition hockey.

The arena looks great. The camera work has been outstanding. And even, like, the small touches. Like, guys, you mentioned when the players got to the room, there were framed photos of their families waiting for them. Oh, my goodness. I'm like, little shit like that, man. I mean, it's got to go a long way.

Know it if you're a player. Biz, what did you say for the single guys? Oh, dude, I was saying they were showing all the married guys with families and how they stocked their rooms with, like, family photos. And it was obviously, dude, I was saying they were showing all the married guys with families and how they stocked their rooms with family photos, and it was obviously a cool thing they did. At this point, the NHL is like the unbelievable husband who's washing the dishes, bringing the wife home flowers, tongue games 100, make the best, honey, I got dinner tonight.

They are just fucking executing this to a T. I legit crush all those things. And then I thought it would be funny if they would have showed maybe the single players rooms where there'd be like fleshlights and lube and like R.A.'s porn stash of Playboy magazines when he was 11. Maybe they got the throwback.

Hey, maybe they're into those like old school Harry Bushes. I don't know what these guys are into, but I thought it would have been a funny play on maybe going room to room. There's like seven cell phones there. Yeah. A frame swipe right yeah a couple a couple buys of pink whitney's yeah some uh yeah some bat phones you know the whole kit and caboodle hey all the dried up tube socks from from them dumping them

in the yard i think they get the point yeah they get the point and playboy is not pulling by the way but phase three ends, no positive tests. I mean, that's such a huge thing. Like I said, exhibitions kicked off. I think Whitney put the whammy on the Sutton Place. Their AC was broken the other day. It wasn't the whammy. It was just telling it how it is.

And what happens? There's no AC for these guys. It's 31 degrees Celsius. And for anyone out there, if you'd always wondered, if you're from America, how do you figure out what Celsius is in Fahrenheit? Times 2 plus 30. Times 2 plus 30. 31 degrees times 2 is

62 plus 30. That's 92 degrees Fahrenheit in the Sutton Place's AC break. So these poor bastards are sitting up there in Edmonton. A lot of them, you know, they were at home and they were living a nice little summer lifestyle. And yeah, they're back playing hockey and all good and great. But there isn't an NHL-er.

And there hasn't been an NHL-er for maybe 25 years that doesn't have AC. So let's be honest here. These guys are probably like, fix this shit Sutton Place. Come on. I actually got a bunch of DMs or not DMs but tweets saying there was some great options that they didn't use. One hotel connected to the arena, I think, unless that person's full of shit. But still, Sutton Place, stay hot. Still hot in Edmonton after all these years.

Times two plus 30. How great is that? When I learned that, I was like, this is never ending for me. My ears would be smoking if I did that, man. Like 17 degrees Celsius, 34 plus 30, 64. And hey, listen, memes, if you think you're ever going to tweet out Celsius from the chicklets Twitter account, you better fucking go to Canadian unemployment.

We only do Fahrenheit on the chicklets. What else does he even put? He got me gold digging on one of the clips. I did you dirty, Deb. Yeah, that was a combo of me trying to get a booger out and a couple of hairs. Hey, I'm lucky I didn't fucking gobble that one down. I've been knowing I eat my boogers once in a while. I'm a little bit.

I haven't gotten out of the fifth grade in some instances. I saw Ryder pull out a monster wet booger and just put it right in his mouth. I'm like, build the immune system up. It's like an animal instinct to like, you know, boogies. I don't know. The one that tickles your brain that's got the little bit of juice on the end. It's like a nice sardine, you know? You're a savage. boogies i don't know the one that tickles your brain it's got a little bit of juice on the end it's like a nice sardine you know you're savage hey how about you getting into it with the the glass banger out of dallas on twitter so there's a i'm a complete agreement with you ra if you're

the type of person to show up to a sporting event now this guy claims that he stopped doing it because he got banned from doing it so now he just has a sign that says bang but i mean listen some people around you might like the fact that you're taunting the players and banging on the glass all night but you gotta imagine there's at least 50 percent of people around you who think you're a complete asshole oh if you have season tickets next to the glass banger you have the you have the absolute worst setup of any season ticket holder in any pro sport i mean guys all game long banging. I don't understand how you guys beefed, though, Rear Admiral. Maybe we could get a Larry David skit out of this or something.

I would say something. You know what Larry would do? He'd start giving them out to people he doesn't like. Hey, why don't you take my season tickets? And then he had to deal with the glass banger all night. Great. That's how business mind works in the entertainment business. There we go.

This is writing scripts right over here. Oh, I got the perfect gift for him. What happened was, you know, I just tweeted out, oh, wow. One thing I don't miss is no people banging on the glass. Like you notice, you know, there's no crowd there. And this guy, I don't follow him. He doesn't follow me. I don't know if he like does a search for glass banging or if someone tagged him in at some point and then he quote tweeted me like

talking like crazy shit and then all kinds of dallas people like this guy's a loser everyone in dallas can't stand him and blah blah i was having any then the wires crossed on him and then he had a couple he kind of coupled defenders though he had some people in his corner so i'm so now i'm like oh geez maybe i'm being a little too hard on this guy like maybe glass banging is like the thing nowadays i mean fuck all these kids are on tiktok for crying out loud and that sucks so you know he he stood his ground and i will say i remember him from my time with the coyotes because we would play them they were in division and i'd be sitting middle of the bench and i'd be like look at this fucking guy he's like people around him can't stand him.

But I would say, I'll give him this, he did get a little bit in the kitchen of some guys, specifically goalies. Yeah, if you're three feet away, that probably would get annoying. It'd be tough to tune out, I imagine. I was too busy looking at the ice girls, actually. Who the fuck am I kidding? They had 100%. They had the ice girls, actually. Who the fuck am I kidding? They had 100%.

They had the off-ice crew up on the balcony doing the choreographed dances. The fact they'd put the girls sitting where you walk off the ice, the visiting team, they're all just sitting there, and they smell so good. You're just like, of course they're right here. Oh, my God. There was a story that just came out about Ocho Cinco, a pop in Viagra, before he go at the play. I didn't even need it.

You know when you go to the strip club and you're like, oh, that stripper smells nice, and you get a nice lapper, and just like that. Well, it used to. I got a girl now, so I can't be doing that. You brought up the wing story from the NBA, speaking of the fucking lemon pepper wings. Remember about the player?

That story kind of blew up after we recorded. The NBA player left for a funeral but ended up going to that strip joint to get wings and had to get re-quarantined. I've never seen so many people defend the food of a region as they do wings at Atlanta strip joints. I guess it's like a legitimate thing. People go into the restaurant side and get their wings down there. Yeah, you got to be careful what you say because they like their wings down there.

Now I guess that tells you as to why this guy would put his entire team in the NBA at jeopardy because, hey, I mean, a wing's a wing. I know how you people in Buffalo like your Buffalo wings. So I guess if somebody snuck out of the Toronto bubble, went across the border, got a couple wings, I guess I couldn't hold it against them. Faze, you would have turned into a chicken wing had you played for the Atlanta Thrashers.

That's true. I remember the first time I, in shape three and they had a buffet and you know, you're half on the wrapper. I remember eating and think like, wow, for a strip joint, this food is really frigging good.

You're buckled. Dude. It was good though. I don't know. Shea is a famous strip club in Montreal. For some of you people who are listening, you young bucks, they out of the strip club.

That's not a good investment. Warren Buffett wouldn't approve of that one. Definitely not an investment, that's for sure. Hey, boys, I'm sure you caught it. Edmonton players, when they had their final team scrimmage, they all donned number 12 in honor of Colby Cave, and they gave him a real nice tribute before their first game versus Calgary, first exhibition game.

Obviously, that was the saddest story of the year going on. And it was nice that they were able to give him a nod and they got the stickers on the helmet. So, tough scene to watch. Great job. Great job, by the way. Very well done. And actually, speaking of Edmonton, Ethan Beer, the defenseman,

he had his jersey name put on his back in his native Cree language. That was really cool looking, Bess. Just something different you don't see. And I thought it really popped off the sweater, man. Absolutely. You know, given the climate nowadays especially, and I know there was an issue in Canada with the Edmonton Eskimos and the indigenous population.

Yeah, I think it's a great job by the league just to allow him to create some awareness and also show respect to where he came from. And, you know, I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of that stuff. And, you know, I know a majority of everyone loves it. And, you know, it kind of shows where guys came from in representing our league. Absolutely. Or their league, I should say.

I don't play in the league anymore. Well said, Biz. Well said. You're on top of your game right now. I'm buzzing. Once an NHL player, always an NHL player. I'm buzzing. The other big news since we last uh

spoke with you folks seattle finally after i named off 750 names they revealed their name colors and logo they're cracking as everybody knows i can't believe they actually went out and did it i thought they were going to go the old-fashioned plane route with expansion team names which is typically boring kind of plain um. But, no, they didn't. They actually, like I said, they grabbed on to the weirdness, and they went with Kraken. I love the logo. I thought they owned social media.

I heard very few people complaining about it. I mean, I know they haven't played a game yet, but as far as so far, the Seattle Kraken has made quite the splash. They crushed it with the video. Oh, I see what you did there, R.A. Let's go back to the whole. Oh, pun daddy. That was pretty good, R.A.

How about Witt wasn't even going to acknowledge it? Shame on you. I didn't even. So I'm the type of person that once I know what I'm going to say, I stop listening to whatever you're saying. So I'm being very straightforward there. I like the Kraken. I liked it right from the get-go, I think.

Check me on – fact check me on that one. The Sockeyes, I really like the idea of the Sockeyes. The Sockeyes, for some reason, sounded great to me. But the way they went about and the video prior and then the uniform, I think it looks good. And I read that the red eye is, that was kind of the final touch. So it just, in a time when you figured everyone would chirp anything they did, I do think the overall reaction to it was pretty positive.

The Kraken. And for anyone who doesn't know, because I have got asked, it is a mythical sea creature like the Loch Ness Monster, all right? The Kraken? Yeah, it's a mythical sea creature that didn't have a Seattle regional connection, which was why I was surprised. It's sort of like a squid-octopus

hybrid, I guess. As long as the fans call themselves the Krakheads, I'm happy because that's a perfect nickname for the fanatics of the Krakheads. I'm happy for them. I like the color combo. I know you put up the four options of the the gloves granelli and people i guess like uh is white gloves a faux pas is that a no-no i it's

a big no-no it's a big no-no amongst people my age good i i kind of liked it and then like they changed my opinion because i felt like i was getting shame for like in the white golden knights have white mittens i just think of fedorov buzzing out there with those white nikes and you know imagining being you know him with that flow. And I don't know. I guess it's to each their own. But the little details, too. You mentioned the red eye and then the anchor that had the space needle at the top.

Just like, you know, like obviously they hired a PR company to dial in and fine tune it. So great job by them. Great release. to dial in and fine tune it. So great job by them. Great release. Very excited to see them fucking just pick apart every franchise that's been built up over the last 20, 30 years apart for all their free agents or big contracts or whatever it may be.

I'm definitely digging the nautical theme. The red eye really tied the room together. And I'm kind of glad. I did think they were going to go with Sockeye or Sockeyes, whichever was the proper one. But then you realize it's a salmon, the fish, which like, so then you just basically associate a biz with like eating a salad with like a piece of pink fish on it.

So kind of takes the punch out of our nickname, I think, a little so. Thumbs up all around on the Kraken. The other big story, we're going to have to get the biz man in to bring his expertise out of the desert. Arizona Coyotes and GM John Chayka had a very public, very acrimonious split. The young analytics had three years left on his contract. There are reports out there he asked permission to get another job.

Then another report come out that he wasn't even in on the Taylor Hall negotiations, which is if you're the GM, it's going to be like, what? But if you already asked to get out of your contract for another job there's a whole lot of stuff going on here biz let's go to you maybe you can uh unravel all this for our listeners yeah and and oh god where do i even begin i've been spending the last two days trying to dissect this thing because you know we've been doing our tricklets thing and i never really get too involved in any of the stuff behind the scenes with the coyotes because like you know it seemed like everything was going all right and you know they were making moves and they were trying to improve the roster which you know i think right now going into this this this

playoff is you know our roster looks pretty good i mean if you know good goaltending got some superstars there could put the puck in the net you know the team could go on do some good things and all of a sudden before you know the day they're heading into the bubble, I hear that he's not going into the bubble and something's going on. And, you know, as a fan of the team, I'm like, Jesus Christ, man, this team's been through a lot with the ownership situation,

with the arena situation. And all of a sudden they get some stability, you know, with an owner who's had success in other industries and obviously has deep pockets. Boom, we got that in place. We're rolling now. Things are good. you know, with an owner who's had success in other industries and obviously has deep pockets, boom. We got that in place. We're rolling now. Things are good.

And even though, you know, it didn't look like the team was going to make playoffs, given what the situation is in the world right now, wow, they get a second chance. And that's awesome. So going to the Chica side of things in this situation is what I'm hearing is, and I think Elliott Friedman was the first one to report it. It was with New Jersey. And it was a job opportunity with them where apparently he'd be running just analytics. And the owner of New Jersey owns, I think, two sports teams right now,

correct, R.A.? And I think they're in the process of trying to acquire the Mets, right? Am I right or wrong here um i it's either philly philly or new jersey i i forget but yeah you're you're in the same area it's one it's one outfit that owns a few different teams that he was going to be brought on for right so let's back it up to last november is you know chica's been handling the gm job in arizona and you know they think he's done a good job the new owner comes in so they sign him to a four-year contract and in that contract there's essentially a non-compete

where you can't go to any other team to be president of hockey ops and or and or GM so they're thinking hey we got our guy he's gonna stay here because if I guess the any other move would be go be GM or president of hockey ops somewhere somewhere else. Well, apparently Chyka asked them, Hey, I want to go talk to the, to the new owner. He says, I want to go talk to New Jersey and their owner. And he's thinking like, well, no, like we, we signed you to a four-year extension and you're our guy. Like we, that's why we put that in the contract. And I get,

apparently the answer back was, well, you know, one borrow away. The old owner used to let me talk to other teams and two it's not necessarily hockey related it's more business related so I think at that point you know Morello probably doesn't want to ruffle feathers and he's like all right fine if it's for that reason signs it off and he goes talks to New Jersey well a few days later he comes back with like an offer to basically leave the coyotes and go go work for the Devils and the owner there doing whatever. I don't know what the exact details are. So I would imagine after everything that the Coyotes have been through

over the last year especially, given the fact that they got in trouble with the draft pick situation and training them on the side, and then we'll get into that a little later, the fact that now we've traded away our first round pick and we got Hall in order to make this run and, you know, things are starting to come together here. And, you know, now your GM's telling you, I want to go somewhere else.

So I imagine they're flabbergasted by hearing the news. They're probably thinking, well, that's why we signed that contract with that specific thing in it. And now they're trying to figure out, out well I guess maybe legally he's right but we need time to figure this thing out of course with the playoffs being backed up it probably created a situation that's you know less than desirable for John Treyka if he wants to move on and go do whatever he wants to do there and then I guess it's up for the courts to decide whether that in fact is not a lateral move. And, you know, because in the business world, RA,

I don't know if you would agree with me that there's kind of this unwritten rule. Like if someone's going to go move on to somewhere different in order to take on a bigger role and make more money and essentially be more successful, you just cut ties and you let them go. You don't hold them back. Would you agree with that, Whit?

Yeah. Yeah, it's like, that would be, all right, you've moved on. Right. So, but just, I guess, given with everything that happened, and I guess this, you know, started maybe, let's say, six weeks ago, I think it was more of this new owner and the Coyotes side trying to collect his thoughts on what the fuck just happened, you know, and how is this going to play out as far as a league standpoint because they have to rule on it if coyotes think one thing and this is kind of like stabbing them in the back and

and they signed a contract so he couldn't do it and and there's but the thing is is it also gets a little weird on how it was presented to the coyotes on chica's part it was kind of like he was maybe i don't want to say being untruthful but maybe presented it as it wasn't going to be what it was and next thing you know he was gone so apparently there was a situation where it was like hey it was it was presented by chica's side sign this where i can move on and i'll go into the bubble and represent the team and follow it all the way up to the draft and or I'm not going. So I don't think the Coyotes were willing to part ways just yet. I'm not saying they were being like the bitter spouse that's, you know,

getting fleeced and the girls leaving with the hot younger pool boy who fucking won the lotto. I don't know, right? I mean, is that a pretty good analogy? I think in a situation like this, I mean, I hate that. It's such a cliche.

Oh, there's, there's one side. There's the other side. There's the truth. I mean, everybody has their version of what a truth is. I think though that Jake had just signed an extension,

I think in October, November, and he still has three years left. Four year extension, I believe. And I think at that point, and remember too, is like,

there's been two fairly serious things that i would say happened one being the fact that the team was quote unquote caught cheating now there's another situation is now that he's leaving after that situation arise and i'm not going to dig into whether i think he's at fault or who's at fault but from what i'm hearing there was was an opportunity to land on the store. And then maybe he wasn't necessarily being truthful about how all that went down. And then the league caught him not kind of fabricating as to how it all went down.

So who knows how the league's going to have to punish the coyotes when imagine being a new owner, buying a new team. And all of a sudden they're like, Hey, here's a fucking $20 million bar tab when he wasn't when it might have been happening when he wasn't even around so there's more there's more of a situation that this new owner has to digest in his first first experience in pro sports which i think is a bit of a kick in the nuts and i guess that all the

coyote side wanted was to like okay we're gonna grant you the ability to leave but we need to find out what the fuck the ruling is on all of this before we just sign off on it and say, all right, see you later. Go enjoy your new career. Is that a fair breakdown of what I'm getting? Yeah, I think it is. And without knowing this John Chyka and knowing exactly what has happened, you'd have to think with how kind of awkward it is that at some point the full story will come out.

Maybe he can't say anything right now. I have no idea. But when he is able to say something, you would like to think that it would make kind of sense, right, where you'd be like, okay, this guy's doing what was best for him, his family. But as of right now, until he says something, whether he's choosing not to or isn he allowed it certainly looks weird now i'm just you wonder when the whole story comes out

like will you think was the speculation worth it i don't know it's just hard right now because it definitely looks weird and in every in every situation where i've had a conversation about it in the last 48 hours what i always want to do before I come on and like throw anybody under the bus, like I want to give this person benefit of the doubt. Right. I would say that every day that John Trey, he woke up and he tried to improve this organization to the best of his abilities. Okay. I can, I could confidently say that too. He has never done me wrong personally. He's never, he's never been rude to personally. He's never been rude to me. He's

always been kind to me. And from what I think, from what I've been presented, it seems like a guy who's pretty well put together. He's obviously a salesman because he was a young guy who got himself in the situation of being a general manager in the National Hockey League and I believe the youngest general manager in sports history. But it seems like he's trying to find these gray areas like he did with maybe with the last CBA eating these contracts, which I thought was a good move in order to gain assets in draft picks and take it on the salary cap or whatever it may be. So, yeah, there's been some good moves and I guess some bad ones.

But based on everything I just told you i think you guys are smart enough to make your own decision on maybe who should have the bitter taste in their mouth and who might have some explaining to do and fuck if he wants to come on the podcast and there's things about it that i don't know but i try to hear every side of it open invitation and i'm sorry that i've rambled on quite a bit but I've tried to present all the facts in order to give you the the best ability to make your own decision and it's interesting and I'll tell you this I don't I think that maybe this job that he's he's being presented with the New Jersey Devils is in fact his dream job and when the nice new shiny nine got presented over maybe the seven situation that he thinks he's in,

in, in Arizona looked better and more appealing and better for him personally. Well, all the power to you. I wish you the best of luck. You never did, did me any wrong, but you might have some,

some people on the hockey side of things to answer some questions too. And then it leaves it as, does he care? Sorry about rambling on. I don't know how you guys feel about it. Um, RA and, and where, and even Grinnelli, if you feel like chiming in, I think don't know how you guys feel about it, R.A. and Whit, and even Grinelli, if you feel like chiming in.

I think I've done a good job of laying it all out. Yeah, and I did refer to it as a split, but I should clarify, the Coyotes, their statement said he quit. He quit on them with the playoffs about to start, which I'm sure for legal reasons, he probably thought it was his best thing to quit. I think that's a team that's confident in knowing once all the cards are laid

out, if they in fact do, that they have no problem hanging their hat on. They basically told this guy to go fuck himself on the way out. And that's coming from a very biased – and as I said earlier, if you're triking and you're like, hey, man, I just genuinely don't care, I think that this was a gray area in my contract and I could exploit it and go be more successful doing what I think I know I do best. See you later. And we also want to note he was replaced by Steve Sullivan on an interim basis, a guy who played in the league, I think 900 games, great little player. He's been working his way up the ladder as well. And Biz, you did mention

the whole buddy system, the whole crony system. And Scott Burnside, he had a great piece on the situation in the athletic, but there was a paragraph that kind of raised my eyebrow a bit and it said several sources indicated that former Boston and Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli is someone league officials would like to help find his way back to the NHL after disastrous turn in Edmonton and think that Arizona would be a good landing place now I'm not picking on Scott here he He's a great reporter. But why the fuck would league officials care or try to orchestrate Peter Shirely getting a job? I'm asking

what do you call it? Not hypothetical. What's that other type of question? You're not really looking for the answer. You guys, I'm all for three. Hypothetical is not... No, it's a rhetorical question. I was asking a rhetorical question. That's out of my pay grade, boys. But the point is, it's a rhetorical question. I was asking a rhetorical question. That's out of my pay grade, boys. That's out of my pay grade.

But the point is, it's like, why would league officials be fucking care? Like, I mean, that's not their job to get their buddies jobs, but it was a lot of truth. It's like, okay, this is how fucking things actually get run, that these old school, old boys network still take care of each other. It's kind of fucked up. And I don't know how much truth there is to that story um i guess maybe at this point in time they thought he could go provide guidance but right now steve sullivan's the interim gm he knows he knows the most about the team as it lies now

whether it's uh scouts uh you know who they might potentially be be looking to draft coming up here at the draft. I think that probably when they maybe open it up to more interviews, they're going to wonder, you know, what is your plan moving forward? Like, are you going off of what maybe Chayka's decisions were going to be? Is that how you're basing, you know, where you're at with this? And in Sully's defense going into the bubble, there's no moves to be made as of right now. And regarding their cap situation and who they have in place i mean they've pretty much they're close to the cap so there's not like a ton of more moves to be made and that's why i was

kind of like when people try to come in with like the power dynamic of like oh like new owners coming in like flexing his muscles it's like what other fucking moves needed to be made he gave him reigns to go trade the first rounder for halsey and like we're close to up to the cap he's basically giving up a checkbook if you have a problem with him stepping in for the hall renegotiation i think i think a new owner who's probably wondering why wasn't my team going to make playoffs and i'm spending 81.5 million dollars what the fuck is going on here let's let's talk it out and i think that that's a pretty fair stance. Am I right, boys?

No, absolutely, man. You know, you're the owner. You make those calls. Right. So I don't know. It's been a crazy situation. People are probably like, nobody cares about the Coyotes, but I do. And I hope that they're able to fix it and this organization is able to get

a fucking bounce in the right direction because all the people behind the scenes deserve it here. Well, Biz, maybe Jake will have a longer stint at his next stop, but you don't have to wait for a longer stint if you're using Roman Swipes. Most guys have tried different ways to last longer. Thinking about consmite trophy winners in reverse order doesn't always do the trick. The folks at Roman, an online men's health company, are changing the game with Roman Swipes, the secret to longer-lasting sex.

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be bringing him in a little bit after our preview, but we want to mention him first to get his, uh, wet the appetite a little bit. Gary Roberts, man, this was an unreal interview hour. I think we did about an hour with them, got over his whole career, his injury stuff. It was an unreal interview. I think we did about an hour with him. He got over his whole career, his injury stuff. It's incredible stuff. We're going to get to that after our previews. But first, boys, let's dive right into the Yellowdow Western qualifiers. First roundup, Chicago-Edmonton. The series line, Edmonton is minus 160 to make 100. Game one, Edmonton minus 160 to make 100. Chicago did win the season series, two games to one. Obviously, the big story here, the two-headed monster of Connor and Leon. I don't know how Chicago is going to manage to shut those guys down.

Let's go to you for your take. I just think that Edmonton's got a little vibe going. I think they're going to win this series. I also think that it could be just a track meet. I mean, I don't think both teams are known as really solid defensive teams. I think special teams, Edmonton has proven that their power play is just way better than anyone else's. So, I mean, you even see what was it, Tuesday night. I mean, I don't know if they at least had one. McDavid scored and it's just so simple for them to snap it around with the guys they have on the ice that if you're going to take penalties,

you almost have no chance of winning because they're going to score. And so Chicago, I mean, there was times they looked great. Then there was times you really kind of questioned what was going on. And ever since the coaching change, things have been different. But we talked to Duncan Keith, who said some really good things on how he and the team was playing towards, you know, when the pandemic did hit. So I think it's going to be a fun one.

I think it's back and forth hockey, but just the Oilers' special teams and overall their game breakers up front probably be being – I mean, Patrick Kane's got a lot to say, but McDavid and Dreitzel are just two best in the league. So I like Edmonton in four games. I like that, Beck, and I'm going to tell you why. I think that ultimately, you mentioned the track meet. I think that the Oilers will probably figure it out

a little bit more defensively than the Hawks. And this isn't a shot at Colleton. It's more of the experience of Dave Tippett and maybe knowing how to shut these guys down. Backing it up to his time with the Coyotes, he beat him in six games in the playoffs. So he's experienced in knowing maybe how to line match and do these types of things.

Going to the Hawks' goaltending situation, I don't know exactly where it's at right now. I know we actually had Duncan Keith on. We'll be dropping him next week. A little teaser. How are you? He said Malcolm Subban's been kicking him well. we'll see what the situation is on Corey Crawford I just overall like the Oilers better I think you you mentioned that vibe they have going on

and I just think that maybe that that over exceeds what the Hawks have going on right now I'd say the only reason somebody or maybe I would go Hawks, is that that little gap, especially for a little bit older of a core group, he might have rejuvenated them a little bit. They seem excited to be back together, and they were playing well in the second half part of the season. So it should be a very good series. I got the Oilers in four as well, actually.

Edmonton, their special teams, man. The power play, 29.5% during the season, was the best in over 40 years in the NHL. They got second and penalty kill, and their special teams are great and big. Like you mentioned, Chicago's not sure what they're going to have in net. Crawford's been having some health issues going back well into the season. Malcolm Subban, of course, is the backup. A lot of people, in case you forgot, they did trade Robin Lehner.

Didn't look like they were going to see a postseason. Of course, things played out the way they have. I got Edmonton in four as well. I don't think we're going to see Chicago sneak by them. Moving on to the next one. Oh, biz. Arizona. Got a lot of Arizona talk for you this week. Arizona, Nashville.

Nashville is minus 140 in the series. 140 to make 100. 100 to make 120 on Arizona. Game one, Nashville is 130 to make 100. to make 120 on arizona game one uh nashville is 130 to make 100 the two teams split their season series one one i think this has the potential to be a rock fight uh coyotes looking for their first series win in eight years ever since their run to the western conference finals in 2012 uh they got a ton of depth for depth scoring nine forwards with at least at least 10 goals conor Garland led the way with 22.

A lot of scoring by committee. Darcy Kempe, you've got to think, is going to get the nod there. But Nashville as well, they've got nine forwards who scored at least 10 goals as well. Roman Yossi on D, obviously the big issue with them the last couple of years has been goaltending. I think we're probably going to see Yossi Saros in there over Pekka Rinne.

But Biz, let's kick it off with you with this one. Wow, okay. So you think Saros in there over Pekka Rene. But, Biz, let's kick it off with you with this one. Wow. Okay. So you think Saros is getting the start. I would give – let's go in by saying goaltendings even. I think that Darcy Kempers had better numbers in both of them. But, you know, just based off the fact that I think that Pekka Rene, if he does get the nod, he does have experience, whether it's gone good or bad from the past.

Let's call that as a wash. I would give slight edge to the back end of Nashville. Of course, Roman Yossi being probably what I think is a lot of people are saying the Norris candidate. Ellis is good. Ekholm, they got a deep back end. As far as up front, maybe more of a coin toss, given the weapons that the Coyotes have added

and maybe some of the playoff experience with Kessel. I think that this is a coin toss given the weapons that the coyotes have added and then maybe some of the playoff experience with with kessel um i think that this is a coin toss and and i i honestly think that this situation is probably going to galvanize the coyotes group maybe put a little chip on their shoulder and i'm going to pick them in five games i think they're going to come through with it and uh well i like i said earlier i think that the the roster that they've put together on paper is the best in maybe the Coyotes' history. I know that the other teams overachieved by going deep runs in the playoffs, but they haven't had a roster this good in a long time. So let's see if they can back it up with their play.

Okay, Biz, like I said, very surprised. I wouldn't be shocked if the Coyotes do pull this off. I think that Nashville is going to win, but I wouldn't be shocked if the Coyotes do pull this off. I think that Nashville is going to win, but I wouldn't be shocked, and that's because you talk about the struggles of Rene. It is a legit thing. So you wonder, besides the year they went to the cup finals, he was amazing, it's every other year. And that's why this whole scenario is – it probably does help guys

who maybe have a little bit of a reputation hanging on that they've struggled in the playoffs because this is so different, right? You might be able to really kind of get out of that funk in terms of a guy who hasn't been able to perform in the postseason. But I just think Nashville's too deep. I think that they probably started really figuring out John Hines and how he likes to coach and how things were going on there. And then they got the best defense in the league in Yossi,

if not the best, you know, top two. And so I just – I think that they have talent that after Halsey, Arizona really doesn't have. I love Arizona's goaltending situation. I do not think it's going to be an easy series, but I'm on the Preds in five. Oh. Yeah, I got it as a coin flip, like you said, because I could see this going overtime, the full limit game five as well.

But I got Arizona in five too, Biz. Nice, R.A. I fucking knew I liked you better than a wit for a reason. And another thing, too, is let's not forget about that Predators power play. Oof. I know last year against the Dallas Stars, we're talking about kicking the nuts. That seems to be the theme of the episode. Oof.

What were they in the playoffs? Oof. It was like I was running the fucking half wall. But I will say, Matt Duchesne, he was huge for Columbus last year. Five goals, five assists, 10 points total. I mean, if he plays at that level and can get some other guys going, you know, Nashville's obviously going to need it. But, yeah.

You know, he's going to be singing the boys some tunes in the bubble. He's got a guitar. Strum it up. All right, so that's that series. Next up, we've got Winnipeg, Calgary. Let's see. They played only one game this season. It was the Heritage Classic way back in October.

The Jets won 1-0 in overtime. calgary is the small series favorite minus 130 uh small game one favorite as well minus 120 obviously conor hellebuck the story for winnipeg he was huge for them this season but they do still have some serious serious firepower up front uh conor 38 goals shifley had 29 wheeler Wheeler had 22. Line A had 28. Ealers had 25. Defenseman Neil Pionk, I know when he got traded for Trouba, people were like, who is this guy? But he had a pretty solid year, 25 of his 45 points on the power play. They got a middle-of-the-pack power play, a below-average penalty kill. I don't know if that'll be the Achilles heel. Calgary also looking to bounce back after a rough show in the last year's playoffs.

Again, they're loaded up front as well. We're not sure if we're going to get Riddick or Talbot. I'd say Riddick might have the advantage over Talbot, but I'd say the Jets have the advantage in that regard. But, Whit, let's go to you for your take on this one, buddy. Going to be a knockdown

drag them out battle for five games, I think. I just, two teams that you could totally picture hating each other when things really get heated and this all gets going. I mean, Calgary's shown no issue in terms of playing that style game where, you know, you see how them and Edmonton have just gone battling back and forth, and I don't think them and Winnipeg will be much different. It's probably my hardest series to pick because I do think these teams

are so evenly matched. Hellebuck being the goaltender for Winnipeg, though, it's like this time of year, granted nobody knows what the hell is going to happen in terms of goaltending and time off, but you got to take a goalie. You got to take the better goalie in terms of who's going to win a playoff series, especially a shorter one. So I'm on the Jets, but I have no clue how this is going to break down.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Flames pull it out. I know, like I said, I'm not a guy who flip-flops usually. I'm a stick-to-his-guns type person, Biz. But on this one, I'm going to do that. I'm going to just maybe say I told you so no matter who wins. Yeah, this is a coin toss. I was going to go to Flames' goaltending and say that's going to be the difference maker.

If their goaltending can come anywhere near Hellebuyck's, I think they win this for sure. We talked about Hellebuyck's numbers and how he is in danger scoring chance areas and just the performance he's put on that season. For sure. We talked about Hellebuck's numbers and how he is in danger scoring chance areas and just the performance he's put on that season. The little layover here could affect his rhythm as a goaltender, although I will get to the under situation a little later. But I'm going to go Flames in five, and I really like the way the team's built.

They're just that physical team that will wear you down. I'm really excited to see uh johnny goudreau and what monaghan have i know they have faced a little bit of heat there for their playoff performance and by the way since we're talking about them i want to go back and and i was joking about the the johnny goudreau out of shape story it kind of took a on a mind of its own that was not the case so that was you were joking, like, it was like, I was trying to, like, get some play out of it, like, as in, like, ah, like, I mean, you know, ha-ha, he's out of shape.

Like, who cares? He's the natural. He eats fucking, we talk about it all the time. He eats ham and cheese sandwich for crying out loud. So then I think that, you know, with Canadian media, that kind of took on a mind of its own. So my apologies. So I got Flames in five.

All right. And by the way way I do know that Connor Hellebuck isn't the goalie for the Columbus Blue Jackets I honestly think I have some sort of dyslexia between Columbus and Winnipeg I've actually bet the wrong team with those two on occasion I guess I butchered and said he was the goalie for Columbus so I just want to clarify that I do know that that he's the goalie for Winnipeg and in that same vein I think he's going to be the the key player for them I think there's going to be the key player for them. I think there's going to be a tight four-game series, but I got Winnipeg winning it for myself.

Okay, let's move on. We got one more here. And this one, another one that should be pretty tight. Minnesota-Vancouver. Vancouver is a minus-130 series favorite. And in game one, they're a minus-120 favorite. Minnesota won the season series two games to one. One of those wins was a shootout

win. Obviously, Minnesota, a veteran-heavy team, but 23-year-old Kevin Fiala was on an absolute tear before the stoppage. The D is solid, but I think the question mark is in the pipes with them. Staloc and Dubnik combined for a 9.02 save percentage. The team save percentage was 8.97. That obviously has to improve if they are going to move on. And then Vancouver, man. I mean, this is a team with so many young studs. Patterson, Bessa, obviously Grinelli's twin. Quinn Hughes, they're a fun team to watch.

Biz, let's go to you for your take on this one, buddy. They seem very confident, too. Antoine Roussel was talking to a media member. I don't know how much action this got, but he said, I think we have the best goalie right now in Markstrom, which he had an incredible season. He says we have one of the best shut down defensive defense in the league in Tanov, which of course that's debatable for you non-Canucks fans.

Best offensive defenseman in Quinn Hughes. And look at all those young studs they got up front. And with great leadership in Bo Horvat. And I think Green's done an exceptional job with that team. So although the Wild have, you know, they kind of have been the team to come out of nowhere at the second half of the season, and everyone expected them to tank,

credit them for what they've done. I just, I really like the Canucks and their confidence right now, and I'm going to have to pick them in four. What do you got, Wade? Okay. You know what's funny about this series is it's, they're exact opposites. Everything about these teams.

It's an older team that's deep and plays, has no superstars really, and kind of sprinkles depth throughout their lineup, especially offensively, versus star-studded, you know, offensive, talented, kind of basically like guys carrying the load on one line as opposed to just four lines doing it like the Wild in terms of Vancouver. So it's just – it'll be interesting to see how they match up because how many things they do similar, there really are none.

I don't see how it's possible to slow down when Peterson gets going. And if Markey is going to play as good as he has been, it's just going to be tough. I don't think the Wild have the offense to be able to keep up with Vancouver. Now, it's like stingy team defense that the Wild play. They're just constantly back. They're not giving up the odd man rushes that Van probably loves getting, you know, living on those. They're not giving up the odd man rushes that Van probably loves getting, you know, living on those.

They're not giving up the chances off their own mistakes. You know what I mean? They're not pulling off. They're not trying to toe drag at the blue line that causes a three-on-two the other way, the wild play game that can really frustrate you. So Vancouver's got these young guns, and can they kind of stick with their game plan, be good on special teams, and have marky move them on i think they can i think it's going to go five games but uh i'm looking forward to that one it's actually you know i'll take that back i'm not really looking forward to that one i give minnesota a lot of heat and they played phenomenal hockey down the

stretch they were flying but still i don't really love watching them so i'm not that fired up to watch i'd like i'd like to compare it to the columbus toronto series in the sense of like let's see if the young guys can figure out that the wild and columbus want a little bit more of a dog fight are you going to feed into playing their style of play and let it get to you or or can you get through it and execute your game plan and i think that there's a bit of mental warfare when that happens when you got the team trying to drag you into through it and execute your game plan? And I think that there's a bit of mental warfare when that happens, when you've got the team trying to drag you into the shit and, you know, muck it up, and let's see if those two teams catch the bait.

And I'll tell you, Dean Everson, he seems like, just looking at him, he seems like a hot-ass old-school coach. I mean, I'm sure he's a great guy, but he just gives off that vibe like this guy. I mean, you might probably want to play for him, but he's definitely going to be a hot-ass. You know, he's chucking a water cooler between periods once a season. Yeah, pretty much. He's coming in, snapping a few twigs and flipping a table.

But one number that just jumps out at me is that, say, percentage for Minnesota this year. And, you know, I don't care how much Steve and how much you can, you know, load the house up, whatever. It's just I don't think they're going to be able to overcome that. I got Vancouver winning in four. And I know Vancouver Canucks fans aren't used to hearing me pull for their team.

And just again, just to clarify, these series picks aren't wages. We'll get to the gambling corner a little bit later. These are just our little picks here. So don't be betting anything, wagering anything on what we've said for the previous 15, 20 minutes. I also did want to note the round-robin teams, of course, in the West, St. Louis, Colorado, Dallas, and Vegas, they still have their little round-robin for seeding, and then they'll play after they do the reseeding.

And I did have a note here from our buddy Elliot Friedman. He said the NHL is estimating that there will be 66 minutes once the ice is clear after one game until the end of the next game's warm-ups to plan your schedules accordingly. So once that game is over that you're watching, you've got about a little over an hour to go for a dip, shower, shit shave, whatever you've got to do, come back, and then you won't miss the next game.

So I thought that was a note worth sharing. And speaking of notes worth sharing, I want to let you know that this interview is brought to you by Sports Research, one of the most trusted health and fitness brands in the States, developed by athletes for athletes. Established over 40 years ago, sports research is still family owned and operated and dedicated to providing the highest quality products that focus on a lifetime approach to living healthy instead of a quick fix.

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Again, this was highly entertaining for us, so hopefully doubly so for you. So without further ado, Gary Roberts. Well, our next guest played more than 1,200 NHL games over 21 seasons where he tallied over 900 points. He won a Stanley Cup with the 1989 Calgary Flames and the Masterton Trophy in 1996. He made a valiant return to the league after a debilitating neck injury and continued his goal scoring and hard-nosed plays.

These days, he's known for whipping NHL stars into the best shape they've ever been in. It's a pleasure to welcome to the show, Gary Roberts. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. All right. Oh, my pleasure. How are you getting fired up for the playoffs or what? I am. I'm just, I'm just praying for everybody that it actually gets going and, and hopefully it's going to solve our, our minor hockey concerns concerns uh around the

world that uh if the NHL can get back and play then hopefully we'll be able to get our young guys back playing also now I know you played for a handful of teams in your career do you have an affinity for any particular team or do you just kind of root for for players because you work with so many different guys yeah I mean obviously I have uh had relationships with with players that that are still playing which is kind of cool i like to watch those guys and and uh one of your co-hosts i guess you call him ryan whitney has had the same teammates so i'm sure he enjoys watching those guys play still too um but i'm not really married to any organization i've worked for a few uh in the last few years um and obviously you want to see those organizations do well because you're,

you're involved in helping with their development side. But mostly I enjoy watching the individuals that we work with. I enjoy watching their successes and try to keep those boys healthy as, as long as, as long as we can and, and get them to, uh, to understand that, you know, to have an opportunity at longevity, uh, you've got to take care of yourself, uh, away from the rink. And, and you live that your entire career. It's funny though. You told me a story, um, that originally maybe right after you were drafted, you weren't that big into, into off ice, uh, and working out and being as strong as you possibly can.

What happened that first few training camps or that instance when you realized, all right, I guess I got to change my ways here? Well, I was a lacrosse player and played a little bit of lacrosse. Didn't do a lot of training, off ice training. And what you got to remember, Witt, it's also my NHL draft year was 1984, right? Okay, I'm not sure where you were. I was born the year. I was one, Rob. Right.

So I just know that fitness at the time and off-ice training programs, I'll be honest, there's a lot of people who say that NHL teams never started handing out fitness programs until I went to my first NHL training camp in Calgary and failed every fitness test and Badger Bob bless his soul today was teaching me a lesson in front of 70 players and back then we had 70 players at training camp he said our our worst fittest player at our camp this year was our first round draft pick didn Didn't say my name, but basically in front of 70 players called me out. And I was a runner. I could run, but what I hadn't done, I'd never

been to Alberta where the air was thin and I ended up having, and I did have asthma, ended up having an asthma attack in the two mile run. The only test that I think I would have passed, I had an asthma attack and had to stop. So he didn't buy the whole asthma thing and basically called me out in front of the whole team. If you could have beamed me up at any time in my career and send me back home, that would have been the time when I was sitting in that room and being called out in front of everybody.

I mean, there's a good ending to that. It's a long story. But in the end, before Badger Bob passed away, I was with the Calgary Flames at that time, and we all went in to say our goodbyes to Badger Bob. And I didn't even know if he would remember me. And I had reservations about even going to say goodbye to him because of how embarrassed he made me feel.

He shook my hand. I went and saw him, feel he shook my hand I went and saw him and he shook my hand and he looked at me and he said Roberts I knew you were going to make it and I kind of like I got this big lump in my throat and started to tear up and I thought wow like this guy was he was just teaching me a lesson trying to get me to realize that I was going to have to be a lot fitter if I ever wanted to play in the National Hockey League so so I owe him for that at the time I didn't appreciate it of course but I certainly did after he said that to me before he passed away it meant a lot to me obviously. I was going to ask you about Brian Kilray I mean played for the Ottawa 67s you know what did he mean to you you as far as your development and your career? Because at that time, Ottawa was kind of that model franchise. I would compare them at that time to the London Knights.

Yeah, I would agree. Brian Currie, unbelievable human, unbelievable coach, hard-ass like you guys could imagine. I remember saying to him one day, like, why do you always yell at me? And he always would say to me one day, like, why do you always yell at me? And he's always would say to me, well, listen, kid, when I stopped yelling at you, that means I've given up on you. Right. So, you know, kind of, that's the way Brian Kilray was. If he wasn't yelling at you, he didn't like you. And, you know, I had a, I had quite a junior career. My, I went as a 16 year

old to Ottawa and within two months, I'd had two fights inside the school. Like, I was the youngest player on the Ottawa 67s, and there were some older boys in the high school that were picking on me, basically, and, you know, pushing me around in the lobby, and I got, one fight happened in a classroom, so I had two fights as a 16-year-old in Canterbury High School in Ottawa. And after the first fight, I was scared to death. Like I got pulled into the principal's office. I had blood all over my shirt. Fortunately, it wasn't mine.

Fortunately, it wasn't mine. So I end up literally being told, you know, I'm going to call Coach Kilroy and let him know what happened today. And I thought, oh, my gosh, am I in trouble when I get to the rink? I got to Lansdowne Park, and Brian Kilroy says, Robert's coming to see me. So I went in, and he says, you know what, kid? Nobody does that. Nobody does that that plays here. He said, you're going home. He said, nobody know what, kid, nobody does that. Nobody does that that plays here. He said, you're going home.

He said, nobody fights in school. Brian Currie was really, really, he was so pissed at me. And I said, killer, listen, like this guy started a fight in the classroom. I said, I was just, you know, he was just protecting the teacher. And he said, I don't care. He said, you just just protecting the teacher. He said, I don't care. He said, you just can't do this. I basically cried and asked him to stay as a 16-year-old. Imagine being your mom and dad here, and you got in a fight at school,

and you get sent home from junior hockey. It wouldn't have been very good when I got home either. The last minute, he said, okay. He said he knew I was scared to death. And he said, okay. He said, he said, did you win the fight? And I said, oh yeah, I won the fight. He's like, okay, you can stay, but no more, no more. So believe it or not, it happened two weeks later, this guy who I beat up in a classroom, or not it happened two weeks later this guy who i beat up in a classroom one of his buddies started a fight in the hallway of the school so i got another fight in the hallway of the school you dummied him too didn't you same same result same result the good news is all i went two and oh at canterbury high school and nobody else challenged me so i was able to stop fighting

well how'd you talk your way out of that one then same thing like it wasn't i had people come to my come to my aid and basically say listen gary was protecting himself this guy jumped him in the hallway goodness so i survived two high school fights with brian kilray um but after my first year junior i was trying to fit in like everybody does when you go to junior you're 16 16 playing with 19, 20 year olds. I wasn't probably taking care of myself as much as I should. The next year he said, kid, this is your draft year. I'm not going to let you screw this up. He called me every night at 11 o'clock for a curfew.

Every night he would call me up to after Christmas. And if I would, if I missed a curfew, he was sending me home and I never missed a curfew. then I was drafted the first round of the Calgary Flames after that season so you know how I feel about Brian Kilray right there you go that's an unbelievable story Brian Kilray was uh you know I talked about my dad being such an influence in my career and some coaches along the way and Brian Kilray is uh right up there with my dad as a gentleman that I loved as a coach, as a human being and was, you know, we all have a story and a journey and he was a big part of why I was able to fulfill the journey that I have.

Gary, that 84 draft was an absolute all-timer. Did you have any idea of where or when you might go heading into it? Well, I actually went down to Washington and I did the fitness test in Washington. I was told by David Poyle that they were going to draft me and that was 17th overall. So funny, we had Bill Waters, Hatcher and I had Bill Waters and Rick Kern. We had the same agency, so we were sitting beside each other at the draft. He thought he was going to Calgary, and I thought I was going to Washington. The pick came. The pick came.

They stood up, and the Calgary Flames said, we're pleased to announce we're going to draft Gary Roberts from the Ottawa 67s. Kevin Hatcher was already standing up to shake. I thought I was going to shake his hand and he ended up shaking my hand and I walked down. And then five picks later, he, he went to Washington. So yeah, I definitely didn't expect to go to Calgary 12. I thought I'd be heading to Washington. I actually,

Rod Langway took me for a drive in his Porsche after my fitness testing when I went down to Washington in 19, imagine that, in 1984, driving in Rod Langway's Porsche, going to a golf tournament. I still remember that. White snake on. Yeah, I still remember that as it was a kind of a treat. They said Rod's going to take you for the day, so I ended up going out to a golf tournament and watching a pro golf tournament that was going on with him. But, you know, it's funny. We all have those stories along the way that you remember. And I say my short-term memory really sucks,

but my long-term memory is still pretty good. I still lose my – now I'm losing my keys, my wallet, my glasses, and my phone. Your mask. Your mask. Yeah, my mask. I forget that every day. So I'm at that age right now when I'm starting to hide shit on myself, which really sucks. Oh, geez.

Well, there's just so many ways to go about it, so many questions I have for you. But you get drafted, as you mentioned, first round. You go to Calgary. And that third full year, or your third pro season, you win the Stanley cup. And I got to hear about that, but I, we love asking about former players and former teammates. And so there's so many guys that are interested in me on these, on this flames roster. But the one guy who I hear so much about, he's like a folklore, but I knew no nothing about his game is Hawk and lube. You had the chance to play with him's like a folklore, but I know nothing about his game, is Hocken Lube.

You had the chance to play with him, right? Like, do you know what I'm saying? I don't think people really that at least weren't diehard hockey fans then know how good this guy was. He was so good. And I talk often about, you know, the role that I played and what I thought I brought to a line. You know, fortunately, there wasn't a ton of guys that liked that role or played that role.

So I was always fortunate enough to play with really good players. In the end, it made me a better player. My first line, I think, when I was trying to make the NHL was Lanny McDonald and Tim Hunter. We were basically a bruiser line with the Calgary Flames. And I was kind of finding my way, trying to figure out where I was going to fit in. And then, of course, one of my best, obviously my best friend that I grew up with my whole life, Joe Noondyke, got drafted to the Calgary Flames a year after me.

He was a late birthday, right? We were the same age. But he was a September B-Day. So he was a year behind me. We end up in Calgary together. We had just played minor hockey together from five to 15, basically. And then we end up getting partnered with Hockenlube on a line. And Hockenlube was so good. He was- Soaky, right?

Well, he was also like, I think he, we won the Stanley Cup. I want to say Hockenlube, I was 23. He was 30, I think, I think he retired and went home. We definitely retired and went home. I just not exactly sure of his age. But he was in the prime of his career and wanted to raise his family in Sweden and won the Stanley cup and retired. So that was my first real right winger that I had a period of time to play with. So much fun to play with this guy obviously you know where i went right i got them the puck and i just went to the net it just stayed out of the way basically is

what i tried to do um but then we look at the ice yeah so he wins this thing we win a stanley cup hawk and lube leads retires goes to sweden and we end up going on that russian tour in september and we go to russia and no one knows this at the time but we end up we end up grabbing Sergei Makarov from from Moscow from the Red Army team so I lose we lose Hawk and Lube and all of a sudden Nunez and I are playing with Sergei Makarov and I'm like transition I've like died and gone to heaven with these two guys right like I don't deserve to play with these kind of players and then Sergei Makarov was another right winger I played with already in my career that to heaven with these two guys right like I don't deserve to play with these kind of players um and then Sergei Makarov was another right winger I played with early in my career that you know if

you look at the stats I think the year I scored 53 goals in the early 90s uh I was on a line with Nudyke and Makarov and I think he first assisted on 39 of my goals right this guy was so good and I tell the story all the time and his broken english i would say sergey sergey i'm over here and he finally came back to the bench after about four games of this and said robs why you yell at me i see you just go to net just go go to net russ basically telling me shut up and just go to the net and I'll give you a tap in. So I think that happened like the joke was I scored, you know,

53 goals that year that didn't measure longer than 10 feet, right? So I was fortunate. I talk often about how fortunate I was to play with those kind of players. And like I say, it made me a better player. Gary, were there any issues as far as receiving him on the team, given, you know, there was still a lot of prejudice towards Russians back then. Were there any teammates who were kind of blatantly against it or was it just, hey, it's hockey, let's play here? Well, he wasn't actually the first, right? I think Sergei Priyakin came over during the Olympics in 88 and played a little bit with us. And he might have been the first Russian to come,

and he was with the Calgary Flames too. So we had Sergei Priyakin. So Sergei Makarov was – he was obviously the Wayne Gretzky of Russia. We had an opportunity, and this is an amazing story. He asked Neuendijk and I to go back to his house for dinner in Moscow. And we obviously said yes. We're going back to one of the greatest hockey players, you know, of the Russian history with Krutov, Larionov, Fedosov.

So all those guys were obviously the Fab five that that uh that we watched for years to have an opportunity to go back to his house we couldn't wait to see this thing we go back and he says i'm in the penthouse just you know jump in the elevators we get to the elevator the elevator is no bigger than a shoebox and he like he's got to go up with uh i'm not sure exactly who else went with us one other person went with us so there's four of us we got to take two rides to the top because everybody only holds two people and we get to the top of his penthouse and sergey makarov's the like he's the gretzky of russia so we're expecting a sweet penthouse and uh and i'll be honest sergey his wife had a little vegetable garden outside of town that that he got as part of being Sergei Makarov.

But they only received 300 square feet per person in their family. And so this is 1989, September of 1989. So he had 900 square foot penthouse apartment. And that was considered a lot for, I think it was only 250 for the normal person, but because he was Sergei Makarov, he got 300 per person in his family. So he had a 900 square foot apartment and he had a little tiny room that was his trophy room and he had just full of crystals and he had two chairs, a table and a little bookcase and it had all his crystals on it. And that's what i remember about

sergey makarov's penthouse apartment in in moscow in 1989 and we had a nice dinner there with him and his wife um but i thought oh my goodness like i think wayne gretzky's got a little bit more than this in canada yeah hey his wife's his wife's with their friend she's like we have seven feet and four the feet of first trophies like maybe he could leave those at his parents house yeah yeah no he really didn't have much but he was he was a great great player and of course in the last few years he's been a hall of famer which which was well deserved um Theo Fleury uh we were talking about him recently on one of the podcasts i thought you know or think he deserves to be in the hall of fame he's a guy you got to see uh a play firsthand

he ray whitney said it best he's like the the guy who who broke the the height barrier so to speak he was one of the first small guys who made such a big impact where teams started considering drafting and and having small guys the team what was it like playing with him and the energy that he brought to that that game well he he was a spark plug for sure and he's an unbelievable player i say like you know if you look at i would say like one-on-one with the goalie uh theo flurry was in the the top five players i ever played with like he could stick handle in a phone booth. He had great agility. He'd get inside.

You literally think he was going to stick handle into the goalie's pads. And at the last second, he'd throw a five hole or do a quick, cute little deke. He had amazing ability to score goals. I probably played for probably five, six years. I probably played 25, 30 games of golf with Theo Fleury in the summertime. We both lived in Calgary. I stayed in Calgary in the summers and we spent a lot of time together. I would say that I never knew, like I knew, you know, he was, you know, a rough customer. He was

a little rough around the edges, Theo um but he was a great teammate and he battled his ass off other than you know one night he kept starting fights with ken bomb gardner and uh and then i ended up having to fight ken bomb gardner twice in one game i think i i think i had a broken rib and i couldn't punch one time he was just feeding me and then then the next fight theo started it again and I jumped in I finally went back to the judgment after getting beat up twice by Ken Baumgartner and saying listen here you little shit stop starting fights out there I'm getting I'm getting killed um so he used he was really good at that that's the only thing I say I said you you're gonna pick those fights you

better hang in there and start helping me um but he was a unbelievable player and and i would agree what he went through in his career what he went through to battle through some demons that he had um with the with the success that he had with the numbers that he put up with with the heart and soul that he brought to the game each and each day and dealing with all that stuff that we didn't know about we really as teammates as close as teammates, he never shared that with us, what had happened to him during his junior career. And I'll tell you, I was shocked.

I was shocked when the whole story came out. But for what he's been through and what he's accomplished, in my eyes, he's a Hall of Famer. Yeah, most of that 89 team was pretty much in its early to mid-20s, but you had 36-year-old legend Lanny McDonald as the captain. What was his style of leadership as the old guy in a room with a bunch of young kids? Yeah, he was – I mean, New and Dyke and I,

we followed Lanny McDonald around like a lost puppy. Wherever Lanny went, we're like, okay, Lanny, let's go. Where are we going? Where are we going next? Where are we going next? Every time Lanny was like, we would stay after, like that's when I remember the game being, the practice was over and we would be in the rink

for two more hours. We'd stay on the ice and play. We used to play golf on the ice, right? We had this game, we played golf and it would be Joey Mullen and Lanny McDonald against Neuendijk and I. And we played golf out there for flipping half an hour, 45 minutes. And then we'd come in and we'd play ping pong for a half an hour.

And then the boys would all be kind of gathering up. Hey, boys, where are we going for lunch? And we'd all go for lunch, have a couple beers and a bite to eat at lunch. That was the NHL back then. And we were such a close family. And Lanny was a huge part of that. Lanny, every time there was a function function it was either at lanny's house we'd all go to lanny's farmhouse outside of his ranch outside of uh calgary um he meant so much to us as as as younger players

uh had a huge influence on new and ike and i can, I'll just tell one story about him and it'll tell about Lenny McDonald. Uh, he used to, he used to take so much time and sign autographs. And I would always be amazed at, you know, guys be on the best going. He used to call him, he used to call him Lars. And they'd say, Holy God, Lars, get on the flipping bus. We're going to miss the plane, you know? And, uh, he'd always take so much time with people and sign so many autographs and make eye contact and shake hands, and he got on the bus, and he sat down with New Dyke and I, and I said, holy crap, you spent a lot of time out there with

those guys, and, you know, I was kind of looking at it, because, you know, no one else did, and I don't mean it in that way, but he always spent extra time. And Lanny looked at me and said, well, Rob's remembered. He said, my dad always told me this. The people you pass on the way up are the same people you're going to pass on the way down. And it was such a good message for me as a 20-year-old player to watch Lanny McDonald, who at the time was 33 when this happened, and to have an opportunity to play those next three years with him from 20 to 23 and win a Stanley Cup and land a McDonald for what he meant to our team he was

one of those guys that he didn't speak often but when he spoke everybody listened you know like you know you got those guys that you guys know them the guys that talk every flipping period just to get themselves going. And if at some point you're like, I wish he was shut up. Like just at, just at me, Rob's tweet me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he was talking about me with guys that, you know, they talk to themselves into playing tough or whatever they're doing. But eventually they stopped being heard. Those guys that don't shut up and a guy like lanny when he spoke all right it's like our room just went

silent and everybody went oh this must be important because lanny's speaking and that's what he meant to our calgary flame team and truthfully the city of calgary um he is one of the best and the best people that i've that i I've met in my career. And I talked about Brian Kiori, my father, Brad McCrimmon, who, bless his soul, had a huge influence on my career. And then I would never leave out Lanny McDonald in that conversation. So, you know, Biz, you can go back to some other teammates you got to ask about, but I need to go into, you know, the end of the time in Calgary when you dealt with the injury and what happened in the forced retirement and taking that year off.

Like, just can you kind of fill in all the listeners on the original injury and what happened to cause all the damage right at the beginning? Gosh, I don't know how much time this podcast can hey rob this is i love this i haven't seen you or talked to you in years and i used to do the same shit when we played together just make me make you tell me stories i know i know um gosh you're gonna get i'm trying to get emotional during this story though because it always makes me cry but i uh oh i don't want to do that but that shows yeah but at 30 uh well in my late in when in my late 20s um I got hit from behind from uh by Bob Rouse in Toronto I shot a puck in

and he hit me from behind don't know exactly the date of course so I try not to remember it but I uh I went to turn to go up the boards and he he hit me from behind. I went head first on the boards, and I lost the feeling in my arms. And my mom and dad, all my friends were in the Maple Leaf Gardens at the time, and they carried me off on a stretcher. I had no feeling in my arms from the time that I got hit to the time that I got to Wellesley Hospital. And so they put me – they cut all the equipment off me, put me in a CAT scan. And basically, you know, I could start to get the feeling back in my fingertips

when I was on the table going in. And luckily, they said, you know, nothing was broken. Obviously, I took a quite a blow. So I didn't actually break my neck but that was the start I had a obviously a terrible time after that I played through a lot of a lot of pain I had atrophy over over about a six-year period so by the time 1994 came I had played, you know, five, six years with weakness and numbness in my right arm. And by the 1994, to fast forward ahead, so we're not here all day, 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, I couldn't cut my own food. And, and so I literally was, I'd have to lift my right arm up before the 1994 Game 7 against Vancouver, we had been up three games to one.

And all of a sudden, Vancouver came back. It was three games to three. And Dave King was our coach. And I was literally, he would yell on the bench and say, Rob, are you okay? And I'm like, no, I don't have any feeling in my arms. Give me a few minutes. And I literally, I couldn't lift my arms.

And I would wait till the feeling came back in my arms. Give me a few minutes. And I literally, I couldn't lift my arms. And I would wait till the feeling came back to my arm because Dana Mersin would cross-check me in front of the net or I would take a hit in the corner. I literally couldn't defend myself. And so I remember going into game seven. I went for a muscle test and Dr. Lowell Van Zyde, and I still remember the doctor, he said, okay, put your arm up. And I put my right arm up and it just fell down. And he said, no, no, put your right arm up. And I'm like, that's it doc. And I just, I lift it up and it falls down. And he says, you can't hold your own arm up. And I'm like, no, he says, holy crap. He says, you got severe nerve damage. He said, uh, he said, said but you know let's get through tonight and get you a little bit of a break and uh you know hopefully you'll heal over the summer uh so i put this

neck collar on and and i went out and played in game seven um could barely could barely tie my skates i had to help myself guys were helping me get my jersey on what a warrior so i went out first yeah so i went out and i played in that game but i'll be honest uh it's the only time in my career 1994 uh pavel brewery uh got a breakaway in overtime and and yeah pavel brewery won that game and they beat us four games to three and i said if ever saw the highlight, I'm sitting on the bench. And it's the only time in my whole career that I was happy I didn't have to go to the rink the next day because I was that beat up. And so anyways, I tried to rehab it, never got better, ended up having two surgeries, taking a break,

came back and was so excited to come back and play. Had an amazing short stint with the Calgary Flames. I don't know. I played like 40 games from January until April. Over a point per game. Yeah, it was nice for me. I won the Bill Masterton at the NHL Warns that year. But before the playoffs, I always told myself,

if I had the symptoms again, I would shut it down. And I got squashed at a game against Chicago, and both arms went completely numb. So I left that game, and I stopped playing. I retired. So I didn't play in playoffs that year, and retired at the NHL awards in, uh, in 1990, what was that? 1996. So June of 1996, I retired at the awards and that was a pretty

tough moment for me being that age. And, uh, and then, you know, I, I got away from the game. I literally, yeah, I thought I was just going to play golf and enjoy life. And I had a, you know, I got away from the game. I literally, yeah, I thought I was just going to play golf and enjoy life. And I had a, you know, a little bit of money in the bank, but not, not much, as you know, at 30 back then in the NHL, I had a little money, but definitely not enough that I could have retired on. So I got away from the game for almost six months before I started the process to try to fight my way back. Now, what, what happened when, or what, what made you say, I have to, I have to play again. This isn't over. It was, this isn't over for me. Or was it more the money?

Well, I would say it was a little bit, a lot. I would say it's, it was the life I was living at that time. I was living in Calgary. I was watching all my buddies play. Nothing's more lonely than retiring with an injury at 30 years old and all your pals that you've just hung with for 10 years, one cup with, they're all playing. And I'm sitting at Calgary and I'm like, I have one daughter at the time, Jordan. And I'm looking around going, what the hell am I going to do with myself? And I started

to work with Wayne McBean who who had retired with a wrist injury, and he was doing some NHLPA clothing stuff in Calgary. And Wayne was an amazing guy and nice enough for him to offer a job for me. And I was helping him sell golf apparel that was being logoed for companies and for the NHLPA. And I remember a guy one day, like I was, I was drinking beer with Wayne at lunch. We'd go play a little bit of squash.

You know, I'd have the beer and chicken wing program going and I'd play a little bit of golf, but I wasn't really that healthy because I still had issues with my neck and my arms. So I couldn't play two games of golf. I just wasn't, I remember walking in, I'm not kidding you, a gentleman came in, he was wearing a ball cap and he said, you know, I want this in, I'm not kidding you. A gentleman came in, he was wearing a ball cap and he had, he, he said,

you know, I want this cap. I want, I want a hundred of these. Can we, can you logo them? And so I went and got the pricing and everything for this guy and brought out the pricing and talked to him and he said, he says, well, like, can you do something for me here? And I'm like, well, I'm really not the boss. I said, the boss is, you know, not here kind of thing. And he said, well he said well can you talk to the boss he said so I didn't want to bug Wayne with it so I said okay I'll talk to the boss I said what are you looking for he said can you get me like 10 cents off each hat like there was at that moment that that you know I think I was 30 years old and I

was trying to find my way and I I walked back into the office, and after the guy left, and I said, Wayne, I said, I really appreciate the opportunity. I said, but I just got – this guy's negotiating 10 cents off a hat. I'm going to, you know – I won the Stanley Cup fucking four years ago. Banana Lance. I said, I got to say, I'm effing out of here. You know, I just said, I can't do it.

I love you for giving me the opportunity, but I can't work for you. And that's honestly, it was that and, you know, obviously not taking very good care of myself too. And I was looking at myself at 30 in the mirror going like, oh my gosh, like what am I going to look like at 50? If I don't try to get my shit together. And that's when it kind of hit me that I just wasn't ready to shut it down. Doctors had said, you're never going to play again. That was the Calgary doctor said, listen, you are, you're next done. We don't think you're ever going to have an opportunity to play

again. So I, so anyways, I just started that reinvention. Like, you know, I remember getting a call from Lauren Goldenberg, who we talked about was a strength coach for me forever. One of the nicest guys and one of the biggest contributors and strength and conditioning that I, that I can, that I can speak about. He was, he just meant so much to me as a, as a player. He called me one day and he said, you know, Dr. Mark Lindsay reached out to me. There's this new technique in Colorado called active release. Dr. Michael Leahy's in Colorado Springs and he's teaching all these

chiropractors, the active release technique. He thinks they can help you. And, and I said, ah, Goldie, like I've done everything I can to, to extend my career. I'm done, buddy. Like he said, I want you to I've done everything I can to, to extend my career. I'm done, buddy. Like he said, I want you to think about it. I don't think you're done. Like, what do you have to lose? And three or four days passed after that phone call.

And I, and I called Goldie back and I said, I said, okay, you can set it up for me. If you could, I'll, I'll go. So I got on a plane and flew to Colorado Springs. And I spent five excruciating days with Dr. Michael Leahy. He basically had to strap me down to a chiropractor table. And at that time, active release was like, if it doesn't hurt, it's not working. And he abused my upper body, my neck, my underarms, my pecs. I was basically crying on the table for three days because I had so many adhesions in my upper body from the beating I had taken playing all that hockey

and playing the game that I did. In five days there, I honestly had a really good range of motion. I was starting to do some neck strengthening so Dr. Michael Leahy said to me he said I want you to go back to Calgary he said he said there's a strength coach there that just spent some time with me his name's Charles Polican and he said I want you to call Charles he's he he trains Olympic athletes all winter he'll have some time he's not that busy in the winter so I called Lauren Goldenberg I said hey do you know this Charles Polican guy Dr. Michael Leahy wanted me to to see this guy back in Calgary he said my gosh Charlie and I went to school together he's one of the best strength coaches I know and he

said all this time I've been trying to be a strength coach in the National Hockey League Charles Polican's been studying and so I came back to calgary called charles polican um and uh and the rest is history i i went and i went and basically stopped drinking uh changed my nutrition started started uh reading articles on on good fats and and and good nutrition and then uh i spent the next 10 months every day with Charles Polican every day, twice a day to the point that I was like, I wouldn't do anything without this guy. And I negotiated, it was 200. Think about this. It was 1996. It was, I said, okay, Charles, I, you know, he evaluated me and he said, listen, I think I can help you. I'm not telling you that you can make a comeback, but I think I can help you. And I said, okay, like, you know, I've retired, like,

what are you going to charge me? And he said, well, I charged $250 an hour. And he said, I'll, I'll, um, and I said, well, I said, that's pretty expensive. Like we're going to spend a lot of time together. And, and, uh, I said, what if we do this? said i'll pay you 150 an hour and if i make it back to the national hockey league i'll pay you the other hundred dollars an hour and we'll keep track every hour that i spend with you so we kept track every hour and well he did um i didn't i didn't want to see the number um but i spent 10 months so from november uh 21st i still remember it um my good buddy joe newdeck lost his mom and i i flew back to to whitby for the funeral and i announced to my friends and joe that i was going to try to make a comeback um and then i went on a 10-month rampage

basically changing my body and charles was a huge, huge part of that. And then I announced that I was going to come back and play. You guys might have – if you look at the – you know, the thing that really got me was watching the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1997. It was probably, you know, April or early May. And there was rumors out there that I was going to make a comeback. And Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada basically said, you know, there's rumors about Gary Roberts trying to make a comeback.

And he said, I just want to tell you, Gary, that if you don't try, you'll never know whether you could have. And it was kind of like I got chills up my spine watching that. I was watching the game when Don Cherry said that. And that was of like the you know the I would say the the moment that I thought like I kept saying to myself am I crazy am I really gonna do this like doctors are telling me I can't do it um and then when Don Cherry said that at Hockey Night in Canada for me it was like okay you know I'm in I'm all in and that's's when it started for me to try to make this comeback. And you guys don't know this, but in June, I went to the Calgary Flames.

I said, I'm making a comeback. They were going to have to qualify me. They brought me in, and they basically said, you look amazing. You've changed your body. Obviously, you pass all the fitness tests tests but we look at your MRI and we don't think you have a chance in heck to play right at the time uh your MRI looks to me I don't they know you the moment you start taking contact they said you're we don't think you got a chance to play so Al Coates called me to say Rob's uh we love you uh but we're gonna but we're gonna trade you and then they traded me to they traded

me to Carolina and I got to Carolina Trevor Kidd and I were traded to Carolina and got to Carolina went for the fitness test passed it by all the tests flying colors and then the same thing happened I was in a room with Jimmy Rutherford and their doctor. And the doctor said, Jimmy, Gary obviously looks amazing. He's passed all the tests. But his MRI is not good. We just don't think – we think it's a huge risk for the organization. And I thought, oh, my God, I just got traded to Carolina and now they're going to void this whole thing.

And then Jimmy Rutherford looked at me, another guy that I owe a lot to, and he said, I'm prepared to take the risk if you are. How special is that? Yeah, so Jimmy Rutherford, guys, like it wasn't for him. I had no comeback because there was no other teams that were jumping forward to say, hey, we want to take on this guy for – I was making $2 million at the time. I'm going to take this guy on for $2 million,

and he might play two games for us. So no one else was jumping out to offer me anything. So when Jimmy offered me the opportunity to try and play and I signed a, I think I signed a three-year contract that day. I just didn't sign a one-year deal with Jimmy. I ended up getting a three-year deal. Jesus. So I ended up playing.

Yeah, so I ended up signing a three-year deal. Jesus. So I ended up playing. Yeah, so I ended up signing a three-year deal with Carolina and played that three years there. And then I found my way back to Toronto. But, you know, like we all have those stories in our career. And you guys, like I don't – you know, I'm not eating up all the time here. You guys had amazing careers and lots of stories. And I'm not – I don't pretend to be somebody I'm not. There's a lot of other players in the national hockey league

that had challenges along the way and were successful. And I felt like for me, I wouldn't, you know, I obviously didn't enjoy going through a lot of this stuff, but I wouldn't change. I wouldn't change anything that happened to me along the way. I think it's made me a better person. It's made me appreciate the game so much, and it's made me a better teacher today.

Well, I was going to ask that next. Given all that hell you went through, was it almost a blessing in disguise in the sense of, like, it's now given you a purpose beyond the game because I mean you transform your body you went through all the training techniques and learn how to take care of yourself and now you're teaching that to the next wave of superstar like you train McDavid and all these other superstars in the offseason yeah I would agree uh biz I truly don't believe I would be here if I didn't go through that experience I truly don't believe I would be here if I didn't go through that experience. I truly don't

believe I'd be doing what I'm doing. I think it's given me, it's given me, you know, with nothing replaces playing the game, I always say, right? Like nothing will replace playing the game. That feeling we have when we're about to compete and stand on that blue line, the national anthem, and your blood's pumping and you want to go and you want to light it up and you've done your homework nothing's going to replace that but I was so fortunate to to fall into this through the experience of of what I went through and uh and I am grateful that it's it's it's uh it's become my my my second passion my second my passion I would say my passion today is preparation and that's what I try to do I try to prepare players and try to get them to understand that it can be taken away from you like that.

And we all know we've seen it. We've gone through it. We've seen teammates that have gone through it. So I say to guys all the time, just prepare the best you can. It's like going in for a test, going in for the fitness test. You always feel more comfortable when you know like going in for a test, going in for the fitness test. You've always feel more comfortable when you know you've prepared for the test. So just prepare, prepare, prepare. And then on your days off, do everything you can to recover. Whatever you have, don't just say,

well, I didn't have a cold tub. I didn't have a massage therapist. Well, do you have a roller? Do you have a Theragun? Do you have a theragun do you have a ice tub do you have something that you can do to help yourself i and wit knows this as i got older i always said like like guys just do whatever you can when the game's over to get ready for tomorrow so whatever that is for you or whatever it's going to make you feel good tomorrow uh you get after it after the game because you're as soon as soon as that game's over you're preparing for your next game and preparation for me and helping young players that has become you know the the greatest thing that's happened to me since I retired and and I've been so fortunate because

I've also and I always believe this I had a kind of a team behind the team that helped me in my career like Dr. Mark Lindsay and Lauren Goldenberg and Matt Nicco and all these amazing strength coaches that I was so fortunate to work with that had such an influence on me now I've kind of built that team behind the team to help me continue this you know to continue to evolve and to continue to to carry this forward with helping players prepare and helping players prepare and helping players have a chance at longevity in the game. Was Witt preparing for tomorrow when you walked in

and caught him eating a bowl of Froot Loops before a game several years ago? This whole Pittsburgh thing, like, honestly. Let's get to Pittsburgh right now. Let's get to Pittsburgh. Like, I get to Pittsburghittsburgh right now let's get to pittsburgh like i i get to pittsburgh i just get traded and i get traded on the same day that george larocque gets traded so george larocque and i are both going to pittsburgh at the same time but that story when i first went to pittsburgh with all these young bucks and and wit pretended like i said wait let's go to the gym bud like why is nobody in the gym we're getting ready for playoffs this is february biz and i go to the gym bud like why is nobody in the gym we're getting ready for playoffs this is February biz and I go in the gym after practice and Steph our strength coach looks at me I'm like

Steph I've only been here like two days where is everybody he says to me well Gary you know these guys are young he said you know we're getting ready for playoffs so I kind of gave them the month off I said what the month off are you are you crazy we got a train here bud we're getting ready for playoffs I gave the you gave the 20 year old kids this guy I'm talking to right now they gave him a month off right yeah well I go to Brooks Orpik and I'm like Orps why are you the only guy in the gym he He says, Rob, that's the way it is here. Like, the last little while, Steph's just shut it down and says the kids need to rest before playoffs.

I said, rest before playoffs? We're going to get our asses kicked. Like I said, so what happens? We lose four games to one to Ottawa in playoffs. Shit pumped. Shit pumped. And I remember saying to these young bucks at the year-end party which happened way too soon i'm like you morons do you get it now you gotta flip and train for playoffs

that's what we're doing yeah orpik was a machine of course and uh him and i were in the gym so you know you know obviously the next year right the next year was was it was a was a better year uh we lost in the stanley cup finals the next year and and then i left and went to tampa and they won the stanley cup the bastards that year after i left i got dealt in the middle of the next fucking year robs you did get dealt well this guy he claimed that his ankles were messed up that's why he couldn't work out with come on your ankles robs Rob, look at my ankles. You know how much they hurt, Rob? You know what he used to say? Rob, look at my ankles.

Look how messed up they are. I can't work out. I'm like, are you shitting me? You're in the NHL, for God's sakes. Let's get some strength, for God's sakes. Yeah. Is it true that you got mad at Sid for eating a piece of pizza once and you cut him out of your little diet program?

No, that's not true at all. Oh, he's to be aced. He's denying it. You fucking liar. Listen, I remember Sid would always be the first guy at the team meal, and I never really caught on initially. I don't mean the team meal, but the team snack. And I realized on the road, I'm like,

do you really eat two peanut butter and jam sandwiches before every game remember he used to stock up these two and he'd have to make them and he would go early I think because he didn't want anybody to see him do it I caught him doing it and and I of course you know he goes out and lights it up what are you gonna do right do it it works for you um but there was shut up Rob Shut up, Rob. I was an old guy. I was fortunate. I mean, Mark Reckie, obviously him and I, we had so much fun together. I can remember being on the plane, and I can remember this story.

Like, Mark Reckie and I are having a glass of wine in the back, and I'm taking my vitamins with my wine, and Rex says, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm just taking my vitamins. He says, you're taking my vitamins with my wine. And Rex says, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm just taking my vitamins. He says, you're taking your vitamins. I said, well, I'm drinking some water with it. He said, well, give me some of that stuff. So I'm giving Rex some vitamins out of my bag.

And then he ends up just taking the vitamins and he's drinking the red wine with the vitamins, right? I'm like, I think you're supposed to at least drink water with the vitamins, but whatever, Rex. You know, but we're looking on that plane. And it was a time when video games were just coming out right you know this right and the old old guys are in the back and and i remember looking around and you see the coaches coming through and and basically saying uh hey guys optional tomorrow right if you don't want to skate optional

and uh and we're just sitting there like, okay, I said, Rex, you know, we're going to do a little cool down, whatever, and just take the day off. But then it starts. You see someone ask Sid if he's skating tomorrow. And Sid does this. And then you just saw it come all the way back to the back of the plane. And everybody says, guys, Sid's skating. So we're all skating. And it was just, it was like, and I look at Rex and I'm like, we're supposed to be mentors on this team. Like we're supposed to be leading the charge. We're supposed to be like the veterans on this team. I said, we're doing nothing. I said, everybody just does what Sid does. So we're teaching these kids nothing. So anyways, so that was Sidney Crosby Sidney Crosby

at that time he didn't take days off I would be guys I'm the first guy in the gym in the morning for the last 10 years of my career I'm the first guy at the rink often and and Sid would get there after a game and I'd be like who's on the ice I'm like Sid and I'm like Sid's on the ice so I'd walk out there I'm like looking at Sid he's out there working on his ice? I'm like, Sid. And I'm like, Sid's on the ice. So I'd walk out there and I'm like looking at cities that they're working on his stick handling. I probably had two and one the night before. And he's working on a stick handling by himself with assistant coach. And at the time I think it was Mike Yo. And I'm like, what are you doing? And he said, Oh, I said, I didn't like my hands last night.

And I'm like, you moron. I said, how do you think the rest of us feel? You're working on your hands? Like, Sid was an amazing, for me, amazing guy to play with. I had an opportunity to play on his line for a bit. Amazing, amazing guy to play with. And for me to see, you know, that player coming to the National Hockey League at that time was a real good lesson for me. And what I do today is where the game was going, watching Sidney Crosby move,

watching how strong he was, watching him go in the corner. And you'd think you want to go in and help him. And he'd basically say, no, just stay out of here. And he comes out with the puck and he had three guys on him. Like he was an incredible young player at the time when I was in Pittsburgh to watch and to, and to learn from. Amazing, amazing career he's had and couldn't be more happy for him. So just to go back to RAs, you do not agree or promote Fruit Loops

in the after nap snack before the game? Definitely not. Your nutrition, your nutrition was so bad like you like honestly you were so good i will tell everybody on this podcast you were an amazing player i thought i i could not believe that they traded you i really couldn't wit you were thank you though robs thank you i honestly you were i i was so impressed with wit he was an I really couldn't, Whit. You got Kunitz, yeah. Thank you, though, Rob. Thank you. Honestly, I was so impressed with Whit. He was an amazing player.

God darn it, I wish I could have got him in the gym more. Might have extended his career a little bit. And now he's – at least he's changed to whole grain Cheerios. Are they whole grain Cheerios? He's a honey nut. Oh, honey nut. Low cholesterol. Oh, honey nut. Low cholesterol. Oh, low cholesterol.

He just poured himself a bowl of Cheerios. Can you believe that? Oh, my gosh. The whole fruit loop. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I got to tell you this. Sean Horkoff, who you really, I think you know pretty well,

and he's an animal like you, trains nonstop with Mark Lindsay, and he used the same thing. Your diet, your diet's disgusting so he calls me the other day no shit we're catching up i'm in kfc drive-thru getting some popcorn chicken he's like dude here's me saying can i get a small popcorn chicken he's like enough oh my goodness this it's a good thing it's it's uh it is colby for now you guys don't have to get together much so you don't have to actually eat like this guy, eh, Biz? All right?

Hopefully you guys aren't on Witt's diet when you get together, are you? Well, Gary, we call him unfit me now instead of Ryan Whitney. Unfit me. No, you'd be surprised how I look, though, Rob. I'm like 210. Are you? 205 maybe, yeah. I'm skinny fat, but I'm not, like, disgusting.

He's got that ab machine that he puts around his waist and just like electrocutes him. You basically haven't changed since you were a player then. Gary, I'm going to hop in here. Now you train McDavid in the off seasons. Obviously, he's got to be picking your brain nonstop. What was Sid doing? What was he doing?

Because I feel like he wants to emulate that career and just every the way he handles the business everywhere well I I would agree and I think you know Connor's a he's a he's a very quiet um individual he is as as professional as you can imagine I mean the great players are great for a reason, right? First of all, they want to be, and they're competitive as hell. But, you know, Connor, you think about it, we've had Connor with our team, with Adrian and Sylvie and Lucas. You think about the three main people that help our athletes, Adrian in strength and conditioning, Sylvia in nutrition,

and Lucas, our speed coach. I mean, we've been training Connor like this for, you know, eight years. He has totally bought in to everything that we have given him. And not that he's the only one that hasn't, but obviously he came to us with God-given skill, right? He was a 15-year-old player that Bobby Orr called me, and he said, I'm going to send you this really special player. And he said, just please don't hurt him. So Bobby Orr calls me and tells me this, and Connor McDavid walks through the door a couple days later, and he is no bigger than the wire on my, on my headphones right here. Right.

And I looked at this poor kid at the time who didn't, who was not comfortable. Connor's the first to tell you, he didn't really, he didn't want to be in the gym. He didn't want, he didn't know anything about the gym, but he was 15 years old. I mean, I look at my team and I said, please, let's not hurt this kid. Like, let's just take our time with him. And I'll tell you, we took our time. He truly watched Steve Stamkos.

So you talk about Connor watching Crosby. Stephen Stamkos at the time was becoming a machine, right? He came to us at 18. I started working with Stammer in the offseason after I retired. And Connor watched Stephen Stamkos. I think he was squatting at the time, 450 in the rack. And then he went over and jumped on a five-foot box. And Connor McDavid looked at me and said,

Mr. Roberts, I'm never going to be that strong. And I said, kid, just trust the process. I said, we know the process I said we know the process works just trust it trust us we'll get you there and um you know it was only like guys I'm talking it might have been two summers ago where where I can really tell that Connor was becoming a man like a real, like in the gym, he was starting to push some heavy weights. He was, he was moving. Unbelievable. Um, you know, I, he would, he would, you know, he doesn't want to, I'm not going to talk too much about his training,

but I'll just say that the day that he trapped our dad lifted 500 pounds, uh, two summers ago from where Connoror McDavid started at 15. He went home and told his dad, Dad, I trapped my dad and lifted 500 pounds today. And he never dreamed he would do that. So to see where Conor's gone, I know where he's at because he puts his heart, his soul, he puts everything into everything about the game. Every day, by the way.

People don't understand. It's when you wake up and when you go to sleep. That's all it is for these guys. All it is. It is hockey, hockey. What can I do to be a better player tomorrow? But do it in a way that's so professional and so courteous to the people and to our staff, to Adrian, Sylvie, Lucas,

the respect that he shows everybody that's part of my team um is amazing and and i love him for it i i i absolutely love this guy i think he is i think he's one of the greatest things uh that has ever happened to the national hockey league and to the players that have an opportunity to watch this human being live his life and be part of just watching him at the gym and watching. That's what I always say to all my young players. I try to get them just to spend a little time watching Conor. Go to the field, watch Conor train.

Go watch Stamkos, right? Like these two players for me, and I know Stamkos seems like an old guy now, right? Like Stamkos is 30 years old now right like Stammer's 30 years old it's crazy how time's flying by but Steve Stamkos is an amazing athlete on his own like this guy so it was it was Connor watching Stammer and then I can remember Stammer would say this Stammer called me a few years ago and he said hey Rob's when's Connor training this year and I'm like I said well I said why he says well I want to be in his group you know it was it was Connor wanting to be in Stammer's group and not really

wanting to be Connor honestly didn't feel like he deserved to be in Stammer's group till he had earned the right to be there and then I got Stammer calling me going when is Connor training I want to be in his group now so it was was kind of cool, that whole relationship. And that's what I love about the environment we've created here in our gym. It is professional, but we have a shit ton of fun, guys. Like, we have fun. It isn't Gary Robertson there yelling and screaming at guys. Where's the Fiji water?

Get the fucking pizza out of here. Get the fucking pizza out of here. Where is cucumbers yeah yeah it is that might be me yelling at my chef andrew because he's usually bringing snacks into the flipping gym because the guys are hungry i'm like listen don't baby these guys that much for goodness you're bringing snacks to them in the middle of their workout but we have fun like we have phil kessler in our gym he is so much fun he brings so much energy to our entire gym like biz he's got 330 on his back doing a single leg rear foot elevated split

squat phil kessler 330 on his back and i'm and i'm spotting him and he's looking to his left and he is yelling at james neal neal. Neal, you're a bum. You're a bum, Neal. What did you score last year? Seven goals? He's going low blows. Now he's feeling it. Now Kessel's feeling it.

Yeah, but I'm saying to Kess, I'm saying, Kess, can we focus here for two seconds so you don't get hurt in here? And again, nobody turns their head to the left when they got 330 on their back and they're doing a rear foot elevated split squat but field Kessel. So my point is, like, I'm proud of the environment we've created.

We're professional. We have an amazing team that takes care of the guys. We work really hard, but it has to be fun. And I think we've done that here, and I'm very proud of my team that they've been able to do that. Gary, I just had one more for you. I know you've been very generous with your time.

Going back to Pittsburgh for a second, one of the funniest things to come out from your time there was when you were in the penalty box and the graphic came up and said, too much man instead of too many men on the ice. Did the guys bust you chops about that at all? I still chuckle at that. I mean, honestly, the Pittsburgh,

I think about my experiences, and obviously I went to the Stanley Cup in Calgary, played there 10 years. It's close to my heart. And then being a Toronto Maple Leaf, now that I live here, being a Toronto Maple Leaf was obviously one of the greatest things that happened to me as a player. My short stint in Pittsburgh, I talked to my wife, Michelle,

my son, Noah. We got treated likeint in Pittsburgh, you talked to my wife, Michelle, my son, Noah. We got treated like kings in Pittsburgh. The fans, I absolutely love the fans. I was just not that kind of player for Pittsburgh that at the time the fans were really good to me. And Whit knows this. You know, like I just had such a wonderful time in Pittsburgh with a young group of guys that ended up being – you look at that team in 07 in Pittsburgh, and look, today there's still a group of those guys, a big group of those guys still playing and what they've accomplished.

And for me to have that opportunity at 40 to play along Sidney Crosby and to play on that team with all those young players like Witt and Ryan Malone and Colby Armstrong. Bugsy was like 40. Pardon me? Bugsy was old as shit, though. He always tried saying, I'm a young guy. I'm like, Bugsy, you're five years older than me.

You just act 10 years younger. Well, that's, yeah, basically that was, you know, I mean, that was his own fault, unfortunately. You know, like Bugsy. I love Bugsy. Bugsy. There's nobody like him. But those are the kind of guys that I think about that I had so much fun with as an old player they kept me young and I and I say like I was so grateful to play into my 40s and have an opportunity to play with these young guys that that kept me young um and overall for me I would just say I'm I'm I'm that

grateful that I that I'm doing what I am today and what the game has given me, guys. What the game of hockey has given me is one of the biggest reasons I do what I do today for young players. And we can't thank you enough for coming on. I'd hope you'd love to do it again because I can't imagine somebody else I'd rather have as a reoccurring guest. So many stories.

You did so much, Rob, as a player. You battled through so many things that you told us about in depth. I loved hearing that. And over 1,200 games in a Stanley Cup. I mean, I remember a speech you gave during the Stanley Cup finals, and I'll never, ever forget it because it was basically about, guys, you never understand how long you're going to play, if you'll ever have a chance again, when it can all and you've been through that you'd live that and we lost that cup

final but um the what what you brought to that team is just so memorable for me so everything you've done we appreciate it and thank thanks for being a guest because this was a blast oh thank you guys thanks for thanks for asking and and all the best to everybody and uh hopefully we can do this again. Garrett, all those guys in the locker room, like, this guy's an idiot. We're going back to the finals next year. What the fuck was that old dude talking about? What's that old guy talking about?

Hey, can we film you putting us four through a workout if we come up there when all this ends? I would love to entertain you guys at the gym one day. You can see what the gym looks like, Whit. I know you never saw one in your career. No, never have. Look at that. Nice handwriting. Enough barbells you got there?

Deadlift 550. Where's the massage table? I want that. That's in the other room. That's where I am these days. COVID's been hard on me, too. It's been tough to get it all in, but we're hanging

in here. We're hanging in here. We've got a good thing going. You're the man, Gary. Thanks for coming on. Thanks so much, Gary. All the best to everybody. It was a pleasure, man. Thank you. Huge thanks to Gary Roberts, man. I thought we were going to do maybe half hour,

35, 40 minutes with him. Whole solid hour with him. I mean, you played with him. You looked up to him. That was one of our more fun ones. Yeah, just the ultimate pro machine on and off the ice. You can't say enough good things. So, I had a blast catching up with him.

And I think us in the gym with him at some point will be – I don't even know how to describe it. He's going to try to bury us i'm not gonna tear anything and ruin my golf season just to make some content with gary roberts but still i love the guy i'm gonna be like al al cervic and katy sheck oh my um yeah i'm bailing out at the last second i guess it just makes me happy that you know given where you know maybe his life could have gone if he wouldn't have tried coming back and I mean man like not having your livelihood and having that stripped from you at 30 years old where you know you probably don't have a lot of direction life at least at that point and for him

to put that work in and find his path was just it's just an unbelievable story it should be inspiring to everybody who listened to it and and hopefully some of you who might be in a place like that you understand that there is a lot of work that needs to be put in to get to where maybe Gary is now. Absolutely, Biz. Well said. Well, much like the NHL playoffs, life can be unpredictable, but you don't want that to affect your bank account. Whether you want to lower your monthly expenses or pay off debt sooner,

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go to earnest.com slash chicklets today. Terms and conditions apply. All right, boys, a couple of notes we're going to get to here before we start closing things up. Sonny Milano signed a two-year, $3.4 million deal. Anders Bjork also signed an extension with the Bruins, three-year, $4.8 million deal. And former Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock, he joined the staff at the University of Vermont as a volunteer advisor to the coach.

So Babcock getting back on the swing of things. Great town, too. You ever been to Burlington? You ever visit UVM? I was actually in Portland, Maine, speaking of nice New England towns recently. What a spot that is. The restaurants there. Oh, 4th Street.

Jesus. Eventide Oysters. I mean, I'm not talking about Burlington. Burlington's great, right? I mean, Ben & Jerry's ice cream's good tasting. UVM Hockey has a long tradition, and now Mike Babcock's there. It seems like it's something in which he's maybe working on the rep a little bit. He might be friends with the new head coach there,

and he's trying to get his name back in the mix right i mean things things weren't great once he got fired and everything was coming out so you know help out some younger kids help out with a college team just occasionally on the side i don't think he'll be behind the bench or anything and uh maybe maybe start this process of getting back into the game who knows they also brought in mark stewart and uvm's got a new rink on like coming through so this this whole program could turn around real quick so i actually think this is i actually think this is big mark stewart was a machine dude i played with uh so

when i was at the national program um in ann arbor you know i was 83 birth year and mark stewart was the an 84 birth year and this is back when i don't know if they still do boxing but we were playing in the ushl and the north american hockey league so you had to fight so it was more about getting guys to learn how to fight and protect themselves on the ice and it was also a great workout and we worked out like animals three hours a day after school and practice i don don't know how I was doing that then. So Mark Stewart was by far and away the toughest guy of the 84s, and they were a sick squad, that team. And so we're doing the boxing, and the toughest guy on our team,

we had a bunch of tough kids, but Matt Green, longtime NHL defenseman, was just – he was nails. We actually had a scrimmage that year before our season started, exhibition games. We played the Barry Colts. So we played an OHL team. And nobody really knew if, like, anyone could really fight. I mean, it was, like, the first time we'd all been playing together,

and none of us had really been playing in leagues where you're fighting when you're, you know, 16. You know, some guys were. But Matt Green was new to the team just like I was, and he dropped his mitts and just toe-to-toe for a minute and a half with this kid from Barry. I wish I knew who it was. Alex Roberts, our D coach, was like, holy shit. We all knew right away Matt Green.

This guy, he was tough. And so Mark Stewart, like I said, he was doing the same thing with the 84s. And finally, the boxing guy one day is like, all right, Matt Green, Mark Stewart, get in the ring. I mean, unless I'm imagining this, if I'm imagining this didn't happen,

I need to go to the hospital because it's just so clear. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. No, this happened. I'm just wondering if it was another guy. But I'm a 99.9% sure. But Mark Stewart, I mean, he was at that time 17 years old. He was 6'2", 225, like just enormous.

He went to Colorado College where his brother played. And he was an awesome pro, man. I mean, I don't think he was the fleetest of foot, but hammered guys, was a huge leader in the locker room, great defensively. So I'm really happy to see him getting into the coaching game. And it's also no surprise whatsoever because he was just – he was a pro at 17. You know, everyone looked up to him.

Everyone – he was the leader. He was the captain. And so it just reminded me of that story of a story that I think happened. Good, good talk, Whit. Fuck. No, no. I like your point at the end there. Like somebody comes to the rink and they're just every day they're handling

themselves in a professional manner where it's like clockwork. At a young age. At a young age. It just shows they have the signs of whether they're going to wake up in the morning, they're going to handle their business. If the power play needs adjusting, they're going to watch the video, they're going to invest. So, yeah, to get into coaching, you always kind of –

I mean, you always look at the guys who do, and you're like, oh, yeah, makes sense. Makes sense, exactly. Yeah, he was tough as nails, man. Especially the ones that have become successful. Tough as nails as a player. And he dealt with what I dealt with. He got traded, and then the Bruins won the cup, right? Yeah, I wasn't going to bring it up, but you did, yeah.

Yeah, they sent him and Wheeler to Atlanta on the Peveley deal. Let's have a beer sometime, Stewie, and talk about that. That was fun. Alright, boys. Well, it's been a little while. I think about four months, maybe five because I went on the wagon a little bit, but it's the return of Rear Admiral's

Gambling Corner. Let's go, baby! Wow. The only man who had his own segment on a world-class podcast that just decided to just cancel it because he was that cold. He's back. I took a breather, and it was probably best for everybody, and took care of that.

First, before I get to the action, listen, this is the qualifying round. There are still four more rounds after this, so we're not going to go too wild here. I know some of you just like to play the board, whatever, but I'm going to tip my toe in a little bit here. We still got a lot of long ways to go. Going to pull back the plays.

We're not throwing nickels and dimes yet. It's still relatively early, but let's get to it. First off, all these picks are going to be series picks along with game one because the theory that most teams that win a series also win game one. So hopefully get a little double bubble. First off, we're going to take Winnipeg in the series at a plus 110. All right. Actually, we're going to go series.

We'll go series plus 110, say 200 to make 220, and we'll take them in game one. The even, we'll take, say, 100 to make 100. I know those are smaller prices than I usually do, but like I said, is for smaller after this, that's a lot of money, dude.

I'd be, my blood would be boiling if I bet. I mean, well, I say this then when I end up putting it, I ended up usually put like 500 anyway. So yeah. All right.

So Winnipeg series two to make two 20 game one a hundred to make a hundred. Next up. I like Columbus at the plus 150. I think that's a pretty good price. I know not a lot of people are giving them much hope, but I am. I think Torts will have them firing. I don't know who they're going to throw out as a goalie,

but I think either one, they'll be fine. But again, I like the plus 150, so we're going to go Columbus in the series. 200 to make 300. In game one, we're going to go 100 to make $300. In game one, we're going to go $100 to make $140. And last but not least, I know I said I throw out regular season meetings. I don't put much stock into it, but the Rangers at plus $130 against Carolina. I'm liking that because of the goaltending. Between Mrazik or Rima, I don't care who they start because no matter who the Rangers start, they're going to have an advantage there.

So we're going to take the Rangers in the series, two to make 260, and in game one, 100 to make 110. So, again, Winnipeg, Rangers, Columbus, all for series, all for game one. Those are the only picks so far because we have a long way to go, so I'm not going to get too knuckled too early. Whit, did you have anything you wanted to add? No, just a little golf talk. In New England, I went 75-77, missed the cut by, I think, five shots.

So it wasn't good. But you know what? I went back to my old putter. And what the hell have I been waiting for? I had 35 putts both rounds. That's fucking horrible and i've been putting like shit for a while so i went back to this awesome california del mar scotty with the rdw stamped in red white and blue at the toe it's just a filthy putter i

went back today first round of the 53rd we met memorial and just fired a very smooth, even par 72. You know, birdied the first hole, sick up and down for par on two. Birdied the third hole, made like a 30-footer, made about a 10-footer on one. So I'm loving the new putter already. Four, I make a nice up and down par after blowing a drive right. Five, I make a nice two-putt par. Six, bogey, whatever, no problem, still one under. Seven, beautiful par. Eight, make an unreal bogey, whatever, no problem. Still one under. Seven beautiful par. Eight make an unreal bogey.

Should have been a double. It was almost out of bounds on a par three. So I get back to even nine ho-hum par, ten ho-hum par, 11 another bogey on a par three. One over. I'm like, all right, whatever. Fuck. You got a par five coming up.

You got two par fives left, and you got your new old putter that you're just rolling the rock with every single hole on the front. So I go out and I make an awesome birdie on 12 par five. I get back to even, I then stuff it to about five feet on 13. I get to one under, I then play 14, the toughest hole at the golf course, a 410 yard uphill dog leg, right? Par four with a crazy green and out of bounds left. I stuff it to six feet there after a monster cut drive over this bunker. Best swing of the day. I get to two under. What happens on 14? I hit it right. I blow another drive right, but I actually have a look to the green. I hit it to the back of the green and I'm seeing this

front pin. It's about a 40 foot downhill pot up over a ridge. I'm like, dude, I could put this off the green. What did I do? I put it off the fucking green. I put it off the green right when I hit it and I go, that's off the green. But I was also scared of leaving it like 10 feet short and then having the par putt where I could put off the green. So just a horrendous, horrendous mental and physical error to putt the ball off the green. But you know what I did? I went to my bag. I grabbed my 54-degree wedge, and I chipped it up to about six feet and made that for bogey.

Great bogey. Stay at one under. After putting it off the green, I could have flipped out. And then I get to 16. Hard dogleg left. Another tough hole. Framingham Country Cubs the first two rounds Woodland Country Cubs the third Francis we met just look them up that's the tournament

name this man Francis we met legend 16 I had a great five with dog leg left I curve it around the corner I got a wedge in I hit it to 20 feet nice two putt get out of here still one under 17 is a par 3 176 downhill I have a nice eight iron the greens one front of the greens 162 i hit this thing nice it's right at the pin it lands five feet left pin high and the greens are now firming up it's late in the day and the thing releases to the back about 20 25 feet above the hole it's kind of a crazy downhill then uphill pot i knew it i saw the guy my playing partner one of my playing partners same similar pot a downhill then uphill pot i knew it i saw the guy my playing partner one of my playing partners same similar pot a little past me and i saw it slow down the second half i knew it

but i didn't hit it hard enough i left it five feet short and i fucking missed it three putt back to even no worries par five uh hit an iron off the tee it's a weird par five water up the right i hit another iron to 95 yards i then hit a 60 degree downwind to 6 feet. Let's finish this round off with a 1 under 71. And I missed it. But still, tied for 10th place right now. So, big round tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon,

Thursday. And even par should get it done and put me somewhat into contention in the third round if I can do it again tomorrow. So, there's a little golf talk. How are you? Going back to gambling, Cora. And by the way, congratulations on your par it again tomorrow. So there's a little golf talk. How are you? Going back to gambling corner, and by the way, congratulations on your – Thanks, thanks. Let's go back to the gambling corner though. I think I read something today that all four games yesterday

might have hit the under, and our reasoning for that, and it's just a theory, is that every time as a goaltender when you go into a new building, it's kind of hard to get the sight lines. Whereas now, moving forward, every goalie that's playing in these games has the exact same sight line every period of every game, right? Where they're so used to it. There's no crowd wearing a different color, and it fucks with your eyes. And how hard these guys shoot the puck.

So apparently the goalies are having an easier time tracking it. So therefore, look out for the unders. And just because I'm saying that, I'd probably bet the over. I think it's six for six now going into this Chicago St. Louis game. Yeah, unders are the way to go. Hey, and with playoff goals back in our lives, that also means the Budweiser red light is back. I see yours right behind you, Biz.

Hockey is back, and it's time to sell it. The Budweiser red light is back. Bringing the arena experience to your home. Budweiser's replica goal light syncs to any NHL game and instantly goes off when your favorite team lights the lamp. Sync, sell it, or repeat. This thing is awesome.

It's great stuff. Adds a nice little element. If you're watching at home, it's honestly the best thing to have when you can't go to the games. I'll be digging mine out soon enough for the B's first game because you get one yourself. You can feel like you're at the game. So go to Budweiser.com to find out more. Biz, who are you syncing out?

You're hoeing up with Duh, no Duh, Arizona. Cut the promo, G. Man, speaking of cutting promo. I put it next to my bed. Every time I get laid, I hit it. That was a quick one period i'm taking the under oh hey i'm in the dog house old lady's got me the dog i take the under folks the horn goes off once every two months yeah speaking of my career what that hat you got on

you gotta fill us in that's a fresh lid oh yeah everyone i'll I'll come into the camera here. I'll bring the computer in. Ask for us. Is it on the hat? Sure is. Yeah, look at that lid. Just a fresh-bitten chick. It's black, nice brim on it.

It's just the perfect fit, too. So, Grinnelli, great work with this. I rocked it. Got the logo patch, baby. It's just the perfect fit too. So, Grinnelli, great work with this. I rocked it. Got the logo patch, baby. It's stitched on there and everything. Hey, G, while we're at it, we're fixing the Canadian shipping. Why don't you chime in? We haven't talked to you much this episode. We got to get the merch to

our Canadian followers. Yeah, we've been trying for a long time to get this down. Shipping to Canada is a little bit tougher, obviously, than America, but come September, I can promise you you everything will change. We will have Canadian shipping. It will be a lot cheaper for you guys. It will be a lot easier.

It won't take as long. September. September is the plan. Mikey, that's only about a month away almost. It's only a month away. We're grinding here. We're grinding. So, shout out to everyone at the Barstool Merch team,

Allison, Pilar, all those guys because it's been tough. We'll get it done. So, if you guys want to hold off a little bit, Allison, Pilar, all those guys, because it's been tough, but we'll get it done. So if you guys want to hold off a little bit, we wanted to give you the heads up. I think we're going to try to get it so you don't have to pay duty as well. So, you know, just, you know, the extra, you know, 10, 15 bucks makes a difference and we understand that. So we're trying to change it.

All right, boys, we got one final note here that we want to share with our audience in case they missed it. Our pal Eddie Shaq passed away Sunday at the age of 83. First off, we want to send our deepest sympathies and condolences to his friends and family. He was a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I believe he scored a cup-winning goal in there as well.

We had a very brief time with this fellow, and he was as fun as a guy his age could be. We had a blast hanging out with him. Everybody who listened to the interview, whether recently or when it first did, enjoyed it. I had a couple friends text me, said they went back to revisit it. You know, like I said, he's 83 years old. He had a great life worth celebrating,

and that's what we're going to kind of finish off the show here by celebrating Eddie Shaq. Mike's going to play us off shortly. Boys, I didn't know if you wanted to add anything before we close the show. No, just a character of the game. I mean, you know, touched a lot of people, you know, did a lot of things in the community as well. Great career, and it was a pleasure getting to meet him in Philadelphia there.

He was awesome, and that's as old school as you get. Rest in peace, Eddie Shaq, thinking of his family. All right, boys. Great, great happy. Good job, boys. It was nice talking to you get. Rest in peace, Eddie Shaq, thinking of his family. All right, boys. Great, great happy. Good job, boys. It was nice talking to you guys. I look forward to these next few months. We're back. As always, we want to thank our awesome sponsors here on Spittin' Chicklets. Big thanks

to our longtime friends at New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney. Big thanks to our buddies over at Roman for taking care of the fellas. Big thanks to our new friends at Sports Research. Welcome aboard. Big thanks to everybody over at Roman for taking care of the fellas. Big thanks to our new friends at Sports Research. Welcome aboard. Big thanks to everybody over at Earnest. And, of course, a big thanks to everyone at Budweiser Canada.

Love that, Bud Canada. Take care, everybody. Have a great weekend. Clear the track. Here comes Shaq. He'll knock you down and he'll give you a whack. He can't score goals. He's got the knack.

Eddie and his Shaq. They call him the great entertainer. Ah, but Eddie's no clown. He couldn't be made any plainer. He's a great deal of Eddie in town. So clear the track. Here comes Shaq.

Knock you down and he'll give you a whack. You can't score goals. He's got the knack. Eddie, Eddie Shaq.