Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 301: Featuring Ian Moran + NHL Draft Recap

Episode Date: October 8, 2020

On Thursday’s episode of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Draft Expert and former NHLer Ian Moran. Ian joined (21:20) to discuss the 2020 NHL draft, his NHL career, playing with Mario & Jagr and tons more. The guys also give their own takes on the NHL draft and talk about their recent fishing video that was released on the Chiclets Youtube channel. The boys then discuss all the NHL news, including the trades, extensions, and even touch on the rumor mill. RA wraps up the show with a Van Halen tribute.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 301 of Spittin' Chickens, presented by Pink Whitney. From our friends at New Amsterdam Dam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Well, boys, obviously the draft is the big news since last episode. We're going to bring on a former NHL who also happens to be an expert on prospects in a little bit. But let's just say hello, catch up a little, bullshit a little first.

Our producer, Mikey Grinelli. What's going on, big guy? What's going on, guys? Draft day is always disappointing for me. Another year, no calls, so just trying to get by. How mad were you at that giveaway right there, R.A., to Grinelli? You kind of followed him. Oh, he shook his head after, too. I felt

bad. I was like, fuck, just early. I wouldn't have noticed it until you really showed the true disgust, R.A. Yeah, and I hate 3-2-1 because I'm going to say something else wrong later in the show because I have a fucking marble mulch, so I hate to give more work for Gridley, but whatever. Not even a minus one. I just tripped off the blue line.

That's all. Right back out there next year. No, that was like coming out of pregame ceremonies. They got the laser light show and the fog machine, and you can't see where the carpet ends, and you fucking stumble out of the gate right in front of all the fans just waiting, kind of like semi-pro style. What's up there, Biz?

Paul Biznasty, isn't it? Nothing much. I was doing a little prep for Ian Moran coming on in a little bit here. Realized that he was traded from Pittsburgh to Boston for a fourth- round pick in 2003 and sure as shit that ended up being the fucking draft pick that the penguins ended up picking me with in the fourth round and i figured you know it's the draft episode so bring it right back there and it's just crazy how the world works and now we're going to be getting this guy on so

he changed the course of my life this guy guy. Pretty funny. Imagine you in Boston. I don't think you would have lasted too long up here, Biz. All due respect. I would have been on the – Why? I would have been on the second program. I would have been on the second program, win a quick cup and get my dick wet, and I'm out of town.

Peace, homies. I love that you think you would have made that Bruins team that won the cup, but you couldn't sniff making the Penguins, and they got one. Same as me. Yeah, and to think I would get laid as much as Tyler Sagan, too, for crying out loud. Just very naive here. And that last voice, of course, is Ryan the Wit Dog.

Ryan Whitney, what's going on, buddy? What's up, guys? Great to chat with you. I watched your fishing video. Biz, you were pathetic, huh? You had nothing in that video. Just snoozing down there. R.A., you were crippled by the end of it.

But the handoff from Fedorik to you not being staged was actually hilarious to see on camera. You had described it to me when I ran into you the next day. But pretty, pretty entertaining video. I liked it. Grinnelli caught a fish. Looked like a bitch trying to hold that thing. Have ever held a fish before mike i have not oh my god i haven't done any sort of fish and i've still held a fish but nonetheless the entire time i was just laughing at donnie does that guy is like was that just a random go out and save you move by him all right

or were you actually struggling? No, I was. We were playing it up. I mean, I'm actually a pretty good swimmer, but we would, you know, for content pieces, I definitely wasn't drowning. And for my pasty ass skin, the people comment on it. Look, it's first off. It's September.

We made the video. We were swimming in Boston Harbor in September. Second, my ancestry is from fucking Donegal, the northern part of the Republic of Ireland. We're pasty people. We're prone to skin cancer. That's's why i'm that pale i don't even take my shirt off in the summer oh no one wants to see it anyways no no need to explain here and and you go and you glow in the dark but uh let's go to why ra got so crippled and that's kind of my fault because i didn't expect to get sick i took directions those those like what do you call it the chop

you call it swells you had big swells yeah oh my goodness and and it was like we were getting air every time and i'm like i'm not used to this i'm used to kind of the inlet where we go on the boats in vancouver and victoria to where it ain't that choppy so i was like oh no i'm gonna last not even before we start rolling the camera here. And then Grinelli goes up to R.A. He's like, hey, biz, we got a man down. We need you to step it up. And he just started cranking drinks and turned into an electric factory.

So thank you for battling through that, R.A. You're right back to even. You went minus one first shift tonight. Now you're back to even. Yeah, well, retroactive plus one, I guess. Yeah, G said, hey, we need a big one from you today so i said all right where are those pink whitney nips where's those bud light seltzers just started chugging and i'm glad everybody enjoyed it because we did we really had fun i know me and g were the only two who caught a fish all day just a couple

not even keep his butt uh like they always say the old bumper sticker uh bad day fishing is better than a good day work even if we were working and fishing at the same time that day. Absolutely. Also, Biz, we want to give a big shout-out to Tim Stapleton and Boikies. Those guys took care of us on the fishing trip. Hopefully everybody checked out the video. If you haven't yet, it's on YouTube. It's fantastic stuff, a lot of fun, a lot of laughs.

Most importantly, check out Boikies. It's the best of Bill Tongue you can try out there. G, I see you got your pink breast cancer shirt on. We're selling T-shirts, sweatshirts, all at Barstool's store. Obviously, 100% of the proceeds is going to breast cancer, obviously, after the cost. If you don't have any of that swag yet, G, tell them what they got. Yeah, Roots and Wings, it's a great foundation

to help raise awareness for breast cancer. And Pink Whitney, Spittin' Chicklets, we have tons of sweatshirts, T-shirts, everything in the Barstool Sports store. So it's just BarstoolSports.com slash Chicklets. You can find it, and 100% of all net proceeds go to Roots and Wings. Nice. That's great news. Fuck cancer.

Everyone check those things out. Fuck cancer. Yeah, I can't say that enough. Wait, I didn't see too much of the Pats game the other night. Was it as much of a disaster as Twitter made it sound like? It was an absolute gong show. I had just finished up golf and then stayed down at an old sandwich, watched the game.

I took the Chiefs. Minus 11 and – yeah, minus – did I get a minus 11 and a half? I did. And I didn't – you know, I don't care. Like, I want the patriots to win but in my mind i was like this patriots team flew today they have to they're gonna get blown out this chiefs team's amazing they had no business covering that game it was such a pathetic performance by brian hoyer i can't like a i i know i'm the i'm the what do they call it the

armchair qb or the mond QB? Monday morning quarterback. Monday morning quarterback. Dude, I mean, fuck, it's not an easy position, but he's played forever. And before half is the only thing this guy can't do to make sure he gets three points is take a sack, get sacked. And then later in the game, they're driving down. Like the only thing you can't do is fumble. He drops back and fumbles.

So I covered. I was happy. And then I got him in at an awful drop. But that Patriots team has some swagger to a lot to prove Belichick. Now Gilmore's got COVID that sucks. I don't know what the NFL is going to do. It seems to be becoming an enormous issue, but yeah, good win for me gambling wise,

but horrific loss. If you're a real diehard Patriots fan, as far as what's going on in the NFL, you just mean all the different cases on different teams that are popping up right now yeah yeah because it's getting a little because they're well I mean like the Patriots lose their QB and now they lose their best defensive player like when can they play again and it's just I don't know like it just seems it seems like it's it's right I mean that league it's not gonna. There's no chance. The NFL will be putting us out there in uniforms to play the season

before they cancel it. Some teams are just losing guys left and right. Shane Falco? Crosby's favorite movie. Yeah, ever. The Replacements. That is a great flick. He would tie down Vitaly.

What position would you play if you played today? Right now, me? Like D-back? I would probably have to be the mutant that runs and tries to tackle people off kickoffs. Oh, the torpedo guy? Yeah, that's the worst game going. I'm a kamikaze.

They're like, go get CT every single play you play, and then just fucking sit there and don't lose your helmet. A bad day fishing is way better than a good day being a torpedo guy. Hey, Belichick would have ate me up and spit me out if I played there. He kind of reminds me of the Lou Lamarillo of the NFL, but like on steroids. Wow. Slap in the face of Bill Belichick. Like Lou Lamarillo.

Yeah. Lou Lamarillo. I mean, fuck actually. They both run tight shifts. They're both winners. Yeah, but I just think Belichick's at a totally different level success wise but i think back limerillo obviously he's done this forever and the devils were such a wagon and he he's got but bill belichick is at a way different level yeah okay fair yeah but i think scotty bowman's closer to belichick than than like lula amarillo i don't think he necessarily ran a tight ship.

You think McCarty would have flew on the Patriots? I mean, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. You don't think Scotty Bowman ran a tight ship? Not as tight as Bill Belichick, I don't think at all. He had fucking Aaron Hernandez on his team. He murdered people.

What are you talking about? Darren McCarty just went out and partied scotty bowman was an absolute fucking die hard like signed sticks come in after midnight get caught by a bellboy okay fucking man i'll take your hernandez comment and i'll double down on the fact do you think do you think bill billichick would have ever got vetoed out of practice no that wouldn't happen well there you go but but as far as i know i think guys i think guys love playing for belichick now i'm not even saying scotty i think belichick's just at the next he's the coach and the gm he make he does both so we're talking about lamarillo as a coach talking about bowman as a gm combine them and maybe you got Bill Belichick. I'm a Patriots fan, though. Yeah, I meant full body of work.

So anyway, but hey, I thought that was a little good discussion there, and it was a great comparison by me. So you're welcome. Good stuff. And Biz, you did mention Ian Moran a few minutes, so we're going to have him on in a little bit, but we did want to mention the first three picks of the draft, the NHL draft, round one the other night.

No surprise, Alexis Lafreniere went to the Rangers. He was the first Quebec-born player to go number one overall since Marc-Andre Fleury back in 2003. The number two pick, Quinton Byfield, went to the Kings, becoming the highest drafted black player in league history. Evander Kane and Seth Jones both went fourth when they got taken. And number three, which to me was the coolest pick of the draft, Alex Trebek coming out.

He's been obviously battling cancer, still doing Jeopardy, still working his balls off. Did the Senators number three pick. Tim Stutzel, I've heard it pronounced 15 different ways, so I don't know if I'm butchering it. But the way they set it up, like Jeopardy style, it was just really cool the way they did it. Okay, so the Trebek thing was unbelievable,

and then some Senators, like, fan account tweeted out, now the Senbek thing was unbelievable, and then some senators' fan account tweeted out, now the senators are officially bankrupt after having to pay Trebek to get the third pick. So I'm going to say this, guys. I had a blast watching the draft. Much like the bubble situation, I thought they hit it out of the park, given the circumstances.

The Morgan Raleigh thing, Roman Yost out of the park, given the circumstances. The Morgan Riley thing, Roman Yosti coming out to fucking flood warnings in all NHL cities when that guy came on screen. I think his last button done up was right at the bottom of his chest, and he looked like he was ready

to do my Dreisaitl cologne advertisement for me. Wouldn't he be the perfect guy for the Dreisaitl cologne advertisement for me. Wouldn't he be the perfect guy for the Dreisaitl? Stolzl can do that because he's from Mannheim, Germany. How about also you mentioned before we started recording, we got Mel Kuyper, I mean Craig Button, screaming, screaming in your face all night.

Jeez, Bob McKenzie was probably like, whoa. It was just, no wonder they were separated. It wasn't because of COVID. It was because he knew Button would be yelling at us all night. I was loving it because it had that, like, very slow pace to it because they were stretching out every time. So then when he would get back on air and he would give his opinion on something, it was like the jolt of coffee you needed.

It's like apparently at these Tony Robbins conferences, they play music every 20 minutes, like get everybody back up. Yeah, all right, let's get the energy back in the room here. Tony Robbins is kind of a guy that's a little sketch in my mind. He charges like six grand to go to one of those daily shows. I'm not saying he doesn't help people, but I haven't even read one of his books. I'm not making an opinion on that, but I'm saying

he was like the jolt of coffee in the room that we needed to last us during that draft. So shout out Craig Button. Great to see Bobby Mack involved again. And I thought Pierre Maguire was bringing the juice too. So I got to watch the American feed, although there was one really funny thing that happened on the Canadian feed

that went viral. I don't know if you guys want to talk about it quite yet. Oh, with Columbus's pick? With Columbus's pick. And this guy was ranked 160. Yeah, so Yegor Chinnikov, I think. He was announced as the selection from Yarmulke line. And they go back to the sports net desk.

Sam Cosentino, who's an expert knows everything about every draft pick. He's shuffling through his papers, a hundred miles an hour. They go over Brian Burke. He goes, he's a Russian winger. And then Elliot starts saying,

I just saw the panic in everyone's eyes. So an off-the-board selection that – now, you could talk about people that, like, dog that pick and say, well, what are you doing? Like, you feel like you have guys that you know way more about, you know way more to expect. But this is a guy you can't really judge how he's drafted. I think that they have an idea of a player they're going to get. Now, the argument – and they're happy to take a risk on him early the thing is like you look at who the bruins

kind of remember that's the risk they took with a couple of those guys you know they could add barzell what year was that ra oh man like i don't know sometimes these first round reaches they're they're a little sketchy like if i'm I'm a Blue Jackets fan, I'm not loving it. But at the same time, they probably – none of them could really name who went after them. So it really is a crapshoot. These guys are 18 years old. But to not have anything down on the kid shows that this is way off the board.

I think they have – Boston had three picks within that area of Barzell. Three in a row. Yeah, three in a row. DeBrusk ended up being up being like he's a solid player but the other two i believe were misses going back to your point like yeah i mean i i love this situation as a non-columbus fan because i'm like wow like what's this guy seeing and what are their scouts seeing that nobody else is this is like an insane move for the fact that if if he was at 160 how much later do you think that this guy would have dropped?

Most teams, like you saw Calgary do twice, they just bump back their pick where if they don't see him as being a threat. I don't know how many other teams had this kid on their radar, but now all of a sudden, like this guy, within the next two or three years, you've got to hope he's going to at least poke his head in and make some type of noise. So he's playing. He's in the KHL this year. I mean, he's, he has five goals in 12 games already. So, I mean,

that's pretty impressive. He's on a good team. So listen, there's a, there's a Finnish guy on that team. Maybe he's talking to the GM in Columbus and saying like, this kid is legitimately incredible and people don't know about him. You never know, but I hope the kid makes it. It'd be exciting to see a person that's that kind of, not lowly rated, but somebody that nobody thought they'd be a first round pick to be picked in the first round

and then light it up. Good story. I want to also mention too, Lafreniere, the number one pick. What a future stub we have on our hand. I'm sure Ian Moran could tell us a little bit more, but number one pick in the Quebec League draft, CHL Rookie of the Year, CHL Player of the Year,

then CHL Player of the Year again, and then Best Player in World Juniors, and then number one pick in the NHL draft. So a full-blown prodigy on our hands, and I think that he is so perfect for New York City. I love the fact the Rangers got a first overall pick it just the Rangers and I should kind of hate the

Rangers I was on the Penguins I hate the Islanders but the Rangers Madison Square Garden I love and so I think that they should have a first overall pick they should have a superstar in the league they're the New York goddamn Rangers and I think from what I'm hearing to boot, he's got that like extra,

you know, where he's hyper-focused on it. Like he's, you know, kind of like that Sidney Crosby mentality, the ones who like they want to be great, Nathan McKinnon, those types. And then, of course, another Canadian. And a one and two combo. First and second overall pick were Canadian. So that's a proud moment. A couple other moments too, Biz.

Dale Howichuk's widow, Crystal, announced the Winnipeg Jets pick at number 10. Of course, he wore number 10 during the 10th year of the second stint in Winnipeg. Just a really nice touch to bring her on. And also, Doug Wilson Jr., he used sign language to make the Sharks pick. I believe it was maybe the last one, the first round. Ozzie Weisblatt, his mom is deaf. So he actually signed out the pic to her. And I read up on that family, man.

That family's really struggled quite a bit. It's a single mother. The father's no longer in the picture or they're divorced, I should say. She's deaf and she's got five kids. So they all had to learn sign language. They all had to learn on their own. None of the kids are deaf. Four of the five kids are boys.

They all played hockey. They've had, I guess you'd call anonymous benefactors, people who know how good these kids were and how nice of kids they were. They would anonymously donate these kids fees so they could go on a plane of the year or get equipment. So it was, it was a really nice touch that they added that I just figured we'd throw that on real way. We cannot forget. Jake Sanderson.

You guys ever heard of him? Because he's probably going to be a superstar NHL defenseman or maybe have a podcast in 15 years because it's an American-born player, former NHL Jeff Sanderson's son, picked fifth overall, a smooth-skating defenseman with monster ears like myself. I must have had 4,000 tweets to me. Holy shit, here he is.

He took over for you. You no longer are the fifth overall pick with the biggest years of all time. Now, this kid skates way better than I did. He's way more physical. He's mean. Now they got him with Thomas Chabot in Ottawa. What a player he's going to be. But the similarities and look between me and this guy,

he's got to be a little bit worried. Hopefully his ankles don't hurt. All right, well, before we get to Ian Moran, are you sick of cable? We are too. That's why we're switching to FuboTV for live sports news and primetime TV without the complicated contract. FuboTV is how you should be watching TV. Get everything you want all in one place for less than the cost of cable.

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Can't beat that stuff, eh, Biz? No, you cannot. And RA, I just remembered one more funny thing that happened towards the end of the draft. Yannick Perrault's son was drafted, and Yannick Perrault was probably getting a little bit nervous because it was getting later in the first round, and this guy wore a gray dress shirt. This guy had the biggest pitters I have ever seen in my entire life. They were worse than Lano's when we did that sit-down interview in Boston.

I bet you the circumference of a basketball may be even larger. Yeah, just a natural human sweat. You're legit. That's like a saying. What a sweat this game is. What a sweat the first round is. My son hasn't been picked. Maybe he's a natural sweater. You can't go with the gray.

What a look, though. You texted me immediately. They were giant. They were like the pancakes Uncle Buck made in the movie. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen him that big. But, of course, Yannick Perrault had a pretty good career. What did they call him?

No Panic Yannick? That's a great nickname. That was his nickname? Good on face-offs. I think more of a defensive-minded player. But, apparently, this kid's a stud offensively. All right, gang. Well, I think we should just about sit over to Ian Marino

for his draft expertise. It's now a pleasure to bring in a man that's been requested on this show many, many times. Former Belmont Hill stud. Went on to play a couple years at Boston College where he won Hockey East Rookie of the Year. Then he went on to a 15-year pro career. Played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Boston Bruins, the Anaheim Ducks.

He played in Europe. Ian Moran, who now helps run Neutral Zone, which is a scouting service. We'll get into that along with helping out player agent Matt Cater in player development. Thank you so much for joining us, Bitten Chiglets. How you been? Great. Thanks for having me on, guys.

I'm a little nervous after that intro. Oh, yeah. It's an unreal intro. I do a good job of doing the intros. Usually, it's not my thing, but I try to step up for a challenge once in a while when R.A. is out. Yeah, that was a tough one. That was a good one. I feel good right now. And for people wondering, home, R.A. had a little power outage. We don't know if he had 45 beers or the power actually did go out, but he got struck by lightning. He got struck by the Bud lightning. So NHL draft's going on right now.

First, before we get into that, why don't you tell us what the neutral zone is? Quickly, what you guys do, when was it started, and how has these couple days gone for your team? So neutral zone, it's a scouting service. You can have NHL teams, major junior college, USHL teams, prep schools, all the way down to individual subscribers. We more or less pattern it off arrivals with football. So you get the, you know, the five-star kid that was going to Georgia or the, you know, quarterback who's going to Tennessee, whatever it may be.

We started doing it with hockey. So this year I run the NHL draft for them and they owe two birth year. We have four years of notes on these kids. We have the trajectory, we have the background of where they've been, where they've come in from, you know, you 14, it seems like it's really young, but our clients would be a prep school. They're looking for kids that are coming in and want to know, you know, where they go to a boarding school. Would they go to Shattuck?

Would they want to go to Mount St. Charles? Now that kind of thing, would they look at selects Academy? And then from there we'd have all the levels of juniors where you could have USHL, the NOL, EHL. So you have tier one, two, three, NCDC to a certain extent. And then we get major junior in the colleges and we have a lot of division one, most of the division threes, cause they don't have the resources. And then obviously we have the individual subscribers.

So we don't just watch and try to pick out the studs. We're trying to add value to the Division III kids, to the kids that are playing mass high school hockey, or maybe a kid who goes to a tournament and absolutely rips it up. So it's a little bit different than rivals where we would go down where we'd have. What we figured out is a five-star would be like Jack Hughes from last year's draft. And a two-and-a-half star would be a kid who's kind of hanging on and maybe playing club in college.

My mind's in a pretzel right now. My mind's in a fucking pretzel. I don't know how you even remember to explain all that. You'd be a 3-7-5. You'd be a Division I kid, might have to pay some money, but you'd be able to play. You'd contribute and definitely be in the locker room. I'll take it.

What was Witt? Well, Witt was a stud. Witt would be a 4-7-5. Fuck off. Thank you, baby. What, Witt was a stud. Witt would be a 4.75. Fuck off. Thank you, baby. Once you get a five, you're giving him a five. No, a 4.75. He's at a full point above you. He's not a five, but he would have been a 4.75.

He was big, moved well, great first touch, contributed offensively. He was going to improve his game defensively as he turned pro. He was going to play for Parker at BU. He's a kid we would have watched. We would have watched a lot. We would have known a ton about him. Didn't know a ton about him, but, yeah, he would have been a 4.75 for sure.

Would you have known he got kicked out of his billet house? Would you have known he would have liked that? I had to jam. Actually, my background and all that kind of stuff, I have a pretty good idea what's going on with these kids and where they are. When they get in trouble, they feel like I can be a good resource for them. You're like stalking them.

You're like finding out what their groceries are. Yeah. I know. Yeah. I'm very aware of what they, what they do, but I, I don't really want any of the kids to get in trouble. I took care of that for them. I just want them to, if they do get in trouble, I kind of, I can be a resource for them and tell them how to get their feet back under them and get headed in the right direction. Just that kind of stuff. But as far as

where the stars would be, Whit would have been a 4.75. He would have been a 3.75. He would have been a 5 if he didn't have that fucking sail on the side of his face slowing him down out there. That's probably what messed up his ankles. He was just like fighting against the wind. I don't want to argue with you.

I knew he had foot problems before he was turning like fighting against the wind i don't want to argue we knew we knew we had foot where i knew we had foot problems before i was turning pro so i knew there was gonna be something going on with it but uh it definitely definitely uh we're um we're just i was just gonna say we're just messing around because of kind of how silly the whole draft was and all these you know funky little storylines but um as far as this year's draft like what do you know about some of these guys that there weren't a lot of background on like let's talk about maybe the 15th pick i believe it was for columbus came out of absolutely nowhere nobody knew anything about him i can tell you that he uh

he started playing in the khl right now he's an 01 and playing and he's got five goals in 12 games so i don't think if if there's not the delay over, I don't think he's a first-rounder. But I know that Keck Landon does a hell of a job with Columbus, so they knew what they were doing. My comment on him last night when that went through is he had NHL hair right now. He looked confident in his profile picture. He had show flow.

So there's a reason why he was a first-rounder. Oh, yeah. I would have been horrified if it was a greasy look. They're like, wait a minute. He doesn't wear Abercrombie tracksuits to the rink? No. Guys, I think if we're going to jump – He's straight Prada.

He's all Prada. Yeah, right. Like Malkin, right to the Louis Vuitton. Yeah, yeah. Before we even get into maybe the unknown guys, like Lafreniere, like are you talking about a guy that for four or five years has been the five-star dude? I mean, in a sense, like who can you compare him to in the NHL?

Well, Lafren friend yeah he's big he's uh every year he's added something to his game he came in scored a ton of a ton of goals his first year playing the queue then he started then he was an assist guy this year is more physical uh you know last year he would have he would have been in the debate to be a top couple in last year's draft he's he's a late 01 so he would fall in line with those guys. But to me, there was really no doubt that he was going to be the first overall this year. He's MVP of the world juniors and he missed games with injuries. He led the tournament in scoring. He's a kid who's going to go into New York and he's going to have a blast. He's going to do great. He's a big kid. He's French. He's a good looking kid. He is exactly what the Rangers are looking

for. When you said he got physical, so would you compare him more to McKinnon than, let's say, a Crosby? Like, what's his style of – Yeah, he's more like – He's definitely – he's elusive and he can make guys miss one-on-one, but he's a bigger kid than Crosby. He's stronger. You know, I don't think he has Crosby's brain. You know, not many do.

But as far as his type of play and what he can do, he's not afraid to go to he can do he's not afraid to go to the net he's not afraid to bang uh if a guy cuts across the middle and he's got his head down he's he's going to hit him he's not going to look away he's not not going to try to steal the puck he's going to send a message uh he's had guys for multiple years in major junior trying to go after him and he stands up for himself you know he's not a fighter but he's he's not afraid by any stretch he's he's uh to me he was the number one pick all along, and he has been for multiple years.

Awesome. All right, what about the German that went third? And I don't want to skip over Byfield. We talked about him quickly. But that German, I mean, I know everyone's kind of talked about him for a long time now, but what type of player is he? And were you surprised he didn't go second? Because all the mock drafts I had kind of had him there.

See, I had him going later. So, I don't know. Did you guys ever go over and play in the DEL? I never did. All right, so I did for part of a year. I was in Berlin. You know, there were three German kids that ended up going in the first couple rounds.

Stutzel is the one. He went third overall. I thought he was going to drop to about 10. I know he's an 18-year-old playing against men and all that, but I think about myself when I went and played in the DEL, I wasn't the most physically fit kid. I was having hydration issues, if you know what I mean. And I'm sure that some of the pros that he's playing against aren't taking it

the same as they did when they were in the American League trying to get to the NHL or as NHL guys. So it's a glorified beer league is what you're saying. Well, it's more than that, but there's definitely – I mean, you're in Germany. It's great beer. I mean, I was drinking Kristallweizen with lemons on top, and it was glorious.

So it was good stuff. And not taking anything away from him, but he was playing against guys that had been in the NHL or had been in the American League. And I don't think they were training as hard as they had been if they were still over here doing it. And I don't think that's good, bad, or indifferent. I think that's just fact.

And I think there's other kids that are playing in the OHL or the Western League that are competing against kids that are playing their balls off every night and trying to get out there and trying to earn a deal and earn a contract and earn a draft pick. And, you know, I think he's going to play. I think he's gonna play i think he's gonna play in the nhl but i wouldn't have been shocked i had him i had him later than that i am a 10 but it was i think he's gonna i think he's gonna play i just it was more than i think the del isn't isn't what uh what they were making it out to be yeah you could i know what you're saying you can argue you're playing against

but it's not the KHO. Yeah. Pruss said it was officiated weird, and it was just like a weird style of hockey. It is. If you hit too hard, you get a penalty. Any contact to the head was a five. They played a style. We played a style. Pierre Paget was our coach.

You remember Darren Quint? Remember Quinter? So Quinter was – basically, if you played left D, you could play the entire game because you never did anything other than go back and retrieve a dump, and then you went to – Sign me up. Basically, yeah, pretty much. Basically, center right. Come back starts now.

In the offensive zone. And it was the center of the left wing could pinch from the goal line all the way goal line to goal line, and the right D went goal line to goal line on the other side. And the left D just hung out and played in the middle so it was the Swedes would play this torpedo type type four check and uh what we were doing there and everyone in DL was doing was the lefty just hung out and Quinter as far as I know he could still be playing over there I mean he he barely break a sweat he'd give these great passages a little tiny stick but

you know it's it's it's just a little bit different there's definitely not as physical it's not as clutch and grab it's not as grinding and you know, it's, it's, it's just a little bit different. There's definitely not as physical. It's not as clutch and grab. It's not as grinding and not taking anything away from those kids. I just think it's a, it's a little bit different. Who was a guy that, that maybe you're going to look at as, wow, I can't believe they got them that late in the first round, a team that's got to be thrilled getting a guy maybe way later than they had him ranked.

I'm going to go with the Russian goalie, Askarov. He's a kid that he could easily have been a top three. He has a chance to be special. He started out KHL. I think he had a shutout in a one-goal game right away. He played in a couple international tournaments, which has been unbelievable. But he's a kid that people might look in a couple years

and say, how the hell wasn't this kid in the top couple? What's happening in Russia that all these kids are coming out now? There's been like a crazy wave of dominant young Russian goaltenders. Honestly, I have no idea. I think that the money in the KHL, maybe it's keeping kids around longer and there's more motivation to stay and play. They know they don't have to come to the States or North America to do it. But, you know, there's a ton of kids.

There's also another Russian kid named Amarov who, who Toronto took, who's a, who's a skill kid. He could be somebody like Kucherov. He, he's a little lefty kid. He's strong on the puck. He's somebody that you guys will know exactly what I mean. When you'd have a draft pick and you'd see a kid that was a first rounder you get your first day of training camp and you think oh this kid's dead in the water he uh he doesn't have a chance but then you'd see a kid who might have been a second or a third rounder and you know you do the drills and all of a sudden he's handling passes that are crappy and he's got it smooth and there's no issue with it and uh Amaral is like that he's he's a

Russian kid he's he's got a really quick release he can protect the puck forever and he's only about 165 pounds and uh the Leafs got him in puck forever, and he's only about 165 pounds. And the Leafs got him in the first round. So he's a kid that also could be questionable why he wasn't up higher. Oh my God, the Leafs fans listening to this right now are going to be stroking themselves off. So the Leafs also went on a run of fins.

They went with... Yeah, second round, right? Yeah, third round maybe. Second round, and then I think they went... I think they've got four or five fins overall who are high. I think the went – I think they've got four or five Finns overall who are – I think the Finns, they play on a hybrid sheet. It's not as big as an Olympic size. It's not as small as NHL, so there's a little more grinding. But they – I'm not sure who Toronto's Finnish scout is

or who head European scout is, but he's got to be a hell of a salesman because I think when I walked out of the room and there were still a couple picks left, I think that Toronto had taken four or five fins, you know, they're all, you know what the fins are like, they're going to be hard to, hard to play against the protective puck. Well, they might not be huge, but they've got good skills, good feet. And that's kind of what, what Toronto's got right now in their, in their picks.

Are you saying for the hybrid ice, as far as like they're just able to adapt to the North American game better? Like, is that the I think they can because I think there's more grinding you know like everywhere else in Europe they're playing the Olympic sheet it's just a bigger sheet there's uh I forget in Sweden if it's a lefty or or bro where it's like a football field you know like it was just so damn big it was unbelievable but in Finland it's it's a it's in between it's not as big as uh as Olympic and not as small as NHL.

So there's a little bit more creativity. But, you know, you get the kids like Saku Koiba, who was in our age group that was playing. You know, he was a 5'9 kid who was quick as hell, protect the puck because he was used to battling, was competitive. And, you know, those are the kids I think Toronto was just trying to get right now. It's funny. I think that Finns had the reputation of being so hard to play against and then over time you play with swedes they're the same way but yeah fins have

always had that edge to them i remember the same thing it was tuomo rutu uh miku koivu playing against them as 83s it was like oh my god who was the one who was the one you play with in pittsburgh or was he not there yet yarko rutu was in pittsburgh with oh man or was he not there yet? Yarko Rutu was in Pittsburgh with him. Oh, man. He was definitely, but yeah. He had a fucking edge to him. I bet you a lot of people listening probably hate that fucking guy. He was the guy you hated to play against. The Finns personality-wise, they're much wilder than the Swedes.

The Swedes are so stoic and just so, you know, they don't get after it. I mean, the Finns that I played with, you know, they were, you know, Yanni Laukinen was a hysterical kid, and Ville Niemann would... If Curfew was at midnight, he'd walk in every day at 12.01 just so he could yell, I miss Curfew and stand in the lobby and see if anything happened. The Finns were dramatically different than the Swedes

that I played with anyways. Tough year in the first round-wise, like U.S. players, huh? Yeah. Do you think it's just kind of one of those, what was it? Was it two kids picked in the first round? Yeah, I think it was Sanderson and Brisson. Brisson is Patty Brisson's kid. Sanderson is, Jake Sanderson is.

Jeff, right? Jeff Sanderson's kid. Yes, he's got big ears like me. We talked about this. Monster ears on him. Yeah. You know, I don't know. I think last year's class, the 2001 class,

they were so dynamic and so skilled that they were kids that were going to be first-rounders, and just they were going to – they can do things to be creative that the other kids didn't. I think it's interesting. You talk to the guys who were coaching college this year, and they played against the O2 national team, and they thought that this team was much more difficult to play against because

they were physical and they played a much more grinding role, you know, and traditionally those guys aren't the, aren't the top picks. Yeah. But Sanderson's a stud. I mean, he is, he controls the game. Every game I saw him play, he controlled the tempo. He controlled the pace. He's got great feet. He's a, he's a leader. He's he doesn't skate as, he's not as fast as his father, but he's equally great feet. He's a leader. He doesn't skate as – he's not as fast as his father, but he's equally as smooth. And then give us just a little breakdown because Paperson's been a legendary

agent in hockey for a long time, Sidney Cross's agent. His son goes in the first round. What type of player is he? I think he's in the USHL. Is he committed anywhere for school yet? Yeah, so he's going to Michigan. He started out at Shattuck and then went to USHL. He was playing in Chicago.

Chicago had a wagon last year in the USHL. They were just running through everybody. And he is a kid that has improved every year since he was at Shattuck as a U14 into his draft year. He's ultra competitive, full of grit, full of grime. He's spunky. He's got skills. He attacks the net.

He's not the biggest kid, but he gets in there and he jams. He's, you know, I'd say at the beginning of the year, probably thought he was going to be a third rounder. And then as the year went on and went on, you could see that he was going to have the potential to sneak into the first round. He's going to Michigan. Michigan has a hell of a class coming in.

It's amazing how many kids they've got. And they're all high-end kids, high school kids that have the potential to have an NHL career. No, he wasn't picked because of Patty. He was picked because he earned it on his own. And he – honestly, his trajectory, how he's improved over the last couple of years has been unbelievable. And he was the real – like I said, that Chicago Steel team in the USHL,

they were the best team by quite a bit. They were the deepest, and he was the heartbeat of that team. The German was supposed to go second. A lot of professionals had him there, but that Quinton Byfield, and we glanced over him earlier, played in Sudbury. I think he's the highest pick in Sudbury Wolves history. Highest, actually, black player ever drafted, right, at second overall. Is this kid the real deal?

Yeah, he's big. He's a stud. He skates really well uh to me he'd be somebody like keith primo i don't know if he's if he's going to be a guy who gets 50 goals but he's going to be a guy who's a reliable two-way guy he's got he's got good fees got good agility he's strong he's got to get stronger he's an athlete uh he had he was a real difference maker on studberry without him that team really struggled with him they were competitive every game and he was playing against the other teams,

you know, top guys, the draft picks, all that kind of stuff. He, he's got a chance to be special. There was talk at the beginning of the year that he could maybe, maybe go one overall. I thought about it for a little bit, but just when it came down to, I think it was Lafreniere, no matter what, just because of what he's done in his body of work. But Byfield has a chance in a couple of years to, to be a kid that is like, holy crap, he's big, he's done in his body of work. But Byfield has a chance in a couple years to be a kid that is like, holy crap, he's big, he's strong, he makes plays, he's got soft hands.

Like a Getzlov type? Yes. Are his hands that good, though? I don't know if he's like Getzy. Getzy was, to me, honestly, the guy that I think he's like Keith Primo. He's big like that. I think he's bigger than Getze. I think he might be, he has the potential to be stronger than Getze. But, you know, I don't,

I don't know leadership wise, if he's going to be the way, the way Getze is or not, but he is, he's a chance. He's a big kid. He was a target. He responded well every night. He answered the bell and he always, always played well. He's going to have, I don't know what will happen with him this year, but he's going to play. And I would imagine they're going to let him go to the world juniors and he always always played well he's gonna have i don't know what'll happen with him this year but he's gonna play and uh i would imagine they're gonna let him go to the world juniors and he's he's gonna put on a show love it yeah well i i also want to get into your career a little bit ian like you be a guy playing a long time with a lot of legends but you were at bc it was kind of those lean years tough years is that why you were only there for two and you turned pro,

or were you just ready? It was a little bit of both. So we went in. At that time, there was a 92 Olympic team and then a 94 Olympic team because they condensed it. And BC had 11 kids that left for that 92 Olympic team, whether they turned pro or not. So we were playing 11 freshmen.

My freshman year, we were fine. We were 500, which or not so we were playing 11 freshmen uh my my freshman year we were fine we were 500 which is what you'd expect with 11 freshmen and then my sophomore year we had a goal you turn pro the day before school started and uh you know no excuses it was what it was we didn't win many games but i know we swept bu that year which is which is really all i remember from college um you know i wouldn't have brought this up had I known that. It was nice and easy. And then that spring, there was the World Championships, and I was one of the college kids that was selected to play.

And, you know, I went from there to the 94 team, and then I ended up getting gassed from the 94 team at the end and signed a couple days later with Pitt. How many days? So it was like Ralph Cox on the 80 team, and they didn't win. Yeah, win it was Ralph Cox and Billy Guerin and uh it was myself and Chris Ferraro they uh we had we had had we had a really good team going through the uh the preliminaries we had a great record to get we had a winning record against the NHL teams with no U.S. team had ever had and we were a tight-knit group of guys we've been living in a hotel on Cromwell Connecticut

since July 1st and traveling and that was our base and then uh they caught me and they cut Chris Ferraro and uh I don't remember Chris had a twin Peter and they were Chris Peter and Todd Marchand were aligned they were leading scorers and when uh Chris got cut that line kind of fell apart and you know I was me I certainly wasn't a wasn't a big shot like like those guys putting up the points but uh I think just the cohesiveness of the team was kind of dead. And they added in Teddy Drury and Peter Savaglia. And then they struggled when they went over there. But that was a great group of guys.

Like John Lilly was on there. David Sacco. Laviolette was my roommate. We had Garth Snow and Mike Dunham were the goalies. All these guys are in brass now. Just the black bears. There was a ton of guys. It was a good group of guys.

Honestly, I think when Chris and I got cut, not that we were the difference makers, I think just the – You were gel guys. The team was kind of broken. They went over the pre-tournament and finished in last place. And I know there was – I heard afterwards that some of the guys went and talked about trying to get Chris and I back because Peter was lost without Chris. It was the first time they'd ever really played a part.

And it just didn't happen. The team went into the Olympics and it didn't do well. It was really too bad because it was a great group of guys and the team had done well all year. But Chris decided to go over to Little Hammer in Norway and watch his brother play. And, you know, I signed with Pittsburgh a couple days later and finished that year playing in Cleveland. Wow, that's pretty – how do you break up two twins that lit it up in college together? That's confusing.

Yeah, they lit it up in college. Who was the coach then? It was Tim Taylor and John Cunif. Jeez, guys. You know, it was – to me it was shocking that you would cut Chris just because he's with Peter. And they were playing on their most offensive line with Todd Marchand and they had done well and they were draft picks and all that, all that kind of stuff. You know,

but they wanted, well, however it broke, it broke. And that was the, that was the way it went. Like the Sadeen brothers can't break up the Sadeen brothers. Yeah. I mean, to me, just if I'm building a team and I've, if I'm going to add Teddy Drury was playing in, he had a knee surgery with Calgary, so they assigned him to the team and Peter Svagli was playing over in Europe. And if I think, oh, I'm going to gas – if I've got to gas two kids,

all right, Ian's one of them. Who's the other kid? Well, I'm not going to gas a twin. You know, it's like – Might as well cut them both. Yeah, I mean, wouldn't you really? It would make sense or you gas somebody else. And it's just – or you tell one of the other guys that's getting the time.

Hey, good news is you would have been back on the team, though. Yeah, and then that would have been something else, and then who the hell knows what happens from there. But, yeah. You played with some pretty legendary players early on in your career in Pittsburgh. I guess your whole time there, like Ron Francis. Yeah. Yeah, like that was a little bit after when they'd won their Cups, correct?

Yep. Yeah. So I turned pro in 93-94 season. Yeah, like that was a little bit after when they'd won their Cups, correct? Yep, yeah. So I turned pro in 93-94 season. Was the fan base dwindling a little bit at that point or because was it still able to sustain like that? Like it was a nut house when those guys were winning Cups. No, it was still good then. We still had good teams.

You know, there's still guys that were left over from the Cups that were playing. We still had Mario and Jagger and Ronnie. And, you know, there were still guys that were left over from the Cups that were playing we still had Mario and Jagger and Ronnie and you know it was there were guys there that were draws that were potential MVPs or you know Art Ross you know scoring guys all that kind of stuff we had a draw I think it was always interesting playing in Pittsburgh that we couldn't play at home in the fall on a Friday night because high school football would outdraw us you know we'd have a light crowd and then on Sundays we couldn't compete with the steelers in the fall but we could we could play on saturday because nobody really gave a crap about football at that point you know marino was done and he'd been playing nfl for a

while but uh we still had good crowds that the civic arena was jammed it was packed it was uh it was loud they had good music all that kind of stuff and then um you know a couple years later we had Howard Baldwin, who was the owner. And I'm not exactly sure how it all played out, but I know through state legislation, Pennsylvania was going to build buildings. And they built the three arenas or stadiums in Philly,

and they built new football and baseball in Pittsburgh. And Mr. Baldwin said that the Penguins didn't need the new arena. They just needed these, you know, custom seats. And I'm sure when you got there, right, the blue seats that were in the middle, basically from blue line to blue line, that was what said you could take the place of the luxury boxes. And from that point on, it was just kind of a circus.

We had multiple bankruptcies and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, you were there. You saw the end of like the dynasty, and then you got into the beginning of the really dark years. But I'm curious. Put it this way, know the uh you know the practice facility in pittsburgh we were there last year for the fall classic which is the ushl and they've got all the banners up at one end and we're looking and it's got all the stanley cups and then there's a dead period and then there's all the stanley cups and i'm standing with my buddy and he looks up at me and he's

looking at the banner he's like when when are you in pittsburgh and i was like 93 to 08 or 93 to uh 03 and he's looking up he's like so the whole stretch there's no banners when you were before you got to the government afterwards and it's just perfect like he took a picture of my head in the middle with the banners on each side well no you you were done in 03 and then i came in and then i was gone before any cups kept the boston tradition going yeah we just you going. Yeah, we just, you know, Alvin trusted. But, like, you know, you're a rookie. I think you played maybe a year or two in the minors. But what are your kind of first memories of, like,

Lemieux and Yager playing with these two guys as you just kind of come in and try to prove yourself as an NHLer? Honestly, my first thing ever was I flew into Pitt and I signed, and we had to do a passing drill, and they made me go with Mario just to start it out, and I was absolutely terrified and nervous, and I couldn't do anything, and I was holding my stick so damn tightly it was ridiculous.

And then we did that practice, got sent to Cleveland. Cleveland was a great group of guys. Our record, we were absolutely horrific. I think we – no shit, I think we were mathematically eliminated February 23rd. Like, it was – we were horrible. I think including preseason, I think we no shit i think we were mathematically eliminated february 23rd like it was we were horrible i think including preseason i think we played cincinnati 26 times and lost 26 times like it was something unbelievable and then uh you know played the play the next year i started playing that that's playoffs they started playing i remember my first nhl shift was on a power play and it was uh at that point i was still an offensive d-man and uh i remember my first nhl shift was on a power play and it was uh at that point i was still

an offensive d-man and uh i remember at the face off looking around and i was playing the off point it was uh i looked down they got mario on the midwall ronnie francis taking the draw jogger and larry murphy i literally remember thinking to myself holy shit i gotta figure something else out or i won't be here long i don't fit in with these four there's somebody that doesn't belong here i don't know who it is maybe it's murph because he's older but hey oh god i i did a drill one time in the d zone like a breakout one and i missed mario with one and they blew it down made me restart i was fucking my heart rate was like 180 yeah it just when when you're making a play to him if it's like not perfect you feel feel like the biggest tool. Yeah, we were, it was later.

It was when either it was right before he retired in 97 or when he came back, but I was playing right D going D to D in the neutral zone. And he curled through and he was going for a stretch through the middle and he wanted to pass on his backhand as a righty. And I gave it to him on his forehand where he could pick it up. And I thought he could pick it up on his right hand and curl in between. And he picked it up on his forehand, curled back at me and took a snapshot into my stomach and

I had to settle and I went D to D again. We dumped it and I went to the bench and get to the bench and he looks down at me and he points at the backhand of his stick and gives me a thumbs up and then spins his stick around to the forehand and shakes his head no. Our D coach is Randy Hillier and Randy's like outside of

handle that bastard mace i'm like yeah i got a mark on my chest he just literally middle of the game turned and gunned it right into my chest still could have gone in on a breakaway i think yeah yeah oh man you had a breakaway there mario i didn't want it there what about uh i want to make an example when did you i want to make an example of this young buck. When did you realize though that cause you're an offensive guy that, that maybe wasn't going to be your role like in the NHL. I mean, I know you realized it on that power play, but when did it kind of switch over to you being PK guy defensive,

just like so, so hard to play against? Uh, pretty much that summer we got, we got knocked out of the playoffs that year and I went home and, uh, basically changed my mindset. When I was growing up, they thought there was no way I could kill penalties. There was no way that I would, uh, be, be that kind of guy. Um, you know, that I basically just went home and said, screw it. I'm going to learn how to block shots. I'm going to learn how to be in the lanes. I'm gonna learn how to be a tough guy to play against all that kind of stuff and i just said i'm i'm i'm playing and i don't give a shit you know it was uh to me it meant more to play in the nhl and be a role guy and block shots and break feet and all that kind of crap than uh than anything else so it was it wasn't a tough decision it was i you know buddies that asked how the hell do you do it and it's just like you know fuck it lay down and block a shot let it hit you you know it's uh oh it does suck though like even i i like fighting better than blocking shots that's how i prove my toughness like that is like it's not it's it's it's like getting in the lanes is

something you can learn but having the willingness to do it is really it's it's like you said it's a mindset yeah you just gotta go down and eat it and uh it's weird because like you know a lot a lot of the superstars that you play with they think they can do that kind of stuff you know like but yager is a shot blocker like yags understood everybody's role on a team he under he understood that uh he had no interest in blocking shots he had he had no interest in in being grimy so when you when you block a shot it was a you know blocking a shot can change the momentum i know it's obvious but you'd come to the bench and yags is the first guy giving you a high five. He's hugging you in between periods.

He just loved it. You know, and for me it was a way to carve out a little niche and be able to stick around and stay. So it was a pretty obvious thing for me to make the change because I knew I couldn't stick around as an offensive D-man. And you guys didn't have those shot blockers back then. What do you think of these new guys with these shot blockers? Yeah, I broke nine bones in my feet blocking shots,

so I'd love to have those things. Did you really? Yeah. You must have missed, what, 200 games? Obviously, a ton. Yeah, I missed a ton. I had shoulder surgery. I had four or five knee surgeries, ankles done, broken bones in my feet,

two bones in my hands, all that kind of crap. How's the body now? I got a fake left knee and a fake right hip. Already you got both of those replaced. Yeah, I got them done. I waited too long. I was stupid. What went first?

My knee, I knew I was going to have to have it done, so I ended up having seven surgeries on it before I got it replaced. But my hip fell down, went downhill unbelievably quickly, and it got to the point where I couldn't move. So I had my hip done, and then I had my knee done about eight months later. And hip was an easy recovery. It didn't hurt. It was just you felt uncoordinated that you couldn't move.

And then the knee was dramatically different. The knee, I was – like Andy Brickley was walking 18 holes a month later, and I was laying in bed 35 days later. I had a hell of a time with the knee. Same. I think it's fucking up my hip now too. It sucks. Without a doubt. But hey,

I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'd go back in a second. I'd take twice as much. Bring it on, bitch. Pretty much. Maybe more than 200 games, though. I wouldn't need a career like yours. I'd love the opportunity to eat another slapper.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, just go down and just eat one? Just drop down and eat it, yeah. I'd love the chance to go back in time and just flamingo one more time, make sure that right foot didn't get hit. Hey, so you saw Yags in some of the most dominant NHL years in history. In practice, I kind of always heard it was a different ballgame for him. Maybe you guys were doing a drill that he'd not partake in.

Was that ever the case? Oh, yeah. My first two years in Pittsburgh, we didn't have to wear shoulder pads or a helmet in practice. And then Yags would wear a toque. He'd come out with it anyways. And then you do drills. And if he didn't want to do it, we didn't, we didn't do it. And if we did breakouts, he would just,

I'm sure he was doing when you were with him, he'd go out and he'd just yell red line and you would just fire it out to the red line. He'd pick it up for his three on two and never come back in. But as far as a kid, you're a player who loves scoring and love and loved the limelight of all, there was nobody like him. I mean, he loved to score. And, you know, I think about somebody his size, his speed,

and what he could do with a puck and the rules. Now, I don't think you can stop him. I really don't. And he loved to score. Loved it. You know, loved it, loved it. I'm surprised to hear he wasn't taking practice very seriously. I never got to play with him, by the way.

I missed him. No. Oh, yeah, yeah. What am I thinking? Yeah, yeah. He just ran my show in New York after the lockout. I think he won MVP that year. He was a joke.

Yeah. He was unbelievable. He was so much bigger and stronger than people think. And he put in the work. That's the thing. In practice, he might have been half-assed and dicking around, but he would go back to the he like he put in the work that's the thing like he might in practice he might have been half-assed and dicking around but he would go back to the rink at random times and shoot pucks and skate and work out and lift i mean he was he was he was a big strong fucking

guy his legs were massive his uh he was like two different body types like his belly button up he was like a wiry lanky kid and then belly button down he had a massive ass and massive thighs and he was just a big, strong kid. I think when he got traded to Boston, I honestly think that Bergeron and Marchand had no idea how to play with him because he doesn't want anyone near him. He wants everybody to get the hell away from him so he can fend guys off and find them. And Bergeron and Marchand kept being in his pocket, and he was like,

just get the fuck away from me. I'll find you. It just was a bad fit for him. Nobody liked scoring more than him. just get the fuck away from me. I'll find you. And it just was a bad fit for him, you know, but he was, nobody likes scoring more than him. The other guy too, that, so I played,

I got the chance to play with Pat Eves at like national program. Then he went on to BC, but his father, Mike, I was, he coaching you in Pittsburgh then. Yeah. Yeah.

So he was telling me that he'd get to go on. He is, I say seven or eight years old. He's like, Alexi Kovalev was the most insane player I've ever seen in practice. Like the stuff he could do. He'd say that he'd play keep away with like the kids and just have it for 45 minutes.

He'd play keep away with us and have it for 45 minutes. He was unbelievable. The thing with him though is Kovalev liked making people look stupid more than he liked scoring. He'd come in and he'd beat somebody, he'd turn back, beat him again, and then beat him again, and he'd come to the bench and you'd be like fuck al you could have scored there he'd be like oh i know but he looks so stupid and you're like yeah you could have scored you know he told me he was the most skilled guy by far i played with wasn't even close

he would he could he could take a brand new net and put a put a black mark on the post about you know 10 inches up 12 inches up the pipe and pipe and he could sit and he could hit it over and over and over and over. I don't mean within two inches. He could hit the mark over and over. He'd come down and he'd do it in practice. I never saw him do it in a game where he'd fake a drop pass and drop it to his

foot and he would spin on the puck and then kick it back up to himself. As a D-man, he wouldn't know what the fuck he was doing. He just would do it and he'd keep going. He's big and he was strong and he was a real short stick that was ultra stiff and it was you could play keyboard with him and you couldn't touch the puck and he would just laugh at you the whole time the popeye they called him because his wrists were so big he had that short little stick and he could just anything you just hold the pass it's it's crazy and the fact that he could get it even get it

off the ice with that short and stick is nuts they said he used to do those one-arm drills too like just you flick it over the net like a like a probably harder than my slap shot in that fucking new amsterdam commercial oh you remember when he was in montreal and uh i was in boston at the time and the bruins were up on Montreal in the series, and somebody said something about Colby not trying. And then somebody went after him, and all of a sudden he was fucking on a mission. And I just remember thinking we should have just let him sleep. We let him sleep. They might win a game, we win the series, and we pissed him off,

and he decided he wanted to make a difference, and then we were done. I mean, his skill level was incredible. I thought – was it the year? I remember he went down with, like, the fake injury. Yes, that was it. Yes, and he – was it the year? Remember he went down with like the fake injury? Yes, and he ran into Kusure, and you guys won, and then all of a sudden he just – everyone was like, what the fuck are you doing faking a wrist injury? And it was like, uh-oh.

Yeah, he got pissed. He was – and that was it. We could have just let him sleep. There was no issue. It was a bust. I mean, it did look bad, though. He did kind of take a plop. Oh, without a doubt.

And Glenn Murray went in and sniped one. I remember that. Yeah, he was probably getting ready to go golf, but he got pissed off and decided he had something to prove. Was it true he wouldn't skate all summer? He'd just show up and throw his gear on, too? Probably. No, I mean, he was just a big, fluid kid.

His hands were ridiculous. So, I mean, even if he wasn't skating, he had to have been doing something because he would get on his knees at center ice and have a bunch of pucks, and he wouldn't flip the puck. He'd throw sauce, and they would land consistently on the top of the net from the red line, like over and over. So, I've heard that. That's legit, like landing them up top?

Yeah, he'd get on his knees at the red line, and everybody else would be trying to flip it to get it there or take wrist shots that would go off the glass, and he'd be throwing sauce that would go up near the ceiling and it would come right down on top. He was foolish what he could do. That's totally true. So he ended up getting his pilot license.

He'd fly himself around. Was he doing that then? Yeah, he was in the process of trying to get it, yeah. I don't know if he had it or not, but he was definitely flying. I don't know if he was able to do solos then, but he was definitely flying. Was he a showman like that off the ice too? Was he always like – was he like walking in with like weird outfits and shit? No, nothing crazy.

He was just a normal guy. He didn't have crazy suits or anything like that. The Russian guy that had the electric suits was Alexei Morozov, had the Versace stuff but kobe was kobe was pretty pretty normal pretty tame even coming from new york but he uh he was just what he could do with a puck with nobody i didn't i wasn't with anyone that could do anything with like he could do geez you play with joe thornton too yeah no it's not even close joe is different jo Joe passes. Joe is more like Ronnie Francis than anything else. Covey's skill level was – the bottom of his stick looked like a field hockey stick. It was like there was no lie to it.

You know, like you and I would use a five or a six, and he had like a stick at his toe would be a lie. 17 in his heel would be a lie too. So he could handle the puck and put his hands wherever he wanted and do all sorts of weird shit that none of us could do. When you ended up moving on from Pittsburgh to Boston, were you surprised by that fired up to go back to the hometown team? How did that all go down?

So it was basically that, that team at Christmas time, we were in first place in the Eastern conference and we were at a team party and you know, with Craig Patrick was the GM andig called everybody in the back and said we were about to go in another another bankruptcy if we had any uh any anyone that any value was going to be gone by the deadline and uh you were in first place at the time first or second we were we were pretty good and then the next day we traded a bunch of guys or the next couple days we traded guys to the rangers and got guys back and from there it was uh it was kind of everybody

knew that we were we were going to get dealt and i think that i think that deadline day from pittsburgh there was like nine of us that got traded and uh everybody was kind of expecting it and i had heard heard stories going into the day that i was going to go to uh st louis actually never happened obviously so i don't know if the deadline was at three or four o'clock but my my phone rang and i saw it was g Greg Patrick, and I answered it. And I honestly thought he was going to ask me to go to the airport and pick somebody up that we had traded for. And I was out in the driveway playing hopscotch with my daughter,

who at the time was probably 2. And he said, hey, we weren't going to do it, but Boston called at the last minute. You're a Boston kid. We're going to send you home. You've got a chance to win it. And I literally wrote down O'Connell's number in chalk in the driveway, and had a flight and flew out about two hours later.

So, but it was, you know, I was, I had a good thing going to Pittsburgh. It was fun. It was a great place for me to play. I kind of grew up there. I got there, I was 20, 21. I got traded out, I was 30. You know, I loved it there. When I think about it about i think about myself

as a penguin more than anything else but uh getting on the plane and flying into logan to boston was was pretty awesome realizing the team and the group of guys that uh that boston had and the chance to win a cup in boston would have been pretty awesome but uh that was fun it was danny mcgillis and i came in together in that deadline deal he came in from san jose he played at northeastern didn't he yeah g Yeah, he and I were the same age. He was a big strongman. I don't know if we mentioned it in the interview so far, but you actually

went over to Boston and Pittsburgh got a fourth round pick and they picked me that next summer. Yeah. I've always thought if I stayed in Pittsburgh, I could be sitting there doing the Pink Whitney ads. No, you'd be fucking begging people to give you a swipe up. Yeah, Moran 20.

You get the Moran 20 swipe ups. Nice. How did you end up going? Obviously, you went over to Sweden, and in that year, you played in Nottingham, where I think Biz played in that league, right? Wasn't that Nottingham team where you played? The EIHL. I don't know how it was at the time.

I'm actually going to interview uh soon uh one of my old teammates the one who he was a doctor as well but that league has made tremendous strides I don't know what it was like when you were there yeah we went over in the lockout it went over with uh Steve McKenna and uh Nick Boynton um started out in Sweden just didn't work out there I was in town called Karlskoga it was it was I went alone I had a wife and two kids my wife had just said our third literally like our son who just turned 16 yesterday he was just born and I think I left the next day for six weeks for Sweden so it was it was a tough grind I thought they were going to be able to come over I was in a one-bedroom

apartment it just wasn't going to work so we ended up going from Sweden to England and had a different setup there. It was a good league. It was fun. We had a great time. There was a ton of fights. I was shocked at how many fights there were. Were you fighting? I fought a couple times, yeah.

No shit. Turned into a bit of a gladiator league there at one point, I'm sure. Yeah, it was fun, though. The crowds were great. Nottingham's crowds were great. Sheffield's crowds were great. I remember London played in a weird rink, but they had – like Eric Kearns was there, and they had a bunch of lunatics.

But it was – no, it was fun. We had a great time. There was a bowling alley attached to the rink, and we'd go to practice and then go bowl every day. So it could have been worse. I had a blast there. Crushing beers at bowling. Great drinking culture, although they get banged up.

They let them sleep anywhere, all over the bar. They just pass out, just chilling. Just rest some eyes, bitch, as Malone says. So then the lockout ends, you come back the next year, and that's when Thornton got dealt. Were you injured that season? Yeah, I had ankle surgery. I had ankle surgery when he got dealt.

But, yeah, I was there when that happened it was uh shocking shocking shocking to say the least he was uh he was joe he was he was he was the captain he was everything um you know we were never having a meeting with management and they were saying we thought in the long run the team could be better and it was tough for all of us to process how you get rid of a kid who could win an m and uh you know mid-season and and say that but uh I think management at that point decided they were going to go with Bergeron as the as the number one centerman and try to win with him and O'Connell did it and made the deal and you know he wasn't he wasn't around for the long term for that but uh you know it was it was definitely a messed up trade but you know I had dealt with

Jager getting traded and dealt with Joe getting traded. It seemed like it was just kind of part of it, and you had to move on. That's the game. Yep. We're talking now about it. Do you think it's weird now? You see so many buyouts, and you're just like, I was saying earlier in this episode, I think guys are signing deals where teams almost know at the end this probably won't work out.

We're just signing for the first three, four years of this. Yeah, I think it's almost has an NFL mentality where the guys sign and they know they're going to – if they get a six-year deal, they know they're going to be there for maybe four in the last two or a buyout. That's just the way it is. And, you know, it has guaranteed money, but the teams are willing to take that risk that the cap's going to go up. And, you know, it's – you know, when you see a guy sign a long-term deal,

like, you know, right away, they're not playing the last two. It's the same as NFL. Some of the guys, you're like, whoa, that is not going to last. Yeah. I mean, even guys that are studs that are having career years for a couple of years, you can look at and say, there's no way they're keeping this up for four straight. And then you got two more after that. It's not happening. So they're going to see what they can do. and they're going to have young kids coming up and they'll take the buyout and hope the cap goes up and they'll they'll deal with ramifications then

fuck i'm not buying a team if that's the way gms are thinking wasting all my wasting all my goddamn money you should be coach yeah you're gonna be owner and gm i'm so cheap could you imagine me if poil would have bought outaurus if I was the owner of that team. I would have been hot. That is crazy. You saved $8 million on it. At least you saved a little bit of bucks. That's true. That's true.

But you just needed it. It's short-term pain for a long-term gain, right? That's how you got to look at it. Yeah. A lot of air miles. A lot of air miles. So with neutral zone, like, can kids, like, work with you guys on their own, or is it teams? Like, if you're a young player looking to get better, I mean,

is somebody like that calling you guys? No. So how it works is you go to different tournaments. You go to a college game. So primarily we've focused on kids that are under 18 up until this year, and then the draft, we've gone to kids that are maybe playing the USHL that are 20-year-olds. With major junior, we've stopped once they're drafted in the OHL.

This year we changed it where we started tracking the draft-eligible kids or maybe a late-round free or a free agent-type kid. But, you know, we go to a tournament. We've got guys that either coached in college or they, you know, coached Division I, coached Division III. We've got guys who are coached in college or they, you know, coach division one, coach division three. We've got guys who are in management in the OHL. We've got guys who are in management in the Western league guys who played in the queue. So we've got guys who played and everywhere, everywhere.

So they, they know, not going to say they know what it takes, but it's somebody made a comment the other day that we're it's pros that are, what we're doing is scouting. It's pros. It's for the, for the pros, because we, we have a pretty good idea of what's going on with these tournaments. So, you know, you and I around Boston, we go watch the, you know, the U 14 or 15 Kings play. We have a pretty good idea that those kids have their studs or they're playing for the Eagles that they're going to end up at there.

They're going to end up at St. Sebastian's what's their track from there. How are they going to go? How's that going to work? You know, guys in the midwest or the midwest the guys play you know they're playing u16 for caesars and then they're playing or u16 for honey bake and then they're playing 18 if they're still playing 18 you know are they a late bloomer are they a kid that's going to be in for their 18 year and be able to play in the ushl or in the midwest go play in the ohl um so we we have guys that know kind of the path and the track

and how it works and how it doesn't, where they fit in. And how a kid looked who's a stud at 19, how he looked at 16, because you were seeing him three, four years ago. Yeah, I mean, we have, like, these kids getting drafted right now. Like, I've got nothing in front of me so we can go through names or anything, but, like, we've got, you know, 20-plus reports on all these kids from when they're playing at U14 nationals, do they go to national camp to their play in their freshman year or wherever

they could be playing. Attitude involved. Yeah. It's kind of wild. Cause it's, uh, I mean, when I was playing, I don't think I would have ever believed it, but I, when I go to the rink, I honestly, I look homeless. I'm wearing a hoodie and I am, I stand in the Zamboni door and I don't want anyone to know I'm there. Now with these masks, I've got the mask up over my face. And I just stand there and I watch, I don't really I'm wearing a hoodie, and I stand in the Zamboni door, and I don't want anyone to know I'm there.

Now with these masks, I've got the masks up over my face, and I just stand there and I watch. I don't really want to talk to anybody. I just want to watch and see how kids interact. And it's amazing how many times I end up getting college coaches that will say, you know, can you go to the parking lot, sit in your car, and watch how they warm up with their teammates. I just want to see how this kid warms up or go. What's really interesting, and I've told some kids this,

is that you'll have the coaches say, just go hang out in the lobby and see how this kid warms up or go. What's really interesting, and I've told some kids this, is that you'll have the coaches say, just go hang out in the lobby and see how they treat their mother. If they're a college coach and a kid's a dink to his mom, odds are he's going to get on campus, he's going to be a dink, and they're going to deal with headaches that they don't want to deal with. And I've told that to kids. You come out, you could have a shitty game and be in a bad mood, but you better be respectful.

You can be a pain in the ass in the locker room, pain in the ass in the ice, but be respectful coming in and out. Don't, you know, there was a kid a couple of years ago. It was a highly touted kid. Everyone thought he had, you know, you know, questionable attitude. He's bitching and moaning. He comes out, he's bitching and moaning to his parents about his tape and his skate sock. And he just right in the middle of the sidewalk where there's a, there's like a,

I don't know if it was a grandmother or grandfather. He just turns and poof, talks to a loogie and, and, you know, that's it. And it's like, what the, what the hell are you thinking? Like, you know, just that kind of stuff where we see the kids in different settings and we're not trying to put a kid down. We're just trying to put them in red guidance to where they are. So if you're a five-star, you're a stud. If you're a three-and-a-half-star, you're going to be a borderline

Division I, Division III kid, primarily an ESCAC kid if you're in the Northeast, but you could be a Division I kid. You know, below that, you're going to be a borderline division one, division three kid, primarily an ESCAC kid. If you're in the Northeast, but you could be a division one kid, you know, below that you're, you're going to figure out where you are. We can, we don't help you and say, Hey, you should go to UNE instead of going to Bowdoin. But we can say that you're, you know, if you're honest and you read it, the guys that we have, we have guys that coach the NESCAC or coach division two or three where they

can tell you, you know, for me to go watch a north american hockey game i have a real hard time differentiating between the kid who's going to end up at a division one or division three school but we have guys that can pick it out right away you know but you know if you you and i go watch the ushl we can pick out a kid who's going to be an hl draft pick and you can pick out a kid from there who's got a chance you know but i i have a real hard time picking out and differentiating between Division I and Division III kid, as simple as that sounds. But it's harder for me. It's really hard.

The old saying, it's like I just remember my father saying, you never know who's watching. It doesn't matter if there's one guy in the rink or it's packed. It's so true. Thank God NutriZone wasn't around when I was there. I was like, Mom, I said I wanted a cold Gatorade. I would have been drafted after biz. Well, hey, Ian, we want to

thank you so much for coming on. It was a long time coming. It's pretty cool work you guys got going on. So around the draft, you're our man. I love this. And how many guys are working with you there? Going into COVID, we had 70. And then we had to shut it down. And we don't have a whole lot of full-time guys.

We have guys that were, you know, coaching and they retired and they like being in the rinks and they know how it down. And we don't have a whole lot of full-time guys. We have guys that were, you know, coaching and they retired and they like being in the rinks and they know how it goes. But we had 70 guys. We've got a women's side that has right now about 12 people working for them. You know Heath Gordon? Yeah. You know Gordo? So Gordo just got named director of U.S. women's scouting for us.

So that's a big get because he was coaching – he's just coached the pride of Paulie Mara. So our goal is to get out there and see as many kids as we can, whether they be studs or kids, and just help them find out where they're supposed to be. So our owner, he had a kid that ended up playing at, I think it was Conn College, and he had an experience where he quit after his sophomore year.

And he more or less said, what would have happened if he knew where he really, really was and where he lined up? Could he had a experience where he quit after his sophomore year, and he more or less said what would have happened if he knew where he really was and where he lined up. Could he have had a different experience? Could he have – could something else have been different from there? It started four years ago. This is our fifth season, and we're – you know, we are what we are. We wear hats. We go in the rink, and we bullshit with everybody.

First one's a quick answer. Who had the biggest steal in the first round? And the other one – The kid going to Toronto. Okay, so I think you already talked about that in detail. And the last one, Cole Perfetti out of Saginaw. I used to play for the Spirit. I know people were surprised to see him drop to 10.

You think that's a steal there? He is as smart and clever offensively as anyone in the draft. The knock on him is going to be his skating. To me, though, he might not have the breakaway speed going blue line to blue line through the neutral zone, but as far as being able to maintain and gain speed off of contact, especially in tight areas in the corner,

and keep his head up and his eyes up in finding lanes and finding guys, he's as good as anybody. We talked about it with our guys that are in Ontario, and when he gets stronger through his core and stronger legs, he could end up being unbelievable. I mean, in Ontario and when he gets stronger through his core and stronger legs, he could end up being unbelievable. I mean,

his, his vision and where he can put the puck is, is exceptional. He's really, really something else. I hope he is pissed off. And I hope he changes his ass off and, and what has the attitude he wants to prove people wrong.

Well, that's what you did. Long career. We thank you so much for coming on. I'd love to catch up and grab a beer with you sometime. We appreciate it. Thank you. Want to send We thank you so much for coming on. I'd love to catch up and grab a beer with you sometime. We appreciate it. Thank you. I want to send a big thanks to Ian for joining us with his expertise and stories.

He's a funny guy, actually. I met him years ago. We've been trying to get him on the show for a long time, so it was nice to finally get him on here. There's a couple other notes, too, a little draft-related. You were the 69th guy from the 03 draft to become a, quote, legit NHLer. That is the most on-brand thing before you were even a brand I've ever heard of. I believe it was Jason Greger who wrote this article.

And, I mean, I don't know what signifies as a legit NHLer. I thought he had a pretty good breakdown, especially as a fourth-rounder who ended up playing over 200 games and what the percentage of action being able to accomplish that and how many guys have. He kind of had a full breakdown of like how many guys from each draft drafted in each round played how many games. And it said that that 03 draft that I was a part of

and I've been harping on is I think it's the strongest draft of all time. He backed it up with a lot of numbers. So very, very unique article and and fucking rights i'll take being the 69th uh legit nhler from that year drafted i i would have never considered myself a legit nhler were you the last one to do that he said in the draft or was there people after you was the final number 69 yeah i was the 69th to accomplish it maybe or maybe base maybe he kept moving the bottom of his ranking to like where i just snuck in at 69th i think that's an appropriate number biz because you are indeed a team player and there's probably no better number to signify

that than your 69 give a little give a little right all right i'll rub your back you rub mine a little reciprocation please give a little get a a little, get a little, isn't it, Biz? I don't fucking know, dude. It's whatever we want. I know. You should know that by now. Give a little, give a little. The NHLPA and the NHL announced that they're going to target January 1st

of 2021 for the start of the next season. Again, that's just a target date. The quote, estimated timing for the start of training camp will be communicated at a later date. Obviously, everything is very much touch and go, wait and see here. But it wasn't official word, so we want to pass that along. Whether it actually happens remains to be seen. I do want to let you know, though, football season is in full force right now,

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but you want to plan ahead and be prepared for the festivities because there's usually a few cocktails around that time of season. I always double bag it with the dhm i think they say one bag one bag which is two pills for each 10 drinks i like to i'm gonna even have five i just do two bags and wait you don't got your own promo code do you is there like a whip 20 well no i don't whore myself out to every company and force them to give me my own promo codes and then scream at people when I don't get them. Correct. So no, I don't have my own DHM detox. Yeah.

DHA detox is legit. I, I, first time I had it on one of these golf trips, people are like, does that work? I'm like, it works for me.

I said, I don't know. I put, I try it out. I put in these drinks, I go out, I have a bunch of them and I don't feel bad the next day. And when I don't do what I do it out. I put in these drinks. I go out. I have a bunch of them, and I don't feel bad the next day. And when I don't do it, I do.

So DHM detox. Bugsy's like, these don't work. I'm like, you're not supposed to snort them, Bugsy. Bugsy and Teddy were buckled playing golf somewhere. I don't know where that was. They were in Chicago. We actually got Bugsy right now hunting down Minnesota for the best pond hockey place

to throw an event because if everything keeps going good and maybe we find a vaccine and the rules are a little bit looser, we're going to definitely try to throw a few of these pond hockey tournaments this winter, maybe in February, March. Yeah, I'd love to get to Minnesota. I've only been to Minnesota for like maybe 40 minutes and that was just catching a flight I had a bond through the airport to catch A flight from Minneapolis to

Vancouver back in 2011 You've been in the state but never left the airport? Yeah, so I don't consider that a visit No, I mean, right, I'm not saying It was a visit, literally I'm telling you, I changed planes there Because I'm saying I want to go there too actually Great spot.

Great spot. Winter and summer. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully sooner rather than later. But anyways, boys, lots of news, lots of signs, lots of shit to get to. Brendan Dillon is staying put in D.C. Signs a four-year, $15.6 million deal, just under $4 million average annual value slash cap hit.

He's going to be 30 in November. Of course, Washington picked him up at the deadline back in February for a couple of picks. One of them was conditional. He must have liked it there. Obviously, it's a marriage they're both comfortable with, so he re-upped for four years there. Anything on this one, Whit?

Just the type of defenseman that's going to be on your team. You can win a Stanley Cup with this guy. I mean, what he did in San Jose, he's just very solid on his own end. He's hard to play against. He's mean. I like the hit, the cap hit, I mean. And he is, what did you say, he's turning 30? So, I mean, he's not signed until he's 36, 37.

I like the deal. I also am interested just to hear, well, I'm not going to jump ahead, but he could be playing in front of a goalie that we know his name. Oh, no, we can jump ahead for Henrik. I mean, is this going to go down, King Henrik, to Washington, where he would be the backup on paper, right? Or are you looking at that like he could go there and become the starter? I mean, I would imagine they're probably thinking mentor backup right now, but as soon as I thought Washington, I pictured him in the jersey and the white one on the bench,

just like with his nice tan, the good contrast. Oh, he has a good hat on. He wears a hat on the bench. They can pay his salary with selling the seats right around where the backup goalie hangs out. Just make it the ladies section. It's ladies night every time he doesn't start right around the glass there. Yeah, you get the fucking beer vendor selling dildos in that section.

All of them are fucking jamming themselves to Henrik Lundqvist being a backup tendie. Get your turbo nitrate dildo here. Get the Glock Glock 3000s. I mean, I know Washington, obviously the high on I'm Brian McLeod. And the GM said, we're looking for a backup veteran goaltender. I mean, he's a really solid candidate for us. Henrik did tweet.

I still love to compete. I still love the game. I still want to win. And there was a translated tweet from Sweden that said he is going to sign with them on Friday. Obviously that's not official yet, but also too. I mean, you know, you're talking about a young kid here

in Samsonoff who's only played, I think, 22 NHL games. And, you know, that's a pretty small track record. If this kid comes out of the gate slow, I mean, Henry could, I guess, theoretically end up being the starter in Washington if things were to go south with this young goal. Yeah, I guess that is interesting, the quote by McClellan saying, you know, to sign a veteran backup. So they have high hopes, and rightfully so for Samsonov.

But I do think, like you said right there, Henrik goes and catches fire. I mean, it's not like the Rangers were very good the past few years. There's a better team in Washington in front of them, and who knows what can happen. But I would love it. Anyone who signs him that's got a younger goalie with a high upside, it's a great signing. It doesn't matter the team.

So you're basically saying he's the hockey version of Cam Newton. He's on a revenge tour. He's going to sign for cheap, and then he'll probably end up being the starter given that they – but I just look at how deep the goalie market is. I would imagine they would have somebody – like do you think the Sampson kid is going to be there for sure? I mean, Washington is very high on him.

Yeah, he's legit. Wow, they're giving these young guys the net like crazy now. Football hockey analogies are making me like turn in that gift for the guys like – Yeah, I know. I'm going a little hard on the football. I'm trying a little harder. It's all good. Well, he's a first-round pick, though, like five years ago, Biz.

I think it's time, and he's proven himself. Jason Spezza going to be back in Toronto for another year for $700,000. He had nine goals, 16 assists, and 58 games played last year. I love this quote from Kyle Dubas. If you're a major league fan, the baseball movie, he said, quote, I think the image of Jason is he's a veteran in the mold of a Roger Dorn, but I view him more as a Jake Taylor type. Of course, major league Jake Taylor was the gritty,

grimy catcher who loved playing for the team. Roger Dorn was the cocky third baseman who was teammates hated. So, I mean, I never knew people thought of Spencer as a Roger Dorn type, but it was speaking of cross sports references, Biz, I thought that was a pretty good one from Dubas. Oh, he's great. I was barking at them to do something crazy because they had the pick after the TV commercial break.

And what does he do? He captures Morgan Riley and Mitch Marner hostage, and they make them do this jersey presentation. So they came back with some fire. Morgan Riley looked hilarious with his mustache. Pretty sure he shaved that into that, knowing that he was being forced to do it. But I don't know.

They had a surprise pick as well. But, yeah, Dubas doing his thing. Small, skilled forward. Let's see. Maybe it's the next Mitchie Marner. But you got to address the toughness, and apparently they're talking to Wayne Simmons. Yeah, you could be finally getting one right with the Simmons call, Biz,

but back to Spezza, I love the signing. And the Roger Doran, Roger Doran's not who you want to be compared to. I think I would have been compared to Roger Doran. He's like a whiner and stuff. Jake Taylor, ultimate leader, and if you don't know what we're talking about, I don't care if you're 18 years old and you don't know what Major League is, it's one of the best movies of all time. It is so

fucking funny. I was actually watching this movie. It probably was on maybe a month ago. One of the movies that if it comes on, I'm watching the rest of it. You know Bob Uecker? You know the famous... He was a comedian, right, R.A.? Yeah, the guy who was the announcer. Or was Uecker you know the famous he was a comedian right R.A. or was he not

or was he a real announcer baseball player slash announcer yeah but he was also like funny as hell like basically a comedian so I guess I had that one wrong but he's funny so he's the Yankees in the movie they're bringing in a reliever

and Bob Uecker's like, oh, they're bringing this guy, the Duke, in. It was the quote. I had to look it up. The Duke leads the leagues and saves strikeouts per inning and hits batsmen.

This guy threw his own kid in a father-son game. So it's one of a million one lines throughout that movie. Check it out. Don't be like-liners throughout that movie, so check it out. Don't be like Hall and Eberle when I was telling them about great movies that they didn't know about Tommy Boy. They wouldn't watch Tommy Boy

because they'd never heard of it. Don't be the young guy who won't watch an old movie. Yeah, no, that's a great one, and I know sometimes I get rambling on, but going back to the Spezza re-signing, I feel it's kind of like that Patrick Marleau vibe, other than the fact you don't got to pay him $5 million, you're paying him $700.

He had a fairly good year last year based on numbers. And now if he can repeat that at making $700 and to be that mentor that all these younger guys like in the locker room, I mean, that's a steal. People were ecstatic from Toronto who'd watched him all year last year seeing they got him for that cheap resigning him so he gets to go home and hey maybe they can make a little noise and he can potentially bring a cup back to his home city one of my followers made the joke is that said that morgan riley looked like todd parker from

boogie nights when they were about to rob the coattail at the end he's like you're gonna open the fucking safe and the fucking floor give us like, you're going to open the fucking safe and the fucking floor and give us all the fucking money because he had the fucking mustache. He looks fucking exactly like him. That's a pretty good comparison. Somebody said a lot skinnier version of Mall Cop. Who's the guy, King of Queens guy?

Paul Blatt. Oh. Yeah, I thought that was good. So Morgan Rielly bringing that sex and fire after Roman Yossi, just one-upping him. A little stash action. All right, another sign, and the Flyers signed defenseman Justin Braun to a two-year, $3.6 million deal.

Basically, the reason this happened was Matt Niskanen decided to retire. He had told the Flyers a couple weeks ago, and they said, well, take some time to mull it over. Apparently, he didn't change his mind. He was scheduled to make $5.75 million this year. Now, I don't know if he officially put in his paperwork. Obviously you can say you're retired and not put your paperwork in. So, you know, I know the team can suspend you.

So, you know, that money won't count against the cap. They haven't got to that. But either way, they brought Justin Braun in. Two-year, $3.6 million deal. Kind of, I guess, a stopgap measure, Biz, where you're losing a guy of Niskanen's quality, eh? I mean, I can respect a guy who can walk away from that much money. I know that with the uncertainty that's going on,

and I think he's just like, I've made over $40 million. I've played just under 900 games. I don't want to beat up my body anymore. Over 900 games, Biz. Oh, did I say – I thought I said just under 900 games. I don't want to beat up my body anymore. How many times have you played over 900 games, Biz? Oh, did I say – I thought I said just over 900 games. I think he's at 948, closer to 950 anyway. But, I mean, he's got a Stanley Cup. I think – that's a wonderful career.

He's had an unreal career. And I think that he went to – he was in Dallas, then he went to Pittsburgh, really kind of blossomed there, went to Washington. It was great. Philly ends it, and it shows, you know, you're giving up that much money and you're also giving up getting to 1,000 games. It kind of proves that when the mind's done, you know, it goes –

the body follows. He probably just didn't have what it takes. You start thinking about what it takes to go into getting ready for a season and just mentally a lot of guys are over it so congrats to him on an amazing career and a stanley cup and plenty of money here's uh here's another football analogy who's the guy that is it talib talib the guy talib he got offered a deal by the patriots at the beginning this year and like he he just like, he's looking at the other tight ends who he's going to have to play against. And he's like, ah, I'm just a little bit mentally checked out

and I don't think I can compete at a high level. And I think they were offering him like $6 million. And most of it was going to be guaranteed. So, you know, I commend guys who can walk away when they just know they're not into it. And now that team gets to go save money and spend it somewhere else on guys who actually have their hearts into it. Very commendable.

Well said, Biz. Well said. Next up, Winnipeg Jets signed defenseman Dylan DeMello to a four-year, $12 million deal. The 27-year-old was obtained from Ottawa Pride, said the deadline for a third rounder. He wasn't making a ton of dough before this, but I'm guessing Winnipeg liked what they seen out of him. Four-year, $ was obtained from Ottawa. Pryor said the deadline for a third rounder. He wasn't making a ton of dough before this, but I'm guessing Winnipeg liked what they seen out of him. Four-year, $12 million deal with.

Did this surprise you at all with that number? Maybe a little bit. I mean, Cap, it was three, or was it over that? Was it 12 points? It wasn't even three? It's three now, but before, I'll double-check what it was before. It was significantly smaller on his last deal. So, I mean, they look at him as a guy who's going to be in the top six uh i don't think you're breaking the bank at all and you you obviously acquired him in a trade

so you have your scouts when you're thinking about trading for pieces and you look at players that you're possibly talking uh with you know their teams the gm boat and that was a guy they like so then he came over and gave them the 10 games. He had no points or anything, but he played in the playoffs in the four games for Winnipeg. And I don't know that much about him, but I know that he's, he's obviously doing enough where they think he can be in their top six for the next four years.

How about that breakdown? I mean, pretty good for not knowing one thing about him. Yeah. I don't, I don't know one thing about him yeah i don't i don't know one thing about this guy um you know i could no i'm not even chirping him i'm gonna watch now good fucking deal for him congratulations that's a payday so i'm not sure listen there's only so much storage up in this noggin of mine i think i actually might have played against him when he was playing with the san jose barracuda. Name sounds familiar. He got a nice raise. He was making 900 grand the last two years.

So going from that to 3 million there. I remember him in San Jose cause they were playing like meaningful games and he's with Ottawa. He just, you know, we didn't mention by the way, the difference in the second overall pick to LA and the third to Ottawa. Talk about a fight to want to go number two overall forget being higher LA or Ottawa yeah that's a yeah but hey but Ottawa Ottawa did get a couple really good picks like they ended up doing all right yeah I think those are going to be guys that are going to be able to jump in the lineup in in the next few years from what they're saying, from what the experts are saying, from what Craig Button's yelling to me on television.

Love you, Craig. After playing last season in Finland, after previously requesting a trade from Edmonton, the Oilers brought back their number four overall pick from the 16 draft, Jesse Pugliavi. He inked a two-year, $2.35 million deal. It's 1.175 AAV. He's on loan

to Carpat over in Finland, but he can rejoin the Oilers once next season's details are ironed out. So it looks like these two had a little bit of a pissing match. Both sides get over it, and they're going to bring them back into the fold whenever the NHL starts back again, Biz. Oh, baby.

Do I fucking love drama in the Battle of Albertaberta and this is like another thing that like i know it doesn't have to do with each team playing each other but who knows what this kid's gonna be they were very high on him he could end up being a very big piece some of these guys take a little bit later to develop that relationship's obviously not in a great place they finally met on on contract and what he wanted when i don't even know enough does he have so did he like not burn a year off his deal because he went and played a year overseas uh like he's still going to be restricted for the same amount of time he would have as it just got bumped back here? So for me, it's just like –

Yeah, yeah. Oh, age-wise because he's older. Well, the thing is, is that he left because he wanted more ice time. He was like – he basically wanted things that he hadn't earned yet, I thought. And there's tons of talent there, but he certainly wasn't doing anything that was like warranting him being on the first line playing with McDavid. So maybe he went over there and kind of, I mean, last year he had a great year in the Finnish league,

but you still don't know if he comes back and he's going to make a difference. What's weird is that they were seem to like men, like men with the issue. They, they fixed the issue pretty quick between the team and the player. I don't know if they said you're going to get every chance to play on a top two line. And that's what pleased him enough or the money was enough. I don't know what he's going to give

because there was times he looked great and there was times you're like, I don't know about the hockey IQs there. So I'd love to maybe talk to some Oilers fans. Maybe you can reach out to us. Are you fired up about this kid still? Or are you thinking, oh my God, we had the fourth overall pick in 2016

in which Matthew Kachuk went after him. It's like Misurgachev went after him. Are you more thinking like, fuck, what did we do? So if you give him the chance and he succeeds, great for him. And if he doesn't, it was a total whiff on a very high pick and a good draft. I mean, if you're the Oilers fans, though, you just got to be like, you got to see this as a positive because, you know, you could end up winning the lottery.

It's like a scratch ticket at this point, and they need another piece. I know there's a couple guys there that they're not going to bring back. Anthony Ucio, I saw that they're not going to qualify him. It is right now in the NHL, man, you are going to see so many talented players not get qualifying offers just given with what the cap situation is. It's a bloodbath out there right now, Whit. Yeah. The pandemic, everything has caused such uncertainty with everything

and the issue of trying to get under this flat cap. And it certainly sucks the year that you're a free agent when this is all going down and then also i i don't understand how teams are going to approach like all these rfa like i saw there was a long list of the guys toronto didn't qualify and you never would you never would see this many this many players by each team not receiving their qualifying offers but you just got to make tough choices and i'm glad I'm not making them. I think that we're just judging them. I think even given those, there's a, there's a hard cap in the NHL.

Now it makes teams able to compete in a quicker amount of time. Like you can, you can have quicker rebuilds because of it. In this case scenario, I think you can see teams who are like bottom feeders, like Ottawa become like an unbelievable team in like two years just because like so much of the so many of these young guys are having these impacts and like I don't Kyle Turris is is not a player he once was but like he like guys like like of that caliber like all of a sudden they they miss us they lose a step and these younger guys coming in are like

even faster than what they were before and it's like guys like that are just going to keep getting bought out and weeded out like crazy. Yeah, the thing is the buyouts, they're so common and people wonder, oh my God, why are so many people getting bought out now? And they're given these contracts, GMs knowing there's a chance they're going to get bought out. I firmly believe that guys are like, listen,

we've got to pay them this now. They're not going to be worth it. Worst case, we buy them out. It's just going to be happening more and more and more. Yeah. Okay. That's fair. Now, Torres is young enough where none of them are hoping the guys are going to be bought out.

But you understand now in this age with what the cap is and where you need to get as a team to maybe try to win a Stanley Cup if you think a player can help you do that you know the last few years of this deal with some of these got this certain deals with some of these guys is is is the guys either going to retire which probably isn't going to happen unless you're Niskanen you just don't give a fuck about six million or we're gonna have to buy them out. Yeah, I guess in Turris' case, you've got to think, and with Nashville being a smaller market, they probably have a lot less leash in order to sign these guys or these risky deals where they think there's a possibility.

Well, here's the thing. I think that Nashville, they traded Bonino. We'll get into that. And they bought out Turris because that's a sign to me they want to go after somebody. Like, all right, Hall. Maybe they want to go after Taylor Hall, so they're just freeing up room. But in the end, they're probably going because that's a sign to me they want to go after somebody. Like, all right, Hall, maybe they want to go after Taylor Hall, so they're just freeing up room.

But in the end, they're probably going to go after and sign somebody to a deal that in fucking six years it could be the same thing. So it's a weird time. It's definitely a tough time to be an older player. That's kind of been happening for a while now, but this is only added to it. Yeah, to your earlier point, Pugliaiavi, he actually did finish his entry-level deal.

This is only a two-year deal he signed, so he will still be RFA after this contract is up. So Edmonton will still have his rights after this current contract. Okay. Thank you, R. Absolutely. And we do have some trades. Yeah, like you said, with some trades going down,

San Jose obtained both goalie, Devin Dubnik and forward Ryan Donato from Minnesota in two separate deals. The Sharks got Dubnik in a seventh rounder in 2022 for a fifth round in 2022. They got Donato for a third in 2021. The 34 year old goalie Dubnik is in the last year of a six year deal that pays him 4.33 million. 24 year old Donato has one year left at a $1.9 million deal. He'll be an RFA at the next season.

Billy Guerin sheds over $6 million in salary. He had about 12.5 in cap space. Obviously, these moves happened under different GMs, but the organization, again, this isn't picking on Guerin at all, but they ended up getting rid of Charlie Coyle for a fourth and a third. And after seeing the way he's performed in Boston the last couple of years, that's just, that's tough management asset. Again, it's not Guerin's fault that it preceded him,

but that's not a lot to get for a guy of a player his caliber for sure. Oh, that's a tough one. They're making, Minnesota's getting a little noisy. Billy G's been a busy guy. Yeah, I said it a couple of weeks ago. If we want to change, there's got a little noisy. Billy G's been a busy guy. Yeah, I said it a couple weeks ago. If we want to change, there's got to be change. So you knew this was coming after the stall deal. And I still think Ryan Donato can be a good player in the NHL.

I really do. So he'll get a bigger, probably a better chance to have a bigger role in San Jose. And Dubnik, they needed a goal. We talked about the possibility of this because the rumor mill was flying, I think, the last episode, unless that was us just talking on Zoom. But they needed help in goaltending, right? And Dubnyk's been able to have a career where he's bounced back from a time when it looked like he'd never be a full-time NHL starter.

And he went on to just be one of the best for a few years. So I think he goes to San Jose with a lot to prove and also in a competition to win that starting role. Those weren't the only moves Minnesota made. They also traded Luke Coonan in a fourth-round pick to Nashville for Nicky Bones, Nick Bonino, in a second and third-round picks. The 32-year-old Bonino was in the last year deal, paying him $4.1 million. It's only $2.4 in actual dollars, though, that Manny has to pay him.

Of course, he won two cups with Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old Coonan just finished his entry-level deal. He's a restricted free agent. He had 15 goals, 16 assists in 63 games last season. So, again, it just seems like Guerin's trying to make a culture change in the locker room here.

Luke Coonan took over our Facebook page. I don't know if you guys remember from the World Juniors in 2016. He did a Facebook page take I don't know if you guys remember from the World Juniors in like 2016. He did a Facebook page takeover for us. No way. Yeah. Was he on screen doing anything? Yeah, Charlie McAvoy and Colin White from the World Juniors.

Whoa, that's a nice threesome right there. The Rat Rink himself. Should we get him on again? Maybe. When you come on the show? Maybe. I was surprised by this move. I think that Guerin brings in a veteran who's won two Stanley Cups.

I love Bones. Nick Bonino, he's got one year left on that deal. But Koonin, I mean, he's young. He's a first-round pick four years ago. Now, maybe he kind of was asking for more money than Minnesota was willing to pay, and they figured they'll get a veteran in. What were the draft picks in this deal? All right.

Uh, Coonan in a fourth to Nashville for Nick Bonino, uh, in a second and a third round. Okay. So yeah, then Garen thinks I'm going to get up. I'm going to,

I'm going to get an extra pick in the draft. Both of them higher than the one I'm dishing out. Uh, I, I think you can't judge this trade at all yet, which is normal. I mean, who's going to say you can judge a trade the day after what a

fucking stupid comment. But Coonan could go and light it up and be a really good second-line player in Nashville for a long time. And then the trade could be like, oh, Minnesota gave up on a kid young. Or Bones has a ton of value next year for Minnesota, and then they use that second and third pick to draft some studs as opposed to the one-fourth they gave up. So it's going to take a few years to figure this one out,

but it certainly makes sense. If Guerin wants to make changes and maybe can't sign a guy that's a young kid looking for too much money or more money he thinks than he's worth. Speaking of can't waiting, does that make sense? Can't waiting to see something play out, this Matt Murray deal out of Pittsburgh. That's like the one on most

because rutherford's made a few bad moves the jack johnson signing that's a tough one right like now like as of late he hasn't made the best moves what like i mean i i know that bringing bringing murray back probably wasn't likely based on what he wanted in money ra and i would imagine we would have been already going over that subject correct yeah had it done a little further but it's all in the trades the trade chat here yeah the Penguins sent goalie Matt Murray to Ottawa for forward Jonathan Gruden in a second rounder on Wednesday well which was the 52nd overall pick in the draft uh Murray of course currently RFA he made 3.75 mil the last three years Gruden is a 20 20 year old forward taken in the fourth round of the 18 draft played in london last season no nhl experience yet um but curious to see what kind of number murray ends up with in ottawa man i mean i don't you gotta think at least five million no

for starters so i i read online so it must be true i think he was asking for yeah north of five and i want to say it was closer to six so it's obvious that pittsburgh wasn't going to be willing to pay him that thinking that jari's the the superior goalie and you mentioned went higher pick younger and has been far better as of late i just i don't know man like flurry went murray maybe even did auto even find out if he like i guess he has no option he's rfa but it's kind of a ballsy move by Ottawa. If they don't even know if the guy wants to be there or like what he wants for money, unless they're just thinking, all right, we figured out,

we talked to people, we know what he wants. This is what we'll give them. But still, yeah, it is weird to see how that's going to play out. And not to shit on Ottawa, but also getting a goalie where you're going to be able to sign a starter within reason because he is restricted, right? Because when you're making that trade, you're trading over the fact that he's going to have to sign with Ottawa.

And I don't know, not to shit on Ottawa, but maybe a lot of these free agent goalies are like, yeah, you're not on my list, right? Just taking a huge, massive skydump on the 60 shots a game. Yeah. She just sent over a quote from Haley Salvi and she covers the sense for the athletic and it's from Pierre Dorian. He said, without a doubt, we see Matt Murray as a number one goalie in this league. So I don't know. I think money can, can easily convince the guy. And if, Hey,

if you don't want to fucking sign there, he's an asset. I'm sure somebody would, would grab and give up something for him. Some nice new jerseys in Ottawa too. Those things are pretty fresh. They went to fucking sign there, he's an asset. I'm sure somebody would grab and give up something for him. Some nice new jerseys in Ottawa, too. Those things are pretty fresh. They went to the old school, I believe. They went to their original jersey. Yeah. That's when they picked Brian the Beast Berard.

Going old school. Some of these GMs, man, they got a lot of holes to fill right now, Biz, and they might want to check out ZipRecruiter to fill some of those holes. When it comes to scoring great highs for your business, you may be up against some obstacles, like lots of applicants, but difficulty finding the right ones for your job, or finding time to hire while running your business, plus trying to ensure workplace safety. That's why you need ZipRecruiter on your team. No matter the industry, healthcare, to manufacturing, to business services, ZipRecruiter makes hiring faster and easier. And now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash chicklets. First,

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slash chicklets zip recruiter the smartest way to hire and we're not done yet still got a lot a lot of personnel stuff here is to get to the habs they sent max domey in a third rounder in 2020 to columbus for josh anderson uh they were both restricted free agents they were actually golfing together when they got word of this trade, which is pretty crazy. Two guys all golfing together and get traded for each other. The 26-year-old Anderson is coming off a three-year deal worth $1.85 million per year, but he battled injuries last year after scoring 27 goals

the previous season. Domi had 17 goals, 27 assists, and 71 games for the Habs last year. He just finished a two-year deal that paid him 3.15 mil, and he's got to get a nice little raise. This just come over the wire. He signed a two-year, $10.6 million deal with Columbus, 5.3 a year. That deal will take him to unrestricted free agency. This is a very curious deal, wouldn't you say?

Yeah, I wouldn't say curious. curious sorry i just dropped my mic but i would say um that it proves and especially with the domi quotes after that he and claude julian did not get along there was no love lost between those two i don't think julian liked him as a player and i know domi didn't like playing for him i think when asked about it he said no comment or it wasn't great or something where he's kind of open that he wasn't happy with his role in Montreal. And Josh Anderson's exactly what Montreal needs. I think he's physical, he's fast.

And I was a little surprised at how much money Max Domi got. He's had one huge year. He's been consistent other than that. But he had kind of a tough playoff this year for Montreal. And, you know, after that, it wasn't a surprise to see him get moved. I'm sure he didn't want to be there anymore. And Anderson was a guy who I kind of felt like he loved Columbus. Now, I don't know him. That's totally me guessing.

And maybe that's just because how hard he plays and where he would do that anywhere. It wouldn't be a surprise. It'll look like he loves wherever he's playing. But I like the trade a lot for Montreal. I think if Max Domi can can have a year I think what was it two years ago he had over 70 points um so you notice times where he can be dominant out there and the way he can kind of especially in the power play like control the puck he's a half wall guy

he's got great vision great skill but Josh Anderson's such a completely different player I mean he's in your face he's running over. He's more of a power forward. So, yeah, the first year with Montreal, Domi was great. So, I forgot. I thought it was the Arizona the last year there. So, I guess it was a little surprising. I was more surprised that Anderson was out of Columbus than I was that Domi was traded for Montreal, though.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going to take nothing that happened last year, just given with the injury and the no production. Jesus. Going back to the year before, 27 goals. Like, you think this guy, given his size and the way he can skate and score goals, it's evident that that's Montreal type of player that they needed. They needed to address size because the minute they get in the playoffs,

they had a lot of small forwards. As far as Max, don't be concerned. He's got to be ecstatic with that number i mean especially after having an off year i think he's being paid above market value for what he did as you mentioned the year before that plays into it now we talked about his you know his ability and and maybe adding that physicality to his game i'm going to guess that's not going to be much of an option going over to play for torts. I'm sure that's one way he's going to want to mold him more into a full 200-foot player who has a bit of bite to his game.

I'm interested to see how that relationship goes because he's not any easier to play for than Claude Julien. Very interesting trade. Got shit popping online yesterday. So interested to see how this one pans out as well, R.A. No doubt, no doubt. Did you say they were golfing when they found – they were golfing together? Yeah, they were golfing with each other.

So they're good buddies? Found out they get traded for each other. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they played juniors together. That is pretty random, huh? One other trade note too, Biz, your boy Oliver Ekman-Lasson set a Friday deadline for a trade to either Boston or Vancouver. The agent said if there's no deal by free agency, he's staying put in Arizona.

I don't know if he's bluffing or whatever, but either way, that's what his agent said. If no deal by then, he's staying put in Vancouver and Boston, the two teams that were hot for him. So keep an eye on that. Trade me right fucking now. We had some buyouts, man. Like you said a few minutes ago, buyouts, all the rage this week.

A lot of these deals that teams signed a few years ago, a little bit of regret right now. The Habs bought out Carl Alsner. He had two years left, a little over four and a half left per year. He's going to get $833K for each of the next four years, and the Caps will have various cap hits for the next four years as well. I can read the numbers, but they get pretty boring after a while. Jack Johnson was bought out by the Penguins.

He had three years left at $3.25 million per. The move's going to save about $2 million in cap space for each of the next two seasons for the team. Johnson will get roughly $5.5 million of that contract, so he'll get some of that dough back. Justin Abilcator was also put on waivers for the purpose of a buyout. He had three years left on his deal at $4.25 per. He'll get just over a million for the next six years.

The Red Wings will have cap hits of varying degrees over the next five years. So all guys that are losing a step, you know, the skating isn't there anymore. The skating wasn't what it was when they were at their peak. And that's exactly what biz and I were talking about. That's when, that's why it's surprising that some of these guys had that many years left on their deal. That's when you really wonder when a deal is signed, can you tell right away? Oh, I don't know about this one in a few,

in a few years from now. sign can you tell right away oh i don't know about this one in a few in a few years from now the nhl buyouts like the the cash for life scratch tickets get bought out you get fucking the bobby bonilla special it's probably like that alonzo morning like gif where he's like pouts and then he's like yeah i got bought out but yeah tourists is buyouts insane what is he oh he was the next one. National put Torres, same thing, on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout. He had four years left at $6 million per. He's going to get $2 million a year for the next eight years. The Preds will take a $2 million cap hit as well.

But it gives the Preds $4 million in cap savings for four years remaining on his deal. Still lost $8 million. Fucking sucks. Are you kidding me? With as much as he's made, I'll see you on my fucking island. Bye. What was his deal before this one? Hey, look him up right now.

I bet she's got at least $35 million made already. $35 already. Estimated career earnings listed as 34 on cap from i don't know i'm assuming i mean that's gonna drop that's gonna drop to to 26 well i'm not getting eight of the million that's probably included i guess oh that's not up to up to date okay well my apologies but i still think that that's a boatload of money that you'll never run out of, and he can go live on it. He could find an island in Canada somewhere to live on. I didn't say what island.

You were thinking Bahamas, weren't you? Well, that's your own fault. Assuming makes an asset of you. Also, two guys. I know you're talking about losing a step, but some of these guys could also be potential steals for teams next year because they made their money. They're not going to be looking for big money. Look, it's Shaddy.

I mean, exactly. A guy like Taurus, man. I mean, you know, I know he wasn't too successful in Nashville, but you plug him in on a top nine on a contender and he could have a productive year. He's not going to be worried about the dough because he's already made it. So I don't know. We've seen it happen. Could happen again. So anyways, these transactions have been brought to you by Bud Light Salsa. You've heard us talk about it before, but it's the delicious hard salsa from Bud Light. Just one gram of sugar, 100 calories, and five times filtered for no aftertaste. Bud Light Salsa just launched three new flavors in the variety pack remix edition with pineapple, cranberry, and grapefruit.

And not sure if you guys saw this, but in honor of the Tampa Bay Lightning finally winning the cup, Bud Light is going to be rolling out Bud Lightning special edition packaging in the Tampa Bay area. Check out Bud Light's Twitter to see them for yourself. And if you're a Lightning fan, look for them out in stores soon. As always, Spittin' Chickens listeners can always get BudLight.com slash delivery to get Bud Light and Bud Light Salsa delivered right to your door. Once again, BudLight.com slash delivery. Get that Bud Light, Bud Light Salsa delivered right to your door. Biz, you mentioned Ken Holland a few minutes ago said he's not going to be making or he doesn't think he'll be making qualifying offers to Anthony CU.

He's also not going to Matt Benning. Like you said, the feeling around the league, there's going to be a lot of these guys not getting qualified, so there's going to be a lot of UFAs probably out there. We also want to send best wishes to our pal Connor McDavid. He tested positive for COVID. It sounds like he's doing all right. He's a young, healthy guy. So hopefully he'll get through it fine. But I texted him. I texted him to like, come on the show. I'm like,

what's up, bro? I'm like, come on the show. We can rip on your contractor again. And then, then you know two minutes later i'm scrolling through twitter and then i think i got a text from you granelli about it about the fact that you got covid so i'm like oh this guy probably thinks i'm trying to like bait him into an interview about his fucking diagnosis i'd send him a text right after i was like dude i just found out you had covid my apologies we're not trying to gouge you for an interview so get well connor sorry about. But if you want to come on after you're healed up, we can rip on your contractor. Feel free.

The story will be Biz Gives COVID to McDavid via text. Story at 11. Well, I mean, hey. Not the first time. Yeah, yeah. I'm still waiting for my idea. You can send somebody a text with a fart. Just buries them right in the face when you open it up.

Like the smell and everything. Oh, they smell it? Oh, yeah. We just mentioned the Sens going back to the old uniforms. Well, the Calgary Flames are doing the same as well. I've always said before, I'm a huge fan of the old Atlanta Flames jerseys, and they're going with them full-time, basically pretty much all red, none of the, like, the black and the flags and all the other kind of, I don't know, bells and whistles they had on it's just a nice clean neat looking jersey so looking forward to

seeing maddie kachuk on that next next season they did a little content video to release him did you guys see it like uh like a back to the future retro night style thing with like a thunderbird they rolled in so now he's called no more johnny hockey it's johnny content he's the new content he's doing it all there in calgary. Was he looking slender biz or what? Oh, he had a poofy jacket on. I will say that more rumors. Hey, now by the way, by the way, we're going to revisit this. Johnny Goudreau, like more talk about him on the trading blocks. All right. Could you back me up on this please?

I mean, it depends who's saying it. it i that's my thing always is it is it rumors is it like one of the the big guys in canada where did you hear it from because you're doing this again the internet this last episode where did you read it on on twitter what the fuck is this like we have is this groundhog day we did this last week so okay listen i'm gonna who's on to who i'm gonna eat it okay i'm gonna eat it but i'm saying if it happens within the next year and a half i was right if he goes over to philly yeah i mean you were right but you're yeah yeah okay you're right 100 you will be right but you're – yeah, yeah. Okay, you're right. A hundred percent, you will be right. But who tweeted it this time?

And I think I said this last time. And then you searched Twitter and there was no tweet. No, I don't want to reveal my sources. Is that what they say? Is that the whole – That's the line. That's the line. You're an insider. Yeah.

Okay. Well, we'll see. Well, that's been the Rumor mill corner brought to you by biz nasty uh we're gonna uh we're gonna end this one up because we just lost ra his power went out of his hotel you said you got a storm going on in your uh in neck of the woods as well right wit winds howling through massachusetts right now it's honking wind yeah that's the that's the term honking when you're describing back in the day when you were partying last thing we'll say before we end the episode um golf i'm going with taylor piatt on friday we're gonna start going once a week but i'm okay biz but i'm playing where i'm playing

the ball out ball and cup i'm gonna find out my actual handicap no fucking gimmies none of that you know all the rules though and stuff absolutely not all right come on fair enough fair enough we just we just released some uh new driver head covers some uh wood covers for uh on barstool sports.com slash chiclets and chiclets branded stuff again we'll be having some more golf stuff coming out soon and peter millar sandbaggers coming up holy shit we got like uh beer pong tables we got flasks. We got ball markers. We got jammers for at the Washington Capital Games when you're sitting right next to Lundquist. They come signed, too.

Signed Lundquist jammers. Mold of his cock. We sell chapstick. We sell like fucking pencils. It's a one-stop shop. It's like going to Staples, but it's chiclets. We got staplers, like the office-based style. Where's my stapler?

Where's my stapler? Where's my stapler? I don't know if you've seen that movie. Last thing I actually will say is, speaking of the office, the Anaheim Ducks draft room looked like a scene. Oh, that was pathetic. How angry did Bob Murray look making that selection oh my goodness like it's just a ball of anger that guy yeah oh my god between between the that and the

the hostage situation in toronto that that was uh that was pretty funny as far as setups anyway guys we've went long enough hopefully you enjoyed the episode and uh go yotes and johnny's johnny's going to philly Hopefully you enjoyed the episode. And go Yotes. Peace. And Johnny's going to Philly. Have a great one, everyone. This guy I work with is so fucked up. If all of you work with people who are completely tapped in the head,

send me a message. DHM Detox. Yeah. Biz 20 promo code swipe up. And one last note, guys, I wanted to add. Tuesday was a very sad day for music fans, for rock and roll fans, and for guitar fans as the legend Eddie Van Halen succumbed to cancer at just 65 years old after battling the disease for over a decade. Quite simply, Eddie Van Halen was an absolute wizard with a guitar.

He inspired generations of kids to pick up an axe like he did. And I've said it before, I'll never be a music teacher. I can't tell you who's playing what half the time or what's going on. But I can always tell when it was Eddie Van Halen. He had that distinctive sound like Jimi Hendrix or Chuck Berry before him. Eddie Van Halen created his own sound and it'll be copied for eternity. And it's been copied for 40 years now. It's going to be copied for another 140. Like a lot of rock fans, I was a Van Halen fan until 1984 dropped the album. And then everybody was a Van Halen fan, a super fan. Everybody and their mother of Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher. I mean, those are still songs that are iconic today. And Eddie Van Halen was the pulse behind all of them. So I guess the best

part about him, we could say it wasn't just his playing. It was the fact that seemingly everybody loved the guy. I mean, everybody who tweeted about him, I know when people pass away, everybody tends to say good things, but these are a lot of people who might not otherwise say nice things about people all had good things to say about Eddie Van Halen. He was well-loved and the best part was every time he played the guitar, he was having a blast out there. He looked like he was a 15-year-old kid just having genuine fun ripping up the guitar. And that's the image I'll always have

when playing that white, black, and red vintage guitar he always had. So our sympathies to his friends and family. Eddie Van Halen left a hell of a legacy both as a musician and as a human being. So we wanted to acknowledge that. So again, our condolences to his family and friends. All right, gang, that should wrap up episode 301. Once again,

big thanks to Ian Moran for joining us for his draft expertise. And a reminder, we are back to one episode a week. So we will see you a week from today. Have a great week and a great weekend, everybody. As always, we like to thank our sponsors here on Spit and Chicklets. Big thanks to everybody over at New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney. Big thanks to everybody over at FUBU TV.

Huge thanks to our friends over at DHM Detox. Big thanks to everybody over at Zip Recruiter. And a huge thanks to our friends at Bud Light Cell. Keep it quality. I've seen her, so bad and pretty, booger with a style and ease. And I feel her from across the room. Yes, it's love in the third degree. Ooh, baby, baby.

Portia, till you're at my waist. Ooh, baby, baby. Outro Music