Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 310: Featuring Allan Walsh + Glen Metropolit

Episode Date: December 10, 2020

On Episode 310 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Allan Walsh and Glen Metropolit. Allan joined (21:59) to discuss the CBA, the NHL returning to play, his relationship with Gary Bettman, Marc-Andre Fleury and tons more. The guys then hear about Whit’s worst day ever while RA records from a fans house. The boys also discuss the new divisions for next season and the January 13th start date. Metro then joined (01:20:05) to talk about his career, his crazy path to the NHL, playing overseas and more.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 310 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What's up, gang? Good to get back in the saddle again last week. Looks like things are coming together for the upcoming season.

We'll get to that shortly. Let's say hi to the fellas first. Mikey Grinelli, our producer. How goes it, brother? It goes very well. I found out Grinellacoff is being added to NHL 21. I bought myself some Christmas decorations, and I received an extremely nice text from Keith Yandel last night

complimenting the NBD merch that Ryan is wearing right now. So I'm in a very, very chipper mood. Would you have ever thought in a million years you'd be in a fucking video game, G? Nope. No chance. Keith's still waiting for a DM reply. Zonk. Wait, Grinnell, are you going to be a free agent

or like a draft pick? No, Grinnellikoff, like the name Grinnellikoff has been added. So they had the announcers go back and rerecord the name Grinnellikov. So anytime, like, my guy scores a goal or you can create a player and you can be Grinnellikov. Wait, you didn't name him Grinnellikov?

I named him Grinnellikov, yes, because I'm Russian. Born in Siberia. There's an I, right? It's not Grinnellikov. Is there the I there? Oh, yeah, Grinnellikov, yes, but it's Grinnellikov. Okay, that's what I wanted to make sure. Pronunciation wet. Promo? Oh, yeah. Grinnell cough. Yes, but it's Grinnell e-cough. Okay. That's what I wanted to make sure.

Pronunciation wet. Promo code biz 20, 20% off Russian gas. Biz is making money off the Grinnell cough jerseys that could possibly be sold someday. Men's league sweater. Shout out. What's up, Biz Nasty? What's going on? We just interviewed Wolski.

It hasn't released yet, but he was talking about the vitamins. We got some we got some well i know but he ain't going to be dropping this episode but so so everyone listening doesn't know that that happened but so we have two more terms now we already have two terms total we have the russian gas and the vitamins looking forward to you guys hearing that one you have a big amount big announcement all right um well i got a couple announcements first off i have to give a shout out to Drew and Brendan here in St. Petersburg, Florida, for allowing me to use the Internet in their Florida room. I have Wi-Fi in my hotel room, but it didn't have enough juice to do the show. So he said, see what you can do. And a couple of listeners, I met them getting a Cuban sandwich the other day,

and they were very generous and allowed me to come and record the show. So if I buy a place in Florida, can you grab who did their ceiling for me? Cause I'm going to call them. I like the old, I told him the old school vibe reminded me of the house I grew up in with that the 1960s tile and ship by what I'm looking at right now. It looks like someone,

someone is living in there that Dexter's going to end up off at some point. Good. No one, you are a Grinnell. He's going to end up off at some point. Good knowing you are, eh? Grinnelli's going to have to start hosting the show now, too. Yeah, no, it's just a little paint chip. I'm just going to make sure I don't eat them on my tuna like I did when I was a kid. But yeah, Biz, you did mention we have a major program and note we want to share. We'll be dropping our next episode on the tune. Can I get introduced?

One time I don't. Last but not least, the wit dog, ryan whitney sorry don't be sorry i need to explain to you my monday you know you have those days i actually thought at the end of the day i was like at least i can tell this story on the podcast so i wake up early 6 30 i grab wyatt i take the diaper off this dude hoses all over me hits me in the chin i'm covered in his piss whatever no big deal like that happens all the time so but this one caught me in the chin you know it's up in the face it's disgusting so whatever the day goes along my back's killing me all of a sudden i i just moved quick like that's where i'm at right now where i'm just making quick movements it's locking up it's a nightmare i

actually i said fuck like because i knew i i'm now doing i'm now done for two days you know locked up yeah so now i'm like oh my god it's not even 8 30 or maybe it's like 9 30 at this point so the day goes along the day goes along and i'm now going to go get an mri on my neck now it just so happened that my neck locked up the day that i was going to get the mri this thing's been scheduled for about a week i'm trying to get figured out what's going on in my upper back it's just whatever i don't want to get into it so i'm driving along. Saturday, we'll take you back two days. I bought a new car, 2021 Cadillac Escalade. This thing is a beast. I looked at it online. I loved it. So I went and got it. I'm driving along. I'm driving along. Saturday, I enjoy it. Sunday, I'm like, this car is great. So I'm driving along. Sorry, I went back there. Driving along, driving is great so I'm driving along sorry I went back there

driving along driving along Monday I'm driving the MRI I'm like this car is so fucking awesome like they change the insides just love driving it 70 miles an hour buddy the car broke down no completely I'm like what the fuck I thought I ran something over where it felt like there was a human or maybe a cone or something that I'm dragging. Like the thump, the thump, the thump. I get over. Immediately, I go over to the breakdown lane. This is on 95 North, right?

This is right near Waltham. The cars are buzzing. Cars are going 70 to 90 miles an hour. And there's a breakdown lane, but it's not that wide. And you see the horror stories of people fucking look at. It's scary as fuck. Dude. Yeah.

Two hours. Two hours I waited. The car said rear axis AXIS off or something like that. I don't know what's going on. At one point, it wouldn't even start. I turned it off. I tried to restart it. It started and it was shaking like I was in a fuck like on the Gravitron.

Remember that that ride at Canobie Lake or that's more spinny but still i'm sitting there i'm panicking because cars are buzzing by and this car now won't even turn on and i'm like this brand new fucking car you shitting me so i wait two hours i get towed to the dealership to get a loaner car but now i had to miss the mri so i had to call i had cancer the MRI. I'm like, what a fucking day. My neck's killing me. I smell like piss and I can't even get the MRI I need along with my brand new truck being a fucking lemon. So I get home. I grab my phone sitting on the couch. I go on Twitter. I'm so embarrassed to admit I'm like a I'm like a 70 year old with pulling this move. This is something that you get grandfathers with. I'm a grandfather. And I get a tweet that's now deleted Grinelli from like Twitter support team or whatever.

Looked very official. Blue checkmark. i click on the link i don't know 1700 followers says something like there's a copyright infringement in one of your tweets sign in now to correct this issue now i immediately think back first of all i immediately think back to like we got emails or something that music on twitter could get you suspended grinnell you know what i'm talking about i was like oh i don know. Maybe I have a song on there. Lots of DMCA's flying around right now. I sign into this thing. It takes you to a link where you just put in your Twitter name and password.

Next thing you know, boom, boom, boom, my phone's going off. Like a July 4th fireworks, my phone. They hacked into my Instagram, my Gmail, my Twitter, my – there was one more. What was the other one? Venmo, you said Venmo. My Venmo. I don't know what the fuck happened, but they overtook it.

They were signing in from Turkey. They were signing in from California. There was one in Louisiana. Just I was getting attacked. CL Team 69. Yeah, so everything, everything that Monday, you know, you think of people out there and they're struggling and they're having a tough time. Think of Ryan Whitney's Monday,

December 6th, the Russians finally got their payback. Russians are getting their payback. They're coming after you, but you followed up with that wolski interview and talk about battling back and and grinding through it oh this guy this you guys are gonna love this interview and it isn't today i didn't mean to interrupt you it isn't today but you're gonna love it so all right i needed the intro because i needed to get it off my chest that's fun that's hilarious because i was like i got distracted when biz mentioned to throw it to

the the program and you know we had i got caught up with that. First off, I do want to mention, we do have two guests on today's episode. We have player agent, Alan Walsh. He comes on to break down and put it into layman's terms. What's going on with the league and the union and all the bullshit of the last couple of weeks. And we chatted with him for a bit. Interesting fella. Like I said, he has a pretty fun Twitter follow as well. And we have Glenn Metropolitan who was an NHL veteran for about 10, 12 years played here in Boston for a little bit while I'm in Florida now,

but a great little player, man. I enjoyed watching him play. He had, he has a very interesting story from where he came from and the fact he made it to the NHL, he, he certainly beat the odds. So we'll be getting to that a little bit shortly. But yeah, biz, we want to let the folks know we're going to be switching things up a little bit here on checklists. Instead of dropping on Thursdays, we are going to be dropping on Tuesdays, starting this upcoming Tuesday, the 15th. And we'll be doing each subsequent Tuesday going forward for, I don't know, I guess the foreseeable future. I know you guys wanted to chime in here, Biz, if you want to go first.

Well, it's awesome. Another thing, too, is we just dropped our first full episode on YouTube, episode 309 with Pierre Maguire on Monday. So the plan was, is Thursdays and Mondays and Grinnelly's like, why not give these people the ability to listen during the week if they're commuting, dropping it on Tuesday, but also we're going to be able to follow up two days later. So Thursday mornings, or actually, sorry, in the afternoon Thursdays. So two days later, basically, with the full YouTube length episode. So I know it's not right away, like some people do it, we're trying to innovate and get better and pay attention to the consumer, you guys,

and we feel like the Tuesday drop and then followed by the Thursday YouTube launch will be perfect. And everybody can get what they need at the right time. So that's, that's how I feel about it with the, our users kind of direct us to what we do. Yeah. And I saw some, you know, not a ton, but some complaints of like, well, why would you draw some, someone wrote me, why would you drop it as the pod on Tuesday and not right then as the video. And that just doesn't, it doesn't make sense. And in the end, if you'd rather watch it on video, you just wait two extra days. It ends up being the same thing, right? So I actually enjoy doing it. I think it's cool. You think you also,

if you listen to our pod, I think if you went and watch certain things and when conversations are happening, I think you'd have totally different opinions on like how our relationships are, how the podcast goes. Cause I think there's times that we probably sound either more serious or more joking around than we are actually when you see us on camera. Do you know what I mean? I would completely agree. So YouTube's cool. You're getting into that. We did the chicklets cup.

Grinnelli's, you know, we've, we've, we've really grown that channel, that YouTube channel. And we have so many funny videos. I think when you get guests on that that are telling good stories and the way they're animated. So I love it. And, and you mentioned already that we are going to one a week. Yeah. Starting Tuesday. So, yeah. So I, I, I, I hope people aren't really disappointed by that. I, I, I understand. For good. Yeah. Yeah. We're good. We're going to one episode a good for good yeah this is good yeah we're good

we're going to one episode a week for good and i and i if you are disappointed i am sorry about that because we appreciate so much that you want like more content from us before and and that's like the craziest feeling in the world but personally and and the guys um we all kind of agree that i think our show is better once a week i think that it's i think it's fresher or is it but personally and the guys we all kind of agree that I think our show is better once a week I think it's fresher or is it more fresh boys? sorry I'm real bad with that

fresher thank you so listen going forward I think you're going to love it because I think the product is going to get better I think it's going to get improved I think we're going to be able to do interviews right before the day of the show which changes changes in terms of like banking interviews and how things can go stale. So we love all of you guys. We appreciate your support in more than you'd ever

understand. Realistically, I promise you that. But two days a week at times, it was just a little too much. You know, hockey's a weird game. You need a little bit more time to digest the major stories. And instead of boring you with some details and stats that we don't really want to get into ourselves because we don't know that much about, you stick with one week period of NHL events and our lives and you go at it and we have, you know, two to two and a half great hours a week.

So the sand baggers are going to be getting bigger. So we just want to say thank you and kind of explain why we will be going back to one episode a week. Biz, when you came on, going to two episodes a week was an awesome idea. It was it was great. And it really, really helped us grow. And then I think like any profession or job, like you reach certain plateau, you know, you can plateau and you can kind of figure out what's working, what's not. So we're going to go back to once a week and we're excited. Guys, we're still learning. This is, this is very new. And as I said, the reason I spend so much time online, it's like, I try to read what the consumer wants and I think going down,

read the room a little bit. And, and it just like, we're not newsbreakers. We kind of ingest everything that's going on and what people are saying, and we give our opinions on it. And more than anything, we just want to have fun and get these awesome stories out of these guys. And, guys, we talked about one of the guests today, Alan Walsh. We don't know a lot about how the behind-the-scenes business aspect works. And we got him on, and he breaks a lot of things down

to where we would have never been able to. And, Chris, I i mean like when you're asking me to do that type of stuff i sound like that that kid there's that video on youtube when he's like charlie it's charlie like two minutes and then you got to try to listen to my opinion on something i know nothing about so we're just going to ask the stories we're going to get great guests on we're going to have a ball and uh is that pretty is that is that summed up well, G? Yeah, and I think also, I'm sorry, G, I mean to cut you there, but it's Tuesdays pretty much right after the weekend too, and big stuff tends to happen on the weekends, at least news-wise,

like to wrap up the weekend. And it's better to do that with a Tuesday up than a Thursday episode as well. Done. Done. And we're going to be able to focus on all new things too. I think that's the emphasis here is all these sandbaggers are coming out. We have the animations, the Twitch channels. There's so many different avenues we can take this brand.

And we're going to be able to do that now because of. Yeah. Like Alan Walsh, first Gary Bettman, and Rye from Rowdy in Winnipeg. It's going to be fucking tremendous. Looking forward to you guys listening to this interview. And what else do we got before that? Imagine the training videos of those two.

They have knee braces on hitting the bag yeah well there's the reason we're all here obviously the nhl and it's looking like we're gonna get a 50 game 56 game schedule uh looking to start mid-january january 13th is the date being bandied about uh there's gonna be four divisions they're gonna be the all canada. And then we get a little mix up from what they first reported. We got Boston, Buffalo, New Jersey, the Islanders ranges. Let's see, Philly, Pittsburgh, Washington, a one division, Carolina, Columbus, Detroit, Chicago, Florida, Minnesota, Nashville, Tampa, and another Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, LA, San Jose, St. Louis, Vancouver, sorry, not, Vegas, and the other.

So that's a nice little wrinkle different than what we got before. Camps could open as early as January 3rd. They might expand the rosters a little bit given the situation with COVID. But bottom line is, as Ann will tell us shortly, is the NHL owners try to fucking squeeze a little bit more money and the players weren't going to have it. And they essentially called their bluff. But either way, we're going to have hockey soon enough, boys.

What say you, Whit? I just love seeing that we have concrete news. Does that make sense? Concrete news? Things that are now facts, that we're getting a season. Now, I don't think many people, or they shouldn't have worried about the whole season being canceled, but I think it's going to work out good.

I know we talked about how is it going to go down even the first time with COVID and the way it's increased now. It's like there are certain question marks, but just to have news as a hockey fan that we'll be getting action soon enough, that we're going to have storylines, we're going to have a stanley cup winner and maybe at some point we do have fans at the end if the vaccine's out next year by june who knows it's just positive news to know that we have action soon enough the only crazy thing is is that that many games in that short amount of time with with not that much time to get ready because who knows how people are gonna like guys flying in and traveling right now there's certain question marks out there to really

confuse you in terms of how camp's gonna go so you could see maybe injuries here there we don't want to say that but you know busy you gotta get the body going you gotta get feeling loose you can't just hop into these these games groins would be that was my one thing. I was happy to hear 56 games, not too much. I don't know how they're going to condense the schedule. Cause if they do do it like really tight wrap, then you probably will see the same amount of injuries you would have seen in an 82 game season. But 56 is perfect. I played in a, or so did you, in a 48 game season, a half year lockout. It was, was you know it was a sprint sprint right out of the

gate you got to have a good start you got to sustain it you got to be rolling into playoffs so it's going to be exciting hockey from the drop of the puck there's always the upside of the fact that they're going to start reintroducing fans which is the man if they could ever get to back to 100 capacity we all know that playoffs with with fans is it's an electric factory but 56 games i would assume less injuries and then we're going to get the same type of playoffs given the circumstance of a pandemic and on top of that the all canadian division and you're getting these different types of rivalries i love that. Absolute 20 milligram fucking Cialis. I'm hard as a rock right now as far as excitement. Hard as a rock.

All right. I just think that the whole thought process on the divisions and how it all broke down is crazy to me because Colorado and Tampa are going to just murder teams. And it's crazy to see that the, the, what's the division on the Metro is the, is the, it's the toughest division of the, of the, in the league, I would say. Right. And it got even harder. You pretty much what you're looking at. So it's going to be,

it's going to be weird to watch how it all plays out. I love the all Canada thing, biz. I think that those rivalries will be sick. Now, here's what I'm wondering, and I'm sure they're on the ball, but you got to think if a team's going in to place a division opponent, you should play two games, right? At least two games every time. Back-to-back or, I don't know, three in five days so you can really limit how many times

teams have to travel I'm sure that'll go down but I had the idea I didn't suspect they would do it biz but going instead of four divisions I know everyone gets hung up on that go five divisions right have each division when automatically get in the playoffs and then

the next 11 highest points and then see them one through 16 the NHL has done wackier things in the playoffs. And then the next 11 highest points and then seed them one through 16. The NHL has done wackier things in the history as far as playoff history where you can just get any two fucking random teams. Like who cares? It's going to be an off year. My brain doesn't have the capacity. That would be unreal.

Yeah. My brain doesn't have the capacity to understand what you just broke down. But hey, if somebody, some of you are listening, thinks RA has got a point, let's roll it, baby. baby yeah let's talk to gary let's get gary on basically what he's saying he's saying the coyotes could play vegas in the cup final yeah and they actually did see them i want to say it was 1980 maybe they stayed they seeded them 1 through 16 for a couple years there so you know you had like the bruins versus the kings and like the first round of the playoffs you're like crazy matchups that you know that would be that would be so i think that would make the playoffs so i think the it would explode the viewership i think that

would be huge yeah there'll be such an x factor and hey i mean fuck it if it's already going to be you know a different sort of season then you know fucking diving on both feet right all right well like we mentioned we reached out to Agent Alan Walsh to break this down for us simpletons on the show and maybe make it more in layman's terms for you guys. But first, we want to mention that this interview is brought to you by Boikies. B-O-I-K-E-Y-S.

Boikies makes the most delicious air-dried beef called biltong. Think of a healthier version of jerky with 30% more protein. Our buddy Timmy Stapleton is behind this venture. Boikies biltong. Think of a healthier version of jerky with 30% more protein. Our buddy Timmy Stapleton is behind this venture. Boikies biltong is often compared to a tender and flavorful slice of high end prosciutto with ingredients that you can pronounce like red wine vinegar, toasted coriander, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Boikies biltong is a snack you can count on to fill you up and

not bring it down. Made in the United States with USDA bought up round beef, Boyke's takes pride in making the most portable high protein power snack. Think of each two ounce package as a perfectly seasoned five ounce steak. The only preservatives they use are vinegar and salt and compared to most jerky, Biltong contains about half the sodium and zero sugar. You can buy Boyke's Biltong on their website. Go to www.boikeys.com. You can also go to Amazon and at checkout, use the promo code biz25. Yes. For 25% off your first order.

And check them out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as well, at Eat Boykies. Definitely check that stuff out. We sing its praises all the time because it's so damn good. And now we're going to send it over to Alan Walsh for his perspective. Well, and now we're going to bring on a gentleman who can help explain what's transpired over the last week or so regarding the league, the union, all this kind of scuttlebutt about CBA.

He's an agent for several NHL players, perhaps most famously Marc-Andre Fleury. He also runs a pretty robust Twitter account, at Walsh A. Thanks so much for joining us on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. Alan Walsh, how are you, Alan? I'm doing great. How are you guys doing? We're doing fantastic, especially now it looks like hockey's coming. Alan, I guess, was it as simple as the owners didn't like what they signed back in the summer and wanted to mulligan on this whole thing?

My personal opinion is Gary Bettman made a bet that by December or January, the pandemic would be past us. And we'd be able to put at least at the beginning of the season, about 25% capacity of fans into buildings. And very soon thereafter, moved to 50%. That was the thinking back in June and July as the deal was being consummated. And my feeling is that Gary, for the first time in a long time, made a bet that didn't pan out. We're in a situation now where the virus is out of control. In North America, many cities are shut down. The likelihood of having fans in buildings through the regular season

until around May 2021 is somewhat more and more remote, which means we're looking at a worst case scenario revenue wise for the NHL. Now, when you look at what happened and then the report comes out that there's several owners who are like, I never even signed up for this. What did you think was the story behind that? Were some of those guys maybe didn't like it and it happened anyways, or they actually didn't know what was the real numbers and what was actually going to go down, as crazy as that may sound? I think a lot of people don't appreciate the dynamic that takes place on the league side. Gary has an executive committee of the Board of Governors, which are eight owners. The rest of the owners are very much out of the loop as to the progress of negotiations. Very little information is shared.

How do I know? Because some of them are calling me asking me what I know. And I was flabbergasted to get some of those calls. So Gary's got these eight owners. I don't know to what level he shares what is going on progress-wise, day-to-day, week-to-week with his, I call him the gang of eight. Well, I was going to call him a cult. What do you call the cult? I call him the gang of eight. And the gang of eight, you know, I think is more informed than the other group, larger group of owners. But I am not surprised at all that many owners did not actually know the contents of the agreement until the very last minute before being asked to ratify it.

And just quickly, would you say that the Grinch, Jeremy Jacobs, is the number one leader of the billionaires and bullies club? We're going to get whacked. Yeah. But he's running those eight guys, would you say? Are you not even willing to say that on record? I'm not willing to say that on record. Okay.

There we go. Fiz, go ahead. Well, I mean, you've been through a lot of these lockouts. Obviously, this is a very different circumstance. Do you think it was completely unfair that the fact that the way it was portrayed in the media as to how they wanted to renegotiate where it was – it was essentially being presented as something else my my own take on it was uh there was a deal the deal was negotiated and ratified by both sides the deal specifically took into account a worst case scenario for 2021, a moderate case scenario

revenue wise, and a best case scenario. And all the scenarios were considered in coming to I don't think the NHL was really that intent on getting any real significant change to the deal. Why? Because we're only talking about a timing of payment issue. The owners are guaranteed in this deal to be made whole to the penny. They're getting their 50-50. People don't understand. People are saying, but the players are going to get their salaries and there's going to be no revenue. Yes, for one year, we are delinking off of 50-50, but, and it's an important but, as revenues recover, and then as we get the new US TV deal that comes into play,

the owners are going to be getting more than 50-50, and the players will be getting less until both sides are equalized at exactly 50-50. The only thing we don't know is it going to take two years, three years, four years until both sides are equalized because only at that point will we see any meaningful rise of the upper limit. I mean, and for everyone at home listening, those owners, when you look, this year is a little different. The players are making their money, even though there is no money coming in with the gate. I mean, those guys aren't making that deal unless they know they're being made whole however many years it takes. They're not stupid, you know. I couldn't have said it better

myself, Ryan. Thank you. I appreciate that. I've been told I could be a lawyer at some point in my life. Oh, man. What did you have, R.A.? I was going to say, Alan, realistically, when's the next labor issue going to pop up? It always seems like there's just one around the corner every time we cross one bridge. Well, I don't want to jinx anything, but we have now a deal encompassing the next six years with an option for a seventh. So I'm hoping we have entered into a unprecedented period of labor peace where the focus can actually turn to growing the game. And if the focus goes there to growing the game, I think that we will soon, within the next four or five years, be up around 90 million upper limit, maybe even by the end of this CBA, be touching almost 100 million in upper limit, which means the owners are making money.

We'll have a new TV deal, revenue streaming deal, sports betting, money coming off of the tracking devices. There's a whole bunch of pockets of revenue out there that can be captured. And I'm not even talking about things that should be and could be done in Europe. So you think that the league is maybe moving a little bit too slow in a lot of other regards in the overall picture of the businesses, you said growing the game. It's a pretty vague comment. Do you mean more like the NBA as well,

as far as like lifting these personalities up if you could just I mean if that was a fair question to ask absolutely you know it might be a little bit before your time biz but when the New York Rangers won the cup in 1994 there was a famous cover of Sports Illustrated calling the NHL the hot game in town. And it specifically said on the cover, the NHL is hot, the NBA is not. And at the time, the two leagues were fairly close to each other in overall league-wide revenue.

What happened? All the momentum after the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup got shut down with Gary Bettman locking the players out to start the 94-95 season, lost half a season. It was a very acrimonious negotiation, and it took several years for the NHL to recover from that. The thing is, though, I would argue in a sense that the price of the game makes it so much more difficult. Like basketball, just because of the amount of people that are playing. I know your points, and they're valid. It's just the games are so different that I don't even really try thinking about um comparing the two but when i look at or hear you bring up the new tv deal the us tv deal that'll come are they going to be able to to use as negotiations the tv networks that the viewership

was actually down throughout the pandemic and that numbers went down i don't know why every sport's been that way since this all hit but will that end up hurting the league at all i don't know why every sport's been that way since this all hit, but will that end up hurting the league at all? I don't think so. You're 100% correct. Ratings were down between 40 and 61%, whether we're talking about the rights holders in Canada or the U.S. with NBC. or the U.S. with NBC. That's a huge number. And many of the other sports were down as well, 10, 15 percent, not as much. Hockey was playing a non-traditional calendar. No one had ever had hockey, you know, played in the summer months like that before. You had five games a day on all kinds of different networks. I was searching, you know, USA network. Where is this game? You know, I couldn't find it.

You have to really work hard sometimes to find the games you wanted to watch. So I don't think that experience is going to hurt the value of the rights going forward, especially since I'm hearing and it's no great secret, there's been a lot of speculation on this for the last couple of years, that there's going to be a carve-out to the rights with ESPN getting a game of the week and maybe even some games in the playoffs as well. That all needs to be worked out. But getting hockey back on ESPN is going to just put so many more eyeballs on the NHL.

You know, I love the game. I believe it's a compelling game. There's no greater game to watch live. And it's time to take hockey to the NHL to the next level through rights, through TV, through TV, through a concerted effort to sell the players because they're the product. It's easy for us to rip Bettman, but to his defense, you mentioned the New York Rangers after they won the Cup. I think the Forbes valuation just came out of what the team values were.

They came in at the top at 1.65, Leafs were at 1.5. I believe Montreal was just south of that at 1.35. Like, what good things do you think that he's done for the game and, you know, and other things that he's opened up to the players as far as growing revenues and this and that, that you believe that he should get credit for? You asking that question? I mean, like,

that's like, Hey, wait, uh, tell me the great things about rigs. You sandbag and son of a bitch. But, but, but I mean, he's had to have done some things properly in order to grow it. And I mean, I know play there's not one or a few things positive that you can say about him um i i i have been a fairly vocal critic of of gary betman um for many many years i'm sure you're not shocked to hear it i i think he's done a a an excellent job representing his constituency of owners. Fair. What people need to remember is that Gary was the godfather of the salary cap in the NBA. He was David Stern's number two man.

Bruce McNall, as owner of the LA Kings, went and met with David Stern back in 1992 and begged David Stern to come to the NHL as its first commissioner. Gary's the first commissioner in the history of the NHL. Before Gary, it was just a president, but they wanted a commissioner and they wanted someone with stature and they wanted somebody to come in and bring a salary cap to the NHL. And David Stern said, look, I got a great gig here at the NBA, but my guy, Gary Bettman will be perfect for you. He's ready. And it was on David Stern's recommendation that Bruce McNall came back to the other owners and said, I found the guy who we need to hire as the first commissioner of the NHL. in 92-93 and that was to set up a salary cap in 1994 set up a salary cap and get that implemented ASAP and it didn't work out for him in 95 and he learned a lot from that experience. But when he got to 2004, Gary was determined to get a salary cap. And before the lockout started, I believe, he had buy-in from the owners to burn a year.

because Gary told the owners, you guys want a cap. I'll deliver a cap. The only way we're getting a cap is if we burn a year. That's what it's going to take to crush the players. And he was right. He was right. Looking back at that time. Oh, sorry.

I didn't mean to interrupt you. No, no, go ahead. No, it was about that time. That's when I came into the league. And I remember how some guys were, we can't have a cap. We can't have a cap. I remember thinking that'd be awesome. But is there any chance that they're not going to get what they want? It was once you knew the year was done, it was like, they'll probably do another year. They don't care. This isn't their number one source of revenue for these billionaires. I just thought there was never a chance it wouldn't be when they really decided. Here's the thing, Ryan. Bob Goodenow read the room correctly, and he read the situation correctly before the lockout started. Because I remember I was there.

Back in around 2002. Bob went around on the fall tour, met with every team. And starting in 2002, he was saying to guys, save your money. Put your money away. We are going to be locked out in 2004. And it's going to go 18 months. The players are going to have to stay united for 18 months. The owners have decided to burn a year. And the only way we're going to withstand this attack and come out without a cap is to,

when the first year is gone and there's no negotiations again until December of the following year and the owners are looking at canceling a second season, that's when we can make the deal without a cap. He was right. You believe that? You believe if they held out until then, they would have got no cap? 100%. I'm convinced of it. guarantee it guarantee it every owner was in for one year no one was in for two years and gary batman told the owners the players will not stick together for a second year and he was right what did you make of, would you say they were holding the Olympics hostage to the players to see what they can get what they wanted?

Is that a fair assessment? I think the, you know, to me, the Olympics has always been an overblown issue. How many players actually go to the olympics all the play if you took a vote of the players they all want to go they all are in favor of the nhl going but in my mind it's 12 days in hawaii it'd benefit exactly if you're not going it's even better right i'll pay to go how badly do you need that vacation you know are you willing to sell you know your your your your economic livelihood in the future down the road for those 12 days in hawaii the the olympics are as as beneficial or even more beneficial to the league and the owners who are getting their product, their game, their best players showcased on the international stage for free. You know, it's, it's, it's, and it's, it's, go ahead.

Well, I was going to say, but, but looking to the other way, I always feel that they're using the NHL's product. And I know in, in, in basketball in the summer Olympics, it may not work this always feel that they're using the nhl's product and i know in in basketball in the summer olympics it may not work this way but they're looking at like we're shutting down our business so you can use our products and that's probably in the winter olympics the most watched thing would that be fairly accurate to say why shouldn't the league also be able to better benefit off maybe some of the tv rights of that in order to like compensate everyone for for what's going on and that's

kind of playing devil's advocate again with with the whole hostage situation of the olympics but you mentioned earlier to growing the league you mentioned europe was that kind of like in that whole realm of what you were talking about overseas yeah but i think the nhl's european strategy and and and non-north american strategy has been a joke. What do they do? They go over to Sweden, go over to Finland, go over to Czech Republic, play two games, and then come back and disappear. That's not a strategy. That's not a way to really build a base of support. And they did the same thing in China. A couple of NHL teams went over to China, played a couple of games, and they haven't been back since. What is that? You need

to lay seeds at grassroots level. And there is no, if anyone said to people working the NHL, Anyone said to people working the NHL, please tell us what your global strategy is. You would hear crickets. Well, we go over and play a couple of games. That's not a strategy. And to me, it is, I mean, London, Berlin, Paris. Paris. You know, there's huge markets out there that would embrace NHL if they just tried to sell the game in those areas. Yeah, the NHL's never had that sort of dream team moment that, you know, basketball did back in 92 with Jordan and Bird and Magic. I don't know why we haven't. We certainly have, you know, commensurate superstars, but we just can't get to that level.

I don't know why we haven't. We certainly have commensurate superstars, but we just can't get to that level. What I want to ask, Alan, it looks like we're going to have a 56-game slate this year, mid-January start. Are the players that you talk to generally fine with that setup so far? Sure. I mean, every player I talk to wants to play as many games as possible. And whether it's 56 or 52, as many as possible. Look, it's not ideal. This is going to be a very difficult year. Everyone's concerned that the players and

staff and everyone involved in putting on games can remain healthy and we can start the season and not have to stop the season and make it through to the end. And I think you want to talk about Gary Bettman and hats off to the NHL. I had personally, and I'll admit it, a lot of doubts about the bubble concept and whether it would work, whether we'd have a bunch of positive tests once players got into the bubbles. And they pulled it off. And really, it's a remarkable feat. Not one positive test after players got into the bubbles in the two cities. Remarkable. And I trust that whatever logistics are, when both sides work together, as they did to finish the 1920 season, when both sides work together, they can figure these things out. And I think for all of us, the most important thing is that we start the season sometime in January or no later than February 1, but that we end the season too. I was going to hop in here and just ask you, you're for sure the most vocal agent on Twitter as far as hockey is concerned. You love and represent your players better than anyone.

The whole Fleury situation, was that just because you've been with them for so long, there was so much emotion attached to it to where you decided to cook up this meme on your own. I don't know if you outsourced it and you dropped this thing in the midst of playoffs. That was absolute fucking

bananas and thank you for the entertainment, by the way. How did that whole situation break down okay so you really been wanting to ask that question since the moment i came on that's why i wanted you on so i wanted you on listen you're so much smarter and all this stuff than we are and i'm learning a lot what alan thinks yeah i want that painting above my bed. Yeah. You know, with all due respect, guys, that I know that it may seem like a cop-out right now. I prefer not to get into any in-depth discussion on that.

Let me guess. You had a bottle of Opus One in you. You were celebrating the billion dollars in contracts you have, and you're a little ticked off that your boy flurry with those gorgeous teeth. Who's made a lot of saves in those yellow pads was maybe getting the short end of the stick. And, uh, Hey, let's just chalk it up to that buddy. But Hey, you got the internet popping as you, as you always do. Uh, do you, have you ever like walked in a room with Gary? Like is there clear animosity there is Obviously, there's a bit of hatred.

Or is it strictly business? It's strictly business. You know, I've always said when, I mean, if I were, hypothetically speaking, of course, because it would never happen, if I were working for the league, right, a lot of what I'm saying now and what Gary and people with the league are saying, I would be saying what they're saying. And if Gary were an agent or working at the NHLPA, he'd be saying what Don Feer says. Right. So it's really not ever personal. It's really just a matter of, you know, this is the side that I'm on. I've, I wanted to be on this side since I was a kid.

I've always been a players guy from my earliest memory. You know, I never cheered for John Ziegler or Clarence Campbell. I always was a player's guy. And I ended up pursuing that passion to, to represent players. But who knows, you know, I wasn't planning to become a prosecutor. It happened right out of law school. You know, I may have taken to become a prosecutor. It happened right out of law school. You know, I may have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque back then and gone and worked for the league or gone and worked for a team. You should have made memes. You'd be a gazillionaire.

Did you make the meme? Did you make it? Did you make the meme? That's the one question. Come on, Walshie. Give me something for fuck's sake. Well, no. Is this guy that good of an artist, or is he like this at outsourcing it?

You mentioned quickly, though, you were a prosecutor. You went from Montreal, and then you went out to L.A. You're working for the district attorney out there. At any point at that time, did you think there was a chance you'd be back in hockey or were you so in love with the game? Like you mentioned that the whole time you were only working towards that. I went to law school in LA with the idea that out of law school, I would work in hockey in some capacity. And I had no idea what. I never really had thought about even becoming an agent. And in my last year of law school, I started an externship at the DA's

office. In the state of California, it's very unique. A law student with two years of law school done could actually make appearances in court as long as they have a licensed attorney sitting next to them. So I was going down in my third year of law school and running a preliminary hearing court, doing preliminary hearings on my own with a experienced 30-year-plus prosecutor sitting next to me reading the LA Times. And I was doing robberies and burglaries and possession of cocaine for sale and assault with deadly weapons, felon with guns, attempted murder. And I was like, I'm in court. I'm arguing these cases before a judge.

I'm still in my third year of law school. This is amazing. And I really fell in love with that work, became a prosecutor and ended up staying in the office for five years. But over the course of those five years, I worked for four of those years at a unit called the Hardcore Gang Division. And the only thing I did for four years were gang murder cases, And the only thing I did for four years were gang murder cases, one after the other. And I prosecuted 40.

And I was 29, turning 30 years of age. I just done my 40th murder case. And I was ready to move on to something else. You only have so many trials in you. You only have the ability to go through living in trial for so long and i was ready to move on and i was determined to to go work in hockey in some capacity then i actually read uh read an article that at one point you were the youngest lawyer to ever try a murder case in the state of california which is wild and the second thing is if 40 cases what was the right were you 40 and all flurry numbers kind of deal you get yeah or your chicklets murder cases i was

i was i was i was 39 and one wow and that one case i mean what i don't know what you can and can't talk about but did any point throughout that case you you mean what i don't know what you can and can't talk about but did any point throughout that case you you figured um i don't know if i have this one locked up like was it early on uh i i remember feeling midway through the case that it probably shouldn't have been filed yeah and it had to do with the the the quality of the eyewitnesses um all of my eyewitnesses were in state prison and all of them had multiple felonies so we were bringing my witnesses out of the lockup in an orange jumpsuit chained legs ankles chained together yeah tough look for all your witnesses who saw the shooting and they were all

being members is there no states or am i making up that even if that were the case some some states would have them in a suit like you could could dress up a witness? Defendant. Oh. Yeah, I see what you're saying. So, you know, for a murder case, it's very rare to have a defendant out on bail. O.J. Simpson is one of the most famous examples, but he would be in lockup wearing blue or orange. He would come out to the courtroom and the cameras would be on. He was always wearing a suit and a tie.

Shifting it back to some of your career highlights. I mean, you represent so many star players. We mentioned Marc-Andre Fleury. Maybe mention a few of the highlights, like things that really stick out since you joined hockey maybe cup ceremonies or or moments for for certain guys uh just highlight a few for us i mean with with flower i remember his uh first game in the nhl and uh uh the funny thing is uh mario lemieux there, right, in the room. And Flower was really nervous.

And the guys told me after the game that Fleury had jumped out of his chair and was running, started running down the runway towards the ice. And Mario yelled at him, you know, Fleury, Fleury. And he turns around and Fleury's like, yeah. He's like, you forgot your stick. And Fleury's like, yeah, he's like, you forgot your stick. And Fleury's like, oh, and he had to run back and go get his goalie stick. He was about to go out on the ice without it. There's so many stories.

Guys, you know, Martin Havlat, he and I, you know, it was a lifetime of brotherhood together. Ups and downs, great moments. Patrick Elias, Pascal Dupuy. Okay. You know, just one of the greats, you know, super duper. Yeah, with Dupuy, I had the chance of playing with him. I was on that team that brought over Hossa and Pascal Dupuy. And he, tell me if I'm wrong. I mean, he was kind of thought of as a throw in on that team that brought over hosa and pascal dupuy and he tell me if i'm wrong i mean

he was kind of thought of as a throw-in on that deal you know hosa was the big name and at the deadline and what a career he ended up having i mean he just to be a stanley cup champion and do what he did in pittsburgh was he fired up when that trade happened and and ready for a new spot or did he like being in at? Not that many people did. So, you know, Pascal Dupuis, one of the super duper, one of the great, great teammates. One of the, you know, I was with Pascal from the time he was 18 years old, you know, meeting his wife, having kids.

You spend, you know, your whole, a big part of your life with them off the ice. You live it with them. And just to me, the most rewarding thing, Mike Rupp. You know, Mike Rupp I represented for a number of years and still very close with him. You really become part of a family. You really do. And to me, the most gratifying thing is after a player has retired,

to maintain that relationship beyond being agent and player and how the strength of that bond carries on into the next phase of of the player's life where you know on any given day i have as many conversations with retired players who were clients of mine for 18 20, 25 years as I do players currently in the league right now. I got one last one for you. Why did you choose LA for law school? Were you a big LA law fan at the time? It's a great question. I was going to McGill University in Montreal. I was born and raised in Montreal. But my mother was an American citizen. So when I was really young, me and my younger brothers all got US passports as well. So the US was open to all of us. And I was actually heading to a law school on the East Coast. And it was a February day in Montreal. It was snowing

like crazy. And I'm driving my Camaro with no snow tires up McTavish going straight up in this storm. I made it halfway up the street next to McGill and the car made it halfway up and hit black ice and started sliding backwards. I was able to get it just over by the sidewalk, dumped the car, trudged through the snow to class, ended up taking the metro and a bus home. And the next day, my dad drove me back to my car with a shovel. And the only thing you could see was the antenna from the car. It was completely buried. Yeah. And, and at that time I got a calendar from law school in LA and had this really good looking blonde in a bikini on the beach reading a law book and i looked at that picture i looked outside i laughed and i said that's where i want to go um i was going to finish up with just from your answer

before it's obvious why you you go online and you stick up for your players because you you know you truly love these these guys last question i have for you before we leave though you fucking put my mind into a torpedo when you talked about the state tax issue and saying that players who play in canada with filing taxes properly would pay the same amount of taxes as someone playing in a state with no state tax alan walsh how the fuck is that possible? Well, there's something in Canada called a retirement compensation agreement where a player can defer up to 50% of what he is earning in a given year. That money is going 50% into a refundable tax account with CCRA and 50% into a self-directed account, player can't touch the money. Now, every year, 50%, they pay normal tax, 50%, no tax at all. It goes into these accounts and they're invested and they grow over time, all tax-free.

Whenever the player wants to collapse these accounts, they have to break all ties with Canada, okay? So they break all their ties with Canada. It could be in the US. it could be anywhere else so a lot of Europeans have RCAs a lot of American players playing in Canada have RCAs and any Canadian player can have an RCA as long as they're willing to break all their ties with canada for 18 to 24 months it's all you got to do seems like a big ristal just separate from canada man canada's guys canada's the shit i mean i have the world juniors i have a i have a very well-known player from czech republic

who played years with the ottawaators and the Toronto Maple Leafs. And he had an RCA with, you know, many millions of dollars in there. And when he was done, when he was done in the NHL, he actually moved with his family to Barbados for two years. And for two years, he's sending me pictures on the beach, you know, with a Corona. And I'm like, oh, my God. And during that two year period, he had broken all his ties to Canada. He collapsed the RCA. When you collapse the RCA, You collapse the RCA, you pay a flat 25% tax, and you get all your money. It happens fast.

It happens quick. And after you get your money, you can move back to Canada. All right. There it is, folks. Well, that's a great way to end this thing because that's breaking news to a couple people. That may help some Canadian teams sign some free agents. Who knows? You know, a guy, a guy American who's like, I'll cut all my

ties with Canada. Edmonton might get a top four defenseman now. All right, Alan, thank you so much. It's much appreciated you coming on. It was a lot of fun catching up with you, having you on and getting your insights into the league. So we appreciate it. It's a privilege, guys. Thank you so much, Alan.

Huge thanks so much, Alan. Huge. Thanks so much to Alan for joining us and translating for the layman. A lot of the terminology that sometimes even the guys like us, you guys were in the league. I cover the league and it gets boring. I get tedious talking about memorandums and escrow and all that kind of shit. So Alan basically,

you know, gave his perspective on it and that's always appreciated. We'll have to have him back. He's a colorful fellow. Hey, Biz. Oh, you put me on the spot there. I wasn't ready. Yes, he was awesome.

You've got to be ready on this show. You put him on the spot, too, though. It was kind of karma. I was trying to get him to pump Gary's tires, and he just wouldn't really do it. And you were trying to get him to fess up to fucking killing Fleury. I know. I couldn't believe he didn't talk about Fleury.

I thought he was going to take us back to the night. You're like a National Enquirer journalist. Guys, we're not going to grill you on this podcast. We will ask the difficult questions, but we will not grill you. There we go. All right. We got a few NHL notes. Not a ton went on since last step,

but Flyer signed restricted free agent defenseman Phil Myers to a three-year $7.65 million deal. Comes out to $2.55 million salary cap hit. He's going to be 24 in January. He appears to be a key part of the Philadelphia future on the back line. Four goals, 12 assists in 50 games last season. Witt, as a former defenseman, what's your take on this fella? I like him. Young gun.

I shouldn't say gun, but still solid, right? I mean, the guy moves around it's like silk philly by the way showed out them for being the uh team you make you could make you could have made the most money on last year betting uh on them against the spread is that correct all right you see that well meyer said something to do with that so i when you lock up guys at a young age to deals that right away kind of seem like a team-friendly deal like Sergeyev's right like it was higher than this but you're just like oh he could get more this kid if he was a UFA the way he's looked so far I think he'd he'd be getting a ton of interest but right now Philly's able to lock a guy up at not a ridiculous amount to just keep kind of adding

to like young depth on the blue line there. And Provorov is something else. So you got a leader that's real young too. Okay. This, this might be a crazy question coming from a guy who's supposed to know his stuff. Goss despair. What happened? Did he get injured last year? I don't know. He's just had a couple of years where after he blew up offensively, when he came into the league, like defensively, he struggled. I think they say he turns it over at times where he's, you know,

he was getting healthy scratch at one point. I saw that. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's the current, maybe like, maybe a little bit like myself came in with a little offensive bang. Next thing you know, this guy's got way more skill and he's way faster than I ever was. So I still think he's got that heavy shot

he's got amazing ability to hop into the play but in terms of like what you read in term when coaches are complaining it's defensive stuff but i would say just philly probably one of the more interesting teams moving forward i would say fairly short window like i mean jeru you know he's getting to that age for a checkk. Voracek's a little older. I don't want to say that. The thing is, though, they have young guys, too, and the goalie's so young. So the backbone that you need to get it done, this guy that has looked, all things considered,

as much as we've seen Hart, he's looked like a guy who could win a Stanley Cup, right? So you have him at as young as you ever see goalies dominate. So, like, you don't want to say the window is closing, but those top-level guys who didn't really perform in last year's playoffs and Giroux and stuff and his playoff struggles, those guys are a year older. And I'd say Kyle Hart has extended that window right now.

I mean, he's been so good so soon. He was outstanding in the playoffs last year. So those guys, they're there, you know, their window is going to extend because of that kid, as far as Goss, this beer, he could be just a simple, another player, like a change of scenery might just be what he needs. Like for whatever reason, things haven't worked out the last couple of years for him,

whether it's usage confidence, whatever, he could end up somewhere and being just fine and another team. A hundred percent. But I believe that it's going to be difficult given the circumstances to move that contract because he did sign i want to say at least a four-year deal at a decent average annual salary yeah i'm so excited to just check right now like you're guessing his contract i think i think he's making five million a year he's got three years left at $4.5 million. There you go.

Okay. That's like, what do you do with it? Mathematically close. Same ballpark. I know my stuff kind of. If you're a college hockey fan, you might remember Shane Gossespierre playing for Union. I believe it's Union College.

And Biz, maybe one of the sickest performances in like a Final Four ever. This guy was a ghost. He was a machine in college. What a nickname to when he got perfect pale to. Yeah. Florida, they're going to have what's going to be referred to as a goaltending excellence department.

I love the shooting for the moon there with that name. It's going to be Roberto Luongo, who, yes, we hear you. Please, we'd love to have him on the show as well. Francois Allaire, Rob Tallis, former NHL netminder, and Leo Luongo, Roberto's brother. They're going to be basically the goal-tending excellence department. What do you think of that name, Biz?

I'm just glad Roberto Luongo is not coming on with a podcast. Seriously. He's a fucking guy, man. This guy can do anything he wants and I like the move I mean I talk about Sean Burke all the time because that was like my one main experience playing five years in Phoenix and or Phoenix and the Arizona Coyotes um what he was able to do just with the mental side with Brizgalov and Mike Smith and Dubnik, you know, and I mean, even more recently with Corey Schwab here with Kemper, how it worked out. Well, they got Bobrovsky, a guy they're paying a lot of money, who I think probably needs a little bit of help right now in finding his game again.

And what a perfect guy to bring in, not only to help Bobrovsky but also they do have a young guy in the pipeline who they drafted in the first round Spencer Knight Spencer Knight so great move obviously Roberto Longo has made enough in his career to where he probably wants to stay in Florida and and work closely with an organization that's given him you know a lot of what he's achieved and vice versa. But this kind of worked out better for an organization that needs a little bit of help in that department right now and just an even more unique individual to take that role.

Yeah. Now, playing the other side of it, it is like four guys, right, who all know what they're talking about. I mean, at some point it's like, are they all going to agree on everything? So it is like not often do you see a four-man team for two guys. Now, I guess you could argue that you're talking about the AHL goalies and the prospects as well. So it's an entire organization thing. But you have to think that there's going to be one main guy

working with Bobrovsky, right? I mean, one or two, but get all four. All of a sudden, it's like one goalies with all these coaches. Like, what the fuck's going on? They should just sign you and have you go skate. And just the confidence, you wouldn't score one time. They'd be like, bring Biz in. You know who makes 9,000 saves in a row.

Yeah, it wasn't Sean Burke. It was all those times in practice, just feeding them right in the gut. Come in and dust off my Mylex. It's been a while. Hey, boys, we've noticed our coworkers down in New York City, they've been all over this 3C stuff for months. Now that the Chicklets crew has been able to try them out, we know why. Everybody at New York has been raging about them because they're so good.

In case you're not familiar, 3C is the industry leader in hemp-derived cannabis products. All products are formulated by a biochemist and all products are made in the USA with USA-grown hemp. When 3Chi released their Delta-8 products, they were the first federally legal THC product sold in the United States since prohibition started almost 90 years ago. Delta-8 is the federally legal version of THC and is a more functional alternative to marijuana for those who want the same great feelings without the negative side effects. Delta-8 will have you feeling amazing, yet you'll be functional and clear-headed

instead of lazy and paranoid. Whitdog, I know you got your box last week. You've been checking these out. Phenomenal. Biz. So I wasn't exactly sure 3C all about what was in them. So I read it and I read the box. I saw the THC.

I was like, oh, my God, you can actually they're able to mail these. Pop to felt phenomenal. There's like not not like sleepy. Like you said, all right, it's legit. These things made small amounts of THC. Dude, I was it was 25 degrees out. I was like, if I could play golf right now, I think I'd shoot 15 under par like Kim Jong-un.

Or actually, you know, he shot 53. No, he might have shot like a 38. He was on three chi, I'll tell you that. And they're just, I can't speak high enough. And Grinelli, they sent Grinelli a pen. And the pen is perfect because you can hit that thing anywhere. And like I said, you get a little bit of a high, but the perfect amount where you're just cruising along

and your brain's still moving. I'm on it right now. Can you not tell how smooth I sound? Well, I was going to say, even Grinelli's been on it, and that's why he's more confident he's jumping on here. He's fucking basically a host now. Uh-oh. oh i love me some three chi i'll tell you that much good thing for you too ra i would have called it three chai i thought it was a yeah but it's three chi three chi it's not just the best in the delta 8 industry biz they invented the industry three

cheese delta 8 is 100 hemp derived federally, and available online at 3chi.com. That's the number 3-C-H-I.com. And at select retailers around the country. You must be 21 to purchase. So go to 3chi.com, once again, the number 3-C-H-I.com, to shop for Delta 8 vapes, gummies, tinctures, and oils that can be used to make homemade edibles. delta-8 vapes gummies tinctures and oils that can be used to make homemade edibles use the code chiclets c-h-i-c-l-e-t-s at checkout to receive five percent off your order again you must be 21 to purchase check them out on twitter and instagram at three c-h-i-c-b-d see what they're all about

it's good stuff they've been taking care of the chickens boys no doubt about that three chi three chi a couple other notes before we send it over to glenn metropolitan matt They've been taking care of the chickens, boys. No doubt about that. Three Chi. Three Chi. Three Chi. A couple other notes before we send it over to Glenn Metropolitan. Matt Zuccarello won't be ready for training camp. He had surgery in November. There's no time frame on him yet. But a guy like that, you're going to want him right away because you stop behind the eight ball in a season that's only 56th game on.

It could be over before it starts. I didn't know if i said this when we recorded last week or if i if it was in just our conversation but you can't go like one and eight you know i mean all this if you start two two eight and two it's like man you're running out of time quick to make the playoff so that's what I was talking about in terms of being a sprint. And Zuccarello, he's just proven how long he's able to stay and play well in this league. And he's not the fastest player in the world. He's really quick, and he's got such a high hockey IQ

where he's able to think the game so well. But I wouldn't think of him as like a game-breaker speed-wise ever, really. I don't know about you, Biz as if you disagree with me on that, no, I just didn't see him coming down, like burning people wide. No, just a very smart player.

Kind of like a, I mean, messy might be a tough comparison, but just kind of the best soccer player ever. Yeah. Just kind of shifty. Like there's a player. Yeah.

And we cannot mention Matt Zuccarello without obviously always bringing up the greatest imitation of all time, Patrick Thorson imitating Matt Zuccarello. Get it on YouTube right now. Because his stick's 43 feet long

and his hair's coming out the back and he's hopping around the way Zuccarello did as Biz described. No, you're there. No, you know what? He's Maradona, and I know that he just- R.I.P. Yeah.

R.I.P., but he's- You went hard. Hey, life is life. Just fucking ripping rails, bouncing balls, shoulder, the whole head. Great documentary on HBO, by the way, if you haven't seen it, about Maradona. Which one? About Diego Maradona. Oh, yeah.

It's just Maradona, I believe. Yeah, it came out a year ago. Yeah, it's good shit if you haven't seen it yet. I saw it. I just didn't remember the name of it. Oh, I didn't know. The part when he shows up to, is it Napoli or wherever he went, Italy, and the whole stadium's full just for him to walk in there when he got to the city?

It wasn't even for practice, I don't think. Yeah, absolutely. Hey, there's a clip online. God. Is it Liam Gallagher, the lead singer of Oasis? Yeah, Noah and Liam are the two of them. He tells the story in the clips on Twitter. It's buzzing around.

I ended up retweeting it, but you can't, you could barely understand 25% of what this guy says because he's from Manchester. I ended up retweeting it, but you can't, you could barely understand 25% of what this guy says because he's from Manchester. Is that where he's from in England? And they just had this like very rough English accent, but you got to hear the way

he describes the one time he met Maradona. How do you say it? Maradona? Maradona. Yeah. Diego Maradona. Yeah.

He describes the first time he met him and it's like, it's world classic. He went up just to get a picture, and he said, if you take any of the girls with you, he's going to basically kill you. He would have, too. Yes. How many people watch the Super Bowl? Like 200 million or something?

No, that seems like a lot. I would say worldwide or North worldwide or in north america worldwide what would be your guess i would say my guess was 200 million i would say worldwide probably 500 million worldwide okay well well i'm pretty sure worldwide like over a billion people watch the world cup final so like there's people in the United States and Canada who like dog soccer, aren't fans, whatever, no big deal. But it is the sickest game in the world when you actually watch these high-level teams,

the World Cup, like the Euro. I'm so into it. And the guy who just got to barstool is electric, Grinelli. Is it Troops? Troops. He does those live watches. I think he's an arsenal team. I think it's arsenal.

And he was like, he's like talking about some guys like this fucking guys got more, more goals than our whole team does. Now granted with his English accent, you can't imagine how much better it is than the line. I just tried to say repeating him. So check that guy out. But soccer is where it's at. Cause those guys are the biggest superstars. much better it is than the line I just tried to say repeating him so check that guy out but soccer

is where it's at because those guys are the biggest superstars they are rock stars actors and and athletes all rolled into one all right if we had to pick a team podcast in the soccer world who would we have to pick I would probably have no say in it I'd kind of hear what everyone had to say and agree to something I'd want a premier league team all right 100 i don't follow it enough nearly to to know who would be a good team but i i definitely soccer's one of those sports i didn't grow up with it wasn't big with in the city back in the day and i didn't actually see a game until i was writing for the school newspaper college and had a cover college women's game and i sat down with a couple of players i'm like you know explaining to me and they're, it's just like hockey.

It's like, you bet he was trying to score on a goalie and you don't want to be off sides. Like conceptually it's very huge similarities. I've always said that. I couldn't agree. Check out Wolf Hampton. Wolf Hampton has the funniest chance. You guys will love them. Wolf Hampton. I like the dirt bag teams from like these greasy towns where if like you

strolled in with the opposite jersey, they'd stab you. 100% Wolf Hampton, baby. I'd be the one getting stabbed if we went as fans. I need a team with the luxury boxes that you sit in, with the flat screens and the buffets. Have you guys watched Ted Lasso yet? I want to be fucking drinking whatever English beer out of a guy's man tits in the fucking front row of the degenerate section. That's where I want to be in the soccer world. Oh, fuck me.

Well, back in the world of hockey, apparently Vegas is shopping some players, which isn't too big of a surprise. They're at their salary cap. They need to probably move some guys just to get cap compliant for the year. But we are hearing Max Patch, you're ready. Alec Martinez, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jonathan March. So those are names being put out there.

We're not putting them out there. Other parties have. We're just passing them along. Biz, what do you got, buddy? Well, Whit, you were very critical when they started making some moves of basically how they've established themselves as a very cutthroat organization where it's like, we're making the right play to move or to win, excuse me.

And now all of a sudden, like two fairly significant pieces are like, Oh, these guys are on the blocks. Like who wants them? Yeah. It's just, it's, it's a way different time and team than that first year where it was all these unwanted guys that banded to get, you know, got together for that amazing cup run. Now it's just you're in, you're out. They've signed some great players. They've made some great trades.

This is what happened. So there's really no stability there. Right. teams making moves that win cups, but there's been this stability core of Crosby, Malkin, Letang, you know, Fleury in Pittsburgh and Chicago, you know, Keith, Taves and Kane. And whereas Vegas is just, they haven't won a cup, so it's way different, but they've just been shipping them out and bringing them in.

Going back to the names, if you're a Boston Bruins fan and you find out Max Pacioretty is available, you're immediately trying to think of what can we offer? What kind of package can we put together? Can we fit his salary in? Dude, a winger that can score that many goals and play that, and he's a Bruins-type player, there would be an unreal move for them to try to get him.

Oh, my God, R.A. The fact that you tied that back to the Bruins. Well, it's a team that you talk about another winger, right, for Krejci. Right. Well, and listen, they stayed pretty patient during the free agency period. They didn't stay patient. They lost their best defenseman. Well, right.

But they stayed patient to where they thought maybe an opportunity like this was the reason that they couldn't get over the hump, for fuck's sakes. Whit, are you arguing with me? No, I'm eating a chip. Yeah, I mean, Pat, you're ready. He's got, what, three years left at $7 million per. The Bruins, they only got a little less than $3 million in cap space. They'd have to move some money around.

Tuukka Rask, give them the Knights. They can deal with Fleury, Tuukka Rask, and Rob LeMeneur. There you go. Alan Walsh coming on. You should ask him about that potential. You're a fucking beauty. Let's see. What do we got here?

Oh, this is from our friend Jeff Marrick on the East Coast Hockey League. He said, expect the league to announce that the Cincinnati Cyclones, Idaho Steelheads, and Kalamazoo Wings will not play this season. Obviously, ramifications of all that COVID shit. So it's tough to see because there's obviously a ripple effect. Guys aren't working jobs, and they have to take other jobs, which means other people can't work. So obviously sucks to see.

We know a vaccine is coming. Hopefully, it'll get here sooner, and these guys can get back to work. Everybody can get back to work. Either way, our next guest, he did make his bones in the East Coast Hockey League on his way to the NHL, Glenn Metropolitan, an unreal story. We're going to get to that in one sec. We want to tell you first that his interview was brought to you by Cross Country Mortgage, America's crazy good mortgage company who make it easier to get the financing you need fast. Go to ccmlens.com slash NBD to learn more about your future home buying or refinancing experience. And MLS 3029, equal housing opportunity.

And now we're going to send it over to Glenn Metropolitan. Well, it's a pleasure to welcome our next guest to the show. This forward overcame incredible odds to play pro hockey for 22 years. Despite never playing juniors or college or ever being drafted, he'd gone to play over 400 NHL games for seven franchises. After his NHL career, he went over to Europe and played well into his 40s, and he was recently inducted into the East Coast Hockey League Hall of Fame. Thanks so much for joining us, Glenn Metropolitan.

How's it going, pal? Doing well, guys. Thanks a lot for having me. Good. You say you're in Tampa. How long have you been down there for? Actually, I moved here last August with my son here to get back into hockey and had some momentum going until this beautiful pandemic kind of hit us. But besides that, doing okay. Doing some coaching. It is beautiful. You're doing some coaching down there, correct?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've hooked on with the Tampa Bay Lightning, doing some learn-to-play programs and coaching a few teams, doing some player development. It's been great being back. You're going to be getting a ring. No, I won't be getting a ring. It'll be a plastic one. It's just like the one you can get at any store.

I got to see the cup coming up the river. Yeah, you get the same ones as the ushers. Did you see Maroon piss himself? I saw him at the J. Maroon Stadium. But, yeah, those guys were in one. That's for sure. Well, it's great to finally have you on here. I got a chance to meet you quick a few years back in Boston.

You're good friends with our boy, Brandon Yip, who's been on the show. People love him, but when did you guys first play together? Because he told me, he said, you've got to get Metro on at some point. He's got stories for days. The guy played forever. My boy Yip, he came over when we were in Mannheim together. Jeff Ward was our coach. We went to the championship there. He came

I forget his whole why he got over, if he got released or whatever, but late signing. Came over and we had a great time. Came over with Liz at the time. We won the cup together and just had a blast, man. Just a great guy. Salt of the earth, you know.

He said Mannheim was actually crazy when you guys took it down. Like the whole town, the city was just going nuts. Yeah, it's like they call it hockey town in Germany. Really? Great ownership. I mean, the crowds are amazing. You know, the whole one end of the building, they're just chanting the whole time, right?

So it was enjoyable to be a part of that run, that's for sure. Spent two years there. I was going to say, we just mentioned Tampa. That was one of your many, many hockey stops, Metro. Let's start at the beginning. I mean, like I said, you never played junior, never drafted never drafted never college where were you discovered was it that that role hockey league is that really where it all took off for you well i i had to play roller hockey earned some money in the summer but anyway it's we'll go way back uh you know growing up inner city toronto you know

playing in the host leagues there that were free uh ran by the city down in moss park region park area um from there just kind kind of played wherever I could. You know, I wasn't, you know, raised by a single mom, didn't really have the funds to play in those high-level leagues. And quite frankly, I don't think I was coached. I was too raw anyway to play in those leagues. Then basically high school hockey, a good friend of mine had a tryout. He was kind of like the top player getting recruited for the junior B team

in Richmond Hill. And he was like, I want you to give it a try you know and i'm like oh well how am i gonna get there he luckily he drove so um off i went i was the last cut on a junior b team and then uh rest is history you know two years there and then you know turning 19 all my buddies now are i'm done with hockey partying i was like I got to get out of Toronto. So went out to British Columbia, Vernon, chased the scholarship, got recruited by a lot of schools, signed a letter of intent with Bowling Green that fell through in the summer. And then basically here I go, East coast hockey league tryouts and, you know,

roller hockey in the summer to make some cash and kept, kept building, kept growing. So at that point it was just too late to go, go play junior hockey or you were just old enough where it was time to play pro. Yeah. At that time, you know, I was 20. I finished my last in Vernon where I signed a letter of intent with buddy powers was a coach there at the Falcons.

And then summertime came around in a year's, you know, around Toronto, right? Not working hard in school. It's not like I won an A in school, you know, it was more or less just get me a credit, you know around Toronto right not working hard in school it's not like I won an A in school you know it was more or less just get me a credit you know pass and so I had to be a red shirted for a year and then finally I said uh you know I want to play pro hockey I don't want to sit around for a year and just train and then um you know well even even getting to there is a long shot for anyone but for you you it's crazy because Because I mean, from talking to people, like Regent Park's like tough area to live and you did a lot of your, your skating at the beginning in an outdoor rink. Is that true?

Like summer you were playing roller hockey winter, you're playing, you're playing outdoors, right? Right somewhere close to where you could even, your mom could see you. Is that true from, from the kitchen window? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. There's a, one of those deals where, yeah. With all the noise outside of my you know the life there a little bit right it was like let me just disconnect and i fell in love with the game and it wasn't hockey schools in the summer you know i mean i've never went to hockey school ever

power skating it was more just i go and have fun you know and um you always got these little games on that outdoor rink so i just kind of you know you get your own game going you're trying to around the you know the other people and uh it's just one of those deals how just kind of work on and you think having a late start to where maybe the the the pressure was never really there helped you you know essentially like like you know strive for it later on in life you said 19 years old you go off to junior for the first time that's really the first time you've had any type of pressure playing, right? Yeah. As I reflect to now, uh, is it's more or less, I just, I played at the lower levels, but, um, it wasn't like I was on a first line playing AAA hockey where you're not really, you know, you're not playing much and I could use those moves. And then once I got to the higher

level, I can adjust to the speed. And I think ultimately that kind of, kind of helped me a little bit as in the summertime, I just wanted to keep working out running hills at Riverdale whatever I could do to become a better hockey player to get out of the you know the life I was living I always wanted to be a hockey player so it was like my whole mentality was like I'm gonna get discovered somehow I know I'm as good as those guys it's just keep grinding at it you know I mean that's kind of all I had so in a case for for off ice like in the summertime like who would you be training with would you just be following buddies and going wherever well yeah i remember one time watching seeing dougie gilmore at the christy pits i was

playing baseball and dougie g was running up i'm like oh this guy's running up the hills man it's dougie gilmore you know the john maple leaf the Leaf, the great Maple Leaf. And I'm like, no, I'm going to do that. So I just kind of, I saw him and then, you know, I got some, my mentors were the guys that worked at a, you know, boys and girls clubs, you know, the parks and recreation centers, you know, those were the guys that kind of kept us all straight and narrow and kind of just taught me, you know, work out on your legs, do core. You know what I mean? Like those were the guys that I didn't,

I didn't have trainers or nothing. It was just push until you can't push no more on your own and then you know the thing is too you're just you're playing other sports too like you mentioned you're playing baseball i mean i think we've talked a long time to plenty of players but it's great to do other things and not not just skate all year but with your with your situation i mean we talk about how expensive hockey is and how so many kids can't even get into the game. I mean, if you hadn't lived right next door to that rink, maybe you don't. But when was the first time you actually got a pair of skates

that weren't like a hand-me-down or used? Like when you got your own new pair of wheels, it had to be lighter than most kids playing hockey. Yeah. I mean, we're talking in my teens, maybe junior. Unbelievable. You know, I got some great people that helped along the way and you know just with the hand-me-downs you know having one stick can't take slap shots you know you got one stick so it was uh just play and i was thankful for any skates you know i even have had steel on that you know you know kangaroos ccms it was

it didn't matter right it was uh you know we all have the love for the game it was just get me out there and let's play you know no palms in the gloves whatever Marshawn still does that little rat growing up what you did I feel it's kind of similar like you know you played in Boston you're familiar with Charlestown neighborhood I feel like there's a lot of a lot of similarities there a little rough around the edges tough spot to grow up a lot of temptations. How are you able to just focus on, on hockey and, and keep that in the straight and narrow when there's so many other ways you

can be derailed in a spot like that? I think really, I kind of learned from seeing that, you know, I knew I didn't want to be a part of that. You know what I mean? I didn't want to get that quick money and all that stuff. All my, kind of my buddies were doing, I just, I had my sets on, you know, being a professional hockey player, wherever that could be, you know, that was my goal. And at the time it was just, you know, work hard and get out of that. I knew I didn't want to be like that. So there's too much,

too much negative stuff that you learned seeing and you're like, nah, it's not me, man. So, you know, you go out and you think you might have this deal, Bowling Green, you're going to go to university. Everything's good. Boom. It falls apart. And you said, you got to go to the coast. Well, you know, you go out and you think you might have this deal, Bowling Green, you're going to go to university, everything's good, boom, it falls apart, and you said you got to go to the coast. Well, I mean, you hopped in, you dominated. I mean, you had over a point per game your first year pro. How did it even come about playing in Nashville and then Atlanta

and a little bit the IHL that year? Like, how did that whole season contract come to be? Well, after the scholarship fell through or i decided on turning pro i called uh my old assistant coach troy mick with the vernon lakers at the time and um he was like yeah i'll get you a trial with they're at the atlanta the lana nights at the time and um i'm like all right let's go so i went there i was one of the first cuts you know i was playing against you know some old old school guys you know and i got caught got sent down to nashville east coast hockey league and then um signed a minimum in the east coast you know they give

you an apartment and then make it 400 bucks a week um and from there it was just i remember being the first five or six games we're on the road big road trip going down to tallahassee playing against the tiger sharks and i'm we're bringing this whole crew of team right we only got bunk beds on this country and i'm up at the front sleeping with our bus driver named snake with a cutoff on the stairs there and it's just like all right well this is pro i guess man i can't wait to get in the lineup so i think the coast makes you appreciate it more when you end up getting to the nhl some of the stories and some of the hotels you're sleeping at and even some of the travel arrangements like do you have any other wacky stories that you remember from your coast days

there's so many i mean the great thing was the 16 bucks per diem you know that was solid you know eating at truck stops stops, but you know, the one story that creeps my mind is that we're all at the back of the bus. It's we're leaving, we're leaving Wheeling. We got a long trip back down to Nashville and it's a new year's Eve. And we're kind of, we, we finished our game and we're all the back, you know, do it, playing our cards. Guys are drinking Harry York. I don't know if you guys remember Harry York at all, St. Louis blue.

He was a teammate at the time and he went went crazy and next thing you know he's going nuts he pushes the the vent right out of the bus it goes flying off the car the car's chasing us pulled over we're all sitting here guys are smoking in the back of it oh there's a don't show back then yes this is pro hockey the type of stuff you're really not seeing nowadays yeah yeah yeah i remember east coast hockey league you know the guys literally vaseline it up before the game's cut new jersey so they get in a fight you know they're pulling it there's the empty arm you know the the free arm so uh quite a journey boys yeah absolutely i mentioned the hall of fame by the way congratulations on that, getting into the East Coast Hall of Fame.

That's quite an honor for you. But were you surprised that it had been 23 years since you played? Were you kind of surprised they got a call all those years later that you had made it? Yeah, it was just one of those surprise calls. I got an email, I believe, and a follow-up call. And it was Wichita. I went there. I didn't really know my vision of the East Coast back in the day.

It was like, you know, where's this going to be? At the Hall of Day Inn in the parking lot or what, you know, but he did it first class and, you know, Kevin Lowe is the, he did the keynote, you know, you get up there. It was awesome. Bednar was there, Jared Bednar, I played with him. A few other guys just, you know, just named a few, but it was such a great experience and get, have my family there with me was a with a bonus you know my mom and my kids so yeah it was awesome great experience kind of froze up up there actually like whoa looking at all these people you

want to thank everyone and kind of was just do you go do you go up there with something written or were you going up there just straight from the heart i had something written but basically i turned it in straight to the heart and i said okay thanks for having me they're like uh we gave we had seven minutes for you you gotta keep going q a and stuff it was great what was your heart rate at when you when you went up there in front of the mic probably buck 70 i don't know how the fuck these guys do it they just go there and start ripping it off man i'd be shitting my pants i had to do a wedding last summer and i completely butchered the beginning of it i felt bad i wanted to leave right afterward or do a redo right yeah men in black

so that's where you're breaking with the 99-2000 caps. Now, is it true your first NHL game, your first line mates are Adam Oates and Peter Brawner? Is that accurate? Yeah, boys, yeah. I'm real. Oh, Jesus. Right in the fire. Hey, talk about locking up.

Well, after the summer, you know, kind of make it. Jeez, it was one of those. I lined right up against Powell Burry. You know, I'm just like, geez, what am I doing here? You know what I mean? And that was one of those games I got sent down right after that game. And I was like, you know, like shit. You know, this is it.

You know, I lost my opportunity. Had the poor me attitude heading down, and Glenn Hanley got me back on track and got another opportunity in November that year. Well, I mean, so like going back to your first game, you probably remember everything. Did you, were you so nervous that you feel like you weren't able to play your game given you were thrown on a line with those guys? Yeah, it was one of those deals where made the team, we fly down there and I'm,

I'm on, you know, we're practicing together with Bajor and Oates. And I'm just telling myself the whole time, right? Just play your game, take it easy. But it was like one of those, I couldn't fight it. I couldn't tell myself that. I'm sitting in the dressing room going, man, I'm really here. You know, I've really done it. And then played 18 minutes. We lost like 2-1 or something.

I was a dash two. And it was one of those deals, you know, where it's like, shit, man, I really dropped the ball on this. But, I mean, I try to like just try to forget about all those other things that got me there and just concentrate on my game. It it was just it was a learning moment that's for sure well for people who've listened to adam oats on this podcast and in general talk if you'd gone off sides that probably what got you sent down he thinks you're an absolute muppet if you go off sides in the game of hockey that could have been that could have been something that slowed

you down that quick first day yeah it might have been part of it too. Those four years, though, you're up and down. You're with Washington, like Tampa quick, back with Washington. But every time you're in the AHL, I mean, you're over a point per game. You're one of the top scorers in that league. Is that one of those instances where it's like, I've done everything I can at this level, but I keep getting called up to the NHL and I can't stick. Like what's going on?

Why is this happening? Are you thinking about that as you're being sent back and forth? I think when I think back about that, I think it was just more or less being part of a team. I loved the guys in Portland at the time. And up there, it seemed like it was more of a job. You know, NHL, even though you want to be there, but I'd get called up and

I played a power play a little bit I was good on the on the goal line and then all of a sudden it was like I'm on a fourth line right I have to chip it in watch out who you pass it to you can't turn it over so it was one of those deals where it was just it was a and then I go down to you know Glennie Hanley down in Portland I just I'd be me you know I'd be able to be creative I had more rope you know it was one of those deals and you know, it is not a lot of communication and there's not, they're not telling you, you know, I'll tell you, you got to tell you anything, nothing. You're just, you're in your own head and you're trying to, you know, it was just trying to be prepared as best you can.

It's like you get to the NHL and people don't even believe me. Like coaching pretty much stops like individual coaching. Yeah. There's times assistant coaches work with guys, but in the it's like do your job and then they're also calling up first line ahl players to play on the fourth line in the nhl it's like bring up a third or fourth line guy from the team down there exactly yeah yeah yeah totally yeah like i said right you're on your own there's no communication you look at the the morning board you know what line are you on and then you're you're questioning, why am I on the fourth line today? I was on the second line.

There's no – so, yeah, there's a lot of – yeah, you're kind of left. You're left out there on an island there a little bit. So you end up going off to Finland. At that point, did you think maybe your NHL dream was over and you're thinking, you know what, I might as well just go cash in, take care of myself and my family, as opposed to continually trying to do the up and down thing? Well the time i was um my agent was bill zito now at the florida panthers gm um at the time it was four years up and down i had my first born olivia and we're basically up

and down sleeping in the you know the the top drawer at their residence in you know with my daughter you know getting called up they'd come so it was like one of those like can you trade me and they're like why would we trade you basically you know you're a great asset i'd always go down there work my bag off you know three and three fighting whatever and so that's kind of what what i did and then um and then finally i'm like okay they're not going to trade me so then i went over i was like okay billy what's the best where should i go right i could go to russia i chased a big buck but I just wanted to prove that I could play at that NHL. So I went over there as a great hockey country, you know, two years there.

And then, you know, obviously Lugano won a championship there and then world championships with Team Canada. I got to see Don Waddell. I was back on the map. And then I got an opportunity to get back. And I got all that confidence back. One of the lockout year in Finland, playing against Saku Koivu and all that. And I was like, man, no problem.

I'm as good as these guys in my head. I just got to get back, you know? So I got back and then it kind of turned more into the player that I knew I could be. That makes sense. Yeah. I think it's, it's so true you go over somewhere and you really find like the joy of hockey again. You love the game. No, granted you're playing first line and line and and Helsinki I think personally is one of the best cities I've ever been to by the way for all single men out there if you ever want to have fun you speak English go to Helsinki oh my god but I mean makes sense now they're in the KHL I think so many guys want

to go play there you get to play in the in the in the Russian League without having to live there yeah we have those uh big Scandinavia it's organic pure the Finns are amazing yeah without having to live there. Yeah. We have, does a big Scandinavia. It's organic, pure. The fins are amazing. Yeah. I got to live right in Helsinki. So, um,

yeah, boys love their saunas and their vodkas. So Jose, did you get to play with, uh, for pool there, Val? Oh yeah.

Yeah. He must've been what? Like eight. Yeah. He was like 18 then. Maybe 16. Yeah. You could, Hey, could you tell though how good that guy was going to be?

That kid was great already. He's just smooth. What a pro. Yeah, great kid. He's down here in the Tampa area. I guess he lives there. I've been trying to reconnect with him. Seems like everybody gravitates back towards down there. You mentioned a couple times you said you always knew you were as good.

You always knew you were as good. You always knew you were as good. Have you always had that self-confidence that's been instilled in you where you felt you could play at the top level? I think I have, yeah, just with the training that I know where I push myself to. You know what I mean? Always working out as hard as I can and playing as much hockey as I can. I just felt this inner confidence.

I'm putting the work in. That's what I tell the kids now this inner confidence, you know, I'm putting the work in. And that's why I tell the kids now that I'm training, right? You guys got to put the work in, you know, and, and you'll get discovered. So that's, that's kind of, I guess it was an inner confidence. You know what I mean? But I didn't, you know, it was, I wasn't a flashy share, you know, swag. I just go out there and do it. Metro, you find yourself back in the NHL, specifically Atlanta.

We've, it seems like we've had a few thrashes on the show lately. What was your experience like there? Obviously, they didn't last too long, but I always like to get players' perspective of their time there. Yeah, it felt just like such grassroots. You know what I mean? It just didn't catch on, you know? But the team we had, they were Kovalchuk and Hosa. These guys are like world-class, like best players I ever played with. Like, unreal. But the city just didn't appreciate the talent we had there, I guess.

And I got traded at the end there where I was almost like half a point in the game, I believe. Getting to play with Kovalchuk. I remember Bob Hartley telling me, oh, Centerman. So I played with Colby, and he'd be just like, Metro, you got to put out Colby's fires. I'm like, all right. Well, he's turned the puck over to the blue, and I got to drive the net, too, and get back'd be just like, Metro, you got to put out Colby's fires. I'm like, all right. Well, he's turned a puck over the pool and I got to drive the net too and get back?

It's like, holy shit. You know what I mean? You're going to put out his players, play defense with two. Yeah, yeah. But it was a great experience going there. And I went to St. Louis. It was kind of one of those feelings that guys,

you know, I got traded with the Kachuk deal with about four first round picks. So went there and everyone's kind of sitting out, you know, from pins and needles thinking we're going to get traded. And then that year finishes off. And here I am right with a, a team that basically just gave up, you know, at that time. And I went, here I am, you know, looking, looking into Boston. So. Actually though, quickly,

we kind of jumped ahead because when you played the two years in Helsinki, then you went to Lugano, which my hope for when I went to Europe was to get to play in Switzerland. They told me, the agent I was working with was like, there's zero chance because every guy wants to play. It's the most beautiful country in the world. You got to go there.

Now, I know you said you ran into Don Waddell at the Worlds that year, but had you already re-signed back in Switzerland with maybe an NHL out? Like, how did it all come about coming back, and were there any other suitors besides the Thrashers? No. At that time, while I was playing in Lugano, I was having a great year. My agent at the time, I had a new agent, Larry Kelly,

kind of reached out and said, you know, Don's showing some interest in you. Okay, already. It was one of those deals. So, I knew I always had that in the back pocket to go back to Lugano, was leading the league in scoring and stuff. So I knew that. But my whole goal was to get back to the NHL, you know, prove everyone wrong.

So, you know, I could have stayed over there and made a lot more money than I made in Atlanta, that's for sure. But it was okay. It was part of my journey. You know, I just wanted to play at the highest level and show everyone that I was good enough and, you know, I could compete at that level. Metro.

I remember we had you in Boston just for a year. I mean, I thought you were a great bro. And was, did they ever give you a reason why they didn't want to bring it back for another year? I mean, you had some pretty good success here.

Yeah. I think that was the year that Burge went down with the concussion. Randy Jones hit it from behind. He missed that year. And that, that moved me up and, you know, a more significant role with Claude Julien giving

me you know I was playing with uh Chucky Kobusu and uh Milan Lucic we had a solid third line grinding line and uh year went on and then Berger's getting better you know Savvy Krejci was getting better and it was like well this is what we have for you you know you're gonna be put on a fourth line I'm like well man it's my time to kind of test the market a little bit and that's kind of where I had a few other offers Anaheim offered me a deal and then Philly I was like no one I could probably fit in good Philly out the flyers that's kind of how that came about was it hard that you were never able to get comfortable anywhere at the at the NHL level where you kept bouncing around or you you know you felt like

you got your chance with Boston you're playing well all of a sudden you're out of there and then you're out of the next that're on to the next team? Yeah, it kind of hurt a little bit, right? Because it felt like I was a Bruin, you know? I thought I was finally part of an organization, you know, where I had a significant role. But, you know, the sports, I think they brought in the Finner, just, sorry, whatever, fourth-liner.

Noki? Nokolainen? Yeahainen yeah yeah yeah i played in anaheim with him okay yeah he came yeah a little little spaz but uh they brought him in you know play that seven minute wall and uh and that's kind of where the philly deal came about that's just karma for you taking some finn's job with uh yoker at those, those years when you live. Hey, but what you got to experience somebody that Bruins fans will never forget is a 19 year old Milan Luchich wearing number 62 for part of the season fighting anyone.

It must've been jaw dropping as a veteran, older guy like this kid doesn't give a shit. Oh yeah. I think I was at our first, our first game was on the road. I think we're playing in LA just that toe to toe toe-to-toe with that Avanis. Or was it – Yvonis.

Yeah, this guy usually – and Luce was just going, all right, here we go. You know, it was like, okay. And I was looking down at Thornton too, Sean Thornton at the time. He's like, wow, this kid's got it. So, what a career. Yes. Yeah. I love him.

Great kid, man. What a great kid that's right you are lucky to play in march as well for a couple seasons i mean obviously the hockey royalty there we talk about on the show all the time and then you end up you have like you know career high of goals you have uh what 29 points i think was it how frustrating was it that they didn't bring you back i mean i knew you were getting up there in age but you had one of your best career outputs and then they don't want you back? I mean, I knew you were getting up there in age, but you had one of your best career outputs and then they don't want to offer you a contract. That must have been pretty frustrating.

Yeah, I was 35, right? So the game was getting younger then, you know, and I couldn't be a 10-minute guy with 36-year-old legs. So I could understand that philosophy. And then, yeah, I didn't really have much on the table so it was kind of I was I was ready to head back overseas you know could it have been uh that you you showed up late to the pre-game meeting I was talking to Scotty Gomez and he mentioned the one time you strolled in late I don't know if you could tell the whole story for remember somewhat of the punch line

uh I'm trying to remember which meet that well. Well, basically you stroll in late and you're like, oh, sorry, boys. Sorry, boys. You know, day of a game, right? Of course, you're nervous. You know, maybe you're going to get taken out of the lineup. And, you know, after you kind of apologize, I think Scotty Gomez is looking over and he's realizing you have a Tim Horton's coffee in your hands.

And he's thinking in his head, well, this guy knew he was going to be late, but he still had time to go stop and get a Tim Hortons coffee, and apparently he got stuck at the drive-thru. Well, I can't remember that story, but maybe, man. That might have been one. I don't know. I'm going to talk to Gomer about that one. That's the only one he had for me as far as when talking to you.

You have a pretty good shower voice. Well, yeah, I'd like to sing, but I got that skills competition. They got that, you know, every year, every team kind of has that, you know, fan day or whatever skills competition. I remember we played, I think we played the Leafs the night before, and it was Sunday that we were going to do it. So I had all my family and friends from Toronto, right, to come in.

I'm like, you know, we got Sunday off, you know, come on in, watch the, you know, Gomez, Gio, all these guys do some skill stuff. I didn't think I was doing anything. So next thing you know, the on in, watch the, you know, Gomez, Gio, all these guys do some skill stuff. I didn't think I was doing anything. So next thing you know, the game's over. We're on Crescent Street, you know, doing some shots and hanging out, hugging, wrestling. And I get up and I'm like, oh, man, I got to go to the rink. And they're like, yeah, Metro, you got to be in – you're shooting the targets.

I'm like, no, I'm not, man. I can't be shooting targets today. You're all red-eyed. And so we get up there and Cam Cam O'Leary's up there. He hits all four of them. And I'm like, gee, I'm going to take slappers. I'm taking clappers. So next thing you know, I'm doing slap shots, pausing it,

teeing it up, clapping it. The last one, it was one tee. Blew it up. Whole crowd goes nuts, and it was quite a moment. It was pretty funny. All my buddies were up there watching laughing so like i can't even open my eyes right now and he's sniping top left cheddar like what's going on here that's how much of a natural he is pretty much just having fun

with you know what i mean so i heard a funny uh i actually heard a funny story of how you got to boston i was told i was to now tell me this is incorrect. I was told you talked to Michael Collin or whoever was there and invited you to camp. And a couple hours later, you get a phone call. Hey, your flights are all set this weekend to be the airport from the secretary. You're like, what? You'd already just hopped in the car with your bag and was driving up from Atlanta. No. Oh yeah. I was out. Oh, are you talking about from the,

from Montreal to Philly or to Boston? Oh, I don't know. Merrick thought it was going to Boston. You just hopped in the car, didn't even wait for a flight to camp. You're like, I'll just drive up there. I don't give a shit. I did. Well, the deal that what happened in Boston was they didn't make room for me,

but we had a contract kind of verbally, you know, we've got to make some room for you. And then I was up there sitting in basically the boiler room, you know what I mean, trying out. So it didn't work out, you know, but that other story might have been that skating with Philly in the morning, getting ready to play that night, and it basically got waived in the afternoon. I played against Philly that night in a Montreal jersey.

Just went down the hall. Just went down the hall, yeah. Okay, boys, I'm here, you know. It's so awkward when that happens. Crazy. So, Metro, after you wrap up the NHL career, you go to Europe for seven years. So, other than money, what's the priority when you're going back over there? Like, is it location, team you're playing for?

What's the priority then? Well, at the time, quality of life. Story, so 2010 finished, right? And I'm kind of like, I'm ready to come over to Europe. At the time, quality of life story. So 2010 finished, right? And I'm kind of like, I'm ready to come over to Europe. I got a good deal on the table from that Yaroslav team, locomotive. And Brad McCrimmon was my coach in Atlanta. And I was going to sign a deal with them, quite a bit of money.

And so happened, my ex now, but my wife at the time was like, no, we're not going there with the kids. I'm like, okay. But, man, the money's, you know, could set us up good. So finally we're like, we agreed on going to Zug and that's actually the year when the plane went down. So I thought, you know, I dodged one there and then two years after having two great years in Zug,

I had a couple more offers to get some big money in, in Russia. And I just said, no, I can't do that. So the next best place to kind of get money was Switzerland, right? You got quality of life, family, and then that kind of ran, and then I went to Germany because I still want to keep playing, you know? It was hard to get into Switzerland. It still is, right? There's only about three or four imports allowed,

but although they do pay the best, it's a very different style of game there over there, isn't it? Oh yeah. Yeah. They're they're all about, you know, finesse, you know what I mean? Pretty much, you know, but they're fast, good skilled players. I mean, it's you got to think about the coaching, right? So you got the top coaches that go over there too, right. To teach your younger players. So it's, it's quite, quite a country. I'm really impressed by

the by the skill level i uh i'm good buddies with taylor pyatt and he went over there and he said some of the coaches have some very very odd philosophies and in some cases it's almost played like soccer because puck possession is so important yeah um yeah it depends on the coach that you had right i had a great coach larry Uris, where he's from Canada, Toronto area, north, and we were kind of more north-south team. But, you know, some other teams kind of have, you know, the Swedish coaches that are there, they're kind of more pop possession, come back, come in waves, that type of deal.

Regroup. Regroup again. Regroup again. Right, yeah. Just get more – as much speed as possible like swinging down deep i actually played for um larry harris and i signed with moto and i played two games i was like minus 15 and retired because my ankle was shot but larry was the coach the team wasn't great i think he ended up getting let go but he was a great guy i had a lot of fun with him in training camp and i was wondering how

it ended up for him in Switzerland, because you had some good teams playing for him, right? Yeah, we had great players. Petri Numelin, Peltonen, two great Finns, Hentonen, myself, Jason York was there, the old York defenseman. Yeah. Yeah, so that was one of the teams, too. We had the best imports type.

You know, they had the money, so they got the best guys pretty much. And then the Swiss guys were really good, too. So that's important. If you play for the top organizations, you get a better chance of winning. How many people at a game at Lugano and Zug? Lugano, I think we held about 6,000 fans. Packed every night. The home section was always packed.

But, I mean, for some reason, you know what I mean? The games, not too many other fans were there, but they're loyal fans there, that's for sure. Zug, a little bit smaller building, but a better feel, you know, a little tighter, packed. There's a guy going to a soccer match over there, you know, football, you know, where they're chanting, they got flares going. They're not as crazy as the Finns, though.

The Finns are a little wacky, are they not? The Finns are a little bit wackier. They're so shit-faced. I played for York right, and our derby was against IFK, which was kind of like the blue collar. We're kind of, you know, our team had money type. Man, the clashes they would have. I mean, the riot police out there

holding people down. Ridiculous. Hold on. You're playing hockey here, guys. Oh, so you guys were the cake eaters in Helsinki. You guys were top notch, like Manchester City and all those top end teams

in the British Premier League. Yeah, we were pretty up there. Yeah, you're correct. Like throwing shit at your bus on the way out of town. Pretty much. All right. Yeah.

Metro, if you could do one stop over again, which one would it be? You could do some more timing. I love Boston. You know, like you were saying, I lived in Charlestown. I just love the diversity of the city. You know, it's a great sports town. But anytime you play in NHL, it didn't matter where, but that'd be a great spot to redo. I loved it there.

One other town I want to mention. It might be one of the more underrated cities in pro hockey is Portland, Maine. Did you have a good time up there? Yeah, Portland was great. Not too fun getting off the bus at 4 in the morning on a Sunday after 3-3. It was cold there, but uh love great restaurants you know i mean great great time to be able to bond with teammates and have you know have a great time there too yeah i love portland would you ever get into coaching at a higher level i know you're coaching your kids right now but you're going to look to get into uh to maybe something in pro um i'm kind of focusing more on just player development you know i mean just doing that i'm

not really assistant coach coaching that way i'm not i'm not really aspiring to that right now i kind of want to be more of a consultant just help players centermen forwards you know that's kind of where i'm at now you know if a good opportunity came then of course i kind of entertain it but right now just trying to work on my craft you know I'm on the ice every day with kids, training. You've got the pylons. I've got the pylons out there, yeah. You've got the iPads and all the skills coaches and all that stuff. Is that how you have to keep up nowadays?

I'm not jumping through hoops or anything like that, man. I'm not about the clicks. I'm like, let's get back to the fundamentals and master that. None of this, learn how to use your speed. Just trying to start my own thing, you know, the Metro Method and giving back and helping kids. And I'm surprised about the talent down here in Tampa, man. The players are really good. I think where professional teams are having success,

you're seeing a lot of guys starting to settle there and, of course, coach their kids. So you're seeing these hockey hotbeds. I mean, St. Louis has been thriving quite a bit. I mean, you're starting to even see it a little bit in Phoenix, and I would imagine Tampa Bay is the same thing. Yeah, exactly. All these guys are staying around.

Vinny's still around with Cavier. You've got, you know, Girardi's around, Cullimore. You've got a lot of guys that are giving back, coaching. Callahan lives down there. So you've got Girardi running the shot-blocking clinic, and then you with callahan injuries i've seen i've seen many a bit but yeah we're uh yeah i've seen a few of the boys that are around which are these kids don't realize that i would have dreamed to just meet anybody

back in a day you know like brad smith i mean i would have died to meet any kind of maple leaf but uh these guys were around all the time. These kids just take it for granted, which is, it's something else. LeCavier is teaching kids how to toe drag around the kids. Callahan and Girardi are teaching you how to go down and block the shot. They made 40 million. I made a hundred. Teaching them how to parallel park his Ferrari out front. Hey, so Yipper told me you guys just ripped it up

after you took down the DEL in Mannheim. A couple big nights. You're laughing. Not much sleep. We're talking, yeah, pretty crazy times. Anytime you can win a championship, it's the old IVs the next day and back at it, you know what I mean? Just meeting up on the restaurants and keep going.

And then I was playing golf with him, and he was he was like yeah then the next year we came in you know we we had kind of a long off season and i came into camp with the groin injury and maybe metro's knees hurt and all of a sudden we decided it'd be a good idea to golf at the owner's course till finally our gm saw us we were both at practice the next day. That wasn't good. 36 holes. You know what I mean? My knee blew up for some reason. I was pivoting around it perfectly, though. He took advantage

of that golf, that's for sure. Sick setup, he said. Well, Metro, we want to thank you for stopping by. Is there anything else you wanted to ask him, RA? No, I think we're good. Actually, now that I'm looking at the calendar, it's October. Were you able to take an October festival while you were over

there? Oh, shit. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Are those as crazy as they seem? Yeah. What is the setup there? Is it just you go there and sit down at those tables and drink, looking like dressed like those people or what? Pretty much, yeah. It's a big deal. You know, I had the whole leader holes and I paid like 250 bucks for this thing.

So I'm like, I'm wearing this for class. So we get down, we play a game, and then basically you got the day off, and it's basically huge, huge tents with just people just pounding pints, you know, singing. It was just – if you guys haven't did that, that's got to be on your bucket list, boys, for sure. Is it like the Calgary Stampede version of the Germans do it? Pretty much, yeah.

Losing teammates. We had a team bus that we were leaving at 10 o'clock. Guys are missing a bus on a train the next day. That could happen, right? In the outfits, were you guys fully decked out? Yeah, yeah. Is it a faux pas to show up without the outfit on? Because you see the pictures and everyone's all dolled up.

Pretty much, yeah. You need the leader holes and, yeah, you got the hat. Yeah, you got to look. Like Clark Griswold in European Vacation. You got to look the part, boys. Yeah. I love it. Definitely do it.

Well, thank you very much, Metro. It's good to catch up with you. And, I mean, long shot to make it. You did that. So I know now that the, the Zamboni at Moss park signed by you, I was told. So it's pretty incredible story. Congratulations. I appreciate it. Thank you guys. Thanks for stopping by pal.

Yeah, boys. Stay at it, man. Love listening to you guys. Big thank you to Glenn Metro Paul for joining us. Definitely had a unique road to the show. I'm glad he was able to come on and tell everybody about it. And I've got another note for you here. These following corrections are brought to you by Dude Wipes. Dude Wipes are the original flushable wipes for guys and are a great way for wiping off the shame when you screw up on your podcast.

Everyone is stocking up on toilet paper with coronavirus, and you need to be stocking up on Dude Wipes, as Dude Wipes are better than toilet paper and are multi-purpose to use anywhere on your body dude has many products to stay clean and hygienic during this interesting time and all the time if you're not using these yet while dropping a deuce do yourself a favor and check them out you'll feel so much better and fresher rather than using only shitty toilet paper they truly will change your life. The Dude brand has also expanded into a whole line of awesome products,

including the new Dude Wiper, the 1,000 bidet attachment, which is a lean, mean, poop-destroying machine. And Dude Bombs, Dude Bombs, two-in-one bombs that you drop in the toilet prior to deucing, they create an indestructible barrier that instantly neutralizes stank in the air, leaving no trace of the crime. As seen on Shock Tank, Dude has something for everyone with your everyday hygiene needs. You can pick up this stuff at Amazon or Walmart, or you can use the code Hockey10 for 10% off at DudeProducts.com. Once again, that's

DudeProducts.com. Use the code H the code hockey 10 for 10 off and like i said i'm using the biz to wipe off the shame i hate when i make mistakes on the show last week we were talking about the reverse retro jerseys and people thought i was shitting on the devils i wasn't shitting on them i just thought that you could previously get that green jersey before well i fucked up you couldn't it was the red jersey i was thinking of and yeah it was actually on that one i thought something how many people said something to you um a couple people but they were nice about it one guy said hey they never wore green before and it just you just sometimes your memory plays tricks on you and actually my boy frosty he's the equipment guy he

called me out till he's like what's up with that oh that's the last person you want mad at you in the world. I got Frosty mad at me now. R.A., you had a few screw-ups on the last podcast. You also said that the Canucks went to northern B.C. They didn't go to northern B.C. They just went a little north of Vancouver. Well, I kind of just hopped in on that as well because I think I knew what he meant. But there was also another one.

You said the World Juniors were going to be in Red Deer. They're only in they're only. Who said red street Grinnelli? If you want, I can do this. What did Grinnelli do? What did Grinnelli do? What did I do? Where'd I screw up? Big, big piling over here. No. And my next note, I did say the world junior was in red deer in Edmonton and I did actually check the IIHF site. And if you go on it,

it still says red deer in Edmonton. That's what I read. it, it still says Red Deer in Edmonton. That's what I read. Well, it turns out they said back in September they were just doing an Edmonton-only bubble. It was in the midst of the playoffs. We probably even said it on here. I forgot three months ago, I guess. So, yeah, it wasn't in Red Deer in Edmonton. So maybe the IIHF should take that off their website.

Oh, I remember their website's trash. It would take them an hour to get the box score up after the World Juniors when I was there. It was bullshit. To look at your two apples. I think I was player of the game against what's the country? Belarus. Speaking of World Juniors, we're

going to be, I believe we're trying to get Kirby Doc on and hopefully Cole Caulfield. We're going to get a few of these guys. We're going to ramp up the tournament. Maybe we'll get them fucking chirping each other. I love they're playing on Christmas this year. You don't have to wait till Boxing Day where they're playing on Christmas, bud. Got something

to chill and watch on the tube. Christmas Day in the light of fire. Have a couple three cheese and just melt into the coach. Speaking of I know Vancouver is not northern BC, Grinnelly. I know it's in the southwest corner. But the Canucks anthem singer, Mark Donnelly, apparently is Dunzo. He was sang at an anti-mask event somewhere, I assume, in the Vancouver area.

Canucks owner, Francesco Aquilini, tweeted out on the former singer. I don't know if he was on the ropes prior to that, but apparently that was all the owner had to see. Is that the guy who looks like an opera singer? He looks like an opera singer at a state fair. That's what he looks like. Somebody posted like Luongo has really let himself go like a couple of years after he left the team.

That guy got gassed. He was singing at it so he's singing somewhere where nobody had masks on no it's an anti-mask event oh okay okay yeah that's like um just funnier clip though than um than the people chirping about looking like luongo was when he was doing the anthem but he decided to put the blades on and he's just ripping around he's belting it out he's killing it and as the spotlight's falling you're like oh there's a mat in the middle of the ice there there's no way he's going beeline right for that mask or for the mat excuse me completely didn't

realize they were putting one up there just goes full tilt right into the mat ass flat on his face he didn't really skip a beat though he kept going pretty good performance but uh he's he's had he's he's he's eaten a few l's that's for sure if you if you watch the video it's so obvious that the rugs right there you're like oh he has to be planning a big stop like when luis mendoza learns how to stop and he just and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, he ain't stopping. And it's just the mother of all toe picks. If I was on the line, whoever was on the line, staring at that and watching it,

I would have started crying laughing right before the game. Really. Oh, man. Think how funny that would be to see in person. I don't know if it was world junior or world championship, but there was a Canadian woman who they brought out and she, she messed up the anthem and she got so embarrassed. She walked back in and then finally they like, no, no, no,

you can do it. And they called her back on. And as soon as she, as soon as she stepped on the ice, she, she slipped on the rug and she bailed. It was like my Monday. This sounds like my Monday. Except she didn't get shit on. It was one of the most awkward, tough scenes. And if I ever had to sing an anthem, I'd need the whole thing written down on the Jumbotron.

Not like that would help me either because I can barely fucking read, but just as a safety net. The anthem thing is, you could know the anthem front, but the minute you step on that rug and or you're performing it like all karaoke bar like a karaoke bar in philadelphia biz that's true do you think you could go the whole u.s anthem wit at at the boston uh garden flawlessly whether

whether or not your voice is shit or not but like the whole... No, I don't even know the words right now. I need somebody to sing it, and I'll sing along. I could never just belt out, Oh, say... Yeah, dude, I can't even get into it right. I'm trying to think. I'd be done within 10 seconds. All right. I know the words, but I can't sing a lick, and I know that.

I can't even sing in a fake voice. Going back to the anthem singer, though, a lot of people are making this push right now, and it's a girl, I believe. I don't know if I follow her on Twitter. Let me find it here quickly. Everybody's trying to get her to be the next anthem singer, and I hope I get this right.

Mary Hui? It's H-U-I. Is that right? Why? Who? I'm not sure to be honest with you, but we butcher enough names on it. So the classic business story that he's bringing up,

then asking us if we know, I know I suck with the fucking names, but she's a singer songwriter. She's from Vancouver. She's done the Anthem there before. A lot of people are vouching for her. So I think she's the next candidate to be the Anthem singer for the canuck so sorry for butchering that story forever was like now i'm gonna get we're gonna get roasted by canucks twitter again for christ's sake oh god fucking

don't start that again hey biz i'm obviously down florida we mentioned earlier i was walking down the street the other day and i look over and i see a fucking legit delorean in a driveway like the coffin back to the future like that and it's registered here like i don't the guy still drives i didn't ask him but i took a couple snipe pictures of it but legit delorean currently registered i'm assuming perry takes it for sunday drives but it's pretty wild those things are like seeing like you know an albino fucking elk in the wild. You don't see them. I didn't really know what to give you there. I was going to bring up

and Grinnell, I think you reposted it. Austin Matthews, he established himself as the new quadzilla of the NHL. He's like pulling his fucking shorts up and shit. He's basically telling shit to fuck off. He's showing them.

He's got mini fridges telling shit to fuck off. He's got, yeah, he's got mini fridges in his quads, built in. He looks like if you got buried and had to have like surgery and then like, you know, you have a scar forever. Like, it looks like it's swollen. If that makes any sense.

They're fucking big, dude. They stood out. I like the fact that those two are working out together man you gotta think they can only make each other better you know one of the premier passes i was wondering about that considering they're going to be in the same division now yeah mcdavid and and matt i think they're sharing a chef too oh really that's what i think have you been over to any of their skates? Oh yeah. They probably, they probably have skates.

Oh yeah. Me and Pierre, um, eating video for breakfast. Hey, he's got the Joe Louis, the cigarette and the diet Pepsi. And,

uh, if they're a sponsor of the podcast, if not, we can just bleep that out. Uh, anyway, uh, but yeah,

no, it's awesome that those guys are working out together, but no, I've not been over that skate, but, uh, over to austin matthews crib he he lives in arizona in the off season and uh great trainer interested to see how this season is going to play out for him because a lot of the action's been going on down down here as far as like the high-end training even with the coyotes like all these guys have been together going to the trainer and and most of the guys are on the ice together.

So if anything, the Coyotes have an advantage going to this one. So they're the cup favorite. No excuses this year. Get on the fucking gambling corner, all right? Tell them, cup favorite. Hey, I get the fucking LA Rams at 55 to 1. Not too bad right now. Oh, so you're rooting against the Pats tonight?

Well, not necessarily. It's just one game. I't it's not i mean it may affect you need to make are they even for sure they're they're in there right now yeah okay well whatever that's their record i'm not sure i'm not wrong i'm the wrong guy to ask enough up-to-date nfl stats i just hey uh you're the right guy to ask about this this uh new television show i don't know if it's a movie. Mario Lopez, he's playing KFC. Have you seen this whole trailer that got launched? No. I saw that.

I thought it was like a joke. I thought it was like an ad. I had to do a double take there. So I thought it was a spoof at first, but apparently it's real, but it might in fact be paid for by KFC just to make this Sharknado type film to where it's so ridiculous and the storyline's crazy and this trailer just has everybody intrigued

as to what's going on. Oh, it's a Lifetime movie. Enough said. It's a Lifetime movie. What does that mean? Well, Lifetime movies are like kind of cheesy soap opera type movies made for, well, I wouldn't say they're not geared toward the male population,

not being misogynistic here, but basically Lifetime movies are kind of cheesy love story type movies that skew toward more of the female population. So Mario Lopez is playing Colonel Sanders. They're not known for like, you're not going to see any Oscar contenders here. A.C. Slater's playing Colonel Sanders? Correct. And shifting away from that, Queen's Gambit was awesome. You watched it? I haven't watched it yet.

I don't know why I haven't. Not only the whole whatever happened, but the music just kind of put it to a different level. Very good seven episodes. Really, really good show on Netflix. Did that show end or was it an obvious ending or is there a second season? I don't want to give away the end. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. And will episode one, I'll watch it tonight. Will it grab me or will I be like a hundred? The whole percent, the whole hook of the show is episode one. It just fucking pulls you right in. It gets you in. Perfect. That's what I need. You know, some Breaking Bad shows where it does take a little bit.

Well, they got to get you early because it's only seven episodes. Yeah, true. Very true, Biz. Very true. You guys are masters of the TV world. I know I mentioned it before, but I will again. Ted Lasso, if you have Apple TV Plus, it's a show I put on a couple of times before I get into it. Fantastic show. Another one busy. I don't know if you have Apple TV plus give it a whirl. It's one of those,

if you might need a couple episodes to get rolling, but once you do, it's a, it's a fantastic show. We've got another note here. Did you see break dancing is going to be part of the 2024 Paris Olympics olympics what is it i mean it's a hell of a skill but it seems like it's something that maybe would have been more relevant 30 years ago i think it's fucking joke that that's in the olympics when you think of the no lacrosse but break dancing's in the olympics i don't need to talk i don't even need to give my argument. Grinnelli, boom. I think what they're doing is they're trying to create these events to where it will go viral.

And they're almost thinking too forward ahead to what they're trying to catch the curve or whatever it is. But as you said, I think this is a little bit outdated, but I'm very intrigued as to the first year and how it's going to be introduced. And the fact that they're taking out all these like traditional sports, that was originally why the whole Olympics was created to me is, is mind boggling. But ultimately they're trying to like,

they're trying to transition into what like people online will be talking about. Right. Well, dude, if, if you're actually going to like think of the Olympics and what you consider it to mean, you think of Jesse Owens and Mark Spitz and the 1980 Olympic team

and fucking Michael Johnson in Atlanta and then you got J-Lo's backup from a rap video. What the fuck, dude? It's a great point. The Olympics. Break dancing. what the fuck dude it's a great point olympics it's a great dancing you can i wish i could i sucked at it oh oh i'm not saying i'm not that's not my argument here i would love to be able to

break dance if you could tell me i could break down that'd be i can't even move your argument as j-lo's backup dancer it's not not the Olympics. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like, I have a silver medal. I don't need my silver medal from my 17 seconds played to be tarnished by some guy who has his own dance studio in Boston. Some kid on fucking TikTok doing stupid breakd dancing videos has a gold medal and you're legit there could be a tick tocker who comes and grabs the gold like that's imagine on like

the weedies box it has it has to have like fucking neon colors for the break dancer who won the gold for the u.s yeah he'd be getting more airtime than Jerome McGinley. Oh, my God. Did you see that? I don't blame the person interviewing them at all, right? Do you think they even knew who it was? No, 100%. No, they had no chance. Which makes it even more awesome.

Actually, it's not even just the interviewer, though, because then whoever put it on and edited the film back at the studio wasn't like, oh, my God, that's Jerome McGinnis. But if you're not a hockey fan and that's your job, how do you? I mean, he only played in Boston for one year. So it's not like he was here for a long time where someone who works in a newsroom, even if they're not in sports, wouldn't immediately recognize him.

Just for those listening, they were doing one of those men in the street interviews, or a man at a rest stop. And the woman interviewed Jerome McGinnis, like talking about a snow. and he was like oh canada this is nothing but blah blah blah i just kind of gave stock hockey player answer and you know people called out the station like oh did you realize that was jerome mcginley and like yeah the woman didn't realize it but then a bunch of other interviews came up similar circumstances somebody grabbed roberto loango doing a man on the street uh of alexander ovechkin at a gas station and then there's a hilarious one it's uh clay thompson he was uh

in new york and they stopped him and asked him about scaffolding in new york city and he stopped again he's like dead serious answer that's hilarious there's one of ovechkin yeah he was at a gas station like and it didn't appear to the person in the video know he was like this superstar Russian player for the local team. I would love to hear that. The Jerome one was about the weather, wasn't it? About the snow?

Kind of had that feel to it. Did you ever see the two joggers, excuse me, the couple? And they're like, actually, you know, when it snows like this, it's kind of like an extra little cushion on the ground they do the interview and she's like oh yeah so confident and then they end up trotting off and she slips on a sheet of ice and in right in the concussion protocol she's out four to six a baseline it it's it's not like funny obviously

seeing someone get hurt it's not funny but like she was so confident about the fact that this like snow on the ground was going to help cushion anything that was happening. Sound. Yeah, yeah. If I'm walking on snow, I'm walking the same way you'd think a guy who'd get fooled by a Twitter DM to give your email and shit. You got fished. That's how I'd be walking.

I'm just so careful. I have trouble balancing on the concrete. Hey, Biz, do you have HBO or access to HBO on your TV? Yeah, I think I got access to HBO. You got to do it. No, there's a show. It's called How To with John Wilson. It's a fucking hilarious binge.

There's like six episodes. They're like 25 minutes each. And this guy, he just records random shit all over new york city and then he'll take a theme and he'll like kind of build the video around the theme it's wicked clever dude it's like kind of hard to describe when you watch it dude you'll laugh your balls off it's great obviously you smoke a joint and watch it because it's like it's a wicked stoner comedy but it's also like this guy the way he edits what's happening in new york city with what he's saying and he does a different theme each episode and ties it all together dude you can

piss through it in like three hours it's fucking it's a little out there but i i highly recommend it it's it's uh it's a very unique show how to with joe wilson's game at first yeah i know we've uh i know we've been rambling on quite a bit um where i didn't tell you about my uh my neighbor's situation last week why well just like i've been i've been moved in here for a while for this new place and uh new apartment same complex i was in but uh the neighbor above me just like it's like bowling balls hitting the floor oh some points in time for for hours on end and i'm a pretty repeatedly or just like at random times or like just like an odd like an odd pattern to where you're you're i'm like okay is somebody wrestling up there like you know is there are they fucking bowling yeah um are they sue i don't know what's happening to

where because the patterns aren't necessarily similar all the time or from, from any of these sequences. So finally it got to one night, it kept going for about an hour. And I said to Katie and I'm, I'm trying to be a patient neighbor here because I've been a young guy in the past and probably create a little bit of noise for my neighbors. So I, so I, yeah, yeah. So I say, I gotta go say something. So I, I go up and I'm high as a kite when I finally have to decide this. So I say, I got to go say something. So I go up and I'm high as a kite when I finally have to decide this. So I go upstairs, knock on the door. And this, you know, little nerdy guy answers the door and he's kind of out of breath.

And mind you, going into this, I'm thinking. A gag ball in his mouth. This could be. This guy could have a sex swing set up in his goddamn living room. And I'm interrupting his orgasm. And or I'm getting uh jeremy oblonsky who's yeah you have to get done cave my goddamn face in so this you know fairly i don't want to say nerdy but just like a you know common looking guy rick moranis out of breath and i'm

like so i'm relieved that it's not jeremy oblonsky gonna knock me out and i'm like hey man like i've been waiting to come up and say something, but you guys are just like you're pounding on the floor. And he's like, oh, yeah, we were just finishing up our ping pong match. And on the piece of granite on the island, they made out of what seemed like cardboard from pizza boxes. They separated it in half, and they were playing this ping pong match between three guys where it continued.

I don't know, even though it was like Chinese. They're running around. Yeah. Running around a stick trampling. And so I finally was like, oh, no, all good. But they've continued to keep playing. No. So do I have to go challenge this fucking guy to a game to say, hey, if you beat me in this island ping pong granite match

keep playing play all fucking night i don't care but if i beat you there's no more ping pong being played on you play do you play ping pong no but i would get a trainer and i'd fucking dummy this guy and i i want to record it to show you guys what I'm dealing with here. Do you think I've been a fairly reasonable neighbor? Yeah, you know what? You don't really necessarily have to go up there. Now that you have once, but you could grab that CCM twig behind you and just hammer into the ceiling yourself a couple times.

I tried the couple taps to the ceiling. I tried the taps to the ceiling. I tried it. No, and they don't care they probably have music pumping and they're running around the kitchen yeah i mean that that's that goes a little bit they're not doing anything that they like need to be doing right and they're kind of ruining your i don't know i wonder what i wonder what the public thinks but if i'm you i'm immediately getting i'm trying to be patient but i'm ready to put my sweatband on

and fuck this guy up in a match of ping pong shut his ass down all my aol name was ping pong king 19 my screen name anyway i started to bore you guys with that story but that's what's been going on at the business that's just annoying though dude oh when you're just like at home chilling all of a sudden boom boom noises like that come out of nowhere that would drive me insane sorry to rub it in no we got four fucking gump upstairs buzzing around uh anything else we got here i know granelli's getting a little tired he's gonna edit this bad boy uh i think i think that's just about do it unless you had any other stuff you guys wanted to delve into i think we've delved into I'm a little tired. He's going to edit this bad boy. I think that's just about it, unless you had any other stuff you guys wanted to delve into.

I think we've delved into it quite a bit. I can't think of anything that we didn't get into. Oh, actually, when we told you guys we're going on once a week, first round of playoffs, too, we'll be pumping out two a week or the beginning of playoffs at least where we're kind of going and when we have that much action to be talking about. So I wanted to mention that. And was there another thing i wrote something down no no we can wrap up that was a fun pod big thank you to um alan walsh that was very interesting wouldn't wouldn't uh

sewer flurry the meme god yeah and uh the loyal guy you gotta like it and glenn metropolit so thank you guys and uh we'll see you soon. Peace. Have a great weekend, everybody. As always, we'd like to thank our fantastic sponsors here on spit and chicklets. Big thanks to our friends over at new Amsterdam, vodka and pink Whitney. Big thanks to our new friends at three Chi. You guys have been taking great care of us. Hopefully you folks check them out. Big thanks to our buddies over at Boyke's the built on. It's the best stuff out out. Big thanks to our buddies over at Boyke's,

the Biltong, it's the best stuff out there. Huge thanks to our friends over at Cross Country Mortgage. If you're looking to get into the game or refi, by all means, check them out. And a big thanks to our friends over at Dude Wipes for keeping us clean during these sweaty times. Have a great weekend, everybody. Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight

Gonna grab some afternoon delight My motto's always been when it's right, it's right Why wait until the middle of a cold, dark night When everything's a little clearer in the light of day And we know the night is always gonna be here anyway Thinking of you's working up a appetite Looking forward to a little afternoon delight Rubbing sticks and stones together