Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 313: World Juniors + Best Of 2020 (part two)

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

On Episode 313 of Spittin’ Chiclets: World Juniors, NHL News and the best podcast moments of 2020 (part two). 18:24 - 34:57 - EA Sports Snake Draft 36:08 - 49:05 - World Juniors 01:54:26 - 02:01:30 - Dylan Playfair Ferry Story 02:05:50 - 02:59:32 - Kris Versteeg Interview 02:59:51 -03:04:12 - Whit Car Story 03:04:20 - 03:22:56 - Whit Golf Talk 03:23:05 -03:29:07 - Cup Champ Pat Maroon Clip 03:29:15 - 03:50:24 - Cup Champ Alex Killorn Interview 03:50:40 - 03:59:10 - Justin Williams Clip 04:00:25 - 04:48:15 - Rick Bowness Interview 04:48:40 -05:11:39 - Jay Weinberg Clip 05:11:50 -05:15:01 - Rink Shrinks Clip 05:16:51 - 05:35:30 - Elias Pettersson Interview (BEST OF 2020 PART 1: EPISODE 278)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. You're the best around Nothing's gonna ever keep you down Hello everybody, welcome to episode 313 of Spittin' Chicklets Presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka Here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family What's going on boys? Happy holidays to everybody out there. Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year. Let's go to the boys and say how their holidays were. Mike E. Grinelli, producer. How you doing, pal? How was your holiday? What's going on, guys? Holidays were great. I hope you guys enjoyed yours as well.

I'm excited to hear about the kids' holidays. I love hearing about little kids getting presents, so look forward to hearing about that. Other than that, best of episode. You guys know these ones do the best. So excited. Yeah. I've got a 401k set up.

You got a fucking Bentley and maybe, maybe a car. That's not a complete. No, I would never. I think my mother-in-law tried giving him like a Mercedes. One of those toy. I'm like,

he's not having a Mercedes. Like his first car is going to be a shit box. It'll be safe, but I'm not getting him a sick car. If you get your kid who doesn't work, just like an escalator or a sick brand new car, you're an asshole. I'm fired up for this episode. I didn't mean to get negative right off the bat, but what's going

on? You usually bury that till later. What's up? He said I'd give my kid a Bentley. Are you shitting me? I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing. I like poking the fire a little bit at the beginning of the episode because then we get electric electric wit poking the bear how was your christmas biz did you get everything yeah from santa you were hoping for or what you know what i say no gifts and and you know we ended up doing a little bit of an exchange i got my

girlfriend these um oh god these knives i forget the name of them and she might be hearing me tell the story was it the one from the nhl network infomercial no no they're japanese knives if you like tapped your forsythia i would completely chop it off so that's probably that's why i'm going to tap yours yeah that's what i'm gonna no not in zoo but anyway i got her knife she ended up getting me these ugg slippers awesome uh she got me a backpack for hiking the one that has the camel back in it that you could suck out of the straw so simple gifts but uh very thoughtful and uh those knives are unbelievable i'll get the name of them but you can send them in every year and they'll sharpen them and send them back that's how intense these things are basically out of like the last samurai you're gonna see me in the kitchen like Tom Cruise with the slick back,

fucking chopping up my carrots. Oh, my God. Hey, you're going to – are you going to have that straw like go behind the ear like it's almost like in your peach for an assistant coach to up top? Or is this thing just going over the shoulder? It goes over the shoulder. Okay, boulder holder. Kind of like my rat tail back in grade six, over the shoulder.

That's still saved in that shoe box oh you mean like i still have it yeah i think i said that at the time that you would you definitely saved your rat tail everyone knows somebody who saved their rat tail they're creeps what about you with dog oh sorry this i i never told you guys this one i forgot about the time i had braids and and I still have the picture of it. I think you've put this picture out there prior. Oh, really? Yeah. Maybe I did talk about it.

Looking like Bo Derek from 10. We haven't even talked since the sandbagger, which is fucking crazy. I know we haven't. Actually, Whit, did you still do the present thing? You big on that? I think the older you get, the less likely. No, we don't really do presents. We did some stockings, but I just obviously shoved a monster ring at the bottom

so I had to get something. But you don't have to wrap stuff. You just slowly just kind of get things throughout the year that I think of that she may like. Not even anything expensive. Maybe funny stuff. Maybe a bath bomb. Every kiss begins with K.

Is that what you got her? Nice. Yeah. Wood dog wouldn't walk past the K let alone. That's where I've bought all the wedding rings. I've lost the Jared. I go to Jared's or maybe I go to Tootie's. Is it Tootie's fine jewel? Christmas was great because Ryder got a year older. So he's, I said he's 80% there like he was there like and he knew Santa was coming and Santa brought

presents but he wasn't at the point where you're waking up it's 5am you're going downstairs you're running your parents room like so fired up whereas his cousin my nephew is a year older he was the night before so I think that it was great because he was

excited but he still he still slept in he still chilled he wasn't like dying to get downstairs so he opened a million boxes the problem is he's opening these presents and then he's like oh open it open it like oh marble thing and i'm like oh all right it's the open he plays with it for two minutes opens the next present then you got to open that present up so he unwraps it we then open put it together it took like three hours to do it but it was awesome um i'm so grateful to be you know home and obviously it's a little different this year we weren't together with tons of family but immediate family and parents and things like that so i i had a blast it's crazy that we haven't spoken since the sandbagger you should just get him like weird shit from around the house and pack it up if he's only

gonna play for it with a minute oh yeah he'll be he'll be the one thing you think he'll be all fired up about he's like beat it and then he's playing with the cardboard box that amazon shipped it in to say that i spend all the money they play with the wrapping paper putting his head in the box like i don't know where that thing came from so uh sandbagger though well we're gonna ask r.a what he got we gotta ask g2 since everybody's talking about it r.a got his uh his playboy subscription back so you got yeah i i re uh what do you call it resubscribed no actually i don't even think they do a paper paper issue anymore do they maybe like once a year or so I heard.

You still get the CDs from when you buy the 10 for a cent. And then you have a house. Yeah, Columbia House. I still have all my CDs. I still get all my. Actually, I went down the basement to get my Bad Santa DVD to watch the night before Christmas. Oh, I forgot one funny thing that happened Christmas Eve. Now, this is probably only funny to parents out there, so maybe you

three will be the judge here if this is going to bomb with everyone else listening who doesn't have kids. But, like I said, my nephew's one year older. Cooper, he's one year older than Ryder. So they're buddies. They're always wrestling. Ryder loves dinosaurs and cars. Those are the two things. So Cooper has an enormous present from

his grandmother, my wife's mom. Enormous. And Ryder has one, too. Now, it wasn't as big, but wrap. And that was their big gifts, Christmas Eve. So everyone's getting ready. And the girls are reading towards the night before Christmas because she's, you know, doing good and reading. And it's a great little I'm crushing Caymus. And it's awesome.

And let's open the presents now, kids, here from the grandparents. Cooper opens up his present. It is an absolute monster uh is it matchbox the toys toy dinosaur racetrack that was six feet tall rider looked and saw and he sprinted over like you'd never imagine your life like my mind and cooper's a veteran he's the older cousin he goes nope my present rider come over here. Open your present. Open your present. He rips it open.

It's a played doctor's kit. It's stethoscope. It's, I looked at it. I looked at my mother-in-law. I said, miss, are you kidding me? His favorite thing in the world is the dinos and the cars. And Cooper, she's like, Cooper asked me for this in August. I don't give a shit. I was dying laughing.

So sure enough, the rest of the night, Cooper knows what's going on. He's sitting on the box of this thing going, I love my present. Taunting. It was like an hour. It was an hour. I'm like, dude, don't play with the stethoscope, buddy. It's cool to be a doctor. You'll be in debt for 12 years before you make a cent after medical school.

But I just remembered that. So we can move on. Well, no, but we got to talk about R.A. You cock block his stories. His story just came into my head and I interrupted you. It's making me laugh. Go ahead. All right.

Honestly, I'm not even sure i had a gift store i didn't i didn't really get any gifts i don't ask for anything i haven't asked for anything in 20 years so i i get i get whatever anything's gravy at this point i don't have kids so christmas when you want something you go get it yeah anyways that's what i always say to my wife yeah if i want something in may i buy it in may i ain't gonna wait till fucking have you ever received drugs as a christmas present um yeah me and my brother probably gave like eights and quarters to each other over the years and we don't even do gifts anymore like years ago i'm like do it like you give me a hat i give you a hat just save the fucking hassle like you know it's a wash

you know i don't i don't give a shit how much chiclets merch were you giving out though r.a be honest nothing like which fucking old man i'll tell you that no i have my but my dad my dad paid for it my dad paid for it my dad paid for it but he had a monster order but people love the merch it's great gifts absolutely my brother made actually my brother's birthday was two days after christmas i had a little family get together yesterday but the athletic type shit that don't look good on me i'm a i'm a little chunky so like i give that stuff to my my brother he's a little more athletic fit than me so i don't need to accentuate my curves some would say wearing tighter clothes He's a little more athletic fit than me, so I don't need to accentuate my curves. Some would say wearing

tighter clothes while being a little bigger is actually a great look as well. You're just like, I don't give a shit. I'm out here. You're just like, I don't know. I think you could pull it off. All right. If I was built like Greg to him a Valentine, maybe with accompanying muscles, but I don't even have those. So it went

spit to XLS spit and check out Spanx. All right. All right. Fucking Kardashian gonna have those so hey wit spit two xls spit and check out spanks all right all right he's looking like a fucking kardashian an nbd man's ear oh shit hey but on a serious note uh to everybody who was sending us messages and and uh instagram photos and twitter photos of all the stuff you got whether it was pink whitney or the merchandise grinnelli did an amazing job on the merchandise guys he sent us all packages. I actually ended up going over to, when I was having a car wash the other day,

I had a bunch of this stuff and I'm like, you know what, let's give it away. So I stood there for an hour and a bunch of people came by, a bunch of Chicklets fans, and was able to not only give away some merchandise, but those Pink Whitney sticks. People are going nuts for those. I got those things.

What a gift those were i got so many those off to everyone you know what i would compare it to is the tickle me elmo year like if you got one everyone was like they're fighting for it like the black friday sales uh you guys weren't around for cabbage patch kids like they were like legit riots over those fucking things back in the 80s there was those were the things back then oh they were yeah hideous dolls they were just they were just one of those phenomenons you can't really explain and i mean people were fucking robbing them from stores they were like people fighting over them and shit i think my sister got one where if you like you got the spoon with it and

then you went up and it was like the baby would start talking like like that was like the innovation at the time that i was growing up that was about the time that I walked in on her getting thumped by her now husband. By another guy named Paul. The older people she thumps are named Paul. Did you guys not have locks on your doors at the Bissonette house between you and your sister? No locks. Mom catching you. I don't think I was allowed to lock my door looking back.

Why do you think I got caught? I didn't have a lock either, Bess. I didn't have a lock. I didn't have a lock. We got to get Yoli on and talk about like raising me as a kid, catching me. Yeah, I think the parents need to make an appearance on this pod at some point. Hey, how about this?

I was going to drop off those sticks because I got so many of them. I was like, oh, I'll leave them and then I'll tweet out where they are. I was like, oh, wait a minute. There's 10 nips in there. Like some 15-year-old could read on Twitter and just go pick it up, and I'd end up getting arrested. So luckily I didn't do that, and I didn't have any merch left because I hawked it all.

I put mine on eBay, made a couple bucks. Biz signs the merch and then forges me, R.A., and Grinnelli's signature and then throws it up on eBay. Yeah, Peter Mann's been signing them. Let's talk about the Sandbagger. Another great thing. Gee helped edit it as well. Last time I didn't say that.

We have Chase, Pasha, and Gee help out. And they help out with this launch too. We had over 11,000 people at one time watching Sandbagger with Jans and Hazy. It was an absolute riot. The chirps were flying. My wires crossed at the end there i mean i mean that's that's as mad as you're gonna see me on a golf course i knew the time that you were mad i knew at the time that you were furious you were trying to hold

it in though you were dying laughing dude for them for him to break out the shot clock at that point the 22nd hole it was i wasn't i was laughing because it was so funny but i also i also yelled back as we drove away it's a scumbag move or something because it was it was and uh you you were pissed i i think you were planning on just firing a dart in there and we we got it done we got it done now i am starting and this is kind of this is well deserved this is like the heat i'm starting to catch right now is so well deserved it'd be compared to like when i was minus three on a home saturday night hockey night canada game in edmonton we lost five nothing right like this is how deserved this is but people are on me about my putting yeah it's it's let me say this all year when i was talking golf people would bitch and

i said putting was an issue all year it would come for a little bit and then it would go for a while all of these sandbaggers it has not been there at all because I am never even sniffing making pots. Every pot short. The stroke I'm putting on the ball is so short. It's disgusting. It's like our a stroke in the bedroom. No offense. Oh, sorry.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Rick is not even based in reality. No, you're not even there at the golf thing either. Next sandbagger, I'm not leaving a putt short. I don't care. I don't care because it's so

embarrassing. It looks pathetic. Maybe you need a glove on. I think that Keith and Kevin showed how funny those two guys are. They are just hilarious nonstop, but let's not forget, they both They had a couple short ones they both had like a two three footer for the win yep and i think that's karma and we uh like if i was kevin on the on the second playoff all the

20th 19th 20th all i would have never gone good good that's what i was surprised that that's why did i not did i bring it up i said you you go hey good good and then i was like yeah you uh yeah you want to go you want to want to do that and he's like yeah that's fine i was like oh the way i've been putting i know and then the next hole i made a putt and i was gonna say it was karma for what yan said on the first hole on the t-box because that was just i but he put me on my heels on hole one that's why i couldn't find my game for the first six fucking holes i couldn't even keep one on the fairway for those of you who didn't watch it they had these like lighthouse things there as uh what do you call them the markers for the t's

yeah t markers were lighthouses they were lighthouses so i said oh that's kind of cool like stick with the theme baston haba with the lighthouse and then yans yans under his breath goes looks like look looks like what's in your mom's top drawer hazy law and he's swinging like he like mumbled it while he was doing practice swings and i knew it was funny because i saw kevin and i was like what and he told me i was like oh i couldn't even spit it out i was i was on my heels so bad i i said it back in complete broken english and you still understood the joke and so but at the end of the day a fun round uh thank you those guys for coming out three and oh in boston and we're going to be doing two when we're in uh in ari not going to tell you guys who, because it'd be hounding us for a couple of months until we release it.

Golf wasn't the only extracurricular activity. The chicklets crew took part in. We were a part of the 12 trivia challenge. We were the number one seed. Somehow we played one trivia game all year. We were the number one seed, me and biz and the wit dog joined us. And we ended up losing to the yak. I don't know if you guys, I to watch to listen to whatever uh we had a one point lead and then steven che

fucking he knew who six pence none the richer and sister hey actually i didn't know who systol hazel was i thought it was blues travis so we ended up blowing the trivia in the last round um i don't know i wasn't disappointed of all time because they were the worst music fucking questions ever so i i i can't even be mad that't disappointed of all time because they were the worst music fucking questions ever. So I can't even be mad that I lost to those answers because they were just like, I would say both of you guys carried your weight. I was probably the weakest link, as we would all suspect. OHL education. Thanks a lot.

But it was a fun time. And I think it I mean, as far as other other guys that were on it, it was Roan and Big Cat. And I think a lot of people ended up tuning in after it was released on YouTube. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's in our Twitter feed on Chicklets. Is Jeff's name DeLowe? It's Jeff DeLowe, but D is his middle initial.

Why does he put his initial? I don't know, but we're talking about it. So I guess it's a good idea. It's a catchy name it's pretty badass because i always say jeff d lowe i have him on my phone as jdl yeah no 100 i you're right i say it every time i say oh jeff d lowe but i'm wondering why he does it i know if there was like you think his reasoning to do it was to sound badass well he's a movie guy i think maybe it's kind of inheriting that like what's gonna what's gonna sound cool and grab people

my fucking nickname's biz nasty who the fuck am i to talk like douchiest nickname in the league and then i tattooed it on my arm like a clown um all right i was gonna oh all right since you since you brought up jeff d low i didn't get his recommendation on not to watch it i ended up watching that midnight sky with george clooney yeah hands down probably the worst movie i've ever seen in my life yeah i couldn't believe it i was like why would george clooney be in this movie it was it was the worst thing i'd ever seen it's funny he actually texted me right before the the trivia and said how bad it was and a couple other people text me so i didn't even bother putting it on i'm curious if it was worse than wonder woman 1984 though which

was pretty bad oh no now we get the we're gonna get in trouble for that i'm gonna watch that just to make sure it's worse than what the one i mentioned there you go all right well moving right along here we're gonna head over to a different segment we know 2020 has been a brutal year for everybody but we do have a bright spot here we get to talk about the best players in hockey from 2020 because we've paired up with ea sports nhl to announce the 2020 team of the year out of 36 nominees six will be chosen as the best hockey players of 2020 and have three forwards two defensemen and a goalie this is for the calendar year 2020 so this goes back to way before the stoppage includes the bubble and the stanley cup

final and today we're going to start by announcing the 36 players nominated. Then we're going to have a spit and chiclet snake draft. And on January 1st, our boy Biz is going to make his award show debut and announce the winners in a special video. But first, we're going to mention the players. I'm going to read them off here, starting off with centers. We've got Nathan McKinnon, Leon Dreisaitl, Mika Zabenejet, Sidney Crosby, Austin Matthews, and Elias Hedgeson, a.k.a. P.E.

Moving on to the goalies, we have Carey Price, Yussi Saros, Kata Hart, Andre Vasilevski, Connor Hellebuck, Elvis Merzlikens. Okay, moving right along to the D, we got Ryan Suda, Roman Yossi, Ivan Provorov, Suda, Roman Yossi, Ivan Provorov, Victor Hedman, Quinn Hughes, Shea Theodora. On the left wing, we've got Dominic Kubelik, Jamie Benn, Mike Hoffman, Temi Panarin, Alex Ovechkin, Kyle Connor. On the right side of D, we've got Cale McCarr, John Klingberg, Seth Jones, Alex Petrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, and John Carlson. And on right wing, we got David Pasternak, Patrick Kane, Miko Rampanen, Nikita Kucherov, Mitch Mana, and Mark Stone.

All right, boys. If you saw this last year, you know that there was some serious heat going out to the winners. There was some nice custom skates and a goalie mask that our buddy Jordan Bennington wore at the skills competition. So we'll have some more of that. But let's get cracking, see who picks first in the snake draft. If you're not familiar with a snake draft, it's like a fantasy football draft. The last pick of the first round picks the first pick of the second round. And it just continues to snake through.

Hence the name snake draft. So what's up, boys? You ready to go? We're going to see who the best GM on the podcast is right now is right now absolutely and we're gonna pick from the hat to make it fair so whoever gets picked first gets to pick which position they want to draft in so this is the real deal wit all right so i'm in first name drawn let's see we have biz where are you going to be picking i'm going to pick fourth oh he wants the four or five action very very very savvy move i think you guys are going to be such rookies heading into this one and i already have a strategy in place

all right so now we'll pick pick the next one and it'll be first if they decide. Okay. Just letting the listeners know. Next up, we have G, Grinnelli. What do you want, G? Take numero uno, boys. What an idiot. Stepping up to the plate. What an idiot. No, it isn't.

No, it isn't. Yeah. All right. Next up, let's't. Yeah. All right. Next up. See who picks. We have R.A. So, yeah, I'll pick second. Whatever. I'm not going to make this complicated.

And the Whit Dog will pick third. All right. All right. First overall. You already have first overall teed up. First overall is an easy pick for me boys nathan mckinnon 25 points in 15 playoff games last year it's a no-brainer absolute no-brainer to me first overall pick nathan mckinnon okay congrats wit on the victory just putting that

one right in his lap yeah i mean i don't i don't know. He's going to wait about two hours to pick again. And there's many good players out there, but still, yeah. McKinnon was up there. Everyone knew he was probably going to be the number one overall pick, but where do we go from here? Is the question with RA?

We're going to go between the pipes and I'm going to go with the local guy. I don't know if it's because I'm in Tampa right now, but Andre Vasilevsky, an absolute horse all year, a horse during the playoffs. He could have easily won the car in Smythe. He didn't, but either way, he's my first-round pick, Andre Vasilevsky. Yeah, I was talking to myself about, you know,

you grab a goalie or you grab a superstar center, and I don't know, boys. I'm not going with the goalie. I decided that. I just don't know how you don't go not going with the goalie. I decided that. I just don't know how you don't go out and you get Leon Dreitzel. I mean, you can talk all you want about how much of a guarantee McKinnon was. Dreitzel, for me, superstar. And the season he had with McDavid out, we'll talk to my team at the end of this, 2020.

Taking the German. What do we got, Biz, first round? Putting me at a tough bind here, but I'm going to have to go back to the well where it all began with the Pittsburgh Penguins. I need leadership. I need to control the middle of the ice. What are you looking up like that, G4?

You thought I was going Matthews, didn't you? No. I did. I did. You go back to the guy who's been there, done that three times, Sidney Crosby. He's going to be my center iceman. So when picking the best team of 2020,

you're just picking a guy for what he did in like 2010? Yeah, let's keep the draft. He had a great playoff. If you think that Pittsburgh loss was on Sidney Crosby, he brought the noise. Oh, that's putting words in my mouth. I'm saying that you're a lot of – you think that you have to convince me that Crosby's one of the best of all time?

I'm just saying we're picking for 2020. I mean, I don't know, Biz. Well, I got the next pick. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to announce it. I'm going to go Patrick Kane on the right side. So I got Sid passing a caner. You know what? I like that pick.

But I also like a certain player to have to my right side, another European who, when healthy, another European who went healthy, went healthy this past year. Actually, no, I'm going to switch that up. I'm still sticking on the right side, but I look down a little bit and I'm going with Kucherov. I'm going with the Stanley Cup champ. I'm going with the guy that along with Braden Point was the first two teammates

to have more than 30 points in a playoff since Crosby and Malkin years ago. So right now I got Dreitzel Center and Kucherov is my right wing. Good luck, guys. That's a decent start. That's a decent start. We'll see you in the third round late. Yeah, it's not too shabby at all. I suppose I should put somebody up my middle right about now.

So, you know what? I'm going to go with our boy up in Toronto, Austin Matthews, uh, fantastic year by the kid. He's always had a good year, but, how do you not take him when he's on the board right now?

I guess. Keep in mind, folks, we're going to let you guys vote on who's assembled the best team with the snake draft. And right now, what's got a pretty, pretty decent squad,

but I think I'm going to surprise a lot of people at the end here. All right, boys, my team is going to score goals. That's what we're going to do this season. 95 points in 70 games last year. David Pasternak is my number two pick here.

Shocker. That's who I was thinking. We're going to play fast and we're going to score goals. You got McKinnon and Pasternak. That's right there with me. We tried telling Kucherov, but I got the cup. I got the cup. All right.

I got to fill in. Let's see here. Left winger, right winger. You know what? Doesn't Grinelli go twice? Yeah, he does. I do indeed go twice. Thank you, Witt.

My second pick. My second pick. I mean, five OT games. Recently had him on the podcast. Have to go with Seth Jones. Just an absolute horse on the back end. This guy can't draft, Biz. Absolute horse on the back end.

He's probably third on the list. This guy can't draft. All right, you're up, buddy. I'm up. I'm going to take the left winger from the New York Rangers. Temi Panarin. He's an absolute stud. He's so much more value.

I think that a left wing. Oh, you just crushed my heart. That was my next pick. Do you want to get your heart crushed a little bit more? Cause I got, I got right side. I got Kuchar off.

I'm going to chuck on back to my back end. I'm going to grab a guy named Victor Hedman. How do you do in the playoffs? Hey, 2020, how's the 2020 best team of 2020 doing? Oh, I have two of the best players on the Stanley Cup winning team, along with the best player in the league from Edmonton. So thanks for coming to this draft, guys. But I'm all over Hedman.

Well, I got back-to-back picks here, and I'm going to compete with your squad here, and I'm going to go Kael McCarr, the best young defenseman in the game. Speaking of video games, you might as well be playing a video game when you're him out there. And then going back with the next pick

to secure my up front, I got Alex Ovechkin, the guy who's on the cover here of the NHL 94 throwback game that NHL 21 put out. So EA 21, excuse me. So that's who I got. I got the four guys dialed in right now and I'm sitting pretty. Oh, man, not as pretty as the wit dog, because now what I'm going to do is I'm going to finish off my D boys.

I'm going to finish off the D. And what am I going to grab? Who am I going to grab? I'm going to grab the guy that had the most points in the regular season by a defenseman, John Carlson, who had 75 points in 69 games. That's over a point per game. This team's decent. I'll say that. Go ahead.

All right. Yeah, it is decent. Let me see. Do I want to D it up yet or what? Yeah. You know what? We it up yet or what? Yeah. You know what? We got that young puck moving defenseman. I can't resist him on the left side.

Twin himself, Quinn Hughes. All right. So going to solidify my defense with the Norris Trophy winner, Roman Yossi. Easy pick for me there. Yep. And then I'm picking again, and i'm going to solidify the back end and i'm picking carrie price and goal oh christ we're gonna get a run on goalies let's see here all right um i need defense man i'm gonna go with um

I'm going to go with... Time limit. All right. Alex Petrangelo, right side of my D. No brainer. Okay. I'm just going to finish off my team. Not finish off, but get there. So I got the Cup winners.

I got right side. I'll just go and I'll grab the Vezna winner. I played Winnipeg guys, Connor Hellbook. This draft, so I'm not even taking a left wing. I'm going to play five on four in this one, boys. Thanks for the title, EA. Send me some stuff. Send me a belt.

GM of the chicklets year. Miz, you got two picks. I'm going to go back to back here. I'm going to go probably one of the most underrated defensemen out in the West, plays for Vegas, was probably overshadowed a little bit by the young guns, Quinn Hughes and Cale McCarr, but I got Shea Theodore.

Okay, that's a pretty silky smoothing, silky smooth back end for me between Cale McCarr and now excuse me, Shea Theodore. I got to pick my goaltender. You picked Connor Hellebuck, so now I'm forced to go the young route.

Elvis Merzlikens will be my goaltender. I know we need a little bit of experience back there, but he's not shy to being thrown in the pressure cooker by John Tortorella. So there's my squad, boys. You took him over Carter Hart? Oh, my God. You can't draft. You can't draft.

Well, who had better numbers last year? I don't know. I just look at the year. I just think Carter Hart, Philly was so good. I mean, I'm not dogging Dermer's league. I just think the pick was hard. I think the pick was hard. All right, Witt. You've got, I believe, a left wing, a left. Yeah, I'm not taking a leftmer's league because I just think the pick was hard. I think the pick was hard. All right, Witt, you've got, I believe, a left wing, a left.

Yeah, I'm not taking a left wing. No, I will. I'll just take somebody just to carry around the other four players' luggage because, I mean, actually, you know what? I like throwing teammates together. I've got two guys from Tampa. I've got two guys from Winnipeg. The American stud on real wheels, Kyle Connor, Game Breaker.

Thank you. A wild card. Thank you. That's a good team win. I'm a little jealous. I like my squad, but we'll see how people vote. I got a nice young back end with great legs. Legs feed the wolf, folks.

Just remember that. All right. I got to finish my roster off here with the right wing. I'm going to go with the playoff animal himself, Mark Stone, an absolute beast all season long, especially in the playoffs. So he's going to fill up my roster. And we go with G. All right, guys.

I think it's an easy pick for me here. It's what have you done for me lately? I look at the Stanley Cup finals. What other team was there besides the Tampa Bay Lightning? It was the Dallas Stars. On the back of who? Jamie Benn. I need a little grit in my lineup, so I'm taking Jamie Benn.

19 playoff points. He's finishing in last. I think it's going to be between me and Witt. I think there's not even – I think it's like a runaway. A runaway. Well, we'll let the fans decide because we're going to put our teams up. We're going to list the snake drafts, and you guys are going to vote on who the best general manager,

and this is all brought to you by EA Sports, NHL 21, and we're going back to 2020 for these picks. We'll let the fans decide. Looking forward to seeing you guys at our little drive-by, what do you call it, G? Award show? Drive-by award show? Drive-by award show, baby. First biz. We are going to read off our teams just to summarize them.

Can I read off my team when it's my turn? I'd like to read off my team myself. Okay, let's do G was the first pick, so we'll let G read his team first. A lot of negative connotations towards my team. Don't really respect that at all because my team's stacked. Nathan McKinnon, David Poshnok, Seth Jones, Roman Yossi, Carey Price, and Jamie Benn. That's a great team.

His team's better than we were giving him credit for, but it ain't the winning team. It sounded better when he relisted it. Well, you forgot about McKinnon because first overall pick was so long ago. And Roman Yossi. Getting Roman Yossi in the fourth as with my fourth pick. That's a good pick. All right.

I'm up next. Ken Vassie is my goalie. Second round, Austin Matthews is my center. Temi Panarin for my left winger. Quinn Hughes on the left side of the D. Alex Petrangelo on the right side of the D. And Mark Stone will give a little grit to that forward line on the right side. You want to go right there?

Yeah, I'm going to go. I'm going to go right ahead. I got the Vez in the winter, Hellebuck in net. I got on lefty Victor Hedman. How's that guy? Decent. On the right D, I got the guy with the most points last year as a defenseman. That's John Carlson.

On the left side of my forward unit, I'm running around with Kyle Connor. He flies. He's got no problem keeping up with my centerman Leon Dreitzaitl just a dominant offensive performance all season long and on the right wing how was Nikita Kucherov season guys how did that end so that's my squad

I got a young back end I told you about it Shea Theodore, Cale McCarr in net with Merzlikens he won't be getting many shots because it would mean spending most of our night in the offensive zone with Alex Ovechkin. He's one of the cover boys with the tinted visor.

He's going to be tickling the twine. Who do I got on the other wing? You got Ovechkin and Patty Kane. Oh yeah, Patrick Kane. Might have won a Conn Smythe. Might have won three Stanley Cups. He's got the experience.

Who else has got three Cups? Sidney Crosby, my centerman. So talk about experience and a young back end with some young legs in net. You guys are toast. Thank you very much. GM of the Year of the Spit and Chicklets podcast, Paul Bissonette, all brought to you by NHL 21. EA Sports.

And once again, we want to say a big thank you to our friends over at EA Sports NHL. It's been an honor to help them announce the 2020 Team of the Year. And once again, our boy Biz on January 1st is going to make his award show debut and announce the winners in a very special video. So do look forward to that. Once again, big thanks to our friends over at EA Sports NHL. It was an honor to collaborate with them. I've been playing this game for almost 30 years, so it's pretty cool for me, even as an old-timer. And a lot of the fans, a lot of the listeners voted on our teams.

And the Whitdog, you look like the best general manager of the crew. Yeah, that was a hell of a performance by myself. And I think when I got Troitsa and Kucherov, you could say, I don't remember the exact order I went, but having those two doesn't really matter your left wing and then headman and carlson together it was just that was it and then i threw i threw in a vesna winning goalie so it was it was fun to do business with you guys hopefully we can all be nhl gms one day you guys all get relegated oh yeah soccer term i don't even know what long-term ir is and i'm calling elliot freeman about you want me to be a gm they said oh we gotta go into that we gotta go into that move

by the lightning oh well that's what uh people were saying online they said i was as good a gm as players so yeah i i probably finished dead last behind granelli there and you did a pretty good job too all right you were getting tire pumped yeah i didn't think it was too shabby i mean i thought vassie like i said most people don't pick goalies that early but i don't think too many players had a better 2020 than vasilevsky did so i'll stand behind that pick but before we get to all the transactions bids because there were a lot of them we got to talk about the world juniors man that's the big story in town right now started christmas day huge bummer for our buddy kirby dock man like i know he always had the chick that's bumped well he got the opposite

of that. Poor guy breaks his wrist. The last exhibition game looked like a pretty innocuous hit, too. But just that's the way the fucking cookie crumbles in hockey. Sometimes Chicago just tweeted before recorded. He got surgery. He's going to be looking at a four to five month recovery. So get well, brother Kirby.

We're heartbroken for you, pal. It was awful to see. I guess you'd have to call that the chicklets dump. Is that what we're going to be labeling it as yeah um yeah when grinelli i think you sent the video over to the group chat it was you see you see him pull his hand out of his glove right and you're like ah you're hoping that the jersey just looks weird but ultimately it didn't look great i ended up seeing a picture of it horrible Horrible fluke injury guys. Then the debate ensues. This guy played in the NHL last year. Why is he even there? Right away, I want to shut that down. You talk to any big time player at the NHL level and majority have been to that tournament.

And in order to get to the level of where you're going to be able to, you know, rise to the occasion, you have to experience it at these different levels of play and I believe they asked Jonathan Taves about it before the tournament and he said if it wasn't for that experience and gain that confidence being the guy at that level I don't think I would have went on to had to have the career that I would have had and for this kid who you know he played two years a junior, so he never really had the opportunity to be the guy, right? He makes the team at a training camp as a 19-year-old with the Hawks.

I think he has a very solid rookie year. The stoppage happens. We have him on. He talks about finally getting rest because people don't understand that full year and what it takes out of you. He goes on and has a strong playoff you know and establish them establishes himself is it even more like kind of like okay this guy's going to be a full timer and like we might have a you know a weapon on our hands here to take for you know take on taves and canes role when they may go on no brainer going to that tournament to try to get that type

of experience a fluke injury and you know now he doesn't get to experience that but wit i was going to throw it over to you this game and every player who becomes great can attest to it and gets the nhl is it's going to test you the game's going to test you this kid thinks he's going to go gain that experience and before the tournament even starts after he gets to see on his crest, he gets that stripped from him. And it's probably such a letdown for him. He's sitting there watching on TV, probably try not to be bummed out. But as I said, this game will test you. I think that it was so innocent looking. That's what was awkward enough. He went to hit a guy. It didn't look like much. And when you said he pulls the glove off, a lot of times you'll see

that if a guy might think he got cut, right, where it's kind of a panic attack. So to do that, you know, something's severely wrong. And that's why right away I was like, oh, felt so bad. And when you talk about the decision of going and I've seen this argument everywhere. I don't I try to put myself in Stan Bowman shoes and Kirby doc shoes. If you're going to look at it, I certainly don't wish like, I could have to deal with the issue. Stan Bowman is doing, I was dealing with right now, excuse me.

But if you're sitting there and this kid comes to you and he mentioned to us, he called his agent. I want to play. And the season isn't going right. If this, if they, if this was a normal year and this kid starting off and he's playing top two lines he's not going it's it's this is a crazy situation and I don't think he would have gone he didn't he didn't go last year so you you have to look at this year being so different and such an odd circumstance in terms of not only do you go and represent your country and play in a tournament that as he told us,

he dreamed of playing and every Canadian kid, it's their dream. Not only does he get the chance to do that. Well, he's also looking at it like I'm going to be flying in these games, buzzing right into the regular season. So this year it was like, how would you argue against him going? Like, I understand that everyone comes at you well there's plenty of young young stars the teams didn't let him go yeah and and in the end it looks like they made the right decision but you can't you gotta look at look at this as

your stand bowman this kid calls you his agent calls you you're thinking all right well he could get injured but like how are you gonna how are you gonna approach every single situation like that he could go dominate and then come in and have an unreal second year it's like it's so easy after to say that he's probably consulted so many other guys too and asked these questions and he's like and exactly like you said and i didn't bring up that point is assuming that he goes there with that team and gains that confidence is already in mid- there with that team and gains that confidence is already in mid-season stride because he's experienced that and he takes that confidence

from not only last playoff and last season and and goes into the season they have a good start well I mean dude as far as a career standpoint it kind of skyrockets your your trajectory and I know I always go back to that word because it's the longest word I know. And I love it. But that's I mean, we've seen it happen a million times. So it sucks for Kirby Docs, such a fluke injury. We're sorry for the chicklets dump. But I all in all, I think they made the right call at the right time. And I like the decision. So, yeah.

And as of this recording, the first two games of group play have been concluded. Russia beat the U.S. Christmas night 5-3. It was actually a good game. Russia was up 4-1. U.S. pulled goalie, got within a goal. Russia got the empty netter. Canada absolutely pummeled Germany. I mean, you had to feel bad for the Germans, 16-2.

You know, they had the COVID situation. They weren't ice in a full lineup. And, you know, if you're a Canadian kid, it's like you can't stop playing. I mean, like James Duthie, a recent guest, said, all you can do is stop celebrating, really. I mean, you can't stop playing. Like, otherwise, you're not doingadian kid it's like you can't stop playing i mean you could like like james duffy a recent guest said all you can do is stop celebrating really yeah i mean you can't stop playing like otherwise you're not doing your job out there well not only can you celebrate you're trying to get these guys these reps too early in the tournaments finally game speed let's go here these guys haven't played hockey for a long time either and unless i'm wrong which has happened

5 000 times on this show goal differential ends up coming into play in this tournament. So, dude, light it up, man. This is fucking, you're one step away from the NHL for the most part. All right, you're a step away from pro hockey. You're a little bit away from the NHL. Sorry you guys lost 16-2. It's bad luck that they lost the players from COVID. But fuck, this isn't 10-year-old hockey. guys lost 16-2. It's bad luck that they lost the players from COVID, but fuck.

This isn't 10-year-old hockey. Yeah, I also read online someone did say that it goes to goal deferential when it comes to head-to-head if it were for positioning. So it's the second tiebreaker? Right, so obviously they're not going to be in a tiebreaker with Germany I believe. Okay, then take that point away.

Right, but that's nor here nor there where, and that might not even be the case. I read it on Twitter and you know, how often times Twitter tells the truth. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, Oh fuck. Now I forgot what original point I was going to make. Oh, it's the first game of the tournament. What are you going to do? You're, I mean, every guy's got to get their legs into it and they've been sitting there in

their hotel rooms for three weeks, all horned up, young, dumb and full of cum ready to go and put on a show for canada and i just the only thing that the issue the only issue i have with that game is to try to figure out a way where in this tournament it's more competitive because it really you're waiting for sweden russia canada u.s finland at the end so like i don't know if you make the tournament smaller. That's unfair to these countries who get in. But I've been watching, and it's been great hockey. I mean, Russia lost last night to Czech.

The Czech goalie was out of his mind. The Russia game, or first we can go over Canada, the shit pumping of Germany, and then they played Slovakia. I'm watching the game. That was a hell of an effort by Slovakia. By the way, I'm watching the game. That was a hell of an effort by Slovakia. That was a... By the way, I heard on the broadcast they even had a first rounder in 15 years,

the country of Slovakia. I was shocked by that. Who was it? Who was the last one? No clue. Didn't look it up. Just heard the stat. I'd get shit for that if I brought that info

and didn't have a guy. Anyway. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, dummy. You know what you'd do? You know what you'd do? You would have asked the question that you just asked after saying what I said. That's what you would have done. So fuck off.

And the other thing about Slovakia that was incredible, they won the world championship in 03. And in 02, they didn't even get the chance because they were like, they had to play in to get into the Olympics. And they didn't have they weren't allowed to bring their NHL, their NHL players or the NHL season was going on. So those guys couldn't play. So they never even got into the 02 Salt Lake City Olympics. But that's a hockey nation that showed up against Canada. I mean, to lose 3-1 with an empty net. Canada, I watched that Bowen Byram.

Guys, amazing. And so is Drysdale those two are playing together it's like how you supposed to get the puck away from either one of those they'll break it out with ease every time but I don't think it's going to be as easy for Canada as a lot of people thought because I'm watching Sweden they look awesome although that Lucas Raymond just got injured the fourth overall pick last year by Detroit he went into the boards awkwardly I don't know if he hurt his back or he looked like he couldn't put weight on his left leg, but it's always going to,

it's always great. Once you get to maybe the semis, the quarters will still be good, but it's, it's, there's always going to be games that are blowouts in this tournament and people whining and complaining. They fucking they're 18,

19 years old. Travis Zegers from the Americans. Oh, Jesus. The passing on that kid. I think he'll come on chicklets. I met his dad at a BU game last year. I went to brought Ryder to his first BU game.

And like four days later, COVID hit and the world shut down. But I was watching him. He was unreal. I was talking to his dad. He said his dad listens to the show. So at some point, Trevor Zegers, you see him lighten it up in Anaheim. We also had some supplemental discipline feeling like the old NHL here. One game for Braden Schneider for violation of Rule 124,

checking to the head and neck area versus Germany. He got tossed halfway through the first period, so it was basically a two-game suspension, more or less. No argument here. I mean, he didn't maybe mean to do it, but he did it. And also Austrian defenseman Philipp Wimmer. I'm sorry if I'm anglicizing that but uh his was a little more blatant it was definitely a blindside hit he caught uh usa's patrick moynihan absolutely fucking just caught him blindside one of those if that was an nhl hit he's probably getting fucking if that was wilson

he's getting his head cut off and guillotine in town town square mill to his parents yeah yeah i can't wait to see it first game of the season um so listen i'm i'm old school so those are those hits are just you you can't do that anymore those are toast yeah the one the one was directly in the head rock'em sock'em anybody anybody listening who used to watch the rockham sock videos those were the most amazing videos you could sit there and watch them for seven hours in a row the same one he used to always talk about you should start a new one rockham sock rock rockham sock boom trade market jeff get the get the domain covered. Hey, one of the little touch I've noticed is the linesman,

at least a couple of the games, their first puck drop. One of them come up and says, let's do that hockey. Like just when you thought that phrase was worn out, that guy might've made it cool again. And then another, well it might've been the same linesman. He says, shake and bake. He dropped a little Ricky Bobby line out there. Just, you know, you know, goofy little touches like that. I think those are fun, man.

Who's the NHL guy always doing it? Well, Wes McCauley, the referee. Yeah, when he's giving like the calls on the mic. Maybe he's trying to be the next Wes McCauley. I mean, people are going to know his name after he's barking at the players. He starts talking. He's like, hey, Wes calls him out. Yeah.

All about stealing a stick. Battle of the referees. Wes, we glanced over my first glimpse anyway of is it Stutzel? The first. Yeah. The first pick to Ottawa. His tape job. Yeah, that's nuts.

The crime scene. It's worse than pasta. He has it on the toe vertically. He has it on the toe vertically he has it on the toe vertically and then horizontal just along the middle of the blade looks like a big dick just looks like he's look great out there though he's got fantastic the shaft and the and the head it looks like a dick he should put a little p-hole on the end then he'll start sniping little white little strips of white tape is the cum coming out. Yeah, he should do a black version

and then with the white, the little white drop cum stains. It goes up to his gloves. I'd be putting clear tape over it to snap it around. He's nasty though. He flies around. He's skating sick.

He's been playing in the DEL, so he plays against men. He'll be a lot of fun to watch. Ottawa's going to have some games that are exciting this year. I guarantee you that. Jeff, actually, we can jump right into them. I had them a little further down, but the Sens, man, they're continuing to load up for the upcoming season.

They picked up Derek Stepan from Business Coyotes for a second rounder in 2021. They had three second rounders already so it was probably easy to spill on even if the analytics folks thought it was an overpay uh he had one yellow left at 6.5 million dollar cap hit but it's only two million in real dollars which means a lot more to the senators senators also acquired defenseman braden colbin and forward cedric paquette and a second rounder in 2022 from Tampa Bay in exchange for Marion Gabrick and on his Nilsson's long-term injured reserve deals. One of those mutually beneficial deals.

Ottawa gets a couple of veteran character guys and Tampa Bay gets a little cap relief. What was your take on that? Well, I mean, getting back a second rounder is great. You know, he, he provided a lot of leadership here uh he was a great 200 foot center i think as time goes on i would say that he was probably a 1b at his best point in the nhl he was never like a top and center but he was very consistent having 50 60 point seasons while being very good on the penalty kill we talked about providing that leadership he's great in the community like all positive his production offensively has slowly declined.

And I think that they saw an opportunity considering the assets we've not only lost, you know, to, to certain situations and for certain reasons, a way to replenish that. And the second rounder is a, you know, a big deal moving forward, given the lack of assets that we do have. So best of luck to step. Thank you for everything you did for the organization. A guy that when you, as a media member, when you interview someone, you know, you're going in and being like, yes, this guy is going to talk. He's going to articulate, he's going to be nice. And it's, and he,

he was a great guy. So best of luck step and a great work by, by army to get an asset there. And on on the rumor mill don't know if it's came across the wire yet i think the fact that coyotes are signing derrick broussard yeah guillaume guillaume latin dress said that they're working on a one-year deal sorry yes and and i talked to elliot friedman who said that he'd looked into it and it seemed as if though um that was going to be the case uh i talked to Elliot Mosey because of this long-term IR situation that I still have no fucking clue about. He tried to explain it to me.

It's just the occurring part of it. I just don't get it, man. It can get confusing, man. It's a lot of details. But there was a lot of banter online about the fact that this long-term IR thing is being manipulated a little bit too much and part of me agrees with him although that would be being a bit of a hypocrite considering what i complimented chica on this he wasn't the first gm to do it but he he was he's

probably been the one to manipulate it the most in order to take on long-term ir deals but gain assets from other organized jesus christ other organizations in order to do it and gordon miller had a tweet and here i'll read it so we'll be here for another six hours i don't know i don't know go ahead he wrote he wrote this i think this loophole needs to be closed Cap relief for long-term injury reserve should only count for players who are playing for that team at the time they went on long-term IR, not acquired from someone else. It's legal, but it's cap circumvention. So you're seeing a lot of these GMs right now play cap,

what do they call it, cap gymnastics. I kind of like the term. Oh, yeah. It's silly. Go ahead. They're doing it by the rules, Biz. You know what I mean? And just to, like, G just texted me and said maybe explain it.

Basically, long-term injury reserve is like, for example, Alex Steen. Now, he basically all but officially retired. He's not going to play hockey again. He just didn't put his paperwork in. But his contract is still live. So what the Blues do is they put his contract on long-term injury reserve, which allows them to go over the cap up to whatever his money is. Now, if you have two or three players, in this case,

Tampa Bay Lightning, then you can go way over your cap. Now, I don't think we should yell at GMs in front offices because they're playing by the rules. I mean, if you've got a guy on your staff who can find these angles to make it work, then fucking by all means do it. Go ahead, Biz. Well, so I agree with you. I saw his point, and I was like, okay. find these angles to make it work then fucking by all means do it um and you're good biz well so i agree with you i saw his point and i was like okay and then as after i talked to elliot freeman he brought the point of like well considering the cap hell some of these teams

are in because of the pandemic this would make for a very different difficult log jam and also he says what's one of the most interesting parts about the NBA? Some people will completely disagree, but the amount of action and transactions, because it creates all this, oh my God, another fucking star is getting true. Like it's just more action happening want to say shafted by it, but hasn't been able to use it at all, would be more no for it than a team who has ended up getting out of their cap situation and or acquiring assets because of taking on these long-term IRA contracts. I'm more for it than against it, RA. So I just wanted to hop in and tell you that. And I agree with the point you're making. And I should follow up. Obviously, we just talked about the Sens I just wanted to hop in and tell you that. And I agree with the point you're making. And I should follow up. Obviously we just talked about the Sens deal.

Tampa was on the other end of that. They dumped 3.35 million to Ottawa. They took back almost seven and a half million in salary. But again, that's all long-term money. It was a mutually beneficial deal, but also Nikita Kucherov as speculated, he's out for the regular season due to hip surgery. So he's going to go on long-term injury reserve as well.

Of course, other people say, well, why didn't he get the surgery before? It's like, well, that's none of your business. Like, he got it now. I mean, it's really not. You think the plan was to miss him for all year, guys? Like, whoever says that? Biz, you want to know who the teams that get shafted by it? They're not the teams that don't get the chance to do it.

They're the teams who are competing against Tampa. Correct, correct. And it's like, all right, this year they might be kind of screwed. They got to sign Sorelli. They got to sign. They got to. And all of a sudden it's like, oh it they're the teams who are competing against Tampa correct correct and it's like all right this year they might be kind of screwed they got to sign Sorelli they got to say they got it and all of a sudden it's like oh they're fine and they get Kutcher back for the playoffs so yep you guys are right don't blame the teams don't blame the GMs blame the league blame you know the the NHL not figuring out that this could happen I guess it was it was just a bit odd if if I guess if they would have seen it as such a big problem, they would have addressed it when they figured it all out this offseason, right? So they saw it as something moving forward.

I think for the betterment of the league, they decided not to do anything about it because of the issues that I mentioned with the cap not going up and all these issues that it created. So I just thought it created some good discussion and some fans who watch maybe don't understand why certain things are happening and like what long-term ir is so hopefully we did somewhat of a good job explaining it i don't i don't know if there's a cap as to how much you can take on of it i don't know how much a cure a cure occurs is that the word i'm looking for a cruise well put it this way tampa's gonna stop the season business with 17 million in cap

commitments on long-term injury reserve between Kucherov, Marion Gabrick, and Andes Nilsson, the concussed goalie who played for Ottawa last year. What does the word a cruise have to do with this? So basically, in some cases, if certain teams put guys on long-term IR, they're able to save cap space in the long run. It's not just that year no no through i believe it's through the throughout the course of that season so this is once again where i have no fucking clue what i i'm talking about i just think i may have somewhat understood it we're gonna have to bring walsh back alan walsh back to explain this to our audience but obviously we're talking

about tampa bay we also have to note they re-upped a pair of 23 year old restricted free agents in forward Anthony Cirelli uh and defenseman Eric Chernak they also signed defenseman Jan Ruta who was UFA but opted to stay with Tampa Cirelli signed for three years 14.4 mil that comes out to a 4.8 million dollar cap hit he's coming off his ELC he had a career high 44 points last year nine points in 25 playoff games he's obviously a key part of that lineup uh uh pal who we haven't met yet but Dmitry Filipovich said excuse me there was a two-month stretch last season during which the lightning went 26 five and two to turn this season around when five verse five five on five goals with Anthony Strale on the ice with 29 and

four in favor of the lightning unbelievable you know some you don't necessarily have to put all around to have an impact player you know how i'll summarize it is they just basically got a surrogate type up front so they have this three-year period where they're able to stall to see if these guys are able to blossom into what that the strong part of the core group is and hopefully bang out a few more cups and if they do those other guys will be towards the end of their deals and they could figure that out then so they are just not going anywhere they are not going anywhere these guys chernak was also coming off his elc deal he signed three years 8.85 million uh just under three million dollar cap hit so he's an animal that guy's tough as shit and plays hard and that's the perfect type i'm not gonna say bottom pair defenseman but you

know four five sixty men that they need that makes them so difficult to play against it's not just the skill with headman and sergachev it's the grit like the bogosian you know was there last year like cernak's mean so it's just an all-around sick team i play with an ontario you did yeah he was in ontario fighting then no he i don't think he understood the language very well i think oh i just came you told me this once i remember that and i i didn't i didn't know i didn't know if he was going to end up developing but then i saw him play for the lightning. I'm like, oh, no, LA gave up an unbelievable prospect. He was like Drago, though.

6'2", 6'3", just felt like a brick shithouse, very mobile. I just wasn't sure what was going on between the ears, but he's obviously figured it out. A couple of the notes on Tampa. A route to sign two years, 2.6 mil for a 1.3 cap hit. And GM Julian Brisebois said Stamkos is expected to be ready and healthy for the start of the season. signed two years 2.6 mil for a 1.3 cap hit and uh gm julian breeze boss said stamp coast is expected to be ready and healthy for the start of the season and one quick note going back to ottawa they did sign stutzel to his three-year entry-level contract that was basically a

formality but we still want to make note of it um speaking of free agency the last big forward name in the market well the guy who you know everybody was waiting to see what he did mike hoffman he signed a pto with the Blues. He will be in camp January 3rd. The reason he's going to be on a PTO, which is a professional tryout, basically St. Louis has to get their money straight. They still need to get Steen and Tarasenko officially on the long-term injured reserve, which I just explained.

So essentially he's waiting in the wings. And unlike Biz and Witt's PTO, Hoffman will actually be on the St. Louis Blues roster. Okay, nice. Fucker. Come come on that was a fucking layup that was a oh man there were so many good daggers coming out yeah somebody said uh next thing you always start the hockey park yeah next stop chicklets co-host no next stop unfortunately was russia he better not hope he's going there and then it was chicklets but Oh, shit.

Yeah, I mean, people, okay, so I sent a tweet. I'm going to guess that this isn't what his agent told him what it would be like when he was UFA. Now, granted, this year's a gong show. But all these people are like, well, he's obviously going to sign a deal there. He's going there. He's going to sign a deal. They got to figure it out.

They got to get Steen on the LTIR. They got to wait until the season starts. I say, yeah, but even if he signs a deal, it's probably going he's going to sign a deal they got to figure it out they got to get steen on the ltir they wait till the season starts i say yeah but even if he signs a deal it's probably a one-year deal it's probably one year this guy was probably looking at five years 25 27 million everyone was saying so yeah it's it's been a bummer for that guy but if he goes and lights it up this year and and things get back to normal next year fans back in the building who knows what happens in the summer then but still it's a tough year for him to go really prove it again luckily he's on a nasty team and if he has to prove it why not do it with a i would consider them a cup contender again they got a lock up done um they also have to figure out like it's not gonna be that easy replacing

petrangelo like it's like st louis is really good but pareko pareko didn't have a great year last year i know he needs to bounce back yeah this guy's a tough bubble yeah very 25 minutes a night 40 point number one d-man i think they're going to get it done by committee they got falk locked in they got krug now they got they got a a pretty solid back end i hear what you're saying when you're taking a guy who's lugging that much i was ice out of the lineup you know you gotta you gotta replace that piece but you know it's it's clearly a risk people are saying he's gonna replace Steen in that price range probably four and a half to the five range and you know I guess if it's a hot start they can sign him in February is the rule now similar to like a LeBanc situation although he was restricted he got the you know the one one

year one million and then at a certain point in the season, which it was January 1st, I believe this year now it's going to be in February where they could end up blocking him in long-term. So it's still a gamble. It's, it's crazy, but that's the team you probably want to do it with. There you go. One other note before we get to other signings here, the NHL schedules actually came out since our last episode. They're going to be doing basically what I would call baseball-style schedules with, you know, going to one city, playing two, three games. They might have a random spot in the road here and there.

These teams are going to be playing 56 games in four months. The non-Canadian divisions, like I said, they're going to be playing their division rivals eight times each. We're going to get 10 battles of Alberta, which is obscene. Montreal and Ottawa at one point are going to play each other four times in a row. And L.A. and Anaheim are going to play each other five times in a row in April, May.

The last four of them in six nights. Like, dude, like I said before, I'm beating a drum here. How much are these fucking teams going to hate each other? I mean, five games in a row in non-playoff situation, and then you might play them in the playoffs too, if it pans out that way. It's crazy. I'm sorry.

Lucas Raymond returned to the game, so anyone worried about Team Sweden, I'm not stupid. He's back. He scored. I think that we mentioned this before, R.A., about the battles and the minors, and you play the teams that many times. Didn't we talk about this last episode?

We did, but the schedules hadn't officially come out. Okay, fair enough fair enough it's it's i actually saw a good tweet uh shit who was it uh justin bourne and he mentioned that this year like teams are going to get into the playoffs based on the energy that you can produce because it's one of those things where you talk about the baseball type schedule you got three games and four nights you're playing the same team at least two of those games, if not all three, who at the end of those games, at the end of those grinds, AHL type schedule can muster up the energy to just basically outwork teams.

That's how you're going to get points at the end of these runs. These teams go on. It's like outworking because everyone's going to be exhausted. Everyone's not going to have their legs. They're going to feel different than they usually do throughout the year. When you get your time off, you get the all-star break. Now it's going to be about who can figure it out. And just in the third period of these late games that you're exhausted and feel like shit in.

That's why I feel like Columbus is going to be a dark horse. I don't know what their odds are. And we're going to get in the gambling corner once the season starts rolling around. But Columbus, man, they got lucky getting in that division, too. They got a lot of good things going for them.

Yeah, just talking about the Blues here. So we want to go back to something, actually. A story come over the Russian site, Sport24. Now, we want to make it known. These quotes were via Google translate. So, you know, take that for what it's worth. Uh, but Tarasenko was, uh, allegedly disappointed at not being named captain. Uh, he said, I think it's okay, uh, on certain leadership positions after

eight years at the club, but everyone has their own opinion. Uh, Alexi, who was Tarasenko's agent, Alexi expressed it and has every right to do so i personally focus on recovering from injury because there are so many people who say that tarasenko will never play the same way i have a tremendous incentive to come back and prove these people wrong basically this article is saying that tarasenko is pissed at not being named captain again it's translated from a russian site via google so i think you should probably add that into the the weight of what you're listening to because it would be like it's completely false.

Quite possibly. Yeah. He was actually saying, like, I'm so happy O'Reilly's captain. What a choice. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, the complete opposite. I'll say this is if he was dead serious and he was a little bit disappointed, maybe, you know, the way it is over there just goes based on seniority and how long you've been there and the time you've put in with that club. organization in order to to be rewarded with the C I just I mean I don't know I feel like that organization's done a pretty good job of reading the room and I think they know who the right guy

for the job is and it's tough to not pick the guy who essentially was your your I would call him the spiritual leader in that cup run I feel like everybody jumped on his back more than anyone else yeah no in no disrespect to Tarasenko's top-level score, one of the best in the league in terms of putting the puck in the net. I mean, he's 30-goal minimum, it seems like, every year. There isn't one GM in the league, if they had Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko, that would make Tarasenko the captain. And I don't even know if the GM did it. I'm sure it was coach.

I'm sure it was a bunch of different people. That is not even an argument. I get the sense that's a locker room that speaks for itself. Yeah, it's just a no-brainer. Ryan O'Reilly, this guy does it all. This guy's one of the best players in the NHL. And I think just it wasn't even a second thought, man. I think we made fun of the fact it was i think we i think we made

fun of the fact it was even news yeah you did yeah yeah we're not so surprised like i said i think the keywords here uh uh quotes via google translate from a russian sports website so yeah exactly might not have basically what he said might not have been what what's implied by the quote so and if he is pissed well you know that's his right to be but all right moving right along wait to see another practice scrap and cup for fucking st louis hey we obviously talk about chiclets on the show a lot but did you know that most people still use a manual toothbrush even though dentists recommend electric brushes because they're proven to be more effective, why go analog when digital is available? That's why you want to get yourself a Bruch electric toothbrush. I love the just left the dentist clean feeling after I used my Bruch on my choppers, not to mention a long battery life.

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especially this time of year when you're drinking a lot of vino. That's true. I just got mine. It's so good. I got to brush my cavities away with it. There's about 15 settings on the thing. They got max. They got just the gums.

And when you press just the gums, I was holding it. You just just the gums and when you press just the gums i was holy just press the gums the two things at the end come firing out i can't wait to get those going on my gums so bruce check it out as i already said b-r-u-o-s-h bloke and when the old lady needs to get off you get there's another setting for that this thing absolutely does it all no but on a serious note so the rabbit bruce these um these electric toothbrushes they get expensive they get up there in price especially if you're you're buying them at the dentist office where they're like 200 bucks this one i think is just over 100 bucks right or maybe just under 100 bucks and the biggest part of it though is the heads the

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All right, boys. A lot of signings since the last episode, so we're going to run through them here. Montreal signed a pair of veterans, Corey Perry and Michael Froelich, to one-year deals worth $750,000 apiece. Hey, look, last year, Corey Perry had five goals during the regular season. Everyone's saying he's all done, blah, blah, blah. Guy was a monster in the playoffs. Scored five more goals in the playoffs. T got his nose in dirty everywhere and you got to

think man if the canadians can snag a playoff spot who else would you rather have come playoff time that guy like the worm well wet doggy mcdavid i mean i'm talking for a fucking 750,000 dollars cm of the year wet there he is. He's buzzing. Oh, yeah. I love the signing. And I read right away that Toronto really kind of was looking at Perry. They ended up with Wayne Simmons. And look at the – I'm sorry. Montreal.

Excuse me. Montreal was looking and wanted Wayne Simmons. He goes to Toronto. They end up getting Perry for way less money. So I think that if you look at his regular his regular season you might say i don't know is he is he done but he's a playoff type player he's always been able to kind of elevate his play once the springtime comes now before in the regular season winning mvp scoring 40 50 he was no doubt dominant player now it's different but just get into the playoffs i don't know how much

he'll do to help you get in but once you're there look out i i that team i i don't know i i don't expect much from them i i know that they've made some severe changes and and it's been discussed on what needs to happen but i don't know like looking at that division in the league as a whole i don't think the canadians have a chance of winning the stanley cup i think i think burt burger van there wanted to beef up a little bit he's got a big back end they got the goaltending they picked up Josh Anderson which is he is he going to be ready to go for regular season I know he got shoulder surgery but as as far as forwards they were fairly small coming into this season and they they've beefed up a little bit with especially with him in the bottom six so I don't mind the move and I think if if the goaltending in the

back end turns out in the 56 game schedule I could see them being a team that that squeaks in yeah that's that's a whole thing here business like hot starts if a team is slow get out of the gate it could cripple their whole fucking season so all right we got a bunch of other signs I'm gonna roll through so you boys want to chime in give me a cue here uh goaltender Ryan Miller he's gonna be back with Anaheim for a fourth season in his 18th NHL season. The 40-year-old agreed to a one-year deal worth $1 million. He'll spell John Gibson when needed.

New Jersey signed restricted free agent goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. Three-year, $8.4 million deal. Comes out to $2.8 million cap hit. Our friend Kevin Weeks had the scoop on that one. The 24-year-old was New Jersey's second-round pick back in 2015. He just finished his ELC as well. This is his third NHL season. I'll tell you, man, for a team who hasn't been that great, I mean, 70 games played, he's 32-24-8 with a 2-7-2, a 9-1-6, five shutouts. Those are pretty respectable numbers for a team that hasn't been in the playoffs and has struggled to score. So the future looks good for that kid.

Another unrestricted free agent people are wondering, Mikael Granlund, he's going to stay put in Nashville. Like I wrote in my blog, there's everybody who goes to Nashville, loves it there, whether you're a hockey player or down for a bachelorette party. One year at $3.75 million deal. He'll be 29 in February, had 17 goals last year. Nashville also added unrestricted free agent ford eric holler signing him to a one-year 1.75 million dollar deal uh the 29

year old finished last season with florida after being dealt in the vinnie trocheck deal had 12 goals 12 assists and 48 games played uh the la king signed uh andreas uh Athanasiu to a one-year $1.2 million deal, 26 points in 55 games last year, split between Detroit and Edmonton. That's a guy who I think I expected a lot more when he got to Edmonton. I thought he'd gel with how fast he is, and there's been tons of questions about maybe his hockey IQ because in terms of having all the tools, when he's on, it, it's crazy game breaker. So that could end up being a, that could be a really good signing. I mean, you look at last year,

uh, why am I fucking drawing a blank right now? Who is with Ottawa? What the hell's wrong with me? I mean, right. I mean, it was a little different where he'd been really kind of suitcasing around, but if Anthony Seale can find his game and figure out a way to be successful like consistently it'd be an awesome value deal for them

yeah you're always hoping that he's going to be the one to pop off like he's the name that you're like man I hear so much about him like in you know in Detroit we thought he was going to be ready to take the next step and I thought the Anthony Duclair comparison was perfect and we talked about him last episode getting the 1.7 million in florida didn't we we did yes okay so we already mentioned and and you touched on ryan miller i feel like he's like the vince carter

of the nhl he just keeps getting deals i would say he's probably the hot one of the highest grossing goaltenders of all time right would that be a fair he's probably made over 75 million yeah i could pull that up on cap friendly to give it a look. What's your guess with, as far as millions, Ryan Miller's career, I'm going to get 65. Well, I'm going to say 68. Actually, I'm going to read, I'm going to change it up. I thought, I thought for sure.

I think you guys are right around there, but, but it could end up being maybe, maybe 70. Career earnings, estimated career earnings per a cap friendly. $61,310,000. Still a really good fucking career. Holy shit. Yeah, that'll do. Absolutely.

You're going to have some fun post-playing career when you cash in 61. Unless you're an NBA or below it all. Moving right along. Local boy, Connor Sherry, he signed a one-year deal at Washington for $735,000. Undrafted 28-year-old UMass product. He cost won two cups with Pittsburgh. He got traded to Buffalo back in 2018, then dealt back to Pittsburgh this past February. Anderson, he signed a PTO, a traditional PTO, I should say, with the Capitals. He spent his last 10 seasons with Ottawa.

He's obviously Henrik Lundqvist, who we'll mention that while we're here. He tweeted out on Monday that he was going to be getting open heart surgery for the medical issue he's dealing with. And I know, guys, when you used to hear 40 years ago open heart surgery, it was like a huge deal. And not to minimize it, but heart surgery has come along so far in the last like 20, 30 years. It's almost like a routine thing. Now, obviously if you're getting done, it's not routine. I think Henrik's in good hands here. Obviously it's a, it's a major surgery, but at the same time,

the technology and heart surgery has been absolutely incredible the last two years. So we want to wish Henrik the best. Obviously he's a friend of the program. We love the guy and and you know I think everything's going to be fine for him and ideally we'll see him back in the league next year like you're saying they used to have to like cut open your chest where they'll be like two or three inches well they still do but it's just that I mean literally like 40 years ago if someone was going for heart surgery it was like you know do the fucking rosary and sit around and be scared. But now it's like the technology and the medical advancements are so good that, you know, not that you're minimizing, but if you hear someone's going in for heart surgery as, you know,

compared to say maybe cancer, you're like, oh, okay, well, there's not a lot of situations where people come out and have difficulties because the medical technology has been unreal. And I'm sure they'll take good care of'll take if you actually think about surgery where they're cutting open somebody's heart like and that that like happens daily and works it's like when you sit in an airplane you're like how am i flying right now yeah yeah i'm not even high either if you actually think about that shit are you kidding me yeah exactly man it's it used to be brain surgery it's still a big deal but it used to be like you know a little more iffy i guess is probably a good way to put it.

Whereas nowadays, if someone in the family has got to go in for a heart treatment, a heart procedure, it's like not to say it's not a big deal, but it's certainly not the big deal it was 40 years ago. So I'm moving right along. What did you say before the Henrik Lundqvist thing? About Craig Anderson going on a PTO because you know what i was gonna say is holy man does washington love pittsburgh sloppy seconds or what is that rude to say no i feel like any guy they don't sign washington picks up they just love it well pittsburgh used to put the smackdown on them like all right let's try let's if you can't beat him join him type thing but it is it is weird how often that happens that's me being a penguin's

jock sniffer and i'm sure i'm gonna yes don't be poopy pants because you guys are picking up the sloppy seconds all right uh all right a couple more here uh restricted free agent casey middlestad another friend of the program he signed with buffalo one year deal worth 875 000 he's still just a 22 year old kid uh he split last season between buffalo and rochester while with the sabers he had four goals five assists in 31 games played uh in 117 games he's got uh 17 goals 22 assists uh let's see that's a guy that if buffalo wants to take the next next step let's go baby this high pit you have a high pick that that i think tons of potentials there it's like all right well time to get this thing going when hits like that when picks like that don't hit that's why you end

up being in the basement yeah i'll make i'll make this argument though in Buffalo I feel like there's it's so rushed and the microscope is so big because they're just praying that the next prospect is going to like pop off to be you know a you know a top player in the league when guys that's not necessarily the case like they so you know if you get a first round draft pick the guy might end up being like a solid top six player so um definitely one guy though i'll be keeping an eye on this season and i hope he he lives up to the expectations that were at the beginning of last year yeah no doubt we're rooting for him like i said he's still only 22 man some guys a little bit wrong man it's just yeah you're right all right moving right along uh unrestricted free

agent kyle sodeberg signed with the blackhawks, a one-year deal worth $1 million. The 35-year-old Swede had 17 goals, 18 assists, and 70 games at Arizona last year. Biz, how much game has this guy got left? He's been around. He's been a pretty steady performer. He's solid. Good net front presence. He'd be good for, I mean, their probably second unit power play.

Who knows? Maybe on the first because those other guys are just buzzing around. But I think he's a solid player with a lot of game left. I mean, he was great coming over for Colorado, and he was, I think, up until one point, the leading scorer for the Coyotes in the regular season. He might even finish the leading scorer for the Coyotes in the regular season. What are you laughing at?

Gee, look it up. Nice radio guy. Nice radio guy right there. And one last... Just home games. One last unrestricted sign. I'm saying he might not know the stats.

Fuck. I'm trying to back him up here. I was actually trying to defend my boy. G's going to look it up. He's the producer and stat guy now. All right. One more unrestricted free agent. I was actually trying to defend my boy. Gee, he's going to look it up. He's the producer and stack guy now. All right. One more unrestricted free agent, defenseman Slater Kuk Kuk,

signed with Edmonton. 26-year-old, had a goal and nine assists in 42 games, played with Chicago last year. That's the last of the unrestricteds I have here. A couple other notes. After returning to the NHL for two seasons, Ilya Kovalchuk went back to Russia. The 37-year-old signed a two-year deal with Avangard Omsk. Is that how I say that, Whit?

Yeah, that's pretty good, actually. Thank you. He split last season between L.A., Montreal, and Washington. And Biz, we got to give credit to the Bergevin here. He signed him in January. He put up six goals and seven assists in 22 games played then burger van flip him to washington for a third rounder in 2020 and then montreal used that third rounder to bring in jake allen for a little uh backup for price so that's why sometimes moves

like what's this guy doing it's like well i'm gonna add an acid here and hopefully he'll do good and we can turn him into something and that's's what the burger van did. I love the burger van. He's just cranking weights right now. Two a days. Get a needle shoved in his ass. He's on the Russian gas. He's probably got Markov flying the stuff over. Yaramir Yaga, who is two months older than me, the old guy on the podcast.

He's still at it. He's playing at 48 years old in the Czech Republic for his hometown, Kladno. He's got 24 NHL seasons, four in the KHL, nine in the Czech League, 154 at the National Games. I mean, it's Jaga, man. It's like this guy, I think he'll play at least 60 if teams keep signing him. I think he'll play until he can't get a contract, really.

Yeah. He'll be in any league, but he'll be in the EIHL when he's 75. Playing for Nottingham. Yeah. I'm in, I'm in Cardiff. I'm going to revive my career, go back at him,

but we're going to be like 10 goals. Remember that? Remember the video or the two former CFL guys coming out? I think, I think TSN aired it originally, but you know, they must've had like an old rivalry but they're like fighting with the canes on stage that's going to be us in the corner

battling for pucks with the fucking our uh our those four four peg strollers oh the tennis balls on the bottom yeah like the guy from uh family guy the old guy does. How do you talk like him? The old guy from Family Guy? Oh, the pedophile? Oh, there was the pedophile and the old guy. I can't do him right now. He's the same guy, right?

I wish you could. It would have been a lot funnier. Yeah. Throw in a Simpsons voice. Memes will do it. Hey, son. Where you going, son? Hey, that's my puck. Yeah, that's it. But there it is.

It's a fine line between the old guy and the pedophile on Family Guy. Good call. Oh, I meshed them two and one there. All right. Hey, we've got to send congrats to longtime defenseman Derek Engelen. He retired after 11 NHL seasons and 17 pro seasons, the last three with his hometown Vegas Golden Knights. The 38-year-old is going to work with the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation and 17 pro seasons the last three with his hometown vegas golden knights uh the 38 year

old is going to work with the vegas golden knights foundation afterwards uh including playoffs he played over 700 nhl games 127 points and 671 regular season games uh the team actually did ask me wanted to be moved at the last deadline but he was you know he hadn't been part of the regular lineup but he opted to stay put like Like I said, Vegas is home to him. He played in Vegas his first year as a pro way back in 03-04 when they were still in the East Coast. I'm sorry, in the East Coast League, their affiliate then. He won the 2018 Mark Messier Trophy for leadership. And, Biz, I know you played with him for about three years

in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. I think Witt might have crossed paths with him too, but if not, an unbelievable guy. Oh, one game? Okay. No, no yeah fair enough so similar to scuds whereas this guy was i don't know if scuds ever played in the in the coastal but uh he was playing the coast ended up making it to the american league and just one of those guys that like coaches love he shows up every day you know exactly what you're getting he works his

bag off he gets his workouts in he doesn't say bullshit he could he would step up and fight whenever he had to and he was a tough he was tough man in the American League early on I think he was doing it a lot more and as his career went on he was just that kind of solid top four defenseman who played physical maybe towards the end he became a you know a five or six guy but unbelievable teammate uh i i he turned his career from from you know what i thought was going to be a career ahl or to an unbelievable 700 uh nhl game career and i couldn't be happier for the guy and a great teammate and we always talk about uh we have talked about sean thornton he he had 600 AHL games over 600 NHL, which is to think about that long of a grind in the AHL before you even get to the show.

England had 490 regular season East Coast League and AHL games. I mean, that's six full years of just like sticking with it, like you said, and being just tough to play against. I think that if you look back, if you were to ask him i'd be curious i'd love to interview him maybe at some point this year but if you if we could ask him like what what what do you think what do you think had made it so you could last that long it's probably being a great locker room guy and just being so hard to play against like that's a consistent thing for him you never want to be on the ice against him he'd fight anyone too he

didn't give a shit i've actually fought him when i was with the coyotes i asked him for one well i survived i was happy so congrats ego uh we'll get you on the pod we're actually gonna head to vegas at some point so we'll get him live first absolutely i think the 18 messy trophy that's a feather in a cap usually a guy's like a name a more named guys no disrespect to derek you know he wasn't you know a con uh con smthe or a fucking Norris Trophy candidate, but the fact that they recognized what he did in Vegas that first year, I thought was nice. We should mention, I think one of the most memorable moments of his career

is when he gave that speech after the shooting. Unbelievable. And that season took off and what Vegas did. And he was a Vegas resident who played in the coast there and was like oh my god i'll never forget it was unfortunately roberto longo had to do the same type thing for a school shooting i remember in florida but just those moments those guys are kind of really helping people and doing a great job describing what's going on he actually met his wife when he was playing there in the east coast and that's what brought him back so he's a hometown kid and and where you nailed it man when he gave that speech that was

they were playing against the coyotes that night and i was in the building and and you know like he got up there and after he was done talking i'm like holy shit dude he just like had an out-of-body experience he fucking nailed that yeah absolutely well boys we got to mention New Year's Eve is here this week. You want to stay ready for the festivities and say goodbye to 2020 with DHM Detox. We're all ready for this year to be over. So let's bounce back and start 2021 on the right foot the next morning with your trusted drinking buddy. No, not wet, not biz. DHM Detox.

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next day feeling great. They even have this hydration replenisher now. So they have two products now. Guys, it's scientifically backed. It's an extract from a Chinese plant. It breaks down the toxins of the alcohol while you're drinking and i love it i double up on it i gave it to a bunch of friends when i went to weddings before i'll get texts the next day hey what was that i'm not feeling as shitty as i normally do and as somebody who when i do drink i drink a lot you know i'm getting older guys i feel the effects of it if i don't take the stuff so i went from 20 being able to jump right up, no problems, to now. So check it out, DHM Detox. It's super simple, Biz.

You take two capsules after your first few drinks, and it goes to work. If you're going to be having a few more, you double up. DHM Detox is part of our drinking routine as well as tens of thousands of other people. The packets are easy to share with friends and family this holiday season, and they make for a great stocking stuffer,-stocking stuff, a gift, as you were. They just launched, like you said, Biz Holiday Bundles with their new Hydration Replenisher, an electrolyte drink mix that helps you hydrate and helps boost your immune system

with vitamin C, D, and zinc. DHM Detox is a 100% risk-free purchase on your first box. So if you don't love it, they refund you. It's a no-brainer. At the very least, give it a shot. If you don't like it, you get your money back. Simple. We're going to hit you guys with a promo code.

Just head over to nodayswasted.co and use the promo code biz20 for 20% off. That's nodayswasted.co for no days wasted after drinking with biz 20 do like i do take nine packs and then send back the box and then you just get just get signed up for new credit cards get my money back yeah so what are you shaking your head for g you have to take that out dh i'm gonna do that oh that is shut up i wouldn't do that you know i'd take about four or five yeah he's got a good working relationship with them so yeah all right moving right along

we got some great news for uh the ladies who play the game the isabel cup is going to air on nbcsn it's going to be the first time that women's pro hockey will air live on a major u.s cable network that's huge news i mean we've obviously've obviously seen the Olympics over the years, but to have women's pro hockey on NBCSN is great, especially our friend Kelly Babstock. Proud to say I coached her up at – Oh, come on. You're going to say that?

Oh, fuck. Absolutely, guy. I mean, you know, she's going to be playing for the Isabel Cup. I, in quotes, coached her up at Lake Winnipesaukee in Muskoka. It was a true true honor she's the honey badger man yes she is what what did you tell her to do how did you coach her in what way i told her honestly i said kelly honestly i'm not even bullshitting but i said just keep doing what you're doing i says because you know you're fucking forcing these guys to play

better oh you're taking this serious no yeah she was no i'm i legit because like those guys like yeah i mean she's obviously a pro hockey player but she was the biggest bulldog on that team and i was like just do what you do and these guys are going to follow you and that's what happened i'm going to get ra a job in the coast see what he can really do i'm going to get this going all right well another note making you look good The single elimination ISO Cup semifinals is going to be shown live Thursday, February 1st. Talk much? At 5.30 p.m. and then 8 p.m.

The winners of the semifinals will advance to the final on Friday, February 5th at 7 p.m. In addition to NBCSN, the live coverage will also stream exclusively on NBCSports.com in the NBC sports app. So by all means, check these ladies out. The ladies game has gotten so good in the last 25,

30 years. It's great hockey. I don't know if the schedule is going to align, but we should do like a live streaming of, of, of, you know, watching a few,

a few games. I don't know. I mean, it wouldn't, wouldn't be a bad idea to gamble on them too. That'd be a blast. So maybe we can get our fan base. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. Prop bets. We'll get it going. bad idea to gamble on them too that'd be a blast so maybe we can get our fan base definitely wet

definitely definitely definitely prop bets we'll get it going so congratulations to the ladies well deserved absolutely all right let's uh scroll along a few more notes here uh notes yotes the yotes fans biz they're gonna be allowed uh in the building in a limited capacity to watch games um they haven't put a number on it yet, but I'll let Whit make the fucking obvious joke about, about crap. No, none of that. If they say anything,

we're cutting it out. He's got the look after he got shot clocked by Yance. Maybe when you guys are here, cause we told everybody, I don't know if for some of you people who didn't listen to the last podcast, we will be starting the season in Scottsdale, Arizona. We will be here.

We'll all be together. We're going to be all together. We're going to watch. We're going to do some live streams. We're going to do some sandbaggers. We're going to get some live interviews with some local guys. And we're going to have some fun to kick off the year, guys. That's going to be a great first couple days.

I think on the Thursday, there's probably 10 games 8 to 10 games on tap so we'll be doing a couple streams we're pumped and uh speaking of coyotes fans some of the most loyal out there they want to see that new jersey in action yeah they do the mescaline mutt i love that shirt all right a couple of the notes here uh stevie said the Red Wings plan to name a captain, but they haven't determined how they're going to announce it yet. I would be shocked if it's anybody other than Dylan Mocken who gets to see for this squad. So I agree. We'll keep an eye on that. There's been an offside rule update.

A player's skate will not have to be in contact with the blue line in order to be on side. I know that's been a, I don't, I don't know if it's a bone to contention, but all these goals where a guy's hovering over the blue line, but he's not touching it. So it would result in a non be on side. I know that's been a, I don't know if it's a bone of contention, but all these goals where a guy's hovering over the blue line, but he's not touching it, so it would result in a non-goal. So they're giving a little further clarification on that rule. So, yeah, I think if it's obvious a guy's skate is hovering over the line, you know, is he fucking offsides? No.

I mean, he's not touching it, but what else? I like the rule change. More offense. Why are we killing the offense here? Goalies are hard enough to score on nowadays. And I'm still bitter about when I had P.K. Subban to score the first goal of the Stanley Cup five years ago at 50-1, and they fucking overruled me.

I'm still bitter about that. How much did you lose? How much would you have won? I would have won. It was either three or four grand, maybe, maybe five grand. I don't know if I could pull it up. Yeah. And he scored.

It was like it counted. I was screaming. And then like they fucking took it down. And the worst part, it was like I couldn't stand because it was conclusive, but they never gave a conclusive replay afterwards. So whatever. Say, look, I had the ref shot. That was it.

All those buddies anymore. Mark Messier. Not what I was saying. I don't know his name anymore. Mark Messier, he filed a lawsuit over a weed company, Biz, saying that he lost $500,000 in an investment in Destiny Bioscience. He alleges the company used his celebrity to raise $30 million in funding, said he was given a personal guarantee he would not lose any money.

Does he need to team up with another hall of fame to maybe rectify the situation biz or what who stevie why stevie bongrips hey not my not the ones that i'm affiliated with fucking weed industry is popping right now man it's going crazy especially the united states canada it's a little bit difficult because of the restrictions and they need to figure it the fuck out because it's embarrassing and you know because i i hey i like smoking dope i want to kind of get a little thing going in canada seth rogan tried to and they cock blocked them so now really yeah they so just so the loophole is and i think him and snoop are the only like names that are somewhat associated to uh anything in cannabis uh relation and uh north of the border but they do it to where it's their

company they talk about it in interviews but they can't promote it seth rogan doesn't even follow his account so it's yeah so it's it's kind of this odd structure and there's no branding allowed in canada so it looks like a medicine bottle because they deem it as medicine that's how it all got legalized but but in some how hard it was to get pink whitney in imagine how hard it is to get weed going there yeah so i mean ask ra he probably has it figured out no he just drives over the border with his car yeah yeah so uh i don't even know what brought us to that oh because messier ended up final loss yeah i mean you know i don't they raised 30 million in funding i I mean, he's basically saying, yeah, I put some dough in. They told me I wouldn't lose any, and now I'm fucking suing you.

I think Messier probably knows, like, if you're investing in a company, there's risk involved. But unless you – yeah, somebody could promise you that you won't lose any money, but unless it's in writing, it's like there's always some sort of risk when you're getting involved. Yeah, let's get him on to talk about it. I'd love to hear it. Yeah, hey, Mess, I want to talk about your 17 cups.

Let's talk about your 500 grand you lost on that weed company. I got more in common with him on that side of it than I do the hockey ability, for crying out loud. Right, R.A.? Me and you are in the same boat with that, so you should be joining my squad. Definitely in the same boat as far as weed smoking, I would fucking imagine at this point.

Unfortunately, Mark Messier might not be the only NHL or former NHL to get fucked on a money level. According to Andrew Zadanowski at at a Zadowski, Alexander Radulov has been defrauded around 1.5 billion rubles, which comes out to about 20 billion USD, by a Russian bank who lost its license but kept accepting deposits from Radulov. It was some Russian site. Again, I can't vouch for the veracity of it. Sergei Tashkov, a lawyer for the Stars Forward. I'm sorry, I said striker like he's a soccer player. A lawyer for the Stars Forward and the Russian national team. Radulov said the hockey player was deceived by the bank to which

he transferred his salary uh the quote here sasha is coming to russia this year while the quarantine is in place we are trying to understand the documents and understand this is a banal deception we tried to somehow resolve the issue to meet these people pre-trial in the world order they began to run away from us. These are like fucking crazy fucking science fiction. You run, but you can't hide if Radulov the warthog is coming after you. The first athlete will announce his problem. Others will follow him, but we have the biggest contribution.

Radulov invested about 1.5, again, billion rubles, which is only 20 mil. So I don't know, man i guess hey when you imagine waking up with knowing you had 20 fucking sheets gonzos how would you feel and dive off the roof of my house i couldn't pay for the house anymore i might as well jump off of it i had one of those like waist belts with like like loaded with hundred dollar bills when he flew home from russia no way was he putting his money in a bank over there i actually i was in an italian bank that was in russia i think i i the crazy thing is i mean if it could happen to a russian imagine some of these yeah imports that are over there it is so nerve-wracking to really not know if it's for

sure going to be going down the way they say it will yeah and it said according to his lawyer the unnamed bank deceived not only radulov but also several other athletes it's reported that radulov is in moscow uh he will not comment further on the situation which is certainly understandable and you get fucked out of 20 million dollars allegedly so tough week for a couple of uh current sounds like the time one of those ads popped up on my screen and i i signed in and then gave it my credit card you know you know when the guys call you on the phone they're like yeah we're gonna take this bug off your uh yeah it was simple yeah similar to that situation too oh shit biz i know you have one other thing because uh maybe g david dobrik i know you had

that written down in a list of topics this is one of the biggest youtube stars on the planet the biggest and he's he's been handing out gifts uh like macbook pros and that's what he constantly does he's a great guy and he gives out cars dude he gives out like lamborghinis ferraris like he gives it he gives out like some big boy gifts oh damn i would have took an ipod for crying out loud fucking a lambo lambos tes, fucking the whole caboodle. But there's been a large number of people he's posted that have been wearing Chicklets gear. I think it's just his best friend from home.

I think his best friend from home named Mike is just a big Chicklets fan, always wearing Chicklets gear. So, Mike, if you're listening, reach out. We'll DM you. We'll get you some merch, and you can wear it more, David. I'll trade you an NBD for a Lamborghini. Make sure I win the next raffle. Yeah, my buddy gave me a Lamborghini

once and then two hours later for a hotbox. Wait, what? No, I said my buddy gave me a Lamborghini once, but then he got pinched for a hotbox two hours later. I didn't hear the beginning. I just heard getting pinched for a hotbox and now there's back in the day, well, probably still,

Charlestown used to lead the league in stolen cars for a long time. Like, basically, in order to insure your car in Charlestown 30 years ago, it was, like, way higher than any other city in the state. Here's my surprise face. I've watched a bank robbing movie about your neighborhood. Like, the cars is, like, that's like stealing a pack of pogs. Oh, by the way, I happen to be watching that with my old lady, whatever, in the last week.

And I just took a picture when I was in it. Dude, that fucking tweet got mad heat after you guys retweeted it, Grinnelli. It was like fucking a shitload of faves. Not that I fucking keep score. Which one? For the Blake Lively? Just the random picture. The one with Blake Lively with my fat fucking face in the background.

You're probably just liking it because she's a rocket. No, it was me. You couldn't fucking see me playing this day. Yeah. All right. Hey, Biz, I know we talked about the movie earlier. You brought the Midnight Sky with George Clooney up. I mentioned Wonder Woman 84, Stunk.

I watched a documentary on Hulu called the painter and the thief wow what a fucking movie man it's not for everybody and the first five minutes of the movie is that a woman has two paintings stolen from her art studio by this like drunk guy out in a bender and she at the trial she goes to him and says hey you know why like she like basically befriends him and says why did you do this and then they go off in this kind of well not really adventure but this like kind of friendship over the next couple years and it's one of those movies you just like holy fuck man what am i watching it in the end it was like a jaw drop like the last scene it was like holy fuck i don't want to even say too much more about it and again it's not it might not be for everybody i watched it and

i was kind of like flabbergasted when i saw it in a good way it was just a a stunning documentary like this this woman like wanted to befriend the guy who stole like you know her artwork and then they kind of have this sort of relationship not in a sexual way a friendship relationship after it was just a very uh a different kind of doc i want to recommend that and again once again i watched ted lasso yet again you guys have you guys watched this yet how many no but everybody's everybody's harping about it because it it has to do with soccer in which we're we're on the soccer bandwagon right but honestly you don't have to know a fucking anything about soccer to watch it because i don't i put it on

on apple tv and i've watched it two or three times already it's such a great show i know i've been singing its praises for a long time. You've been stroking the show off like crazy. But if you see the replies I get, everybody loves it. And I watched it again over the weekend with my old lady, and we're like, this show, it's so rare now, Biz, for a fucking TV show to make you feel the things this show makes you feel. You're in a good mood.

It's an emotional roller coaster. And after the season, I mean, I get fucking tears in my eyes from Jason Sudeikis, the guy on Saturday Night Live used to dance the running man. He's so good on the show, man. It's just it's a show about just being a decent person that makes you feel good. So I can't recommend it enough. I got a documentary now, soccer, soccer documentary. And you don't I actually will say I don't even think you need to be a soccer fan to

enjoy it. It's called The class of 92. And it's about six kids that one of them is David Beckham. Well, kids and men, they grew up playing soccer together. Not not necessarily. They did not grow up playing soccer together, but they were young enough. No, but they were young. They grew up.

They grew up together like on Manchester United. Right. And they they became one of the greatest teams ever in England. And these kids were all young. They were all young, lightened up like international stars. And I just thought it was unreal. I think it's on Amazon Prime. But I would say if you're just a fan of sports in general,

you'll enjoy this, Class of 92. And I think if it's a good doc, the category or whatever it's about doesn't matter. If a documentary is that good, you don't give a shit what it's about. Yeah, but if it's about, yeah, I guess that would be a good argument because I'd say some topic about science I really, really don't care about. But if it's that good, you're saying I might care. They get you to care about it, right?

Yeah, I mean, have you ever watched The King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters? No. Okay, it's a documentary about two guys battling for the high score all time in Donkey Kong. Okay, so I would like that because I'm a gamer. Oh, I've seen that. And it's one of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen. Oh, no, maybe I watched the Pac-Man one. Waka, waka, waka, waka.

Maybe there's a... No. Oh, there's more video game ones? King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters, it's about. There's more video game ones. King of Kong, a fistful of quarters. It's about like a donkey Kong high score. I saw it at Kendall square in Cambridge years ago. And it's like, what the fuck is this movie? And you watch it and you, it's crazy that a documentary about such a crazy topic sucks you in so good. There's a good guy, a bad guy and a well-constructed documentary, man.

If it's done well, it don't matter what it's about. It'll suck you in either way. Did the guy beat the game in his living room at one point? I'm not spoiling anything. Oh, fuck, yeah, I can't spoil. Oh, jeez, that's how stupid I am. I didn't even realize I said a spoiler. Did he just spoil it?

No. No, no, we're going to beep it out, whatever I said. No, he didn't spoil anything. He spoiled the other one about Pac-Man. What does Waka Waka mean? Remember Pacman waka waka waka when pac-man used to eat waka waka waka waka that was like the sounding man pac-man fever there was a song dude pac-man was fucking huge back in the day yeah that was awesome for it i bought i bought the arcade size one. I have the arcade. Do you really? Yeah. In your house?

Yeah. And I have. And is it Galaga? Galaga? Do you have to put quarters in it? No, of course not. I don't know. And I just pump.

I just pump. I had a big sign that you could only press. You couldn't press return to try to break the high score. You know what I mean? We don't have to pay for quarters. You can just keep going. Yeah. We interviewed Pasternak. I did this EA, the whole rollout.

I did a, what was the, what did we end up naming it? Grinnelli? It was kind of the award show on wheels, so to speak. The content piece is going to come out, but we had to interview Pasternak for one of it. And he had that deer hunter or buck hunter. Oh, that's a good one. That's one of the ones he's got in his house golden tea would be ideal to have golden tea would probably

be the next big one but i think i'd prefer that buck uh buck hunter over golden yeah but see and back then like my generation those video games you couldn't beat them you just kept playing and playing and playing like you didn't win like at a certain point like yeah exactly you're right yeah because i'll give a shout out to my my old man's buddy mike murphy he was the pac-man legend at the knights of columbus 996 000 i'll never forget it and he ate the key remember pac-man go the middle and eat the like whatever bonus fruit was yeah when you got to a certain level there's a key and it was 5 000 points he had 996 000 he ate the key which should have put him over to a million and the score just froze

and we were all like, Oh, this is like 1982 with the Knights of Columbus. Like, cause no one ever, no one broke a hundred thousand, let alone almost a million. And he should have broke a million. And like the, the fucking screen froze or something. It was like, they didn't make the game to go that high. Yeah. Yeah. The only thing I'm going to say about that documentary that I watched on video games was that that became a problem at one point because these things were, it was common that they would freeze.

So is that, are we talking about the same one? No, no, we get it. We get, you got to go. No, I'm not even being a dick. No, it's King of Kong is a different doc, but I'm curious. I sound like a fucking asshole right now. No, you don't know. There's lots of video game docs.

No, no, you. But King of Kong, by all means, check it out if you haven't i'm gonna find the other one i'm talking about anyway we've gone long enough what else do we got here uh i i that's all i got unless you boys have anything that i i haven't under earth in the last hour or so if you have any uh barstool fun donate to small businesses oh i got two things barstool fun was oneate to small businesses. Yeah, Barstool Fund. Oh, I got two things. Barstool Fund was one. And I think that people will occasionally, you know, they're like, oh, I don't have. Who are you to tell somebody to give money, right? But if you think $5 won't make a difference, I promise you you're wrong.

Because if enough people do that, it's like it's just adding on. And I have a really close personal friend, restaurant owner I've brought up before. I know a lot of people in the industry, as everyone does. I think one in five Americans work in the restaurant industry. Is that a true stat? It's my family's bar. You got my family's bar, too. So when you can do something like this to help, let's keep this thing going. It's over $ million. Now,

I think they can raise 30 million. I mean, it's just, it's only eight, nine, 10 days old. So it's been amazing work. Portnoy started that guy, Limonis, I believe called him out. And I just think it's amazing to see these videos of him calling small business owners and then almost immediately getting emotional. It's life-changing it's people who have put their whole lives their blood sweat and tears into years and years of building a business that's the greatest thing about united states you can come and you can just build a business if you're smart enough if you work hard enough and these people are just yeah their lives are being ruined and so like every little one that every little business that's saved is such a

game changer and i think it's a great thing going on right now well not only that too it's like the effort that he's had to put in over the break in order to make it all work and you could see when he's on these calls he's like swatting away other calls coming in like he has been working the lines non-stop and as you said one of the one of the businesses that got saved was actually in Wilkes-Barre and it was Chaco's Bowling Out I remember I saw her I used to yeah I remember that I used to go to Chaco's Bowling Out yep same here and I was like oh my god I couldn't I recognized it right away it was a great video I saw a mashed up one but yeah just an amazing thing going on and and the saddest thing about the Barstool Fund is there'll be hundreds of thousands of restaurants that still won't get help. And so it's like you can never do enough right now.

And I feel so bad for people who haven't done anything wrong. They've done it all right, actually, to get where they've gotten. Right. It's being taken away. It's not like a bad decision. It's just shitty fucking luck. And it's great. It's great is what Dave in Boston has done.

It's kind of pathetic that, you know, our company has done more than the fucking the government has for small business. Oh, it's beyond pathetic. It's pathetic. I think Dave said no one else is doing it. Yeah. It's just so embarrassing. It is. It's embarrassing on so many levels that, you know, again, it's great.

I hate every politician. I swear to God, I hate them. I think they're the biggest scumbags they only care about themselves none of these people have lost a dollar no state workers have been laid off it's an absolute disgrace these people they fucking talk out of one side of their mouth they do the other it's this whole pandemic has taught me that politicians are full of shit because in in the reality of of all things being a politician is somewhat of a cushy job until all of a sudden something like this happens and you actually have to do work and none of them have done anything yeah it's it's disgusting like

frankly like you know the fact is they've given citizens 1200 dollars in the last fucking year and meanwhile these loans that another guy get paid back tax cuts for fucking the loaded. It's, it's a fucking embarrassment, but again, kudos to Dave, kudos to basketball,

stepping up and taking care of these businesses. Unfortunately, we can't do them all. And I've worked for small businesses. I worked my dad, my uncle's video store, my uncle's grocery store. So,

I mean, yeah, it wasn't my heart and soul, but I understand the mentality and the effort it takes to work at these places. So, again, hats off to Dave. And all the people who donated, of course. Thank you, guys. Absolutely.

We have one of our supporters. I think his name is Wealth Theory Online. He's following the stocks. He threw in $10,000. So, there's been a lot of people to really step up and make a difference. So, we thank you, Chicklets fans, for doing so. And I think that's a very positive way to end it. Yeah, one more thing I wanted to mention is,

so as we're trying to do more sandbaggers and we want to get, you know, continue to do them now, they're not easy and they're big production, but we're kind of, we're not grinding, but it's always worth finding a place to have them. So if you're a golf course, no joke, reach out to me on Twitter, reach out to Grinnelli. We need about, we need two carts for the four players.

We probably need three to four other carts and we need a hole open behind us and a hole open in front of us. Now that's why some golf courses can't handle it. But if your course is willing to do it and it's not a shithole, no offense, call us. Email chicklets at barstoolsports.com. I'll go to a chip and putt.

I don't give a shit. I don't know if like, yeah, I just don't know if that'd look great on camera. I'm not saying it wouldn't be fun. I'm more thinking about the product. But still, yeah, I'm not trying to chirp anyone there while indirectly chirping them. I just think that if you want to reach out and you'd like to have us at your course, let us know. Love it.

All right, boys. Great show. A lot of fun. We didn't even mention that we got the best of. So enjoy all the best of. We did from the top, but that's all right, Biz. Top of the course. I had a tough back end here to this one.

That's all right. Well, hopefully everybody enjoyed all the best of because there was certainly plenty of it for esteemed producer Mike Grinelli to pull from so good job mikey doing what you did there best fans in the world thank you so much enjoy it and have a happy new year on to 2021 happy new year everybody have a great week we'll see you next week all right gang and now here's the pot you've all been patiently waiting for the best of 2020 part two from the latter half of the year we had here and first up we have letter kenny's dylan playfair describing shitting himself so on that note we'll send it over to dylan playfair so i have my own uh unique experience with uh shitting of the pants and it starts with sobriety actually so I am taking a month off drinking.

I'm doing Sober October, and I buy a six-pack of kombucha to go to this party. I didn't know this at the time. I know it now. Kombucha, when drank in excess, serves as a laxative, like a really effective laxative. So I get a six pack of kombucha. I go to my buddy's party. I drink it all. Night's young. I'm like, okay, this October, October is overrated. Let's, let's get into one. So, you know, we're, we're about 12 hours into,

into October and I've already fallen off the wagon, end up getting into one. The next day I'm meeting my buddies and we're going out to my pal's cabin on the island for the long weekend and uh we get onto the ferry so i live in vancouver we're going to vancouver island and it's like a two-hour ferry what a beautiful ride that is we gotta hop in there it is gorgeous anyone who goes to vancouver i recommend if you're going over the island take that ferry out of towassen correct that's right yeah it's beautiful it's beautiful the the bathrooms are uh you know the stalls are floor to ceiling so you can't see who's in the stall that's a that's a tidbit you're going to want to have as the story progresses so the boys go out to the top deck and and they're going out to get a breath of fresh air and i'm walking up the stairs and I,

and I have what completely disguises itself as a normal sized human fart. And let me tell you this, when I, when I released the, the floodgates on this one, it wasn't a little squeaker. It was by the time it was done, I didn't even need to go to the bathroom anymore. I just needed to throw out what i was wearing because it was a complete evacuation of my it was like like could it have filled up like a 750 milliliter bottle a hundred percent oh a hundred percent and a consistency like a like a frosty just horrendous oh. So I'm like, you couldn't stop it. Like it was

like, whoosh, gone out. It was as long, as long as it takes to fart, like one good one, that was the amount of time it took to fill up the underwear that I was wearing, like to the teeth. So I got my hands in my pocket so I can grab the edges of my boxers to keep this from going down into my shoes like that's how bad it is like this is I'm not even embarrassed I'm laughing because I'm like this is this is a sneak attack like no one no one could have prepared themselves for this this event seal team six coming in the choppers are landing on the ferry this is like this is a full full operation yeah so I'm like, boys, you gotta, you gotta wait for me here. Like I'll be back, but you gotta, you gotta wait for me.

I'm going to need to air out after this, like hang tight. So mind you, this is the early morning ferry. This is 7am. This is like, this is starting your day. So I waddled downstairs and I go and I, the first bathroom I see is the, is the family bathroom. It's like the handicap bathroom, whatever, you know? So I opened the door and I walk in and in this particular bathroom on this particular ferry, you walk in and there's like a floor to ceiling door on the one stall and a

little sink. So you can't like see who's in the stall. I thought it was empty. And I walk in and i swear to god dude there are there are two guys in the stall and i'm in there long enough to know what they're doing and they're they're fornicating they're making love at 7 a.m in a bathroom stall on the ferry mind you i've just fully shit myself so i'm thinking i have two choices to make either i stay here and deal with this then they come out and we all deal with it or i bite the bullet i go outside and wait until they're done and then i go back in and i swear to god my opinion on the spot would have been like they can deal with this they're fucking in a bathroom this is all whatever it's all gonna get weird

let's enjoy the party that's my thinking it's about to get weird and in hindsight maybe i should have went with this but i thought well they were here first you know i'll i'll let them finish up and i'll and i'll loop back once they're gone because there's no one else on the ferry like i'll i'll just go in and hover over the seat because i'm not sitting in it i'm literally hovering so i'm i'm sitting i wait in the benches and there's a lady two seats up from me the only other person that i could see on the ferry and she's in her late 70s maybe and she's sleeping and this is where it gets crazy because i smell shit not my shit i can smell my shit i know that i my own smell, but there's a new one.

And this poor woman wakes up from what must have been a nightmare and turns around and looks at me. And I know in that moment that she's just shit herself because she just shit herself in her sleep. And she gets up. And now I have another choice to make. Am I going to lean over my seat and go, listen, lady, I know you don't know me and I don't know you. And this is crazy because it's 8 a.m. You shit yourself. I shit myself also. But guess what?

The same bathroom that you're about to walk into, because I know that's where you're going, because that's where I just fucking went. In that bathroom, there are two guys boning in the fucking stall. And it's going to shake you because it shook me. And I can't yell that at her. She's like, she's as shook as I as i was oh and you're taking the gamble that she didn't actually shit herself and maybe it was just a fart she was maybe just about right so she gets up and she waddles so now i'm pretty sure that it wasn't a fart okay and she waddles into the same bathroom that i just waddled out of it takes about the same amount of time to

recognize what i recognized turns around walks out i look at her she looks at me we both have this understanding of like this is shit this is just shit everywhere so she fucking she doesn't decide to wait she's gonna find another bathroom so she waddles her way to the other side of the ship and these two guys come out and they're having a great time they're fucking grinning ear to ear they've had a phenomenal morning they had the roman swipes on yeah they had their yeah they were yeah the roman swipes were in use that day so i wheel in there i i fucking throw these shorts into the trash they're gone forever they're done lock the door occur to see that these guys had not paid the rest of the patrons on the boat um clean myself up mind you this is all about a 45 minute endeavor

so by the time i get back up there this is a while i would have just sat in that urinal the rest of the trip i thought about how long it would take to swim back to vancouver but i was in the middle of the georgia strait i had to i had to commit to the boat so by the time i get back up to the top of the ship my buddies are like where the hell have you been, dude? It's been an hour. I just tell them, boys, when I say this, I mean it. You will not believe the shit that I've just been through.

There you go. There's the punchline. I love it. And there's the punchline, boys. Nice dismount. Great dismount. Huge thanks to Dylan for joining us, man. Obviously a huge part of a huge show on Canada. So we appreciate him so much for coming on. And next up we have Stanley Cup winner Chris Versteeg,

probably one of the best guys on Instagram in the NHL. I'm sure you've been following along. We're going to go to Chris right now. I'd like to welcome our next guest. He played for 11 NHL seasons and 15 pro seasons overall. While he suited up for seven teams over 643 games, he's most known for his two stints as a Chicago Blackhawk as he won the Stanley Cup both times with them.

Not a big deal. These days, he can be seen opining on the NHL playoff games at Stigalicious on Instagram. Thanks for joining us on Spittin' Chicklets. Chris Versteeg. Yeah, thanks for having me. R.A., I do got to say, when I hear your voice, it's very nostalgic. When I was with Providence, I flew in and they kept saying, welcome to Wawick. Welcome to Wawick. And I'm like, I hope I'm in the right city, but every time I hear you

talk, I think of that moment. So thanks for having me on today, you guys. Like where the hell's Wawick? What are they talking about? Yeah, I swear. I was like, Wawick, Wawick. And I started looking W-O-A- today, you guys. Like, where the hell is Woeck? What are they talking about? Yeah, I swear. I was like, Woeck, Woeck. And I started looking. W-O-A-H, I believe. Wick. What the hell?

Yeah. Dude, well, thanks so much. It's been a long time coming. We got the chance to play together quick in my fabulous stint with the Florida Panthers. Seven games played. 0-0-0-7. So I knew right away, like, just being around you, I'm like, this guy is hilarious. And then this thing started. I'm like,ve go come on so retirement's now come dude

it's come to an end i mean how's everything going since i know you're you're really big into watching the playoffs and being on instagram i love following you there yeah it's been different as you know it's a it's a change of pace for me yeah i was talking to like a couple of networks uh about doing some playoff games. And then obviously with this happening, Sportsnet didn't need me on. So, but talking with them and doing Twitter, I've done, I don't want to do Twitter because it's too much. Smart man. Yeah.

So I figured actually, I had been watching Avery a little bit and how he was going about it. So it's almost like if this is going to be the next thing I do I thought I need to get some reps and I would like to see you know it like you did NHL network how hard is it to form an opinion where you're not pissing everyone off and also make it educational within like 10 to 15 seconds so I figured this was a good way just to kind of practice and and without using Twitter and do something like that and uh so it's it's been keeping me busy so far during uh retirement but it's it's different and uh we'll see where it goes from here it's also hard not to drop like an f-bomb when you were doing like we're doing i'd get i'd get on i'm like wait a minute okay not chicklets not chicklets

not chicklets not chicklets well it's articulating your thought too without like seeing what you would say behind closed doors because you have to button it up for the network and i don't think me like it was it's exhausting to me even when i do coyote stuff because i'm so nervous i'm going to say the wrong thing and the next thing you know i'm getting fucking canceled but for as far as your opinion goes you're you know you're pretty credible you had a really good career and put up some great offensive numbers and i feel like you're you're great at uh you know teaching the game like when these plays are going down you're great at teaching the game. Like when these plays are going down, you're breaking them down as to why,

you know, this guy went to his backhand or that and forward. Would you ever consider yourself getting into something like maybe Adam Oates? You know what? I have talked about that with my brother and another guy from my hometown. We talked maybe about like having an app or something where like the kid can teach you what he's doing too you know a lot of this is just a one-way street of teaching but maybe where you can write they can write on the app what they're doing and then you could send it back to them what you're thinking and it would be something kind of like that so I have thought of something like that maybe in the future where you could teach kids almost like a one-stop shop it doesn't have to

be like five game packages they could just send a clip or something to that or to me and I could try to break it down and tell them to the best of my knowledge what I think but it definitely is something I like doing now going into coaching or doing anything like that where I mean it would take up so much time and the days are so long it's nothing that I'm even thinking about now but on a minor scale I think it would be fun to do it's such a grind as well starting out as a coach especially if you got to start like the ECHL or junior the bus trips oh yeah like based on what you were being paid as a you know a hockey player it's tough to find the motivation unless you like truly truly love it but uh towards the end of your career it became more popular watching the video and your shifts and it was all tracked to the ipads earlier on your career were you like that

fuck no no it was like and and where it started for the ipads for me was actually in florida i think when you got there wait remember they gave us our own ipad yep they wouldn't give you one that sat in my room the whole time he He was watching the PGA app on his phone. So like, so that, that was like the first time where I really, like for, for me too, I was playing with Quendle prior to that and Ron Wilson. And those two guys, they're not really big video guys. What they do is they like to show you one clip. And I like that too, because you can get compounded with so much video.

And then even five minutes into some of these video sessions, I find myself sleeping and nodding off. And I'm like, you know, what did I just hear halfway through? So the way Quenville did it was so smart. He would show you one clip and then it would click in during the game. I'd be like, oh, that's what he was showing me where you're not overloaded with information. So then when in 2012, 13, when they gave us that iPad and now you're starting to really watch shifts and now you're kind of like, you're just over-correcting everything.

You're you're way thinking about it. And now they're just hammering you with analytics and all these things. I felt like it was information overload at times and it was too much. So that's why I just put it away and, and tried to let hockey, uh, work itself out. Obviously it didn't. And I got shipped out. So maybe I should have watched the iPad how uh how was the relationship dynamic between you and Quimble I know you spent two stints there I mean was it a love-hate kind of thing it was a love-hate yeah for sure I was I was the whipping boy very uh very to say. So there'd be times like I would be on the bench and Bowen would be on the ice.

He'd be like, first day. Fuck. What the fuck? And I'd like look back and be like, Q, I'm right here. It is regardless. Fuck you. You know, and I'd be like, what the hell? You know, and then he'd be like snapping on me. And then even like little plays, I remember I came in the league and we're playing Colorado one night. And actually back then, like I remember in the minors, I shot the puck through my legs and I had to fight like a shift later right so when I got up to the

NHL I'm like man I'm gonna put up through my legs one time and everyone's gonna see me on TSN with the puck through my legs you know so I came down the wall I snapped it through my legs it actually went off the barn out and I heard Quindle's on the bench he's like did he just do that did he just do that so I get to the bench he's like you little shit never do that junior shit again and he's like did he just do that did he just do that so i get to the bench he's like you little shit never do that junior shit again and he's like going off you know and and i'm like holy he's done so we go in for the period he pulls me in the hallway he starts screaming at me again junior shit that's horse shit you know then all of a sudden i think it's over the next day we get to the rink he shows it on the video everyone's laughing everyone's laughing he's like first thing fuck you fuck you he's like that's

junior shit I'm like I got yelled at for it for like 24 hours you know and then all of a sudden we get out there for practice and buff and cane are snapping it through their legs just to prove and I can't so it was uh we we had but you know what Quindle for me was really good because he well he would get in my kitchen for sure. But he was good because when I was hot, he would ride me. And the best coaches do that. They ride their guys. They ride their horses.

But they also find ways to get guys to help their horses. And I was one of those guys, when I was hot, I could help their horses. So he would find the days I was playing good. And I'd play like 18, 19, 20, 21 minutes. And then the next day, I'd play eight. You'd never take it personal when when you were on like the downswing like yeah no I definitely did at times you know they're that that's why our team was really good about it though the guys always picked you up you had Taze and me and Taze are really good buddies Seabrook I played junior receives and Keith we always I felt when a guy was in a shit moment everyone was there to

kind of support him but also like you know I would obviously I'm not close to the player sharp is but I would be competing with him for ice and I'd be like fuck I gotta play better than sharp today you know I gotta play better than this guy who's gonna take my ice you know so there's also a competition there that we we pushed each other obviously I didn't push Sharp as hard as he would push me, but it was there. It was a nice, healthy, I thought, atmosphere, but also there was a thing where Sharpie would come to me and be like, hey, man, are you good?

Like, whatever. But for the most part, I would brush it off, but there were days, yeah, where you're like, man, fuck this guy. That team was so deep, too. It's like the healthy competition for roster spots. Nothing is better than that in terms of growing a championship team. But I got to go – I got to get into Chicago in a little bit because I just want to start.

Like you grew up in Lethbridge, right? Yeah. Okay, so undersized kid. I mean you came into the WHL pretty much close to 20 years ago, and it's such a different game now. And you've never really shied away at all from being physical and fighting. right off the hop was that kind of who you were did you just learn that in junior like i can't take any shit i gotta play this way because you were a prick out there well yeah it's like i'm not gonna beat up anyone but i felt like it like a lot of where i grew up

you know how you guys talk about boston like and and what's the town what's that part of boston that everyone that's where ra is in the movie of Boston that everyone that's where RA's in the movie yeah Charlestown that's where we're sitting right now he makes biz watch it once a day so like I'm from North Lethbridge and and it's kind of like the same thing you know it's no one has money it's a very you know but people need to work hard and it kind of forms you and who you are and so that's kind of who I always was I had a kid I was a kid with a chip on my shoulder I was pissed off and I was undersized and again like my line mates in junior were like Derek King and or DJ King and Derek

Parker like if you know Derek Parker oh my god and I remember he was like go slash and then I'd be looking across the ice and there'd be like Derek Bouguard and all these guys and I'm like I'm I'm gonna die tonight literally I might die tonight but and those days every game was a line brawl um I was in two bench clearing brawls one against um Vancouver one against Brandon and it was scary but for me again I I knew I had to do something different because I was small and back then if I remember when I'd see a guy smaller than me I'd like I'm going after him you know finally I get to see a guy smaller than me so you had to have that edge and tenacity and be able to get in there and I knew that and my dad would always tell me that too like you're not going to be good enough just to play on skill

you got to be a prick too so it was something that it molded me of where I where I'm from I then took it and I put into my game and then I definitely took it with me into the NHL especially in the A my last year quite or um Bowman and Talon told me they're like you're not going to play ahead of or no it wasn't Hostos, Havlat at the time uh Kane all these guys they're like you got to do something different so I remember I was fighting and trying to do different things obviously I wasn't winning fights but I was just trying to do different things to get up. And I mean, I look back, I was literally willing to die to play in the fucking NHL to start.

And by the end, I was I was barely willing to get in front of a snapshot. So it's funny how it changed. But like for me, it's crazy what I was willing to do and and willing to play like in order to play in the NHL. and willing to play in order to play in the NHL. That's just true passion, and we've talked a lot about guys who probably could have made it if they were willing to switch their games, but it's so, so hard. I want to jump quickly, though. The bench-killing brawls, do you remember the moment when the coach was like,

go, go? Oh, yeah. How did it start, though? I was going to ask about the Brendan one. What are the chances that Tutu hit started it? Oh, that was Derek Parker was chasing tutu around the ice like chasing him around the ice it was yeah it was I don't know it was it was after the game the game was over and he was chasing him around the ice um there was a big brawl going on

and Sean Mazey I don't know if you guys remember him he was a big guy like six feet uh two two thirty two forty he knocked out someone and that's how the fight ended everyone was like holy there's a guy knocked out you know no shit yeah i was scared i remember i grabbed derrick rarenka and but we looked over and he popped him and that's that's just how it ended there was no whistle or anything for it to end and then the next one was against vancouver that one was a melee you had nick tarnaski and tristan Grant going at it. All these guys. Fucking Tristan Grant kneed me when I was in Wilkes-Barre one year. I ended up missing about two or three rounds of playoffs.

Biz is over it, though. Just like I'm over Gouda's knee and me. Let's just start fucking with these guys. Fuck you, Tristan Grant, you sack of shit. Yeah. That Grant was nuts, though. Oh, yeah. He was scary.

I didn't do anything about it at the time. But it was a Tilly. And I remember even, it was me and John Lammers. We're fighting this Adam Korshane. And it's like, you're just going crazy, right? You're just grabbing guys. And I remember I came in and I grabbed this Adam Korshane's chain. I ripped it off.

I threw it in. I'm like, just acting like a savage, you know. Then you get carried off the ice. And I think actually Colton Orr's brother, he punched a ref. That exact same instance. And Colton Orr got suspended for like 20 games. And then WHL, that was like unheard of at that time. Is it true that Colton Orr's got a plate in his face and his fists and stuff?

He's basically like Terminator. Yeah, I don't know about that. I did play with Orsi's basically like Terminator. Yeah, I don't know about that. I did play with Orrzy. I played with both of them. I don't know about that. I do know Kinger well. I've felt his fists later on in his career. It's like sand.

There's like no bone, you know? Oh, dude, that King. I've told this story before, but when we had Mike Scrooge on, we were playing Worcester. I was like, who are you going to fight tomorrow? He's like, I don't know. There's nobody there. And Colby Armstrong's like, that DJ King's kind of a killer.

Heads up. He's like, nah. Dink, dink, dink. Scrooge broke an orbital. He talked about it like the kid was a killer. He had bowling ball hands. Oh, yeah. Do you know Mitch Love?

Remember Mitch Love? He's coaching in Saskatoon now. Okay. He broke Williams, Tiger Williams penalty record when we were playing in Swift Current and he broke it fighting DJ King and DJ King. I've never seen a guy beat up someone worse in my life. And Mitch Love, he's like lights out, out cold on the ice. He's a middleweight. He's a middleweight. He's not a heavy, but he then gets up, his shirt's over his face,

and he pulls his shirt down, and they're like, he just beat Tiger Williams' penalty record. And he starts skating around the ice with his arms in the air. And I was like, what is going on here? It was the craziest thing. Oh, my God. I'm looking now, 327 PIMS that year. Yeah.

I don't know if it was a year or if it was a career. Okay. Yeah, maybe that makes sense. I was going know if it was a year or if it was a career. Okay. Yeah. Maybe that makes sense. I was going to ask you about playing early on with Seabrook. I was actually, when I played under 18, he was our captain in the,

in the summer one, which was the hardest one to make. And just really a natural born leader. I believe he went first overall to the left for church games when it was that Bantam draft. Yeah. I don't know if it was first or second, but just an unbelievable guy. He took care of me. Like I a walk-on as a 16 year old i wasn't drafted or

anything so i i walked on and from day one he took care of me his billet was actually really good friends with my dad so uh just such a good relationship and then when i got to chicago i actually do attribute a lot of my success to him because you know what it's like when you go somewhere and you're trying to make a team he was like bringing me around like Duncan Keith and he was bringing me around all these guys and making me feel like almost like I'm not like quite I belong but like really comfortable so the tryouts when I was there I really attribute a lot to Siebes just like you're you're right natural born leader guy, and I am definitely great friends with him. When I was hanging out with him, he wasn't drinking at all. He turned into a sauce fest after a few cups, eh?

No, I remember that too. Even at my rookie party, he didn't drink, so he was 17 and I was 16. Yeah, I don't think it was until maybe he was 19 or 20, maybe he started to have a couple beers. You're like, all right, I'll get you. I'll cover you on this one. I'll drink for both of us. Yeah, that's what pretty much happened.

Oh, the other thing I want to ask you about your junior career was when you played for Red Deer. Yeah. So Brandon and Brett Sutter were on the team, and then one of the fathers was coaching as well. What was that dynamic like? Because normally you could see like a minor hockey situation where you're favoring the kid I feel like that won't be the opposite yeah that was

opposite Brent was hard and and Brent he was hard on me there so I played D actually my last year in junior believe it or not so I was a D man um and and he'd be like you're the hardest fucking player I've ever coached in my life you know I, I'd be like, he would show me a clip and like, I would rush the puck. And then all of a sudden there'd be like nine guys back in the screen. And all of a sudden I'd be coasting like slowly back in the screen, you know, maybe like you're terrible, you know, but he, he also was like that with his own kid, even harder and Brett as well he for me was I also again between Scott Gordon uh Dale Town Brent Sutter was one of those guys for me who I learned a lot from in a year I learned tough love and what I need to do to be a pro but again like you're talking about with his son and Brett he was hard on them Steger after four years of juniors you get drafted by the Bruins fifth round, 134th overall.

You're with the organization for a couple seasons. They trade you in your second season. What was your reaction? Were you pissed off? Did you expect to take us through that journey? Dude, I was crying. I swear to God. What?

Yeah, on the bus. Well, man, hold on, though, because I'm thinking, I'm looking. You had an unreal year, rookie year, and the team sucks in Boston. You don't even sniff getting called up. I you'd be like what the fuck man so i was working at sport check um about a year prior not even playing defense for the red deer rebels right i'm like my career is done right and i'm partying you know whatever just like with my buddies back home like i'm not playing hockey probably so at the end of that 20 year old year or 19 year old year, they call me up and I actually play lights out. And then I'm like playing so good because Scott Gordon's like, hey,

Steger, I know where you've been. I know where you've come from. I know everything. I'm going to give you every opportunity to succeed. And so that summer I went home and I put on 20 pounds. I was, I came back at almost one 90 and I, and I was playing lights out. Like no one expected me to. Right. And at that time, Scott Gordon's like, man, I think you're going to get called up. Sean Donovan just got hurt. I believe Glenn Murray was hurting. He's like, you might get called up. So we're on our way to Manchester and I'm sitting on the bus and I get called up to the front and Gordon's like, Hey man, I just got to tell you, you just got traded. And I'm like, Oh, and I'm sitting on the bus and I get called up to the front and Gordon's like hey man I just got to tell you you just got traded and I'm like oh and I'm like what so you know how like

you're kind of I'm kind of a messed up kid and then you're like you get this opportunity and then all of a sudden it's like they just quit on me you know after what I did like I was I think I was seventh in the league in scoring in the A at that time and I didn't even have 40 points in the dub or 50 points in the dub year before so it's like I was really mixed up and confused and I remember being on the bus like tearing up couldn't believe it and also about three weeks prior to that we were in Norfolk and I was like fuck if there's one team I don't want to be with it's the Chicago Blackhawks I swear I was like there's no way they had all the studs, everyone. And so when he told me, he wrote it on a paper and he slid it to me and it said Chicago, I was like, no way.

Like I had no chance to make the NHL now. So that's kind of where my head was at at that time. And I remember even Don Sweeney called me. He's like, hey, I had nothing to do with this. And I remember I was distraught. Wow, that's interesting. So I think players can look at careers on on online and think oh man he finally got a chance by getting traded and little did you know it was the best thing that

ever could have happened to you i don't want to upset ra but who was going back the other way yeah brandon bochenski tough trade for the boston bruins i think he had 36 goals at that time or something crazy. He was going off that year. Yeah, fuck that, Rusty. This Pochinski's awesome. A week later, he was scooping ice cream fucking down the street, and you were lighting up in Chicago.

Yeah. I know, but at that time, though, I thought it was actually even a good trade for them. I'm like, wow, they got Pochinski for me. Crazy. All right, so that year you go over to Norfolk, and you continue like a point-per-game player, and then the next year is your first go in the NHL where you you at least got called up but that year in the AHL had to be one of the top players in the league and what stands out is

just how physical you were playing and that's when you just basically decided I'm doing anything I can to get there like did you know there was a chance at the beginning of that year in camp you could get called up are you going in like I got nothing set right now I just got to go balls to the wall I just thought I had to go balls to the wall and I actually and I usually have good camps I didn't have that good of a camp that year and I got sent down and and I was playing horrible in Rockford the first 10 games like horrible I didn't have one point in 10 games I was actually playing fourth line too and I remember I came into the dressing room and I was like ready to flip Mike Hvalon's table and me and Mike have an awesome relationship and I was like you motherfucker put me on the ice put me in the power play and I remember I went home that night and I called my dad I'm like

fuck hockey I'm done with hockey you know like I did everything I could last year now I'm playing fourth line a year later you know and my dad's like well come sell tractors with me and stuff or you know what I mean I was like yeah and i thought he was gonna like sympathize and he's like start coming selling tractors with me and that's where i was like oh fuck i don't want to sell tractors you know i'll play court fine dad yeah so i went back and i actually in the next 15 or sorry eight or nine games i had like 15 points and i was like and i remember a little after that i was talking to talon and them and they're like, you got to do something different. I was fighting and doing everything I could. And then believe it or not,

I was on my way. I think we were on our way to Peoria. And I got a call and they're like, Hey, we need you in Calgary tonight. And Calgary is my hometown. So I played my first ever game in Calgary. Steve, we obviously got to talk about the Stanley cup in Chicago, the first Stanley cup. Take us through that right now. And you played a significant role there, four goals, eight assists in 17 games. I mean, when you got that talent like that,

Chicago hockey had been dead for a long time. Then it got revitalized. That must have been a pretty sick thing to go through, eh? Yes, six goals and eight assists. But anyways, it was unbelievable. I remember about two years prior to that, the same year I was in Rockford, we're sitting in one of the rooms, I think it was at I remember about two years prior to that the same year I was in Rockford we're sitting in the one of the rooms I think it was at the Sheridan and Dale Towns like I'm telling you if you guys win this Stanley Cup here Michigan's going to be full and we're like yeah

right like I remember pulling my NHL card out of the bar and they put me to the back of the line you know things like that so just to see where we were and, you know, fans were at like 8,000, 7,000 and you could, anyone could get a seat to where it ended in 2010 with the team we had and the friendships. It was, it's still a fairy tale. I look back, I look at videos. It's, it's really incredible. Well, I mean, we got to talk about the celebrations, like, Holy shit. I mean that city in general, I'd say it's probably top on the party list my nhl rookie party they're gonna have to stop beatboxing for him first yeah yeah i i was

i had to sleep on my stomach basically after because my kidneys were sore oh my goodness yeah we don't want to get that too much into it which is coming back from the pisser here we're gonna tee him sorry about that i read the lunch the wrong stat line i read the old no i was just bugging you oh No, calm down. I fucked it up. Oh, you pigeon toss him? I love that. Sometimes you just got to chuck R.A.

Just what are you talking about? I'm just wondering, though, like that – so the Chicago team that the first cup when Kane scores, okay, where are you on the bench? Are you considering that like it's not in? Are you one of the guys that's like, no, Kane or nose? or nose no for me he shot the puck and i heard a thunk and i thought it hit late and stick and went into the meshing so i'm looking in the meshing and i think it was brow or he looked over at me and we're like where is it where is it and i'm like i think it's in the meshing and then all

of a sudden everyone buzzed by and he's like i think it's in the net i'm like it's in the net so i jumped over and i remember i threw my gloves off i'm like this fucking better be in the net this better be in the net and then I got down to the end of the ice and we're all hugging and everyone's like is it in the net you know is it in the net and I swear they say they can't find that puck but I swear I looked down the ice and I saw the linesman pull the puck out of the net and that's when I was like yeah we a bunch of us were like we just saw him pull the puck out and then we got the word from the video guy to the coach and staff and they told us it was in but i never seen it go in like i said i was looking in the meshing yeah that puck became a big mystery because everybody thought pronger took it because

he was stealing all the pucks them but they did say a linesman walked off and i think he like refused to answer questions about or something like that a thousand percent i bet i i know 100 he had it no shit so you. Sell that thing at some point. So going to your end, uh, the end of your first time with Chicago. So you mentioned that love and hate with Quimble. What had it just gone a little bit sour? What was the reason why you ended up moving on and going to Toronto? Well, we just won the cup. And then I remember we were, it was me,

Vince Vaughn and Stan Bowman. And we're at a bar and there's like a little alleyway behind the alleyway. And Vince is trying to, you know, we're just talking. And then Stan's like, hey, Steer, I think we're going to have to move you. And I was like, what? You know, and then I remember Vince, he's like, you know how he talks. He's like, we can't trade him. We can't trade him.

He's playing great for us. You know, he's like, Vince, we got to trade Chris. You know, it was kind of a funny moment. That's how I kind of knew it was going to happen. And then about a week later, I think it was around end of June, start of July, I ended up getting traded to Toronto. So you weren't a part of that gong show with, like, the qualifying offers not getting mailed out.

Yeah, I got a huge contract with that. So explain to people at home what what actually happened in that situation and was it dale's fault or is that on like somebody else way beneath him dude well who all you got to ask yourself is who's supposed to do the paperwork and you know how does that go but i i don't know who was doing the paperwork or who's supposed to do that but at that time there was me Frazier Brower Barker and a few of us and those couple of those guys already signed contracts and Barker then called me the one day and goes hey I think our our qualifying offers are missed by a day and I was

like what and so I told my agent because he didn't I remember I'm like hey can you check if ours is missed by a day too he didn't see that either no because we just didn't expect I remember I'm like, Hey, can you check if ours is missed by a day too? He didn't see that either. No, because we just didn't expect it. And he's like, yeah. So he's like, holy shit, it is missed by a day. And I remember kind of at that time, uh, we were talking about like a two year 1.5, you know, maybe. And I, and that was actually the year I was up for rookie of the year. So it was like a good year, but I was, it was my first full year.

So they didn't want to break the bank for anything. Yeah. And so we're going we're talking and then all of a sudden my agent's like I think we can get two you know I think we can get two so we're at two and it was for two years and all of a sudden it was like we just kept going and all of a sudden my agent's like we're at 3.083 for three years you know and I'm I'm screaming I'm I swear to God, I was like Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire. At that point, I was like, show me the money. Like, I couldn't believe it. I went, like I said, three years prior, I'm selling t-shirts and rollerblades at the sport check. And now, you know what I mean? And, and now I'm signing a multi million dollar contract. It was, it was surreal was surreal but that's for me how it was obviously it didn't end well for dale for that situation for him but again i ended up going to florida and playing with dale and me and dale haven't have a really really good relationship so it sucked that happened to him and again i don't know who files paperwork but i'm just guessing it's not not dale you're like dad i can buy you a tractor now i don't need to work with

you thanks thanks a lot for taking me to the rinks when we were younger. I got that riding lawnmower. Yeah. So, like, the thing about Chicago that's so great, and it's definitely changed with the dynasty that formed there, but in terms of media coverage and, like, craziness, it's not that nuts. I mean, they have so many teams in that city, and then you get to Toronto, it's like, oh, boy.

So it must have kind of been almost annoying in a sense where you're coming over as a cup champion and you got to deal with this media. Like, did you enjoy your time there? Granted, it was brief or were you kind of like, I'm all set? No, I, I enjoyed my time there. It was tough because I didn't put my skates on until about two days before camp, you know? So I had a bit of a rough start there. I think I had like one, one or two points in my first 11 know? So I had a bit of a rough start there. I think I had like one, one or two points in my first 11 games. And I had a, I bought an Audi R8 actually in Chicago and I brought it to Toronto and in my parking garage, someone spit all over it and they wrote in it, like they carved in like, you know, you suck and all this stuff. Oh my God. So I remember,

I didn't tell the media this. Was it Babcock? Babs was tweeting in. But no, so I remember Phaneuf was saying, hey, Steger, how's your R8? How's the spit on your R8? And all the media kind of like heard it. And then like a few days later, I remember hearing like, who the fuck is Versteeg? Not the fuck, but who does Versteeg think he is, is you know complaining about his $150,000 car getting spit on and I'm just thinking dude I don't care if I I had a $5,000 car it got spit on but also I wasn't complaining to the media that was kind of where I really realized like the fishbowl and what it is like it's not just about hockey there's a lot

of other things that come along with it and you got to really understand that and be able to prepare for that. But all in all, like Phil Kessel was my roommate and me and Phil got along well. We were also together a little bit in Boston. And there was great guys there too. So it was a good experience. And Berkey and me have a really good relationship too. But it was a good experience. It was just a different one and it was a short one.

Any memories of Philil i mean you play with him in two different spots in terms of just how about what a natural he is it's just like i'm guessing the pre-game naps he's just rolling out of bed like see at the ranks deager it's sickening i remember even in boston white sides during camp would make me and uh matt lashoff take care of him but like so he would always take the the curtains and he would take like a clothes hanger to make sure no sun got in right and one day I remember we're in Pittsburgh and the clothesline falls off and it's like seven in the morning and the sun's peering in he's like oh my eyes oh my god Steger turn the lights off I'm like stand up Phil like what the fuck you know

just it was like constant stuff like that or even if like the next day he'd wake up the next day like i feel terrible steve you're i just i feel terrible like it could have been that bowl of cheese you ate with pregame but then he goes out and scores two goals and assists and he comes in the the bus after goes steger not gonna lie felt terrible out there holy shit you know and i just like i want to kill this guy like but he's just he did a pretty good job of dealing with the media there like yeah how much flack he took for sure he he's uh just an unbelievable guy i i love phil chris i want to ask you you got traded like three times in a year maybe one day longer than a year what was going through your mind during that you kind of like what the fuck and i always say one team trades but that means another team wants you was was it getting

pretty frustrating for you at that stretch I had to tell myself that a lot yep that year um yeah it was just it was strange you know you get shipped out because of cap reasons and you go to Toronto and you're not on a great team and then you go to Philly and I didn't play good in Philly and then I go to Florida so kind of at that point I'm like holy I just won a Stanley Cup Philly and then I go to Florida. So kind of at that point, I'm like, Holy, I just want a Stanley cup. And now I'm, I've been traded like three times. So I was like, fuck, this is, it's really hard. It is really hard. And the other hard thing about that is, is playing with new players and playing confident within a new system.

There's something when like, I'm a player that is a field player too. Like I make small plays and I need to make these tight plays and when you're not confident and you're in a new you're in a new system or you're you're there and you just can't make those plays and I felt that way especially in Philadelphia I wasn't confident at all but then when I got to Florida when me and Dineen got together he he sat me down and said he was going to use me in a big role, and I played really well for him at the start there until the injuries and obviously shit kicked in. But, yeah, it was psyche-wise I was in a rough spot for sure. Who were you playing with in Florida where you got things going again?

Like who were you vibing with offensively? We had an unbelievable line that year. It was Stephen Weiss and Thomas Fleischman. And then at about game 48, I remember I tore my hip. And then I came back, I think, another like 15, 16 games and then playoffs. But that first 48 games, it was crazy. Like everything was going in. We were playing so good.

And it was so much fun. Just Weiss, unbelievable center. You didn't have to focus on playing D at all. He was just such a good two-way player. And Fleischman, one of the most underrated, skilled shooting players I've ever played with. Fleischman was sick. And you know how you can just let people know how good he was?

Just tell them Detroit picked him in the second round. Yeah. Like he was a Red Wings pick, and that means the guy's probably going to possibly be a Hall of Famer. Yeah, exactly. He battled injuries, but he was so smart. I remember that team you guys had cause you lost in game seven to the devils. Was that double, double overtime?

Yeah, man. Like that team was pretty good. And then you just can't get anything going in Florida. It was, it's so difficult to like, you'd look at that team and you had some young guys cool call up on D and you're like, all right, we might get going. And then it just kind of kept fizzling out. Yeah, for sure.

Well, the lockout happened, right? And I had hip surgery. I didn't do myself any favors. I definitely came back out of shape. And then we had, I believe it was Jovanovsky had hip surgery, and we had a couple issues with injuries. And then Garrison left to Vancouver. Am I wrong?

I don't know. He left somewhere. So we lost some pieces and we had some injuries. And then the next year, so the lockout happened. We didn't make the playoffs. Then we come back and I was coming off ACL and a couple other things. And it just, yeah, you just couldn't find your mojo again. And that was a team. We didn't have any superstars or great players but we had a mojo to us and we

we had some swagger and confidence that year and that helped and after that it pretty much left that was when Talon was in Florida at that point in time had they had new ownership and started introducing the analytic stuff because there was a weird point in time there where they went very hard on the analytics and then backed off, and then Talon ended up having more control again. Well, so I was gone in 2013, November, back to the Hawks. They just got the new owner like a day before I got traded.

Oh, okay. And the only thing I remember is they had Horacek in there, and I think he was a good coach, but I remember he was doing triangle offense. I was like, what's triangle offense? It was one of the weirder things I've done, but that was the only thing where when we were playing, I thought it was kind of strange, but yeah, after that,

I guess they brought in all the analytics. You're like, yeah, that's the NBA on TNT, dude. This is hockey. We don't do the triangle offense but i can't let that 2013-14 season go by without talking about one of my favorite stories and i'd love to hear your memory of it but you were you were such a good player and you were coming back from injuries but they like like denine wasn't playing you he was furious and then i just remember thinking like this kid's gonna snap because we landed in

washington dc at three in the morning and he was waiting at the end of the bus and said steger be at the rink at 10 a.m like take me through your whole thought process and how pissed off you were that next day yeah i was fucking pissed but but the whole thing this might be a long story so cut me out no no no no no i love this shit. Yeah, so I remember. So the whole lockout happens. He's pissed off at me. Rightfully so. I'm not in shape, right?

I then blow my ACL out, and I come back like five months later to play. Five months after ACL, I fractured tibia. Like, you know, I was a mess. And I told them, I'm like, hey, I'm shit right now. Like, I can't skate. My hip's hurting again, which I had surgery on. And I'm like, I'm like, hey, I'm shit right now. Like, I can't skate. My hip's hurting again, which I had surgery on. And I'm like, I'm not good. But they're like, you know, play, get in the lineup, play some power play, try to help.

And then when I was playing, like, you know, rightfully so, I'm not playing good. So they're not going to play me in situations. But also, I'm like, fucking, you know, sometimes you're like, give me something, too. So then I'm pissed by this point. Like, pissed. And like, we land in in Washington 3 a.m pulls me off he's like Steger you're not in and I'm like fuck you you know fuck you so the next day we wake up I'm still pissed we get to the there's like me and I can't remember who it was

four or five guys me me there yes oh that's that's how red I was I remember that we're like on the ice and Gordon Murphy you know we get out there and there's a bunch of pucks and I start flicking pucks in the stands and and Gord's not saying anything like he's not but I'm kind of flicking him in the stands because I want him to say something you know so I keep flicking him in the stands and I go down for a two-on-one instead of shooting at the rink I shoot it in the stands you know so like what was it 10 minutes into practice, maybe. There's no pucks left on the ice. Gorbachev's like, wait, grab a puck.

I go, there's none left. So I remember. Yeah, so Murs is like, I guess practice is over. There's no more fucking pucks left. I'm like, I guess so. Fuck. You know? So that was it.

That was the end of practice. Did he bag you or no? He actually let you get off the ice. Oh, he was it that was that was the end of practice you can bag here and all you actually let you get off the ice oh he was just done he was done too i didn't think he wanted to deal with it he was disgusted but the best part was like oh my god this guy's getting out of here like and then you go to chicago like what a moment for you yeah you know what i i was so happy to go i remember we were in the room me you and upby right yep and that's kind of like where i tell the story like i remember asking you because you're talking about what you want to do after your career and I was like don't you want to do radio and you're like no I want to do a podcast because I can kind of speak and do things so I mean kudos to you you followed through with

that night too but I was I was a little choked because at the time I I thought I was going to be in Florida and you sign for less taxes right and so that kind of goes into it and then out of nowhere I was traded back to Chicago which I was excited about but it was a bit of a mixed emotion too because I did want to kind of follow through with what was going on in Florida but then I go to Chicago and in Chicago when I left in 2010 I was at the top of my game and even prior in in Florida, 2011-12, top of my game. And then they get this guy coming back who has had, like, knee and hip surgery, and I'm horrible.

So they must have been like, where the hell did this guy go, you know, the last three years when I came back? So for the fan base, I don't think it was easy for them. And it was very hard for me, especially that 13-14 year. Just the, I guess, the criticism and everything I was taking, especially knowing what I was going through. It sucked, but all in all, 2014-15 happens, and then you win a Stanley Cup.

It obviously comes full circle, and you feel pretty good about it. For Stiga, I just want to go back to the South for a minute. Teams down South, Nashville, Carolina, all these teams have had success, won Cups, but it seems like the Panthers are the only one who haven't had any sustained success since, like, 96. Do you think they'll ever find it down there? I know Miami's, like, a bad sports town, but it just seems like they're the one

Southern team that just can't seem to latch on like every other team down there. I don't get it. The big thing for their fans is that arena. It's in a horrible area. There's nothing to do out there. So after games, there's nothing for them to go do um so that's a hard sell for a fan base and as a team they have pieces but i watched them they're not physical enough they they lost uh i forgot the right-handed shot demands and just they're not in guys faces enough and sometimes might that might be you know you're playing it's

hard playing in front of an empty stadium so there's not the extra energy there where tampa like they have extra energy because they got a great fan base that's that's at every game and they got you know like no taxes and a great team so it helps too but then you go to florida and it's like an empty building and so so different man there'd be like a one one game like third period two minutes left and i swear sometimes i'd have to slap myself in the face like be like holy shit like we're in a game here so they're there yeah at a certain point you got to be like okay we understand that like it's in good financial position because i think when the owner owner got it it was kind of like the arena and land play energized values have gone up but you know and and and i may be coming off as a hypocrite here

because i work for an organization who's also had a difficult time sustaining high-end success um in the coyotes but arena location is like that's like such a major piece look at ottawa like that's a canadian city where when they're not winning and playing well people don't want to drive out 30 minutes to kanata they couldn't sell the fucking playoffs in canada yeah it's crazy how about after a game you're in the bus because there's one way out of the the parking lot right like it's horrible yeah so yeah it's you're you're 100 right about the location so i i gotta jump to the to russia because just to know that you got to experience what i experienced over there like was it pretty cool for you or were you like, get me out of here?

It was just a quick stint. Yeah, it was like six weeks. Dude, I got shingles over there. No. Oh, man. Talk about a panic. Yeah, so I got there and, like, they treated me good. It was fine.

Obviously, a lot is different there, right? A lot's different, but I got there and I don't know if it's the bacteria in the food, but I was fucking shit. And like 40 times a day, I'm like, holy hell. Like I can't keep anything in my stomach. And I remember talking to Kevin Dahlman. Yeah. He was over there.

I was like dolls, man. Like I'm messed. Like I, I can't eat. I was like, dolls, man. Like, I'm messed. Like, I can't eat. I can't do anything. So then like three weeks later, my buddy comes out. And I got this like rash. And I'm showing the doctors. And they're like, eczema, eczema.

My buddy's like, man, there's like blisters. So I send a picture to my doc in Toronto. And he's like, man, you got shingles. I'm like, shingles? You know, and I'm now sitting in a hotel in St. Petersburg and I'm telling the team, I'm like, I can't, I cannot do this. Like I cannot play. My back is on fire. It feels like someone's burning you with a pen, like literally with a pen. So then, and then like, there's a little bit of issues with my family's visa at that time too. So I was, I was super stressed out

about the whole situation and and then my wife was you know just pregnant with our new baby we're we're trying to and she got pregnant right before I left oh you're a lot going on man yeah and and fuck man it was just a hard situation kind of at that point and that's where I was like I just gotta go I gotta go home but man I don't know if any of you guys had shingles. Holy, it is brutal. Yeah, it's caused by stress mostly, right? Yeah. Yeah, yikes.

But you went to Sweden after that, though. You kind of finished up the season in Sweden, right? Yeah, so about four months later, a Swedish team bought me out. I had a couple opportunities to go to maybe a couple Swiss teams. They were going to pay my buyout for me to come in. And one of my buddies was the captain of the Swedish hockey club. So I ended up finishing in Vekko. I actually had a really good time.

The hockey is like rugby on ice, though. It's just rugby. It's not even hockey. And the ref. Crazy over there. What is it, Switzerland? Sweden. Sweden, man.

It's physical. They don't call anything. Like, would you agree with that? It's rugby on ice. I remember even going to North Americans. I'm like, I might as well just play, know rugby right now this is fucking brutal like the way they don't call anything and there's so many talented players there like in that league that uh boke fist brother i was like this guy's insane and then i looked at his points he had like 30 points

and 50 games i was like what is going on but holding, the hooking, the reffing is just atrocious there. It's so bad. So, but besides that, the living, if they could figure out the reffing in Sweden and the rules, it would be an unbelievable place, especially at the end of your career to go play. But that's something that they got to figure out because it's just the hockey is not up to where it should be, I think, in Sweden.

I just don't understand the rugby references, that the way they're like up ice and shit. If you get boxed out in your own end. Like I remember I chipped the puck out of my own zone and a guy came in front of me and boxed me out, like from my own zone. There would be like little plays. If you're going into the corner, like a 50-50 puck, and you're holding someone on your back,

a guy would just bear hug you, pick you up, move you, and puck you know what i mean it was just like and the other thing is in sweden they played these five man pressures so they just pressure points all over and that's what chicago is actually trying to do because they have all the swedish coaches but you can't do that in the nhl because the ice is smaller and also the pressure point if you miss someone in the nhl it's a penalty or if you hook them or slash them but in sweden the slashing like on your hands and all that that's why you can high pressure there and the ice is bigger too so if you get beat you can still kind of get back so that that for me it was just like it was a it was a scrum all over the ice then to get to the net no chance you're getting to the net sounds like the 95 doubles yeah yeah it was someone put me to sleep by

describing it yeah i'm telling you. They got to fix that over there because the players are elite. Like, these guys are sick. I mean, did you guys talk about Calgary and Los Angeles at all? I went to take a piss. So, have you guys hit on these teams later in your career? No, we're going to mention that. You were lucky, man.

You were able to finish your NHL career with the hometown Flames. That must have been quite a thrill for you, eh? Yeah, that was awesome. There's no way I could have handled that early on in my career. It would have been all over the front page of the paper. It would be so bad to play in your hometown early on. Well, in those days. But, you know, now at the end of my career, you know,

I have my family and everyone. It was an awesome experience. Brad Shurlevin brought me. Actually, I was at the end of my career, you know, I have my family and everyone. It was an awesome experience. Brad Shurlevin brought me. Actually, I was at the Oilers camp, and I decided to go to Calgary. It had a bit bigger of a role, I was told, by Tree. And they followed through. They gave me a role, and it was just an awesome experience. We made the playoffs that year.

I remember a funny, actually, little story. We're in a bit of a schneid during the season and i have a buddy i always bring around his name's nuts and he's a bit bigger but anyways uh everyone thinks that when we turned the corner that year it was because uh gullets and let us have beers on on the train but what happened was a little bit before that i put my buddy in the sauna he got naked and i put him in the sauna and so goudreau and Monaghan would go in the sauna every morning and they get in the sauna and they're like sitting next to this naked guy they're like who the hell is that guy so they come out and they're like Brad Paschal's naked in

the sauna right now and then all of a sudden my buddy comes strolling out and it's him so that was kind of like a moment on that season I remember you know that kind of loosened up the boys and we actually went on a heater after that and made the playoffs. It was, it was an awesome time and an awesome experience there. Oh, thanks to your degenerate buddy. Yeah. What a nickname nuts. That's what you call it.

Nuts. Yeah. Oh my God. Did you know that at the end of the next year that that was probably at the NHL or like, you know what I mean? Like, are you going over to Russia thinking maybe I can get back in the league?

What's the approach there mentally? I think a little bit of both um that last year in Calgary so I I didn't get allowed to play in Switzerland because my hip was not in good you know it wasn't good so I came back from Switzerland and I actually went to Edmonton camp so it was like torn again like retorn it actually been torn for about two years but I was just playing with it and then that year in Calgary started off I heard it in camp and then in Dallas that night I turned on it and it tore and I remember like asking the doc like can I play he's like yeah you can play again it's just not going to be fun so kind of at that point I was like well I gotta try to play again and then going into the next year there wasn't anyone who was interested really maybe I had a PTO possibility with one team but again like it didn't look like a good option so

then Russia came and had a couple of offers in Russia and Switzerland so I figured if I go to play in Russia maybe I play good maybe yeah I can get back in the NHL and I went there and obviously just stressed out and it didn't work out. Then went to Sweden. And actually, I played really well in Sweden. And that's why then I came back the next year. I played with Rockford for a little bit. But, man, I was getting hit every shift out there.

And then the ups and downs. And I remember talking to Brian Campbell after the game. And he's just like – I asked him. I'm like, when did you know it was over? He goes, when I couldn't deal with the highs and lows anymore. And I'm like, man, I can't deal with them. Like I can't deal with the highs and lows. I still felt I could physically do it, but I knew my chance in the NHL was over and I wasn't willing to go through those highs and lows and also take a young kid spot in Rockford. If I'm just going through the motions,

it's not fair to those kids either. Knowing what I went through at that point in my career, I didn't want to take that from another kid. So it was just like it made sense for me to wrap it all up there in November and then go actually play the Spangler Cup, and that's when I knew it was done. Can you describe that to maybe fans? What do you mean by that? Just the pressure, especially as an offensive player,

to put up points when you're going through a slump, how it's affecting your mood and how you are away from at the rink and also social pressure especially in markets where the media is a little bit crazier than others so it's just like you're riding this constant wave and i don't think people how understand how much it ages you as an athlete i've never heard that described the way soupy did it makes so much sense because you can when you're younger all right the highs are great the lows i'll get back and then yeah it's like dude i don't know if i'm gonna get out of this low no it's it's it's damn near depression almost you know you're just you're you're sitting there and then you're waiting for the next game you're like okay if i play good

maybe i can feel good tomorrow and then you play that game and you play like trash and you haven't got another point in like three games you're like oh god maybe i'm down and then you leave the rink in rockford yeah no it's well and it was fine there but you're right it's you're you're back in the minors and you're supposed to be a good example for these kids too right so there's a bit of the pressure there too and i was just oh man i just couldn't go through it anymore okay you're probably gonna give us the the best breakdown out of anyone possible you've had on the show so you experienced kaner when he's a little bit younger and i'd say going through more of his party years and then you come back the second time around and like talk about a guy who just really he just figured it out seems like he completely devoted his entire life to

hockey and and just like talk about the difference between them then and then the second time around and also like just watching him day to day and like i mean he's gonna go down as probably the one of the best american players of all time the best man so everyone's always like tase you know and tase is tase is like a workhorse and he's dialed but still i've never seen someone work like kane especially on the ice after practice. You know, when practices were over, especially near the end of my career, I'm like, I'm out. You know, I'm not staying. But he stays on long. He works on his game.

He even skates all summer, you know. And he's constantly working on his game and doing things to try to either keep up to par or get better. The second time around, he was just hyper-focused, you know. You know, when games would happen, like, it would always be funny things on the ice. If I ever played them, like, what's your job tonight? I'd be like, I don't know. He'd like, get the puck to me. That's your job. You know, he'd always kind of fuck with me like that. But like when he's playing, he's hyper-focused, especially again, later on in his career. And even at practice, he definitely wanted to be the best, if not the best. And it was, it was something to watch. I definitely learned a lot from him. And now I got young kids

and you know, I see what he did at practice. And I know I'm kind of like a crazy hockey dad. I try to do that with them and little things that he rubbed off on me. I try to instill in them, but he changed, he changed a lot, but he was also a lot of the same because when he was young he still worked it was just obviously on another level later on one other guy i want to ask you about when you were in calgary you saw his first couple years in the league matthew kachuk we've had him on the show before what's his ceiling uh in the nhl well it's high he he's he's a prick man he's nasty out there he's exactly what your team needs to win. I watch Antoine Roussel and everyone's like, tell him to calm down out there.

Tell him to stop going against Ryan Reeves and Waken Reeves. I love that shit. I love it because the second you say Reeves turns the puck over, something happens, you can hop on him. But imagine being that annoying and being as good as Matthew. It's hard. It's hard. You're Roussel and you know every guy around the league But imagine being that annoying and being as good as Matthew. Hard, right? Like you're Roussel.

And like, you know, every guy around the league and the other locker rooms, like I fucking hate this guy is the biggest loser in the world, but it's just like, no, the minute he, he gets on your team,

you're like, this is what, this is a piece that you need to win. It's unbelievable. Exactly. And then, and then you add the element of Kachuk's, uh,

uh, an elite player and elite player. He's a lead around the net. He elite player, he's elite around the net. His hockey IQ is sky high. Obviously, he doesn't have the ability of a Connor McDavid or those guys, but what he can do in and around the net, below the goal line, he's a lot like his old man like that. He sticks his butt out, and he can hold guys off.

The best players can all hold guys off, especially in tight areas, and he's one of them, and he can create so much's just you you have so many different elements of a player and that's why you get matthew kachuk and that's why he pisses off everyone but i love it and i remember during that year when he was getting suspended and he was doing some of those things the elbow dowdy i remember i pulled him aside and i'm like don't change i'm telling you bud don't change maybe maybe you can toe the line a little bit but don't change. I'm telling you, bud. Don't change. Maybe you can toe the line a little bit, but don't change because you need to be you. Yeah.

In some cases, it gets those guys into the game. They need to be like that in order to gain the juice. 100%, especially in today's game, right? It's hard sometimes. I like the old game because I like the emotion involved. I do feel like some of the regular season game becomes a little bit too much like a video game now where it's – I don't think soulless is a fair word to use, but just feel like, I don't know, maybe shorten the schedule

that make games more intense. Berkey says something. He calls it like a Sunday skate or whatever. It's robotic. They're robots a lot. Yeah. Yeah. So me and R.A ra were talking about this and

and when you retired you kind of had a a lengthy you wrote and were very open about the fact that maybe you had a chip on your shoulder and all about all that stuff like looking back now and the way it all went down do you have any regrets are you are you happy with it how it mapped out and like what would you have done differently maybe i i the biggest regret i have is not taking that lockout seriously i did not think we were gonna play i did not do i agree with you fuck like i was lighting up what was i thinking not going to play hockey dude you didn't go to europe i know i didn't go play hockey i was coaching a university team back in Lethbridge. Like I was like, my buddy was the coach.

You were having, you know, we'd have drinks and, and I, I didn't skate. I just put my skates on and push pucks around, you know, same, like I should have done exactly what you did. And I have that regret because you're getting paid so much money, but not so much the money part, but the window is so small to do it. And I think I let my guard down a little bit that summer. I just came off. I had actually double groin surgery.

Then I had hip surgery and then I showed up kind of fat and I blew out my ACL. So it was just like karma a little bit, I feel for me. And what makes it even tougher is you want to Stanley Cup, you're younger, you've made some money. So it's so easy now to look back at the time you're like I'm fine I'm gonna light this league up another five six ten years and it's just so not the case every time it seems it's not when you let your guard down man especially in this league it'll catch up to you real fast well I gotta ask you this because I'm using air quotes but like a

kid from Lethbridge who had no chance to play in the NHL and you ended up doing it and you were so successful and like playing against you, playing with you, had so much respect. The day you did retire, was it emotional? Like I remember myself kind of breaking down, calling my dad. Was it hard for you? Yeah, 100%. I remember, you know, I call my mom. Everything I did was for her, you know, my mom and my grandma and grandpa, Everything I did was for her, you know, my mom and my grandma and grandpa, like without them, you know, like we couldn't afford to play hockey, you know, and my grandma to this day says, you know, if it wasn't for hockey, we'd probably be dead or in jail. You know what I mean? And that's why they did what they did to keep me and my brothers in the sport of hockey. So all this stuff near the end of my career, I just like man I wish I could go on for them

mentally and physically but I just couldn't do it anymore and I almost felt I was letting them down after what they did for me it really tough times in my life so that that's why I broke down was for her was for my with my mom and especially my grandparents yeah well man I'm so happy we finally got you on and I think it's pretty much up to you, whatever you want to do hockey media wise. I think the way you've kind of approached what your Instagram does and not just talking about goals, but just stopping little plays. I've really enjoyed it and I'm pumped you came on. And so congratulations on a great career and looking forward to catching up with you in person at some point, hopefully. For sure, boys. It was an honor. Thanks for having me on. Thanks so much, Stig. I got one more quick one for you. Who do you like for the cup?

I like Tampa Bay. Okay. Yeah. Too bad I don't have money on them now. Stig, I think our fan base is really going to enjoy this, man. This is awesome. Feel free to reach out. You can come on any time.

Yeah. Yeah, maybe if you figure out what's next, whatever it is, come on. We can pump that. You know how it is. Pump your new app. Yeah. No, for sure. we'll meet we'll meet when we'll work for steve's app it teaches you how to stick handle and you can get beers delivered in lethbridge so exactly i could have the office portion of the app where you teach kids how to put rubbers on and fuck you know call a girl an uber and be respectful That's why they want their money back. They're like, what happened? She got her pregnant.

Fine. All right, buddy. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Take care, guys. Huge thanks to Chris for joining us, man. Definitely one of the characters of the game. He's certainly a funny guy,

and you should be following him on Instagram if you're not already. Next up, well, you know this guy. It's the Whit Dog. He tells one of his all-time great stories about getting into the wrong car. Yes. He's a 30, what? Seven year old guy getting in the wrong car. Let's hear from the wit dog himself. Anytime I get a late night text from Ryan Whitney telling me that I need to remind him to tell a specific story, you know,

a good story is coming on this podcast. So I'm excited. No doubt about that. The rat contour himself himself we'll get to him in a sec but first dirty dog in the desert paul biz nasty miss annette i'll just i'll just piggyback what g said there's nothing makes me more excited than when we hop on a zoom call and we're just like christ no you guys are like talk about like setting up some ridiculous expectations for a story. I'll get right into it since you two don't want to talk about anything but me. Three years. Sorry. Sorry.

I wasn't punching you in with those clowns, R.A. So a lot of times, a lot of times you wake up and, you know, it's just certain mood. You got nothing to do, biz. I know you know what I'm saying, R.A. Everyone knows you know what I'm saying. Just a little wake and bake, you know it's just certain mood you got nothing to do biz i know you know what i'm saying already everyone knows you know what i'm saying just a little wake and bake you know oh baby it's great you feel so good you know my weekends so so this goes back to the car issues this isn't really related to any car issues this is more ryan whitney issues not to talk in the third person that's a clown move but i have a nice little wake-up call at the store, and I got to do two things.

I got to get Applegate pork sausages. They're already cooked. You just throw them on the stove, and they're perfect. And I had to get orange juice. So, you know, sometimes it hits you a little different in the morning, and you're just out to lunch. I you a little different in the morning and you're just out to lunch. I'm standing in front of the, the Applegate. They have like three different boxes, right? They're three different colors, but they're all saying the same thing. All I'm

seeing is like the same thing. Gluten-free, um, no, no trans fat. I'm like, what is the difference? There's three different colors. What is the difference i why can't i figure this out well i wasn't reading where it says uh chicken uh chicken sauce chicken apple sausage pork sausage i just was totally out to lunch took me 10 minutes to figure that out listen i'll get back to that i go outside now because my car had broken down two days after I bought it last week, they gave me a loaner. It's a Escalade light bluish. It's got its own individual look. I don't know if I'd ever buy this color,

but it's like you're not going to mistake your car once you get this color car as a loaner. Maybe the reason they actually do make those colors. So I walk out of i walk out of the um the store and i'm walking to the car and i see the car and i get into the car and i go to start it i'm like what the fuck i look i'm like this isn't my car i turn around the guy whose car it is is standing right outside the door. He goes, what the fuck are you doing? I am so out to lunch. I said, listen, listen, I know what this looks like.

I have this car from it's a loan from the dealership. I have this car, but I drove my wife's car here which is a white bmw and i walked right past i walked right past the car i drove there because i thought i drove my loader and was sitting in the front seat trying to start it and the guy i don't know if he saw me get in and he was walking the store what the timing was and and he just is like what's wrong with you but it was an honest mistake and i remember thinking oh my god like i think you have to stop the uh morning activity of maybe adding some creativity i was gonna give you some leniency assuming that you'd driven your loner and then just mistaken that there was two there i would have been like oh shit okay well you got inside this i i think i might have done that at one point with a black jeep grand cherokee the most common fucking vehicle

there is but like yeah the fact that you drove your wife's car that's fucked up man that's i was just so embarrassed and and to end it all off i bought the wrong sausages i bought the chicken ones i took me 10 minutes and i still got the ones. So I don't think the story was that good. You guys kind of shriveled me with the way you teed it up. But still, like, you know, you do some certain things. It makes you question. Well, I have high expectations of you, and I thought it was tremendous. Great way to start off the show.

Well, we're not done with the wet dog. He's always got another story up his ass. Here's his golf story from this year. Take it away, Ryan. Can I explain what happened in a golf match to me last week quickly? Sure. Sure. So my brother and I, I know I mentioned we lost in the semifinals,

but I had to explain how we lost. We're on the 18th hole of this match. Now, I'm playing with my brother who's getting a stroke off me. I'm playing against my buddy, Danny, who's a firefighter. He's a Boston firefighter, and so is his partner, Peter Ealy. Danny's saved like 53 cats in his career as a Boston firefighter. He leads the league in saving cats. So he brings this stick.

Peter, we have a great match. We're on 18. We're tied. And Sean's stroking. So is Danny. Sean, my brother, pounds driver down the middle, and he then hits a six iron to like 12 to 15 feet,'ll call it just a perfect shot he's now putting for three two danny hits this shit bag drive to the out to the left awful swing but it stays you know

just in the trees he then takes his three wood and rips it up tries to get it up top the hill he's probably like 245 out it rolls to the bottom of the hill so he's now got about like an 80 yard shot up the hill to the elevated green he's hitting his third shot sean's just waiting to fucking putt in his birdie three for two danny then chunks this chip to the top of the green he fucking barely gets it up there and it sits down and rolls just to the front of the green about 50 feet away from the pin and what does he proceed to do walk around the putt for 10 fucking minutes and then stand behind and buries the thing four for three we were already in our minds had won the match which is exactly what happens in match play. Whenever you think you win a hole, the fucking miraculously, the only thing that could happen against you happens.

So he sinks this monster putt. It was an unreal. There was a bunch of people there watching. I'm like, are you kidding me, Danny? Four for three. Well, Sean still has a putt to win. And he just misses it. He made a good roll roll but he taps it in

four for three so we're gonna go down the playoff next hole what do we go down what goes down and happen we go down i hit a bunch of shitty shots i end up having like a five foot putt for par to continue the match i miss it we lose it's over oh so in a fucking you're trying to go to the semifinals to get to the finals to you know you win it you're gonna win some a fucking you're trying to go to the semi-finals to get to the finals to you know you win it you're gonna win some good money you're gonna win the the member guest and then all of a sudden a guy hits a 50 footer on you to force a playoff and then you lose 10 minutes later in that playoff hole it was the most disgusting loss i've ever had shout out to danny what a putt you sicko and shout out to his partner p Peter Ealy. This kid was pounding the ball.

So it was just upsetting. And then the other thing, the other thing. So then USGA 4 ball that I qualified for with the one-armed bandit last year, I talked about it on the pod, and I was so excited. Well, then it got canceled because of corona. And then they decided to not allow the people who, you know, got into the tournament to play in the next year's tournament. I went on a podcast rant about that, I believe, as well.

So what happens? We come up to Monday. Monday of this week, we have the qualifier again. It's now. All right, buddy. We got fucked last time. Let's go and do it again. Let's go get it done again.

Karma's on our side. So we get there. Indian Pond, this place in kingston massachusetts let me guess nice track it's a let me guess it's a nice track yeah it's a nice track it's a nice track uh it's it's yeah i mean the greens are usually really fast they weren't like super fast this day but nonetheless like let's go do this we go out and we're hitting it really nice this first hole we both hit at 15 feet par so we're thinking gonna shoot like seven under second hole oh fuck my buddy's kind of in trouble i hit driver five wood the hole's like 550 i hit

driver five wood to about 10 feet short of the green, and then easy, easy little chip up the hill, tap in birdie, let's get us on the board. Well, I fucking chunked this chip, you know, leave it like 10 feet short, I missed the putt. God damn it, we should be one under through two right now. We could even be two. Like, that's on me, bud, I said to my partner.

I gotta get that up and down. Fuck. So we go to the next hole, my buddy misses a kind of a six foot slider. We're still even. We go to the fourth hole and I stuff one to an inch, a legit inch, whatever. We're on the board now. One under. We think we need six more of these things. We get to the fifth, the fourth hole or whatever, the fifth hole, par three down the hill, make an easy par. We get to this short, short par four sixth hole. I hit my five

wood up 40 yards short of the green. I hit it on. I'd knock in the birdie. There we go. Now we're two under. Okay. We need five more. Think guarantees it. Well, now what has started happening in this round of golf to get into a United States golf association event? The wind event the wind is fucking howling 25 mile an hour steady howling affecting every single shot when it's in your face you're clubbing up by three when it's downwind you don't know what club to hit i was like this place is playing hard as shit and all of our my me and my one-armed bandit partner in our in our group we all agreed I'm like, I think the number might be like five. I think five might get in this year. And there's also alternate spots that we wanted to get.

So whatever. We fucking go out there. It's playing very hard. And we par 7, 8, 9. My buddy made a sick par on 9. I three putted. He was in trouble. He gets up and down from a shoe box and we don't lose a shot.

So we make the turn in two under. We go down 10. Both of us hit it to five feet. We both knock in the birdies. Didn't even matter. One of us just needs it for the card. We both did. So now we're three under through 10.

Here's what fucking happens at 10. 10th hole. I'm getting off the tee and this USga rules official says hey we got a big problem just like this i'm like what like i'm like my mind is racing i'm like what the fuck could have happened like for this dude to be that adamant and this engaged in like telling me we got one our bandit crushed his old lady or something yeah exactly that's it i was like dude like did you catch your wife like roasting your buddy last night in your own garage like what the fuck is wrong what's the problem you're five minutes behind pace it'll be a problem if we have to talk to you again

oh my god i would have paid money to be there so listen to this i'm like are you fucking kidding me so me and the one-armed band have our caddy, Mikey Powers. This kid's the man. He's just doing a hell of a job. He's carrying both our bags. I'm like, dude, give us clubs. My partner starts running. We all start running because if you get a fucking penalty,

if you get a slow play penalty, you get knocked a stroke off, they'll fucking hit you for a stroke in your round. So we go up to the 11th tee which is probably one of the hardest holes in the course but it's downwind so we all hit fucking real quick i hit driver pounded it and we just all run we're sprinting four guys two of them carrying their own bags me and the one-armed bandit and the caddies already up to where we were gonna hit in the middle of the fairway. Dude, I'm literally breathing heavily. Let's just catch up to the group in front of us and end this quick. Jeremio hits from 140.

He hits it to like 15 feet right of it. I'm 81 yards in. I fucking mashed this drive. It must have rolled out 100 yards, and I flip a 60-degree wedge up to 5 feet. I run up the hill. I mark it. I'm like, fuck it, right.

I go over. I get my putter i'm jeremio like tries to like calm down a little bit hits his putt literally just misses tap and par i'm like dude i got a five foot uphill putt done i'm like all right i know we're in a rush but you got to just calm down and make this putt miss it i'm like motherfucker but duramio my the one-armed bandit he's like dude lots of holes left we're feeling it now we're feeling it now we only need fucking four four more birdies even three or two with this weather so we go up to the next hall i fucking hit it out of play like an asshole into the woods i have to chip out i have a putt for four and duramio has to have a putt for four because he missed the green short. He was in the fairway. Well, I missed my seven footer for par and then I'm like, oh my God, Drew's got seven feet.

Fuck. He cans it. So we stay at three under. We stay at three under. It's unreal. Next hole, par three. We both hit it. Drew hits it in the rough, but he got it up and down.

And I have fucking 12 feet staring right up at the flag. And I have fucking 12 feet staring right up at the flag. Hits the lip and just, just does one of those dirty ass mother fregger lip outs. Oh, come on. Disgusting. But whatever. We got a birdie hole coming up next. Come on.

Let's keep doing this. It's a par four. It's three, like 280 yards. But you can cut the corner if you hit this big slice and slice it onto the green. So I just hit a 5-iron out to 100 yards out. D'Aremio does it. Our caddie's out there celebrating because he fucking drove the green on the par 4. I hit my 60-degree to like 15 feet. It was a shitty shot.

And this kid now has the 2-putt, but the pin was on the bottom shelf of the green. He's on the top shelf. So he hits this putt that rolls down the hill and it rolls to like nine feet. Should have been a birdie. Should have been an eagle putt from him if the pin's up top. Well, I missed a 15-footer and then this kid fucking misses the 7-footer on a great putt. So not only do we not birdie the par 3 that I fuck. Not only do I not birdie 11 when I'm running around like a lunatic sprinting and can't breathe.

Then we don't birdie 13 because I missed the uphill putt on the lip out. And then 14, my buddy drives the green and we don't birdie 11 when i'm running around like a lunatic sprinting and can't breathe then we don't birdie 13 because i missed the uphill putt on the lip out and then 14 my buddy drives the green we don't birdie that one either so it's like are you fucking kidding me so we get to the next hole it's like a down dog leg left we both hit it with 120 out and we both hit it just right of the pin 15 feet like one guy's one foot in front of the other was perfect we're gonna get a read we both missed i'm like are you kidding me you still stuck at three under with all that's going on and then the fifth uh the 16th hole is the same exact thing we both hit it on the green neither one of us made the pot we're like all right well we got a bird we got an 18th hole par five but it's dead into the 30 mile an hour wind and a 215 yard par three is the 17th hole and we need to at least make two five under like at least

right 17 we both missed the green right in the rough i'm like oh man what a bummer i get up to this ball i swear to fucking god i had a premonition i was like i'm making this shot i'm i'm literally chipping this in i'm gonna do to do this. And Drew says, do you want to go first? Do you want to go first? I'm like, yeah, dude. I'm going to knock it in. Dude, I fucking knocked it in. Get the fuck out of here.

I hit a high pitch shot, and it landed on the green. It started rolling towards the green. And the kid on the other team trying to qualify goes, go in the fucking hole like that. And it goes, dink. I go, yes! There's one! There's's one we're at four get us to five we're in this fucking tournament let's go high five my buddy i go to the insane insanity i just i'm going i said i was gonna do that i was so mentally fired up and like what the brain can do.

It was fucking insane. It was like the best moment of my summer. You'll laugh when you hear the rest of this. So I get to 18. 18 is like 570 dead into the wind. Oh my goodness. It was like 220 yards to the fairway. I hit this thing as pure as I could, dead straight, dead nuts. And I had like 320 in.

It was an absolute honking wind right in your face, but I got it in the fairway to a point where I had to lay up with four iron and then I had to hit another five iron because I hit a bad four iron. So either way, D'Aremio is in the trees. We need to birdie this hole. He's in the trees. I'm in the middle of the fairway. He hits this ridiculous punch hybrid through the trees, like 200 yards. He hit it about 180 yards and still had 220 to the hole. But it was unreal shot just to even get out of the shit and get back in the mix. So then I hit my layup shot, awful four iron. I'm trying to hit this thing like 200 yards. I hit this awful four iron and it goes like up into the hill, into the rough.

I'm like, you got to be kidding me. So one arm bandit, he's in the rough, takes out his three wood. It's 220. I'm like, this is playing 245 and ropes this three wood to six feet. No way. He's got six feet for the birdie to get to fucking minus five. I go over to my ball on the rough. It's on the upslope.

I'm like, I think I have to hit a six iron because I was like a buck 70 into the wind still. And I'm like, dude, actually, it's on a slope like this. So the six iron will turn into a seven iron. I need to hit a five iron because it's going to go right up so the six iron will turn into a seven iron i need to hit a five iron because it's because it's going to go right up in the air so i do i hit this thing the wind takes it it's drawing towards the hole it hits the green and bounces and releases towards the pin i'm running to the fairway as deramio isio's going, go in the hole, go in the hole for Eagle to get to seven under. Or no, for Eagle to get to six under.

Go in the hole. D'Aremio's screaming and I can't even see as I'm running around the hill. The fucking ball rolls down and lips out of the cup. Lips out of the cup because it was going too fast off the hill and settled seven feet beneath the hole. So I was like, oh, my God, we're high five. And it didn't go in. But holy shit, we got two birdie looks. We both looked like we were dead on 18.

We can get this thing to 500 right now. We get a chance. We both missed the fucking pots, dude. No. Now, now, now, here's what you're going to laugh. So at the time, I'm like, dude, that's now here's what you're going to laugh. So at the time I'm like, dude, well,

that, that's it. I go five was a chance at least as an alternate. And with us getting in last year, if we're alternates this year, we'll get in. They were taking two spots and they were taking two alternates. So we're waiting around all day because we came in and the clubhouse lead was

five under. We were in second place. Now there were some really elite teams of some big-time amateur players who live around here that were going out in the afternoon. But the wind was still heavy. I said, who knows? So we waited around all afternoon and some of these teams made the turn. And at the turn, all of these teams were like, well, we're minus.

We're two under. We're two under. We're two under. One was three under. And we're like, hey, these guys could go out and not light up the back. And like four, we could be standing in a playoff at four for an alternate spot. I got one question here. Yeah.

Is the wind still honking? Here's the thing, Biz. Just as I was about to bring it up. Right as these elite as the elite groups, because they pack all the really good teams together in like three or four different tee times for the afternoon wave, right as they went out for the second nine, because they teed off and it was honking,

and I'm like, this is good. And then they came in with scores that were just like ours, and I said, this is good. And then the fan turned off. It didn't turn off completely, but it turned off into like a chilly fall day where there's a little wind, but nothing like the 25 mile an hour gusts we were dealing with. So we waited around an eight under came in, around an eight under came in a seven under came in and then there was two six unders and then a five under and then the four under so we didn't even sniff getting the spot like we did last year we didn't even sniff being an alternate and then possibly getting in and we sat around that thing all afternoon hitting balls thinking we'd have a

shot and drove home with nothing but failure and the fact that we were fucking high-fiving going knocks after i chipped in to get into get into four red on 17 and we're screaming at each other about the ball getting in the hole on 18 if you ever see what ended up happening we would have looked like the biggest fools of all time but it's still it's trying to get us jimmy chip that's my goal it happened and i got screwed with uh the tourney getting canceled next year we'll give it a go but it was an exciting round well i got two things um that club championship was a nice appetizer to the real golf story and uh fuck that marshall it here is the thing about the marshall and what happened last time boys with the story when i got in remember the marshall came up on 17 said what's your score guys i said whoa whoa that's not something a marshall asked

we're trying to fucking get something done right now. Get out of my headspace, buddy. Well, this time, this Marshall says we're late. We're sprinting around. And I sprinted a 400-yard hole because of no reason. Oh, I forgot a part about the Marshall. I sprinted a 400-yard hole for no reason, then missed the most makeable putt of the day to get us to four under through 11. And it was all because I was out of shape and out of breath. So we go up 12, and you have to walk uphill, and then you hit downhill. And I hit it right near the cart path, and there's another marshal there.

And I'm like, Peter, this guy's the man, this older gentleman, Peter from Mass Golf. I'm like, Peter, are we on the clock? Are we going to get put on the clock? He's like, what? He looks at the sheet. He's like, you're playing too, you're not, you're playing too fast. You're fine right now. I was like, what the fuck?

I go, the guy up there is telling me we got a big problem. Like his wife left him with the dog. And you're telling me that there's no issue at all. So it was a wild day. And to get in the house at 68 and sit around and think you have a chance only to see the medalist be 8 under, double your score, it's a little humbling. I tell you what, man, that might have been one of the best golf stories I've ever heard from you.

And I'm sorry you didn't get in, but it was very entertaining. I think our fans are really going to enjoy it. Thanks to our pal Ryan Whitney for yet another golf story. I know you guys like that stuff. And next up, we got a few clips. These aren't the full interviews, but some interesting clips we want to show you. A couple of Stanley Cup champions we were fortunate to get right after they won the Cup. First up, Pat Maroon won two Cups in two years.

So let's go to the big rig right now. Watching your team, you have these top-end talent. You're talking about Point and kutra but the minutes were spread out i mean i think that coop was pretty good i mean points right around 20 minutes but you were over 12 for the playoffs so it's probably pretty important as a coaching staff and as a team like let's get everyone going let's wear them down that way with four lines yeah we did a good job of that i think towards the end we kind of got gassed because I don't know if you guys, you know, paid attention. We went 7-11 throughout the playoffs until we lost game one to Dallas because guys were just kind of gassed.

And to be honest with you, I think they're just tired of playing with me and Seti. So there's like, we don't want to go home. That rotating winger's like, we don't want to go over the room. That rotating winger's like, fuck, no. We're not even going to touch the puck. We're wasting energy. They're like, we get all this confidence on the top line, then I go down there.

Yeah. This is a guy. It's like Russian roulette, but every time they're getting the bullet. God honest truth. Coop was like, Coop, can you go? He's like Russian roulette every but every time they're getting the bullet god honest truth unreal Coop was like Cooch can you go he's like no I'm too tired no but none of my coaches like I can't send the backup goalie set up the backup tendy oh hey so I asked this to uh Kaloran but it should have been a question for you is uh the winning it last year with having everyone's family in the room

as opposed to this year where it was pretty much just the people who were tugging on the rope, a small amount of family members, was it a little bit more intimate that you got to share that time just with the guys who had won it, not distracted, but attention everywhere else? Yeah, that was good. I thought there know there's no distractions obviously we didn't have any family members come in uh just mom and dads

flew in so that was you know you know how mom and dads are they kind of stay away do their thing so that was kind of unbelievable feeling though like seeing the guys celebrate you know seeing guys get emotional uh you don't really see that kind of because people are kind of scattered, you know, hugging their mom and dads, hugging their wives, hugging their kids. So you got to see like everyone's emotions throughout the locker room. And, you know, you got to see different personalities come out of the locker room partying and hanging out.

So it was unbelievable. Obviously, we want families there, but I think it's nice to went on the road and, you know, bring it back home. And, you know, the next day we got to see them. But I thought it was neat just to be with them, have our night together, and, you know, enjoy it and, you know, party. I'm kind of curious, like, the difference between the two teams, in your opinion, like things you can kind of think of that were so different.

I mean, I know you were down 3-2 to Dallas. Dallas must hate your guts. You get them in double OT in game seven, and now they're looking at like the fat boys beat us again. What the fuck is wrong with you? They definitely hate my shit. You don't think Warren Perry's like, fuck. Boy, he wasn't there both years.

Fucking Jamie Benn's like, fucking Maroon. You'd think they would sign me by now. Jesus. Yeah, money talks. UFA, you go three for three, brother. I know. The first ever. I love it.

Yeah, it's hysterical. No, are there any differences between the two teams when you look back on it, or is it that kind of just stupid question? It's kind of like the biz question. What do you mean, winning at different years and how it was experienced? Was that bad? Was that a bad one? I try to ask questions that certain fans would want to know.

All right, fine. Like, have you butt-chugged a bottle of wine yet? I don't know. Like, what do you want me to ask you? Honk and pink Whitney. Yeah. No, I mean, obviously two different storylines, right? Last year was, you know, last place to first place.

We were more of a grind you, exhaust you down low team. Underdogs probably shouldn't have won the Stanley Cup. You know, Boston might outplayed us in the first 10 minutes or 15 minutes of game seven. Like, but we found ways to chip away, chip away. We had goaltending. This year, COVID hit. You're in a bubble. You don't have family around. We have a skilled team, but you can we can also grind you down low and make you guys tired. And we adapted to that role. You know you know you know it's a good sign when one of your leaders is kucherov and telling you to dump the puck in uh and obviously he's the

east he's the kind of uh he's like you would have loved me he would have loved you no i mean he was coming back to the bench telling guys to get pucks in don't turn pucks over you know get it low it works it works so when you got a guy like that speaking up and taking a whole new role of leadership, I mean, it's amazing. I thought we had four lines that played all four different kind of styles of play, but it can hurt you below the top of the circles, too. And I thought our defensemen, I thought we had the best. We have the best defensemen on the team, which Victor had been probably in the league, doing something –

doing something a lot of defensemen will probably never come close to doing. You know, Ryan McDonough eating pucks in his face. Luke Shen coming in, fighting Matt Martin. Bogle coming in. I mean, Shatton Kurt. Sergei Shatton took a whole new step. So, I mean, we – I mean, Tampa and Kurt, Serge and Chad took a whole new step. So, I mean, Tampa does have the best

goalie. So, I mean, it's totally two different things. Big thanks to Pat Maroon. Awesome guy. Love Chad but him. We're going to talk to his fellow cup winning teammate from this past year right now. Harvard product, Alex Colon.

Well, from the halls of Harvard to the canals of Tampa, this guy has been on quite the ride lately, and now he can go by Stanley Cup champion. Congratulations, and welcome back to Spittin' Chicklets, Alex Colon. Thanks for having me, guys. How's it going? How's it going, brother? We know you're not sober right now, but how are you feeling after that bucket?

No, it's been fine, man. It's been a long week for sure. Today was great. We got to go. The bucks took care of us. They brought us to the game. We didn't get to bring the cup on the field or anything because of COVID, but it was fun.

I got to meet Giselle quickly in the suite. It was a good day, but it's been a great week leading up to, you know, all the events and stuff, a little different because of COVID. But I've had so much fun. Yeah. Take us through, you know, you guys get it done, game six, it all goes down. And then what was kind of the celebration? Like how long were you in the locker room?

When did you fly home? What was the whole night like after? So I don't remember the exact timeline when we won. It must have been like, because the game's at six, right? So I think it probably finished at nine, 920. We probably left the locker room at 1231. Yeah, I mean, you could, the scene in there, it was probably a little different

because not everyone's family was there. My dad was there. It was awesome for him to be there. But at a certain point, guys were like, all right, we got to kind of get out of here. And we had a big room at the hotel where we just kind of, you know, enjoyed it. And we had an early flight out.

So not much sleep, but, like, guys were fired up, too. That's why a couple of us were a little tired on the plane. Oh, you think? Yeah. I was like, I wonder if guys are just going to wait up until the plane ride and then shut her down. I saw Hedman with the Conn Smythe snoozing. We were – I remember at one point we were sleeping,

and Pat Maroon just got so angry at, like, two guys. And we're like, all right, we got to start drinking. pat wants us to drink we're gonna drink oh geez well that's one of the questions i was gonna ask you do you think it was a like given the families weren't there and and i know that you guys want them there given like they've been with you the whole time but was it a little more special at the fact that you guys were actually able to enjoy the moment basically just the nucleus of the team and the people who were tugging on the rope to get the job done yeah I mean I don't I don't know how it would have been the other way I think that's probably a good question for Pat Maroon but it wasn't even so much like that night it's been this whole week like we haven't been

going to bars with the cup we haven't really been doing. We've just been done private parties with the team, with the guys that have been in the bubble. Obviously we go to the Bucks game. I went golfing one day and stuff like that, but every night we've just gotten that group together. And it makes it special because, you know, the players sacrifice a lot, but thinking about the trainer, there's 60, 54 of us in the bubble altogether. So you think about those like guys

have families and stuff um for them to be a part of it it was great well you talk about the bubble and how much of kind of a grind it was at least from the guys we've chatted with but i'm wondering at the end of all of it was there ever even kind of a moment when somebody spoke or just the celebration so big it was never really like somebody stood up and said anything once the game actually ended I don't think so I just yeah no I just no I don't think anyone there was no time for anyone to get I mean the coat we we had a nice moment right when we brought the cup in uh our owner Jeff Finnick couldn't be there which was which was tough for him because you know he'd put in so much into this team, but we got him on a FaceTime on like the speakerphone.

And that was probably the only speech after that. It was just, you know, beer dumping on guys. Yeah. Executionary style. Alex, we've all seen doc talk. We know you're pretty smooth on a jet ski, but I got to ask nobody try to make sure you got a life jacket on that Stanley Cup before you went for a ride there? Well, did you see? There's one picture I posted where I have a life jacket on, actually, because I remember I told Stammer, Stammer had the cup,

and I'm like, hey, at some point during this parade, I don't know how I'm going to do it. I'm getting on a jet ski, so just be ready for me because I'm coming to steal the cup. And he's like, yeah, that's fine. So it I'm getting on a jet ski um so just be ready for me because I'm coming to steal the cup and he's like yeah that's fine so I ended up getting on a jet ski and there was like a couple police officers that gave me like the side look and they're like the one of them just like just put on a life jacket all right I'm like all right buddy see you later and then when I got the cup there was kind of areas in the parade where there were more people um like in

front of the waterfront and I remember when I got were more people um like in front of the water front and i remember when i got it and just lifted in front of uh all those people on my jet ski it was like probably the best feeling in my life to be honest it was it was really special um yeah i was going to ask you that what does this do for doc talk now and the fact that you met giselle today i would put a million bucks on the fact you tried to weasel your way in there for a long time. Oh my God. Were the words DocTalk mentioned in meeting her?

So like, there was a couple of people we took pictures with today. We had to stay in our suite, but there was a couple of excursions and we met like the Bucks owner and there was a couple of people that wanted to take a picture with it. And then someone came up to stand and like, hey hey Giselle and like her boy and the daughter want to

see the cup if that's fine and I think he asked Hedman and Hedman's like no I'm good and I'm like oh you're not going okay I'll go and then Kucherov heard it and I've never seen Kuch get up so quick for anything his life he ran and uh at first we were kind of worried because she didn't, she wanted her kids to be in the picture. She didn't want to be involved. She's like, the kids love the cup. And then Vassie's like, Hey, like, we gotta, we gotta get her. You're like one for one. We're doing one for one here. It's the trade off. Like, this is more important for us to get the picture with you.

But she was so nice. You know, some people just have like an aura when they walk in a room and she she had it it was like she she was super nice and um i didn't get a chance to throw in the dog talk i was i i don't know if it was the right time but i probably should have she probably would just laughed i mean agreed with whatever i said but she was like yeah sure yeah check in with us in a couple weeks yeah Yeah, sure. Yeah, see you. Thanks. Unbelievable. Well, hey, so game four, I thought you were going to get the winner,

but they tied up late and Shaddy gets it done, right? But then you go to game five, looking to close out, just a heartbreaker in double OT. But take me in the locker room after. I'm assuming no down faces, just, all right, boys, let's get it done in game six. How'd that go? You know, it was very similar to when you look back at our series against the Islanders.

I think they end up winning game five in overtime. And I thought that was a game we played pretty well in. They end up shatty, like broke his stick, and they come down on a two-on-one or whatever. And I remember someone said, like, hey, this is just like the Islanders series, guys. We're going to be all right. But even, you know, you're a little worried

because now Dallas might pick up a little steam, a little bit of momentum from that overtime win, but then I remember when we started to play the game, and even guys in the locker room were watching it, like, the boys are dialed in. Like, defensively, we were pretty good, so. But, yeah all everyone stepped it up for that game game six that four checking display in the first two periods like just talk

about the additions like the coleman's the gujros those guys coming in and you know i thought i think people at the time thought wow that's a pretty heavy price to pay but those guys were fucking big they were unbelievable i think when you think about that that line there was coleman gaudreau and gourd and in the columbus series they were huge for us um but those are guys like gordo would forecheck for three minutes straight if he could like he would go through the glass to the front row if he could that's just the way he plays like he's an energizer bunny but you But those guys were so big for us. Those additions were so big.

I forget who said, I think we're the best forechecking team at retrieving pucks. That's probably not something that people think of when they think of the Lightning. But yeah, that's a huge part of why we won. Like you said, that first period was great.

I think that you talk about, everyone knows about was great and and like i think that you know you talk about everyone knows about headman and kucherov point but i don't know you play with sorelli the whole playoff man this guy's young he's won everywhere you got to think like the future for this dude is just insane because what a skater what a player he is yeah i think i remember looking back when you when you watched our couturier and that when he had like the hatcher against ph and when he had the hatchery against Pittsburgh a while back and everyone was talking about how this guy was going to – he was kind of coming into his own. And I think that's kind of similar to where Sorelli is right now in his career.

He's gotten some selkie votes. And playing with him, for me, it's a treat because he's so good defensively. And as you get older in the league, I think you kind of start to find things offensively. And since he's been in the league, he's become a better offensive player as well. I don't want to say you guys weren't challenged in there, but you guys were never really even close to the brink at all during the playoffs. Did confidence ever come close to even wavering just a little bit, or were you just kind of riding that same wave the whole playoffs?

We were a confident group. but whenever you're in playoffs and you lose a game, I mean, you never know. Like that first game when we played Columbus and I went to what, was it four or five overtimes? Like if they win that game, things could have been a lot different. I think we were pretty fortunate in a lot of those situations. You know, there's the one where Shaddy's stick breaks and then Perry scores.

But other than that, we did pretty well in the overtimes. I don't think at any moment we were ever truly worried, but like, you know, you want to be confident in those situations. So yeah. Stammer. I was going to ask Maroon the exact same question, but your experience is different because you've been there with him longer. Yeah. And I don't know when the news came that he wasn't going to be able to start playoffs did you guys realize it was going to end up extending as long as it did and just like what was the feeling like throughout the group knowing

that you're not going to have one of your main pieces well I remember when they announced COVID and the season ending and Stammer had already had his surgery and we're like you know what this really sucks but we're like if we're trying to look at a positive side like Stammer will be ready like he's gonna have this extra time and once playoff starts he's gonna be fine and then he gets he has a kind of a hiccup and we don't think much of it and it kind of lingers and lingers and lingers and at a certain point we a certain point, we're like, this guy's probably not going to play a game for us in the playoffs. And we're kind of devastated by that. He's a 60-goal scorer.

He really, you know, helps our power play a ton. And our power play was kind of struggling a little bit at the beginning of the playoffs. So he worked so hard in the bubble. He was working his bag off. And in Dallas, he's like, I'm ready to go. And once he said that and he was in, we didn't know, like, until I think it was the day of that he was playing.

But once we found that out, guys, he wasn't like, hey, I don't need to play. I haven't played in forever. I don't need to be on the first line. I don't even need to be on the to play. I haven't played in forever. I don't need to be on the first line. I don't even need to be on power play. I just think I could help. So if you get me out there, you know, what are these, two minutes and whatever, 40 seconds, and he scores that goal.

I think – I know you talked about it when we were on the bench and, like, how crazy he went. When you think about how hard he worked to get back in the lineup and how important it was to him because no matter what anyone says he's a huge part of this team but if he didn't play one playoff game it would have been a little bit different for him in his mind and for him to come out and score a goal that potentially you know helps us win that game um is is huge for him and for us obviously and just being there that long the captain the loss to chicago is like so i'm so

happy for that guy i mean i've only hung out with stammer one time but just a great person so so excited for him we're talking injuries now i my question is well you had coop he was like near tears it sounded like headman was never gonna play hockey again like before the first round he ends up winning the con smite with ease did you Did you guys, was that a little gamemanship? What was going on there? I don't even remember. Hedman was hurt? No, I'm not joking. No, I know. Before the Columbus

series, Cooper came out the day before. Remember that? I thought he injured it the year before. I'm like, oh my god, they just lost Hedman. Like, fuck, they might get swept again. No offense. But looking at the press conference, I mean, give him an Oscar now if Hedman didn't have anything wrong with him. I don't remember, honestly. There's our answer.

Yeah, I don't know if I gave something away there or nothing, but whatever. But guys were – like, you guys know how it is in playoffs. We had guys – I don't know if they'll ever release the injuries they had, but I was shocked some of the guys could lift the Stanley Cup with their AC joints and playing through vitamin T shots. Pretty great for them. Pretty cool. You mentioned your father was there.

I'm guessing just a special hug between you guys and getting to just be a part of that. he lift it over his head did they allow him I think at first he didn't want him he's like no I didn't I didn't I didn't win it I don't want to lift he came on the ice and you know my dad's not really like an emotional guy I've never seen him cry in my life um and there's a picture on my Instagram I posted it um it was kind kind of, as I was talking about, like at 1 a.m. when everyone was kind of leaving, the cup was just sitting there and there wasn't like anyone left in the room. And it was just him and me side by side.

And, you know, it was like a really special moment. He was getting teary-eyed. I was getting teary-eyed. And he's like, you know what, you did it, man. And I was like, we did it. It was – because, yeah, that picture, he's like getting a little teary-eyed. It's a really special moment. The mayor did it. It was, cause yeah, that there, that picture, he's like, you know, it's a really special moment. The mayor did it.

I mean, your father had more to do with you wanting the cup than she did. So he, he told me, fuck, I did it for the Bruins. So your father definitely could have for you guys. Yeah.

Yeah. No. Yeah. We're going to go back to the bubble for a second, regardless of one of the, can we talk about the bubble? Don't ever bring it up again, all right? Is the glory hole a thing?

Is the glory hole a thing? Is that actually happening? It's true about bubble club. When people were talking about everything that was going on in the bubble. I will say when we first got to the bubble, our hotel was a little different because it was like all the teams that were already in the playoffs and we didn't play a game for like a week or like an important game for a week and a half.

So it was like an all-paying inclusive resort trip for a couple guys. I mean, I remember at one point Ovechkin and Pat Maroon found a scale and they were doing a layoff. Everyone was betting on who was going to win. Yeah, I heard like Krug and McAvoy had a push-up competition with Crosby reffing. It was unbelievable. I won't get into it, but that was one of the funnier.

When I saw them and everyone was like, I think Obi was like, there's no way I weigh more than you. He's like, get out the scale. It was pretty funny. That's incredible. What would you give for your overall grade? I know a lot of work, a lot of people. Oh, yeah.

No, so I'm not going to complain about it. It was a tough situation for a lot of people. But you really have to give a lot of respect to the NHL and the PA for setting this up. No, there was no one that, you know, had the – we got tested every day. There was no coronavirus that was tested positive. The way they set it up was unbelievable. Like in Toronto, we got to use BMO Field. We could do whatever we wanted.

Edmonton was great. You just walked to the arena. It was a little long. It was tough being away from the family. But in the end, for them to pull this off was really special. I give kudos to the NHL and the PA. So I got a video sent to me of Matthew Joseph pulling the trigger outside of a hotel or something. Just so buckled.

Anyone else really stick out to you? It was just being extra waffled in the celebrations. And if you say nobody, that means it was you. Oh no. So I'll say someone. I think there's, there was a couple of guys. I know when cooch oh yeah oh jesus i don't know if you guys saw the parade but he grabbed her owner while he was doing his speech and poured a beer down his throat twice the first time was pretty funny the second time like is he gonna go for a third and uh yeah it was it was uh – Cooch is the best.

So when he gets going, he's pretty special. It's funny. So I played in a golf tournament at Palmasia, and Vinik, his house is on the course. And it's amazing to hear about, like, that guy, he's the most loved owner I've ever seen, I think. Like, every person in the city, he does so much for the community. He's done so much for that team while also not being like two hands on if that makes any sense so I know

you mentioned him before but what what a what a moment it was for that guy in terms of being loved by everyone and then finally delivering that championship that it seems like it's been a while yeah I mean when you talk to people in Tampa I think he's you know one of the most important if not the most important people in Tampa. Everything he's doing downtown, he's really growing the city. But, I mean, he's been my only owner, so it's kind of tough for me to tell, but you guys know how it is. You talk to players and how certain guys get treated and stuff,

and there's nothing that if we ever asked for, he would say no to. He takes such great care of all of us so um yeah nothing but great things to say for mr benny um i was going to ask you about team toughness and i luke shen uh trade and bringing him in or the signing excuse me i thought that played off huge especially against the islanders when they were pushing back a little heavier and of course the addition of patty maroon and and how strong he is around the wall and he does add that team toughness element do you think that was so vital for this year and I think overall as a team you guys looked like you were standing in there a little bit more like for the physicality stuff I mean for sure I don't know

how much guys will talk about it about the year prior but I think that's something that we lacked for sure on our team and I think there's a great picture if you see like the the Islander series and before I think when I got suspended or something or Goodrow did something to Nelson and a couple of them came onto the the red line a couple Islanders guys and then Shen, Pat Maroon and Magosian just went up and stood them right in the eye. And then Shen got into a couple of fights and stuff like that. I think that was like the moment, like you guys, listen, you got that. Johnston's pretty tough, but we're going to,

we're going to stand in there with you guys. We're just as tough. It's not more tough than you guys. I know. I know it's not summer. Like it typically is after a Stanley cup, but what are your plans to unwind traveling anywhere? anywhere, just going to go up to a lake? What do you got on the menu? I don't really have much planned. I'm going to be playing a lot of golf. I know the tough part is we don't know how we're going to have our days

with the Cup because of COVID and guys living in Europe. I know for me in Montreal right now, it's like, it's like a 14 or 20 day quarantine. So I'm not in a hurry to leave here. I'm going to, so I think the cup stays here for another two months. So I'll probably enjoy myself as long as I can with it.

You'll stay as long as that thing's around you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Well, man, Hey,

we can't thank you enough for hopping on. I know it's been a crazy couple of days, including today with the box, which by the way, I bought that to six and a half, huge cover by Tom Brady and the boys for me, but man, congratulations. Starting with doc talk. We chatted with you. Then you became an influencer and you go on to a cup champ. So we're really happy for you, man. Thanks guys. Appreciate you. Killer. Do you mind if I ask you one more?

I want to ask you about coop and the fact that you know given in today's nhl sometimes when teams don't meet expectations especially when you have a very strong group sometimes they give up on the head coach a little early how much were the group just pulling and voicing no this is our guy and eventually of course this year you pull through and he kind of finally gets his stanley Cup he knew we were going to play for him this year was really important I think for the players and for him and everyone stepped up he's been a big part of this organization I think for eight years now everything he's done for this team I think it was huge for us to share that with him actually we had one more Ms. Biz had a question she wanted to ask via Biz. What was the first must-have

food for you when you get out of the bubble? We haven't really... What have I ate? He's been drinking. Opus one. That's what he's been eating. We were going to go out to dinner at a nice steakhouse in a private room, and we just went to a pizza place,

and they shut it down, and we just had pizza and beer. It was great. Anyway, thanks for joining us, killer. All right, thanks for having me, guys. Congratulations, brother. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, guys.

See you, bud. All right, hope you appreciate that clip of Alex Colon. Always appreciate talking to him. And next up, we get a clip of, well, I know he hates the nickname Mr. Game 7, but he's earned it. Stanley Kaplan, Justin Williams. Let's roll it, G. If you get to L.A., I mean, I'm sure you get over the trade pretty quick

once you get settled in, though, right? Yeah, I mean, it was different. I mean, wow. Going there and then going to Manhattan Beach. And I remember when I got traded, I had to call my wife because she was teaching. And I said, Han, we got, we got traded to LA and you know, she had just, you know, we'd just been there a few years, bought a new house, you know, that whole thing. Right. And I was like, don't worry, I'm going to find us a great house and it's going to be awesome. So I went down there and I'm sure you guys have been down there

because I'm sure you've been down to Manhattan Beach and you go look. And I'm like, I've never heard of it. I'm going to I'm going to go find a cool house. So I'm walking the strand there and I had no idea. I'm walking the strand and I'm picking out little pamphlets they have for like open houses and stuff like that. I'm like, oh, this is nice. So they don't have the prices on there. And then I realized why they don't have the prices on there

because i called and asked about this house and they're like oh yeah it's 8.5 million i was like all right hon we might not be living on the beach shit i got us this unreal one bedroom in el segundo though you're gonna love it you're gonna absolutely love it i'm gonna take a town car in every day to the rink and we we're going to love here, and we're going to be nice. Oh, my goodness. Kobe was living in, like, Beverly Hills, I think. Unreal. So, that, I mean, the first few years in L.A.,

I mean, it's certainly not like the team that ended up, like, you know, winning a Stanley Cup. You got to experience those two years prior, the buildup and like these studs coming in when Kopitar and Doughty just came in and just dominated right away. Like, how did it feel kind of getting to that team, becoming a guy who's everyone's looking up to? You're a Stanley Cup champ.

You're getting older. I mean, what was it like there, at least at the beginning? Yeah, it was awkward. It was an awkward team. It was just a really awkward makeup of of guys and that was they were rebuilding and um you know dean lombardi was like his first or second year there so he's you know slowly trying to build what his vision was and i think as a gm

right it doesn't it doesn't happen quickly right when you have a vision it's it's like a couple years out you know you need some work to get to there. Eventually, he got his team and he got his guys there that he trusted and guys that he wanted to roll with. We slowly just creeped up, lost in the first round, lost in the second round, and then just kind of just got better and better every year. When Daryl came in, is that what you guys needed? I know Terry Murray was a coach before that, I believe.

I mean, you probably have a million Sutter stories, I would imagine. He was just kind of a hard ass, and I know that you guys at some point locked him out of a room or a team meeting anyway. So let's get into that a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I think everyone who's played with and probably for Daryl has some stories. I think maybe every Sutter brother. I don't know all of them. But, I mean, Daryl was in your face, but he was kind of like a little condescending in the fact that he's like,

what, you know, you don't want to play tonight? Is that what's going on? Oh, you don't want to play? All right, that's fine. And, you know, it was like, no, I do want to play. Like, put me out there, you know? He's like, all right that's fine and you know it's like no I do want to play like put me out there you know and he's like nah forget about it you know so I remember this one time when he was in man we were in we're in Minnesota we're in Minnesota and we're playing a game in whatever February or something or maybe March and you know kind of getting close to playoff

time and after the first period we came in I think we're tied or maybe even winning. And I heard him come in. He was like mumbling behind me. And I was like, Oh boy, something's going on here. So if you know the Minnesota room, the coach's office is, is right next to the, to the dressing room. And you can't see them, but you know, they're right there. They can hear everything we're saying, right? So everything's all quiet, you know. We didn't have a great period.

We were terrible. We weren't great. And all of a sudden, you know, one of those aluminum folding chairs, one of them comes flying right out of the room and hammers the bathroom stall. And we're like, whoa, what the hell was that? And all of a sudden, the coaches start flying out of the room and hammers the bathroom stall. And we're like, Whoa, what the hell was that? And all of a sudden the coaches start flying out of there. All the assistant coaches and everybody, they start running out of there and another chair comes flying out and he's just losing his mind. And the coaches don't know where to go. Right.

Cause they're like, well, where do we go? Right. So they were just hanging in the dressing room with us while he was losing his marbles. And you know, we're looking at it and we can't see him right so we're kind of giggling like this like what's he doing in there and uh you know eventually it calmed down he he left the room and then he came back and he kept everybody on their toes i tell you it was it didn't matter if you were an assistant coach um you know a player a scout i mean this guy was was when it was game day it is game day and you know i remember with billy ranford he'd come in for for his team meetings and billy would have his hands in his pocket and sutter would just

he goes billy what the hell are your hands in your pockets doing get ready it's game day and billy would be like i don't know what to do with my hands now right i mean what movie is that all right i'm sure you know uh ricky bubby talladega nights yeah yeah so he every time in the meeting that he'd have his hands like kind of like here or wherever just not in his pocket so he was punched in fists ready to fucking go he was an awesome coach exactly what we needed we want to ask about 19 year old drew dowdy what was he like in the room we heard some stories about him yeah i mean he was yeah has he been on the podcast we haven't had one yet i think i've texted him a few times no answer back richie told us though that he slept through the gold medal game in in

vancouver so we we knew he was an animal yeah he'd be an absolute he'd be an absolute treat to have on because he says whatever right and that's just dewey that's kind of like kind of like whatever baseball manny being manny it's just like dewey being dewey right it's just it's it's it's just kind of what he is and i remember a story like we went to a golf tournament once and he was you know that uh you know that golfer kevin nah yeah walks in every putt yeah so they they had you know the board there and they'd be walking around and he'd look and he goes why is that guy's name not available and we're like dewey is his last name.

And it was his name. Fucking right. But can he play hockey, though? I tell you that. Can that guy wheel around an arena? Now, that first cup in 20, well, second for you, but first in L.A., Jonathan Quick, absolutely incredible, that performance he put on that year. Was that the best goalie performance you've ever seen,

either as a teammate or even an opponent? Best performance I've ever, ever seen. I mean, like when they, I mean, they didn't even have to announce the consummate winner. It was just like, just give it to him. Like, there was nobody else he could have gone to. He was so good, and he was so dialed. Not one game that you're you know

a little bit suspect of him like oh he doesn't have it tonight he was just on and the things that he could do he has his own style right and it's just what he does his competitiveness and um he was a he was a great friend and and what an unbelievable run he's had and i still think he has more left in the tank but i mean what a year what a what a playoff he had there that that was one of the most dominating run through the stanley cup playoffs i mean you guys lost what four games one two two two before the finals and then two in the finals and they went on three benders while doing it of course they did los angeles kings running through the whole league yeah every series we were up three nothing and every single series we played so it was the only kind of pressure we had

well listen playoffs we had pressure you have pressure every game but like the only like time it was like whoa oh let's go here was when we were up three nothing in the finals and new jersey won the next two games new jersey and you're like boys let's let's buckle up here and finish this off so it was it was it was an interesting run totally different from the 2014 big thanks to justin wayne man it was a true honor to talk to him guys a legend of the game so we appreciate having him on. Before we move on to the next topic, if you're looking for the number one place people go to for audiobooks

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Check out Audible. It's good stuff. Again, audible.com slash pods or text pods to 500-500. Next up, this is one of my favorite interviews we did all year. Rick Bonas, man. The guy's been coaching the league for 30 years and very insightful, very gregarious guy. We really enjoyed chatting with him.

So without further ado, here's Rick Bonas. Well, it's an honor to welcome our next guest to the show. His coaching career began 38 years ago when he was a player coach for the AHL's Sherbrooke Jets, a little Reg Dunlop style. He's been behind the bench for more games as a head coach or an assistant than anyone in NHL history. And of course, he just led the Dallas Stars to their first Stanley Cup final appearance in 20 years. And he also played 173 NHL games after breaking in with the Atlanta Flames. Thanks so much for joining us. Rick Bonas.

Gentlemen, how are we doing tonight? We're doing good now that we're talking to you. First off, we want to say hats off. Congratulations on the run you guys had. We know it came up a little bit short, but it was a hell of an effort. Everybody was rooting for you. And second, where are you unwinding after this ridiculously long season? Well, right now we're back in Dallas.

We're going to spend the month of October here. We've got a summer home up in Nova Scotia, Canada, and that's where we're going to head for November. Of course, it's not a summer home. Now it's a fall home. So anyways, we're going to head for November. Of course, it's not a summer home. Now it's a fall home. So anyways, we're going to get up there for November. But listen, it was a great run. Very proud of the guys.

Going into this whole thing, you had to prep your players an awful lot of the obstacles that we were going to face in terms of your living conditions. So the players had to buy in before we even got there, that you're living in a bubble. There's going to be tough constraints on what you can and cannot do. So the players had to be in the right frame of mind going into that bubble. And our guys completely bought in.

They did so here in the three weeks of the training camp prior to going to Edmonton in terms of looking after themselves and staying out of restaurants and staying out of clubs or whatever so they wouldn't get the COVID. And they were committed, not committed. So that carried over into the bubble, into the playoffs. So we didn't have a great round, Robin. There's no question. But once the playoffs started, our guys, again, they had completely bought in. And we got an awful lot out of them I'm very

proud of their efforts very proud of their commitment because again people don't understand how tough that was living in that bubble for nine plus weeks and the team that could handle it the best was going to the team that could keep advancing and hats off to our players for handling it as well as they did and that that huge commitment from not only them, but their families. A guy like Corey Perry has a two-month-old boy, Griffin, didn't see him for over almost 11 weeks. Sakara left his family in Slovakia in the middle of June to come over. Doesn't go back until this whole thing is over.

So it's not only the players that made sacrifices, it's their families and their children that made huge sacrifices as well. So again, I couldn't be more proud of our team. Rick, I loved your philosophy of saying, if you win, we'll give you a beer. And I just, I considered it genius. It really worked. It brought you all the way to a couple of wins away. Now at what point did that click in to incentivize them with alcohol? 1990. Yeah, exactly with alcohol. 1990.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. No, we hope they weren't drinking too much away from the team. But again, we had this big suite, and there was card tables and ping pong and a golf simulator in there. So the guys really did a great job hanging out there. I don't think they were – I know they weren't drinking in there. If they were having a few, the only place they could have a few beers was in their room. That's it.

You couldn't go to a bar. There's nothing open. So, so they had a few beers in their room. Good for them. Whatever it took to get through that man, you had to do it. Rick, I'm curious as the's changed in the past few years and you've seen more player-coach relationships where it's not necessarily the hard-ass coach that has as much success anymore, you've seemed to always be a guy that's been very close with players you've coached, whether it was as a head coach or as an assistant.

So I'm just curious, when you stepped away from playing and became a coach, did you know right away you were going to be a guy? I mean, I want to say players coach while also holding guys responsible. You were very friendly and didn't ever make them feel like threatened like some coaches have in the past. Well, I'll tell you the story. And I wasn't a regular player and I bet that. But there was one game and I sat on the bench the whole game I didn't get a shift and so anyways I went into the coach the next day and said you know coach give me something that I

can work on so I can actually get on the ice and play a little bit and he looked at me and said well you got to work harder and I looked at him and I said listen man that's all I've got is work I can't work any harder so I kind of said to myself then, you know, if you're going to, and I wanted to get into coaching, there was, I knew that when I was 25, 26 years old, I wanted to stay in the game. But if you're going to get into coaching, you're going to be honest with the players and you're going to have uncomfortable conversations. You're going to have to tell them things they don't want to hear, but at least you're going to be honest and upfront. Now, if they don't like it, they don't like it.

They get mad at you. They get mad at you. But it's better, and Ryan and Paul know this as well, that a player wants to know where he stands. And they know if you're BVSing them. And just be honest. Look them in the eye and just tell them the way it is. Don't make things up and don't hide behind other things.

If there's an issue with the player, you've got to deal with it. So I'm not a guy that gets labeled a defensive coach, offensive coach, players coach, hard, but I've never been one of those guys. I just said, I'm just trying to be me and I'm going to be honest with my players. I've always believed. And even in the nineties or eighties, when I started, there was a lot of hard line coaches that do it my way.

And I was never a believer of that either. So I've always tried to build a good rapport with my players. I've always tried to have open communication. It's probably cost me a couple of jobs over the years being like that, but that's okay. I'd rather do it my way. I'm there to fire me. They're going to fire me doing my way.

So I've always just tried to have an open line of communication. And again, as Paula and I know, you tried to be have an open line of communication and again it's as Paula where I know you've got to have uncomfortable conversations you got to tell players things they don't want to hear and then you hope they can handle it like a man like a true professional so that's kind of been my philosophy the whole time I've been a coach is that I'm going to be a good communicator I'm going to the door is always open I'm going to talk to them every day as much as I can, and we'll let it go into place. Now, that being said, you always have guys that don't like you

and get a little upset at you, and that's all part of the program. That's what we all sign up for. So that stuff doesn't bother me either. As a coach, if you're honest with your player and you're telling them exactly how you feel, then that's all you can do. Then it's up to the player to deal with it. I would say you probably got put to the test right away, Rick.

I mean, you were 27 years old, play a coach in the NHL. How awkward would it get with your teammates? I mean, were they fighting you over ice time? Like, how do the personalities clash when you're doing the play a coach thing? You know what? When we did, that was the first year, Winnipeg, we put a team in the American Hockey League. They had been in the old Central Hockey League for years, and they decided to put a team in the American League.

Well, honestly, we weren't ready. We didn't have enough players to go in there. We were actually bringing guys out of the Quebec Senior League who had retired from playing pro for a couple of years, but we needed bodies. They were just thankful to get a job and playing hockey again so and honestly it wasn't that big a deal i had been the captain of the team the year before so to win as a player coach was always supposed to be for a couple of months it ended up being a full year and then the next november i was 28 and they fired tommy white winnipeg they asked me to come up and start you know know, be an assistant coach then. And I was younger than some of the players.

So, but I really didn't have any issues with the players. I'd always, again, I was the captain and the leader of the team. So I just kind of took that role and just went with that. But really no complaints about ice time. I benched myself more than I probably should have. But I give other guys ice time. But it was funny to come off the ice and just go stand behind the bench and give them the coach.

There's one story. I share this with everybody. So in Sherbrooke, the penalty box was right beside the player's box. So somehow I – anyway, I'm getting into misconduct or whatever. So I'm actually standing in the penalty box, leaning over the glass and coaching the team. And the referee comes over. He's yelling and screaming at me, you can't do that, you can't do that.

You've got to sit down and shut up. I said, you show me in the rule book where I can't coach in the penalty box. And he looked at me and he had no answer and he skated away. And that was the end of that one. So anyways, when you're a player and coach, it was two different things pop up for sure. You got the megaphone across the ice, big white board. You're drawing up plays from the box.

I was going to ask you the opposite. If you were like Jackie Moon, like writing up plays where all the guys would do all the work to find you backdoor for tap-ins. That's what I would have been like. That would have been a win as a head coach for sure. First power play, you run the half wall. Second power play, you're up top of the point. Listen, even the minors, I wasn't

good enough to get the power play, so I wasn't going to kid myself. I wasn't putting myself anywhere near a power play because then I know I would have taken a little fun abuse from the guys, but no, I stayed off the power play. Join the club. You mentioned golf earlier, the simulators.

Your son, Ryan, tells me you're like a junkie, golf junkie. Yeah, no, I love the game. I think most hockey players get the summer. Yeah, no, I really enjoyed the game. I used to be really get the summer. Yeah, no, I really enjoyed the game. I used to be really good. Then we had kids and I stopped playing

and then when Ryan and Ricky, my oldest son, got older, we started playing again. So, you know what? The best times of my summer are when I've got my boys on the golf course. There's four hours out there, just the three of us and whoever else is playing with us and no phones, trying to talk to them and it just gets quality time. So, that's the three of us and whoever else is playing with us and uh no phones trying

to talk to them and it just gets quality time so that's the highlight of my summer when i get to golf with my boys so no i love golf no tiktok no tiktok on the golf course you're not on instagram rick no first of all they'd have to explain to me exactly what that was. So I would take a couple of holes. But here's my Twitch name. None of that. Yeah. Well, I just like, I just started shaking when you said you became bad once you had kids. I got a young guy, so I know, oh man, it gets a little tougher,

but I'm a golf junkie as well. So I love hearing that. I want to get back into the coaching, the questions about just the beginning. I mean, I think you were 36, 35 years old. You get the Boston Bruins head job, 91, 92. A nine-year-old Ryan Whitney was loving that Bruins team, Ray Bork. And what a first year you had.

I mean, it was just an incredible run. I think you guys lost in the third round. But take me through how excited you were to get an original six job that young with some of the players that were on that roster. third round, but take me through how excited you were to get an original six job that young with the, some of the players that were on that roster. Yeah. That was a big thrill. It was my first real head job.

I spent nine years in the jet organization from 80 as a player, playing and playing assistant coach and all those things we went through. But in 19, in the spring of 89, they had fired John Ferguson senior in Winnipeg. There was big changes going on. I could have stayed in the organization, but I had a chance to go work for the Boston Bruins,

and I'd always been a fan of Harry Sinden. So really, I went to work for the Boston Bruins because of Harry. I coached two years in the farm team up in Portland, Maine. So that was a great experience. But it was a big thrill for me to coach the Bruins because growing up in Halifax, you know, in Scotia, we were always closer to Boston than we were Montreal. And my mom's brothers had lived in Boston.

So every winter dad would take me down. We'd go to a Bruins game. Every summer we'd go Red Sox game. So, you know, New England and the Maritime provinces in Canada are pretty much the same. Great people and friendly people and lifestyle and the whole thing. So to go and actually coach the Bruins was obviously a big thrill for me. The only bad scenario was Cam Neely only played nine games for us that year.

That was the year he had his big hip issues or thigh issues. And he only played nine games. I think we went seven and two with Cam in the lineup. And I was bugging when I see him. You know, Cam, maybe if you hadn't been hurt so much, I might have kept that job a little bit longer. But anyways, it didn't work out. We had a great year.

It was a thrill coaching Ray Bork. Never seen a guy like Ray. They still haven't coached anyone like Ray that could play and dominate a game as much as he could and would come off the ice after a tough minute and a half shift. He'd rest 25 seconds and look at you and nod, and he'd be ready to go again. Just a great player, great captain, and just an outstanding person. It was a big thrill for me to coach Ray and Cam.

You know, Rosie Roziska came in and had a big year. Steven Leach had a big year for us. But that was the year I think we went through 56, 57 players. We had a ton of injuries. We just kept bringing guys in and out the lineup, trying to find something that worked. We really didn't become a good team until after the Olympics. Teddy Donato, Joey Juno, Stephen Hines came in,

and then we really took off as a really good team. And then they carried us through the playoffs, and that was a big thrill. But, you know, I mentioned earlier, it probably cost me a job doing things the way I was. Well, prior to me coaching the Bruins, it was Terry O'Reilly, longtime Bruin, big tough guy, fan favorite. Mike Milbury after him, longtime Bruin, big fan favorite., fan favorite. Mike Milbury after him. Longtime Bruin, big fan favorite.

And then I came in and nobody actually knew who the hell I was. So, and I did it, you know, I wasn't the yelling and screaming that Mike and Terry were. And I just did it the quiet way. So, but again, that's the way I wanted to coach. And that was the way I was going to do it. And it probably cost me the job there. And that's fine.

I do it all over. I do it the same way. You got to do it, and it probably cost me the job there. And that's fine. I do it all over. I do it the same way. You've got to do things your own way. And for me, growing up a Bruins fan, growing up a Red Sox fan, to actually have a chance to coach the Bruins, even if it was for only one year, it was a huge thrill and a big part of my career. I'm very proud of that year we had with them, and I wish it could have been longer.

But that's, hey, you roll with the punches, right? Yeah, I always wanted, as a Bruins fan, Rick, why you were only here for one year, considering the success you had. Now, didn't Sinden say you weren't a Bruins-type coach, basically, because you weren't a yeller and screamer? Wasn't that his sort of synopsis of it?

Yeah, basically, that was it, and they wanted Brian Sutter to come in as soon as brian got fired in st louis uh i know through brian's career i think harry was always trying to trade for him he was your typical bruin player um and i played with brian in st louis a great person great captain and they wanted brock to come in and coach the team and that's fine um i wasn't going to change the way i do things and again b Brian was more like Mike and Terry, and Harry just thought it was a better fit.

So that's safe. That happens. You go with it. And I know you didn't have him all that long, but Adam Oates came out to that team. He was another addition. Did you know how good he was before you got him, or did you realize, wow, this guy is even better than I thought?

He's better than I thought. And a great person, again. Just a great passer and composure with the puck and smarts and the ability to see the ice. Steve and Leach played with him. He had just a great year playing with Adam. So we traded Craig Janney and Stephan Cantel to St. Louis for Adam, and that was a great trade.

Eric made a great trade bringing Adam in. A big part of the success of that team. Just, you know, a small little blade, but just a tremendous passer of the puck. And all you got to do is look at Brent Hulse's numbers when you play with Adam. But Adam was a huge help to us. Great leadership in the room. Great leadership on the ice.

Just a very calm demeanor. And again, with all the players that we had coming and going that year, Adam was the perfect guy to come in and just he would settle things down. And he was a great guy to coach, and he was a big part of the success of that team for sure. Ottawa Senators, were you there their expansion year? Yes.

That is a long – that is a yes with a sigh. That was a yes with a sigh. That was a yes with a sigh. You're probably the reason they changed the rules to make it so much easier for all these expansion teams considering the start that you guys had. Was that 100% the most difficult year as a head coach you've ever dealt with? Yes, and that was without a doubt. That's why they changed the rules the next year. I think when we dropped, we came in with Tampa 92.

Every team could protect two goalies, I think six, seven defensemen, and basically 10 or 11, 12 forwards. So you were getting everyone's third-string goalie. You were getting their 8-9 defensemen in the depth chart and the 12-15 forward in the depth chart. So we were so bad that they did change the rules the next year when Anaheim and Miami came in. Now, the one thing Tampa did right away was they went out

and they made trades against Darren Prupa. They solidified the goaltending situation right away. We didn't make any trades. Going into it, they said, we're going to have four or five tough years here. We're going to build through the draft. If we lose tough years here. We're going to build through the draft. If we lose, we lose, but we want to build through the draft.

And so that philosophy is fine. If you, and they're telling everyone, don't worry, you're going to be here with, you know, when, when this thing turns around,

you're going to be here. Well, they fired the gentleman, Mel Bridgman, the general manager one year into it. So that kind of changed things in a hurry. But, no, again, Ottawa was so bad that year that they did change all the draft rules the next year for Anaheim and Miami.

And they certainly loosened up a lot for these teams. Ottawa paid $50 million, I think, to get in the league. Now what are they, $650, $750? $650. The teams that are paying that kind of money, they deserve to have a good roster. And just look what George McPhee in Vegas did, obviously, three years ago. So good for them. But, yeah, we were bad.

That was a tough year. I think we didn't win on the road until just about the end of the season. At that point in the league, even if you got into overtime, if you lost, you did not get a point. So getting to overtime was a thrill for us. But we weren't getting points for losses in overtime. But it was one of those scenarios, and Paul, Ron, you guys were allowed long enough.

When you're looking at your lineup, and then you're looking at the lineup on the board, and you're saying to yourself, I hope they bring their seed game tonight. If they bring their seed game, we've got a really good chance. But that was a tough year. But it was challenging personally from a coaching perspective. I had Elian Digno with me and I had E.J. McGuire with me. And it was a challenge every day because I may have said, listen, guys,

this is going to be tough. We're coming in with a positive attitude every day. So no matter what happens, you're coming in the next day, be ready to go and be energized. And Alain was great and EJ was great. Again, we did the best we could, and we were just a bad hockey team, as simple as that. Yeah, I was on a couple of Oilers teams.

And the coach, you know, they come in some days and they're just so upset. And then they think, all right, well, two weeks later, we've got to maybe try to be the nice guy. I guess you understood from the beginning we're so overmatched. It's no point in just ripping guys' heads off here. No, and the guys are working their butts. You know when they're working. You know when they're competing.

You know when they're giving you everything they can. That's all you can ask for as a coach. Now, if they're dogging it and they're not doing things they want, well, that's one thing. But the guys worked their butts off that year. I will say that. We just were not very good. And when you take that approach.

18 Bissonnettes out there. That's the problem. All the trash buckets around the league and the roster. Imagine having to watch me work the half hole. Fucking R.A. would have been a backup goalie on that team. You should have been player coach on that team too, Rick. Yeah, yeah. I actually probably could have helped him.

Unbelievable. It wasn't just the first year too, Rick. You were there for three-plus seasons. And it was a struggle. It didn't just the first year, too, Rick. You were there for three-plus seasons. And it was a struggle. It didn't get any better. How frustrating would it get for you? And B, did it start to affect your confidence in your job at all? It did, for sure.

And I think you look back on it, it's easy to second guess. I had taken the Bruins to the conference finals. And my dad always told me, you know, you probably jumped a little too quick because I think I got fired in Boston on a Monday and then I was hired in Ottawa on a Friday that same week. So I probably jumped a little quick. But you know what? They make the promises look

everyone's going to be here five six seven years until we get better i had a young family and i wanted my thing i we had moved to portland for two years boston for a year i wanted to get them in an environment where okay we're going to stay put here for four or five years and that it ended up happening that way but it was more from the my family i knew it was going to be a struggle but it was more get the family settled down. You always feel bad when you're moving around every couple of years. So it was important to me and my wife, Judy. Okay, we got to get them in a little more stable environment here.

So that's really basically the big reason we took that job. I had another year in Boston. I could have sat out, but that's not the way I wanted to live. I wanted to get right back into coaching. But, again, it was a challenge. Made me stronger. Made me use your confidence at times, absolutely. When you're getting pounded eight and eight-two every night,

you take a good look at yourself. And I know now I'm a much better coach than I was then. I probably wasn't ready for that job in terms of I was a young coach taking over an expansion team. With that kind of talent, I look back, I know I could have done a much better job. But that being said, that would have probably meant another three, four wins. It certainly wouldn't have meant under 20 more wins. But it helped me.

You question yourself. You take an honest look at yourself every day. And it probably made me stronger in the long run, probably made me a better coach. That's what I want to ask you next. What kind of lesson or lessons does a tough experience like that teach you over the long haul? Well, again, you're looking at yourself every day.

When we lose, the first person I look at is me. I don't point fingers. I say, what could I have done better? Preparations, sister, tactics, whatever. I always look at myself. There was a lot of that going on that year. But again, it challenges you, and it makes you look at yourself, and it makes you look at the way you're doing things,

and it makes you look at the way you're playing the game. And it forces you look at the way you're doing things and it makes you look at the way you're playing the game. And it pushes you into those situations and you're not going to sit there and say, well, we're not very good, so we're supposed to lose. We never took that approach at all. And that's why Alain was a big help and EJ was a big help. We challenged ourselves as coaches every day. Okay, did we do the right things here?

Are we taking the right approach with this player? Are we taking the right approach with that player are we taking the right approach with that player we're using them in the best situation situation so it was it was a lot of soul searching and taking a deep look at ourselves every day and again i think that's why down the road uh i'm probably better off for it although that was living hell i gotta tell you man that was tough i would not want to wish that on anyone, I'll tell you that. Given your personality, and we mentioned those expectations when you're a head coach, maybe to be a little bit louder and firmer, did you settle right into being an assistant for those long periods of time

when you were in Phoenix and Vancouver very well? And were you able to connect even more so with the players, given how that's allowed to happen happen more naturally being the assistant? Yeah, I enjoyed that. I actually did. When I went to Phoenix, you know, Bobby Francis was a rookie coach in the league, so I helped him a lot. And I really enjoyed, okay, I've got six guys I've got to worry about here,

worry about them with the goaltending and the penalty kill. So I really did enjoy that. You build, as you guys know, the more time you spend with your players, the better the rapport you have with them. And when you have just a small group like just running the defense and working with the goaltenders, I really enjoyed that. I really enjoyed my time in Vancouver doing that, working with young guys like Tanov and Edler

and watching them develop a young Kevin Bieksa, helping them become good pros and real solid players for their team and helping them with their careers. So I really enjoyed that. And the same thing when I went to Tampa, working with Victor and the young defenseman we had there at the time. And Sergeyev came in a couple years later. So I really do enjoy that role, just working with the young defenseman,

working with the penalty killers. And, again, you're working with a smaller group, and you do build those bonds. But you do become closer to that smaller group than it is with the 20-25 guys. Yeah, your son said you became very close with Kessler and Bieksa. Was Bieksa one of those guys, like every game, he'd do something to make you laugh, just chirping guys on the bench? Listen, they were the best friends.

And I think I had to break up a fight one day in practice between the two of them. So those two would keep you on your toes. But I'm telling you, they're just great competitors. And Kevin Bieksason not a big man but a huge heart and one tough competitor absolutely fearless he would take anybody on he would take a run at anybody if things weren't going good for the team you can see he chased the game all over the ice to get big hits and get everybody going and kes was the same way like he

was a hard-nosed guy great skater big strong guy who loved to compete and loved to annoy people so the two of those guys playing against every night it was tough for the opposition but again just great competitors and great again working with young players you see them get married you see them have kids and you see them growing from young players anxious to grow, and then watching them grow into men with families. Like, that's all part of the process as I age. Like, I am, so I've really enjoyed that.

But I love working with those two guys. They were a handful, but a lot of fun, like I tell you that. I can't imagine the things you get to see the twins pull off, let alone in games, also in practice. I mean, what was it like being around two guys that were that perfect together and able to dominate in a way that really hadn't been seen before, just knowing where each other were the entire time they were on the ice? You know, as a coach, there's certain guys you stay out of their way.

You let them play, right? You don't coach them. The twins are that. You just stay out of their way. And they're going to play the game their way. And L.A. can try to make some changes here and there. They're going to play that way. They were so much fun to watch.

And those blind passes. And the worst thing you can do when you're playing against them is chase them. They want you to chase the puck, right? Because then they're just going to make you look so bad. But listen, two of the nicest kids in the world and great, great players, great confidence,

great poise with the puck. And Henrik, unreal passer. Danny, unreal finisher. But just to watch them and frustrate the opposition with their blind passes and no looks and put them into areas, and all of a sudden Danny's there, Hank's there. It was a lot of fun to watch them.

But again, certain guys, they're so good, you just stay out of their way and you let them play. And that's the kind of approach we took with them. And just, again, it was fun to watch them play. But if you're a father and you have a daughter, you would want them to marry someone like the Twins, just the best people in the world and true competitors. And they showed up every night.

Like it was their leadership just on the ice in practice, showing up every day ready to go. Like you never had to get after them. You never had to challenge them. They were ready to go every day in practice. They were ready to go every night in the games. And they were just fun to be around just because you just, before the game even started, you know, okay, they're going to be going.

They're going to help us win this game tonight. No matter where, no matter four games in six nights, back to back, it didn't matter. They showed up and played and just a real, real thrill to be around those guys. And again, watch them play and frustrate the opposition so easily. And they made it look so easy because of their ability to read off each other. So, yeah, great duo. Rick, when you said that you would want your daughter to marry him,

Witt was pointing to me on the Zoom chat saying, oh, yeah, he was going to chime in there. Biz has heard that a lot. You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch, right? That's the kind of shit that's going on behind the scenes here at fucking Spittin' Shit. This guy just rags on me nonstop, Rick.

Anyway. Well, I see it in your commercials on TV all the time. Oh, my God. You seem to be having a lot of fun with those. Time for Hardest Shot. Which commercial would that be? How painful are those? Let's be honest, Rick.

You can just lay into us right now you've been nice the whole interview now it's your time to lay into us no they're pretty good the mistletoe and the overpowering with the what was it 84 mile of slap shot oh the muffin man ryan whitney i shot for tips rick you know how it is coaching you shoot for a tip you had your eyes up and you're looking for sticks. Yeah, you were this unselfish guy back there. Find the stick, find the open guy, and you put it on the tape or somewhere down where he can deflect it. Yeah.

Okay. Hey, Rick, I've actually mentioned you before because, you know, Shane O'Brien, the guy who played for you, and we got together one night. We got together one night in van after a game, and he's like, Hey, Whit, this is unbelievable. Before the game, Bolness is talking to us. He says, watch out for this Whitney on the power play. He's a great passer.

He's pumping your tires. He loves you. I was like, oh, my God, I'm a new favorite coach in the National League. Well, I'm sure I showed enough clips of you doing that, planting sticks and your eyes up and moving across the line. So you were very good at that. Yeah, but he got kicked out of his billet house when he was going to the U.S. program. Don't listen to Biz. Don't listen to Biz, Rick.

There's many men who would want me to marry their daughters as well. Rick, let's talk about the Dallas Stars. I mean, we kind of, you know, we want to start off with it. I would imagine spending all that time in there with such a special group and coming up short has probably been hard, but what have you dissected from it now after there's been a little bit of time to ingest what happened?

Yeah, no. You guys have been around long enough to know that everyone who always wins the Stanley Cup, they say you've got to be healthy and you've got to be lucky. We wish – listen, Tampa won. They beat us fair and square.

They were the better team in that series. We wish we had been healthy and taken a real good run at them. And we took them to six games, but we feel with a healthy lineup that we could have done even more damage. But, again, give them credit. They had lost Stammer. We lost a lot of key guys uh it's unfortunate you get to that stage that you're not healthy but just because again all the sacrifices you make and you get to the finals you want to be able to put your best team on the ice and give you

the best chance for it but uh hey you didn't you roll with the punches that didn't happen for us um but again it's from a coaching perspective you can't ask for more than what our players gave us they gave us everything they could that game six you could tell for two periods we had nothing left in the tank and we got we cranked it up in the third obviously facing elimination and that's it was great for them but again from the coaching perspective i couldn't ask for more than our players gave us uh We wish we had been healthy, but that's, again, in playoff hockey, you're going to get your injuries. We had our share.

But we walk out of there holding our heads high that we went as far as we did. We're all disappointed that we can come that close and two games away from winning the Cup. So hopefully that's the motivation for next year, that we can take this team and take it right to the finals again and then take another run at it. Now, as you guys know, this league is tough. There's no guarantee you're going to get in the playoffs for starters,

especially in this Western Conference. A lot of great hockey teams out there. But if we get the commitment from our players that we got in that nine-week bubble, then I like our chances, A, getting back in the playoffs, and B, of taking another good run at it. And I know if we can get back into that finals, then we'll handle it better this time around. But, again, I couldn't be more proud of the guys.

From a coaching perspective, we got everything we could out of them. They were out of gas, and that's happened. So, again, we'll take that motivation into next year, and hopefully we can build on that. Rick, one guy I think, I mean, we were familiar with in Boston, but maybe a lot of people weren't, was Anton Hudobin. I mean, he's kind of been a 1A, a 1B, a backup. He's been in a bunch of different roles, and he really rode this team.

I should say the team rode him to the final. What type of character does he bring to the locker room? Every team he's on, he seems to be like the most popular guy in the room, full of antics. What was your experience with him like? Yeah, just listen he's a fun guy uh he doesn't take it too seriously he goes on the ice and practice he has fun he's got that russian accent you never know what's going to come out of his mouth so uh he he has he enjoys the game like you want your players you're playing we all know the grind we go through

on a regular 82-game schedule and everything else. You've got to enjoy coming to the rink. That's a big thing for me, too, as well, as a coach. I always wanted our players to look forward to coming to the rink, that it's not a job.

And Dobie never looked at it as a job. He just comes to the rink, he's in a great frame of mind, he's ready to work. You know, I talked to him getting off the plane when we landed back from Edmonton here, and I said,'s in a great frame of mind. He's ready to work. I talked to him getting off the plane when we landed back from Edmonton. He told me, great job, man. We had a great run. You compete hard.

He said, I'm going to compete. He said, they can cut my leg off, but I'm still going to compete. That's the kind of attitude he has. He's just very well liked by the guys. He's a lot of fun. As you know, you go as you like playing in front of. He's certainly at the top of the list the guys love playing in front of him because they know it'd be a hard thing to describe his style

and i'm not a goalie expert uh in terms of style but his style is his job description is stop the puck so uh whatever it looks is unorthodox or he just he'll dive in front of shots and that's just the type of personality is that's the type of personality he is. That's the type of competitor he is. But he's got a great sense of humor. The guys love being around him. And that's all that matters, that they love playing in front of him. And he competes and does everything he can to give you a chance to win the game.

At the beginning of last season, Jamie Benn and Sagan got called out by the – was it the CEO or the president, excuse me? Yeah, yeah. Were they aware that that was going to happen? And how much of a 180, if in fact you thought there was validation in what he was saying from their play, how much of a 180 did they make after those comments? And was it something they just chuckled off or did they take it extremely personal?

They did not know what was coming. None of us did. They had been off to a slow start. They'd be the first to admit that. I think on the surface, they chuckled it off. Deep down, it really, really bothered them. I think anyone who gets called out like that from the president of the team, it's going to bother them, especially the notoriety,

that whole statement and everything he brought to them and to the team. So that was uncomfortable. But, again, I think on the surface, that's not going to bother us. Deep down, if you're a competitor, which they are, it has to bother you. It has to bother you when you get called out like that and you getled out like that that you're the you're the reason this team is struggling you've got to give a lot more so um it was unfortunate i give them credit because it didn't it didn't really affect the way they played they kept working until they got things going but i know it hurt them very much and but you would talk to them, and you'd never know that.

And that's being too professional. Okay, we just got dumped on. Okay, we've got to deal with it. But we've still got to be there for our teammates and our team, which they were. So a tough time for them. I give them credit because you don't remember any complaints from them or attacking back at the president.

So they dealt with it internally. Did it bother them? Absolutely. Would you have known it was going to bother them? No, not by the way they handled it. So just being good pros and good teammates, putting the team first. And again, they just had to move on from that. I mean, you talk about getting a chance to coach Ray Boruck

and how close you became with Victor Hedman and his rise to becoming the best defenseman in the league. And now you get a chance to work with this Miro Heskinen. And I can't imagine, you know, seeing somebody that is this quick, this fleet of foot at this young of an age, just coming to his own, especially this year and in this playoff run. So how exciting it is coaching – how exciting is it, excuse me, coaching a guy like this?

And what is the ability here that he could have in the future? What's his future look like? Ceiling. Great job, Miz. Nice. I got you. I'm going to get married to my daughter. There you go.

Why are you guys on the show together? You got each other's back. Miro's got neurostrophy written all over him. You got each other's back. Miro's got a Norris trophy written all over him. You got to remember, he's 21. It took Victor six, seven years to figure it all out. And Ryan, you know, as a defenseman, young defense,

it takes a long time in this league. But the one thing about, a couple of things about Miro. First of all, it's his, he knows how good he is. And he's very, very humble. There's no arrogance. There's no cockiness to him. He's coachable, but deep down, he knows how good a player he is and how good a player he's going to be. What's always struck me about Miro.

And when I noticed that last year's a nine year old is his poise with the puck. He handles the puck. Like he's been in the league seven, eight years. It's unreal. The poise, the confidence that he has with the puck. He handles the puck like he's been in the league seven, eight years. It's unreal, the poise, the confidence that he has with the puck. He's a totally different player than Victor, different size. Victor's far more physical because of the size. Well, Miro is not the biggest guy, but he learns how to angle. He's like Nick Lundström in that way. Just angle the guy, use your stick, put him in a bad situation.

And that's where Miro is so good defensively. But when he gets that puck and he wants to take off, it's unreal what he can do. And he can make something out of absolutely nothing. And sometimes your power play, your breakout isn't, it's completely out of sync. You pull the goalie, it's completely out of sync. I always say, just give the puck to Miro.

Just let him go. He'll figure it out going up the ice. That's how good he is. But he's such a humble, humble guy. But when I was coaching with him, just when I was focusing on the D last year and for the first couple of months of this year, he's one of those, when we're watching the game, I'd say,

Miro, did you see that? Yeah, got it. And you don't have to show him video because he sees it and he memorizes it and he fixes it. And he'd come off the ice and he'd say, Miro, yeah, I got it and you don't have to show a video because he sees it and he memorizes it and he and he fixes it and he'd come off the ice and said mural you shouldn't yeah i got it and some guys some guys need a lot of video they've got to see their mistakes they don't because the game happened so fast mural knew every time he made him he knew exactly what had happened and when we're watching you know we point out individuals remember the sound we played this guy watched for that movie i got it and he does

his hockey iq is off the charts uh this is just a great great kid but his his ceiling is his norris trophy and at some point after two years um he's not getting the recognition that he should because we're in Dallas. And I don't think, you know, we just don't get a lot of recognition down here. Last year in the playoffs, I had a bunch of me when we played St. Louis in that second round, a bunch of media texting me after, oh, God, I should have voted for Miro Heisman. I didn't know he was that good. And now we go here again this year,

and his Norris Trophy votes weren't that good until the playoffs. And then they're all saying to me again, Gosford should have voted more for Miro. But he does have Norris Trophy written all over him. And, again, you're looking at a kid who's 21 that has only been in this league for two years, and he can be a dominant player. You look at that game six against Calgary, we're down 3-0.

We're not playing well at all. You look at Miro, okay, Miro, we need something because he gets a power play goal, gets us right back in the game. That's the impact he can have on a player. When you need a big play, whether it's defensively or offensively, helping a power play, he delivers. And he wants, he's another thing about he wants to be on the ice. You've got a lot of guys that are good players, but in the pressure situations, they're out there 20, 30 seconds.

They can't wait to get off the ice. Miro wants to be on the ice. And when the game's on the line, he doesn't want to come off. He wants to stay on the ice. So he wants the ball, and I love that about him. He's just – so he's far more competitive than his physical play will tell you. But, again, he wants the ball and i love that about him he's just so he's far more competitive than his physical play will tell you and but again he wants to be the guy he wants it's his team basically he will take this team over and it'll be mero's team rick not to age you but that's

got to be music to your ears when you don't got to show him the ipad remember that please remember that plays the guy got like listen i was when i started coaching this league i was younger than some of the players now i'm old enough to be mural's grandfather so that just happens over time i guess exactly you guys got some pretty good young players up front too who's like the one guy that surprised you where you're like oh my god this guy's like game is accelerating at an insane rate because you know there's a few household names now that you guys made it as far as you did as far as the heavier on does or kiviranta excuse me uh gorgia i believe is that how you pronounce the russians last name gary on up gary on up or gary on up jesus christ sorry about that yeah that's all right no those two guys so dennis was with us all year.

He scored 20 goals. So listen, one of the fastest guys in the league right now. He's a threat going down the wing, and he's able to be the defensive wide and cut into the net. He is fearless that way. So tremendous upside with him. Keevy came up from the minors. He only played 11 games for us.

He scored one goal. But he had an impact on every game that he played. In fact, there was one game in Colorado. I remember Pavelski grabbing me between periods and saying, give me Keevy. I want to play with Keevy. So the players on the bench, his teammates see he's very effective. For a little guy, very effective on the boards.

Mace plays. He's fearless. That game he scored three, we weren't expecting him to score any. So that offense was nice and won the game for us. So there is some offense. Dennis has far more offensive upside than Keevy. Keevy will be a much better two-way player.

But they're both young kids with great futures ahead of them and a big part of this team moving forward. Rick, I want to bring up two guys who came over in the offseason. Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski. How important were they? How essential were they not just on the ice but in the room as well during the cup run?

Their impact was really in the playoffs. It really was. You can see the experience and you could hear the experience. So in the locker room between periods, you'd hear Corey speak up, you'd hear Pav speak up at the right time, saying the right thing, and just as important, in the right tone of when to get after them a little bit or when to calm things down.

So the tone of what they were saying and the words of what they were saying were very important. Then they would get on the were saying and the words of what they were saying were very important. Then they would get on the ice and you could see their experience. They weren't panicking with the puck. You put Corey top of the circles down in the offensive zone, he still has the great hands, still has the great poise, and he made a lot of good plays. So that's good from a young player's perspective that, okay,

in the heat of the playoffs, you still have to make plays. You still have to have poise, and Corey did that, as did Pavelski. As we all know, and Ryan, you probably would love playing with him because shooting for tips, he's great around the net. Probably getting that stick on pucks and rebounds and tips and deflections. He's the best at it. So he scored a lot of huge goals for us because of that ability around the net using his stick, but also the poise of where to put the puck on the goalie

and get it in behind him. He didn't panic with the puck around the goalie, slamming it into his pads. He put it in the right spot, scored huge goals for us. But that's the experience that they have, and that's the value that they brought to us for this playoff run. So we wouldn't have got as far as we did without the two of those guys, for sure. Well, Rick, I know it's kind of been made a story that you're not exactly

sure what's going on next year. If you wanted to come back, and earlier in this interview, you made it sound like you would be in trying to get back to the finals. Do you know what's going on? Have you even thought about how much longer you want to do this? You're a dinosaur in the league. You've just been here forever. I don't think anyone ever wants to see you go anywhere. That's a compliment, by the way.

All right. A dinosaur is a compliment. All right. That's good. Hey, I was like, I was a minnow. I was a cup of coffee. You've just been there forever. Can't get rid of you. I'll take that as a compliment. Considering the been there forever. I can't get rid of you. I'll

take that as a compliment. Considering the show and the company I'm with here right now, I'll certainly take that as a compliment. I will be back next year as the head coach. Jim and I have talked about that. We talked Monday. I needed some time after. I didn't know if I...

Probably because we went to the finals and it was I really enjoyed that whole experience of being a head coach again haven't had that experience so for so long so I really enjoyed that when I took this over um we we just said look we'll talk about it at the end of the year and I you know said then if you know maybe I go back to being the assistant of the job I really enjoy as well but I really did enjoy this whole playoff run. So Jim and I talked on Monday. They want me back.

I'm willing to come back. We're going to talk next week about a contract. But at this point, I will be returning next year as the head coach. How much longer we're going to go? Who knows? As long as I always tell Judy and the kids, listen, the first day I wake up and I don't want to go to the rink, then I know I'm going to retire.

But I still love getting up. I still love going to the rink. I still love the practices, love the games, love everything that comes with the job. So as long as I'm enjoying it, I'm going to keep – as long as they want to hire me, I'm going to keep coming back. You forgot to mention Bud Lights in there. Oh, yeah, well, that keeps you going.

That keeps your sanity. Well, congrats, Rick. I'm glad to hear you're going to be back from the year. Plus, it's a little bit easier when it's not the 93 senators out there either, right? Yeah, then he had 9,000 Bud Lights. Yeah, that might be undercutting it that year. All right, well, thank you so much for joining us. Sorry you guys fell short there, but a magical run.

You guys will bounce back. You got some young studs in the pipeline, and you're going to get your star goaltender back too. We certainly hope so. No, thank you. You guys have really enjoyed the show and really enjoyed talking to you. All the best to you guys going forward as well. Thanks a lot, Rick.

We appreciate it. Have a great offseason. All right, man. Big thanks to Rick Bonas, man. Just a lot, Rick. We appreciate it. Have a great offseason. Big thanks to Rick Bonus, man. Just a great guy. You can see why so many players around the league respect the guy, love the guy, and go balls out for him. So huge thanks to him. And next up, this is a little something different we did. We brought on Jay Weinberg from Slipknot, the drummer from this metal band. His dad was in the Bruce Springsteen E Street Band. Just a

different type of interview. I think a lot of people enjoyed it. Hopefully you will too. So let's send it over to Jay. Well, our next guest is played in front of giant sold out venues while wearing a mask. And he's played some goalie in his day, but just not at the same time. He's a big hockey guy who likes to thrash around in his drum kit while working his day job for the band Slipknot. It's a pleasure to welcome out to the show our very first heavy metal drummer, Jay Weinberg. Thanks for joining us, Jay. All right.

Thanks for having me. So are you in Nashville right now? I know you moved down there, didn't you? I am. Yeah, I've been here for about five years. I grew up in New Jersey and I moved down here, you know, kind of like from one hockey loving place to another. And yeah, but I've been

been down here for about five years. That's what I wanted to ask. I knew you a Devils fan as a kid, used to have season tickets. Now you live in Nashville. It's hard not to get sucked into that whole Smashville thing. I know I've seen you with a Predators jersey on. So you were sports bigamist now or who you rooting for what's going on lately? Yeah, well, I you know, I wasn't expecting I wasn't expecting to get like wrapped up in kind of the Prez mania. It really happened. I mean, I kind of moved down here right at the perfect time, I suppose, to become a Prez fan.

And also, I mean, really getting into hockey at the time that I did, being a Devils fan, like I've kind of lucked out in some ways, you know, being a fan of these teams. But coming down here in like 2015 or so, you know, being a fan of these teams. But coming down here in like 2015 or so, you know, the team was really just starting to pop off. And all of a sudden, they started to become this contender. And it was really exciting to watch. I didn't really know much about the Predators at all.

I had stopped playing hockey back when I was in high school. And we can get into all that. But I kind of like, I was at this jun back when I was in high school and we can get into all that. But, but I kind of like, I was at this juncture where I was paying, it was either kind of, you know, be half-assed at hockey and music or commit myself to one or the other. And I, I, you know, I ended up pursuing playing music all the time. And it was around the time that there was like the lockout had happened in 2004. So I had kind of like my attention

was drawn elsewhere and and it took me moving to Nashville to really like all of a sudden now there's this team that's popping off like crazy that people didn't expect necessarily um and then of course with the you know the cup run that they made uh that was completely insane and you know being here and seeing how the team completely transforms this city um is pretty wild and it was it was kind of magnetic at the time that i that i moved down here you know you kind of fell back in love with the game i mean you you got you got to an area where you saw how big it was and it was just it just became important again and the second part of the question is you got drums in your bedroom dude like that would be like a hockey player having his gear next to his bed like you just rip the drums when right when you get up in the morning yeah well you know

it sucks uh living with neighbors and playing loud ass music with you know big drums and cymbals and stuff you can't really play the kind of music that I want to full force. So I have, you know, I have a great tool, you know, this, this electronic drum set behind me. And that's kind of been what I, I have that on the road. Actually, we were fortunate. We travel around and we have kind of like a mobile studio that we're always playing in throughout the day when we're on tour. And so if I can't have my, you know, loud ass drum set and my neighbors will get mad at me if I'm wailing away on that, at least I have this that I can keep my chops up on.

And that's been a lot of what I've been doing lately is just playing, because I don't actually even have my real drum set here. I have no place to play. So when we're forced to not play shows because of what we're all enduring, it's been a huge help to do this stuff that like, you can't even hear it, you know, downstairs. Is that the reason you moved to Nashville? I know it's a massive music scene. I think people assume it's just mostly country, but it's, it's all over the map, right? Yes. I, you know,

I needed to like a change of scenery coming from New Jersey and it's, it'll always be home for me. But I knew people from here. There's a lot. Yeah, I know it gets a lot of a rap of like, you know, it is a huge country, you know, and pop kind of place. But there's like a really rad, you know, hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock kind of scene here,

which really, you know, brought me in and a lot of like a lot of tour production kind of family people are here, you know, brought me in. And a lot of like, a lot of tour production kind of family people are here, you know. There's a popular tour called the Vans Warp Tour that I had done years ago. And a lot of people that work on the tour actually live in and around Nashville. So it was a place that I wanted to come to

where I was like, okay, I know people down here really didn't know much other than like, I had played in Nashville aville a couple times and had my like favorite spots that i'd like eat at on tour or whatever like that um but i never really spent that much time until i moved down here but quickly just like fell in love with the place i mean like you guys have been down here and just seen what uh you know what what an amazing city it can be and it's like instantly you get that vibe when you come here. Yeah, it's hard not to like.

The women are beautiful, great live music, good bars. And now they got an elite sports team who just got their asses handed to them by the Coyotes. Now, Whit, I don't know if you saw the picture online. This guy was on top of the painted car, the Coyotes painted car, and he was smashing it with a sledgehammer. Yeah, I think you're having to eat your car, by the way. Yeah, you're welcome. So you have to eat your words a little bit, of course,

being a hardcore Preds fan. I thought so. All right, so, you know, yeah, I thought I might have to eat crow on that one. And that's fair. I mean, that was a tough series to watch. I don't think you'd get any different answer from any other Preds fan that that was difficult.

Yeah, but hey, hold on, though. I think game one, you guys could have challenged the Avs a touch bit more than the way that the Yotes did. So let's not necessarily let biz get too big for ourselves here. They just came off the worst performance I've ever seen. Very fair. So the connection to the podcast is you reached out when gomez came on and of course you said you lived in new jersey you

actually got to hang out with quite a few of the players and that's probably where your love for hockey escalated it that was yeah um it was it was such a crazy story that like you know i never connected with any sport other than hockey really still. But when I was like nine years old, my dad, who you guys might be familiar with played drums for the Conan O'Brien TV show. He's played for Bruce Springsteen for the last 40 something years. Not a big deal. Not a big deal. So he had gotten, I was probably like eight or nine at the time, you know, struggling with

trying to find a sport that I wanted to do, like baseball or soccer or something like that. And he had gotten asked by the New Jersey Devils, they're like, hey, you know, we know you're in New Jersey. And there was some kind of like preseason intramural, you know, red, red team versus white team kind of, you know, pre-season sort of thing. And they wanted some kind of like, like celebrity coaches or something for, for one of the teams. So they asked him to do it. And I had never been to a hockey game. None of my family had ever really been to a hockey game. And he was like, yeah, all right, I'll do it. Can I bring, you know, can I bring my son? And so they let him bring me. And I remember very distinctly,

I was on the bench when this whole thing was happening and Sheldon Souray came up. I was sitting right on the bench and all of a sudden he comes up and he's like coming over the boards and his skate almost comes and like takes off my head. And that kind of instantly like drew me into hockey was that like i can i could get my head literally like chopped off by my that's why you're

in slipknot yeah right and actually yeah there's a lot of parallels with that like i you know this band that like i felt was gonna like eat me or something like that if i didn't if i didn't uh come to every show and then lo and behold I ended up joining years later but um but yeah that's where that's where it all started um was like was that and then we we ended up you know coming to more games and stuff um and my whole family got into it like my my mom she didn't want to go to a hockey game she didn't really she wasn't really into it but we brought her to a game and i remember like some deflected shot came like out of play and launched right for like square between her eyes and the guy right in front of us some guy right in front

of us just put up his hand and palm this deflected shot it like broke his hand what a move by that guy though yeah and it easily saved my mom's life at this hockey game so she was roped in just like i was like oh my god like anything can happen in this sport is ridiculous so that's where that began you know and that was in like 1999 i think so what a time to become a you know a new jersey devils fan did Lou make you sign the stick or something fucker if you said it by the way if that story finished off with you saying your mom took one in the forehead I was gonna be like

you guys gotta get off the podcast and then she became the lead singer right right exactly yeah who broke his hand was like what's your last name oh can I get a front row tickets for the next 84 Springsteen tours? So, so yeah, to, to add to the, you know, the, the story about how I reached out to you guys originally was I,

I was listening to the Scott Gomez story. And as I was listening, I was like, Oh my God, he's telling this story exactly how I remember. And I was 10 years old back when that, you know, I'm sure your listeners remember his story about going to the Bruce Springsteen show. I love that he got dragged. Like he didn't want to go. I love that he didn't want to go. But, but yeah, like they, they had just won the Stanley cup and we had been, you know,

getting friendly with those guys and stuff. And they played one, they played the, the band played one show at the old continental airlines arena and uh and like ken danico brought the stanley cup to the uh to the show we were all hanging out with with them that was great and then a bunch of guys came to uh to madison square garden i think they played the garden like the next week or something so So then Gomez and Bobby whole league, Marty all came and it was, it was insane. We ended up, I was, I was texting you. I was like, dude, I gotta, I gotta tell you the rest of this story that he left out was that we ended up playing like an hour of street hockey on the loading dock at Madison square

garden with guys like who are totally off the clock, but they ended up, you know, playing this full-on street hockey game with like 10-year-olds, but they were like breaking a sweat. And I think I was on Scott's team and we ended up winning what he called the Stanley keg. He just grabbed the keg that was like,

you know, backed by the loading dock. And he's like lifting it over my head. And that was madness. But, you know, yeah. That loading dock. And he's like lifting it over my head. And that was madness. But, you know, yeah. That must have been so cool for you to go through that. Who was the most competitive out of all the players? I think Bobby. I think Bobby Holic might have been the most competitive.

He was definitely like throwing checks to like 12-year-old kids. That was pretty incredible to receive, like a Bobby Holiq check. That was kind of incredible. Jay, you played goaltender. How did you end up in the pipes? I always say it's usually an older brother that throws you in the pipes. Because he's nuts, R.A. Have you not listened to this fucking nut job?

Marty Brodeur shot a street hockey ball out of his face in MSG. He threw a skill star at him, catch this kid. Yeah, you know, I had always been drawn to the goaltender. I think in the same way, maybe subconsciously, that I've always been drawn to like being the drummer in a band. I think there's something to be said, like the drummer is usually the weird guy in the band and the goalie is usually the weird guy on the team, you know? So there was something about it.

I think honestly I started because I wasn't that great of a skater and I was like, okay, well I'll just like stay here the whole game. And then look, you know, I found out that you have to be up and down and all, like you have to basically be one of the best skaters on the team. I didn't know that when I started being a goalie, but part of it was that, you know, that, yeah, that pressure that I, that I really enjoyed from playing. And I thought that was the most high-pressure situation

you could put yourself in on the ice. And yeah, so something about it resonated with me. And I think then taking that and that ended up translating to being a drummer. I think if you have a shitty drummer, your band's probably going to suck. And if, if you have a shitty drummer, your band's probably going to suck. And if you have a shitty goaltender, your team's probably going to suck. So that's kind of, you know, yeah. So that's the comparison. You would say the drummer is the goaltender of the team.

A hundred percent. Yeah. I think, you know, why is that for people who don't know music? Well, I definitely feel like the pressure's on when, you know, when, when you're trying to, I think as a drummer, if you're, if you're not holding shit together, there's no way you could have, you know, you could have the best guitar players and best singers and everything like that. But if your drummer's not holding it together, it's just not, you're not going to make that great music.

It's going to sound like shit. Yeah. And I think, I think if you're, you know, if you're working going to make that great music. It's going to sound like shit. Yeah, and I think if you're working in a similar way from a hockey standpoint, if you're working out from the crease, you could have a team full of studs playing, but if your goalie is just letting everything in, it's not going to work. I'd like to see a breakaway challenge between R.A. and J. right now. Do you think you could score on him, RA? I mean, who knows? Probably if I close my eyes and take a nice, nice high hat.

We could try. I still play a little bit. I still, you know, it's something that I haven't completely pulled away. So I might be able to hold my own. So we know you're crazy. So would you take a Shea Weber shot from the blue line? Would you stand in front of that? Oh, my God. know you're crazy so would you take a shea weber shot from the blue line would you would you stand in front of that oh my god um i maybe maybe to like god that strikes me as like maybe the red line yeah push it back to the red line i maybe i would just to say that i could that i that i did

it but that's like one of those guys that you know those like tough guys that just want to be shot in the shoulder just to say that they got shot or something like that. I don't know if I'm that much of a glutton. We tasered R.A. one time. Like the guy who wanted to get his head cut off, so he played hockey. Right. Exactly.

The animal in that. I got a question. We need to get you in an e-bug position so you can wear a slipknot mask and warm-ups. If I can sign up for that, I would love to. Nashville's e-bug guy right here. We could change this. You'd probably be wearing a bondage outfit in the bubble

considering there's no clothing rules. They took out the – players aren't wearing suits, you sick. Is that the gimp? No, that's just Jay showing up for the game. Yeah. Looked like the average Joe's uniforms before they got their real ones in dodgeball. I'm curious. No, I'm sorry. I'm curious. I feel like everyone would think like your father, this legendary drummer, all these years with Bruce Springsteen, East Street Band, like he maybe taught you at a young age how to play drums, but you didn't start playing until you were 14 years old and just it kind of came natural to you yeah he kind of wanted me to find it out for myself kind of like the way he found it out for himself you know like that was never and

honestly that to his to his you know my parents credit they they just wanted me to find out what i wanted to do and they didn't see hockey coming like they didn't see that as like oh he's gonna want to be a hockey player but there was nothing like no you didn't see hockey coming. Like, they didn't see that as like, Oh, he's going to want to be a hockey player, but there was nothing like, no, you shouldn't play hockey. You should focus on, you know, becoming a drummer like me. That was never anything. They just saw what I was passionate about and I didn't show a passion for playing drums until yeah.

Until I was like 14 and I really discovered the instrument. And then it was like, then they just wanted me to foster that interest and be like, okay, he wants to play drums 25 hours a day. Like we, you know, let's, let's get behind that. And, and we never had any conversations. Like he never sat me down and gave me lessons. Cause I was playing drums to get away from school. Like I didn't want to have extra school after school. So he just,

he just let me play along to my ramones records and my metallica records and um just as long as i i was working hard at it and was having fun he was like hey that's that's you know that's what i did so i want to foster that for for you so that's kind of you know it was pretty laissez-faire with that you know jay a drum kit and a drum set the exact same thing because yeah yeah okay anything yeah i wrote down kit and then drum set, the exact same thing? Yeah, yeah, same thing. I wrote down kit, and then when you call it a set, I felt like an asshole afterwards. I thought I butchered it.

But I want to get into that a little bit. Now, Slipknot, like you said, that was a band you used to go to at their concerts when you were 10 years old and pretend to be one of the members. There's that famous picture, you and your dad, and then you recreated it years later when you became a member of the band. How wild was that? Take us through that whole journey from literally being a fan of a band

to becoming a member of that band. Really crazy. And, you know, it was something that happened, of course, gradually over time, just being friends with the guys. I mean, the first heavy metal show that I ever went to was a Slipknot show. To give a little background to the story, they came on the Conan O'Brien show when they were promoting their first album back in either 99 or 2000. And, and they came on and instantly my dad was like, oh my god, this band is insane. They wear these crazy masks and these outfits, this music is out of control. Like my nine year old son's gonna love this. And, and so they were like, yeah, hey, anytime you and the family want to come out to a show you guys should come out so the next summer uh they were about to put out their second album and they were

on the oz fest tour so i'm 10 years old and i go to oz fest for the first time and i go see slipknot and slayer and ozzy osbourne and this and that and my mind was blown wide open and uh but it was cool because you know we we struck up a friendship with these guys and, and my mom didn't want to sign off on it. She was like, this is not good for my kid, but she got to meet the guys and was like, Hey, you know, they're just, they're, they're artists. This is their art. They're cool guys. They're all, you know, they're, they're all family men. And, and I can, I can get behind my son listening to this crazy music.

And so, so yeah. And so, yeah, and I just started doing my homework on this music and learning all that I could about it, where these bands come from, what inspired them, and this and that. And all the while, they would come to town once a year, maybe a couple times a year. And every time they saw me, I'd be a little bit taller. I'd be a little bit more knowledgeable about this kind of music and then you know like 13 years later or so um fast forward i i ended up uh filling in for my dad with bruce uh for a period of time and then uh you know went

off and played in a bunch of different bands And then the circumstance happened where they needed a drummer. They asked me, and I didn't even know it was them really, but their kind of family asked me like, hey, can you come out here and audition for a band? And they didn't tell me what it was. But I, you know, I flew out to California on a phone call, just get out here and audition for some band.

It turned out to be them. And then, you know, the next day we were working on what became, you know, the first Slipknot record that I played on. But yeah, it was, you know, it was just out of our friendship that we had started, you know, 13 years before that when I was like 10 years old. And they just took a shot in the dark, saw if their, you know, their friend that they had seen grow up in this kind of music community, give him a shot.

And, and it, you know, thankfully it worked out. Was that the first time you'd ever experienced the creative process in making an album or already at that point, had they had a lot of the songs and tracks laid out? We, it was kind of somewhere in the middle with um you know it wasn't it was definitely my first experience on that level of like i mean my experience making records at that point was like okay well we have all these songs it'll probably take us like a week or two weeks to you know to record this i i thought at the beginning if i was fortunate enough to continue playing with these guys i was like all right this is gonna be a long process it'll probably take us like a month or two

months ended up taking like seven or eight months to record that album uh just because you know so many guys there's nine guys in the band and a lot of stuff happening where it takes a lot of time to get it right you know but a lot of stuff oh just you know not i mean just the hard work in the studio no crazy curricular anything exile main street i mean rock stars you said there's nine of you in the band like that would i mean you know we've seen the stories laid out i mean there's documentaries about them there's a lot of egos involved at that high of a level not saying that's the case in your band but to keep that many guys focused on one creative process would be very difficult i think it's all rooted in just the music you know and and i think it was cool because like they knew that i knew the music that they were making you know because i had been

a fan since you know almost the beginning you, so they knew coming into it that I would have the right mentality that they're like, okay, this guy, guess where we come from. And so coming into that process, our guitar player, Jim Root, he had written quite a bit of material on his own. And so it was kind of like I had a template. Basically, you know, we, they asked me to, to get into a room and play their back catalog which we did and then they were like okay he can hang with our old songs uh tomorrow let's see if he can hang with some of our new material so he had a couple demos that they're that he was working out and and uh and so they threw me in a room with a drum set i played what i could to to that and then it

ended up being like a month and a half or something like every day a new song I'd listen to it in the morning go into the studio and just lay down drums on it all day and they threw that at me for like you know about a month and a half or so before we actually started like tracking our record so it's a lot of like record listen to it re-record it spend another week on it re-record that kind of you know a lot of like record, listen to it, re-record it, spend another week on it, re-record that kind of, you know, a lot of that stuff, it takes, it takes time to get it right. But so yeah, I was, I was kind of coming in in this interesting moment of working on that album.

And then we got to the point where we were actually like building stuff at us like from scratch, just like, okay, let's go into that room and hopefully come out with a couple songs um so we ended up doing that uh for that record um toured on that for a couple years and then after that we ended up spending like three years before uh like writing our our album that we put out last summer um and that was like the a fully immersive like collaborative project that was probably a step further than uh than the record we had done before that. All right. I think it would be absolutely crazy if we left the ring shrinks out of a best of podcast. So let's go to a little clip of the ring shrinks from our time in Boston.

So I call this one Papa Rambo goes nuts at a ref. This is from Cannon. He didn't say his town, so we're just going to go with Revere, Mass. Severe. Even I know that's a shithole, and I have a hard time keeping track of all these little towns this place has.

So, Cannon, I was reffing a gold medal game at the Bantam Minor Hockey Tournament with two pretty solid teams. About two minutes into the second period, I had a parent screaming about how he was going to kill me. I look over, and he's climbing the glass with a knife in his hand. Guy is full-on screaming about how he's going to stab me and kill me and run me over the parking lot.

I had kicked out his kid from the game for spitting at another player when he was celebrating after scoring a goal so clearly it it stems from the top it's a trickle down effect it's a trickle down uh oh my god it's not like he got scored on either he scored he scored the goal and spits on the guy and uh you know and then you know obviously police were called and all that type of stuff but i mean talk about a guy that needs to be listening to the ring strengths on the way to the game in the morning are you kidding me well i think he needs to listen to some meditation tapes or something he needs he needs maybe some breathing you know what he needs put the knife away no he

needs a skipping rope in the corner get it get his hand he needs to get that's maybe that's what this what they do they get out their energy. Channel your energy elsewhere. That was one of the stories you told last time. Oh, that was a good one. And I call this one, the coach gets mill buried in the stands. This is from Ontario, and it came from a summer hockey tournament. So this is from a ref's perspective again. So coach acting like an idiot, new shit about hockey. After the second, we had enough of him and tossed him.

The game ends. He opens the door, yells, you know, hey, go, you know. F yourself. Explicit. Very, very explicit talking about the referee's mother, which is a huge logo. Like Jackie Moon. Jackie Moon lost it when that happened. Yeah, lost his mind.

So this is the referee. I snapped off my bucket, jumped into the stands, and started smashing him. Other parents jumped in. My partners joined me in the stands. One dad got body slammed and had two vertebraes broke in his back. The guy I went after pretty sure ate from a straw for a few weeks. To top it off, the arena attendant trying to break up the fight was my dad.

Hey, the ref sounds like a complete lunatic. Yeah, he's a psycho. He's like the bar bouncer guy who got taken away from being the bar bouncer because he was too much of a snapshot, and he was just waiting for one of these fucking coaches. You're breaking customers' jaws at an alarming rate. Please stop.

But, I i mean it's hilarious because all these guys like i mean know who you're messing with first of all but it's like you're in a rink like enjoy the game with your kids right like it's these people are out of control and and hopefully they you know they can start tuning into the rink shrinks and learn like hey it's only a game like this is a summer tournament game like guys they're in shorts and a t-shirt they probably got a cookout going outside afterwards like just chill out like enjoy it all right before we get to our next interview uh we did mention earlier it's the holiday season and people do like to celebrate but they need to celebrate responsibly and from december 16th through january 1st law enforcement officers across the United States will be increasing enforcement on impaired drivers.

And our friends over at NHTSA want to remind you of two important things. Drive sober or get pulled over. And if you feel different, you drive different. Get high, you get a DUI. It's pretty simple. The consequences of drunk driving, like getting a DUI, they're bad, man. Your insurance goes up, possibility of a crash, or worse, you kill somebody. They're always there, following you like a wave, ready to crash at any moment.

So drive sober or get pulled over. On average, a DUI can set you back $10,000, $15,000 in attorney's fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work, higher insurance rates, car tow and more, the guilt of killing somebody, Christ. Always remember to plan ahead if you were going to be celebrated. If you plan to drink, plan for a sober driver to take you home. Is it your turn to be the sober driver? Then make sure you take it seriously. Don't drink anything at all, not even one drink. A DUI covers more than just alcohol. Drugs that make you feel different will make you drive different, and you could get a DUI.

Always remember, if you feel different, you drive different. Never drive high. Drive high, get a DUI. I know New Year's Eve is coming, so guys and gals, be smart. Do not drive while you are impaired in any way. Enjoy your holidays, folks. I think we might have saved the best for last here. I mean, one of the best young dynamic players in the league,

Aleish Pettersson, a.k.a. Petey. I love talking to this kid, man. Something about the Europeans, they just bring a little something that maybe the North Americans don't. This guy is a unique character, fantastic player, so let's send it over to Petey. Well, our next guest is one of the bright young stars in the nhl he's one rookie of the year both the swedish hockey league and the national hockey league while a rookie in sweden he also led the

league in points in both the regular season and playoffs before winning the mvp of the playoffs as his team won the championship and in his first two nhl seasons he's tallied 132 points in 139 games and has been named to two all-star games. Thanks so much for joining us on the podcast. Elias Pedersen, a.k.a. Petey. How we doing, pal? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me. It's our pleasure. So this is your very first podcast, apparently, huh? Yeah, it's my first

podcast. I don't know. Yeah, it's my first one. How about those intros? Those are nice, eh? A little tire pump? I don't mind people pumping tires but dude he pressed record on his phone man first try so yeah awesome hey so you're just a mute are you just a music guy on the way to the rink things like that you never listen to any podcast are you just saying you never been on one? I'm a big music guy. I listen to a lot of music.

I'm not a country guy, and I play a lot of country in the locker room, but yeah, no. Besser's going to be pissed that you said no country now. Yeah, me and him having a debate about that, he's not happy about me. Are you a metalhead oh sorry which is okay because he says you belong in the circus now not for any rude reasons but he says you can juggle

very well and you could ride a unicycle can you do both at the same time though yeah i can holy shit this kid's the real deal give him the mvp what is what is the beginning of you riding a unicycle and being able to juggle as well as doing it together how did that all start how old are you when that goes down um how old was i uh out of the womb out of yeah two years old no but uh uh maybe 12 13 my dad was very good at uh going in unicycle and he i was listening to him a lot i still do uh and he told me if you get good at unicycle you're gonna have better balance at hockey and i was like all right i worked on it i got good at it and then i don't know why but i

start juggling so one day i had three tennis balls I spent like three four days at the backyard back home in where I'm from and they spent three four hours until I could do it and then once I get good at it I started doing with bowling pins yeah I mean you're to be like the red panda at the Rogers Centre between periods. They're going to have to pay you 20 million a year. All right, I'm up for it. That would be unbelievable.

The first ever player in NHL history to do the in-between period entertainment. Yeah, no, so got good at with bowling pins and then I added both together and yeah, my brother always chirped me about it that I could join a circus

whenever, so yeah, I'm set. You mentioned your dad and he drove a Zamboni when you were a kid, so you basically just skated every single day as much as you wanted as a kid, hey? Yeah, I've been skating a lot um i mean i come from a small town or village i don't know how you say it it's the three three thousand people lives there so it's not big at all um so yeah i know dad has drove in some bonie had the key to every door at the rink. And basically all my childhood, it was school.

Dad dropped me off at the rink, got home, had dinner, then back to the rink for practice and bedtime. And then same thing all over again. So that's in the winter. Are you summers off or were you skating the whole time? Summers, it was soccer growing up. But as soon as the ice got back home, I was there right away. But, yeah, I played soccer and hockey growing up.

So do you follow all the drama in the British Premier League and all these high-end soccer leagues? Yeah, I do. I'm a big fan of soccer and i watch it a lot i don't have a i don't follow it a lot nowadays because time difference and everything and i don't have a favorite team so i'm just a fan of the sport now okay well you're your typical typical swede that speaks perfect english and i know you guys take it growing up was it was it a little difficult for you two years ago your rookie year have you pretty pretty much been completely uh easy easy speaking english for a while now um i was i was okay in english at

school i mean i did like uh like high school my only mindset was i'm gonna do everything to pass the test because i wanna because i wanna play hockey and that's what the reporters need yeah exactly don't listen kids same here but i never passed or got asked to be interviewed yeah i know so so i think actually brock besser can tell you guys a story whenever you guys get that opportunity because my first development camp i was not good at english at all like and he has a pretty funny story when he's basically telling me that I kind of shrug him off and didn't want to talk to him because I was nervous talking about it because I wasn't comfortable talking English yet. But I've learned it quickly, like moving here, hearing English every day. Petey, when you were a younger kid, were there any Swedes that you modeled your game after?

I mean, you could score and pass equally good good I mean I would say Peter Forsberg I know he had probably a little more grit to his game but who did you model yourself first one was Peter Forsberg um just remember his old days back in Moda where Orion played for two games. It was a very successful two games. I don't know if you've seen the stats. I actually had the privilege to see your last game in your career. Wow. Oh, my God. So you saw the last period.

You were at that game. Yeah, you remember, Digit? I do. I remember everything about it. Two pizzas, dash three, absolute liability in his own end. But he did have a second assist on the power play no he was thrilled he watched that's three that's for sure i was dash i was dash three in the first period and one of them and one of them i went to turn

and my ankle completely gave out and i hit the side of the skate and i fell and the guy grabbed it and threw it in front it was like it was like a legit like at the I hit the side of the skate, and I fell, and the guy grabbed it and threw it in front. It was like a legit – like the first home game of the season, I'm an import. We lost like to the night before. We got waxed the night before on the road, and I'm horrific, and I went into – and I retired after that period, the first period. Then I sat on the bench for the second and third. So we watched the game together, my last pro game. I just got to play like eight of 20 minutes, be dash three, and throw a pizza.

Against the worst team in the league. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It was not exactly a great performance for the old wit dog in the SHL. I might have asked my brother for a little background check because – Okay, so you were doing some prep work for this podcast. Where was your

brother playing then is he is he in vaxtro now yeah he's in vacua now uh the team i played for before vancouver well actually before that i want to ask you you played for timra for a year because my best friend matt murley played for timra for a while and he uh he lives in sons of all he loved it he married a girl from there and he told me that it was so big when when he was playing there to try to get up to the SHL. Right. Like your division, too. And so I saw that you played the one year you lit it up and you guys weren't able to advance into the into the big league. Say you had and instead you went to Vaxor signed. Say you had gotten Timmer in. Would you have stayed with them that year? would you were you moving on no matter what uh that was a talk I had like all the time like during the season with my agent with friends with family my brother uh

I yeah I'm pretty sure I would have stayed because Timur is close to home. It's where I have my I played there for five years. And you would have gotten them there. It would have been like that much more special, I would guess. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, no. Things didn't go the way I wanted. I'm happy

with my year in Vekor, but it would be cool to bring Timmer up and play one year in Essetjelder. Ari kind of talked about it earlier as far as like who you looked up to growing up. Making the transition, knowing you had as much success over there,

were you nervous about coming over to North America to play? And was there any of these older veterans from Sweden who you reached out to in order to talk to before you did so? I mean, given the instant success you had. Yeah, I was nervous. I didn't know how. I mean, NHL is the best league in the world, and I didn't know how well I would do.

And, of course, I'm small and skinny. So I didn't know how well I would perform. But we had four Swedish guys on the team. And they helped me get comfortable and everything. Especially Markstrom. He took me under his wing right away. And I'm very grateful for that. But yeah, no. First NHL game against Flames.

My first shift lasted 10 seconds because RD absolutely destroyed one of the Flames guys. And my next shift, it was a fight. So I was like, all right, this is the NHL. Oh, shit. That's exactly the way they talked about it over there yeah yeah yeah so yeah no i was like yeah i can live like this were you more scared of coming over here and experiencing it for the first time or fighting quinn hughes at rookie party this year in the lobby of a hotel uh he wouldn't say yes to a fight weren't you guys wrestling in the lobby at rookie party at the hotel

oh rumors goes fast eh oh and who tapped who out i mean we we're having a good time um both of us might have been a little a little tipsy that's okay that happens it was on your credit card it was it was It was a great night. I think we just wrestled. I don't think we had a winner. I think our teammates broke us loose. There you go. You guys got a funny relationship. I heard a story, too, that he was driving up a hill, and it was icy out.

too that uh he was driving up a hill and it was icy out and then he he like pretended to start slipping but then the car actually did start slipping down the hill did it not yeah yeah so so it was snowing a lot in Vancouver and I don't know how slow the workers like say if it's snowing the snow stays on the road for like two, three days before they get rid of it. It's all RA people collecting a pension doing nothing. Yeah. Podcasts in the closet. Yeah, I know. So we were going out for dinner, and I walked because I was driving a sports car, and that does not work well in the snow.

So I walked, but Quinn, he took his Toyota, tough car. Oh, suck it, Quinn. Yeah, I had to get a chirp in my mind. But yeah, so we were going up a hill and I was like, freaking out because I was afraid we were going to slip and, I don't know, hit someone. And he sensed that. So we were going up, and then he, like, screamed, oh, my God, a car, what? I looked around.

There's no one there. And then he just starts laughing at me. So he got me well. That boy who cried wolf. I know you had aouver shirt when you were a little boy as everybody knows you told me to google it but what did you know about vancouver before you got there anything uh of course sedins um just still hearing about the sedins so good hockey players there are but especially how good people they are outside of hockey doing work with the community

and all that uh and Vancouver big hockey city um and I mean hockey in Canada and I mean hockey is the biggest sport here in Vancouver so it's a it's a blast playing here so take me back like the draft um it's in Chicago I think think. Did you know you were going fifth? Did you have any chances of going higher? Like how did that whole day go? And then after, was there a special night in Chi-Town? Once you get to go top five, fifth overall, I went the same. Nice meeting you.

Quick plug for himself. We have to hear about that every episode. Well, I just try to get every fifth overall pick ever so we can interview them all and I can bring it up every time. Oh, you were serious, no? Yes, he was dead serious. The game you saw, bud, that was not at the prime. That was pathetic. I agree.

Oh, that's funny. Yeah, the draft. After the combine, both Toronto and Vancouver flew me out to kind of meet me more and do testing, blah, blah, blah. So Vancouver was the team that showed the most interest in me. And but when they were doing the draft, Vancouver didn't talk to me. So I still wasn't sure if they were going to pick me. But then my agent said, usually before a draft, the camera guys comes and stands in front of you before a pick is called up. And when Vancouver was up, the camera guys was in front of me.

So I knew they were going to pick me then, but yeah, it was still a little, a little nurse and all that. So how old were you when you knew you were much better than the other kids you were playing with? Like when you realized, Holy shit,

I'm pretty good here. Actually very young because yeah, very young. Unicycle was the tipping point. I'm better than everyone. I want to talk about how you got so into fashion. You're like, I see you posting all the time. I mean, I saw, I don't know if it was at the all-star game when you wore that James Bond villain outfit. You wore that James Bond villain outfit. Yeah.

Fun thing. If people zoom in on that pic, it's not stripes. It's letters. And what does it say? Givenchy. Oh, Givenchy. Okay. So you love that high-end designer. Yeah.

I mean, I've always been into fashion. And now I've been making a lot of money. I've been, I don't know, taking care of myself a little bit. Good for you. Me too. Treat yourself. Swedes are always pretty shop-dressed players in the NHL. Yeah, I mean, there's some tough outfits in the team, especially.

Petey, I mentioned a few minutes ago earlier dual threat out there people don't know if you're gonna pass shoot or whatever what do you like that a scoring a goal or setting a guy up for one uh scoring goals it's a full fledge you did a little bit of that in playoffs and that's one of the things i wanted to talk about too like maybe there you know that was your first experience obviously the physicality of it goes up, and then you guys end up playing Minnesota and then St. Louis. I felt that points in both series, they were trying to get you off your game physically, but you ended up playing a point a game.

Like, you know, what were you thinking going to playoffs the first time, and ultimately, how do you think you handled it overall? Yeah, I mean, first playoff, I knew like all intensity gets up and physicality. So my mindset was to play hard and not shy away from anything. And I'm very happy with how well we performed in the playoff. One game away from making the conference final. But but yeah no i i think i handled it well i think we did well as a team and uh and yeah i mean there was of course a lot of cross-checkings on me and all that but i'm used to it so uh yeah yeah taking the beating is part

of being one of the best i think that you've definitely had to experience that. But you talk about the playoffs and it was being successful, but you also bring up Markstrom. And I get the chance to play with Marky in the minors in Florida a little bit. Unreal guy. I was very happy to see his deal, but it must have been tough to see him go. Kyle, what did he mean? What did he mean to you just taking you under his wing when you came over?

Yeah, I mean, that was tough for me. I haven't experienced the business side of NHL. And Markstrom was, of course, a friend for life for me, but he's been taking care of me like like telling me like small stuff to think about uh uh not to wear something not to wear like a crazy hoodie on on like when we're going the road because oh my god this is i i was with marky when people were telling him him these things it's full circle it really did register with him oh that's that's awesome nice so yeah i listened to him and i'm trying to tell these things to quinn but he's just telling me to shut up so

you guys are too close in age he's probably like beat it it's fun no but yeah it was it was tough seeing marky lee but it's business and i'm very happy with the contract he got because he deserves where would he be bringing you out around vancouver i'm sure that was you know if you said he put you under his wing rock was roxy a frequent spot what's the are the young guys even going there anymore is that even a thing roxy yeah as uh actually saw you there best one night. That's right. I think we did run into each other at the back bar. Oh, yeah. I was like, yeah, can you put my drinks on that little guy over there in the corners, Tab, right there?

Yeah, that guy with the two-con. Make him chug it. Yeah, no. I don't know. We've been going out to jail town a lot. I'm not trying to say where we go too much, but... Yeah, don't want to drop it down on yourself. But yeah, no, Jailtown.

But yeah, Rocks, I've been there, I think, three times. And... Three for three. Fun, weird place, I would say. Just getting hounded there. Are you skating right now? Are you you just, like, working out? How are you approaching whenever next season begins? I'm working out now.

I'm skating once or twice per week. I have my trainer back home, Robert Ligbeck, that I – he sends me schedule schedule and I follow them and we're talking every day about the workout that I'm going to do for the day. So working out at the rink Monday to Friday and Saturday, Sunday off. I was going to hop in about the training. You see a lot of these high-end players doing a lot of skill work in the off season as far as hopping in the ice and all of a sudden they're doing all these movements in and

out of cones are you doing that on the ice as well as getting in the gym every single day uh i'm doing like i'm doing more uh like off-ice stuff more strength stuff because because that's what I need the most. But I'm skating once or twice a week to still keep that going. But I'm spending more time in the gym than on the ice during the summers. Just getting swole for the offseason? Yeah, trying. Maybe take an all-inclusive down south? Get the Vans popping? Trying.

I mean, people don't think I work out, but I've been working out my whole life. I just don't show. I used to hear the same thing. Don't worry. These fifth overall picks, they come gunning after our bodies. Just prove it on the ice. Body shaming. I think Wayne Gretzky weighed 170 pounds, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Now, I'm not sure about the Canadian rules. Are you allowed to go back to Sweden if you wanted to? Are you stuck in Canada? What's the situation with that? Yeah, I could go back today or tomorrow. But when I come back for next season, whenever that starts, I have to quarantine for two weeks. And I don't want to quarantine again.

Just stay in Vancouver. Yeah, and I'll say it would be bad timing for me to go home because all my hockey friends were starting their season and all my non-hockey friends are either working or studying. So I would have no one on my schedule. So that was why I stayed here. I want to go back to the music for a second. I know there's a lot of metalheads from Finland,

but what kind of music are you into? Are you a metalhead too? I know you're from Sweden, but I know that area, the world the music for a second. I know there's a lot of metalheads from Finland, but what kind of music are you into? Are you a metalhead too? I know you're from Sweden, but I know that area, like the world likes metal for some reason. No, I'm not a metalhead. Not a country. You're a BPM. You scream BPM guy from Sirius Satellite Radio.

You know what BPM is? No. Guys, how would you? He's permanent. Calvin Harris. Those guys are a little bit more mainstream i like the deep house shit i like deep house i like um like chill music hip-hop uh like songs like drake um hip-hop so i like to listen to a lot of music. I like to listen to like slow music too. Like, or you like that R and B.

No, no, I would say like, put a couple of candles on that. A note. Did you just sing a note for us? No, no,

no, no, no, no, no. Oh, that was actually really, it did sound like a song there.

You got a great humming voice. I'm a terrible singer. I'm not, I'm not going to perform for you. No, come on. Try for all the Vancouver fans. Listen, we'd love to hear you sing right now. Even if i'm a terrible singer i'm not i'm not gonna perform for you no come on try for all the vancouver fans listening would love to hear you sing right even if i'm a little tipsy i'm still shy to sing so i'm not gonna have no um but yeah i know as long as it's

no like kenny chesney she's from boston like that type of shit like ed sheeran uh luminaires um I feel like Ed Sheeran, Lumineers, Luis Capaldi, those type of music. I got worked over by my wife. She said, well, that's not in a good way. Not in a good way. She brought me to a concert. We're going to this concert. Ed Sheeran.

I was like, what? He was unreal. Him by himself on stage for two and a half hours. He was rapping was singing it was i've been a huge fan since yeah uh and she worked me over after the concert that's something i want to do to go to concert like that never been to i've only been to like concerts when different like edm like plays but i've never been to like uh ed sharon or coldplay concerts so you bring up you know right now if you were back home your buddies were working they got to work all day and like i would go through that when i was playing home for the summers right but what are you doing with your time like during the season practice ends you got

nothing going on you gaming are you just hanging out like well how do you spend your free time during the year at least yeah i play golf big golfer uh play video games um call of duty fortnight not so much fortnight anymore nhl fifa nba so i play a I play a lot of video games. From what I've been seeing on your Instagram too is like I think you're more interested maybe on the content side of things. Opening up that, you know, I don't want to call it a revenue stream, but I mean like a guy like OBJ did it in football. Are there other guys who are doing it where you kind of like the way they're going? I know Austin Matthews is a big guy about posting what outfits he's wearing, tagging the price tag and and also getting on video more. Yeah, I mean, I want to like you said, I want to start streaming. and show personality because I think it's definitely hard to show like outfits,

your fashion, because we have to wear suits to all the games and NBA and football. They can wear whatever. So that's why I've been trying post a little bit more like fashion post on Instagram lately and still have more to come. Just be up. Just trying to be a fun guy have more to come. Just be up, just trying to be a fun guy for people to follow. And I'm having a good time doing it too.

You did that video that the kid did the little dribble demonstration, and then you went out, bought a basketball and did a pretty good imitation of a map. That's like the stuff you like. Yeah. So, so people are tagging me in it so i saw the video and and it was uh this twitter account telling me to at least patterson can you please do this so

i was like oh let's loved it so and just a quick thing like that just make like i'm having such a good time with it and people enjoyed it too so goes a long way and the fans love it um i was gonna ask you just from living in vancouver is there anything else you know outside of playing hockey like you go out and do, whether it's right around the seawall? I go scootering a lot. The founder of Spin, he's a Canucks fan. So he saw me and Quinn driving a spin scooter in Tampa Bay. So he's like, yo, this made my day. Let me send you guys some scooters.

All right. Send us some. And he sent us four to me, Quinn, Brock and Tanev. And we've been ripping him ever since. So, so fun. When's the last time you rode a unicycle? That was a while ago. This morning while I was doing abs? Yeah,

I mean, it's a part of the workout routine. Put a clown costume on. No, it's been months since last time, actually.

You, uh, won a gold medal world champion. You can call yourself a world champion forever. Was that in Denmark, 2018?

Like, take us through that tournament. What was your role on the team? How did that all go down? Yeah, that was, that was a fun tournament. I mean,

I didn't play, I got, I broke my thumb that tournament, so, basically, yeah. He's like, actually, I didn't get a gold medal.

Thanks for bringing it up. Oh, yeah. Denmark. Yeah, that was fun. It's playing with that was like my first opportunity to be around NHL players. And it was a good experience for me to see how they prepare for games, how they are just normal people having fun playing hockey. And I mean, I was starstruck with some of the players

because I've been watching them growing up. And now I'm here playing for the country with them so I was having a blast and then against Swiss I got a breakaway and I I hit the post and I broke my thumb so I missed the rest of the tournament but just the games I played and still be with the team during the whole tournament was a memory I'll never forget. I want to talk about your coach for a sec. Travis Green, he's been your coach for the two years you've been in the league. Guy seems to really like playing for him.

He's a former player himself. Does he just let you run wild all day? Does he have you on any kind of leash? What does he tell you? On the ice or off the ice? What do you mean? He used to run pretty hard himself, so he can't say shit about the offense. Yeah, you ain't fooling me, Travis.

I think he's still running pretty hard. That's great. No, he, Travis is good. I like him. He lets me play my game. And, I mean, he's always giving me, like, small tips, what to think about. So me and him have a good, I was going to say connection, but a good rapport. Relationship?

Yeah, relationship. Rapport is a good one, Biz. Great job there. I struggle with the words. You might have better English than me. See, I would have thought of connection first, too, but then I would have been like, oh, it's a little romantic. Yeah, and then I would have done the same thing you just did.

Put the R&B music on, light the candles. Let's get it going. Let's get it popping. Okay, that works. Hey, Grinelli, this is one of the young studs in the league. You probably, you know, you're darn into the social media and all the craziness. Do you have a question for him?

Yeah, you did a video with the on-the-bench guys. How'd that go? You played some goalie there, huh? Oh, yeah. That was so fun, actually. Yeah, I like being a goalie. So I told Arie that I played soccer, but growing up I played soccer the whole time.

I played soccer goalie, sorry. We had a goal in our backyard back home and of course my brother is older than me so young guy goes in the net so that's where i got the interest of playing a goalie and then i i don't know when i start playing in in that in hockey and i just like it. Your brother must have, you know, been a huge influence for you. He still plays over there. We mentioned that. Like, growing up, was he giving you beatings,

or were you just always doing everything together? What was the relationship like? We were, we've been having a lot of battles, and I don't know how many fights we've had or how many times our parents broke us loose. I think it was one time I swinged like a floorball stick over his neck or something. And the next time, yeah, we were going hard on each other. So both of us hate to lose.

And whenever the other guy won, the other guy got rattled. You made a joke about listening to your father once in a while earlier on. I'd imagine that you guys are very close and he's a big reason for a lot of your success. Yeah, my family means everything to me. They've been my support from day one and are still my support. They've been my support from day one and are still my support. And the way I am today with like two people is because of them. So they've been an influence to me this whole time.

And yeah, I wouldn't be here without them. You and Brock Besser, you have some nice chemistry together. We see a lot of kind of dynamic duos throughout the league. Some guys just click with for no reason. You just get out there and kind of share the same mentality. Yeah, we think Kaki, pretty similar. I mean, he likes to shoot more than pass, but he's a good shooter. So I understand he shoots a lot, but that's pretty much it yeah no

I mean we're good friends off the ice and that just transforms to have good chemistry on the ice we're hanging out almost every day during the season so yeah it's just yeah it's fun

do you think he's got better hair than you or Do you think he's got better hair than you, or do you think he's got better hair? Do you guys compete, share product advice? I don't know if he uses it. Yeah, he uses some products. He has the better hair. I got to admit that. Yeah, he's got some of the best hair in the league.

You brought up golf, so I got to get in there. When did you start playing? What's the handicap? What's the golf background? Handicap now is 4.2. Oh, so we can play, boys. Oh, no. Shit.

Oh, yeah. That's hand-eye. I mean, if you can juggle on a unicycle, you're a hand-eye guy. Okay, so I'm lefty on hockey, but I play golf right. Same. Same here. Or maybe I'm a lefty. Maybe that's why I'm lefty on hockey, but I play golf right. Same. Same here. But – Well, maybe I'm a lefty. Maybe that's why I'm so sure.

Are you putting lefty now? No, I'm putting righty. But say if I play baseball, I play lefty. Same here. We're the same so far. So if I throw a football, I throw it righty. If I throw a baseball, I throw it lefty. Yeah, vice versa.

I right with my right and throw with my left. I think we're ambidextrous, but obviously it's the fifth overall pick thing. I guess it's just, you know, sorry, Biz. I think every time Whit mentions fifth overall, the Quebec Peewee turn, we need to have Petey pop up to tell that moto story just to remind him. Yeah, just to bring him back down a little. I love that. Hey, is there any sports you're not good at?

Obviously basketball because I watched you dribble, but anything other than that? I mean, I'm not that good of a dribbler at basketball. I can shoot the ball all right, but I'm not a good dribble. That move or that dribble move that I did is pretty easy, but I'm not like a good dribble what about tennis guy like I feel like a lot of the Finns I know are into tennis is that the same in Sweden uh yeah uh I'm I love playing tennis uh yeah my grandpa had a uh he has a court on his yard. So every time we visited there, we always play.

So I've been a tennis guy my whole life. Who's your favorite player to watch? Federer, the GOAT, I'd say. Well, that's part of what I was going to ask next, R.A. I was going to ask, who are your favorite celebrities? If you could meet a couple people like who would it be um yeah I say

that's a hard one really I thought for sure you would have a few of them that you were going to bang off yes okay so Steph Curry I use Steph Curry LeBron James King James. What the fuck?

What? What's the other one? Is it another NBA-er? No, those two. Whit doesn't like how they dive so much, so he definitely wouldn't like soccer. No, I actually like soccer. I like soccer. Soccer is diving.

I'm just not a big NBA guy. But obviously, what those guys do, they're freak athletes. So if you could change one rule in the NHL, it would be the fact that you're able to walk into the rink in whatever outfit you want to wear besides a suit. Yeah, I would like to dress the way I want to. Okay. When we get Bettman on, I'll tell him.

I'll tell him that you're asking for it. Did Vancouver... You can have his shoes. Did Vancouver make a team rule when you guys were in the bubble? They said players can dress how they want, but I know some teams made guys wear certain things. What did Vancouver make you guys wear? Yeah, so

we didn't hear about if we're going to have an outfit, so I was getting kind of excited to to wear whatever i want uh but three four days before we left to edmonton we get slack pants we got a blue golf shirt and nice um adidas nmd shoes and you were loving it you were loving the khaki look I mean I brought some outfits

if we were going to change for one game but no well that's all I got but you got one already I was going to ask him what he does you're a big movie TV guy watch a lot of Netflix Prime that type of stuff I watch a lot of Netflix, Prime, that type of stuff. Yeah.

I kill a lot of time playing PS4 and Xbox. I have both because all the guys in the team play Xbox and all my friends back home play PS4. That's a ball of... So, watch Netflix, TV, just chill, go on scooters, go shopping.

Go shopping, Will, here and there. Hey, you're living your best life, man. You deserve it. We want to thank you very much. I think you bring up the gaming. Hopefully we see you streaming with Grinnelli at some point. I think that would be a killer combo, maybe at least even help your following grow more.

Do you get sick of everybody butchering your name? Your name was a disaster for the first year and a half. Yeah, I know. I mean, people still here in North America still can't pronounce the Swedish way or say the Swedish way. And the Swedish way is Elias Pettersson. That's what I tried to do at the beginning. I don't know how good. Was there another version? That was like a mixture, I think, of the both. Yeah, Elias Pettersson. That's what I tried to do at the beginning. I don't know how good. Yeah. Another version?

That was like a mixture, I think, of the both. Yeah. Elias Pettersson. But no, I like it. Elias Pettersson. All right. Well, buddy, it's great to finally chat with you. What a first few years you've had in this league,

and we appreciate you coming on. Thanks to Petey, man. Just an awesome interview. A lot of fun talking to him. Just, like I said, a great character of the game, pretty unique personality. So, listen, we also want to thank our fans. You guys, we're nothing without you.

We say it every year. Whether you're listening on Spotify or iTunes or you're watching on YouTube or whatever, we can't say how much we appreciate the support you guys give us. I know there's a lot of options out there, and people might not like us or people do, but the support you guys give us. I know there's a lot of options out there and people might not like us or people do, but we love you guys. And again, we're nothing without you and we cannot thank you enough for the support.

Normally this episode, every episode during the year, we love you guys. We're going to be back. We're going to kick ass in 2021. Coming to the live shows, buying the merch, everything, everything you guys do, we're nothing without you. So I just wanted to throw that in there as well. All right. Absolutely. G and well, why you said that you've been doing a killer job on the YouTube channel. We're also going to have a best of video on the YouTube channel as well, which you're going to be taking care of. So, and while we're here, G hats off to you, buddy,

you've been kicking ass all year. Uh, you're the man behind the scenes. You make us all look good. So thanks for doing that. Thank you. R.A. I really appreciate that. And there's really nothing I love more in the entire world than working on this podcast and working with you guys. And there are so many people that help us behind the scenes. You know, Terrence, Chase, Dale, Pasha, everyone at Barstool has been so helpful for us. But most importantly, the fans.

You guys have stuck by us all through 2020. Everyone at Barstool has been so helpful for us, but most importantly, the fans. You guys have stuck by us all through 2020, and we are so excited to see what 2021 has in store. We can't wait to get out and start hanging out with you guys again, start doing events again. So let's knock 2021 out of the park, and I can't wait to see all you guys again. I love you guys so much. Absolutely, pal. Listen, happy new year, everybody. We'll be back next week with a new episode. We love you.

As always, we'd like to thank our awesome sponsors here on Spittin' Chicklets. Big thanks to our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney. Big thanks to our friends at EA Sports NHL. We had a lot of fun with our draft. Big thanks to our new friends at Bruch. If you're looking to clean up the chicklets, by all means, check them out. Huge thanks to our longtime friends at DHM Detox. If you're having a few pops

and you want to feel good the next day, check them out. Big thank you to our friends at Audible. If you're not reading old school books, you want to just listen, by all means, check them out. Of course, you can listen to our podcast as well. And a huge thanks to our friends at NHTSA for keeping people safe on the roadways this holiday season. Take care, everybody. Have a fantastic week and a happy new year. Fire away Hit me with your best shot

Why don't you hit me with your best shot Hit me with your best shot Fire away Hey!