Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 314: Featuring Seth Jones + Ray Ferraro

Episode Date: January 5, 2021

On Episode 314 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Seth Jones and Ray Ferraro. Seth joined (38:44) to discuss his family, playing for Torts, using CBD and more. The guys then talked about all the crazy NHL news, including Zdeno Chara leaving the Boston Bruins. The boys then talk some World Juniors with Ray Ferraro (1:47:07) and wrap the podcast up by giving their predictions for the big USA vs Canada Gold Medal game.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 314 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the holiday. I think it's safe to say we're all glad to have 2020 in the rearview mirror.

Tons of stuff going on. Camps have opened. World Junior going to the medal round. Trades have been requested. A franchise icon and future Hall of famer changed addresses where do we start as usual by saying hello to the boys mikey g happy new year to our producer how we doing buddy happy new year boys i uh got myself a little espresso machine over the uh over the new year so nice mug yeah got the little plate too so gonna be sucking down espresso during these episodes get

a little more uh energy and uh hockey's back so i'm excited hey he just talks the whole episode we don't even get a word in it's like we have to mute him i send someone over to smash his espresso machine remember ra on death wish or that's that's gonna be Grinnelly wish yeah our pods will be at times two that's the voice of Paul Biz nasty Bissonette how was your happy new year Biz it was great I hung out with Finn again at home didn't do much we did go uh he with the Pyatt's oh me start a theme again how about Pyatt in ea video he looked like a full-blown rock star and he probably just rolled out of bed yeah he uh i surprised him if i would have asked him to do it he would have never joined me but yes he's the he's the most handsome man in north scottsdale

i even think at one point he got asked to be the bachelor wow and then actually we spent the ball drop with uh ray whitney at the whitney household wizard wizard yes and we spent the ball drop with uh ray whitney at the whitney household wizard wizard yes and we saw the ball drop their donor was there uh tyson nash who of course does uh um between the benches for the coyotes so a little a little uh cup run uh conference finals reunion for the for the new year's nice what an interesting new year's eve biz you ripped it up i wasn't even awake for the ball drop. Sorry, go ahead. That's all right.

Last but not least, the wit dog, Ryan Whitney. What'd you do, buddy? I didn't do anything. I was asleep before midnight. So I'm kind of, I've always been over New Year's Eve. I think it's amateur hour. It's the most overrated night. We've said it long, but it's the year ended.

220. See you later. Smell you later. On to bigger and better things in 2021 um i i think biz you got to give me what you're eating on a night like that are you eating anything what kind of what kind of restaurant you go to we went to a place called maple and ash started in um in chicago and then they opened one here uh just great a bunch of appetizers like the tuna tartare.

Ended up having a filet. And I think they had this, what was it called? Short rib bolognese. Oh, that sounds tasty. Brought a little home. Brought a little home for Finnegan. Okay, so that was random, but I was curious because do you still do the thing when you're out to dinner?

Grinnelli, you know what I'm talking about? Where you just say, Hey, get this and I'll split it with you. And then you just fully the whole table because you want bites of everything. So you, I never get what I want. I always have to do that on New Year's Eve. Or I, I, I, uh, yeah, I probably did that a little bit. I liked, I liked getting one of every appetizer, forcing everyone to get it, and then dummying half of the app,

and then everybody else at the table gets to split the other half of the app. Yes, I did that wit, you asshole. And thanks for bringing it up. All right, I was just curious. I love going on TV, you guys, because you do. You order all kinds of crazy shit, some stuff I've never tried before, And I definitely have expanded my culinary horizons, no doubt, with you two. Especially on the sushi stuff. It's a great group to wake up with.

It's a great group to wake up at the table with. You know you're just going to have something perfect to crush. I started doing it more, especially when we all eat together because R.A.'s been known to steal dishes. I'm never going to live that fucking down. Were you with him recently, Grinelli? No, that was just a throwback pick. I look fired, so I had to post on Instagram.

That was just a throwback pick that you guys are hooking up? Maybe a year and a half ago. I looked handsome as hell. Where is that kid now? Brett Merriman's in Austin, Texas, just living it up. Some of you are wondering. I'll never forget when Brett took us up the goddamn coast. Let's go up and see the ocean in California, guys.

We can get to San Jose in four hours, but let's take 11 because it's going to be dark out in 25 minutes. So we'll get 24 minutes of amazing coastline views. I'll never forget Brett. We saw the sunset. So we might as well just keep hugging the ocean here and add three hours to almost die in big surf on off a 200 foot fucking every, every podcast after that one is,

is we're playing with the house's money at the fact that we're still alive. So, but the good news guys, we have tons of hockey to talk about. A lot of drama off the ice more so than on right now, other than world juniors. We have Ray Ferraro coming by later. It's kind of cool. So we recorded it before the semifinal games. He kind of gave his predictions and what he's been seeing. So now we're going to jump back on after the games are played tonight because we're recording this on Monday and we're going to see how the prediction worked out and talk a little bit about the games itself. So

we've got a lot planned for you guys as far as hockey is concerned. And not just chicken pound. We also have Columbus stud defenseman Seth Jones joined us for a nice lengthy chat. Somewhat of a quiet guy, but I thought he really opened up a bit. And I think people who listen to it are really going to enjoy it. But we'll get to that in a little bit. Like you said, Biz, lots of big news. Camps have officially opened for all teams.

And one prominent player will have a new workplace. Big Z has gone to D.C. Zdeno Chara, after 14 years in Boston, capping all 14 years, he left for D.C. a one-year $795,000 deal. Boston GM Don Sweeney wanted him in a, quote, integrated role. Just say fucking reduced, Don. I mean, you don't have to say integrated. He went to Harvard.

He went to Harvard. He went to Harvard. I know you got to tell. I love the word. Say it. He, you know, he wanted one. It was a meal.

He wanted him on a reduced role. Z feels like he has plenty left in the tank. And there was really no animosity between, between the parties. Like they basically said, this is what we want to do. Z said, I don't want it.

And everyone kind of was adult like about it. Cause Bruins fans are revolting a little bit up here. He's still one of the best conditioned athletes in the league father time is undefeated um money not a factor here i i hate people saying oh broons are cheap it's like the broons have been spending the cap for 15 fucking years find a new angle what let's go to you first for you oh i actually heard it was the owner he was trying to make some cutbacks i don't want to start any rumors here good you're on the flyer what do you got what'd you make of this whole thing i i think that it's a huge mistake um here's my thing so bruins fans to me are kidding themselves if they think their window is any longer than two more years i think their window is one to two years i don't know how think they're windows any longer than two more years. I think they're windows one to two years.

I don't know how good they're going to be after that. Bergeron will be older. Rask, who knows the scenario? It's just winter right now. And along with that maybe being bad news, the good news is last year before COVID, you were smash-bashing the entire league. You were running through the league looking like it was going to be

a legitimate, very high percentage chance You were smash bashing the entire league. You were running through the league looking like it was going to be a legitimate, very high percentage chance that you're going back to the cup final conference final. Tampa looked awesome also, but man, the break happens. They never really got anything going in the playoffs. And that entire times that ain't no chara played a huge role on the team

last year. I'm never going gonna sit here and say that he's the same player he was which he was the best defenseman in the league I remember I don't know what year it was in the when I was in the NHL maybe 09 I gotta look at his numbers he was in he was the biggest freak 25 minutes he beat the shit out of anyone he'd score get points perfect defense like the best in the league so I'm not gonna pretend he's that but he's still solid and so if you have one to two more years to win it and you got a guy that you can have play I don't know 20 minutes 18 to 20 minutes 17 to 19 minutes you're so good on the PK the presence

he's gonna turn it over he's gonna look a little awkward at times he's better than what you have now so going into this year what are they going with they're gonna have three guys try to fill the role of one i understand you need to develop prospects i understand that you need to i know i'm going on too long here but to win now is like you're telling me that this guy doesn't give you a better chance to win now. I don't know. Maybe they don't look at it like they have a one- to two-year window. And you said he's going to be playing 18 to 20 a game, where I think at that much ice.

That's too much, you think? Well, I think that what they're seeing is that at some point it becomes a little bit of a liability. Now, that's such a negative word to use when talking about Ch chara and i guess i'll start from the beginning and saying i thought given the shortened season and with what it was i thought this would have been a wise year to keep them in a full-length season i get why they'd be like hey we got to move on because we do have to see what else we have here you said that they have a two-year window well to me what do you think it is ra sorry biz i completely agree two to three years i think having pasta knock as a young gun kind of

rejuvenates the older guys a little bit you got uh mcavoy on the back end who i think is going to be able to be that awesome you know that he's an ace you know you got your ace you lost krug though who's going to be able to fill those roles I think they need to see these guys and they need to use this year to see what do we got and where are we going to fill it if in fact I use this year why use the year when you're like I don't know it's crazy because time is because time is of the essence because if you're telling me that Chara isn't going to be there beyond this year and listen it might not even solve the problem because after the shortened season, Charo might be like, I still want to play. And they're like, fuck.

I don't think he's ever going to quit. That's what I'm saying. And so they're at some point they got to be like, they got to look like the bad guys. And in this case they are. And I think from an organizational standpoint, if you're thinking we have two or three years left, I actually do think it's the time to move on and look like the bad guy and, and see what else there is to offer. So you can fill those holes for like,

if you're actually going to make a serious run, listen, they got, they got bigger fish to fry. They got to look at what they can compete against Tampa. And I don't think that having char lugging 18 to 20 is putting you over the edge. And if that's offended any of you Boston Bruins fans, and you said, no, he should have been there for the short season.'ll say okay I I agree with you on the emotional aspect level but as from an organizational standpoint with no heart in the game I think it's it's it sucks but it's the right move because I don't think that he's going to retire even after this year he's

going to want to keep playing all right um before I go to you and a lifelong bruins fan has it come out um what they told him his role would be because if they told him his role was going to be 14 to 16 minutes in that range and he said no to that then i'm like okay i mean if you're if if if you know what i'm saying right now like if they told me he's going to play half the games and when he did play it was going to be 10 minutes it's like okay but if they told him he was going to play half the games and when he did play, it was going to be 10 minutes. It's like, okay. But if they told him it was a little bit more than that and he wasn't going to be scratched on certain nights, I don't know if that'll ever come out,

what they told him the role would entail. But that really does kind of switch it for me on whose side I would really be on when looking down at the other points you brought up, Piz. Now, R.A., what are your thoughts on this thing? And what are the overall Bruins fan sentiments in terms of time for him to go or we wish we wish we still had him I mean based on Twitter which is only a sample because not every Bruins fan is on Twitter they seem pretty pissed off about it again if they're complaining about money they're totally

missing the point and not keeping track on salary cap issues uh as far as the particulars of whether they discussed uh minutes 14 minutes a game, 16 minutes a game. I think from what I, my read was that, you know, they were going to probably scratch them a couple of games and put the young guys in the lab. That's again, that's my interpretation of it. And if that's the case, now you're talking about, you know, healthy scratching your captain and that kind of, I think creates another ripple effect of, okay, like this guy's a captain,

but he's not dressing. And you know, how's that going to have ripple effects in the room? Sweeney said they're going to do it by committee. I mean, I don't know how that's going to work out. This guy was second in ice time on the team last year, had three plus penalty killing minutes per game. And now, you know, the left side, you got Grizzie, you got John Moore. They're the only two NHL regulars on that side right now. I mean, Jeremy Lauzon's a right shot.

I don't know if they can switch him over. You got Vakhanine in there. What's his name? Zaboro, they drafted a few years ago. I assume he'd probably maybe go out and get a deal, maybe bring in Sammy Vatnin, who's still an unrestricted free agent. But, yeah, I don't think you can argue that this team is better than they were without Shara than they were with them because,

like Biz said, sometimes he does look bad out there when he gets turned around by a 20-year-old kid. But I always say, how many plays does he snuff out just by having him out there? Because he's such a monster. Again, you know, three penalty killing minutes per game. That's a lot. It sucks to see him go, but I think the longer it went on, the writing was on the wall. But no, hey, no hard feelings, man. I mean, 1,023 games played here, 481 points, Stanley Cup in 2011, Messier Leadership Award, a Norris Trophy, which you probably should have won a couple more, but the Norris is so obsessed with points that, you know, I mean, he's the shutdown defenseman of his generation.

Yeah, for a decade, he was like the guy. And also, too, I want to make a note about his numerous charitable things he's done here. And there was a tweet from Matt Brown, a buddy of mine. He was injured in a hockey accident years ago. And he said, just a few days after my accident, Zdeno stopped by and surprised the team at a pasta dinner. He talked with the boys, stayed for an hour, took pictures with everyone. He knew life was more than just a game of hockey. And he exhibited that time and time again in Boston.

I thought that was just a great statement for Matt kind of to sum up. You know, yeah, hockey's his life, but there's also more to it. So, yeah, we'll miss him here. No doubt about that. There's a huge hole in the roster. But, you know, that's the game. I mean, I don't get surprised. Obviously, I'm old, but when guys end up on different teams,

I mean, fucking Gretzky played for four different teams. So I don't know why people get shocked when guys move on. I don't think, I don't think there's, I think that's wearing off a bit, but I, I do see this day and age in the game. So many free agent deals, they don't work out, you know, it's guys getting bought out. It's guys getting traded. It's things that just happen over time. He's got to be one of the most bang on,

hit a home run signings in league history. The year that they signed him, they also signed Mark Savard, right? That same off season? Same day. Okay. So they made a big splash, start spending more money in Boston.

It changed the Bruins course of their next 15 years, whatever it was. And God, dude, he earned every single dollar it was like there was not a minute of people thinking or you know what there was a minute of people saying shower sucks those people know nothing about hockey so congrats on a great Bruins career we'll see what he does in Washington and wonder what his role will be there yeah I mean interesting he said he wasn't guaranteed anything there but okay obviously he thinks he's gonna get more ice time there than he is in Boston.

So so he left, man. And like, yeah, good, good point you brought up with. I still remember I was coincidentally in Toronto July 1st, 2006, and I got a text from my buddy. Bruins signed Jara five years, seven point five year in Savad, four years, 20 mil. I thought he was punking me because the Bruins never spent that kind of money unless they were trying to like fucking piss off another owner like they do at body the point signing and it was like yeah it was a whole new a whole new day the Bruins are like all right we're doing business here this is how we're going to go moving forward and he really re-established credibility for the Bruins franchise I try to look at look at the whole situation just from a neutral standpoint and and listen you guys know me I'm a fucking like sucker for like especially if a guy guy had gotten it done for me as the captain,

I would have 100% signed him. I just think that it takes balls in order to keep up with pace of play, so to speak, in the NHL. And given with the cap situation and what decisions have to be made in this short window that you just talked about that they have, sometimes it has to get a little bit cutthroat. And I think that's just where they found themselves. And they found that the time to pull the trigger on the shortened season. And boys, like I said, we weren't in the room.

It could have been a situation where he was saying, no, I want to keep playing forever. And they're like, oh, shit, maybe now's the time to do it. So what a run in fucking Boston, though. Yeah. I mean, his number is going to be up there. I mean, we've had a great run of defense from Eddie Shaw, Bobby Ewer, Ray Bork.

Interestingly, those three guys all finished their career elsewhere than Boston, too. So I guess Jairus is keeping with that theme. So thanks, Z, for everything you did here. We love you and appreciate it. But go Bees. And as far as their window, I think it's more than two years. What do you think their window is?

I mean, honestly, man, as long as they got, you know, Rask, Bergeron, Marchand there, I think the window will be there as long as those guys are there, especially Rask. I mean, he's a bona fide number one. They're tough to come by. So I'd give it more than two years. But, you know, they got to try to rebuild on the fly. What's Bergeron, 37 in two years?

Bergeron, he's two years? Bergeron, he's 35 right now. He's got two more years left. Yeah, so he'll be 37 in two years. If a current 37-year-old in this league, if a 37-year-old center can get it done, it could be Patrice Bergeron, but don't count on it. Yeah, like I just said,

Father Time is undefeated no matter what kind of shape you're in. Can we stick with the center theme and move on to Columbus? Oh, there's some upsetting news for Blue Jackets fans, really. All right, what's going on over there with one of their top picks from the recent draft? Yeah, restricted free agent Pierre-Luc Dubois. He signed with Columbus two years, a $10 million deal, but he apparently wants out of Ohio.

Pierre Lebrun had said he was looking for a change of scenery. As a restricted free agent, he was free to negotiate with teams, and apparently that's when it became known that he had a wandering eye. Sunday, he said, quote, I'm going to be the best player I can be, the best teammate I can be, and the best person I can be. I don't want it to be a distraction, so I think that's the only way. I think if I go out there and I work hard on practices with a good attitude and I go out there and work hard in games and play well,

I think it's not a distraction. He didn't want to get into more than that. He said, our goal is to get a contract before camp. The team, my agent, myself have held talks, private talks, and they'll remain private. But what's going to be interesting is Tortorella. Tortorella's quote uh he said we're transparent about everything uh not just Panarin and Bobrovsky when they had you know similar situations with those guys uh quote there's a number of things that go on during a hockey season that I think it's important that

it belongs in the room where everybody's involved with it and understanding of what's going on so this situation I'm not sure I haven't spoken to Dubois or anything like that, but not only this situation, but others as the year goes on, we'll talk about it as men and we'll talk about it in a group setting. So, I mean, that sounds like towards like, Hey, just throw it out there and let me, you want to be here. You don't want to be here. Like, I mean, have you guys been in rooms business where guys requested a trade and what kind of effect it has in the room? I can't remember one like in that type of situation, especially as like,

it was just a, it was a bizarre situation. And even when he, when he got there, he spoke and he's like, you know, you know, I'm not going to be a distraction and kind of really didn't back off the fact that he really wants to get out of there. Now I'm hearing that this has everything to do with torts. And you mentioned the wandering eye. I mean, I don't know if burger van brought him over to shape harry give him a little you know brought him a couple lap dances in the back mask on with a mask on with a the hand hand sanitizer what about six feet yeah yeah yeah anyway it was like the in the world juniors when the bot pops up what do you call it the what am i thinking

what is it something gram hologram yeah hologram pops up of the of the ripper anyway um i i don't think that their relationship is very good i don't think dubois likes the way that he tries to motivate his players even though that torts is kind of i i would say he's dialed it in since his past he's gotten far better but i mean you saw the situation against the leafs when when he when he laid into him on the bench and i i would go to even further to say apparently that like dubois apparently his old man is not a big fan of torts and he just like he thinks man to man that's not how you treat people especially in an environment where you're trying to pull on the same rope and

win something now i'm not going against anyone's style of coaching here because I like the coaches that were hard on me. But, I mean, you know, when you've got certain coaches like that, sometimes the shelf life is short. Now, from Dubois' standpoint too, like you've got to be looking at this. I don't know how long Torts is going to be there for after this year. I think his deal's up after this year. I don't know how much longer he's going to be coaching and he's on the back nine so i just think that above anything else it's his relationship with the

head coach that's pushing him away from columbus and i don't think money was going to solve the problem if that was anyone's uh anyone's guess i'm pretty sure that that's been like a long run long standing story or however i can't speak you know what i'm talking about that that's been like a long run, long standing story or however, I can't speak. You know what I'm talking about? That's torts, right? There's some people that can handle it. There's some that can't. He says success everywhere he's been. But at times it does. It ends. You know, guys, guys can't deal with the constant kind of not just expectations, but the way he goes about his business, matter of fact. And when you ask about being in the room with a guy who's asked for a trade, I'll tell you, I'm not going to speak for everyone and say people aren't that offended. I'm sure there are some guys that are offended by it. You don't want to be on this team. We don't really want you here.

But I'll tell you this, even if you think that way about him like off the ice any single person on columbus that plays with him this year and that is on the ice with him in practice and games if he's playing hard and they can tell that he's trying his best and playing as well as he can they don't give a flying fuck that's just a fact yeah because if he's your centerman and you're a winger, that's like, man, I can't believe this guy doesn't want to be here and practice start and the games get going and he's feeding you left and right.

Yeah. You don't want him to go at all, but you love how he's playing and you love that. He's making you a better player and he, and you love when he's helping you win games. So this is a business. It is surprising to see a guy this young do that. I saw some things online our boy

buchigras completely disagreed with how he's going about things we should have him on so we gotta catch up with him uh we could talk about that i think that it's a different game now where when you were younger and coming out of junior top pick first couple years a coach may treat you like shit but if you're playing as much as he does um in producing you're just going to kind of deal with it and now it's these guys have a lot more power especially younger players and if he doesn't really want to be there he can make it open hey i'm signing here but minute i can get out of here i'm gone do you want something for me or not interesting thing is is jarmo kind of dealt with a similar situation with Johansson. Yes.

But I think it was maybe Johansson wanted a little bit more money rather than wanted out. And, R.A., I think you mentioned it via text. It's like you're not going to be able to flip him for Seth Jones all the time. And they don't have necessarily a first-line center. Now, right now they have Max Domi penciled in first-line center as he's been taking reps in training camp i would imagine that that would flop considering pierre luke

dubois back and you know but if domey's your your best other option is as your top center i don't and and he and he hasn't proved himself sustainably at the nhl level as a center now you find yourself in a heap of fucking problems so if you're jarmo you got to figure out what's what's going to happen here am i going to extend this coach longer because he wants to be the head coach in the nhl and or am i going to be sacrificing my my first line center and those don't grow on trees and the amount of guys that want to stay in columbus is also even smaller margin let alone the head coach coach. Like, I mean, no offense, no offense, no offense. I said, no offense.

No offense, no offense taken. A couple other things too is like winning cures everything. So if he gets off to a start and he's playing amazing and they're doing great, I don't know, you go back to him. Do you still want to get out of here? Things have changed with Torch. Who knows? That's kind of remains to be seen.

And then the other thing is when Torrance talks about we're open, the team's honest with each other, I mean, he ain't kidding. Like, it's going to be, hey, if he has a poor night and they're watching video, hey, we know you don't want to be here. You don't want to be on this team. Is that how you're going to play? I would not be shocked at all if things like that are said. If he's talking about being out in the open, that's, hey,

you don't want to be here. You've told everyone that via the media or via you know what's going on with the gm and your agent so you better fucking play hard or all these guys are going to hate your guts i don't know like is that being open and transparent that is 100 fair because on the flip side of that you're you hear this like you hear about the situation you're like oh there must must be turmoil in the locker room. No, Max Domi, speaking of Max Domi, he was asked and he goes, this is the best atmosphere as far as a locker room setting

I've ever been involved in. And that was his early comments. I mean, he's been there for training camp. I mean, I imagine if Torts gives him a few fucking kicks in the ass. The old skating test, like 400 laps. Yeah. But so they have a great locker room dynamic and it's kind of like a they get it done by committee so if somebody just genuinely doesn't want to be there

they're kind of going to do without but on it on both sides of the coin here be careful what you wish for because the grass isn't necessarily greener and if he does leave it'll kind of fall the same pattern as you mentioned there's ryan johansson and also josh anderson a couple of guys where the negotiations got ugly and they end up getting traded and yamo kikolain and the gm of columbus he he's known to draw a line in the sand with restricted free agency i believe he says uses the hammer because players are going to do it to him coming the other way but he's not going to get a seth jones in return every time i mean i wouldn't say he swindled nashville but i'd say now uh columbus certainly won that. And there's certainly nothing imminent.

Gnamo's not obligated to trade him, but it definitely feels like the skids are greased here a little bit. But here's what, from talking to people, money is not the issue. It has nothing to do. I think they would have given him what he wanted as far as finances are concerned. But at least that's what I'm hearing. So it's strictly a coach issue, right? I didn't mean to imply he wasn't happy with the money.

Just whatever gets said during the negotiations, it got out. So, no, who's that? Who's that? That's Finn again. He's barking. Somebody must have rang the doorbell. I'm annoying. He was sick of my opinion on this topic.

So he was like, gosh, shut the fuck up. He was like, enough of your fucking tournerality. Jesus Christ, you were talking to Katie about it. Well, Biz, in case our listeners missed it, you did announce the EA Sports NHL Team of the Year last week via video. Great job, by the way. You should go to Hollywood, man. You got the stuff.

There was obviously much discussion on this show about who should go where and why, and we had some fun doing our little draft for those of you who watched you saw some of the sweet awards these guys got custom skates or goalie mask gloves biz take us through making that video that looked fun well we wanted to do an award show and they thought about doing it over zoom and i said why don't we do one that's kind of fall safety protocol we'll put the the podium up there we'll'll go around town and we'll get celebrity appearances. I ended up getting Eddie Lack to join, who's an absolute character. We're going to get him on the podcast.

We surprised Taylor Pyatt. Luckily, we got Shane Doan. We had Yance call in over phone, but we couldn't get the audio, so we had to dub the voiceover. And legendary play-by-play host for the Arizona the arizona coyotes bob heat house my my partner in crime so i had him uh introduce all the left wingers and it was a blast and shout out to our limo driver who ended up having to do the last one because we had somebody not show up and i will not remain all right i won't say who it was so thanks to ea we had a blast doing the drive-by

award show and thank you for the tire pump, R.A. Absolutely. And in case you didn't know the team, the EA Sports NHL Team of the Year, it was Leon Dreisaitl, Artemi Panarin, David Pasternak, Kel McCarr, Victor Hedman, and Andre Vasilevsky. And again, if you haven't seen Biz's work yet, you can watch the award show video on our YouTube and Instagram page. And also check out the award winners over at ea sports nhl social channels as well and thank you to uh cory and porter for helping um film that and edit it and they made me look somewhat decent and although the one the guy helping out wit he had the he was carrying around the podium

and he absolutely smoked me right in the nose i was bleeding i saw that i was like that looked bad that looked bad actually i was wondering if that actually hurt they got me pretty good but we had the show must go on we had eddie lack ready to go and so they wanted a zoom award show and that's what you gave them that's like buying like i can't even think of an analogy what a move by you just trying to just trying to grow the brand bro we're trying to get the youtube channel going right we're gonna getting things popping with the kids g absolutely we're actually switching all of our gaming over to the youtube as well we're leaving twitch and we're going to

be doing all of our gaming going forward on uh on youtube so we're going all in on youtube baby let's go okay subscribe to our youtube channel check out there, and we'll be dropping all the pods on there now, too. All right. Going back to roster reports, some more bad news for our friends in Chicago. Jonathan Taves will not be with the Blackhawks to start camp. I'm sorry. I should say he wasn't with the Blackhawks to start camp.

He's been dealing with the medical issue. He released a statement. He said, this offseason, I've been experiencing symptoms that have left me feeling drained and lethargic. I'm working with doctors so I can better understand my condition until I can get my health back to a place where I feel I can perform at an elite level and help my team.

I will not be joining the Hawks for camp. He did ask for privacy as he focuses on his health and recovery. We're not going to speculate on anything here. We just want to tell him, get well, get better. But as a fair fan of the Blackhawks, now you're going to start the year without Taves, without Doc. I just found out Seabrook's not in camp as well. So a tough blow for the Blackhawks, no doubt.

Yeah, definitely kind of a scary thing to read because you just don't know what they're talking about, and we're not going to at all try to figure out what's going on. We just want to say good luck to Jonathan Taves in getting healthy. I've met him one time. Awesome guy. Everyone knows what he kind of means to the league and the city of Chicago. So forgetting that with Doc out, it kills the Blackhawks,

who didn't look great going into the year to begin with. More about just getting this guy healthy, getting him feeling right again, because the vague report of kind of what is out there, just the statement that was made it does make you think like all that matters is our health we've been over that a bunch of times and you got to think that that it's definitely a scary time for him yeah well said absolutely so get well taves we need you back out there health is the priority uh moving right along the devil's forward nico he should he missed the start of camp as well the leg injury he's week to week and he should be ready for the season opener of course he was the

number one overall pick in the 717 draft he just turned 22 actually today Monday and he starts a seven-year 50.75 million dollar deal this season so a little bit of pressure on that kid I'd say yeah that's I gotta get the iso cam iso cam on this guy this year. Everybody's pumping up his two-way game. Yeah, and also, Tommy Fitzgerald came into that contract already being given to him, right, R.A.? Yeah, so it's one of those things. You come in, you got a young guy, and you got to think he's going to be watching him very closely,

knowing that they got him next seven years for over seven a year. Yeah, that's a pretty big nut for the kids. So obviously, I can wish him well, see what happens. Moving right along, another trade request. Winnipeg also dealing with some issues. They had at least one trade request, restricted free agent forward, Jack. Is it Roslovich? Roslovich.

Roslovich. I see you never know how it's going. He's supposedly asked for a new place to apply his trade as well. He doesn't have a contract yet. He's going to be subject to mandatory quarantine. He can join the team on day eight if he gets four negative tests. February 11th would be the last day for Winnipeg to sign him, for him to play in the NHL this season.

He just completed his entry-level deal. But the bigger fish involved with Winnipeg to sign him for him to play in the NHL this season. He just completed his entry-level deal. But the bigger fish involved with Winnipeg, Patrick Liney. He's been rumored to be in trade talks as well. He's going to be RFA after this season. He's making $7.5 million. He's still only 22 years old, Liney, averaging 34.5 goals in his first four seasons. He's the seventh most prolific goal scorer since his rookie year. If he doesn't want to be um if he doesn't want to be

there he doesn't want to be there but man if you're a gm it's tough to pot with a sniper like that biz i don't know he's been talking about this guy since he joined the podcast whenever that was and just in where you're going to find the goals and what what do you but what are you going to do when you're not scoring well we talked about it with ray actually you know we talked about that b game and nights where he's not scoring and he's a little bit non-existent where there's nothing else going on and in some cases a bit of a dog. Listen, the book last year was that he started playing a little bit more defense.

He had a pretty solid season. I don't know. He doesn't want to be there. I don't know what the ask is going to be and what he's going to want to get paid moving forward, but I still think that there's something to prove there. Yeah. The thing is, for teams looking,

it's so hard to figure out what you'd be willing to package to get this guy because are you going to get the dude that looks unstoppable that'll get you 40 every season? Or are you going to get the dude that looks unstoppable that'll get you 40 every season? Or are you going to get the guy that just shuts it down when he's playing video games and 48 hours straight drinking Mountain Dew? I don't know. You don't understand what he's so difficult to watch. Let's sign him to the fucking Sock Daddies.

How about that? I'll give him $7 million. I didn't make that up, did I? He's a gamer. Big time gamer. Grinnelli, big time gamer? Yeah, big time gamer. So if you get lucky and you deal for him and then he decides,

all right, I'm going to play. I like this. I like my living situation better. I like my line mates better. It's all one big. It all rolls together to one big package. Am I happier? I don't know if that's what it is for this dude.

We're all kind of guessing. But when he's on, man, it would change a team's forward unit. Imagine the Bruins got that guy. He started just sniping. As far as the other guy you mentioned for Winnipeg, I couldn't even tell you which way he shot. So, he's a righty.

Good player? Yeah, he is. He was a first-round pick five years ago or six years ago and has all the tools. I don't necessarily think he's been given the opportunity in Winnipeg. Who knows, right, with his relationship with the coach there. Why am I forgetting who the coach is there? Unreal press conferences.

Paul Maurice. So I don't know what's going on with their relationship or what he thinks of him as a player. Maybe he sees third, fourth-line, opposed to top two line winger. But I remember talking to Matthews, they played at the national program together and he was so complimentary of how skilled this guy is. And this dude probably wants a chance. Jack probably wants a chance to get more minutes.

And I don't really think it's a, it's a situation where he, he cares where it is. Just get me somewhere that I'm going to get a chance to play top two lines. Do you guys think there's any way that Winnipeg and Columbus could swap Line A and Pierre-Luc Dubois? Sure. Let's fucking do it. I'll call torts right now. Imagine torts

with Line A. Fucking do it. Trade him. Line A is playing the PSP on the bench. He's like there could be some fireworks there I think Aves was telling us a story at one point in New York when guys got into the locker room they had to put their cell phones in a bag and they would take it would you couldn't touch your cell phone while you're in the locker room

and at one point Aves had one of those iPads because that's how he used to read the newspaper and he walked in and apparently grabbed it off of me like snapped and he's like torts i'm reading the fucking newspaper like this is how you do it nowadays you don't get ink all over your fingers so yeah the adjustment there fucking i'm i'll pay a salary just to see the goddamn fireworks i i don't think columbus needs a center hey he's playing fucking x Xbox on the Jumbotron between periods. Missing team meetings. He's got the COD. He's selling side tickets to the fans to watch him on the Jumbotron

playing against Song Daddies. Yeah, I don't think Torts will be down with Patrick. Yeah, that would be a wild trade, boys, taking two allegedly disgruntled guys and swapping them for each other. That would be some pretty quacky stuff. Speaking of Columbus, I think we should send it over to Seth Jones shortly. But first, I want to talk to you about SimpliSafe for a minute. We're going to be talking about Lake Tahoe shortly. And if Mikey Colleon had SimpliSafe at his Tahoe place, then things might have turned out different. Everyone wants to keep

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chicklets. You also get a 60-day risk-free trial, so there's nothing to lose. Visit simplisafe.com slash chicklets for your free security camera today. That's simplisafe.com slash chicklets. S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash chicklets. C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S. And without further ado, here's Seth Jones. Well, it's a pleasure to welcome our next guest. This defenseman was taken by Nashville fourth overall in the 2013 draft and made the team just a few months later. In the ensuing years, he's become one of the top defensemen in the league and has been an all-star game representative for the Columbus Blue Jackets in three of the last four seasons. Thanks for joining us on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast.

Seth Jones, how you doing, pal? I'm good. I'm good. Thanks for having me, guys. My pleasure, man. So where are you spending your offseason? I'm in Dallas right now. I've been in Dallas ever since I came back from the bubble. So I've got my mom here and my brothers here. you man so what are you spending your off season i'm in dallas right now but in dallas for uh well ever since i came back from the bubble so we got my mom here and my brother's here so it's been fun i've been training and waiting for the season to start everyone else i i've had the chance to

speak to you once before but it was the nhl network interview a player next to the penalty box post game most boring interview in the world so i'm really looking forward to having you on here a little more laid back. Yeah, is that the one where I look up at the tiny camera? Getting ready for that player is like, where do I look? They're like, just look at the big screen. And you're just like, oh, boy. I never got asked to do one of those.

I need a two-by-two camera. Me and R.A. don't know what you're talking about. We've never got asked to do one of those. No, you did one in the minors with an old VHS camera. The guy's like, look into the lens. So R.A. brings up or asks where you stay. And for people who don't know,

your father, I think everyone knows by now, but your father popped by, 11, 12-year NBA veteran. Is he still involved in the game? Is he coaching? What's going on in his life? He is. He's been in Indiana the past eight years, seven or eight years coaching there. And then he actually just got an assistant coach job with the Sixers. So he'll be trusting the process, I guess. Is that what they say?

You'll have some NBA a lot of trust. Yeah, exactly. So he loves Doc Rivers. They've chatted cause he just got hired there too so says he's a laid-back coach and uh should be fun do you tell your old man hey see if i and beetle give me a follow on the gram like do you like do you try to get that in there or no you're gonna let it happen oh organically yeah i'll try to try to get to a game get him after court side yeah he's like i'll just find out where he eats lunch show up there be really organic yeah um so the beginning of your career we always go back to the to the early

stages in like development and hockey and yours is one of the coolest stories going with your dad playing in the nba and you guys living in denver there was a certain hall of famer who kind of helped your dad out when he asked him where kids should be playing locally and stuff like that, right? There is, yeah. Guy by the name of Joe Sackick. Decent. I don't know if you've heard of him or not, but yeah, he's not a bad player.

Yeah, so he lived in Colorado. My dad, when he was with the Nuggets, always see him down low in the Pepsi Center walking around underneath. And I just asked him. I was probably 3'4 at the time. Older brother was 7 or 8. Younger younger brothers just a couple years younger than me I just asked him what they need to do you know what do my kids need to do to get into hockey they love watching you play they love coming to the games he said skating skating is going to be the most important thing so took skating lessons the entire year before I actually started playing

hockey what age is this sorry this is five okay so I was five did skating lessons took entire year before I actually started playing hockey. What age is this? Sorry. This is five. Okay. So I was five did skating lessons, took it from a figure skater. Wasn't figure skating lessons, just working on the edge work. I did that too, Seth. I'm pretty sure. Don't let people bully you about the figure skaters, man. They know, they know their edges, my friend. They know their stuff. They know their edges. You may catch some chirps for that, but it makes you a better skater.

That's no doubt. I'm sure I will. I have over the years, trust me, as that story came out. So I was going to ask, around that time, was there just more development in the hockey world there to where there really wasn't any in the basketball programs to where that's what made you gravitate towards playing hockey over basketball? Well, I think when I was growing up in colorado i was watching the apps and they were loaded i think their cap was well over 100 there was no cap at that time so

you know it was like we're like 110 million they had like five six hall of famers um they were just one of the most exciting teams to watch and so uh i think that's a gravitated toward it i don't think the nuggets were good so i'm not I don't really recall back in the day. But we just love hockey. I had friends growing up that played hockey. It was just part of it. And then the buzz around that team probably, you know, not just me, but probably made, you know, thousands of other kids want to try hockey too at that age.

I read in an article that did your older brother get involved first or basically at the same time so you you know you're looking up to your to your bro and watching him do it must have made you want to play even more exactly exactly he was he's uh he's a 90 so he's four years older than me um and watching him start playing you know just loving the game in general before that but then watching him start playing and i wanted to get involved then my younger brother got involved too. So we all did skating lessons from the same figure skating lady for years and years. And that's kind of how it happened. So is that why you ended up a defenseman? Because at that age,

you were like the only guy who could like skate backwards as good as you could forwards. I think it was a natural thing. Just listening to some of the stories from my mom and my and or my parents um they tried to put me up forward i tried to play center and wing and i would always gravitate back to defending the net for some reason that was just my mentality i just didn't want to let up so you're very nurturing yes very nurturing you want to be close to home take care of the home oh yeah that's a little sexy uh i i'm

wondering say at nine or ten are you already like the dominant that guy seth jones the best he's the best player on that team or are you the ryan whitney 10 year old with a yellow helmet who can't even skate um i think i was pretty good okay yeah so that means you're nasty you're being modest yeah i mean i wasn't like a massive goal scorer, obviously, but I, you know, the skating was just a big part of my game. And so I was, I did a lot of summer tournaments, you know, it was a year round thing when you're that age. So I didn't stop playing hockey.

I never played organized basketball one time that my mom, my parents tried to kind of toward me or push me toward it and just said no absolutely not a younger brother and my older brother played for about a year or two in middle school and that was really it would you say were were hyper focused to where like you wanted it and like your parents were obviously willing to do it full year round because you loved it that much yeah um you know my mom or my grandma helped a lot when i was younger travel around on these road trips uh it's a lot of traveling you know i went i don't know how many times i went to toronto i was a 10 12 year old you know playing in these summer tournaments were you sitting first

class were you set first class no my mom was probably yeah oh hey your mom was probably first. Yeah. Oh, hey, your mom would go first class and then you'd get the pigeon toss? Exactly. Back by the bathrooms in the back. So I'm guessing that at this point, 2004, 2006, I don't know how good Dallas, I mean, Colorado youth hockey was, wherever you were living and playing at the time. But were you getting crushed on national tournaments by teams from Minnesota, et cetera? Were you guys good? We were actually pretty good so colorado when i grew up there i didn't have triple a so we were double a uh it's pwe double a um that was the last years i played there and we ended up winning national championship because we were double a and we were we probably

should have been triple a but we weren't um i think we won the finals of the double a nationals, like five, nothing. So it was kind of, kind of a joke a little bit. But then my last year in Colorado with the Thunderbirds came about Colorado Thunderbirds, you talk, you program, which was triple a. And so that was kind of new for, for Colorado moved to Dallas at Bantam, only played in Dallas for three years. You talk, but we were, we weren't bad. It was triple a but um you know we weren't the best because Dallas wasn't just not a big hockey market compared to Chicago you know

the mission all the Detroit teams things like that said what was your first exposure to the game that made you want to skate was it watching the game on tv a game you went to live how did how'd that first kick in I don't remember really recall the last or like what really pushed me to it but i went i was at game seven in 2001 when the abs won against jersey i was there with my family and a couple of buddies saw you know joe sackett passed it to ray bork you know 22 years in the nhl without winning the stanley cup patrick wall you know all these hall of fame players that just pushed me toward it you know i was seven years old at the time six years old actually about to turn seven and you know something about that moment just uh just the love for the game was

was incredible hey were you so tapped into where you're watching that reality show the the year you said one of the years they had like a hundred million uh salary cap yeah it was like when like they were making fun of career for being cheap and he was driving his lexus and like what were you like all tapped into that like behind the scenes stuff i don't even remember i don't even remember that okay so you were too young for that then probably too young yeah all right just love watching hockey sick question biz well people may not remember though biz Biz, that Korea and Solani at the height of their careers, I think, took a million bucks each. Or maybe it wasn't Solani's height of career.

He got caught fire again in Anaheim. But they just wanted to be there, right? I mean, that was like people. They took a million-dollar salary? Both of them. At one year, I think Solani and Korea were making a million bucks each. Jesus. I could be completely making this up. Mallory? Both of them. At one year, I think Solani and Correa were making a million bucks each. Wow. Jesus.

I could be completely making this up. Fuck it. We don't know our stats, Seth. I'm going to look it up right now. We actually don't know much all about hockey. This is a hockey podcast. Yeah. Actually, I want to ask.

I know there's been pro football players who've had sons in the league and pro baseball players but are you do you know if you're the first son of an NBA alumni to uh to make the NHL I think so I think so I think Darnell uh what is his uncle is McNabb or something I think that's right um I don't know any other basketball dads to be honest huh well what kind of a player was your old man as far as basketball was he like a kind of a grinder grinder throwing elbows and shit oh yeah i remember as a kid he always would tell me um he would just give little jabs all the time kidneys this is back when basketball was a little more physical than it is now uh rib shots all the time in the paint

things like that he actually had a funny story um i'll never forget this he was playing shack in shack's prime which unstoppable right it's ridiculous god i think there was a free throw they were standing next to each other i know they box each other out on free throws you grab shack's wrist and like try to play dirty like that like away from the ref and shack comes back down like a couple seconds later says hey man don't grab my wrist no more and my dad my dad didn't grab his wrist again honestly man like yeah like and he's ever too he's so fucking scary man man. Oh, my God. He's a tank. And Shaq, too. Shaq is so funny. Don't grab my wrist.

Yeah. Him and Barkley. Oh, my God. Those guys are the weirdest. You grab a towel, you're like wiping up his sweat off the court. Exactly. Anything I do, you need water? He's got a bark collar on you.

He's like walking you back to the sidelines. He's like, oh, boy. Hold on, Shaq. Your jersey's untucked. Grab a camera and take a couple shots, too. Yeah, exactly. He was unreal. Those guys are actually hilarious on TNT.

I love watching them. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Oh, man. I saw Shaq was chirping Chuck during that match the other day with Mickelson. I'm like, these two guys are hilarious. Oh, man. They just get each other going and everything on that. So I heard a story about how Charles Barkley wasn't going to do the show

anymore. And he kind of wanted to go do different stuff. And one of the guys from TNT that one of the guys who could sign the checks went in and an in-person visit. And then they wrote like a number on a check and said, we're going to pay you 10 million a year for the next 10 years. And, and he was so much, he's getting from that? I think he signed a $100 million deal. I might be dead wrong, just like Witt's old thing.

Like, we're not great with the numbers, right? No, I was half right. Korea made $1.2 million, Solani made $6 million. Okay, okay. Hey, 50%. Hey, 50%, I'll take that. That's good as a... Let's just pretend I'm making this story up.

But he couldn't believe it to where he's like, that that's good as a as a let's just pretend i'm making this story up but like he like he he couldn't believe it to where he's like yeah yeah i'm coming back for you're gonna pay me 10 million dollars a year to fucking go up there and chirp back and forth with shack they have the best jobs on the planet oh man they say whatever they want for 10 million a year they can't say anything wrong i love i mean the san Antonio thing and all that stuff and i i don't even know basketball and some of some of uh Barkley's takes are so ridiculous and Shaq will just call him out and they'll be arguing up there for like five minutes about it and like but but Shaq's right he's he's right he puts him in a body bag every

time actually speaking of the wwe stuff and that's so funny speaking of the nba i know you're a big nba fan do you got a team seth or do you root for our individual players um i don't really have a team uh i just love watching the game i'll turn on any game there is to be honest but obviously you love the big time matchups right so i really watch for individual players so anytime you know kawai's playing or lebron's playing or you know curry's playing things like that i just love watching them uh they're exciting to watch and um it's just fun you know yannis and these guys they they always they always make it entertaining on tv yeah are you kind of similar to the nhl are you going to games on the road are you going to games when you're, you know,

the night before a lot of times the NBA team plays? I've actually been to only one game. I saw a Bulls game. I have a funny story about that, actually. I was playing at Nashville my second year. I was in Chicago a couple of days before the game. They were playing the Rockets. And so we stayed at the Ritz.

I think it's the water tower downtown um so houston was staying there we had a couple nights so we go out for some drinks night before their game like two nights four hours night before their game i see a couple other players in their tequila bottles in their hands like chugging i mean it was just incredible i saw jeremy lynn was sitting at the bar drinking water this is when he was on houston um lynn santa and what yeah i'm like these guys can't have a good game next game so i go into the game the next night harden has like eight points i think lynn goes off for like 28 i'm like this guy obviously was had a great night, I'm sure, Harden did.

Going to see Harden play, he was a little hung, I think. What about the Ohio State games? You go to a lot of the action, whether it was football or basketball, for the college team? I haven't been to an Ohio State football game yet. I've been there for four years now. I haven't been. mean outside of the stadium is it's kind of my bread and butter you know just this this i don't need to deal like 100 100k people

um but just the bars and the atmosphere around the games like the whole city shuts down for these games uh so it's a lot of fun just kind of being out and about downtown going back to you know you as a younger player you got a little bit older. You go to Ann Arbor where the National Team Development Program was. I got a chance to be there. Pioneer High School showed out. I'm a graduate. After that ended, were most of those guys, I shouldn't say most, but a high, you know,

a high percentage are going to college. You decided to go to the WHL. Like, what's that decision like? I mean, I had to, I would think you had an idea you know already then that you you had a chance to be a pretty high pick that following year yeah so i ended up graduating high school in three years because i was a late birthday so i had that extra year before my draft so i wanted to leave that college option open or that whl option open for that year. So I actually went and took an official visit to North Dakota.

Loved it there. Great facilities. You know, it was top notch, the building and everything. And I was really interested in BU, actually, believe it or not. And never took a visit there, but loved the school and loved everything about it. And I ended up going to Portland in the WHL. It just seemed better for me for that one year. You know, my goal was to play one year and then go right to the NHL. And I thought, you know, one year of college wouldn't really make a whole lot of sense for me.

I mean, they used to get great crowds there. And did you feel that that would better prepare you for the next step, just given like the amount of games you're playing and like maybe the wear and tear to get used to that exactly yeah 72 games uh when i was i think they're 68 now but 72 games you know the bus rides and the back-to-backs and things like that would definitely get me more prepared than you know and i'm not saying my mine is always the right choice at WHL, sometimes colleges, but, you know, I think they play 30-something games only in the weekends, you know, a lot more working out, things like that in between.

And I just really wanted to focus on hockey at that point and playing as much as I possibly could that last year. I've said before, you know, I think college hockey is the way to go. But if you're a guy that's going to play in the NHL and it's one year, I totally understand. And it kind of can. But if you're a guy that's going to play in the NHL and it's one year, I totally understand. And it kind of can be with junior getting you ready for that pro, that pro like lifestyle in a way.

But, you know, when you end up, when you end up getting picked, I'm sorry, not getting picked. I don't want to get to the draft yet, but the Portland team, did they draft you in the dub or did somebody else? And then they traded for your rights. I read drafted me um you said no thank you you gave him the dicambe no i actually yeah um no no no um no doug sotar was the gm there um and then he left when i was you know thinking about going to the dub he went somewhere else

he went up to the nhl if i'm if i'm correct but um my agent kind of put together that deal that would send me to portland um you know mike johnson was the coach travis green now in vancouver was the assistant coach um you know just the you know how they ran things the professionalism of that organization and and the players around uh on the team at the time i think would best help me get to that next level and so i had a blast when i was there love my bill of family to death i was there with me that year um was travis green the head coach there or was he assistant he was technically the assistant but that year Mike Johnson got suspended for the year because whatever the case happened. What's that mean?

I don't even know what the case is. I have no idea. All right, all right. What's the case? Apparently there was some things going on. Was that a Russian under the bus? Was it a Russian under the bus story? It was a Russian under the bus story, wasn't it?

That was the Barry Colts. No, it wasn't. Was it? No. Oh, dude. That's, I mean, wasn't. Was it? No, no. Oh, dude. That's, I mean, shit. That's just fucking funny, man.

They stuffed the Russian on the bus. He ended up coaching the Penguins. He couldn't have done something that bad. He was in the NHL a couple years later, wasn't he? Yeah, he was. He was. He was. He was paying Seth Jones to play junior. That's what was happening.

No, no, no. Not me. Yeah. I wish. 72 games, my ass. You were probably making more than some fucking show guys that year. Were you getting a cut of the gate like Sid and Junior? And Patty Kane?

Yeah, yeah, cool, yeah. I was going to ask you just about for someone who, like, you know, obviously you're a young stud coming up, and you probably knew you were going to go to the national program because that was, like, the best development at the age you were. and you probably knew you were going to go to the national program because that was like the best development at the age you were. For someone who's going from like where you were into that program, were you like nervous at all because you're like, you know,

you're moving your life away. You're not going to be around your parents as much. There's a lot more demand as far as like the athletic standpoint to where it's kind of like all of a sudden it's a job. Yeah, I agree. standpoint to where it's kind of like all of a sudden it's a job yeah i agree um i'm moving away at 15 turning 16 uh for my family living with you know a family i don't even know um luckily i was with you know one of my best friends growing up from colorado we built it together so that made it a little easier uh when i was away from the rink um but yeah new school new completely new

teammates new coaches uh Wasn't easy. But at that point, you know, you really start transitioning into, you know, developing for the NHL. And that's, that was my goal. And that is my thought process for that whole two years I was there. Happens quick, Biz. I know. It's a good night. Like you're at such a young age now and you're thinking NHL two years away,

things like that. I was nervous going there. I went for the last year, so the team had been together for the whole season prior. So it's a little tough because you don't feel as much a part of the group. But it was still – I love being there. Just in case you were wondering how I felt about the whole thing. I was going to say I've never asked the guy who fucking hosts the podcast

this question that I could have, but I don't know. Maybe you're more interesting, Seth. No, I just decided to just take it over there. Well, you did go fourth overall, and went fifth. Yeah, things have gone a little different since the draft as well. That day, take me back. I mean, obviously, everyone knew McKinnon was going one, right? That was as set in stone as could be.

Where did you kind of slot in, or were you seeing Nashville at four the whole time? No, actually, I was – well, I was supposed to go one or two. You know, Nate – I think Nate was going to go one just because, you know, I played him in the Mem Cup that summer before. We played him in regulation, had a hat trick. Played him in the Mem Cup final, had a hat trick. I'm like, holy shit, like, settle down here.

How many of those were you on the ice for? I was going to say, how many minuses did he eat? Oh, they didn't match me up against him, so. Okay. But, yeah, so he went one to Colorado. You know, obviously a transcendent forward like that. I mean, it's hard not to. Maybe that's why Johnson got suspended,

because he didn't fucking match you up against McDavid, and he chewed you guys up for two hatties uh exactly maybe use the guy who's might go first two against them i don't know whatever um and then i think barkov went two to florida i thought i had a chance there barkov's a hell of a player can't argue that um and then three i really thought i was going to go to tampa to be honest um you know when you're a little beginning there oh yeah i mean those you had a tough 50 minutes centers or no state tax i think i know um those 30 minutes were like the longest of my life because it was 10 minutes of pick in the first round i was like i'm sitting there like holy shit you know um what am i gonna go then tampa happened i remember uh during the combine talking to um stevie y i think was the gm at the time

right um he's like i don't think you're gonna slip to three but if you do 100 i'm taking you so we hit the tampa i'm like i'm going to tampa not bad stood up yeah I'm like like for my like like butting my thing you're on the stage my tie up eyes like Seth what are you doing dude what's up Gary um and then he ended up taking Drew in so I'm like oh my god I'm I'm kind of fuming at this point I'm like you're Aaron Rodgers yeah exactly um and then Nashville took me honestly the best thing that probably could have happened uh you know living with Shea Weber for a couple months throughout camp and started the season, I don't think there's a better leader out there over the years.

And learning from him, Mike Fisher, it was an older team. So guys like Barrett Jackman, Mike Fisher, Paul Gostad, just a great team to be on. And I was a 19-year-old coming in. I couldn't have imagined it much better to, to learn from guys like that. So I'm curious to hear about like how you felt as that draft went on, because only cause when you were eight years old, when I was drafted,

Jay Bollmeister, he was supposed to go one, he was going to go one. He ended up dropping a three, but I just, I just remember the cameras just kept going to him. Like they picked Rick Nash and then letting it in there and they're going to Bowman Easter. And it's like, I can only imagine. You must've felt like the whole world was kind of watching you. Shit. Exactly. Feel there for a bit, huh?

Yeah. So it was me and my mom, my two brothers there. And so one, the cameras on me, they picked my kid and camera still on me too. They come back, they They pick my camera still on me. Two, they come back. They pick Barkov, camera still. And so I'm trying to just like keep myself together and calm. So I don't, you know, look like a jackass on camera. And then three pass and I'm like doing everything in my power to keep like, I'm like clap and I'm like, you know, so.

At six, would you have flipped the table? At six, would you have flipped the table? At six, would you have flipped the table? No, he's just like this to the camera. He's got his ball bag out. He's like, let my nuts. Right through the zipper. I can to keep calm. So I think your father played high school basketball in tennessee was is it am i

wrong here he played college in um dresden yeah dresden tennessee okay so sorry it was college murray state like did you feel like did you feel like that maybe it was kind of fate and did you kind of like be like hey this is you know this is a going to be a great opportunity like right away you're kind of i don't want to say disappointment led to like, you know, there's some connections there and I feel comfortable, comfortable there already. Yeah. So when I went there, I had a lot of people come up to me. Oh, I remember your dad. I remember your dad and this and that, you know,

playing against Murray state and these things. And so that connection definitely was there with the fans, I think, especially kind of that older crowd, a group of fans that kind of watched my dad grow up and play. So that was very comforting to hear that, that I was definitely welcome in that city and in the organization, really. It was a great city in the two and a half years I was there. I loved every single minute of it.

Like I mentioned in your intro, you made the Preds out of your first camp just a few months after being drafted. That's a rare thing. Did you surprise yourself when you pulled that off? I knew it would be a challenge, you know, just because of the offensemen that were there. We had Weber, Yossi just signed that big deal, Ekholm, Ellis, you know, and then it was –

I think it was Anton Blachinkov was a defenseman. But you had, you know, a few other guys that were there in camp and, you know, it definitely wasn't a walk in the park. You know, I think Rich Kloon was there. I think he gave me the business a couple of times in camp on the four check. So, you know, it got, you know, it was tough, you know, playing against those big, strong players for the first time. Yeah. Weber was just so impressive on and off the ice.

I'm curious on the ice, like, what did you see? We were like, oh my God, I need to add that to my game. Well, I think the, the way that he was calm throughout the game and you kind of knew what you were getting from every shift, you know, whether it was a big defensive stop, a big shot from the point he always, you know, he was really a game changer. And whether it was offensively or defensively, which is something that I've always wanted to implement in my game, you know, for me, it's not always about, you know, I can put an impact on the game in a lot of different ways

than just scoring goals or making offensive plays. And so that's really what I took from him as well. What's the best on ice and off ice advice you got from Weber oh gosh um don't bet on the don't bet on the Houston Rockets when they play in Chicago exactly they gotta be going out the night before every game I'm sure I think it was hard and Dwight Howard all those guys on the team at the time. But I don't know. I think, you know, I think that the 82 game schedule is taking care of yourself for the most

part. You know, he would always take care of himself off the ice, whether it was, you know, he'd always, every time he would go in the room, I would always, he would always be like, let's go to the weight room, you know, things like that, that would just, you know, he would always, every time he would go in the weight room, I would always, he would always be like, let's go in the weight room. You know, things like that, that would just, you know, get you in that mindset. And now that I'm, you know, 26 and been in the league for a few years now, and, you know, I see young guys coming into Columbus, and I try to do the same thing with them. You know, if I see a guy not going to the gym, I'm like, hey, let's get in the gym right now.

Things like that. So, you know, it's just kind of a rollover effect for me. And I kind of want to, you know, be, try to be, you know, it's just kind of a rollover effect for me. And I kind of want to, you know, be, try to be, you know, a leader like Shay Weber to, you know, we have a lot of 19, 20, 21 year olds on our team that don't know what it's like to play a full season. And so I just try to kind of be that guy for him as well. Going back to Nashville, you had Phil Housley as a defensive coach as well, right? I mean, that's on top of all those other guys around you by the

end of your time in nashville did you feel were you kind of happy about it in a sense of where there were so many other weapons on d that you were never really going to be able to take that jump if you potentially stayed there because you might not even been given the opportunity given that they'd had yosi and we, even though they ended up trading Weber? I think so. And that actually started kind of happening that third year. You know, that second, after my second year, and I got traded in the middle of my third year with my contract.

And, you know, we kind of started seeing that, you know, Weber was ready. I was ready. Ellis was ready. He was a great player as well. Needed PP time and PKk time so you kind of started seeing this um you know the coaches maybe struggling to find the ice time for certain guys um not that i got in the way of of us winning and playing as a team but you know as young guys you want to play as much as you can and and get your ice time and so i think they realized that. I didn't think they would trade two of the three righties,

but they ended up doing it. And I was the first one to go. And we kind of knew someone was going to get traded. You know, it's kind of, you know, the defense were like, okay, who's going? Because it's got to happen. You can just feel that within a team when something like that's, you know, brewing.

So it became a joke in the locker room between you guys? A little bit yeah yeah especially the defensemen were like hey who's going now okay coach wants to see you he'd go off to him you want to step into his office yeah you get the bag opens after practice right in front of the gear we'll pack his bag well that tape is stuck yeah i get the trainer to tape his sticks that is ruthless i've heard stories of guys like uh telling telling guys they're getting the call up and then like it wasn't true i think that happened with with and they did end up telling

on the coach had to like uh play it down but that's a story for another day uh so what did you want to ask us no i'm saying when that trade ended up going down though, it's 2016. What are your initial thoughts? I know you knew somebody was going, but still it's gotta be shocking nonetheless to, when you get the phone call, like where were you? Who, and who told you? Oh man. I was eating dinner with my ex-girlfriend at the time, or my girlfriend at the time. And it was about five o'clock, just sat down, got in a glass of wine or whatever, about to get some appetizers

and get a call from David Poyle, phone searcher. And I'm like, and anytime you get a call from your GM, you know, you're like, this isn't right. Something's not right here. I answer, step outside, he goes, hey, Seth, it's David. Just want to let you know, I traded you the Columbus Blue Jackets for Ryan Johansson. And I'm like, oh, just like that. One for one?

Yeah. And I'm just like, all right, like, thank you for the opportunity, you know, to play here and draft me and learn to lap, blah, blah, blah. Hang up, drive home, immediately just break down. Because, you know, it wasn't the fact that i got traded but it was just something inside you is just it's like sadness but fire too at the same time um and it just wanted to make me better and so i was on a flight two and a half hours later to columbus played a back-to-back you know right when i got there so it was it was just bing bang and and you

know i didn't have a lot of time to think about it but um it's probably a lot better that it happened mid-season for that reason than you know in the summer when you have a couple months to to marinate on it so like jumping in and and because of the games happening so fast you're gonna get you're gonna get like pretty friendly with guys rather quick. Exactly. That's a for sure. That is so true. When you're sitting around all summer and you got to worry about meeting everyone that that would be way worse. I can't exactly that camp and stuff. So I was jumped in.

I had one practice and we flew to Carolina, played my first game there like the next day. And so, what was your ice point? Any points in that that game like right away man did you feel like you were just given the reins uh well just you know i met torts that that next morning um and obviously you hear about torts you're like oh boy i gotta you know i really gotta figure this one out quick or else i may be done um and so i first game I played with Cody Goloboff, not there anymore, but one of the first shifts in the game, he tries to go D to D, they go down and score.

Torch comes down, we're going five. I'm like, oh my God. I'm like, I'm like, I can't make a mistake. I'm going off the glass every time. This guy just benched my partner after the first um but yeah i mean it's like the hunger games back there exactly next guy we're going down to four he probably he'd probably go to three if he could we're going five forwards next show he probably has gone to three at some point in his coaching career along the line early on he might have had 3d going one game brought a

forward back to make it four yeah well Grinelli had the opportunity to uh talk to your what's her name sorry Rachel Rachel yes who then got in touch with your mom and we got to grill her a little bit about you and she said ask him about the the coaches that kind of enforce the most discipline and have a lot of structure and keep people extremely accountable are the type of coaches you've always loved the most growing up. And of course, I would imagine Torts fits that mold perfectly. He does. He does. 100%. And that's a big thing why I love Torts. He can probably rub guys the wrong way and not saying he's never rubbed me the wrong way. why I love Torch. He can probably rub guys the wrong way and not saying he's never rubbed me

the wrong way. I haven't disagreed with him on things, but he only does it to make the team better as a whole. And so, you know, when I first here and I got traded, there's a last game of the season against Chicago and this is when Panarin

and Kane are just unstoppable. I think it was in 2016 end of that year. And Panarin needed like three points. I think they had a big bonus. So Kane are just unstoppable. I think it was in 2016, end of that year. And Panarin needed like three points, I think. They had a big bonus. So Kane was going to feed him, feed him, feed him all game. First shift of the game, they win the faceoff. I fall.

Panarin and Kane go down 2-0-1 goal. I'm like, okay, this is great. Last game of the season. Something else happened. I don't know. Panarin scored again, first period. He got like three points after again first period he's got like three points after the first period and coming for the first intermission i'm like my bad boy is like

you got to be better whatever torch comes in jonesy you're like a toilet seat one time you're up once you're up here once you're down here he's like you're gonna be sitting on the bench second period and watch so i sit the whole second period. You know when you get benched and everyone's tapping your shin pads? Yeah, yeah. It is the worst. Makes you feel like a bigger loser. Oh, witness. Witness.

It's like, get away from me, guys. Hey, Biz, at least I got those. You were getting the tap from the coach to say, hey, pregame skate ain't over for you, bud. Yeah. And then I end up playing the third period of playing fine but um you know little things like that just make you you know it's a learning experience you know and and that's really what torts does he puts a lot of pressure on you to be to be better i'll tell you what does he makes up for that ice time when you guys go to 5-0 tees in playoffs. And you ended up home. The one game this year where I believe he surpassed what your record was,

what did you play, 60 minutes? I didn't have the record. 60, I think. I didn't have the record. I was up there, but this guy smashed it all. I mean, what did you feel? I will say this before I finish the question. I've often told people I didn't feel that bad after.

I felt pretty good, actually. Did you notice that? It's not like I wasn't that hard no big deal a hundred percent i think after the third period you know you it is we've all been to overtime or two uh second and third overtime i was like oh my god i feel terrible one of those you get a 10 second burst and you're just done for the shift um that was like the whole second and third period. Then the fourth overtime started feeling better. And the fifth overtime, I was like, I feel great. I feel like I just started the game. Then we ended up losing.

But, like, my legs were the best of all game in the fifth overtime, which was crazy. Okay, so what about the next day? Are you bonking? Is it like you just ran a marathon? Oh, yeah, next day we canceled practice. The next day we were there. Just like team meeting video session.

But I was, I mean, I'm dead, you know. You're sleeping in. You're doing, you're not doing anything really. But my legs were pretty toast, yeah. Torrance comes in after the game. He's like, boys, practice is actually in eight hours. So let's just hang here. We're going to move practice up to 830.

We'll have a video meeting at 7 30 get you some eggs and we can just finish practice then we're gonna run some stairs we're gonna do a five mile test and then uh i'll have my fat scalpers ready for you guys anybody above 10 going back on the ice well it is it is true though that when biz brought up the chance to just play so much more in columbus and your career has just taken off, becoming like, you know, a true number one, one of the best defensemen in the league, if not the best. But after that great run and personally, it's gotten better and better each year. And then you guys have that season, you know, last year. And then everyone's gone, right?

Panarin's gone. Dushane's gone right Panarin's gone Duchesne's gone I mean how hard is that for you as a leader of the team seeing so much momentum that you had gotten going that year just kind of all end pretty quickly yeah I think uh we did have some great players that's probably the best team I've been on uh skill wise and just team wise uh Panarin's obviously a game changer along with Duchesne and they helped our our goal scoring and our just creating chances throughout throughout the whole game a lot, especially against a team like Tampa last year.

And, you know, when you lose skill like that, you got to bring in a little bit more of a team concept. And so that's really what we focused on in camp. And, you know, when Panarin was there, it's like any great player. You kind of let them do their own thing, and they create chances just out of thin air you know out of nothing um so we wanted to play a little bit more of a team game in that sense um and you know i thought we did a pretty good job throughout the year we had a lot of injuries but the leadership on the team i think was felino atkinson jenner um it was very seamless transition um we we kind of knew we were you know that's

kind of the blue jacket way grinding away you know win a 1-0 game or a 2-1 game and hold the lead and things like that so uh we didn't want to change our identity that we had uh but we knew uh we kind of had to tighten it up a little bit. Seth did the team get a little bit of a chip on its shoulder as well given given the, you know, changed expectations outside and all the roster turnover? Yeah, definitely a chip on the shoulder. We talked about that all throughout training camp, all throughout the year. But at the end of the day, we know we have in the room.

We don't have to say it out loud to the media or anything. We just keep a straight arrow and that's towards this whole thing. One day at a time, you know, when you come to the rink, it's business. And then you leave, you know, you do whatever you want after. So I think that really resonates within our team. What's the biggest misconception about torts now that you've played for him for a while? I think, you know, I didn't know, I didn't know torts back in the day,

but you just see a lot of stories in media and things like that. Brooks got along. the day but you just see a lot of stories with media and things like that um brooks yeah that top 10 hilarious on youtube i've watched that probably 10 times that's exactly what i just thought of exactly um but i think you know he just wants to win and you know he he probably does things that uh not everyone agrees with, and he's definitely going to piss off players throughout the season. You're not going to agree with things he does, but getting to know him and playing for him, all he wants to do is win, and he cares about winning just as much as the players do.

So that's one thing I really respect about him. We had one of your teammates on a few months ago, Elvis Merzlikens' goaltender uh this guy seems like a real character is he is he in the locker room as well he is he is and with goals you kind of let them do their thing uh but he came in he had a lot of confidence in the net which is something that we we wanted and we needed and um he had kind of a rough start but then when um corpus sello got hurt he came in and did a hell of a job in net for us made huge saves won us big games and he's really part of the

reason we even made the playoffs along with a lot of other guys that came from cleveland with all our injuries this year where did you have any more questions about columbus no i was gonna say you're you're dummying your boy Wierenski in terms of interview on chicklets. Oh, man. He's a shy kid. Awesome guy. He's just shy.

Yeah, great guy. Yeah, he probably didn't say a lot, I'm guessing. They're all dummying you in fantasy football, though, right? Yeah, they're saying you're pathetic in that. First of all, my team this year is not the greatest, but everyone's underperformed. Oh, so you're the fan that just...

First of all, let's put it this way. I have Carson Wentz at quarterback. I just need to quit the league. It's just bad. Who'd you take with your first pick? Oh man, I think it's like Michael Thomas. My wide receivers are great. I have no running backs, it's just okay who'd you take with your first pick oh man i think it's like michael thomas like my wide receivers are great i have no running back so that's the problem last year i got second

he probably forgot to tell you that um that's my little clay that's my little fantasy football claim to fame second i got my money back it's like me hanging up my silver medal in my house exactly which i which i did do that's on yeah my team's terrible this year uh your younger brother caleb plays for the edmonton organization how often do you guys communicate during the season quite a bit quite a bit um i don't i actually watched him a lot more this year because i was sidelined with um the ankle surgery so i was you know sitting on the couch for six weeks um and got to watch all his games, always texting him after things like that.

But we text quite a bit through the season. Don't bother him too much. We don't bother each other too much just because we both understand what the schedule is like and what we're doing. But he's taken a lot of good steps in the right direction, I think, for Edmonton. Guys, feed each other intel on common opponents or any of that type of stuff or no.

No, I think his, he actually scored. So we played against Edmonton when I, when I was hurt, I was watching it on TV. He scored the game winners, terrible goal. I hit like four things and went in, but of course he's texting me right after the game. I would have done that. If you were out there too i'm like settle down i was gonna ask you about uh you're pretty vocal about the cbd and i think you've partnered up with a company in order to promote i don't know if you got a piece of it and how it's working but but kind of dive into that i'm a big uh you know cbd advocate and i think it works big time yeah Yeah, for sure. So my trainer here in Dallas was using some CBD,

and he ended up just trying it on me, rubbing it on my legs and things like that, elbows and wrists get pretty sore during the season and training too. So I used it on me. I loved it. It worked wonderfully. I use it every day now. I use it on my knees a lot as well. But, you know, it's uncle bud's uh hemp and

it's great um and i got to know he actually knew the owners uh who created it got to know them great people great guys um so i kind of wanted i contacted them wanted to partner up with them and um and yeah so i use it every day now. Are you using it like when you wake up or before bed? So it settles in. I use it before, before workouts. And then I use it after skates. So I rub it on my thighs after skates.

The body revive gel is what I love the most. And so I love to rub that on the quads, hamstrings and knees. Oh, yeah. R.A. actually massages his aunt's feet with it because she has arthritis. He goes over every night. What did you say, R.A.? The birth site is not arthritis. Oh, well, Seth, we want to thank you so much for coming on.

All right, I'm sorry. Did you have another question? Yeah, I'm just going to say, other than training and working out, how have you been killing time to unwind after the season, although it's going to be starting up again soon, hopefully? Just kind of hanging out. I play a little bit of Call of Duty some days and play my words on with other guys. I heard you're pretty brutal at call of duty though too what's

zach talking about on here is he saying that yeah wierenski told me i filled him the other day i literally carried the team to victory i think so i don't know what he's talking about behind the scenes is he is he like hilarious like does he just rip guys and shit or yeah he's got good one-liners he's got good one-liners. He's got good one-liners, yeah. We got to start getting this guy back on and grilling him. Yeah, you have to. Do you play golf? If so, you want to do a sandbagger? I actually do play golf.

I'm not great. I don't know what you guys – well, I know Biz isn't good. Are you good? No, I'm terrible. You're right. Biz can make some golf shots. I'll tell you that. I'm shooting

like i'm shooting mid 90s yeah same thing yes okay we'll go we'll go we'll go right uh straight up um i knew you golf because i saw you in colona when i was filming biz does bc and this number he was a big name i texted him and he agreed to do the biz does BC thing. And he hopped in and he gives me a quick pigeon toss and he goes on his way on the golf course. And I'll say, I'll say this. You were like, I told you what we were going to do. And you're like, yep, got it. And you, you nailed it for me.

Well, I think I was a little relaxed. I think I had a few beers in me at that point. You may have saw me on the back nine. Smoke on the cron too or no. Yeah. You're like, I got the cbd and the wee bitch beer in a bowl is business new trademark yeah we'll get you as a as a model for my new brand uh beer in a bowl hiking apparel well hey seth uh next time you come on actually

you win a norris trophy or a cup you come back on that that's our deal i'm not even going to give you a chance to say no but we really appreciate it's been a lot of fun yeah already gets to vote on it he gets to vote on all those those awards for the league oh hey throw on my way please oh absolutely man no you you've been you've been killing it the last few years you've been a joy to watch and it's been a pleasure to have you on the show as well pal so thanks for joining us thanks a lot guys appreciate it have a good one huge thanks. So thanks for joining us. Thanks a lot, guys. I appreciate it. Have a good one. Huge thanks to Seth Jones for joining us, man. Like I said earlier, just an absolute young stud in the game.

He's a real nice kid. I actually met him years ago, right before he got drafted. He was a 17, 18-year-old kid and just a real nice kid, easy to root for. So hopefully you enjoyed that as well. And I mentioned Mikey Coleo a few minutes ago. I'm fired up for this story, because the league's going to play a pair of games at Lake Tahoe in February, like Boston, Philly, call, uh, and then also, uh, Colorado versus Vegas.

There's going to be no fans there. Obviously there's no winter classic or all-star game. So this is going to be the signature non-playoff event. And it's pretty fucking cool. There's no. They're going to play on the lake yeah two games on lake tahoe man the freddie call your own classic it gets that cold to where it's gonna be that thick where they can like put the boards up and they drill them in and like the ice how

bad was the how bad was the ice when we were at the pond hockey classics i don't i obviously love the nhl ice guy they're figuring everything i think is it still dan craig i might be really outdating myself with that he's the guy who used to be a the head guy for nhl ice and doing the used to work in edmonton right i don't know if he was there after i'm really i'm uninformed on this but he was the guy at one point so whoever it is now if it's not him, will be there. But I was shocked to see it. And no fans, you said? No fans. Nope. Nope.

That is sick. That is going to be such a cool experience for those guys. I don't know if they'll still set up things. There'll obviously be things around the boards for ads and stuff when it's on TV. But what an awesome thing. They're probably not going to play on the ice, though. Don't you think they'll just, like, build a rink on the ice? I doubt they're going to use the ponds. That's of what i'm that's kind of what i'm like how are

you going to do that that ice is impossible yeah that might be the dumbest thing west ever said on the podcast assuming that they were going to use the lake ice can we all agree can we all agree what if they are then are you going to be the dumbest human of all time yourself that i'll let you kick me right in the nuts when you get back when you get the scott still looking like looking at it now that was the dumbest one of the dumb one of the dumber things i've ever said yeah welcome to the club buddy i say i do it every podcast um i just thought the purity of it it would be pretty i also looked at lake louise too but i don't i don't think the logistics worked on that they're gonna they're gonna play an outdoor game here they're gonna play an outdoor game here at the fairmont princess on the fucking

ice where the people skate around no but i saw the funniest thing of all time with dan cleary former red wing legend first man to ever win the stanley cup from newfoundland gave ra a sip from the cup put on skates when we were at dinner there and go out on the ice pretending that he couldn't skate which he really couldn't anymore at that point i'm just kidding bear it was i i had it on video i don't know if i still do one of the all-time classics people were like oh look out he's gonna fall he's gonna like asking people for tips on how to scout a public skate what do you do she's like push the left foot out, then push the right foot out. Stop like a pizza.

This is kind of late break, and Darren Drager on Monday morning said that Matthew Bazal is on the Islanders' camp roster and contract talks continue. He's checked in. He had his physical, but he can't scrimmage without a contract. It certainly sounds he's very close to signing if he's all checked

in and got his physical. Of course, Barzal is a restricted free agent who just finished his entry-level deal. He's got 59 goals and 148 assists in 234 games played. He's got 24 points in 30 playoff games. It seems like almost, I guess, a done deal that he's going to be there, be a shock if he doesn't. Yeah, probably. I would hope so. Offer sheet was definitely a potential for him if things were a little bit more normal maybe but can't you just picture lou he's like the roster she's like where's bazal they're like lou he's a free agent

he's like put him on the roster they're like he's a free agent he's like i don't give a fuck so he's signing but now if you got to figure at some point here in the next couple days it'll get done but he had made it clear for a while um that he wasn't going to really take a huge discount i i always was under that impression at least yeah i'm very interested to see what this deal is yeah i see i see a line a type of deal where you're getting where he's getting like seven or seven and a half million for two years because i i think he would be wise to wait and kind of do the delay where he can get the big, big ticket. Unless they're going to – I mean –

Yeah, right now isn't the time to sign that. No. Speaking of memes or GIFs or GIFs, whatever the fuck you call them, when they announced that there was like a potential holdout with Barzell, it's, you know, the pretends to be shocked on you know the pretends that that gift going so um i mean if i'm him i would hold out as long as possible because i think he's worth every goddamn penny and i don't think the way he plays is necessarily fun playing it in that system you want to hold out so bad oh my god oh my when i read that i was fucking loving

islanders yeah i like a little drama off the off the ice i'll dummy myself to bars i'll hold no for the islanders and just thinking of their fans being miserable yeah how about barelli frankie yeah he's a looks like he got in a car accident swallowed the airbag he's enormous now you got he came down arizona and swallowed the airbag. He's enormous. He came down to Arizona for a little bit. They were eating good on the company card. Holy shit. Is that what he was doing?

I think he came down here to get some golf stuff with the foreplay guys, and they must have been going out to Ocean Club, all the fancy restaurants. They must have been glutton. Is glutton the word I'm thinking of? Yeah, probably. If it was just a bad pitcher, that's one thing. I think it could have been, right? Yeah, as a guy who might have more than one chin in a pitcher, I can relate.

If he gets gout, then we're going to definitely know it was them swiping the credit card at the nice restaurants. It's the fucking worst. You ever get that, Biz, gout? I've gotten it a couple times. Yeah, it hurts. Brutal, brutal. When you can't put a bed sheet on your toe because it hurts too much.

That's actually why Witt retired was Gout. He didn't even realize. I had so many Swedish meatballs in Orange Goldsvik. It was Gout to the end. One other note on the Islanders. Lou did confirm that the Islanders re-signed Matt Martin and Andy Green. They also signed goalie Corey Schneider to a one-year $700,000 deal. Obviously, he was with the Devils last year.

Lou knows him from way back then. So he's trying to, I guess, resurrect his career a little. He'll be backing up to start. So good luck to Corey with his new squad. Defenseman John Marino signed a six-year extension with Pittsburgh worth $26.4 million. It's a $4.4 million cap hit. The extension kicks in after this season

uh pittsburgh must really like what they saw from this kid after just one year with six goals and 20 assists uh biz i know you wanted to chime in here well carlo koliakovo was online tweeting out and he's like this is the new league man 56 games played this guy showed it's very small sample size you talk to anybody from pittsburgh they love this guy doesn't doesn't outshine with his numbers i think would you say you had six goals 20 assists but just as far as two-way game and and you know his his ability to not make mistakes out there and how good he is as a shutdown defenseman they seem to think this is a steal and this is going to be a glorious deal in two or three years i just I'm more like you got 56 games as a sample size one fucking year.

So, you know, I think it's a bit of an aggressive move, but you know, you see a lot of teams making it with the way the league's heading now. They're trying to, they're with the cap situation where it is, they're trying to, they're trying to get these guys out playing their contract. So it should be interesting. I've heard nothing, nothing but positive things about this guy though with yeah he's he had a great rookie year and how many games played did he have 26 points 56 yeah so I mean you're you're just under a 40 point pace 41 point pace in the NHL as a rookie and you go back to his last year he played three years at Harvard now he's picked by Edmonton. I have no clue. He's a Massachusetts guy.

I have no clue what happened in terms of if they didn't sign him, if there was a trade, I don't know. Same thing as Schultz. They thought he wasn't good and then he went over there and won a cup or two. Well, no, but Schultz, I'm wondering how they lost him to even like sign him to an entry level deal. Whereas they kind of got Schultz. But if I, if I like have looked at numbers and and and heard

what I've heard about his game and how solid he looked it makes sense you know because you are trying to guess right and overpay a guy to in three or four years be severely underpaying him it's the exact opposite of getting the 31 year old UFA so it makes sense there. I didn't really understand that his last year at Harvard, Adam Fox was on that team. He dominated the entire college hockey scene that year and over a point per game, a lot over a point per game. That same team, Marino had 11 points on a Harvard team that was pretty solid.

So like you said, it's not necessarily his numbers that's going to get it done because that shows he was good enough to play in the NHL the next year defensively and away from the puck that year at Harvard. So it didn't take him a ton of time or even need to go to the minors at all. So I, I, I think it's a great signing. I know it's early and that was a good point by Carlo online, but that's just the current league. It is. All right. We've got a few other sign-ins here to make note of.

Oh, one more thing. One more thing. He played for the South Shore Kings. I don't know if I was a member of that team. Is that the one that went to the Pee Wee Championship? Yeah, we won it in 97, but he was a member of them before he went to the USHL. Yeah, South Shore Kings.

No shit. Never knew that. No shit, Russ. Is that from Christmas Vacation? Vacation. I did watch that isn't that when he's looking at her like thong she's wearing oh my god that girl at the desk oh my god that's that's then the one at the pool when he sees the dreams of the pool that girl oh my goodness pocket yeah that's like uh i think that might have been the first time i got a boner when i saw that movie

and and saw her in that scene she kind of reminds me of like a kelly kapowski from safe by the bell and they age with a european player so there was a picture that came out of that girl who was in christmas vacation when she was like i think she's like 50 or 60 now she's still a smoke so she's aged unbelievable that's why i gave that's why i gave the kelly kapowski comparison comparison got caught cranking it to Christmas vacation. He was fucking 13. Yeah, that's a good time to start for the season. For the fourth time.

All right, moving right along with the signings. Edmonton signed restricted free agent defenseman Ethan Baird to a two-year deal worth $4 million, $2 million cap hit. Arizona did indeed sign Derek Brassard, a one-year deal worth 1.2 mil. If you guys want to chime in, just jump right in. million dollars two million dollar cap hit uh arizona did indeed sign derek prasad uh one year deal worth 1.2 mil you guys want to chime in just jump right in uh the blackhawks signed forward dylan strome to a two-year deal worth six million dollars uh the blue sign restricted free agent defenseman vince dunn to a one-year deal worth 1.875 million uh defenseman travis uh hammoneck

is going to be on a pto with vancouver uh it sounds like it's similar to the hoffman situation where they're just doing it for logistical reasons and money reasons but i'd be shocked if he doesn't end up there that's a pretty good replacement and the fact that they lost tanev yeah like they didn't really have anyone to step in that role there i know they picked up schmidt but berkey came on and he described how that's going to be a big hole for them that's that's a nice little plug right there. And this is a Vancouver team where they say they're looking to build off of last season and with the roster

that they had, and I know Schmidt's a bit of a juggernaut offensively from the back end and what he can do mixed in with Quinn Hughes. That's a nice one-two punch. But to get Hamannuk, that's a game changer. And a righty. And a righty. And a righty.

Unless you're Russian. Unless you're Russia, where you got fucking 20 lefties on the squad. Also, one-time guest on the show, Scott Dallin, goaltender. He's going to be on a PTO at Florida. Of course, Sergei Bobrovsky is their starter. Right now, Chris Dredge is their backup. So they're bringing him in on a PTO. I don't know if it's to get a little competition going or what.

Good luck to Dallin, though. We'd love to see him resurrect his NHL career. In Minnesota, some big news out of there. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon was named captain of Minnesota. He's the longest tenured player on the roster. This will be his 11th season. He's just the second full-time captain in team history. Parise and Suda will have the A's.

Spurge was the sixth-round pick by the Islanders. Didn't end up signing with them. Ended up signing with Minnesota as a free agent, and now he's a cornerstone of the franchise. I know what you've been singing his praises for a long time on this show. Yeah, that was kind of no surprise who they went with there. He's been severely underrated long enough where i think people now know uh it's changed a little bit

and and a guy that i think has shown not only on the ice but off the ice in the room he may not be a very loud guy but he's quietly going about doing the right thing every day on and off the ice so congrats to him it's pretty cool to be a captain in the national hockey league and the first big contract that billy g gave out and you know i kind of was thinking afterward about it i'm sure i don't know if it was probably a surprise to parise that he didn't get it but like probably sucks that when he planned on going back home he probably planned on one day being the captain in minnesota and and and for obvious reasons and the fact that his name has came up and as far as trades trades concern moving forward here and i can't imagine he's there longer than another two years but i don't know though because

he signed miku koivu's there and only a year older than him and he was the captain i don't i don't think he would like i mean obviously he would have hoped for that. But, you know, getting older and him battling injuries, I mean, I'm speaking for him, but I don't think he'd be really shocked by that. Okay. Maybe I'm completely wrong there. It's never happened until I thought. No, I just thought that the way it all went down,

I'm sure that, you know, I would say that Spurgeon was probably the obvious pick, but it's probably a letdown given that he, you know, at one point probably thought if that you know i i would say that spurgeon was probably the obvious pick but it's probably a letdown given that he you know at one point probably thought if you know if if koivu was gone he was gonna end up being the leader of that team when he signed that contract originally that's kind of where i was going so yes not to take anything away from spurgeon i think he's the right man for the job and billy g ended up going over his house to tell him face to face and i think he, what is Spurgeon? He's like four daughters or four kids.

And one of the girls was like, what? Like she thought he showed up to fire that fire, his dad. So yeah. Did you know why I'm here? He said, are you firing my dad? Everybody's not laughing. I guess it was a funny little icebreaker. So yeah, that's good.

That's good stuff, man. That was like Billy Garen. I mean, he's a guy who, you know, he's GM now, but he was as much of a warrior as anybody on the ice, so he knows the player mentality. And that's, you know, that's a good move going to the house like that and giving them a heads up before they presented him to the team. So keeping with the leadership theme here,

Ottawa will not be going with the captain this season, but instead of name three alternate captains, defenseman Thomas Chabot and Eric Goodbranson will be assistants, along with 21-year-old forward Brady Kachuk. You got to think Chabot or Kachuk will be the captain probably next season. I guess they're going to see how it goes this year,

but congrats to those guys. Man, I'm telling you, Ottawa, I might sound crazy, but I'm throwing something on them for the cup, man. First gambling corner, we'll be back when the season starts next week, and I'm going gonna find the best odds i can on this squad i i don't know i i i like what they're doing and again it's all hinges on matt murray getting back to his game but this is a team they get in the playoffs man i think anything can happen i thought it's like a 201 odds you can't can't resist the young legs you like the young legs don't you yeah if

that jake sanderson can step in and all of a sudden you got another NHLer out of nowhere who's a young gun, do you think there's a possibility that he can step right in with? Sanderson? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I don't know if they've come out and said that is the plan or not or he's going to get a good chance.

Stutzel, no doubt, is going to be there. That Sanderson kid, it's always a little tougher for a defenseman, but he skates easily well enough to play in the NHL. He's a big kid. I have no idea the plan, but I could see him for sure playing games this season. So Sanderson, he played three games this year for North Dakota, so I guess he's probably going back. I don't know.

We'll keep an eye on it. we do have some congratulations we want to send to a couple recently retired guys Ryan Callahan of course he didn't play last year he had a back injury but he officially retired played 13 years with the Rangers and Tampa Bay of course he wore the C in Manhattan went to the Stanley Cup final back in 2012 and Mark Letestu retired after 11 NHL seasons, split between Pittsburgh, Columbus, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. He was an undrafted free agent. Got 210 points in 567 games played. So congrats to these two guys.

Obviously both beloved teammates. And enjoy retirement, man. That's what we love to tell the guys on here. A couple of notes. Callahan was a warrior. I played with him in the Olympics. and just every single shift, dude, it was like this kid was just hitting anything that moved, blocking shots. He did it.

He did it the hard way for a long time. So congrats to him. And I saw the guys lick him. Oh, he had to get licked by Marshawn. His cousin, too. I saw his cousin. His cousin has a business that the Barstool Fund helped. Yep.

So that was good to see. Yeah. Yeah. What are we, 17, 18 million have we raised so far? Donate. Donate if you can. Yeah. Speaking, I'll attest to another guy who came out of the Pittsburgh system.

He played in the ECHL for a couple games with the Wheeling Nailers, played a little bit in the American Hockey League with Wilkes-Barre, and found a nice little groove in the NHL with Columbus and Edmonton. And yeah, carved out a really good career. Very similar to, we talk about a ego last episode. It just seems like we've, you know, that system has just created a lot of NHLers. I screwed up the ranges run the cup in 2014, not 2012.

A little quick correction for your biz, you know, I had aoy up like that yeah a couple more notes before we send it over to our pal ray ferraro uh what do we got here up the preds will not have fans in the building to start the season i know some teams are gonna have limited fans some have none the preds said they're not gonna have any to start the season and how about this biz we talk about your fabled 03 draft class quite a bit seven of the top 15 selected in the uh 2003 draft are in training camp right now mark andre flurry eric stall uh ryan suda braden colburn jeff cotta dustin brown and um well brent seabrook actually

is in camp but yeah something come up last second but that's a pretty impressive list from 17 years later, no? Plenty more, too. I believe Ryan Getzloff was a late first-rounder, and he's the closest one to 1,000 games right now. So best of luck. I think he's at like 960 or 970. I'm telling you, man, not only the high level of skill in that draft and how deep it was, but the longevity of these guys' careers. And even if you look at some of these guys careers and you look even even if you

look at some of the guys that have been retired the amount of miles that they put on when they did when they did play i mean richards was another guy who retired fairly early um did you mentioned jeff carter right yep yeah he's one of those guys too so 85 was it was a was a crazy year, man. I couldn't even sniff World Juniors that year. Oh, the fucking age year was sick. 83 sucked. That's why you went fifth. Exactly. One other last note here. The AHL is expecting to start their season on February 5th.

I want to pass that along. And before we get to Ray Ferraro, we obviously talk about chiplets on the show quite a bit, but did you know 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 the Bruch on my choppers, not to mention the long battery life. Also, you get six unique modes to customize your brushing experience. There's a four- long battery life also you get six unique modes to customize your

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at bruch.com. That's 15% off using the promo code CHICKLETS, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S, at bruch.com. That's B-R-U-C-L-E-T-S, at bruch.com. That's B-R-U-U-S-H.com. Keep those chicklets clean. Go get some bruch. And now we're going to send it over to Ray Ferraro

for his World Junior Championship expertise. Well, our next guest is making his third appearance in the show. I'm not sure if he's the first-time member of the three-time club, Hale, on Spit and Chicklets. He played 18 NHL seasons, Next guest is making his third appearance in the show. I'm not sure if he's the first-time member of the three-time club hail on Spit and Chicklets. He played 18 NHL seasons, and he's currently in the World Junior Championship bubble in Edmonton, providing his excellent analysis for TSN.

It's a pleasure to welcome back to the Spit and Chicklets podcast, Ray Ferraro. Ray, thanks for joining us. You bet. Happy New Year to everybody. Hope everybody's doing good. Happy New Year to you as well. How's the bubble going? You getting a little antsy in there or what?

Yeah, like, I don't know. I don't think I understood really what the bubble was, like when the NHL guys were talking about it. But like, there's literally nowhere to go. Like, I'm in my room. I go to eat. I got to have my pass on because they track wherever you go. You walk downstairs, you walk out the front door

and it's literally like a seven second walk to the car that takes you to the rink and it's 10 seconds into the rink that's it like there's nowhere else to go if you wanted to go for a walk the only place you can go is around the concourse in the rink well there's nowhere wow i see that bike behind you you must have a pretty good vo2 max though just putting on the miles in your room right now the only concern is not to be a fat bugger by the time i go back home so i'm right like yesterday with football on like i can you can i sat on that bike and watch football kind of most of the day like what else are you gonna do there's literally nothing to do i can even, I can't even think of it.

I watched a movie yesterday's first one. I watched a lot. I'm way behind in movies, but I watched the gentleman. Have you seen that? How is that? I never saw it. Okay. Are you, uh, did you like, uh, the guy Richie movie snatch and lock stock and two smoking? Oh yeah. That's a good one. This is exactly the same. It's awesome. I loved it. And yeah that's a good one this is exactly the same it's awesome i loved it and so that's that was like my big entertainment for for the week so far get a little vino from room

service at least i gotta tell you craig button is the king i don't know what he brought he lives in calgary so he drove up here i don't know what else he brought in his trunk but we have not been out of a bottle of red yet it was his birthday yesterday we have a little dinner he brings the wine like you know it's like that's awesome he's selling it to the kids in the tournament making a few bucks on the side these guys can't when they lose they can't wait to get going man man. Oh, my God. They're all 18, 19 years old. They've been in quarantine, some of them, for two and a half, three weeks. Then they get into the bubble. They want to live, right?

So they're out of here on the next day. They don't even have a choice, man. They lose out, boom, they're gone. They're out of the bubble. Given the circumstances circumstances did you notice a slower start to the tournament overall because of what every team had to go through yeah it was it's been weird all of it really you know like the kids most of them hadn't played much right and so like Canada had five guys that had played a game this year when they started the u.s a few more there were a lot of the european kids

they came here and you know because their leagues were going but they'd played nine games seven games you know and then they came here and they had to quarantine and so anything that they'd done conditioning wise had pretty well been shot and then the poor german team man those guys had to go into quarantine again and it was it's it's been weird with no fans i don't think i ever really this is sad to say but i don't think i appreciated how much the fans mean to the game like you know i always say oh yeah we play hard anyway and we go do our thing but man it's just not the same without the energy without the fans without the ups and downs and i i know you guys probably too but it's not the same watching it like football baseball everything hockey

everything it's just not the same i i said to somebody that i i cannot wait for this pandemic to end like one of the biggest things being fans back at sports. I don't care if I'm there in person, it's watching them exactly like you say. And I think that definitely helps Russia tonight. I mean, well, now this is Tuesday morning, but to not have to play against Canada with the fans. I mean, that's a game changer because I experienced it in Halifax. They'll run you right out of the building.

So you guys are playing, you're young, you're teenagers, right? I experienced it in Halifax they'll run you right out of the building the that to that with so you guys are playing you're young you're teenagers right and the emotion ups and downs of teenagers man like everything's the best or everything's the worst and if Russia gives up an early goal today I don't think they get rattled like they might otherwise and you know this place would be madness tonight like it it really would in inside there like we notice it when you call the goals when you know when you there's just no ups and downs to the game and i think it is uh an advantage to to russia i'm i'm really super fascinated with how they're trying to play like um igor larionov i don't know if you guys ever had a chance to meet him he is like one of the coolest guys like he is he has done everything and he wants i just read something today he says i want i want our players to play the game not

work the game he's like i want him to handle the puck i want him and i'm like oh my god would i love to play for him so we'll see how i'd hate it you wouldn't be on the team base yeah i'll be on waivers right uh it's just a whole different world i like it right the russians have just one righty skater on their team have you ever seen that on any legal format before just one righty skater on a roster not like that but they always seem to have very few right-handed shots and i don't get it and they asked uh james duffy asked uh igor about it the other day they were on i don't know if you guys have seen that they do that uh yeah hologram beam them up yeah it's really cool and uh igor said yeah i don't know i don't know why we don't have more than one it's the weirdest thing to look at

and the one guy of course uh he stands out like a sore thumb like he's the only guy that with a right-handed stick on the team it's it's weird um now i want to get into a couple different players throughout the tournament and when we're on russia the goalie asker obvious it's interesting to me because you hear about all the potential and how good he is and then there's times i don't know i i've seen him look really good i've seen him look kind of sloppy what do you see in terms of his game and and really translating to that next level forgetting forgetting just this tournament well okay last year when we got yeah when we got to the tournament

though with like last year they were like oh my god this kid's the best goalie since Carey Price best 17 year old goalie since Carey Price and in the tournament he looked like he was jittery and he was like his hands were always moving and I'm like man this kid's not ready to play and so this year he looks more solid but man he spits rebounds out all over the place he's lost his stick a half a dozen times he looks like an unmade bed sometimes and I I'm like, I don't get it. Like he's, he's really good, but I don't get why he just kind of loses his whole frame in the net. He can't play in the NHL like this. They'll,

they'll shred them at the NHL level yet tonight. Like, as you said, it's Tuesday morning, like the semifinals are tonight. Tonight, he could be the best guy on the ice. Like I can see why Nashville took him. The potential's clearly there, but holy smokes, man. He's all over the place. It's really, I don't quite get it.

I don't quite, because they said, they told us like next to Vasilevsky, he's the best Russian goalie prospect that they've had. When Vasilevsky was in this tournament at 17 and 18, that kid was a stud. He was just, I mean, it didn't always go perfect, but he was a rock. And this guy, I, I'd be a little nervous, you know, standing behind him. I'm speaking of prospects that are NHL ready I'm going to read your quote this might take a while on Tim Stutzel sorry yeah yeah if you got sorry I got a long quote again shocker oh no no it's his reading no it's my reading it's my reading right I might

struggle with this I don't think there's a player in the tournament more NHL ready and I mean not even close than Tim Stutzel like what what separates him from all these other guys? And I would imagine that he goes to Ottawa and he starts his season in the NHL. Biz, I can't think of anything that Ottawa will throw at him that this kid can't handle. He's a stud. He plays with pace. He's fast.

He's tough. He's determined. He scores. He makes plays. I don't see how he can miss like there's there's certain players you look at at this level and you go man he's really good here but oh maybe he's not quick enough or maybe he's not tough enough this kid has got everything i ottawa is so lucky to have this kid i there's no way he's playing anywhere else than ottawa he's just he's too

good and here's here's the other thing i think it's a big advantage and so whit did it in reverse when you went to russia and can't speak to anybody and it's just like you know you're living in a freaking cave right by yourself he speaks really good english he understands everything i think it's going to make him way more comfortable coming in i i look at and i look over at team canada and and there's just so much talent like a lot of people have talked about dylan cousins what a player but the two guys that i wonder about and i look at and i see cole perfetti right and people talked about how he dropped to 10th and what a pick for winnipeg right and then i look at I look at this Connor McMichael and he was 25th in the same draft.

These two guys, it's like, I can't imagine a more well-rounded hockey player than Connor McMichael. And to see him like drop in the draft, I know maybe he's a little undersized, but these guys, they're so good. So young. What do you see in terms of their potential at that next level? Those two in particular. Welletti is uh he's a really interesting case because his game is going to be is going to be offense and right now like as an 18 year old in the tournament 19 year old you know

like they're young they're not strong yet and so i think his right now that to look to project him onto an nhl roster i'd say he's not quite quick enough or strong enough now that to look to project him onto an NHL roster, I'd say he's not quite quick enough or strong enough, but that's going to come, but the guy can pass and he can score like he's they're playing them on the wing here. Cause Canada's got so many centers. He's the Winnipeg projects. Him as a centerman in the middle of the ice. And I think that's a good spot. Just read this thing about McMichael this morning, the guy he patters himself after is nick backstrom man if you can be anywhere near nick backstrom you're a hell of a

player good start it does the kid does the kid does a lot of things for them backstrom does everything for washington but the two most nhl ready players for canada by a mile are cousins who's a buffalo pick and bowen byram, who's just another Colorado draft pick. They got like 10 young defensemen, and Byram's the next one. And Byram, I don't know if it's like the gear wear or just what. He's Duncan Keith Jr. It's like there's so many things that remind me of Duncan Keith watching this kid, and I can't wait to see him at the next level.

Colorado, it's a sick joke what they have coming. Who's the other D-man on Canada that's there? In Colorado? He's going to pick. Yeah, Cale McCarr. Well, Cale McCarr went last year. Canada's got Justin Barron, who was their first rounder this year. They've got Drew Hellison, who was the second rounder placed for the U.S.

Like they just – three years ago they had no players and now they're like I don't know what they're going to do with them all it's pretty pretty awesome problem for for Colorado to have great which NHL team do you think has been happiest about its draftees play oh boy well I think Detroit's probably pretty thrilled they've got half the Swedish team and I know they just lost but oh my god man like every guy was you're doing research and i'm like it's another detroit guy it's another detroit guy and then they had two guys that got pulled out for covid positive tests or they would have been on the team like they detroit's got to be really happy anaheim i'm sure they're they got got to love Trevor's egress who's leading the tournament and scoring,

but Canada's got a, another defenseman, Jamie Drysdale, who they took six. And it's one thing to have a lot of prospects in the tournament. You know, Detroit's got nine, Ottawa's got nine. Anaheim's got two really high endend guys in Drysdale and Zegras. And, you know, that's pretty cool for a team that's, you know, transitioning the page a bit. One guy that kind of flew under the radar was that, well,

early on in the tournament, Jake Sanderson, and people are saying that he's been a standout as well. Another guy, fifth overall, same big left ear, just like Witt, to Ottawa. Have you been impressed with him so far? I have. Witt, did you play against his dad? I did get the chance to play against Jeff. Jeff was fast, and Jake looks exactly the same. They wear the same number, and I'm like, holy smokes.

I wish they looked like they were trying when they skated. It just goes so fast fast and they're like up the ice this jake's of course he's 18 years old he's the best d-man on the united states and of course he's going to get stronger and better and bigger and uh man he's he's another guy that's just you know ottawa's got these you know all these picks but they got high-end guys and i guess that's you know when you suck you get to the top of the draft and then you got to make the right pick but you know they got Stutzla and and uh Sanderson two picks apart holy man that's that's building block stuff there great on Saturday we saw four relatively tight quarterfinal games uh

teams like Germany the Czechs the slovaks are they sort of collectively closing the gap on canada usa russia sweden finland a little catch them but right i you know i mean i think it's a race they can't win uh because of the sheer numbers of players but what those teams are really good at is for one game they can they can rev up their a game and they keep the games tight the the tough thing in this tournament and i don't think people quite understand it is you know like every you know some people are ragging on switzerland and austria this year of course austria is just you know they qualified for the tournament and it's their first time and they got smashed but the

swiss are generally really good they're always a pain in the ass well this year they got a bunch of 17 year olds because all their players aged out it's like you can't play forever it's 20 years old you're out of the tournament and so you don't have a like an endless flow of players like canada and russia and the us and sweden finland do so you get burned you got a you know a thin group. Germany's got 11 guys coming back next year. I think they're going to be really good. While one of the guys not coming back is Stutzla. So they're not going to be as good, but it, I, those quarterfinals, honestly, Mike, like I was nervous because I was like, man,

what if these games are all like just tomato cans? I don't, you know, like who wants that? We don't want to broadcast them. You don't want to watch them you don't want to watch them right and yet those kids played their played their asses off and they were all really close games could you could you see a potential restructure the tournament i know people every year it comes up when the first games come out and teams are getting blown out you mentioned austria i think they scored one goal the whole tournament oh and four it's a and a lot of the guys who did help help them qualify for the tournament,

they're no longer there, right? I think they lost about nine 19-year-olds. Do you think there's a different potential structure so it does make it more competitive and it does make it seem like the gap is closing when the tournaments actually do take place? It would be by far the best way to go, but logistically it just can't happen.

And this is why the that like austria is a great example they qualified they had the best goalie in the tournament at the top scorer who's an nhl draft pick plus these six or seven other 19 year olds and they're all gone in theory they should qualify that qualifying tournament to get here to the world junior should be in the summer but to do that then when does the teams that qualify for the second level tournament when do they have it and the teams that qualify for the next tournament when do they happen the IIHF puts on I think 32 tournaments you know we just see this one but when does the under 18 happen well you can't have the under 18 at the same time as the qualifying tournament for the world junior and so eventually there's just no time to do it for this

tournament a hundred percent it would be the best way the team that qualifies is the team that plays but it logistically it just it just can't happen another guy i'm kind of curious to get your opinion on is cole Caulfield. And now you came into the league at a way different time when it was really difficult to make it as an under undersized guy, you played forever. It's easier now, but still the question remains when you're, when you're really undersized, is it Johnny Goodrow? Or is it someone who can't handle it? What's,

what's your kind of perception on his game and what he needs to do to maybe get to that that next level and can he be an elite scorer there too well he better be because you know like that you know you you get boxed in pretty quickly into can you be a multi-faceted guy can you do lots of things or do you do one thing and if you do one thing you better do it at a very elite level so when I'm watching Caulfield like like, man, I love the way he shoots. I like the way he skates. He's a little bowling ball.

Like he's a thick, you know, not tall, but he's thick. He better find a B game because the A game isn't there all the time. Man, we all know, like you play your B game way more than your A game. Once in a while. 80%, I bet. 80%, 75, 80%. How about those days where the puck just follows you around know like you play your b game way more than your a game once in a while i bet 80 75 80 how about those days where the puck just follows you around and you're zipping every pass and every chance you get is a shot on goal or a good play that happens like once in a while that's why nate mckinnon and

crosby and you know and you know and all those guys at the top of the league austin matthews that's why they are who they are the rest of us play the b game 80 percent of the time and you're like you're kind of muddling around so off field has got to figure out what his b game looks like because otherwise the coach is going to look at him sitting on the bench and go he doesn't have it tonight he's not getting any chances i can't use him and that's a real challenge that a little guy has that a big guy doesn't because a big guy can go out there and crash around a little bit yeah I mean I I think that around the net there's no question it's more about like coming over the blue line creativity

and and making plays happen as opposed to just standing there and burying it from a great centerman so I I'm really rooting for the kid but I was curious what you thought that does make sense he's an awesome kid to wit. Oh, yeah. I've heard nothing but great things. Two years ago, my brother-in-law, Tony Granato, who coaches the University of Wisconsin, they came up to Vancouver and played a couple of preseason exhibition games

against the University of BC. And so we had them at our house for a barbecue. First of all, I can't tell you how much meat we bought for this barbecue there's like 25 20 year old kids coming and i'm like i said to cammy we're gonna be eating steaks here for like a month those guys they were like they left like the fred flintstone bones left there was nothing left on the toilet too just look at these young guys man they had they had the yellow tape across the bathroom sorry guys you're not going in there yeah you rented a couple of parties in the back these kids were unbelievable i couldn't believe how

mature they were how like caulfield and turcotte in particular stood way out. I got little guys, right? My kids, I think at the time were nine and 12. And they were like, they spent time with them. They played, we had a soccer thing going and they brought our little guys into the game. Like they're really easy guys to cheer for. Ray, Canada, obviously the big favorite in the tournament. If per chance they don't end up winning the gold what would the likely reason be their power play hasn't been very good um that's really

about the biggest weakness i see to them um or maybe a scar off plays one of those games in gold tonight that you know is on on that way great side um he is the wild card in the game against Canada. He just, you know, they won the U18 when he was the goalie, and apparently, like, he was just unbelievable. And so if he does that, that's probably the reason. Canada is so deep. Oh, it's a joke. Canada, Russia.

Canada, Russia has that. It's like 99% of the time, doesn't matter overmatch, it's going to be a great game. Those two countries just battle it out. And I think last year in the gold medal game, was Russia up 2-0? 3-1 in the third. 3-1 in the third. So tonight's going to be crazy.

We're going to hop on after. So this is kind of people will be laughing, listening. But still, it's exciting to see finally when this tournament gets down to the semis, it just reaches that next level. And you watch guys who are going to be stars in the NHL perform at a high level internationally. Nothing beats it. Well, here's one other thing. We've talked a little bit about the U.S., Canada, and Russia. And we haven't talked about Finland yet.

And the Finns are a pain in the ass every year, every tournament. You look at their roster, they never look good enough. And they're always there. Like the grit in the heart that those guys play with, they never change. They just change the players and they bring in 18 new guys. And they're all the same. I just, man, I love watching that team. They just never go away.

They're like a rock in your shoe. You just can't move it to the comfortable spot. They just never go away. Those Scandinavians. Ray, we got to ask you about the fact in Brandon, where you played junior, they're going to name a street after you. There's been a few guys in the past that have had streets named after them. Now, do you know exactly where the street's going to be in the town?

I have no idea. I haven't talked to anybody about it. I wake up on Twitter the other day, and I'm like, geez. And then I get a bunch of texts. And, of course, everybody's really supportive, right? It's going to be a one-way street. It's going to be a short street. It's going to be a car.

Razor, Razor. It's going to be that little road that Zamboni drives out of the arena to dump the snow, dump the snow right across there. That will be nowhere near our defensive zone. I can tell you that. Even if it's a short little street, my kids play soccer in a suburb of Vancouver, Burnaby. And Burnaby Joe Sackick is the, you know,

he's the king of Burnaby, right? There's a street behind the soccer fields from the Burnaby community rinks. This street is probably, I don't know, if it's 400 yards long, it's Joe Sackick way. At Burnaby 8 rinks? It's just beyond Burnaby eight rings it's the shortest street ever and i'm like is joe sackick man he should have like the main street give him the

highway he should have the highway yeah man if i get a little one that's okay i'll take that that's great i'm really it's kind of cool actually oh big time absolutely big honor i went to uh baker's field when i was playing in the ahl in the back street where the rink is is corn avenue i didn't realize the band corn was from there and they even have the r backwards like they do on the cover of the album so see that's sweet then you go that's our street yeah but wit might wit may be right it might be right where the zamboni goes to dump the snow that big snow pile behind the salt the salt rips through the asphalt quick they gotta replace it.

I fucking hate this street. One of my buddies said, I'm sure it's got real strong Italian curbing on the side. We're big on concrete, right? My dad owned the concrete plant. So I think that's really good. Oh, they didn't tell you? You actually have to make the road. That's the only thing. I just learned that.

That's the only, I did not. I just learned that that's, that's impressive stuff. This year. I'm curious with COVID and the players on the road, kind of in bubbles when they're traveling on the road, what will it be like for you traveling and do games for TSN? I don't know. Oh, okay. So our, our boss who runs this tournament from the TV side, he's like, you know, he's over his head right now like he's doing the tournament he's doing our scheduling they're trying to still get

clarification from the leagues but also from the provincial governments how many people are allowed in the rank so just because i'm the way i am every time i see him i say hey have you got my nhl schedule yet like there's not a chance he's got it. So I asked him three times yesterday. And the third time you walk by and he just put his hand up, like don't even start. So we don't know when we have no idea. One more thing I was going to ask you about is a Gord Miller, one of the best in the business. So good at play by play.

What's it like working with him every game? He's a machine honestly like he comes he gets when he's focused he gets this walk going right like to the booth or when we're going from hotel to cab or whatever and he's got kind of like a not a 45 degree lean but it's more kind of upright but I can't keep up to him because he's just got to get there he's got to go he knows he learns all the like all the names in the tournament this is a don't even start oh man it's so hard we struggle to get them right because of course nobody ever texts you and says hey you're getting all the names right they just text you and go he's stupid

you got those four russian names and those six czech names wrong well gourd has tracked down like this is exactly what he's like he's tracked down every pr guy for the 10 teams he's got the teams to go to their players and audio voice their own name into a word file then he produces this word file i got it over here And so it's got everybody's name with the way the kid says his name. So when people get pissed at us for the way we say a name, we just took it from the way the kid says it. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So Gord does all this research. He knows he's got people, you know, he calls, what about this? What about this? If there's a bad rule or ruling that happens within three minutes, he's already talked to somebody

to get the understanding. I'm, man, you know, look, Chris Cuthbert just left to go to Sportsnet, and Chris is awesome, one of the best. I've been so lucky to work with Chris and Gord. Like, those guys, I never, ever, ever think, man, I hope Gord's got his game today. I never think that. Like, he's got his A game.

He's not bringing the B game 80% of the time? No, the B game. No, that's his winger, Ray. Yeah, what he's got to worry about is his winger gets lost on the way to the rink because I'm directionally challenged. I'm a little unorganized. I like to think I'm one of those people. I like to think I'm super of those people i like to think i'm super organized but

i'm not really and gordon's like gordon won't be in a rink like in europe and he'll constantly be tapping me on the shoulder no turn right here because i'm going the wrong way again we've been there 10 days yeah it doesn't matter i can't get it gordon gordon drags me around and we somehow get it on the air he's worried he's like like, my wingers stuck in buttons, red wine bottle still, and fucking he's out to lunch right now. I actually was laughing this tournament. I don't remember what game it was. He said a guy was from Czech Republic that was Slovakian.

I think I was like, oh, man, he might make himself sleep with a gag ball in his mouth tonight. He doesn't make those mistakes. There is every once in a while like you know there'll be a name that he he's so mad at himself he doesn't get it and i'm like man you've we've done three games today and you got one name wrong perfectionist yeah man it's because a lot of times you're if you hear me say you know and and they go around the the czech defenseman,

it's because I can't figure out what number he is, and I sure as hell can't say his name. Well, I used to call games with the Coyotes left wing, centerman, never, never, usually don't drop the names. That's the vet move right there. Look at the big tall guy in the middle. He's really good. Yeah, exactly.

Well, Ray, you guys make it so enjoyable to watch these games. I didn't have any more questions. I don't know if you guys did. I think he's got to go prepare for a couple of semifinals tonight. Yeah, it's very exciting. I got to go bang out two games and I got to get on that bike, man. I got to get on the bike today. Got to get a, got to roll around a little bit. Got to work off that red. Yeah, absolutely. Have to do it.

There's a, Hey, my buddy, Dan Murphy murphy who works at sportsnet who is a really really awesome guy he says every night you got to make your choice when you're on the road you either eat or drink your calories you can't do them both it's some of the greatest advice i've ever got nice great thanks so much for joining us again three-time guest on spit and chiclets it's an honor and uh have some fun tonight watching the games. I will for sure. Hey, guys, be well, and we'll talk to you soon, eh? Take care.

Big thanks once again to Ray Ferraro for joining us for the third time. Always a pleasure to have him on. The guy knows the juniors inside out, so not many better guys to have on than him. So I'm moving right along. Hey, most guys have tried different ways to last longer in bed, but thinking about world junior scoring records, to save percentages don't always work, right, Biz? Well, the folks at Roman, an online men's health company, are changing the game with

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That's it. So go to GetRoman.com slash chicklets. You can get your first month of swipes for just $5 when you choose a monthly plan. That's GetRoman.com slash chicklets. Well, boys, here it is after midnight Tuesday morning. We're coming to you after the games we'll play tonight. We got two absolutely totally different games. The Canadians won in a snooze of 5-0.

And the U.S. ended up winning a nail-biter at the wire, 4-3, avoided overtime. They blew a 3-1 lead late. U.S.-Canada going to play later tonight, 9.30 Eastern time, Tuesday, going for the gold. Whit, let's go to you first. What was your take on the games tonight? A lot to sit here and digest. I mean, as a former U.S. hockey world junior player, I couldn't be more proud.

I never sniffed getting to the gold medal game. And I tell these guys one thing, if I could ever get in there and buzz in there and maybe say something tonight, I'd say, the last three times we've played this country north of us in the gold medal game, we're 3-0. Okay? That is a fact. And let me see.

It was Detroit Terry heroics in montreal it was the john carlson heroics in saskatoon i believe and then it was mark andre flurry having the gaffe and patrick oswald the winner in 2004 so yeah in the last 17 years, we've met three times for the big goal. What you go over there for, or to Edmonton. And I think they should be as confident as all hell. Let me say this. The Canadians, wagon. They haven't given up a five-on-five goal yet in the tournament.

Are you shitting me? That's just like crazy, crazy, crazy town. But they haven't played a team as good as the United States either so I cannot wait to watch this tonight I'm beyond fired up Canada just what a what a shitbag Russian team that was I mean they didn't have anything I don't know did you see Bob McKenzie talking about they came out about a minute and a half late for the game so they were scrambling yeah they were just like weren't ready to play I don't know if there was like a mishap with the clock inside their locker room like sometimes those things happen but like they're kind of

sleeping all of a sudden canada's got their five guys on the ice ready to go the rush is kind of lining up they're scrambling bob mckenzie talked about it and he's like listen it seems as if though from puck drop because canada did end up scoring what in the first three minutes put one bar down every game right yeah first minute tonight yeah oh was it the first minute yeah so that first goal the kid he went in and out of the net everyone thought it hit the post because it made the typical ping sound and it went in and out so quick they didn't pull the whistle till about 30 seconds later and i mean we had ray ferrero on and he basically called every shot there was as far as the tournament was concerned he was bing bing bing because we had ray ferrero on and he basically called every shot there was as far as

the tournament was concerned he was bing bing bing because we had him on at what 1 p.m eastern time before he was heading over the rink for a double header and listening to those guys it's it's crazy man they're tireless they had to do back-to-back games with what an hour in between yeah quick just you know enough to go grab some popcorn. Grab a wine cooler. Wine cooler. From Craig Button. Yeah, Craig Button's dropping wine down from the rafters. Alex Kalor was talking about it online about this Levy kid.

He said he was shooting on him when he was 14 years old. He would go on with his team and then stay on afterward and take 100 breakaways from NHLers. Always had a positive mindset. Just kept working, working, working, and getting high praise from NHLers already. And he's had a hell of a tournament. He's putting up some insane numbers.

I mean, I think R.A. might have been able to play net tonight, although given what the Canadians gave up. But you said it, just five on five, they just lock you up. Good gaps by defensemen, good sticks, good back pressure by the forwards. Everybody's buying in. And on top of that, they just have enough skill to just trample anyone. So this is going to be a very interesting final, though. It is.

And Ray Ferraro, people won't even believe us. I mean, he talked about, I keep, is it Askarov? Yes. Yeah, that's the one Grinnelly whammied this time. Askarov. Oh, hey, how about, who do we have on for a draft analysis? Ian Moran. He was ripping on Stutzel and then said Askarov was the steal of the draft.

Although, hey, still a lot of hockey to play in these guys' careers, but he could have been more off to this point. So where was I going with that? Yeah, so Askarov is just, oh, my God. Have you ever seen somebody drop their stick that often? He never had a stick. What the fuck? It's like somebody put butter on his stick as a prank before practice it crazy

i've never seen i've never seen a goalie that often need to like try to find his stick and marty baron it was interesting on twitter um because at one point one of the defensemen gave him the stick and he wrote never ever ever do that he's like a goalie can handle not having a stick for a couple minutes a couple minutes, a couple seconds, hopefully a minute, as opposed to if you get the puck, you get it out, right? All the players need to have a stick, which I actually had never heard

from a goalie. I always thought you handed him over your stick and not that anyone wanted mine, but it was just... In my case, it might have been wise because I didn't really know how to use it. The goalie's just like, the goalie's going like this to you. No, no. Take the shovel! He's the only other righty on the team.

We were saying how there's only one righty skating. He's the only other righty, so I said to the text chain, maybe he had a lefty stick by accident because he kept dropping the fucking thing. It was crazy. But it was, yeah, I think I tweeted out grip weaker than Witt's ankles. Fucking, it was just dropping everywhere.

So Ray was on the head with that one. U.S. looked good. That Turcotte, was that the kid whose old man was picking his nose? He's giving himself a COVID test. Picking his brain. Exactly. He's picked it up. He got his first goal last game uh against Slovakia and then

another one here tonight sick pass and now also quickly though Canada I asked I asked about McMichael and Perfetti they made it two nothing and three nothing both those guys I mean that the whole team's just stacked but um what else happened in that canada game that uh well we're gonna go back to the the offside let's talk about the offside it was four nothing for canada at that point right before it might actually been three nothing it was right before the end of the second and it would have been a bit of a momentum changer was it four one g it would have made it four one yeah four one and even with the new rule of the hovering leg, it still would have been offside because his toe was hitting and his toe was touching down inside the offensive zone

before the puck had fully cleared. So it was a great heads-up play by the video coach for Team Canada, who I believe is the Saskatoon Blades video coach, and Mitch Love, who's the assistant right now for team Canada. He probably brought him over, but just an awesome call down and it sucked because I kind of wanted to see a little bit of a hockey game. And then the minute they took the minute they took that away,

it was like, okay, this one's over. Yeah. I was bummed out early, but that Russian team, they didn't have anything like skill level and speed. You didn't,

it wasn't, it wasn't it wasn't one of those russian teams that can compete and win a gold medal but uh i canada hasn't trailed this this tournament either it's like this this is a huge they're a huge favorite but it's going to be a tough game for them to win i think it's going to be a classic tonight. Let's talk about the winner in the slot area for the USA. This kid played for the Hamilton Bulldogs OHL team. He had 51 tucks and he ended up sliding down in his draft year and he was a late first rounder. No, he went to the second round, but it's the second round. It's first pick in the second, first pick in the second round. And you see that release from the slot area he's at a dead standstill and ray ferrero described it perfectly he just opens up his hits hips gets

around the puck and and gets enough leverage on it to get it upstairs goalie barely moved and uh just a very entertaining game the fins never give up and who was 29 for finland very impressive casper uh simon tyvel he got He got both their goals or two of their goals rather tonight. Two of the three, yeah. And Dak Kaliev. Interesting story. He was born in Uzbekistan, which is one of the old Soviet socialist republics. Immigrated to the States. Lived in

Staten Island when he was two years old. Ended up moving to Michigan. He's American now, but actually born in Uzbekistan. He's had an interesting road to where he is now because arthur kaliev those names almost don't match up it's like a russian last name with like you know like a 60 year old white guy in america like that's usually people who are named arthur so it's it's kind of funny but hey great great game man that was an unreal snipe i thought we

were looking at a little ot but fortunately we won't be up too late tonight well and a big advantage for team canada they got about what what, four hours extra of rest here, playing in a back-to-back. Tomorrow, 9.30 Eastern time is the gold medal game. And I was thinking, well, why didn't they do it earlier? Especially, like, people in Newfoundland, it's even later for tomorrow night's game. But it would have been unfair to the winner of the second game

had they put – you know what I mean? Like you at least have to start it when they started. Give them the full 24 hours. They'll be up drinking with – Oh, they're getting after it. A bunch of Americans. Oh, the Newfies. Yeah, exactly.

And speaking of that, Newhook, who had the goal first, the first goal for Canadian plays at Boston college. Oh, he's something else. That guy's nasty. Another shocker, Colorado avalanche prospects. It's like, Jesus Christ, building a dynasty over there.

But Arthur Kaliev, I don't know why he slid in the draft. He's not the greatest skater. I don't know if that had something to do with it. I know nothing else about him, but he can shoot a puck, and he got going on that line with Zgris and Turcotte, and every time they get the puck, that's easily their best line. And they got depth.

They got Boldy, that Minnesota prospect, also plays at BC on another line, but they have tons of options on US that can score, and Zgris being the number one guy. I talked about him earlier. This kid, he's fucking unreal out there. Tried the lacrosse goal tonight. He's trying everything out there, and he always has the puck. It's like a magnet.

And I think he got his 25th point tonight in his – what is it? 10th game in the World Juniors in his career. So he's looking at breaking the all-time record for points in World Juniors. I think it was 27. I don't know. Did he actually assist? No, I think Peter Forsberg had something. No, for U.S. I mean.

Oh, for U.S. Did he assist on the winner? One of the guys. Yeah, he passed Roenick tonight. He didn't have the assist on the winner, but he had that sweet assist on the winner? One of the guys. Yeah, he passed Roenick tonight. He didn't have the assist on the winner, but he had that sweet assist on the boldy goal. Just unreal, like sort of shot pass, put it right on his stick. Yeah, so he's their best player on that side, on the offensive side.

And Spencer Knight versus Levy. Is it Levy? Levy. Levi, like the jeans. Yeah, Levi. He was also a Florida Panthers pick. Late pick. Seventh rounder.

Seventh rounder. So two Panthers prospects in net going at it should be special. Yeah, Levi, he's been absolutely lights out. I think he's getting overshadowed by some of the other players on Canada, but he's been absolutely lights out to repeat myself. But again, 9.30 Tuesday night. We're dropping this episode Tuesday, boys. Any other notes before we move along to the last couple subjects tonight? I mentioned the lacrosse school.

Johnny Walker for ASU had one tonight. I don't know if you guys saw that. Is he a super senior yet? Yeah. He's like Van Wilder at this point. He's been playing college for 10 years. We had him on the podcast in 2018. That's three years ago.

And he was a senior, I think. Seven years of college. But guys, give your predictions. Give your predictions for the game. 10-1 Canada. He's like the guy. Fuck. Come on.

Help me out here. Texas. Texas Longhorns. Matthew McConaughey. Early movie. Daisy Confused. Daisy Confused. What a sin.

I stay the same age. No, I Wooderson. I stay the same age. No, I get old. They stay the same age. What's the line I'm looking for here? I was really struggling. It's fucking late here, people. Come on. I love high school girls.

I get older, but they stay the same age. I'm not sure that line has aged well in the last 28 years. Things have changed a bit. Huge hit now. Yeah. I'm dying. in the last 28 years. Things have changed a bit. Huge hit now. Yeah. Well, my prediction is I think Canada is going to win 5-2-2. Oh, I think U.S. 3-2. I'll go.

I was going to say it, but I don't want to cop you. I'll go U.S. 4-2 at an empty netter. There we go. I got U.S US 1-0. Just a straight up shutout. Shut those Canadian pigeons down, Biz. It took you Canadians longer

to get Pink Whitney. You're going to get to celebrate gold. That's where you're going to get it. All that good karma is going up north, folks. Let's bring it home. Fuck these cake eaters. Better be for $30 a bottle. Yeah, no shit. I can L-C-B-O. That's a it home. Fuck these cake eaters. Better be for $30 a bottle. Yeah, no shit. Like an LCBO. All right.

That's a long one. Yeah, moving right along. We did say earlier the AHL was looking to start on February 5th. They're still on target for that. However, a few teams have opted out of the upcoming season between the COVID stuff, the financial situation. Milwaukee, Springfield, and Charlotte, all in the American Hockey League, they're not going to be playing this season.

Milwaukee is Nashville's affiliate. Springfield is St. Louis and Florida. I'm sorry, Charlotte is Florida's affiliate. Four teams are going to be playing in what are called provisional relocations for the season. Binghamton Devils are going to play in Newark. The Ontario Reign are going to play in El Segundo. The Providence Bruins are going to play in Marlboro, Mass. And the San Diego

Gulls are going to play in Irvine, California. Frank Saravalli tweeted, the Preds, Blues, and Panthers plan to sprinkle their prospects around the AHL where roster space is available. Most have agreements in place to help. This does suck for the guys who are kind of on the bubble of all these other teams. This means people are going to lose their jobs.

Exactly, yeah. It sucks. I understand, right? these other teams because this means people are going to lose their jobs exactly yeah yeah sucks i i i understand right when you get to the certain small towns or certain buildings and it just all depends on the state and the county but this is some bad news for guys i mean you think of it affecting east coastly guys trying to get to ahl well way step ahead now there's ahl guys who aren't going to have a job. So hopefully, you know, it gets figured out quick for the following year. I don't know what's going to happen, but definitely shitty news. And also for teams, I mean, granted, it's different this year. You get kind of your taxi squad, you get all these extra guys,

but still you want your players and your prospects. You want them getting better. You want them playing games. And there's a bunch that are just kind of left out to dry. What's kind of wild, too, they're going to have 28 teams in five divisions. The Pacific Division is going to have eight teams, the North seven, the Central six,

the Canadian four, and the Atlantic three. I've never seen anything like that. I don't know how they're going to work the schedule. They haven't really mentioned that yet, but that's pretty wild to have five divisions in such varying numbers they're all getting shit face they're all getting shit face throwing darts off a wall doing the schedule right now rolling marbles there's no how the hell are you gonna go about doing that

oh shit i i know what you wanted to talk about jumbo joe thornton uh inon in Toronto at camp. They got him on left wing with Pablo and Mitch Mana. I mean, he says he feels young already. I know we haven't seen him out there yet, but, you know, Leafs fans are going to get a little overexcited here. He's not stressed, Whit. He's not stressed at all. I don't know if you guys saw Joe Thornton's not stressed. Yeah, you think?

He's made $110 million on ice alone. And he's a legend of the game and he's probably one of the top five pastors of the puck to ever play to play the sport everyone loves him that's played with him and you know he doesn't want to stand the cup who knows what's going to happen this year but no shit you aren't stressed joe you got the world by the balls somebody wrote me too like yeah he's never won a cup though he's gonna go down at the best one of the best to never win a cup i'm like oh my god i'm pretty sure he'll get over or maybe he won't he'll live the rest of his days in agony but i'm i'm gonna guess in 10 years when he wakes up on a beach or the mountains he's gonna have an enormous smile yeah jo. Joe Thornton beach.

It also has a mountain. It's got both skiing and surfing. Oh, it's like Lake Tahoe. He built it. He paid for it. Yeah. No.

Oh, he, so speaking of Joe Thornton, there was an article that came out in the athletic and there was a story about him chirping McDavid. You guys see that? Oh yeah. Hilarious.

You could probably tell it a lot better, R.A., because you probably have it teed up. Yeah, I got it right here. Basically, I'll just read it verbatim. In 2019, there was a collision at center ice between McDavid and Tom Hurdle. Neither one of them had the puck. Zach Cashian pushed Tommy Hurdle near the glass. Tom Hurdle gets the penalty.

A couple shifts later, we're back at full strength. And it just so happens to be a faceoff in the neutral zone right right in front of our bench Cassian is lined up with his back to our bench and Jumbo is right in front of him Jumbo is literally leaning over Cassian's shoulder and he's yelling hey Connor Connor wasn't acknowledging him so Jumbo keeps yelling hey Connor find the pucks ready to get dropped Connor kind of looked over at him Jumbo says when I was the best player in the world I used to take care of that shit my own I didn't need this middleweight to come in and take care of it. All of a sudden, everybody just starts fucking laughing at it.

Like, he refers to himself as the best player in the world. Getting on McDavid or busting McDavid's balls or whatever. There's a ton of stories, by the way. Joshua Cloak wrote it in The Athletic, and you should be subscribed to it because it's a great journalistic bang for your buck. But it's a fantastic article. It's sort of an oral history. They talk to, like like 30 different people.

Tons of awesome stories in there about Joe. Yeah, check it out. We don't want to ruin it, but I thought that was the good one that would get people to go read it. So Jumbo Joe Legend, very interested to see how he's going to handle the media in Toronto. Sprint to the finish. I got them winning the Canadian Division 2 with.

Thank you. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. Yeah. Matthews. Matthews might win MVP. Ooh. Going on on some fucking limbs here tonight. Oh, going on on a fucking limb saying Austin Matthews is going to win MVP?

No, that Toronto is going to win the division. Oh, what are the odds? Have you seen odds for the divisions yet, R.A.? I saw them a week or so back. I haven't looked at them in a couple days because I haven't put any action in yet, so I haven't. They're like the Cowboys where they might be the favorites just because it's the Leafs,

but I think they're the best team in Canada. We should do a snake draft of who we think is going to make playoffs and who could pick the most playoff teams in the snake draft. We could do something as far as who's going to win these divisions because we've got to do our divisional breakdowns, but we probably won't extend them to the length that we've done in the past. We'll try to condense it, maybe just pick the winners because there's going to be a lot of hockey to cover,

and it's going to come here quick. I mean, games start in a week and a half. Absolutely, no doubt. We did get some sad news, actually, in the last hour or so here. TSN Hockey tweeted that John Muckler, he won five Stanley Cups as an assistant and a head coach with Edmonton. He was also a GM and coach in St. Louis Buffalo, the Rangers, and Senators. He passed away, I assume, Monday night at the age of 86.

So we want to send our condolences and sympathies to his family and friends. He's been around the game a long time. I'm sure a lot of people know him or knew him. And, again, we want to send our condolences and sympathies to his family and friends. He's been around the game a long time. I'm sure a lot of people know him or knew him. And again, we want to extend our sympathy. So any other stuff you guys wanted to add before we wrap up here? He was, yeah, he was the man. They cut them that cup once Gretzky was gone. Was it 90?

Yeah, that was the 90 cup. Yeah. Rest in peace to him. Thanking him and his family. Legend of the game. What else did we have? Donate to the Bar barstool fund barstool fund still kicking i think i saw something that the donations have started to slow down a little bit you got to keep that ripping granted end of the year you know it was going to be a huge push

hockey back in a week thank god yep oh wow well we'll mention it quickly brent burns you know friend of the program appeared on vikings the show it's now on amazon prime he probably didn't have to go to like wardrobe and makeup he probably just showed up in his usual dad they're like all right that in his backpack it kind of looked like your jacket biz the one i wore at the pawn hockey yeah the the real well i mean way different color but just the pond hockey? Yeah, the real, well, I mean, way different color, but just the overall size of it. The one I bought when Witt missed? I just gave him a broken stick.

Oh, I sent this to the guys the other day that, you know, the Liberty Hotel where we stay at used to be the form of jail here in Boston. Well, they had a drink this weekend at Alibi. It's called the Whitney Bulger. I don't know if you guys saw that. It was pink Whitney, lemon, simple syrup, basil, and sparkling rosé. Me and Whitey had a lot in common. A little bit of rat juice in there if they named it after fucking Bulger.

But yeah, the Whitney Bulger. It's a tough, tough look. Tough look, Whit. Having your name tied to him. I don't give a fuck. I'm making money every time. All right, boys. Well,

this is a pretty fat episode. I think we can put a bow on it. And everybody have a fantastic week. We're going to be coming to you next week from Scottsdale, Arizona. Cannot wait. We're going to be at business HQ. You guys get some sandbaggers on tap.

Next episode, a bunch of interviews. I can't wait to get out there. It's been a long time since i've been in the american southwest you guys might be able to get inside of an nhl arena and watch a game i don't know what the rule is exactly as far as spectators are concerned with the coyotes but you in fact they are letting some fans in in arizona i read that was one of the buildings so maybe you guys will be able to get inside of a coyotes game who do they start off the season against the sharks san jose yeah back to back i believe they play maybe even four games back to back against them because they're already here right they're they're

actually staying yeah oh well i don't want to yeah i was gonna get away the location yeah i was going to get away the sharks location carlson's in room uh 90. Well, Biz, I can't wait to get out and see your humble abode and all of us to get together. That's so exciting. You've never met Finnegan. Mr. Finnegan. Oh, Mr. Finnegan is going to say hello to it. Does he just shed everywhere?

Yeah, he sheds a lot. Biz, good luck tonight. Go USA. Let's go, Team Canada. We can do this. We can do this. Have a great week, everybody. Even though you snubbed me 10 years ago, and then Witt got picked,

and he had three apples against Belarus. All second assists. All fucking third assists from the press box. See you, boys. See you. Have a good one, everybody. As as always we like to thank our fantastic sponsors here on spitting chicklets big thanks to our longtime friends at new amsterdam bodger and pink whitney big thanks to our friends at ea sports nhl had a lot of fun doing that team of the year with you huge thanks to everybody over at simply safe for keeping us safe during these crazy times also big thanks to our new friends at Bruch.

By all means, check them out. You want to keep your chiclets clean and a huge thanks to our longtime friends over at Roman for taking care of the fellas. Have a great week, everybody.