Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 349: Featuring José Théodore + Jimmy Hayes Tribute

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

On Episode 349 of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by José Théodore. José joined (03:19) to discuss winning the Vezina and MVP in the same season, playing for Montreal, playing with Ovi and tons more. The guys wrap up the show talking about the incredible life of our dear friend Jimmy Hayes who passed away last week and the good times they shared with him. The show ends with some kind words from Dave Portnoy, Brendan Walsh, Jack Eichel, Torey Krug, Keith Yandle, Vincent Trocheck, Nate Thompson, Larry Flowers, Scottie Upshall, and Pat Maroon. Rest In Peace Broadway.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 349 of Spit and Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports podcast family. Hey, gang, we are back after taking last week off after our pal Jimmy Hayes passed away unexpectedly. We're all still very heartbroken out here.

I have a podcast land, the NHL world. Everybody's just tremendously sad. So we had no appetite or desire to do anything right after getting the news. And we want to thank everybody for understanding for their kind words and messages that they sent via social media and elsewhere. It was very nice of you, all you folks who did that. But we are going to pay tribute to Jimmy a little bit later in the show, for sure, 100%. So again, thanks for bearing with us last week. It was a pretty tough week for everybody out there. But we're back, and we've got a great interview coming to you later

at Montreal Canadiens legend Jose Theodore in a little bit. And we do have to mention summer is almost over, so make sure to grab some Pink Whitney to get revved up. You should head over to your local. Make sure to snag some. It's the perfect summer shot for you and your friends so order up that pink whitney at your local bar today and tag us on twitter and instagram and we'll retweet your pitches thanks for the support on that end as well i'm here with just mikey granelli once again to start the show today mikey how you doing my friend

uh incredibly incredibly tough week for uh the entire hockey world ra so i'll just leave it there i know we're gonna get to it later, but it was a tough week. Yeah. Yeah. Very tough week. And it was kind of a no, it was a no brainer to not do the show. And,

you know, like I said, I think everybody understood why. So, but on that note, we asked, you know, very happy to bring today's interview with Montreal legend,

Jose Deodoro. Like I just mentioned, you folks are going to love it, especially Canadian fans. He gets into so much stuff that he's wanting to get off his chest for a long time. And it's going to be brought to you by our friends at Cross Country Mortgage. Cross Country Mortgage is much like us at Barstool, a people first group of people. They are dedicated to the fundamentals of mortgage lending, which results in a fast,

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low and may never get this low again. So call today for a fast free quote and free home valuation. And when you do, tell them Barstool sent you. So go to crosscountrymortgage.com slash Barstool to learn more about your future home buying experience or refinance your current mortgage. Cross Country Mortgage, LLC, NMLS 3029, all loans subject to underwriting approval, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. So check them out if you're looking for a new mortgage or to refi. And right now we're going to send it over to Habs legend Jose Theodore, and you're going to love it. Well, it's time to bring on our last guest this week here in Manhattan,

and it should be a doozy. This goalie was taken by Montreal in the second round of the 94 draft and went on to play over 700 regular season and playoff games for five different teams. He's the last goalie to win the Hart Trophy for MVP, and he also won the Vezina the same year. Thanks so much for making the trip to see us. Jose Theodore.

How we doing, man? Pretty good. Thanks for having me. About time. Hey, playing these chuckleheads. Oh, by the way, you're a goalie, and you have almost as many games as these two pigeons combined. Thanks, R.A.

Hey, you teamed me up for that before. I know. I was ready for that one. I want to use it later, but that's right. We'll get it out of the way. And I couldn't even pronounce his name right on that golf course. No, Biz called him Jose from Acapulco 14 different times. He was about ready to walk off the course.

But everyone remembers, Jose came and he did the sandbag with Jovo. They beat Biz and I. They got the best of us. We owed him money. And in the end, many, many requests finally for you to come on. So we appreciate you joining us, dude. Guys, it's great. Thanks for having me.

I'm very happy to be here with you guys. Very happy to have you. I was telling him he broke my heart twice. Was it 17 and 19 years ago when the Canadians upset the Bruins twice in three years? One of those years they were the eighth seed, right? Eighth seed in 2002. And then two years after, seventh seed, and we were down 3-1.

And that was the McLaren. No, McLaren was the 2002. Okay. What's that mean, McLaren? Kyle McLaren threw one of the dirtiest hits you've ever seen in your life on Richard Zednik, I believe. Richard Zednik, yeah. And he put his elbow and basically his forearm through the guy's face.

And, like, I just remember it being an enormous deal. Yeah, Zegnick wanted to cut in the middle, and it was just like a wrestling thing. Like, they're full. I think he got suspended for one game, but that really got us going. After that, I think we were 2-2 in the series, and we came back and we won in six. So we're going to get into that. 0-2 was the MVP Vez in the year, but we love kind of starting at the beginning and how hockey became a huge part of your life.

And growing up French, you always loved the Montreal Canadiens. That was your squad. Actually, not really. To be honest, I was a big Olers fan because Grant Fuhrer was one of my idols. Actually, he was my idol growing up because he was one of the only goalies that would catch on my side. I know you guys don't know that, but I catch the other side. I knew. Biz, you know?

No clue. Do you look? Do you look? No, you don't look? I'm more looking at the game notes to see who I'm going to be fighting, not who I'm going to be fucking shooting on, buddy. Come on. All right, all right.

So anyway, so Grant Fair was an idol of mine, and I grew up just being a big Edmonton fan. They were winning everything back then in the 80s. But I was going to the games. We had season tickets. So I went to the games all the way until when they won the cup in 93. You remember going to those games? Oh, yeah, 93.

I was like 16. I think I was playing major junior then. And we finished our season. And when it was the finals, I was there at every game with my brother. I was there when there was a big riot after they won. and when it was the finals i was there at every game my brother i was there when there was a big riot after they won like it was crazy like cops car upside down people throwing balls and windows and everything it was crazy and i remember saying okay i gotta win the cup in this city i'll go out at night it's gonna be the best time i'll be a god yeah like you need more help. So growing up, so

many guys, you know, you're playing D forward. What was it that kind of drove you to play goalie? Was it right away when you were 10 or did you play other positions? I started playing hockey like any other Canadian kids, like three years old, four or whatever. And I was maybe, I was playing as a forward first,

which I was decent, like to learn how to skate. And then I went as a forward first, which I was decent like to learn how to skate and then I went as a goalie Just because I have four older brothers right and they needed a goalie and I'm the youngest so they would throw me in And play in this man. You're pretty good You should try on the ice and then I played and I just saw right off the bat that it was kind of coming easy You're not so I just stuck with probably the fact that they weren't taking it easy when they shot, too, so you were used to that. Look at my forehead.

Stitches everywhere. True story. I mean, I'm going to keep it on the ice. Boom. So anyway, so that's how I started to be a goalie. You were just telling us, you were 12 years old at Vladislav Trediak's goalie school? Yeah, he came. How did he end up in Montreal?

What was that all? I don't know. He was doing his first year hockey school up in Canada, which was a big thing. Because we all, I knew it. For me as a goalie, the Russians are coming, blah, blah, blah. And I knew he was. Probably because Montreal was such a hotbed, or at least Quebec for goalies at the time. At the time, probably.

I just know when he was coming, I'm like, I got to go there. So my parents, like, no problem. He was doing two weeks. Usually it was one week and then another group of kids, but I would always do the full two weeks. And then I go there, and that's actually where I met Marty Brodeur. Marty just finished playing midget AAA. He got drafted by the team he played junior, I think St. Ison.

So he was there, and I was there, but I was like 12 and he was 16 maybe. So we became kind of close friend there. And then I just got a really good relationship with Trichak because I kept going every year until actually I was 17. I was still going there. And would that be one of those things where he has camp counselors doing it or is he on the ice right in the middle of it teaching you? He learned from the communists back when Tikhanov was the coach.

We would do things. The guy was fully geared on and off the ice. And then after the first year, he's like, okay, you're 12, but you got to push harder. I think you have talent. So let's do private school. So he asked my parents. For me and brother, there's only two. There's like 70 kids he could

tell you two i want to do like extra lesson at 5 p.m we get there at 7 we do our normal day off ice which he has balls he had sticks reflexes all kind of crazy things obviously and then we're back on the ice me and marty at the at the of the day. So I kind of built a really tight relationship with Vladdy and Marty as well. That's amazing. What were the most important things you took away from that? Obviously work ethic being one of them, but what did you take away the most? Well, work ethic for him because he didn't speak English or French, but he was really pushing.

He really didn't care. He was pushing hard. And for me, a big, big boost where I kind of said, okay, I think I'm on the right track is my second year there, I was only 13, so it's like peewee, whatever. And they go there, they do a reporter on him, a little segment, and they ask him if there's any good goalies or who would, and he brings up my name.

Say, you got to watch for these kids, this and that. And I was all happy. They're asking me questions. And I'm like, fuck, next time I'm going to be king at school. I hope they watch that shit. But all that to say, that was kind of, okay, if he says it, I think that's kind of a good indication. So it just motivated me to push harder.

Now, the Russians, they had all kinds of different type of training that you probably never seen before, like totally different, right? I'm not a guy. In the summertime, usually I wouldn't even play hockey because, I mean, it was too, I don't know, I didn't like to play. And it was different then. You're too busy sandbagging on the golf course. No, I didn't even play golf back then.

Come on, Biz. But anyway, all that to say that a lot of different, but the intensity, his style, he was there doing it by a lot of off-ice training that really kept me. Until my last game in the NHL, I still had two tennis balls. Now you see everybody has them, but back then he was one of the first that brought this up. So then, all right, so you're 12 years old then, and you can continue playing like midget or whatever it was. And then when you're drafted in the Quebec League, or were you drafted into Quebec League?

Yeah, I was. Then it was Team Quebec, which is kind of whatever. You have the under-18, but before that, I think it's under-14, whatever. They have Team Quebec, and they had a Team Canada training camp that I was invited to. So you had maybe only three, four guys from Quebec. I remember Jean-Yves Leroux that played in Chicago was there,

me, Denis Gauthier, the defenseman. So three, four guys. So anyway, I'm like, okay, I'm on the right spot. You know, I'm playing with the best in Canada, and that brought it up. And then I got drafted after my midget AAA. I got drafted as an underage in St. Jean. So I played St. Jean when I was 16 years old as an underage. Now, going into the NHL draft, you must have known the Habs will huff away

of being a local kid. Patrick Watt had been around for a while. Obviously, he didn't know he was going to be gone soon. Well, Patrick was 27, I think, at the end around that time. And Montreal didn't drop a goalie high, like, in the first three rounds for a while. Like, I mean, I'm looking. I think it was, like, maybe Patrick was the last guy I was drafting

the first three rounds. So I knew they liked me, but I was more thinking maybe first round they're going to take a chance or whatever. I didn't think I would be there at 44th pick. So at one point, I didn't want to get drafted earlier. When the second round started rolling, I'm like, I don't want to get drafted 35th just to say I'm 35th. I know Montreal's coming. They're right there. At this point, I wanted to be first rounder, obviously, anywhere.

But then when I saw I wasn't a first rounder, I'm like, okay, I'd rather go a little further and be in Montreal. So that kind of took a little bit of the disappointment because I thought I would go earlier. But when it was Montreal, I'm like, okay, this is great great montreal patrick's there but still montreal my home team so this was great you wouldn't you weren't you wouldn't be nervous about the pressure is like seeing how many guys through the pass and how intense it is there when you're under the microscope constantly well i mean i'm sure it's probably the same way but we grew up in canada so for me it was normal

like i was a kid, it's normal. If you play like crap, you're going to get booed. You're going to get talked about, whatever it is. And on the flip side, I grew up that if you play well, well, fuck, you're the king of the city too. And for me, at a very young age, I'm like, okay, hockey is what's going to bring me to what I want to be. And I want it just to be different than the rest of the kids my age.

Hockey was the way out. And I guess you'd experienced it a little bit because I think you guys won the Q one year, and you did end up going to a Memorial Cup at one point. Exactly, yeah. I got drafted in St. Jean, which is now Rimouski. They moved after. So, yeah, that team you played, that's now Rimouski.

They moved. St. Jean, the first, that's now Rimouski. They moved? Saint-Jean, the first, yeah, they moved to Rimouski. I got traded after. When I was 17, I got drafted the year after. Just didn't get along with the new coach and the management. And I had a bad start, but I just didn't want to play. So I got traded to Hull, which Hull is a little bit like the Montreal Canadian of the major junior up in Quebec. I think Talbot played there. One of the major junior up in Quebec or like

Talbot played there. Exactly, yeah. So when I got traded there, that was during the lockout. 94 lockout. So the fans were like sell out every crowd, which was great. We end up winning the championship

against Laval which was Michel Therrien and his goons over there. They had a goon squad, shockingly. He always had tough guys. Tough guys, and they had the big sign, House of Pain in Laval. Big banner with blood coming down. House of Pain. Michel, I play with no socks on, right?

Like goalies, like the team socks. Just like any goalie, like Carey Price. That fucker, before game five, he pulls the – The rule book. The rule book. Every player needs to have the same uniform. And that was like written that big. Just to get in your kitchen.

I'm ready to go on the warm-up the ref comes i had to go get undressed play with socks and how much that fucks a goalie's head oh yeah how are you you guys aren't fucked in the head to begin we beat them that night and still to this day i see mike i'm like yeah you really tried you would get me they would put sand sand on the floor they put sand so you would walk in and all you have, like your skates would be all fucked up. They would leave the heater in our room like 100

degrees. You're sweating. You're on the ice. I actually love this. He would send guys to the visiting room and they'd just lay out sand. So you're not seeing it, but walking to the ice in your wheels, one little grain of sand is going to maybe lose an edge, and all of a sudden it would happen.

I guess the benches would be a little lower, so you'd be tying your skates, and your legs would be more tired because they'd be bent up. All the gamemanship stuff. And there was a sauna in there, I'm telling you. But anyway, we beat them, so that was good. And, yeah, so that's my junior. And then that 19-year-old, we still had a good team.

We had, like, Claude Julien was the assistant coach when I was in Hull. He was the assistant then? Assistant. Who was the head coach? Was it a legendary coach there? No, a guy called Bob Mongering. Played a little bit in the NHL, but he was the head coach. Then Julien was the assistant coach.

We had Pete Worrell that played on my team, Colin White. Tough. You had a tough team too then. We had a tough team.y dwyer whatever kind of shady shit was going on in the quebec junior league when you were playing there if that type of stuff was going on with terry and squad yeah well laval was known like i said they had all uh it was really they were known it was the house of pain before my time you had the team with uh bob hartley was the coach and always a tough, tough team.

And it was they tried to intimidate you. So that was that was but Hall was like kind of the the rivalry. So Hall of All was kind of the two. So it was fun. And that's how I met Michel Terry. And then after that, we kind of hated each other playing against him. But then I had him in the American League when he signed Montreal. And I had him in the NHL when he signed Montreal and I had him in the NHL obviously when I played for Montreal what was the AHL there Fredericton at

the time yeah so you spent some time there as well up and down I was lucky like my years was when I was 20 years old I actually uh spent maybe three months there only so that wasn't bad but then at 21 they sent me back for the almost a full year but at 20 i only spent half of the season there you think that next year they looked at like let's just give him a full year in the minors and then like he'll be end up coming up no they they fucked me that year because simple as that they called me up in november when i was 20 years old my first pro pro uh year So at 20, they called me up. Thibaut was the number one.

He got hurt. So I was with Pat Jablonski. And I ended up playing pretty much all the games. I was there for three weeks, played all the games, and I had some pretty good games. So I felt like, okay, I'm almost there. It's good. They sent me back down.

And then I'm not going to name names here, but something happened between Pat Jablonski and another teammate. So all that to say they traded Jablonski, and they brought me up in February to finish the season. So then the playoff starts. We're playing Jersey. It's me and Thibaut now playing Jersey, and we're 0-3. So they put me in the net for my first playoff game.

Down 0-3. Yeah, down 0-3 in Montreal, first playoff. I'm walking to the rink, because we were staying at the hotel there, the team. I'm walking. Nobody knows me, which, you know, I was walking in the suit, but nobody, pretty much nobody. And then we won that game in triple overtime.

So then they put me the other game, which we lost. So I'm like, like okay i finished the last two games i think i had first and whatever third star so i'm like okay now next year it's going to be me and tebow we're going to fight july first come i'm playing golf i get a call yeah from a reporter yeah the montreal just signed andy mo to a two-year deal. So, Réjean Eul said, you're going to go in the minors. Pardon? I said, I'm getting cut in fucking July. I said, give me a chance at least, you know.

So, I had a camp and then finally that's how I end up spending most of the 21-year-old in the minors. Let me ask you now, you know, you'd had the good playoff. You'd played the year before a little bit. When they signed Moog, did you ever meet with the GM and kind of tell him, like, what the fuck? I can do this. When they said that right away, I was fuming because I really thought I was ready to fight for the number one job with Tebow.

And now I'm being cut. Just at least say, well, we brought in experience. We're going to see training. At least say the right thing. So I'm getting cut. So we had a meeting. He's like, oh, just play experience. We're going to see training. At least they say the right thing. So I'm getting cut. So we had a meeting. He's like, oh, just play well. We'll see.

So I ended up having solid camp because I was so pumped up. Had a good camp. And then when they send me the last day of camp, they send me in the minor because they wanted to kind of keep me till the end. So then there was like the big thing in Montreal. Is he going to go? Is he going to report there? I'm like, for sure for sure i'm gonna report but that's when you see montreal i got like 20 games experience and i threw a freaking press conference to explain that yeah i'm gonna go in

the minor like this that's montreal like and i didn't want to do it it's just the team said you know media is asking you gotta go we'll throw a press conference so you could answer because people – I'm like, fuck, whatever. I think we were just talking to LaRock, and he said that there was a couple teammates going on at one point, and the media guy was walking over to open up the door to let all the media in. He's like, what are you doing? There's a couple players going at it right now.

He says, God forbid we hold the media out of the room. It would be a shitstorm. Yeah, but you got to play with the media. You got to almost – it's a game within the game. You got to deal hold the media out of the room. It would be a shit storm. Yeah, but you got to play with the media. Like you got to almost, it's a game within the game. You got to deal with the media. Like I had a few guys I kept on my side, you know, feed them a little bit of story. Because it's so big, the media, you have to.

But Fritterton was great. You played with Terry Ryan, the legend in my mind. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. I know. I saw you guys. He never told you, like, the bet we had for St. Patrick's Day. I never told him.

Let's hear it. He decides, because I love Terry, and it's a fun story. He's not going to mind. But I was nervous what he was going to say, because when I played with him, I was only 20 years old. So he could have thrown me out. Leave my name out of it, Terry. Yeah, I know.

I'm like, no. But it's all that. Anyway, we had a bet. He's like, you know, it's could have thrown me out. Leave my name out of it, Terry. Yeah, I know. I'm like, no. So all that, anyway, we had a bet. He's like, you know, it's St. Paddy's. I'm going to go in the bar because we all went out to drink in a little pub. He's like, I want to beat my own record. I'm going to try to drink 36 beers in one hour, and we'll count it. So he went there. So we're all around it.

I think after like 25 or something, he gets up for a piss. He just falls straight in his face. That's it. That's just one hour? That was just, yeah, one hour. Like 25, I think, or whatever. But he had some the previous day. So all that to say, he was a great guy for the team bonding.

When you got sent down, obviously you have the press conference. Did you go down there with a pretty good attitude? Like, hey, I'm going to still work on my game? You have to because, fuck, I was making $40,000 a year over there, Canadian dollars. You've got to get to the show. If you don't have the right set of mind, you're the one paying the price. I guarantee you. Even when I was there, like a month after, people forgot that I had a press conference and all that.

They didn't care about me. So you got to work hard. Looking back, do you think it was valuable for you to go down there and get that experience? Yeah, it was. Looking back, you're like, you know what, it's a pretty big step. I remember even at 19, I got called up emergency. That was my first game.

And I remember just the practices. I'm like, fuck these guys. My reflexes are just not good enough. Like, you know, I would get beat. Let's say a guy would try, would go down, beat me upstairs. I can next try. I'm going to stand up, beat me five. Oh, I'm like, I'm just not good enough for this freaking guessing.

At that point, it's always like you get to a point you think you're not good enough. Then you put the work in and slowly you feel you belong there. It's just such a different game. So I mean, yeah, it was good that I was in the minors for the first couple of years. And now a word from our friends at Earnest. Refinance your student debt at earnest.com slash chicklets for a $100 cash bonus. Terms and conditions apply. Earnest offers low rate student loan refinancing,

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NMLS number 1204917. California Finance and Law license number 6054788. 535 Mission Street, San Francisco, California 94105. Visit earnest.com slash licenses for a full list of licenses. Once again, earnest.com slash check. Let's check it out. $100 cash bonus if you do your refi there. Throughout all this, were you a guy that was working with the Canadiens goalie coach? After Tretiak, when you're older, did you have your own

goalie coach from Montreal area? Not really. I know a lot of... A lot of guys have their own guy. Le Rongo, Giguere, they were part of that François Allaire clinic. The two brothers, Benoit. But me was Tretiak when I was

like I said, 12 to 16. Then after that, really not much. And when I got in Montreal, it was Benoit, not Francois, but Benoit, the brother that was in Phoenix one time and Rangers most of the time. Was his brother in Toronto? Was that Francois? That was Francois, the guy that was there.

He was there, but then he changed. So his brother was kind of my coach. But summertime, I just was pretty much on my own back then. I want to bring up the Patrick Warr incident. I know you weren't with the team yet, but what were you thinking when it happened and then when they traded him? Were you shocked as shit that it went down like that?

I still remember I was at my billet in Holland. I was huge because obviously I'm fighting. I was huge because, obviously, I'm fighting. I know that's the team that I'm supposed to be number one eventually because when I got drafted, that was kind of the headlines was Serge Chavar drafts the guy to replace Roy eventually. So I see the game. I see what's going on. I see the team had a bad start.

So then everything happened, which i couldn't believe obviously and they traded for for tibo so people were calling me not all the media wanted my opinion because tibo's 20 years old i'm 19 years old so they're like i didn't know he was that young yeah yeah he's 20 i'm 19 so they're like hey you thought last year you was the you were the next guy suck on that p.o who just traded patrick for this guy can we get a quote you're gonna be like fit you are you gonna wait 15 years as a backup or people that's what they were saying but in my mind i was like i'd rather go against a guy that's my my age than going against a legend i can outplayplay him. I couldn't outplay Patrick.

I didn't say that, but in my mind, I'm like, guys, you guys are wrong. Patrick, I was intimidated. The first time I met Patrick, that's how Patrick is, and I play golf with him, so he's not going to say, why did you say that? But I'm 18 years old. I was a lockout year, so I get hurt. Montreal's like, we want to treat him. He's our prospect.

Tell him to come down at the forum so i'm at the forum i'm getting uh ultrasound everything i'm intimate first first time i'm because i didn't have a training camp lockout year they have no training camp so it's the first time i meet the guy so i'm in the clinic getting a treatment patrick walks five minutes before the practice with all his gear so he walks and i'm there i'm standing getting a treatment patrick walks five minutes before the practice with all his gear so he walks and i'm there i'm standing getting my treatment he comes in gate time the trainer is here patrick comes he's right here i think he didn't see me because he didn't talk to me so then he looks he looks at the trainer he said oh yeah so like the trainer says how do you feel he's like i feel good

the best i've I've seen. I'm going to be here for another 10 years. I feel great. Wow. Turns around, walks out. Walk out of here. That's Aaron Rodgers type shit. But, I mean, like I said, we have a good relationship.

I think he was doing a kind of half joking, half serious. Takes your per diem pack. So all that to say, when Tebow was there, in my mind, I'm like, well, it's going to be a fair and square battle now you know so that's all any other wall stories like obviously throughout the year spending some time with him he had he had a quick wick yeah but i i didn't have i i had one training camp with him and i always tell the same story joking around because for me in my mind he's one of the top three all-time bests with Marty, Hasek. I don't want to forget anybody, but he's right there, obviously.

So my first preseason game at the Forum when I was 19, played the full game against Philly. Patrick is my backup, so I always say I played one game with him, and he was my backup. That's kind of what I— So you remind him every time you play golf. Yeah, but he reminds me that he has four Stanley Cups all the time. I play golf with his two kids, right?

He has two sons, one a goalie. Well, even his son-in-law is Pierre Cedric Labrie. Oh, I didn't even know that. Yeah, yeah. Really? Okay, so I play with his two sons, and they came to Florida, so I had him over for drinks and pizza. And then, like, I got in my office where I have my mass, his two sons and they came florida so i had him over for drinks and pizza and then like i got my

office where i have my mass and the heart and the visina and masterton ultra so his kids are like hey okay i'm gonna take a picture with the heart and visina because that's i beat patrick on both so he sent the picture and right now he's talking he said did you get the picture dad and then i talk right away i'm like okay say it pat how many cups did you and the picture, Dad? And then I talk. Right away, I'm like, okay, say it, Pat. How many cups did you win? I didn't see no Stanley Cup. Okay. All right. You win.

You win. You win, Pat. You're also the first goalie to ever post a shutout and score a goal in the same game. Is that correct? According to Wikipedia, but. Yeah, no. You're right. But Damien Rhodes did it, but he didn't shoot it in the net. I'm the only guy. It was like a delayed penalty, wasn't it? Yeah, no, you're right, but Damien Rhodes did it, but he didn't shoot it in the net.

I'm the only guy I think that... It was on a delayed penalty, wasn't it? Yeah, exactly. So I scored. The only other guy, I think, again, I know Marty did it, but it was in the playoffs. He did it against Montreal, but it was in the playoffs. But, yeah, I mean, I can't believe I scored

because that was one of my worst things was to play the puck. So for me to score a goal, it's almost comical. Like, I'm laughing because I'm like, I can't even play the puck. Like, I stained my head. What made you? So you just went? Well, I used to do, like, Q Curtis Joseph. I would switch over and do the backhand flip, right?

That I could do a lot on the PK just to help the team. flip right i would that i i could do a lot on the pk just to help the team so we're up two zip against the islanders and they dump it on my strong side right away i switch so i flipped it in the middle it's flipping what are the odds it's flipping it's flipping i see claude lapointe he doesn't see could have just turned around he made a change for the bench. So he go to the bench. The puck fell straight in the net. That's why my reaction was like jumping around because I'm so bad with the puck. It's not even on my bucket list to score a goal in this league. Do you ever like see – a little off topic. Well, not really because we're talking about that.

But do you ever see the current goalies now go out and play it? They make mistakes. You're like, dude, some party is like just stay in the net a little bit no yeah i know and and don't forget now they can't even go in the corners back when i played yeah like we would like when you dump the puck if you didn't go in the corner for a reverse your d was pissed because he was getting hit so we had to go far and then when you make a bad play try to come back from the corner so i was just like i'm stinging my net man fuck that i think patty wall got a penalty one time for for crossing the red line with it didn't he he tried he tried to rush it one game yeah he did and they ended up calling

him do you remember i know you you weren't that close then when you met uh martin broder he was older than you at the treachery camp but he was the best at playing it could you even tell then that was one of his strengths yeah you told dragon guys oh yeah no he was unreal doing like flipping it with one hand he was really good and i mean you know that obviously when you're older you're like i wish i would have worked on this or that whatever but i didn't know because back then i wanted to just stop the puck and nobody did then no you didn't run extol played the puck but a lot obviously but uh just something i didn't do but marty was always always really good playing the puck yeah which uh goalie tandem partners you guys really helped you out with veterans i know jeff hackett

was probably the first guy you had like a true tandem with did he help you out a lot you're right jeff hackett for me was a huge huge help even though he was, like, we're in competition, like, really saw competition, and you know. Oh, he didn't know he was the backup. It was more you were both battling. Well, no, he was the number one first. He was the number one, but he knew because, you know,

I knew I could play with the media to have a fan base in Montreal, so I said, if I show a little bit of cockiness and confidence, I know people are going to like that. They liked Patrick for that before. So I was kind of throwing it out there that I wanted to play in this and that. So we had an open competition, but on the flip side,

he still played the role of a mentor with me, which I always, always appreciate. That's even a little like a side note, but when I went to Colorado, we had no goalie coach, and I told the GM, I'm like, listen, call Jeff Hackett. I want him as a goalie coach because I had a bad year when I got traded, no goalie coach. I was kind of lost, and he learned with the same goalie coach

in Montreal, Roley the goalie, Roland Melanson. So I'm like, I know he knows his stuff. So I brought Jeff Hackett in Denver, and he helped me a lot there too. So we have a good relationship, and he really helped me out a lot in my earlier years in Montreal. We talked last episode about fan interactions in all different sports, and someone tweeted us a fan. Did you guys see it?

A fan just dressed up in his own equipment and came on the ice and took a couple shots when he was there in practice. What were you thinking during that? When you said that, fans, I thought you were talking about only fans. You got an only fans deal? We can plug it. We're practicing in another rink when you get dressed at your own rink and then you go on the bus, whatever. So everybody could go and look at the practice, the fans.

And we were having a bad start. I was, like, on a bad slump. I couldn't stop anything. So the guy comes. He has his pants, his half visor on, white practice jersey, jumped on the ice and starts doing board to board, like skating. Can't really skate. He's skating. Then he goes, picks up speed, comes from the other side on a breakaway towards me.

I'm like, okay, what do I do? I said, you know what? I'll give this guy a shot at the title. So I stayed here. He came. He had his head down. I pole check him he he loses the puck comes back comes back i'm like okay here's another shot so i stay there to make his dream come true whatever make the glove save and then after shelly sheldon surrey buried him just hammered them fucking boom and the after, they obviously meet you all over.

Hey, what do you think? So for like three days, they were only talking about this kid named Raphael, the name. I didn't even know the name. You got a great memory, Theo. Well, no, because it was a big thing in Montreal. And then he's like, well, I felt the Canadian needed me on the power play, so I just wanted to show. The kid was serious, though. He wanted to show the coach that he could help us, and he wanted to do good.

And he went 0 for 2 on the break. Were you like, how'd this guy get in the ice? I mean, you know, the Montreal Canadiens and some randos jumping in the ice. Not really, because I knew every time we would practice there, we would have a lot of people coming to practices, and then they would chase the bus. I remember, like, guys would say, hey, you want a stick? Yeah, I put the stick down the window.

The guys are running, running, running, running. Then whoops, already clicked. So we were, like, I mean, it was the same fans that were coming. It's secret. And that guy came out of nowhere, to be honest. So wasn't really surprised. To go back to Colorado, they didn't have a goalie coach at the time when you got there. Did Montreal have a goalie coach?

Yeah, Montreal, one of the biggest, I think, influence on my career that really took my game to the next level was Roley Melanson. He played the game in the Islanders, obviously, with Billy Smith. But as a goalie, he had Luongo after me. He's the one that brought Alak when Alak came to Montreal. Every goalie is that good. He had Luongo after me. He's the one that brought Alak when Alak came to Montreal. Like, every goalie, like, he's that good. But he started with Montreal, and he just pushed me to a level like Trichak was doing.

And I need that. If you don't push me, I'm just going to club bed. That's what it is. Some people need that. Some people have it on their own. I know what you mean. It's easy because you don't need, like, I would work hard with him because he would say, okay, Theo, tomorrow, 45 minutes before practice, okay, do an hour after practice of drill every day, video. And I remember, like, it wasn't good enough for him.

I had, like, the best stats at one point. He's like, okay, this, you're bad. You got to work on that. And we would stay, like, morning skate, I would do, like, an hour 20. What? say like morning skate i would do like an hour 20 anytime from the time i was like 21 till well i got traded then i after a couple of years i knew what i wanted but the first couple of years he was just mental did you guys have but i needed that and then you go in the place where nobody tells you come on the ice earlier let's do drills he would take care of the guys you go there you go

so i kind of, I needed, I need some structure, and then that's why I brought Jeff Hackett. Did you guys ever have moments, even though you were young and really had to do anything to become that starter, but did you battle with him at all? Or no? You kind of just listened to what he said and when he yelled at you, you just took it?

He wasn't a yeller. He was just like never happy. So it's almost like, you know, you can't put your guards down because you have player of the week, two shutouts. Yeah, you also see the results. Well, that's old school. Terrian was the same way, I thought. He was never happy, and then you'd play good,

and he'd be like, eh, good job. But it was more like old school, never enough. Exactly. And Terrian, I know we talked about that off the air. Thierry is the kind of guy you like or you don't like him, right? Me, I like him because as a goalie, it's easy. Put me in the net, you're the best coach. That's it.

If you don't put me, that's when things are not good. We'll talk about Bujo later. But for me, Thierry, he knew how to get me going. And then I feel like when I was playing well, he would just let me play and play me every game. So that's like, I mean, and I know what kind of guy he is, but he knows what to say, obviously, to push your button and get you going. So I think that's a big strength of his.

One other teammate I want to ask about had a very inspirational journey in Montreal, Saku Koivu. What was it like playing with a guy like that? Yeah, Saku was super talented, and he was a good leader. He would be one of the guys that worked the hardest on the team all the time. So he was a great example, always wanted to do more. He was really a big part, a great leader. Then when he got sick, that was kind of a blow.

I remember we learned about his cancer at the golf tournament like three days before training camp. And back then, if you look at the lineup, it's not like if we had you know four offensive line like i'm just saying saku was a big part of the team so we learned that he missed the full season and then when he came back that was a very special moment that first game back against uh ottawa like i think we had maybe two three games left in the season and so that was a big inspiration and you know he had a great career

uh we were talking before you were uh you were in the papers an awful lot when you played montreal did that get tiresome after a while or what yeah that's when i when i was starting to get fed up of answering the same questions and seeing my face too much that's when i'm like okay it's probably time you know and that comes for every French guy there. Well, I was going to say, did you feed into it too much early on to where it became the expectation maybe? You know what? I think playing there, and again, just to make sure so everybody knows, I'm not comparing myself to the guys I'm going to say like the Patrick Roy

or P.K. Subban. It's not that. But off the ice, when you're too much in the public eye and you take a lot of room, whatever, you're all over the place. Like I would having a lot of sponsors. I had some TV commercial. That's this and that. Comes to a point, a little bit like what happened to P.K.

It's like, you know, it's a distraction. So much you've become bigger than the team. It's a distraction to the team. So I came to a point, like, I mean, you probably didn't even see that, but I knew I was going, things weren't good as my, the year in 06 when I got traded, show up for training camp, you know how you do your physicals? You do your physical and your shots with all the media and this

and everything you run around. We have like 20 cameras following us around, but they follow the number one goalie, the best player. So they follow me around. We're doing the headshot with the same photographer that I've had since I'm 19 years old. It's not like other teams that you see him once. You see him every week because, hey,

I need to take a photo shoot for that magazine, this, this. So I had a good relationship. He jokes around, and I'm making a face. He's like, come on, Theo, you could do better than that. Put a smile on your face. It's 9 o'clock. I just finished VO2 Max, so I'm kind of – He's like, come on.

He said, do something for the fans with your hand for fun, something like that. I do it quick like that, I swear. I go like this. He said, do something quick for the fans with your hand for fun something like that i do it quick like that i swear i go i go like this he said do something quick for the fans i go like this then i go like this like two seconds the most joking thing ever like this big smile i'm like i'm like okay he's like oh stop it we always have to like i would bust his balls but always but we had media there at night i got a call at 5 p.m that's the team uh the press guy he's like yeah you know something happened today and uh they're gonna play it big i'm like what said this it was a joke what are you talking about me and my buddy i'm like i really like for me i'm like it's nothing they play it like for a week straight all the all the shows i went i had

to do another tv show that same night other media so do you really think that about the fans so that's when i kind of in my mind i'm like okay now i see that before i would have the push of the media to help me if i needed help they're gonna Now I see that. Now it's a different story. And then I had a bad start, obviously. But I saw the change of the way the vibe was. And that's the year I got traded. Do you remember a guy in the process of you becoming the MVP and the number one guy before you that maybe they turned on and ended up running out of town? Was there a guy you remember that like, oh, fuck this? Patrick, when you got booed out, and then before that,

because, I mean, don't forget at the time, I was the highest paid guy on the team, and I signed the biggest contract of the history of the Montreal Canadiens. Obviously, now you had PK, other guys. But at the time when I signed my deal after it, I was the biggest contract that was signed. So all that makes into recipe in Montreal if you don't win it. Or now it's like you should focus on the game instead of doing probably this.

And now it's becoming. So that's how it was. It was fine before when everything was going great. And you know what? Like you said, at one point, I'm tired of answering, do you think you're going to lose your job number one goal? Do you think? Always the same answer.

So I was ready to leave the city. I would have loved to win a cup there, but at the end I was like, okay, now I just need to – I needed a new start. I think we've got to go back to the happy times, though. Yeah, I was going to bring up 0-1-0-2. Veznana heart just an incredible season like is that something where you're finally really coming into your own and in camp you could feel it was almost different or did it start building as the year went started

well it was a build-up because if you look when i was 23 years old i was playing with hackett but i was the backing up i had a solid, even though I only played 30 games. I remember I had a solid year, but the last 20 games we were fighting, I didn't play much. But that's where mentally I felt, okay, now I'm in the NHL, and now I know I'm ready to play and be steady. Now I've got to take it to the next step. Following year, Jeff Hackett gets hurt.

So I end up playing like 68 games or 67 or whatever. And the last half of the season, I really felt like, okay, now I'm to a step. I could be a number one in this league. So now the year 2002 comes, me and Hackett are fighting for the number one job because he came back from his injury. So I'm like, okay, game on. Let's do it. So we started half and half pretty much, but then he got hurt right away.

Like in October, he got hurt. And then Thierry Yang, yeah, Thierry Yang, the backup was Maddy Garon that got caught up. And for whatever reason, Thierry Yang just played me every game. I don't know if it was – I just played like 18, 19 games in a row. So I got... And you liked it, right? That's what I wanted to do.

I got one cheap shot by Verrata with a concussion. I missed like 10 games. Dougie Gilmore came and saved me. That was nice of him. I'll always remember that. But... What do you mean by that?

Well, I got... I went out with Chris. I think it's on YouTube. I'm not sure. But loose puck, bad decision on my call. I came out of my net, but I'm like almost at the blue line. I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? But I have no choice now.

So I dove for it. And Vaclav Varada, you remember him? Didn't even look. He just fell his knee behind my head. My helmet flew. I was out cold for like 30. And then I had a couple of guys. I was passed out.

I saw it. That's the only way I know. It's a replay. Knocked me out cold with his knee behind my neck. My mask flew up. I hit my head on the ice. Dougie Gilmore was on the other side of the ice. Came 100 miles an hour like a bowling ball because that's the way it looked.

You had a little scrum. He came and went right for the knees of Verrata, which I loved because when I saw him, I'm like, Dougie, man, appreciate that. What a legend, Doug Gilmore. Legend? He's the best. He would do pranks like unreal. You know these

sticks, it's hollow on the top, right? Unless you put a cap. He would put baby powder in a lot. And then the assistant coach, poor Guy Charon, would come. He would say, hey, what do you think of my new stick? How do you like the curve? He would point it up. So the coach is looking up like this for the curve.

His suit, baby powder. He didn't look everywhere. We were just like, and he caught him. Like, he got maybe two or three coaches the same way. And he caught him. He got maybe two or three coaches the same way. And he would put, how do you like the curve? Look, so the guys are looking and his suits are wide. Has no gear. One game, I think he did the warm-up.

For whatever reason, he didn't play the game. We had a blonde wig and glasses just in the dressing room i think from a halloween party so dougie took his own jersey because you know you give it to the trainer he put his own jersey on with with the wig and the cap and the glasses he went in the stands and worked a full period with the fans nobody knew nobody knew it was doug gilmore he was just there and he did that just like so many so old school too he's the great man so so did you end up missing 10 games that year you won the heart I think I think no not 10 games I think was 10 days back then yeah I got I got it I did the concussion test which I thought that I did great but when you have a concussion you don't

know and then they call me they're like you can't play you you failed the test so I I missed these 10 games and then I came back and right away I got back into the group I think right yeah right away we played Colorado and then Tarion was like hey okay let's go you're okay back in the net and that's it and that whole year it was just like something was clicking like you know what yeah I was gonna ask you at what point did you feel like it was realistic that you could even win the Vezna, let alone the Hartman? Well, it was my last year contract. What a time.

Talk about a time machine. Your agent's just stroking himself off. But it's all about gambling. And before that, I'm a pretty big gambler, just like some of some of other guys here here and uh before that i would always sign one year deal they were they were trying because again montreal after 20 my my year that i was 23 years old me and craig rivet we didn't sign so we we did a strike we just didn't show up to camp imagine that like no arbitration right 23 year

old i only played 30 games a year before i knew it was good numbers but didn't show up to camp and that's then the media pushed for me really hard so so i signed but all that to say was always one year deal because i'm like if i'm making 600 or one or 1.2, I'm going to only sign one year. Why risk it to make 1, 2, 1, 4? And then if I have a good year, I'm going to jump right away. So I just gamble on myself. And then that was the year that it was my last year contract. I was more thinking of the contract.

And then the numbers start, my numbers were good. So I got invited to the All-Star game, which was in L.A. So that's kind of when I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to keep playing. And if I could bring this team in the playoff, who knows what's going to happen. And that's what I did. And now a word from our friends at Labatt Blue Light. At Labatt, they don't care if you're good or bad at most things in life.

They only care if you're good at being yourself and not pretending to be be someone you're not and if you are yeah they're good with you after all if you choose labatt blue light you're good at the most important thing there is beer we already know how good you are at watching hockey be good at beer too with pristine canadian pilsner labatt blue light we are going to be working with labatt blue all year and we're going to have some fantastic content coming up. So grab a pack and enjoy. When you sat out, you were revaded as well. Is that something where your agent's like, no, let's sign something, and you said no? Or is he like, no, I agree with you. Let's just wait.

Let's hold out. No, he was kind of guiding me and like, okay, their offer is really way too low. Okay. And he knew that being in Montreal, again, when you have the fans and the media behind you, take advantage. Because I know in any other team, people would say, what is he doing, you know? But in Montreal, take advantage of that.

Who was the GM then? Réjean Houlle. And then sign a two-year deal, and then sign a two-year deal, and it turned out to be the best timing because of the timing with Vizen and Hart. Was the NHL Awards in Vegas back then? No, it was in Toronto. Oh.

And you go there with, were you aware that you were going to win both of them, or was it still? No, because I knew it would be really tight because I was going against Patrick and Sean Burke, which they're big names. So obviously, like, I'm kind of the newbie. So I know big names. Obviously, it would have been hard.

And then for the heart, Iggy was the only guy with 50 goals, I believe. And he had an unbelievable year. So I'm like, you know what? I'm here. Let me get one. That's my contract. I just knew what my bonuses was was if i was winning so that's that's what i knew yeah and then uh before my agent's like yeah don't expect anything you know

it's gonna be hard so i swear people still don't believe me i really did not have a speech ready because i didn't want to jinx myself more superstition i'm like i have a speech and you never win when you have a speech ready i'm like you know what if i win i win i'll just so i didn't want to jinx myself. More superstition. I'm like, I have a speech. And you never win when you have a speech ready. I'm like, you know what? If I win, I win. I'll just. So I didn't have a speech ready and end up winning, which was, like I said, good timing. I was going to say, were you shocked?

Because goalies didn't win the hot really much before then. I mean, you were the last guy to do it. Has anyone since? No. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. I got to stop you. Carey Price won it with Michel Therrien as a coach after me.

He's the last guy. Oh, no. Suck on that, all right. Suck on that one, all right. He's not only not the last goalie, he's not only the Canadians had a goalie. I actually looked it up, too. Carey Price and I think 12 or 14. Yeah, he won the Hart and Therrien were still his coach.

He was my coach when I won the Hart and-Visano, but that's just coincidence. But he did win it. But I just didn't expect it because you had Dominic Hasek before he won two, I believe. And for me, he was just, you know, like he was in the class by himself. It's so legendary.

Was it cool that you got to kind of associate with these greats because you held that? And you said Patrick Waugh was even there. Were you able to even go out and grab a beer with him afterward and have a conversation about it? No. Or he's probably pissed he lost. I think he was. And probably didn't help that on stage I kind of said, I can't believe.

I used to watch you win the vision of Patrick. And now it's me if they're just kind of joking. I kind of told him after I was joking two years after. But no, all that to say that Patrick for me was even more special because like I said, you don't play to win Vizina.

You play to win the Cup and to play in the NHL. So to be against Patrick that I grew up admiring and he was a guy that I really really enjoyed watching play when I grew up in Montreal so for me to have the win against him to have the all-star game with Patrick that year it was great and I'm a big huge fan of Patrick's when you talk about um that year just going perfect and everything came together and then the next year was maybe a little bit of an off year,

was that because of the team? Was that because maybe that summer you were ripping it up a little bit? Like what was the whole vibe in camp? Because it must have been media still loving you. You're coming off a season where you get both major awards. Yeah, I mean, to be really honest, I call it the way it is. Like my training wasn't the same in the summertime my head wasn't the same you're like okay you just signed a contract i'm like okay now i got it's like

because so different for me what i admire about guys i played like joe sakic that i played with uh marty burdett team canada in the old world cup I play with all these guys. I always say, how do they play so well, so passionate every year for 20 years? I don't know. I really, that's the difference I always say. Me, I need to be against the wall, one knee down. Everybody thinks I'm out, then I'll come back. Then I need something along these lines. So that following year, it's almost like, okay, I did it, this. It's almost like okay i did it yeah this i got my

it's almost like i accomplished my dream you know i was i won the visit a hard big money you know everything's good so i took that year off and then that's when i say the following year which i had a bad year then people starting to you know count me out and when did you notice it first started changing a little bit? Halfway through that year? Did you ever see a time when you're like, fuck, they're kind of turning on me a little bit? Well, they didn't turn on me right away the year after.

They were patient. They turned on me the year I got traded, and it was only a couple of months they traded me. But the following year of the heart, it's not that they turned on me. It's just like wasn't playing well so i knew that the word was like okay maybe you know like uh he had a maybe he lost his thing or whatever or like it wasn't like we need to trade him he can't do it because i it was my third year as a number one goalie but i just didn't have a good year we didn't make the playoffs and then uh and then yeah it's just uh off year bounce back the following year but it was just my head wasn't

there and i still remember michelle terrier called me in his office maybe in november so i'm not playing well right but i'm still playing every game because they just gave me the biggest contract history. So he calls me in. Cigarette. I can see this. A lot. I can see this. Yeah, yeah. The smell. You can't see him.

There's just smoke. Oh, yeah. You just hear his voice. Hey, you want one? He's like, not playing your best hockey, eh? I'm going to bounce back like this. You make me think of Rocky in Rocky III. You know when he trains and you have girls with the big tits and balloons everywhere?

Before his flight to Clubber, he says that. He says, you make me think of him when he won the... I'm like, yeah, okay. Makes sense. I'm going to train harder. I didn't know what to say. I almost wanted to laugh, to be honest. So he said that.

And still to this day, when he sees me, he's like, that was a pretty good line. You guys had a good go. Dude, he had funny fucking lines. Oh, yeah, I know. He was a funny guy. I've been ripping guys in video meetings back then. He was funny. And he had all the tricks to know everything about guys.

I would skip curfews at the hotel. All the tricks. Like, I mean, almost too much. Hey, I've told this story a couple times. I'll quickly say it. He was so mad at Ryan Malone, and he started screaming at the whole— not screaming, he's telling the whole team, we got guys covered in tattoos, think they're tough guys on this team.

Bugsy was the only guy with any tattoos. It was just like he— The guy was very funny when he chirped. He had some good lines. Some more of the off-ice stuff. Obviously, there were some crazy things that happened with the family. I mean, I don't know how much you want to dive into it. Well, again, it's really nothing to hide about.

I mean, I'm very close to my family, my brothers. They were my biggest fans, so very close. And then I won the visit on the heart. Again, when your name is always out there, you're going to, you know. They're going to find stuff. Yeah, they're going to find stuff. And it's almost you go up, you got to come back down. And then I won the heart Visana the year after.

I had a bad year. And then with that, when the year finished, then I think it was June something, a big, big police uh whatever like squad they call it SWAT team SWAT team and they even had the name for the thing it was like uh no but referee like that was the name of the big uh oh the big operation or the case so they they probably thought i was involved with anything so So they call it the referee case, whatever. So it's 6 a.m., fuck all at the same time.

Like, I don't know, 10, 20 people got arrested. But all that to say that they didn't come to me. But that was, imagine the media is in Montreal now. So now that really came.

Like, I remember being on the front page for like seven days because they didn't have nothing on me. But still, I'm the guy playing for like seven days because they didn't have nothing on me, but still I'm the guy playing for them. You're going to get some papers for them. I'm the guy playing there.

So then they went and they took my money from my safety deposit box I had. They went after all your stuff. That was my gambling money too. Can you believe it? That's my golf course money. I know. It's there. It's a nice big $100 bill. It's crazy what they can do when they want man anyway no but all that to say like

it was hard because i had a a bad bad year then everybody's getting arrested then now it was kind of we got to trade in too much room and then pick i that was pictured at me and but mind you the picture was from years before. Yeah, exactly. You're right. It was with the Hells Angels? Yeah, I was 19 years old. Nobody really knew me in Montreal. I get invited to a golf tournament.

You know the way it is. Somebody asks you for a picture. You don't ask for an ID. You don't ask for anything. So I take a picture. The only thing I kind of find suspicious, when I turn around, there's like three rows of big guys like this.

I'm like, okay, that's whatever. They were kind of posing with you almost. Yeah, but I mean, they asked me for a picture. And then back then, I wasn't training at the Bell Center because I was not even with the team. I would train at the gym where I live and became friends with a few guys that were Hells Angels. And then at one point, gave us a call, me, my friends. And they're like, hey, we're doing a big party, Cinco de Mayo. You want to come over to check it out?

I'm like, yeah, I want to check it out. R.A.'s getting excited over here. I think he just did a fucking walk. The video of R.A. right there. I'm sorry. He was going back to Cinco de Mayo. He was doing a little walk to get excited for the story. Right?

You said Hells Angels. That was a Pavlov response right there. That's right. All that to say, I'm 19 years old there. I'm not even playing in the NHL. Go there. Have a few beers. It's like daytime.

Have a few beers. Talk. Stay maybe for an hour or whatever. That's it. Then I'm 26 years old. Think about it. 26. Not even nothing to do with me.

I got sponsors. I have two commercials on TV. Gatorade. Great sponsors. And then all that. Boom, boom, boom. They show that picture of me. Like surveillance.

Not a picture that I took. It was surveillance from cops. From like the woods or something. No. The police that was doing the surveillance leaked the tape, the picture to the media because it was a surveillance picture. So then they, that was a big thing. I'm like, when was that? I had to actually think about it.

So that was a big thing. So I didn't talk. How much did you lose in sponsorships? Back then I had four big sponsors, over a million back then. Well, not the full amount because I signed a lot. It was, yeah, I had four big sponsors, over a million back then. Shut the fuck up. Well, not the full amount because I signed a lot. It was, yeah, no. It was, yeah.

It was over a million. Dropping a picture seven years prior. You know, like, I mean, I'm not even involved in anything. And so some of the guys in that picture are guys who'd been arrested or whatever. Like, it was just able to get. Well, no, but nobody was looking at the camera. Nobody knew it was a surveillance. So you see a guy here with his patches, you know, turned back talking to somebody.

I'm talking to somebody with a beer. It's a surveillance shot. So somebody from the police leaked the picture to the media to say, here, you want something? Boom. So anyway, so all that to say it was bad. It was a bad summer. But then, again, like I always say, I needed something to get me back. So I trained like crazy.

Then the training, I did one interview. I'm like, I'm going to talk about that one time. Don't ever talk about my family again. That was kind of. Which is very valid. Because, I mean, I'm going to talk, but that's it. Don't start in two years. Yeah, did something happen?

So I did my one thing, talked. Yeah, did something happen? So I did my one thing, talked. But then I knew, I said, if I don't have a good, strong start, I'm gone. So I had a good season. That's another year we beat Boston in 04. So that year was a solid year. But I needed that or I would have been out in Montreal.

Was there any part of you when all that news broke and the picture got dropped, you're like, fuck, I wish I got to trade it now? Or were you or were you like no i'm gonna come back and play great you know when you're younger you said i wanted that challenge because really i think for me is and it's it's good but not good at the same time is i i don't really get affected like i play a game sometimes and to create to stir the pot i like to stir the pot dude this is the guy who hexed us, and he's telling us he likes to stir the pot. But I still have enough of – I wanted to stay there to prove to everybody, you know, like, hey, I'm still here, and look, I'm still number one goalie. So I won it. Afterward, it got to a point like now I'm like, okay, get me out of this place.

But back then, I still thought we could win a cup or do great things but uh what way so what was your agent saying at the time so you're in the paper for six days straight like does he give you yeah front page yeah oh yeah the gazette yeah i know the the french paper and a montreal paper and the gazette and that that's just a paper the news too was it was don maloney still your agent at the time? Don Meehan. Oh, the 6 o'clock news? This is lead story. Don Maloney. That was my GM, sorry.

My parents' house, there's like a forest in the back. You had like TV crew in the forest trying to get footage inside the house if I was coming because they're like, Theo's going to show up to show support. So they tried, like they wanted me to show up. So it was a big show. Obviously, Montreal is a market within the NHL, but that's how it is.

It's a monster market. I just left to Vegas. I remember I was at the airport. That's when Donnie called me and said, yeah, I got an interesting call from the team president. Yeah, I got an interesting call from the team president. They just seized a bank safety deposit book with whatever, 80,000 in cash. So then Donnie's like, yeah, they want to know if that's the last time you're going to be there.

There's more stuff. I'm like, Donnie, I don't know what they have. I don't know what's coming. I'm going to Vegas for the weekend. Call me Monday. Can I get that 80 grand back? Call me Monday. Biz is coming. I got to pay for him.

I think the Canadians were more worried about, okay, we don't want to trade him, but I mean, what's going to come out? It's been six days in a row. Is there going to be a seventh and eighth? Can I stop being on the cover? Put me on page three, please. Can I get a Sports Illustrated and not a Gazette? So then we'd end up making the playoffs, beating Boston. And that was just the pre-lockout year.

So, yeah, and then everything was good. Then you went to Sweden, right? Yeah, I went to Stockholm. That was fun. Oh, yeah. I went there just for the last three months. But the coach, he did the best thing ever. First game, I came like one night, the night before the game.

Right away, I play. We win 3-2. And I have a good game, win 3-2. So then he calls me and says, how do you feel? I said, I don't know. That freaking time change is killing me. He said, you know what? We're three goalies.

We're going to keep these two other guys. You don't need to practice. Just show up for games. I never changed my watch on the time. I'm telling you, I didn't even change it. So I would show up for a game, and I would sleep till 5 p.m., get up, coffee at 5, go to the game.

As long as I played well, I knew I didn't have to practice, which we actually end up doing pretty well in the playoff as well. But I love Stockholm. I would stay right there. Oh, my goodness.

A farm and walking. That was my first NHL game in Stockholm. Really? Oh, my goodness. The Global? The Globe. The Globe. Opera, Cafe Opera.

I don't think I got in there. No, that's where you had the party when Hal brought all the... No, it was not at Cafe Oprah. It was a different spot. But all in all, one of the best places in the world, and the women are okay. Not bad. No, they're not bad. But it was just a...

It's fun because I wanted to keep playing, but then, you know, the time chain is hard to adjust. It is hard to adjust. But I wanted to play it, so I played there. And then after that, I played. After that, I went to the World Cup. That was fun. In 2004 in Toronto.

That was really good with all, like, names that for me, they were like my idols, like Stevie Y, Mario Lemieux, you know, guys my age, like Vin La Kelly was there. Were the other two goalies Patrick and Marty? No, it was Marty and Louie, Luongo. How much younger is Luongo than you? Probably four years maybe. Okay, okay.

So the next year the NHL comes back post-Lockout. The league's completely changed. And you get traded halfway through the year. Take me through what went on, how the beginning went, and what ended up leading up to the deal. Well, okay, so before the lockout, like I said, we beat Boston. That's when we were down 1-3 and we came back game seven. Suck it, R.A.

You remember that? R.A. lost a lot of money on that one. Yeah, I know. Shit happens. Shit happens. It's like log gambling. Just give him your watch, what we'll call it even. Fake one. Just give him your watch, what we'll call it even. Fake one.

But all that. Then go to Stockholm, World Cup. We win the goal, but I was third goalie, so I didn't play much. Still a great experience. You were there. So, I mean, I could be third in Canada. I mean, behind these guys, I was happy. I signed a contract.

My contract was up so before after lockout I still had my contract issue and I signed the day before I didn't like the fact

that they didn't want to sign not they didn't want to sign me but Bob Ganey at the time was there they were only my qualifying I went from 6 million

before the lockout you were still RFA then yeah still restricted but they still need to qualify me but if you remember 10 more than well yeah but we went from 24 percent rolled roll back so my six became 4.5 qualifying so they only qualify met so i could sign one year four five i wanted three years like i had before four didn't want to sign me Didn't want to sign me. Didn't want to sign me.

Pissed you off a little bit? Pissed me off. You say, I'm like, fuck, I'm not signing. So the day before the golf tournament, they send me my one year 4.5. They're like, nope, that's all you're getting is one year. I'm like, this motherfucker. Tell my agent, tell him to send me my contract. I'll sign that one year.

I had no choice. If I don't sign, I'm not making. I'm not me my contract. I'll sign that one year. I had no choice. If I don't sign, I'm not making. I'm not going to spend on 4.5 for one year. So I'm like, tell him to send him. It's their bad. They really don't want to sign me after World Cup and this. So they send it. They even fax it to me, then sign.

Then 11.45, my agent called me, said, yeah, great news. They just call us. They are offering you three years, 15.2 for three years. My previous deal was 16.5 for three years. So now they were offering 15.275 for three years at 11.45 at night. Ask me what I told my agent. Fuck you. I said, tell them to go fuck themselves unless there's a 1-6. I want 16 million.

At least give me the same. No, but then he's like, you're going to lose that deal for 750, Theo? You sure you want to lose that deal for over three years, 750? I'm like, you know what? That's not my call. Tell them if they want to lose their deal,

it's their decision to lose that 750 for that call. He called me back after. He said, lose that $750,000 for that call. He called me back after. He said, I got to say, you got big balls. They just gave you $16,000. That is fucking, you're nuts. But it was just personal because I'm like, really, they're going to lose. I turn it around.

I'm like, they're going to lose. They want three years. I knew they wanted that, but I said, they're going to lose that deal for $1,700 for three years. That's like $250. I said, they're going to come back for sure. You called their bluff. Which they did, but it's more just. You wanted your $80,000 back. Yeah, exactly.

No, but that's just. And then, so I got that. So again, that was towards the end. And then the training camp starts. And that's when I say that I went like this people were on my back they traded back then uh i don't remember who was the backup but i didn't play well to be honest i was good one game awful one game then the then the pressure was getting to a point like i was hearing Booing in the stands. And I was starting to. Which I.

Never. Like for me. I had. The pressure. I could say. You know what. Fuck. Nobody.

It is what it is. So. But that year. It started to get to me. And I started to say. This is starting to be. Hard. Really hard.

Hard on the family. Hard for me. And. Post game. Every game. Post game. And this. And then the papers. it was just i i

and then i got hurt everything happened same time i was still on the list for the olympics then i they i got busted for propitia so i don't lose my hair the people were thinking i was taking steroids i'm like okay now and i thought it would be a joke in a way that people know i'm not a big guy and still people were like he's probably hiding something this he's probably taking steroids so that then i got i got hurt shit i wish i got on that yeah you should have we can still get our sponsorship maybe then i got hurt which i didn't think i would get traded because i'm like fuck I fractured my heel. They're not going to trade.

Nobody's going to take a goal that's making six millions or whatever if he's hurt. And he's not playing. How did you get hurt? In a game? No, actually. I got hurt. What the hell's Angel, Claudio? Yeah, probably.

No, I got hurt slipping outside on the ice. Brian Leach style. In the stairs, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, so you get hurt. So then I got hurt slipping outside on the ice. Brian Leach style. In the stairs, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, so you get hurt. So then I got traded. I got the call because I knew Pierre Lacroix pretty well. Got traded to Colorado, which I was happy at the time because I knew Pierre.

I had a good relationship with Pierre from previous years, and they had a good team, so I was happy at the time. How did you find out? Who called? They called me, but the thing is my wife was pregnant and she was giving birth right there. But because I was hurt, Pierre was nice enough to say, you know what, stay with your wife and your baby because you can't even play anyway. You can't skate, you can't play,

so take the time that it's going to need. So you were able to be there for her birth. Yeah, so that was good. And then I joined the team at the end of the year, played one or two games, and we beat Dallas in the playoffs first round, then lost to Anaheim. So that was kind of...

You mentioned Joe Sakic earlier, playing with him. Just, I mean, you don't really hear much about him other than he's just a quiet, humble guy. And you said he just year over year just brought it. For me, he's the best. And I play with a lot of great leaders, don't get me wrong. But for me, he's the whole-time captain of a team. I mean, the way he doesn't talk much,

but he's nice to everybody from the guy that works at the rink to your rookie. And he shows leads by example. Works super hard. He's in the gym. Like, for me, he was a great teammate. And, you know, I'm sure he's the same as a GM, but great teammate, great player. He could have played even longer if he wanted to. So that was a good bunch of guys.

Andrew Brunette was there. Kenville was the coach. So I loved it there. And now a word from our friends at Liquid Death. You may start noticing there are strange tall boys of beer in the bottled water section of your local stores. Well, it's not beer. It's actually mountain spring water from the Alps,

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the Alps that I was drinking right here in Boston. The stuff is unlike any water I've ever drunk because it's from Austria. It's unreal. Check it out. Go to liquiddeath.com slash chicklets to get a free set of koozies with your first order of any case of water, or just grab some at any Whole Foods or 7-Eleven. Murder that thirst. I i want to ask one of your goalie pottens while you're there was peter boudai now we don't know him but you said you guys seem like total opposite guys just based on reputation flanders yeah no like he's such an easygoing guy and you know like i'm easy going in my own way too but But we had a good relationship. I loved Colorado.

That's actually, in my career, the biggest regret I had. Like, I gambled a lot in my contracts that paid off, like, when I won the Vizina. But when I left Denver for Washington, they offered me a three-year deal that I didn't take because I played the same card that I did in Montreal. I didn't like their numbers. But looking back, like that's one of the biggest mistakes. I should have stayed in Colorado where Jeff Hackett was there that I knew he would help me. Tony Granato stepped in into the head coach.

I was like this with Tony. Because he had been an assistant. But the thing is, when I was negotiating, Pierre Lacroix was hurt. So I was negotiating with Francois Giga. I was there two years. He's a lawyer. He was in the league for many years. And they offered me good money.

They were offering me three years, 10.5. But the thing is, I'm like, listen, we just beat Minnesota the year before. I said, I just want minimum $4 million, and I'll sign. He wouldn't budge. But then it's 12 o'clock for the free agency. I get a call from Pierre Lacroix's best, best friend is René Angelil, which is Céline Dion's husband at the time, René. He was Pierre's best friend.

And René in Quebec, he was very popular, Rene and Celine. So he calls me 15 minutes before Rene does because I knew him a little bit. But I knew him pretty well, but not to talk. He's like, what's going on? You're not signing? Pierre called me. He says they gave you a good deal. I told him, I said, listen, Rene, I'm not going to sign if they don't.

I said, I want to stick to your gun. Yeah, but but I knew like in Washington, I knew I was getting four point five a year. So three, five, four, five. I'm like at four, I'll take less to stay there. So I'm like, it is what it is. And then I thought they would call back. But Washington just made the playoffs the year before. Right.

So I'm like this team, I'm going to win the cup with that team. So my analogy or my scouting was good on the team. I just didn't know Bruce Boudreaux. I didn't know that guy, the way he played with his goalie back and forth and this. Because, I mean, the team was great. Washington was great. There's one coach I didn't get along with was bruised I was like what do you mean by that

take us in the beginning in the relationship when you maybe knew like this is going to be different well okay so then I don't sign in Denver which again I regret it not only because of that because you know we love Denver as a city the team.

And I think Jeff Hackett would have kept my game right there. Go to Washington, we're a super talented team. But, I mean, they don't know about defense. It is what it is, especially when they were 21. I could tell you stories about it was a fun time because we were winning. But right away, Bruce, I had a shutout. And I'm used to Montreal playing 65 games, and in Colorado with Kenville, I freaking played 40 out of the last 45 games,

which I like. Had a shutout. I'm not playing the next game. I'm like, Bruce. I was feeling it. What's going on, man? He's like, you know what? With the experience I have, a lot of goalies after a shutout,

I find that the next game they don't play well. I'm like, well, I never heard about that. Same with guys with a hat track. He was coaching the AHL. So they were riding a bus eating soggy subs. Whatever it is. I mean, I'm your number one guy. You signed me.

Just play me. So then I could see during the season we just didn't. And then season, he still played me most of the games, which was good. I got good winning records. It was good. Go in the season. We just didn't. And then season, he still played me most of the games, which was good. I got good winning records. It was good. Go in the playoffs. Go in the playoffs. I played one game. Did you win the President's Trophy? My second year

we did. First year, we finished second or third. We played the Rangers. I lost the first game 4-3. Big fucking deal. 4-3. Lose one game. I was on 3-1 in Montreal. Big fucking deal. 4-3, lose one game. I was on 3-1 in Montreal. He sat me. I didn't start another game.

And I was the main goalie. So that was that year. So then the following year, now we started. We're already like this. Like people, again, they think like, okay, now Varlamov's going to be. Because Varlamov was the guy that he played in front of me which great kids and i could see talented but just young i'm i lose one game i could win the next four and take it all the way so not playing still always a good good

smile and i'm a good teammate because i mean i want the team to do well. That's the summer. Another thing, I'm on the bench, and that summer we lost a son at two months of age, me and my wife, like a baby boy. So that summer, you could see he was born June 22nd, and August 14th he passed away. So I didn't go in the gym once. I'm like overweight. So sorry about that, dude. My head's not there. No, that's fine and then

people think oh you didn't play varnum i was the number one he's gonna be we have a backup at 45 that just i i i went on a tear where i'm like these fuck i'm nice it's no i'm not i'm not gonna be backing up and they think i can't make it so i I went to the rink, like, for the five hours a day because that was where nobody, like, I didn't have to deal with reality, right? So you don't have to go back home where, you know, the wife might be in a bad mood, and then I have my oldest daughter. I was three. So I'm like, you know, if I stay at the rink, I'll just do extra time,

go in the gym and spend time. So I end up being the number one goalie that year. Being the number one goalie. Starting to play off against Montreal. First game, we lose 3-2. I have whatever, 3-2 we lose. He pulled me the next game and again, never played. So that's twice he did that.

So then my contract's up and now trying to, you know the way it is, you're as good as your last game. And you didn't start? Yeah, you didn't start. So then I knew it. So then after I went to Minnesota and Florida. But all that to say, like, listen, Bruce is not a bad coach. But when he was there, the guys, I was very close to Backstrom

and Mike Green. Like, yeah, very close. I kind of took them under my wing. They were 20 and 23. Ovi was young as well. I knew the team needed to learn a lot, too, and, like, things that was going on there. Like, we would have PK meetings and PP meetings before game, right? Ovi and Semen,

they would have their virtue phone, you know, back then. Oh, yeah. Malkin had one too. Gold-plated. Those things were like $3,000 phones. Yeah, a million dollars on Putin's credit card. Bruce is in the front

doing his PP meeting with mustard here. No, ketchup here, mustard there. And then the phones rings in the meeting. pick up no wait they start talking russian for 30 seconds bruce is like sasha are we done yet i got a meeting they're just they don't so that's how they would run the show like i mean you're not gonna win i talked to gordo and he said they learn afterwards guys They learn afterwards. Guys stroll in late for practice.

I always said that Ovi's a great guy. I'm so happy he won because I think he's a great leader, and he always was. He learned, though. Backstrom, one of the best playmakers I've seen, most complete guy. Like, we had a great team, great guys. They just learned a little bit, and then they won the cup, which was good because now Ovi could tell everybody he won a cup. So are you somebody who looks at, like,

DeBoer with Leonard and Fleury this year and what Boudreaux did with you? It's like switching the goaltenders in your mind is just bullshit. Like, let a guy go. Or how do you look about how coaches go about playing goalies now? Because it's changed where nobody plays 65 games anymore i know i know but you could switch goalies if you do it the right time it's all about that because to go back to vegas for me switching the goalie like when he put lennar against colorado made no freaking sense the game five five? No, game one against Colorado. Fleury won game seven. You put the other guy after the other goalie's been outstanding one game seven.

First game, Colorado, 7-1. That was a bad, bad call. But then when he put Leonard against Montreal, I like that call because I'm like, okay, Leonard is a good goalie. They need to change something up. Fleury might be shaking off even though he's proven that he's strong mentally. I like that he put Leonard. I didn't understand that he didn't keep going with Leonard.

They're not going back. Maybe Leonard was going on a tear for 10 games like Cam Ward when they won the Cup. They played the other guy two games and they put cam ward he went on the terror lennar played great against montreal they won 2-1 i'm just saying leave him there last year he was your guy in the playoffs so now that's what i didn't like is the back and forward that didn't make your gambling now it's like you have a feeling like you when you play roulette i got a feeling red's gonna come now i just feeling or not it's a feeling it is what it is so i'm just saying that i didn't like when he went back

and forth against montreal what do you think it is in the sense of like nowadays goalies really can't play the load that they used to when you were going like is it just that there's so many good players or is it well i mean vasilevsky can do do it. I think it's like everyone thinks that it's that way because of analytics that came in. So I feel like everybody's questioning it. Listen, I'm the worst goalie guy. It puts me in a mental pretzel. But the teams that seem to have a lot of success

are the ones who stick with the one guy. Well, obviously now that's what it is. You're like investing $10 million for a goalie looks pretty good right now when you see Price and Vasilevsky. But I think... They're the only two. Yeah, exactly. No, but I think there's not too many goalies 10 million for a goalie looks pretty good right now when you see Price and Wasilewski. They're the only two. Yeah, exactly. No, but I think there's not too many goalies that could make 9, 10 million that deserves it like these two guys.

I think the biggest difference, it's not that they can't do it. It's that the backup goalie is like, it's so close nowadays. Yeah, there's so much parity. It's so close nowadays. It's so tight. There's so much parity. When I got into the league, you would have, even out of the number one goalies, you would only have like 10 solid number one. And then when you have the backup, you could look at the stats.

It was night and day between the stats. Nowadays, very rarely it's night and day between who's playing. They do the same thing. They almost look the same. The Islanders. Islanders, yeah. So I just think it's a different era, but I still think that guys could play a lot of games. Do you get up to Montreal still a lot?

Obviously not in the last year with the pandemic shift, but in general? Well, I used to. When I retired, right away I signed with a TV station back there. So I did that for five years, but I live in Florida. So my contract was just four days a month. So I would go there to work and do the playoffs. And then I didn't re-sign with them.

So I'm doing radio. So I don't go as much now, obviously, with everything. It was hard. But I would go in the summertime just to take care of some businesses because I'm involved in some real estate and businesses down in Montreal a lot. So I would go there to more take care of that, see the family. But business is what brings me to Montreal now. And you finished up two years in Florida.

I mean, that must have been night and day from starting in Montreal to finishing in Florida. In the first year, you were real good there. Yeah, we had a good first year where we finished first in the South. Game seven, right? And then doubled overtime to Jersey. We lost double overtime. That was the year they went to the Cup.

Yeah, exactly, against LA. Yeah, I love playing in Florida. I love playing. Is that what made you move there and stay there where you are now? Had you been there prior? I was after Minnesota when I was free agent. I had like five, six teams interested. And I was free agent and I wanted to go there

because I knew, you know, I was 34. I said, I'm probably going to retire there. And I told my agent, Florida offered me one year more money. Like more money than what I signed. And I told my agent, I said me one year more money, like more money on what I signed. And I told my agent, I said, I'll take less for two years because I wanted, you know. Security. Security. Yes and no because it wasn't crazy numbers, but just two years was better than one year, you know.

So that's the way I looked at it. And I should have signed one again because the second year. Because you had such a good year. Lockout, yeah, in the lockout year, which try to train in Florida. You're 35 years old. I live, there's a golf course there. Try to go skate every day. So, like, I mean, when it started in January, I was in game shape ready.

Not that I, like, I felt pretty good, but body-wise was it game shape? Because, I mean, it's hard to go and have the drive to really train. I need somebody to push me. And then I got hurt, tore up my groin, missed the last two months. So who's going to sign a goalie that's 36 years old? And no way I'm going to start going on a PTO. I'm like, no, I'm not doing that. I want an MVP.

I'm not going on a PTO. No, but I'm like, no, I'm not doing that. I want an MVP. I'm not going on a PTO. No, but I had other stuff too. Like I was involved in real estate with my partner, Sir Shavar is one of my partners up in Montreal. So at that point, was it hard to walk away? Like what was the transition like? Because like right away, normally it's probably like, hey, if there's a relief that you don't have to get up

and go train every day and your body might be sore. But afterward, you know, is there some reflection and really missing it? No, really, for me to transition. Being in Florida was easy because it's such a nice place to live. And, you know, right. Like you're bored, you get up, go play golf. Where I live, Jovanovsky is there, a good friend of mine, Jovo. Good short game.

Marty Avlak is there. You know, a lot of guys so and then right away i got a contract with with the montreal uh station so i was still involved in the game and i had a lot of other ambition like i said in real estate i'm really involved with so it was just a things times to do other stuff that i wanted to do start Start another career. Hockey, that's one career. Now I'm doing my second career. So it was the transition was really, really easy. Just looking at the box score, it's kind of a little symmetry.

Your very last playoff game was against Mati Brodeau you lost against. Yeah, second overtime game. Yeah, exactly. That was there. And it was, you know, I still think about that because I think we had a team that was surprising. A little bit like maybe Montreal where nobody thought they would make it to the final.

That was like Versteeg. Versteeg, Fleischman. Fleischman was a good player, man. Yeah, he was a good player. So we had a good team. But, again, injuries. I remember the last game I had my knee frozen up. So I just, you know, when you get older, you just, it's not the same, man.

One of the coolest things you've done in retirement is you originally were flying helicopters, and then you ended up getting your pilot's license. Yeah, I like to have challenges, obviously, just to push myself. And when I did my helicopter, that's when I got traded from Montreal to Denver. And in Montreal, you got friends, family friends family everybody's calling you're so busy i went to denver i'm like i need to i need to go play something so i said you know helicopter school i i flew before so i'm like i'm gonna take my so i did my helicopter uh license and then when i went to florida i went with a friend of mine went and played golf he had a plane we jump in his plane i'm like this is pretty cool man your own plane i said okay i'm

gonna i that was my goal to do it do everything do my instrument rating and then get my own plane which i did in september so now i got my own plane and like we did maybe six seven golf trip four guys four golf bags we went and played sage valley right beside the i played the sick place sick so now it's like i'm gonna fly to montreal we're gonna leave with me my wife and my two daughters fly to montreal like for me now this is great i'm flying everywhere i love it it's it's a hobby it's something that gives you the same same intensity that when you play in a way, because when you're up there and it's you,

you can't see and you're relying on something and it's windy and you've got to make sure. The juices are flowing again. You can't make one mistake, because one mistake you're paying the price big time. How many hours are you doing in training to get the licensed people to go up alone? Is it something that's just taken years? Well, yeah, it takes a a while it all depends how fast

you do it obviously like i mean i had other thing to take care of that was just a hobby but took me maybe 60 years to get 55 60 to get my license that and an extra 40 to get my instrument rating which is huge yeah hours what's the instrument rating is that just able to be pretty much pretty much i could fly in the same weather condition that you're flying with Delta. I could fly when it's raining, snowing, clouds, not cloud. Like you're just able to land your plane even if you can't see nothing with your instruments, which is a big step. And for me, that was so important. I didn't want to fly if I didn't have that rating.

Yeah, because how do you know what weather comes in the middle of the flight? Yeah, no, you need that. So for me, that's a big hobby. I'm still pushing for Jovo. Jovo's scared. He's not coming with me. He missed on Sage Valley. He's going to miss on a lot of things.

He doesn't trust you? And I call it, no, he's scared. I hope it's just not only me. He says he doesn't like small planes, so I hope that's true. I don't think he was a good flyer even when we played. He would get nervous. He doesn't like it. When we went to St. Bart's together, that plane, it was a small plane, but still a 12-seater, and he didn't like it.

That's not that small of a plane. 12-seaters are pretty good. For him, it was small. But anyway, I keep busting his shirt. How long did it take to learn to fly a helicopter? That's a pretty good pj it was small but anyway so i keep busting it how long did it take to learn to fly a helicopter like that's that's pretty well it was during it was during the season so that kind of took longer just to get it going but uh yeah just something it's another thing like it's just you know when you're not playing you can't not do nothing yeah you guys like you guys

are doing great job you're working hard this like i. Like I said, we just bought a golf course up in Montreal with my partners. QB's involved, right? Yeah, QB's involved. We got that football player, the doctor that won the Super Bowl, Duvernay Tardif. You know the doctor? From the Chiefs, yeah. From the Chiefs. There's a few guys, but it's a fun thing to be with the guys again.

And, you know, just a lot of good deals with my partner. It's just fun. Are you still doing real estate with Serge Savard? Do you still have other stuff? Yeah, he's my partner. We're four. Me, Serge, Mario Messi, and another guy. They used to have that Chateau Champlain in Montreal.

You remember? Yeah. You're too young, but all the teams used to stay there. Right beside the Bell Centre, that tall hotel, that was there back in the day. And now when I retired, the timing was good. They're like, let's start our own group, which we did, and it's been great.

It's been really good. So stay busy, right? You're one of three inactive players to win the heart and not be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Do you think maybe one day that that's a possibility? Do you think about it at all? I don't. I never really thought about all the side things.

Me was more, when I played as a kid, I'm not a guy that, like I knew as soon as I was done I would never look at my equipment again. Like hockey, hockey was kind of my way to be successful in a way like that was I knew like it just to bring it to the next step very young that I said okay I'm I'm having success I'm just gonna I think if I push I could do something with this so that was just kind of what I was using it to have success and everything. And that's, again, that's why I say these guys that are so focused, like Bruder and Patrick and all these guys,

I don't know how they stay every year. For me, it was almost like, okay, I did it. I came. We won. I won it. And then I need to always get a challenge from me, which is not good. Listen, I would have loved to have the same drive every year. So that's the way it was.

So now, to answer your question, I'm happy of my career. I did more than I thought I would. Super happy. The time frame, I was lucky with injuries. But hockey all the fame, I don't look or think about it to be honest theo uh i can't thank you enough honestly the first time we met playing golf a few years ago i knew right away i hope we can get him on someday and for you to fly up to new york means a lot we appreciate it so amazing career amazing player great guy thank you thanks for opening up man

this is awesome thanks guys that was. That was fun. Thanks. Man, we just want to send a huge thanks to Jose. He flew up to headquarters, did his interview, stayed for the live stream. I had an absolute ball. Of all the guys we've met, I really had a great time with Jose. I was able to pick his brain during his Canadian Stanley Cup and just get his perspective. It was really a great time.

He's a great guy, man. He's really one of these guys you kind of click with right away. We'll definitely have him back because there were things we didn't even get to. But I know you folks enjoyed it. So listen to it twice because it's that good. We do want to note that interview was also brought to you by Roman. Now that the world's opening back up, so many new thrills are on the horizon. And whether you've been in a relationship for years or just getting started or excited to get back out there and meet new people, when the moment comes, you want to be ready. Roman Ready. Go to getroman.com slash barstool now to talk to a U.S. licensed healthcare professional. With Roman, you can get a free

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Roman ready. And right now, it's time for our tribute to our dear friend, Jimmy Hayes. Well, gang, as I mentioned at the top of the show that we didn't have an episode last week after we found out that Jimmy Hayes had passed away and we wanted to give him a proper tribute on this week's episode. You know, Jimmy's a kid I've known literally since diapers. A good friend of mine was his nanny. So I watched him grow up and become a great young hockey player and live out every city kid's dream. And I grew up in like Dorchester or Charlestown or South. He didn't become a Boston Bruin. Like that's the pinnacle and jimmy got to that point and you know he turned out to be a great young man and and what i i want to say the love that he shared how many nhl players

past and present dropped everything and flew to boston on a whim for the services whether they came to the wake and waited in line for two to three hours to pay their respects or the funeral or both i mean there were so many guys out in so many bars all over Boston that they had to pay their respects for Jimmy. And, you know, I don't know if you guys saw online, there was a bunch of neighborhood kids painted rocks with messages of love on them. And they had them in front of Florian Hall. People are going to the funeral today. The fire engine had the sticks out in front. But what put me in the tears was what was the young kids with the jerseys and all banging the sticks and holding the sticks up when he went by.

They had summoned a bunch of kids from all over the city, actually, that showed up. And that's the thing that really moved me. But Jimmy was such a wonderful, wonderful person. I think that was such a great tribute that so many guys, I mean, you turn around, there's Claude Drew, there's P.K. Subban, there's Brady Shea, Zach Bogosian. And it was absolutely incredible, like, the turnout.

And also, another note, too, is we want to thank everybody who gave us condolences and sympathies on losing our pal as well. We saw them all. We read them all. We couldn't reply to all of them, obviously. But we love you guys. We love the patience and the love you showed us during it because it's been a trying time for everybody.

But the way you guys were to us, we won't forget it for sure. But I know obviously what, you know, Jimmy very well as well. And I knew you have some words you want to share. Yeah, no doubt.

And this is going to be super hard. I watched his brother, Kevin Hayes given an incredible eulogy along with his wife, Kristen today. And they both did so well, did remarkable at the hardest things they've ever done in their life. And for me sitting here to like talk about Jimmy and, and, and actually come to realization over the past few days that he's gone forever is just, it just hurts. And I think anyone who knew him and knows their family can describe pretty easy

why this is so painful and why this is so brutal that he's not not with us anymore and it's just like because of the way this kid lived his life this kid came from comes from a family that is so amazing big kev hayes larger than life his mom sheila his sisters genevieve eileen, his brother, Kevin, like these people truly care about others so much more than they care about themselves, which is like all you can ask for in life. Right. Like I see Kevin Hayes is crushed. He lost his son. And, you know, he says, how are your how are your parents doing? It's like, dude, it's like he never, ever hasn't been like that. And that's how his kids are he raised

this these amazing children and and now that jimmy's gone it's like you look back and and wonder you know what made this kid so special and i've written things down my my heart's like racing right now it has for a week it has been for a week and and just getting that getting that news and just like it doesn't seem real. Right. It's like, no, what? Like, how is how is he dead? And and then you start like thinking and thinking of memories of him and thinking how many people he's touched and made a difference with. And first you think of his friends and like people are friends with Jimmy Hayes because all he does is make you feel better about yourself. friends with Jimmy Hayes because all he does is make you feel better about yourself. Every single time I saw this kid, he was inclusive. He was kind. He would talk to anyone. Kevin mentioned

in the eulogy, like he treated everyone the same. And when I'm, when I'm telling you that he actually truly cared what everyone was saying to him, it's not one word of a lie. He'd ask questions and he'd be listening to the answers. It wasn't just to like pretend like he cared what you were saying. He wanted to know about you, your family, your hobbies, what you enjoyed in life, what you loved. And he was so willing to talk about anything with anyone that whatever room this kid walked into, immediately it was a happier place. It was a joyous room. It was people that were laughing, people that were enjoying themselves, listening to this big goofball tell different stories, make fun of himself. It goes back to his father.

I never one time have heard big Kevin Hayes brag about any of his kids. Two insanely talented, amazing hockey players. Never did he brag about them. talented amazing hockey players never did he brag about him because he he you know he knew how good they were and he and he and he loves his children so much but he doesn't see see the need to tell other people how great they are because all he cared about was the people he was talking to and the people that he meets in and knows he wants to hear how they're doing. And that's exactly what Jimmy was like. And I think that like, this isn't, this isn't at all the end of Jimmy's story. Kevin said that. And that was such like an amazing point because in the celebration of his life, that's what I love that everyone was saying.

It was a celebration of his life the past two, three days. I think everyone leaves thinking like, two, three days, I think everyone leaves thinking like, I want to live more like Jim. And when, like when your time comes to an end, what do you, what do you have besides, uh, you know, like what people think of you, what their memories are of you, like what, what have you done for others? Because when it, when, when it's all over and Jimmy proves it, it's, you never know when it's going to end. You never know when your time's going to come, but why not crush every day? Like, why not? Why not try to make anyone else's life special? Why not try to help anyone? Doesn't matter if it's a friend, it's family,

it's a stranger. Like the better you treat people, the way Jimmy Hayes lived his life, the golden rule. Like I, I'm going to treat others the way I want to be treated. Like that kid truly did it every day. So in the sense that Jimmy's Jimmy's life here is over, but how many people will go on to like live like Jim? You know,

this kid was so funny to you guys. Fuck. A couple of years ago, this kid, he comes to this golf tournament his eyes mangled his eyes like looking all over the place somebody's got these glasses on his pupils look like manhole covers i'm like what is up with your eye dude he's like dude i read a book one time and i go blind i'm not kidding you he was reading a book i go what really happened he's like no i was reading

a book and all of a sudden my eye went crooked the doctor said you read a book for too long oh my god dude i i my brother sean's an 89 birthday and so is jimmy they they grew up playing hockey together social kings i never mentioned that team and my father was one of the coaches is uh mr shakespeare mr arnold and father, they coached this team and they lost. I think they were playing like the flames, like another team. And they'd lost to him in the finals, like three years in a row. They'd won the regular season all the years. And in the finals, they kept losing, losing, losing.

So I think they're 13 years old, right? Like the kind of the last year of Metro and before the championship game, they're playing the flames again. And the flames had a cake made four in a row. And some of the coaches, my dad and Mr. Shakespeare, they saw it before the game. They went down and told the kids, like, hey, they have a fucking cake made. They have a cake made.

They already think they got this thing won again. And so the Kings go out. Jimmy buries the empty netter to seal it. He was a stud. This kid was so good. And Jimmy's going through the line. Enjoy your cake. Hope it tastes good.

Have a good cake. Hey guys, enjoy your cake. Just absolutely chirping these guys at 13 years old, like just giving guys shit. It's like, there's so many different stories about this kid. And I think that like when I'll, when I think of him and when I remember him,

it'll constantly bring a smile to my face, right? And that's what everyone thinks when they know him. And the real crushing thing is athletes have like two deaths. You know, your first love your sport it ends and then someday your life ends and when jimmy's first love ended he dedicated everything to his two boys bo and mac and i think that uh that's that's that's what's so tough, right? My two sons are just right around the same age. Jimmy's wife, Kristen, is such a kind, amazing person, and now she's left without her husband,

and these kids, they won't ever know their dad, and that's what kills me because their dad was such a good guy. I think their dad is, is somebody that they'll, they'll learn through memories and they'll learn through stories. And, and the fact that they'll never get to know him isn't fair. Like life isn't fair. Everyone knows that at this point, fuck. But, um, the way he dedicated himself to being a dad, this kid used to show up. Kevin said it today. This kid used to show up all the time. I'd run into him and be like, how cool is it being a dad? He loved it.

He lived for it. And there was videos yesterday. I walked into the wake and like amazing pictures and tributes and flowers. And they had, you know, a screen going videos a week old of him like his son running into his arms and as kevin mentioned in his obituary i mean not his obituary his eulogy which i think you can watch online just an amazing job this kid did he mentions um that he was just so proud and every day he would do things let's do a dance party a drop off for uh for preschool let's let's let's teach him something new today let's do a wrestling match in the

kitchen it was like never ending and it wasn't a surprise because what he did in his community in dorchester and ra talks about um what he meant to that that town I mean, that city. He did so many things under the radar. Like R.A. said, this guy played for the Boston Bruins. He was born and raised in the city of Boston. The fact that every single kid dreamed of doing what Jimmy Hayes did, and what he would do is he would show up to birthday parties. He would show up to practices, under-the-radar stuff that, to him, was no big

deal because he knew it would change these kids' lives. Like these kids will never forget the time. Jimmy Hayes, Boston Bruins, born. This kid played for Dorchester. This is, that's where I play. And then he played for the Bruins. I can do it. And so the way he,

the way he would just show up for other people is what I'll always remember. The way he would make people laugh and the way he would include everyone. That is what I'll always remember the way you would make people laugh and the way you would include everyone that's what I'll always remember and um like I said like if anyone listening can try to live their life a little bit like Jim did that's that means you're living a hell of a life and I think Kevin ended um his his eulogy with just an amazing Irish blessing. He said, death leaves a heartache no one can heal, and love leaves a memory no one can steal. So for everyone out there who loved him and for everyone out there who got to know and meet Jimmy,

I can tell you I'm with you and we'll miss him forever, but we'll smile when we think of him and live a better life because of him. Well said. Well said, Wade. Like I said on my tweet after we got the news, I said he just put you in a better mood. Like, you know, like no matter what, no matter you were having a shit day or whatever, he was just such a big goofy guy.

And, you know, like harmless, always happy to be there. Just the epitome of a happy go lucky guy. And you knew you were going to be in a better mood when he came around. I know Grinnell, I knew you had something you wanted to share as well. Well, no, I, I, I just had a funny story about Jimmy where, you know, when, when Kevin, when I first moved to New York and Kevin was playing for the Rangers, they took me out one night and long night.

And one thing leads to another, we end up in Chinatown singing karaoke in the basement of some bar. And it's, it's me, it's Kevin, it's Marty mush and it's Jimmy. And Jimmy says to me, and this story has gotten, I never corrected Jimmy when he said this story, but Jimmy looked at me that night and, and, um, he his rolex on my wrist and he said wit and biz love you man these guys they're gonna take care of you you need to learn how to wear one of these all night anyone who's seen my wrist knows me and jimmy hayes don't have the same size wrists so all night your wrist is one was one of his not even one of his so all night though i have

this thing hanging off my wrist and i'm like j Jimmy, I don't want to wear it anymore. I'm going to break it. He insisted you wear the Rolex. You need to learn. These guys love you. They're going to take care of you. And I just wanted to share that because it just showed what kind of guy Jimmy was. He he didn't care how much money it was and that I probably was going to break it. But he just wanted me to know that my guys loved me. He probably, Larry Flowers probably instilled the beans to him that we're going to take care of you. And he couldn't hold him.

But Whit, obviously very difficult to follow you up. I know how much you meant to you and the whole Dorchester community. And, you know, I was going online and reading some of the messages from some of the guys that he played with. And, you know, I was going online and reading some of the greatest song ever sang on Stitt and Chicklets. And I'm sure at one point in this episode, you will hear a recording of it. But just the impact that he made in making everyone feel welcome, whether it was the fourth flying guy looking on the outside and making him feel like he's part of the team and just sharing some of these insane, wacky stories that I'm sure every single guy has

one of. just sharing some of these insane, wacky stories that I'm sure every single guy has one of. And I mean, it's not too often we get around guys where they can kind of out-goof us. But when we were in Dallas, it was just, I mean, between that, him talking about the head cover, his dog, and probably the guy in the locker room who might say something after the coach is like,

does anyone have any questions that the boys will be laughing out for the entire practice afterward? He was just that kind of a goofy guy to put a smile on your face and, and also not afraid to be the butt of the joke and really self-deprecating and being around a guy like him, even for that short period, I could tell why he made such an impact in the entire Boston community. And like, you know,

that's one of the aspects of which this podcast has led me to and to learn about and i'm i'm really sorry for your guys loss and it's it's evident how how much it's impacted the hockey community to all the guys who traveled from the distances they did were for a reason you know you're kind of going through the happy times and through the sad times as you were giving your little breakdown there wit and it kind of reminded me of how like the last week's been you know you think about the happy times you spend with them and and then you think about the family side of it and like you know what kevin's going through and his family his wife and the fact he's got two kids you text me right after and he said like it makes me sick that his boys won't get to grow up knowing their father.

Obviously, that probably hit a lot more home with you having two kids. You know, it's comments like that that really put things in our perspective. And it's not hard to summarize. But, you know, I guess my condolences to everybody on their side. And this is going to hurt for a while. Yeah, it is going to hurt. That's so well said, Biz. And Ari mentioned like last night, this whack pack of guys would have been just –

it was like the fact that this many people were together in this bar talking about this kid. I walk in. I see Brian Berard. We're chatting up with him. I see Lupo. talking about this kid i walk in i see brian barard we're chatting up with it i see loophole and then his uh missing curfew boys shane o'brien and scotty upshallem chat with about them they have funny stories i go over i see vinny trocek he played with him in florida he loved jimmy

i go see his college buddies eddie shea paul carey vance all these kids that just like all love them and all from all across the country from all across north america these people are there and they're all there baleski spoke quickly at the bar and they're all there just to celebrate this kid it's like yeah the priest said today um you know we're all looking up at him and he said if you could see what i'm looking at like the amount of people that are here to celebrate this kid's life is like to touch that many people like how special of a person do you have to be to do that? And that's, that's why, like, I think it just hurts so much is because, um,

people loved him and people love his family. And, you know, Kevin's life in a sense will never be the same. He, he, he, he is such a legend too. He started, he started the eulogy off. He said, I've been falling around my brother since i was born we went to saint anne's we went to nobles we went to bc played in the nhl we were part of the same organization at one point and uh and i'm basically crushing it which is true because kevin is crushing it and he crushed uh the speech in honor of his brother so i uh i don't really know what else there is to say besides the fact that when you see all these people and hear all these stories you're like fuck this kid left the legacy behind him and and that's what's great to know is that he'll never be forgotten. And I'll tell you right now, I've said a numerous amount of times that doing this show is so amazing because of the times that we've met so many fans

out there, you guys listening, and we've had a number of people, you guys will agree, said, I was going through a tough time in my life and the show gave me an escape. Or you guys talked about something, whether it be mental health or losing someone that that helped me go through a certain time and and that's what makes it the best job in the world is to be able to like actually help people and make people feel better and now that jimmy's gone i'll never forget this podcast because i think anyone listening out there who's listened to the episodes with him and watched the sandbag, you guys know him a little. That's what's cool.

That not only were the guys that played with him and grew up with him really hurting with his loss, but I think a lot of you listeners got to know this big goofball and really loved him and feel like you know him. And now that he's gone, it's our show and his show that he was doing missing curfew. They've it's allowed people to really learn what he was all about. So rest easy, Jimmy rest easy, buddy. Yeah. Well said wit. And I, Vinnie Trocek, I guess they were goofing on him. I guess he was on a, like a week and a half long bachelor party. I don't know.

Yeah. He, he just dropped everything and left, like left in the middle of a week and a half long bachelor party, but he didn't have a, all his clothes with him yet or whatever. So he had like, no, he was my, I might've been dressed better than him last night at local when we

were hanging out. But like you said, what I mean, Claude Giroux, JV, I was there, Nate Thompson, uh,

of course, Keith, the end was there. Sha, Sha and correct showed up, uh, Pat Maroon, Zach Bogosian,

who we're going to get on a future episode. It was just, and so many of these guys we had in the show, and it was just so awful that we had to be there together, but you kind of made the most and just, hey, tell some stories, had some laughs, shed some tears. It was an incredible turnout, but I also want to give props to non-players.

There were a couple of equipment guys there. Frosty for the Devils. Awesome guy. Legend around the league. Chickaroonie, who's a ref, an NHL ref, was there. You mentioned Michelle Terrian was at the wake as well. And other coaches. So, you know, it wasn't just players who showed up. It was everybody from all aspects of hockey.

And it was a beautiful tribute and a sad day. But it was a nice send-off. I don't know if you guys had any other things you wanted to share. I was just going to ask, Whit, is there another story that pops out, maybe, where you're just like, oh, man, the laughs, they just never end. Dude, golfing with this kid? He became really good. Fuck, no, he didn't.

He stunk. What do you mean? He fucking dusted us in the sandbag. Yeah, because he was getting 15 shots, dude. I used to tell him, I said, you're 6'4", 230, and you hit the ball 220, buddy. You hit bunts. What's wrong with that? He had this vicious slice.

He's always like, hey, I fixed it. I fixed it. First tee ball slice into the woods. But he was so funny. He would talk about every one of his shots one of his buddies was telling me last night they had to tell him jimmy we can't listen to the description in the pga tour rundown of every single one of your shots we're losing our mind right now listening to it but he'd be playing in a match we'd be in a money match and i you know i was playing against

him and he's like uh wait what is this putt I have do? I'm like, what? Dude, we're in a $200 nest. I'm not telling you. He's like, at least tell me if it's downhill or not. Just like constantly saying things that would just like blow your mind. You could just tell him one thing, and he'd answer it with like a completely different subject. You'd just start laughing.

Yeah, Wollaston Golf Club, the place i play where he plays they're gonna really miss him i'm gonna hopefully we got to get a broadway classic going a yearly yearly tournament or something in his honor so i mean there's so many stories right you can't tell a lot of them you got other guys who have been kind enough actually to share some special memories with with us that they have with him so i think we're going to be able to play that to end this. So I think it's probably time to go to that. And it's pretty cool that we got some messages from former teammates and friends and just to let everyone know how much he meant to them.

So like I said before, you'll never be forgotten and we are all better people for having known you. So prayers to the entire Hayes family and his wife and his two boys. And let's all live a little bit more like Jim, like we said before. Well said, Whit. We love you, Jimmy. And now we have some messages from friends of Jimmy who are kind enough to share with us.

You know, there's so many Jimmy Hayes stories because I didn't see him all that often. And every time I did, we'd just go right at each other. But one that stood out, it's after he was no longer in the NHL anymore. And after all, our goalie challenge back and forth and stuff. We were at the Chicken Box. And I don't know if I was late to the conversation or what. But I heard him talk.

He's like, yeah, I just want a job as a janitor. Like Jimmy the janitor. It would be such a great ring. It would be such a fun thing to do. For some reason, I thought he meant he wanted to be the janitor at Barstool. He's like, I love it, Jimmy. Like, yeah, come be the janitor. Are you serious?

We'll sell a ton of Jimmy the janitor shirts. He's like, no. I was talking about latching on to another NHL team and just being the guy around the net that gets garbage goals and everyone would call me Jimmy the janitor. So I'm like, oh, I thought you might be the janitor at Barstool. Takes a second, looks at me, he's like, you know what? That'd be pretty cool too.

Like dead serious, only in a Jimmy Hayes way where I just basically said I thought he wouldn't be the janitor at my company. He's talking about playing in an NHL pro sport. janitor at my company he's talking about playing an nhl pro sport i don't know every time you talk to him like he just is so self-deprecating funny at ease and every time he had a story like that but uh yeah he was a one in a million guy that's for sure hey guys brendan walsh the most endearing memory i have of jimmy i was coaching out in the select 17 camp um a camp made up of all future NHLers, including Jimmy. And we were all flying back. And on the plane, Jimmy and his group of friends were all sitting up, and teammates were sitting up about four or five seats ahead of me.

And this mom comes in, laid onto the plane. She's trying to get the kids settled. She's got five kids under 10. Everyone's in complete melt under 10. Everyone's in complete meltdown mode. The kids are screaming and crying. Jimmy just walks over to her, grabs the like 18 month old and a four year old, brings them back. The mom is just like, Jesus, thank you. And Jimmy just plays with the kids, consoles them, cajoles them, makes them feel comfortable, consoles them, cajoles them, makes them feel comfortable, introduces them to his crew.

The rest of the flight, it's Jimmy with an 18-month on his lap and a four-year-old on his other lap while he's talking hockey and playing cards with the guys. It was incredible. It speaks to his character. It just speaks to where he's from, his upbringing, his family, um, just an incredible soul. Hey, what's up? It's Jack Eichel. Uh, I just want to tell a quick story about a weekend, uh, back in 2016, uh, on Nantucket, uh, for Fugawi. We had a heck of a crew, Jimmy, Kevin, Johnny Hockey, Paul Carey.

I mean, we had a ton of guys from EPS that went over to Nantucket for the weekend. And, you know, I just remember how much fun we had. It was one of those weekends where you never stop laughing and obviously enjoyed a couple mud sides, enjoyed a few days at Cisco Brewery, but it was just an incredible weekend and one that I'll never forget. Hey guys, Tory Krug here. Some of my favorite Jimmy Hayes memories

are back when we were teammates with the Boston Bruins. We would always sign up together for the children's hospital visits and on Halloween we dressed up in goofy costumes one year as the Minions and then in Christmas time we dress up in Santa outfits and also Elve outfits. These are some of my favorite moments because we could walk into a room and it'd be hard for me to have a conversation or for someone else to spit out words in what is typically a tough situation. But Jimmy's genuine ability to walk in and just light up the room, make a kid smile.

He's also known for his dabbing ability. He'd walk into a hospital room in a minion outfit and throw a dab out there, and it just made everyone laugh. He's just so genuine, so pure, so happy, and so loved. Hey, this is Keith Handel. Just wanted to tell a quick little story about Jimmy. So there's a sushi place in Milton where we live that we all go to. All the Hayes' go there.

Mr. Hayes, Kevin, Jimmy. It's one of the spots we go to probably three or four times a week after workout to have lunch and talk about whatever we need to talk about. Jimmy's been a sushi guy for longer than anyone else, probably since he was 14, 15 years old, eating sushi. I remember the first time sitting down with him having sushi. He was probably 20 years old, 21. You know, this is five or six years after being a full-blown sushi eater. And he asked for the training wheels for the chopsticks, which they give to four-, five-, six-year-old kids to put on their chopsticks so they know how to use the chopsticks.

And I remember looking at Jimmy, I'm like, dude, you're 21 years old, you've been eating sushi longer than anyone else I know, you've got to figure this out. And until this day, I still never saw him get off the training wheels for the chopsticks. And, you know, it was kind of one of those things where he embraced it, he loved it, and, you know, every time he asked for the training wheels,

it was kind of we had a good laugh about it, and, you know, it was always funny to do it. Hey, guys, Vince Trochek from the Carolina Hurricanes. Just wanted to share a quick story, my favorite story about the time that I spent with Jimmy Hayes in Florida. I'll never forget it. I remember one day we had a game, went into the rink in the morning that day, had our pregame skate, and Jimmy walks in,

and usually Coach would write the lineup on the board in the locker room just to show who was playing that night. And that specific night, Jimmy wasn't playing. He wasn't in the lineup on the board in the locker room just to show who was playing that night and that specific night. Jimmy wasn't playing. He wasn't in the lineup with the board. Didn't let it phase him one bit. Jimmy was the most positive human being on the planet, even when things weren't going his way.

So he goes home that day. We all go home, come back that night, and we had our game and hadn't seen Jimmy the whole day and then obviously see him after the game he's got a giant smile on his face and we just started talking and asked him what he did that day and instead of going home and sulking and kind of whining about not being in the lineup he decided straight from morning skate that he was gonna head to the Mercedes-Benz dealership, walk in, spend about 10 minutes in there,

and walk out with a brand-new Mercedes S550 or whatever, all decked out, white, black rims. And it was a sick car, and he showed up that night just happy as a clam, didn't let anything get him down, didn't let the fact that he wasn't in the lineup bother him, decided to have a little retail therapy, and instead of buying some new shoes, he went and bought a brand-new Mercedes. And that's one of the funnier stories that I've seen,

and I thought that that's just kind of a perfect representation of how positive Jimmy was and how he didn't let anything, no matter what the circumstance was, get him down. Hi, this is Nate Thompson. You know, my story is about, my story is, I don't really have a specific particular story, but when it comes to, you know, Jimmy or Kevin, it's kind of like together. It's the Hayes brothers, and, you know, I was playing for, I believe, Anaheim at the time and where I was in Boston it was after a game we were staying the night and ended up at this you know bar lounge spot and you know I run into Jimmy and Kevin Hayes in the bathroom and you know we didn't really know

each other that well at the time and it was one one of those things, you know, you meet Jimmy and it was kind of like you've known him for years. And, you know, it's funny, like the rest of the night, you know, I hung out with both of them. And it was kind of one of those things where, you know, I think that after we hung out that night, it was we'd see each other around and always say hi and um and then obviously when i you know got traded philly and you know playing with kevin um you know

a little more connected now but you know i think just that family jimmy obviously especially you know whenever you um were around him you just felt uh included in everything. When I was with him that night for the first time with him and Kevin, it felt like we know each other for years. You could see that's the kind of impact he had on everybody. He was a special guy. What's up, Spittin' Chicklets? It's your boy, Larry Flowers.

Tough week this week. Losing our good friend Broadway Jimmy Hayes. I just got back from Boston. Dolchester, to be exact. And I was overwhelmed by the support that he received at his memorial. Not only from his hometown, but his friends and his beautiful family and teammates. And it was really, really overwhelming to see the type of impact that Jimmy made on so many people's lives,

including all the young kids that, you know, paid their respects in the streets of his hometown. It was really something to see. I was honored to be there, to pay my respects. Jimmy was a special, special guy. He was a special friend. He loved to laugh. He always wanted to make people around him happy He loved hanging out with the boys He loved his wife

He loved his family He loved his children That's the type of guy he was You know, there are certain guys There are certain people That come across in your life And they impact you in a way Where they, you know, you just want to be with that person. You want to spend time with that person. They make you feel good. And that's,

that's who Jimmy was. That's the type of guy he was. I loved hanging out with him. Um, you know, we have a similar background, you know, I'm from Northeast Philadelphia, very similar to where he's from. And, uh, we always had a good connection. Uh, we had a great rivalry with, you know, the Eagles and the Pats. And I used to give it to him a little bit when his little brother Kevin signed with the Flyers, which was awesome for me, because now he had the root for a Philly team. And I used to give it to him a little bit about that.

But, you know, Jimmy was special. He was awesome. And something else I thought about that kind of tells you a little bit about his character and the type of guy he was. I saw a crazy fun fact on Instagram that any employee at Boston College's alma mater, their children get free tuition for college at Boston College. I thought it was really cool. And I forwarded that to him. And I said, hey, Jimmy, man, your kids better get full rides one day.

Otherwise, you'll be volunteering just to get them into college. And he said, you know what, Flowers? I hope one day to be volunteering at BC just because I want to. And I want to be a part of that university. I want to help out. And I want to help kids. And I'd love to be a part of the program and coaching and stuff like that. So like, you know, that, that, that touched me.

That, that, that was real when he said that to me. And that speaks of the type of character that Jimmy had. I'm going to miss him. Thanks everybody for their support. Spitting Chicklets thank you for doing this I love you all, God bless and I'm out, rest in peace Jimmy

Hey guys it's Scotty Upshaw from the Missing Curfew podcast here it's been a rough week, we lost our boy Jimmy Hayes and I just want to share Jimmy Hayes is, he's the man if you ever met jimmy and you ever sat in a room with the guy uh you laughed and you got to tell stories you got to listen to more stories

than you told because he likes to talk which is why he was actually really good on our podcast because he could carry the thing um he did an incredible job the last three months when things started to get really tough for us. You know, Obie, you know, Obie, Jimmy and I, we really had fun doing what you guys do. And, you know, it feels like you're in a locker room. Jimmy Hayes' life was like he was putting skates on, shooting pucks and having fun with his buddies. And he has an incredible family. He loves his wife. He loves his kids. Kevin, you're a rock, man.

And we're all your brother. Jimmy loved you to death. Jimmy was funny. He played rap tunes before games. He used to cheers everyone and chug a Red Bull before we'd go out for a match. Broadway, he was one hell of a guy.

And what we saw in Dorchester today was really special. I'm honored to be at his memorial. I was honored to hear Kevin and Kristen talk about him today. And we're going to miss him. So, Jimmy, may your soul rest in peace, brother. And we miss you. I'm Patrick Maroon. First time I met Jimmy Hayes, I walked into the New Jersey locker room.

I put my bag down in the 6'5", skinny redhead kid who was around a bunch of guys on the team. And he was telling stories and everyone was laughing. And I first introduced myself. I said, I'm Patrick Maroon. He's like, hey and everyone was laughing. And I first introduced myself. I said, I'm Patrick Maroon. He's like, hey, I'm Broadway. From right then and there, I knew this guy was going to be funny, positive energy in the room, guys that everyone looks up to. For me, this is difficult.

I don't know how this is going to sound, but I was going through a lot. I had some injuries. I was going through some hard times, some personal problems at the time, and Jimmy kind of took me in, and I watched his work ethic every single day, his positive attitude every single day, how he interacted with young guys, older guys, you know, how he brought himself to the rink every single day. And that's something that stuck with me through my career since I played with him. And I've brought that energy, that positivity, you know, that funny, that goofiness, you know, never having a bad day, you know, because I was very negative going into it, and he changed my mindset.

And that's the kind of person Jimmy was. And we didn't leave each other's side. I felt like from Broadway's cabin in the back of the plane to going to Bingo, having my wife Francesca meet him for the first time, you know, him winning Bingo that night, meeting Kevin and Champagne, Sparklers. I mean, it was just an unbelievable night. I mean, I can tell you a bunch of stories, but the story that really means a lot to me is how he changed me. My negative energy, being positive, smiling, working hard, bringing people together, bringing the team together,

and just having that very good energy. And that's why people gravitate to Jimmy, and that's why I gravitated to him. And I brought that fond personality with me. So, Jimmy, I can't thank you enough for changing my life brother you really did uh the way i look at things uh the way i approach things in the locker room now my teammates you've really put an impact on me and my wife so jimmy wish you were still here man we're gonna miss you i'm gonna miss you and And rest easy, Broadway. I love you, man.

American soldier. I'm an American soldier.