Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 354: Featuring John Buccigross

Episode Date: October 5, 2021

On Episode 354 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by John Buccigross. Bucci joined the show (1:42:49) to discuss the new NHL-ESPN TV deal for this upcoming season, College Hockey, Jack Eichel, Hockey Culture and much more. But first, the boys open the show catching up on their weekends, dive into some concert talk and make a huge announcement for our Canadian listeners. The guys then break down all the recent NHL news and preview the entire Eastern Conference. The fellas wrap up the show talking about squid game and some other random things.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 354 of Spittin' Chicklets presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What's up gang? One more week till we drop the puck, can't wait. Tonight we're going to take a look at the Eastern Conference and break down all the other shit that's gone down on since we last met. But of course, we say hi to the boys first. Mikey G, producer, how we doing? What's going on, guys?

I went to a wedding this weekend in Manchester, New Hampshire. So I... Match Vegas. Match Vegas. Want a colder cup there? Not a big deal. The whole time I was out at night just thinking, I can only imagine Paul Bissonnette going out in this city. So we had some laughs.

But great weekend. Excited to talk to some hockey boys. A lot of bushy-headed little hicks around that area. About 12 years old right now. There was a place, Kitty Corner, to the rink, and it was like the hot spot in town. And my first month there, somebody got stabbed. I want to say they were killed, and they ended up dying.

So, yeah, that was pretty much, I know. Jeez, Buzz Killington right off the hop here. That's when you came down, and we just used to go to dinner and hang out. That's when me and Witt started cooking up what was going to end up becoming this podcast and getting the ideas. I think one of the original ideas was we were going to end up going to a rink, going in the locker room. We'd open up our gear bag, and there would be a six-pack, and we'd sit there, and it would be a YouTube show, and we'd just tell stories.

That was kind of the original concept. But what was the sushi place called? Dozu? We went to Dozu a bunch. I think we went to like Uni. I don't even remember the name of the other one. But you'd just shoot on down once a week, and we'd just hang out, chill on the couch, grab a little dinner, come back,

and end up figuring out what Chicklets would end up being. I don't know how that happened. And then I want to call their name. You're like, bro, this is bullshit. I should be on the power play. I'm like, yeah, man, you'll get there. Oh, yeah, right. Are you in a Victorian bedroom right now?

What's going on behind you? It looks like I'm in a woman's bedroom. He's in your on behind you? It looks like I'm in a woman's bedroom. It looks like I'm in a woman named Gertrude's. What did he say? He said he's in your mom's bedroom. I said he's in your mom's bedroom. I gave him a little Sopranos. Oh, Jesus.

Yeah, this hotel. I didn't mean it was wack in a row, right? Miraboo in Plymouth. I had to switch rooms because the first room, I think everyone at home knows, it was 78 degrees. I said I called down immediately. It wouldn't go down. I said I need another room. Like, don't even try telling me there's another room.

I would have driven back to Milton. But I'll tell you right now, now this room is 65. That's what I keep my hotel rooms at, 65. I sleep like a baby. But it does look like a woman named Gertrude lives here. The shades is just, if you see this on YouTube, I mean, you're looking at absolute travesty of the bedroom decor in here. You don't fuck around with 78 degrees?

Oh, no. I wouldn't sleep. I would fall asleep and wake up every 10 minutes. That does not work for me. 65 is cold. I think 70 is nice. 70 is nice. 70, you might as well that's in the sauna yeah if it was if it was so cold i just like i wouldn't even want to get up and take a

piss in the middle of the night okay 65 is freezing because you'll be so passed out because it's 65 and apparently you sleep better the colder it is yeah i i'm sure that i'm sure once you get down to like 30s and 40s if you're stuck outside for some reason. You're screwed. But I think in the 60 range, you'd rather sleep in 63 than 73. That's a fact body-wise. I don't usually go above 66 when I'm sleeping. Maybe do a little 69 if I'm feeling frisky. Oh, come on. 65 is like bedwetting temp for me.

Like I'll wake up and I'll be like, oh, I'll just wait till the morning. And the next thing you know, it's 5 a.m. And I got a fucking puddle in my mattress. Boys, I had a, I wouldn't say an adventurous week, but something adventurous happened to me. I don't know if you guys saw the clip. In an arena in Tampa Bay telling you guys to go fuck yourself, or fuck off rather, in unison, the Dirty Honey video clip. And rightfully so, because you said you don't show up.

You don't show up for the pre uh what do you call the the pre-opening beer okay what's very funny about all this is when you said that i kind of was like wow like kind of just a total disrespect to the bands that end up making it a lot of the times and it wasn't like you usually you show you you have respect for the the movies you have respect for music and it was just like I don't show up for the openers. Fuck them. I don't say that, first off. But second, you know what, though? This is probably a very good omen for Dirty Honey because I got to go back in time a little bit.

Many moons ago, I was going to see Aerosmith, and you know who was opening up for him? And I was like, I don't know who that is. I was just drinking the Pacalot, the Black Crows. So I ended up becoming a huge fan of them, seeing them in the front row. But you didn't go in? Didn't go in for the black rose no i was i was going to see arrowsmith it was 1990 and then another arrowsmith tour guess who was hoping for this time guns and roses i was like who the fuck's guns and roses and you

didn't go in didn't go into it they were i mean they were they were up and coming i wasn't like you know ahead of the scene at anything so those are two bands i could have saw open i didn't so dirty honey you join the list which means you guys are going to be fucking superstars any day now. So I think it's a good one. And they're going to boycott you. You won't be able to get into the arena when they're playing. I went and saw a J. Cole concert downtown Phoenix, and Will Smith's son was playing.

Jaden Smith. Did he not swear like his old man? I don't know what he was doing, but it was fucking pathetic. Very funny YouTube quickly. Will Smith. his old man he was i don't know what he was doing but it was fucking pathetic the last very funny very funny youtube quickly will smith it's from i think the family guy like his clean rapping you know he never swore yeah but it's like an imitation just google will smith clean rap it's like wipe your shoes off before you come in the house somebody just clean that rug it's just it's just all this polite, nice rapping.

That's what Will Smith did, dude. Yeah. No swearing. Getting jiggy with it. I went to a concert. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. I went to a concert on Saturday night. I think it's the Xfinity Center now.

Comcast Center. I know it is. Great Woods. Yeah. Actually, the last concert I went there was eighth grade. I saw Smoke and Groove. So I think it was like Snoop Dogg, some others. It was crazy. Chris Sta saw Smoke and Groove. So I think it was like Snoop Dogg, some others. It was crazy.

Chris Stapleton. Holy shit. Is this guy unreal? This guy. So I didn't know much. I knew two or three songs that I think a lot of people would know. And I'm not a huge country guy, but he's not the twangy, like, my dog died and my tractor broke down.

I don't like that country. But the Stapleton, man, I was blown away. He's got his wife on stage he made it later in life he actually went to school at vanderbilt i believe for like engineering or something i was reading dropped out to get in music and then was just writing songs like for dirks bentley um a couple other guys i can't think of kenny chesney kenny chesney and marty this guy's voice is unbelievable and he just stood there for two hours didn't move you know obviously he's not going to be out there dancing just stood there his wife's on stage she wrote songs also I don't know how they ended up meeting but I think like I think he's 42 43 and

I don't know if he's he's somewhat newly like really famous and successful I believe but I left the concert eight or nine songs I love now was listening to it the next day. It was just awesome. And I was really blown away by the guy's voice. He sounds a lot. I know this sounds crazy. He sounds like Chris Cornell, the singer who now died. He was the lead singer of Audioslave and Soundgarden, I believe, who had this really original voice. And Stapleton's voice, for some reason, reminds me of it. But the concert was an absolute hit. And it was weird. It was my first time probably around like, you know, it was like 15,000, 20,000 people there and walking into the show.

I haven't really like since COVID, I really haven't. I mean, I've been to a Bruins game, but I was sitting in a box. This one was just in the midst of everyone. And I was like, this is weird. I didn't care. But it was definitely a weird feeling having not done that for so long. I don't know if you felt the same when you were at Dirty Honey, R.A., or actually showing them up.

We should probably roll the clip so people have a better understanding of exactly what happened. So last podcast, were you unfamiliar with who opened R.A., or the fact that the lead singer ended up coming up to you and saying hello? He doesn't respect openers. No, a few people were like, oh, R.A., you've got to check out this band dirty honey you know and I was like yeah if I get there but I was with two other people who probably didn't want to go in to see it we were sitting on the

park you know doing the drinking thing it was no disrespect I I'm not familiar with them so I and I don't typically go to open an axe you know the last open an act I went to biz I took my mother to see I hated my mother's then boyfriend so much when I gave her a birthday present, I only gave her one ticket and I kept the other one so her boyfriend couldn't go. I took her to see Michael Bolton and whoever opened for Michael Bolton

was the last fucking time I saw her in an opening act probably 30 years ago. Michael Bolton gets it going. It was Alita Adams. She sang that song, Get Here, that they played during the first Gulf War

endlessly. I don't know if you guys remember it. It was my my mother we weren't we weren't boozing or nothing so she wanted to go in so we went in for the opening act so that's legit the last opening act it's not a disrespect thing i mean you know you're buying a ticket for the headline i've seen the stones 30 fucking times i don't think i've seen an opener there once live in color a great band missed them because i didn't do the opener so it's just it's just i don't know you know you have you think after a certain amount of time you'd learn to just go didn't do the opener. So it's just, I don't know. You think after a certain amount of time, you'd learn to just go in and see the opener

considering you've missed this many good bands? But now I'll mush them. Now if I go see them, then they're not going to become a star because they only become popular if I don't go see them, it seems. So they should be thanking you. So let's roll the clip. And this is kind of the rebuttal that R.A. got for pigeon tossing them. On the count of three,

everybody say, fuck you, RA. One, two, three. Fuck you, RA. A fuck RA chant can get the crowd going, dude. That place was awesome. Not the first one that happened.

There's a couple carpools to work right now chanting it, listening to the show. Definitely. But hey, Dirty Honey, listen Next time you're in the area, I promise I'll come see you I hint the hat When you guys are here, I don't want to say New England

I'll say in the Boston area, next time Hit me up, boys, I'll be there, front and center Since we're already on the band talk I gotta go back to last pod I wasn't saying that Lauryn Hill and the Fugies I knew you'd fucking try to walk this back you bitch listen you tried saying they were as big and don't even you were like whoa the fujis bro pump the brakes what i was saying is i think that them getting back together is big

bigger news than the rolling stones going on another world tour tour they do it every two years and to the point where mcjagger's going to pubs in in charlotte and he doesn't even get noticed all right i'll let you take it over it was really cool that that picture was released he had his hat down low but apparently the people to the right were like they've seen him 50 times all right he was wearing a bella clava but but all right i'll tell you right now and you can disagree or agree with me i think paul biz nasty bisonette i think he got a little bit of social media blowback and he's just fucking changing his opinion based on what people were telling him because he was pretty pretty pretty confident the fujis were a bigger

deal than the rolling stones i think i think it's bigger news that the fujis are getting back together after the time they've been apart than than the rolling stones doing another world tour how many times have the rolling stones basically said this is 78 years old i don't know about that after the time they've been apart than the Rolling Stones doing another world tour. How many times have the Rolling Stones basically said, this is a waxing bang? They're 78 years old. I don't know about that. I mean, I don't know. So you're more in awe of the fact that like,

wow, these guys are this old still doing it, and yet considering how much they've partied, they're still alive doing it? Yeah, I was going to say I'm in awe of their walking around breathing. Actually, going back to the dive bar, I read up the article. The Charlotte News and Observer, I think it's called. Their newspaper did a write-up about it, how Jagger showed up at this dive bar.

But they said that's the type of bar where a guy like even fucking Jagger can walk in. And it's like the locals just don't bother. Now, I could also see an old skinny. I mean, he's like 5'6". He weighs 140 pounds, all muscle, like all sinewy. Just would have had one drinking a beer. Mick Jagger isn't all muscle. No, he's bones and coke.

Bones and coke. He's fucking chiseled, dude. He's in the best fucking shape of probably any 70-year-old guy on the planet. Dude, he runs around for two and a half, dude, my father's a year younger than him and can't get out of fucking bed without assistance. Jagger's doing two and a half hours for 25, 40,000 people. Yeah, because he's on PEDs he's 78 but so yeah the dive thing i think i guess he stayed for like one quick beer but yeah if i i mean i wouldn't have left him alone i would have

fucking i would have had to keep myself even dry humping his leg i mean i was pissed in the back of your van right now in southey you'd be like giving them a couple cup of water and some cheerios every day to get some more lyrics out of them i was pissed when i found out they were rehearsing for this tour in boston for a month but that's how low-key they keep it like fucking none of my little gossip pounds because i would stock the hotel their rider list is like applesauce bag of blow six pack of beer i bet you lauren hill gets uh noticed at that bar though that's all i'm saying okay even why even why clef jean would have gotten noticed i'll be gone till november lauren hill's tax guy would have gotten noticed at that pub biz at one of the actually i gotta go back this

that at one of those arrowsmith shows me and my brother my cousin i was probably like 17 or 18 during they were singing dream on you know it's one of the big ballads and like all of a sudden i felt never heard of it tap my shoulder dude my brother my cousin over there they'll vouch girl just fucking lunged at me slapped the mug right on here was like never happened to me before my life not sure it's happened since like like it was like an eighth grade dance i didn't know she's a total stranger she just grabbed me and fucking threw the start of making out with me and my brother and my cousin like cheering pat me on the back and shit they still i mean it's like legendary story i'm on the film they still talk about still, I mean, it's like a legendary story among the film. They still talk about it.

But first time I ever got perlabbed like that. The craziest thing is there's probably like a bar in Moose Jaw that would recognize R.A. before Mick Jagger, and that's not even a fucking lie. That's true. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Well, speaking of Canada, Mr. Whitney, we have some incredible news for our great neighbors to the north. About time, guys. We've been trying for you.

Go ahead, Ari. I'm sorry. That's okay, buddy. Starting Thursday, Chicklets is going to have a merch warehouse in your beautiful nation along with a new Canadian website. So that means no more duties, no more exorbitant shipping fees, which we had nothing to do with. The places set their own rates and no more long waits to get your stuff.

The places set their own rates and no more long waits to get your stuff. When it opens for business, the site is storeca.barstoolsports.com. Also going to have exclusive merch only available in Canada. We are so psyched this finally happened. We got these bad boys made up. Show them whoever has them on. Those are very sick. Listen, we understood you're very valid.

I wouldn't even call them complaints because they were they were very valid you know it was expensive and maybe too much cost prohibitive to order a t-shirt or two or three so uh we're psyched we have this finally going and uh everybody take advantage of it because we don't we don't want to fucking make you have to pay through the nose to get our swag especially biz i mean do you want me to hop in here considering i'm the Canadian on the podcast? I mean, I'm, I'm just happy that we don't have to hear people letting us know how expensive it is to get shipped to them in Canada. And finally,

some of these issues sometimes are not the easiest to resolve, but thank you to barstool Grinnelli and the, and the whole merch team, they figured it out. And especially with, with the holidays and black Friday coming around the corner, the fact that you don't have to pay duty in these ridiculous shipping fees is good news for us.

And now we're rolling. Now we're rolling, boys. That's T.O., your second favorite team because you're a Canadiens fan now. R.A., that's Montreal. And G, you're the Flames? Calgary, yeah. Calgary, yeah. Those are sick.

I love how the Maple Leafs, right where the Barstool logo is on our logo. That's awesome. So we'll be doing a lot of that. We'll be doing a lot of Canada-exclusive merch for them just because we've kind of left them out to dry for the past two years. It's been tough. It's been really, really tough to get this done. But we got them now.

We got some nice merch. Well, they got shafted on the Pink Whitney. They had to wait like three or four extra months. They got shafted on the merch for so long. So thank you for your patience, everyone north of the border, my fellow Canadians. We love you guys. They can't get a cup, but they'll get our merch. I know we kind of got off the rails there a little bit in the intro,

but I had a pretty relaxing weekend, although I did get to go check out ASU's first game at home to kick things off against UMass. Did they retire Walker's number yet? No, Johnny Walker has to show his Social Security card to get in there. What do old people get actually already? Him and Mick Jagger are battling it out. It was against UMass Lowell, and it was Shane Doan, Josh Doan's first game in college, three apples and a victory.

No way. Yeah, for ASU. They ended up playing the next night, so Sunday night. And they ended up dropping that one. B had two assists in that game. So five assists so far. Just five points or two games. Yeah, five points in two games.

Donor was there. Is ASU ranked like preseason? No, they're not. Well, they're not in the top 10. Well, they could be top 20 then. They're a top 20 team. But our other Barstool athlete, because we have Johnny Walker, who's one of our Barstool athletes.

We also have Daryl Watts. They just got the number one seed. She plays for Wisconsin. So we got a number one seed under our belt over here. What do you mean seed? You mean their number one team? Yeah, they're the number one ranked team in the tournament, I mean in the whole season.

Okay, yeah. I think a seed would be like a tournament. I said that like an idiot. The number one team ranked going into the season because seed would mean that they're heading into the tournament already yes yes he misspoke leave him alone hey you just mentioned pink whitney merch we also just dropped some new pink whitney merch with 100 of the net proceeds going to the breast cancer research foundation so if you'd like to get some new pw swag and help cause that affects unfortunately pretty much everybody days, it's posted on our social media pages. I think Instagram is back up and running. So check out Twitter feed, Instagram. Again,

100% of the net proceeds are going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. If you want to help out and get a nice PW jersey, do so. I actually saw a guy in a pink Whitneyney uh like hoodie i think it was a hoodie might have been the the peter millar and i was walking out of the concert and he had it on i was like bro awesome awesome drink he's like yeah it's pretty solid dude tough hangover so i just kept going he had no fucking clue i was just like this is perfect well speaking of pink whitney hit your local bar and order some. Whether with club soda or as a shot, you can't go wrong with that smooth Pink Whitney.

Check it out. All right, boys. Last week we had Vegas goalie Robin Leonard on the show. The feedback was great. He was obviously very open, very honest, very funny. And then shortly thereafter, he went on, I guess you'd call it a tweet, right over the weekend about his experience in Buffalo, the way teams issue medication to players, his opinions on Elaine Vigneault and a bunch of other things.

And, you know, it caused a pretty significant ripple over the, I guess, NHL social media sphere over the weekend. Well, the NHL reached out to him to see if he wants to sit down to chat. It's become a big thing. And apparently, I guess some folks misconstrued his comments because he was talking about the Philadelphia Flyers. Allegedly, this is all just passing the word along. Allegedly, the way they may have handed medications out to their players while at the same time giving his opinion on Alain Vigneault. And I think people kind of cross-pollinated them and misconstrued them and thought he was saying that Alain Vigneault was giving pills out, which I don't know how people thought that, but did so then elaine vigno had a comment about

it it's been this whole big fucking hullabaloo um so anyways biz i know you want to chat about it and want to chime in here i mean other than the fact that obviously there's a bit of a language barrier there and it seemed like he was on this twitter storm so it was definitely misconstrued uh he seemed very hot at the time when he was sending out these tweets basically like saying hey i got more information and as you said it kind of just snowballed into a bit of a fiasco and vignot ended up i think he made light of it saying you know i would consider myself more experienced than a dinosaur and then said you know we treat our players professionally here uh didn't really shy away from the fact that yes have i been hard on

players in the past and you know do we do we hold our players to a high standard but you know never would would he be in charge of handing out medication to players like that is just like a ridiculous thing to to kind of misunderstand through twitter so wait i don't even know what really how to keep going on this i'll throw it over to you. Yeah, I think Leonard's a very opinionated guy, and he told us, I mean, it's like he's 90% of what he would want to say. He covers up 90% of what he would want to say, and he still kind of slings it around. I think that it's kind of obvious, right?

Like Nolan Patrick came over there from Philly to Vegas, so he must have been talking, and Leonard decided to kind of go into what he either told him or he heard from somebody else. And I did think it was a little odd to just kind of go at Philly that way, considering he'd never really played for them. Now, he told us he despises a coach in the NHL. I kind of have to guess that's Vigneault.

He didn't tell us in the interview. He didn't tell us after. But the way he went after him publicly, kind of after mentioning to us that there was a guy he really hates I don't know if that's the case but I would imagine that Vegas and Pete DeBoer and the kind of staffs like oh you know this is kind of the last thing we really want or need right now but Robin Leonard's his own person he's going to do what he wants he's the starting goalie there and I don't think in his mind it'll affect his play at all but he's certainly outspoken to the point where he's got some major issues with the NHL I think he mentioned that he does love the league

and love what it's given him in his life but he obviously also has some uh he's got some beefs with certain people and he's not afraid to share it but it was it was wild to see the comments and kind of how it was going with the season not having started and nobody having anything else to talk about you're just kind of diving into some accusations that are a little a little rough to hear yeah especially after having him on the podcast it's evident that he does want change uh sometimes in order to create that you got to kick up a little dust uh i don't know if if this is exactly the way he wanted it to go in a sense of the his words being misconstrued as far as people thinking that he's accusing elaine vigno of of giving his players pills so

i don't know it's uh yeah it got a little bit messy there i hope it can get riled in and there's some good good solid communication between him and the league and moving forward you know maybe they could take some of what he says and and you know implement it into some sort of change so whatever that may be i don't know we weren't we weren't involved in these types of discussions we had him on the podcast he said what he said you can go back to last episode and listen to what he said uh none of that was brought up but uh he definitely had his opinion on the jack eichel situation which we have and we i think all kind of share his opinion on how big of a fucking joke that is so

uh we can leave it at that. Yeah, I'm just curious to see if there'll be any sort of ripple effect with other players. Maybe it'll empower other guys who might not be likely to speak up in whatever issues they might have. Probably not because it is the NHL. We talk about the uniformity and conformity about it all the time. But, you know, we'll keep tabs on it. And just to go back, excuse me, Biz,

what you just said about allegations with the Flyers. Drew Wheeler, I don't know what outfit he works for. He's since protected his tweets, but he said sources, the Flyers training staff gave Nolan Patrick non-prescribed Ambien and Benzos to help with his traumatic head injury while not disclosing the medication given to him at the time. Just you had mentioned that. That kind of added fuel to the fire.

It was just kind of confirming, I guess, what people were suspecting about the team. That didn't come from Robin Lane or this guy we reported on his own. So, again, we just pass things along here sometimes that other people say. We can't speak to the veracity of any of it. But it's noteworthy and newsworthy, so we like to share it. Let's talk about some fun stuff, boys. Yeah. Vancouver signed a pair of RFAs.

Defenseman Quinn, please stop calling me fucking Grinnelli Hughes and forward Eliash Pettersson. Quinn Hughes' deal is for six years worth 47.1 mil, comes out to 7.85 mil a year. He does not have trade protection. He will be a 27-year-old unrestricted free agent when the deal expires. Pettersson has a three-year bridge deal for 22 mil, comes out to 7.35 million a year.

Also no trade protection. He'll be a 25-year-old restricted free agent when his deal ends. Reactions, boys? Love it. Love both contracts. Ideally you could get them both a little bit longer, but in the end, this is what they got done.

Those guys are probably furious they gotta leave Ann Arbor. They've been living it up at Michigan parties, hitting up football games, going back to college. Pedersen's like, fuck, I would have gone to college. But the cap hit-wise is a great number for both of them, I think. You've seen some numbers some of these D-men have got. Now, there's people who dog Quinn Hughes a little bit, like any player in the league, right?

I think he's awesome. I love the way that he's kind of changed that entire defense in terms of him being able to play so many minutes. He skates so well. I actually think that six years for him is great. The good thing also is that at 27, he's going to sign another monster contract. So he can end up making $120 million. Who knows how that's going to go.

But in the end, to get both those guys there and at least get them into camp and get them going so they're not gonna miss too much time i think it's so important for that team to take that next step and just to have these guys finally locked in and now brady kachuk is all by himself well he won't yeah i don't know what that situation is but going back to uh to quinn hughes six years at that number i mean whoo i mean that is that is that is a great deal for vancouver although you did say that they they do lose them for those extra two years i mean obviously them being able to lock them up for eight as a max um but he just drives that offense and and people when you say people knock them you're probably talking about on the defensive side of the puck but when you're a one-man breakout and

you can drive offense from the back end as he does i mean that's where the game is headed and these young guys have all the they got the reins and and you know they have all the the the power negotiations and mind you that kind of went up when they ended up teaming up and grabbing the same agent so it was kind of bad news for Jim Benning and and whoever his capologist is whether it's himself or somebody else but I know that after this year they might be in a little bit of trouble of trouble as far as what the cap is but hey let's see how they do this year and I tweeted out man this team is looking very good they got a great one-two punch in the back end I know people knock the Tyler Myers contract but now he's kind of the number three there and I think he fits in

perfectly in a sense of what his workload will be and as far as their guys up front they have a really really good top six who can work in well together and and I mean they're as far as their their best offensive player they just got him in for three years now how many more gonna be rfa yes he will be rfa for i believe two more years after that all right can you help me out on that i don't know how many he'll definitely be a rfa when he after this contract i'm not sure if it's uh two or three more i'll be on that shit always jumbles my brain i i i have a math fucking issue i i don't know how many years afterwards excuse me it'll be it'll be one more year because he so so has pedersen finished his entry-level contract

or was that after his second year that he just signed that he just finished his elc okay so then you got another three years i think you're locked in for seven as a player is what i believe when when it comes to the new cba so um they, yeah, that's going to be an interesting one when he's got that one year of RFA left and see where he goes. Yeah, that's pretty much all I got on that. Vancouver, they're looking good in that Pacific division, which we'll get to next week when we do the breakdowns. You did mention Brady Kachuk.

He's the, well, not the last restricted free agent, but certainly the most significant one that's left. Our boy Strick just dropped this on twitter a little while ago he said the senators want a seven to eight year deal while brady wants a bridge deal so i don't this i don't blame him i mean that's a classic nhl thing yeah sorry quickly it's yeah it's like and now shabbat signed what did shabbat sign seven or eight years he signed a long one with with the senators i believe you can quickly check that, G. But in terms of Brady Kachuk, he probably is like, I don't know where this team's going.

I don't necessarily want to commit, even though the money's amazing, I don't necessarily want to commit to eight years here. I mean, I know Ottawa has an amazing prospect pool. I think one of the number one teams in the league in terms of prospects. But if you're not necessarily in love with where you're living or playing and the team hasn't had success, it's tough to just hop right in for eight years. So I can kind of understand him wanting a bridge deal and the team obviously wanting to lock him up. So I don't think he'll miss that much time.

But in the end, they can't figure it out quite yet. Well, we just talked about it last podcast. Now, mind you, Ottawa looking a lot better as far as prospect pool than Buffalo, but Rasmus Dahlin just did it. And he's probably wondering the same thing. He's like, if I'm not going to see an improvement here, and I mean, probably the best example is seeing Eichel get locked in for eight years at 10 a year, and he's seeing the situation that he's going through.

He's like, yeah, I'm going to be very comfortable with the bridge. Let's see how things plan out. Because regardless of this prospect pool, all they are is prospects. They don't have any games played. We don't know what way this organization is going to head. So definitely some conflicting asks there. And I think I don't blame Brady.

And given that lineup and what they have right now, I think he kind of holds all the cards and he will end up getting that bridge deal. Yeah, and it's certainly not a money issue as Ottawa has, let's see, 22 and a half million in cap space right now. I think they're the lowest salary cap in the league right now. They got to sign Jimmy, Jimmy Stutzel. Jimmy Stutzel, yep.

He's only in his second year, right? Yeah, I know. But at some point, I'm just thinking in terms of like, yeah, there's definitely like a bright future there with the prospects but i don't really blame a guy for not wanting to dive in all in for the next eight years there you know he's got like keith on one one air matthew and the other like like hold out hold out be a good job together at some point one of us one of us oh shit hey we we got an apology here we had a huge oversight on something that happened while we were on break um hand up i i must have missed it and didn't get called on it king henrik

officially retired while we were on break and somehow it was an oversight so we want to wish him the best a truly truly humble superstar we were very fortunate to interview him a couple years ago and he really is just a regular guy, super nice guy. And the Rangers are going to retire his number on January 28th of 2022. So, King Henrik, you're the best. Thanks for everything you've done. It's going to be the first game ever where it's all women at the game. You're like, holy crap. There's 21,000 women in here.

They're going to be squeegeeing the ice. Everyone's going to be all horned up out there. And the send-off he deserves, guys. I mean, it was a really tough ending to the heart condition he ended up having before he ended up playing for the washington capitals had to sit out the entire season i'm sure everybody was concerned about what was going on with his health he kept giving updates he did an awesome interview with kevin weeks um i don't know if it was for nhl.com or or uh what's the other one, the show, NHL Network, excuse me.

So if you want to check that out, but it's cool. I think he's actually in NYC right now, and I texted him to come on the pod. He says, hey, give me some time. I'm working on something really special right now. So I don't know what that is, but something at some point. Yeah, it was a $15 haircut that he gets. I got to go see his guy after my piss-poor experience here. When you go back and look, if you want to go back and read 610's blog,

he's our Rangers blogger, does a great job. He did a real big number crunching on Lundquist. Dude, his numbers in the playoffs, that run of maybe five, eight years, if the Rangers even had one more goal scorer on that team, they probably would have won two Stanley Cups. Lundquist was that good for that long. That team really fucking didn't help him out, man, offensively.

Fair point. Fair point. He got that gold medal. At least he got the gold medal. That was pretty special. A lot of other things, too. So, congrats, King Heinrich, once again. Enjoy retirement. Let's see. Last Wednesday night, we got our TNT debut for exhibitions. I thought the game

presentation was pretty good. There were a little minor hiccups, the audio and video and whatnot, but it was essentially a dress rehearsal. What did you think? What did you think? I got a major issue with that angle, that camera angle. You know the one I'm talking about, the down low one? Okay, yeah.

They can't be showing games on that, right? Biz, you got to go in there. You got to tell them, guys. I didn't notice it that much. Yeah, right. Here we go. No, all I noticed was the graphics. I noticed Rick talking about how he was running bar mitzvahs during his playing career, talking

about when guys would cross-check him in the back, and then he'd come up with the heel of his fucking skate and blade their cock off. He's a moil. I just couldn't believe the camera angle it was down low and making me a little dizzy now maybe it's something where you just got to get used to it but just give me the old school regular camera angle of an nhl game sometimes i think things can be over overthought but other than that i mean it looks cool it's new it's different you're saying i'm full of shit that I didn't notice it the only thing that I noticed on social media was people saying that they didn't think the talks mic was turned on when it first kicked off and that was the and then and then of course during the feed it kind of broke up a little bit so they were working that out but no

I didn't notice the camera angles wit I like I like the score bug with the scoreboard it was nice and small up in the corner you just had of the game basically in one little tiny box, which, you know, it's not a huge deal, but it helps the viewer experience. What about you, G? I mean, I think for a company that's never broadcasted hockey before, I thought, like, the future, it got me so excited to watch hockey. Just the way, I loved everything about it.

I just thought the whole setup in between periods as well was great, and I can't wait to see Busy Boy up there. So when you're talking about that angle, you're talking about the whole game feed, like where it was placed? It wasn't the whole time. It wasn't the whole time, though. Boys, I can't wait for Busy's debut. I got my OCB rolling papers all set to go that night

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All you have to do is follow them at OCB USA on Instagram, like the OCB high haul post, and tag two friends in the comments to win. post and tag two friends in the comments to win there's also a shortcut on ocbusa.com slash chicklets with a link to enter on instagram right now you must be 21 plus to buy the papers and follow the social accounts good luck but seriously if you partake i mean papers for life i mean they might not last you for life depending on how long your sessions are but it's an unreal deal whatever you take in whatever you like ocb I've been using them for months now. They're super paper. So enter.

Try to win. One thing I got to go back to, so you're pretty critical of it already. You don't like the suits with the sneakers. Oh, yeah. I forgot I had this down further. Yeah. Who did I see with them?

Oh, yeah. The guys in the podcast. I mean, the telecast that night. I've been saying it for years. I haven't necessarily said it on the show. And you guys make of the way I dress I you know I laugh at all the time I always say I look good when I have to and I think nothing there's nothing that detract more from a nice suit than a pair of fucking sneakers it just it defeats the purpose of wearing a suit like you just you know I don't you look like a fucking 15 year old you don't know style though okay I just

I mean I just think good rebuttal I think good rebuttal I think. Okay. I mean, I just think it looks cheap. Good rebuttal. Good rebuttal. I think it's just, I mean, do you wear sneakers in your suits? I actually never have. I actually never have. But. You can still argue with me about it.

Well, no, but I'll say this. If you dress in sweatpants all the time and you have, like, numerous amount of, like, former NFL, MLB, like, NHL guys who obviously have really nice clothes and suits and they have these people dressing them, putting these nice sneakers on, I would assume that they know more than you. Now, it is an opinion, right? So you're not incorrect. You just don't like the look.

I just think it's not something that, like, bothers me in a sense that I'm like, they look like 15-year-olds. I think most of the time guys look pretty good on TV. Avery would disagree. Avery dogs everyone's suits. Maybe he hates the sneakers as well, R.A. That'd be a good guy to ask. But if it pissed you off, it pissed you off. Things that

bug R.A., I never mind. Who's the first guy you've seen do it? Robert Kraft. Bingo. I think he wears the Air Force Ones when he does it, doesn't he? Yeah, he's the first person I've seen do it. So when I saw you tweet that, I was actually considering at some point to rock those Law Vins sneakers with my suits.

Now, these guys, especially if it's a doubleheader, which they were there, and I don't think it was Wednesday, the first broadcast. I believe it was Thursday. They're sitting there six hours at the desk. So I can understand why wearing dress shoes might not be that appealing. So I might consider doing it depending how I feel after my first couple nights wearing like nice, nice dress shoes. So you're seeing more and more guys do it specifically on these NFL feeds. And I think that you kind of alluded to it, Whit, was seeing these like, you'll see like pro bowlers who are on like the NFL network or whatever it may be.

And they all got the nice dialed in suits with, you they some of them are wearing like nike sneakers and stuff which i think are that's a little bit much but uh you know they kind of have these like dress type sneakers like the cole hans or whatever it may be so i guess i was pretty indifferent about it but once you ended up uh tweeting that out there was a lot of people chiming in that that really agreed with you yeah i just think it looks better with shoes and shoes can be uncomfortable but here's how infrequently i get dressed up i was at a funeral a couple months ago for a family member and i had you know a full suit on one of my my father was like hey come here he's like get against the wall and he's got his

iphone he goes i gotta take a picture of you i haven't i don't think i've seen you in his suit since you got married so i get people taking pictures of me at funerals because that's how infrequent i wear a fucking suit all right puts a suit on and reaches in the pocket and there's a motorola razor because it's been fucking 17 years since he put one on his old cell phone uh what was the other thing about suits oh biz didn't you get like 10 new ones yeah i'm hoping that they get in on time so if not if not i'm gonna have to wear my gray one and then after that i'm going to NYC with you guys. I think we're going to end up filming another sandbagger.

But to kick off the season, we're going to go do a live stream, watch Yans' first game in Philly. Unfortunately, Hazy with that. Was it an abdominal surgery he got or groin? Abdominal. Abdominal. So he will not be in the lineup, but they're going to be playing their first game in Philly.

I want to say it's the night of the 14th against Vancouver, Oliver Ekman-Larsen's new squad. And then Garland's there too, some familiar faces for us. And we're going to be live at the Sportsbook having a good time, probably gambling on the game. I believe Teddy Purcell will be joining us, and he'll probably be the guy who we get in the sandbagger with. We don't know who his partner's going to be.

But, yeah, I hope to have those new suits. But if I don't, Whit, I'm going to have to go back-to-back gray suit, the one I've had for, like, four years. This thing's been dry cleaned 30 times. It's gotten the shit kicked out of it. It's got cum stains on it. It's got the Motorola flip phone, like, already in the one pocket. No, at least I get the like new Slender style. I mean, you guys saw when I went on Fox when the Bruins were in the Cup.

You even said I look good. You know, I don't have those. I don't look like I got drafted by the Knicks back in the 1996 draft with those big boxy fucking suits on. I should just go to like a pre-owned suit store and get the NBA style and just go off the rails. Penny Hardaway. 14 buttons.

Well, keeping with the sartorial theme here, Biz, the Coyotes, they come out and they said they were going to relax the game day duds. And it was funny. It came out. I don't know if that was a panda bump as well from Lena, but the day after he was talking about individuality, the Coyotes come out and said, hey, we're going to relax them. Now, I don't know if they can wear whatever they want,

if they've got to have limits. But I think it's fun and it's good that teams are finally going to approach this way of thinking. Well, we ended up talking to Butcher Gross, who's going to be our guest, and sorry for stealing your thunder there, R.A. I don't know. And when I did that E.E. shoot with Austin Matthews, that was the one thing that he said.

He goes, I want us to have no dress code. We can stroll in with whatever tracksuit is, whatever we want wear we're the hype beast now the hype beast generation so that's the first little bid for the arizona coyotes to steal matthews over from the toronto maple leaf so i would imagine that uh matthews to the coyotes confirmed jamal adams at some point i think jamal adams is the guy's name he's like a safety on the seahawks he went to the post-game presser with a black uh suit coat and no shirt on underneath just a monster chain and an enormous tattoo you could see so that would be money to see an nhl guy with just a straight up suit coat chest hair ripping i'm not sure if you guys saw those Mike McKenna tweets I included in the outline,

but I thought they were pretty good. He said, people realize that dressing up 12-year-olds in a shirt and tie for hockey games just perpetuates assimilation and suppression of personality, right? I mean, I think he was probably stirring the pot a little bit. What? What did he say? He said. Suppression of personality by making kids at a young age doing it.

Yeah, it might have been a bit hyperbolic. But what are you talking about, McKenna? What are you talking about, buddy? In other words, like when you're telling young kids from that age, like we're talking about letting guys show their personality, but when you're making them wear suits and ties at fucking 12, that kind of takes away from their personality. That's what Mike's saying, I'm assuming.

And he says, you know, people love going nuclear with these responses. Oh, yeah, this is because one guy said, so would you rather have them show up with pants that are down on their ankles, big, ugly puffer jackets? That's what I wore. I turned out all right. The janks. He said if the suit requirement went away,

you would see some slick, clean looks from players, and it would be marketable. That's what he was really talking about was the marketable aspect of things. But either way, man, I mean, fuck it. Let guys wear what they want. I mean, one of your best players in the league wants to. I'd come in like roddy roddy piper with the kilt just just flash the team as i go by into the locker room was it yeah maybe the boat the bull rat one keeney but what was funny about i mean mckenna played not covering the nipples 20 years as a pro and it's like it was

funny reading all the people on twitter, like who like, dude, when I was in high school, we played way better when I wear a fucking suit to the game. It's like, come on, dude, you've been talking to a guy who played pro hockey for 20 years. Aldo sneak or your Aldo dress shoes on fucking Z Cavaricis. He got each pair at a different Aldo in the West Edmonton mall too. Oh, we haven't hit that one for a while. Yeah. That's a recycled one. Going back to the well.

Chicklet's greatest hit right there. Oh, fuck. Toronto Maple, he's speaking to that. What do you think Don Cherry's thinking about that one? Oh, he's probably disgusted. He probably wants a three-piece suit every guy walking off the bus. I would hit up Welker

who does the t-shirts of boston be like here i want 41 different t-shirts actually 82 different t-shirts for every game just wear different t-shirts every game that's what i would do with what with sayings on them whatever just it's if we were gonna go to another city maybe something to do with that city kind of some obscure references i would have some fun with it man you know like when we were in detroit i had four t-shirts made up for our detroit trip just to have a little homage to, you know, Tommy Hearns and the Supremes and whoever else came out of Detroit.

So I hope more teams do it. Certainly wouldn't be opening bands T-shirts that you'd buy at the concerts. Well, once they make a pig, definitely. Then I'll be in the front row. I bet you there's players who, on the other side of it, love wearing suits, and they'll never stop wearing suits, even if the team does allow them to wear them.

Yeah, there's a good example. The whole look good, feel good, play good mantra. I don't think I've ever seen them not in a suit. I don't think guys have said they ever saw them in jeans. Wasn't that a thing? Didn't a couple of Rangers we talked to say he's never worn jeans? Maybe I'm making that up.

Maybe they said never worn sweatpants. I wore sweatpants every day to the rink. I'd bring back jams, Whit. Remember those shorts back in the fucking 90s? Oh, yeah. Jam shorts. Listen to jock jams while you're wearing them. Let's see. Whit, we just mentioned Toronto. Well, they extended head coach

Sheldon Keefe with a two-year deal. He's going to be signed through 2024. Didn't want him going into this year as a lame duck. Let's see. Tampa Bay extended general manager Julian Brisebois' contract. His deal was set to expire after this season. Well, the owner did the smart thing. They didn't announce how long it is, but you've got to imagine it's a couple years.

Also, GM's entering their final year. This is per Pierre Lebrun. The Burger Van up in Montreal, Don Sweeney here in Boston, Bob Murray in Anaheim, Don Waddell in Carolina, Rob Blake in L.A. He said there could be others. Those are the ones he knows about. You know, Bergevin, who knows if he's going to sign through this year or what. That team had some.

Is that typically common where they don't disclose, like, how many years that GMs get? It's not like public knowledge that the players. Yeah, the GM coach stuff, sometimes it's a little tougher to find out who's signed for when. Interesting. I would say out of all those general managers, Sweeney probably the most notable.

Who's not signed yet? For what he's done. Yeah. Who's not signed. Yeah, Don Waddell, I suppose you can maybe make a case for him as well, but I don't know. Because we're not going to count the Waddell offer sheet to Montreal then, considering it was probably the owner who forced his hand.

Yeah. I mean, obviously the owner had something to do with that he was a little payback thing I don't think it really mattered either way but yeah it's interesting though I mean Rob Blake LA's been struggling the last few years we're going to talk about them next week with the West but you know people have high hopes for that team this year so it is tough for these guys when you're a lame duck status going into that last year without a deal you know you don't know if it's a do or die year for them. So either way, moving right along. Oh, quickly, you mentioned Sheldon Keefe. I'm through two and a half episodes of the all or nothing on Amazon Prime on the Maple Leafs. Awesome.

Awesome. I mean, I think it's actually better than the 24-7s used to be because it's the entire year, and they are in-depth. They go into a lot of things that I didn't necessarily think they would. So you're getting some pretty sick coverage from inside the locker room, from Dubas, from Sheldon Keefe, who has an absolute mouth like a sailor. He could fit right in this podcast. But I think it makes a lot of sense to re-sign that coach.

They've got to get something going in the playoffs, but the regular season has been nice, especially last year. So I think that it makes sense. But in terms of watching some awesome hockey coverage, some inside info, check that series out on Amazon Prime. Yeah, jumping ahead a little. I'm glad you dove into it. The footage was unbelievable, Whit.

I mean, 24-7 was, I think, the best we've seen, and then we've had some of these shows since. None of them have got anything close to 24-7. I mean, swearing matters so much. When you don't have to bleep out swears, not just as like, ha-ha, they're swearing, but you could tell all the saying, you can hear the emphasis. And yeah, what's his face?

Keith. High stakes, man. He swears like a seal. It gets intense in that locker room. But like the things that stuck out to me, like Jumbo Joe, when Eel is on Winnipeg, like fucking Joe is fuming. And then the ref was like, Joe, calm down. Joe, calm.

And Joe kept yelling at the ref. He's like, all right, whatever you want. It was just real, like fly on the wall shit that we never get to see. And, like, the leadership meeting they had, is it typical? I don't know if you've ever been one of those biz, but is seven guys, is that a lot for a leadership meeting? Is that a typical number or what? Yeah, when I was in the American Hockey League,

I used to get invited to those ones. But before that, no. Why the fuck are you laughing? Wait, were you ever involved in a leadership meeting, Witt? Maybe a couple. Yeah, I had an Aeon in Pittsburgh for like three weeks and then an Aeon in Edmonton. So I was a leadership committee guy. Three seconds.

I'm going to say seven. I'm going to say seven guys is a little bit, but five to seven is pretty standard, I would say. I wasn't laughing at you. It was funny that you were like, yeah, the AHL. It was just kind of funny. Oh, we're not supposed to have them at that league? The organist is in the room with them. They're like, how the fuck did this guy get in?

Select the money in the cup for the chicken parm subs and get out of the locker room. So one question I had for you. Okay, so actually, sorry, R.A., to cut you off. What were you going to ask about the leadership meetings? You asked if that was a lot of guys. I know they have the captain and the two assistants, but I didn't think there'd be four other guys. It just seemed like a lot to me, I guess,

seven guys for a leadership meeting for a locker room with 23 guys. Well, some teams, they have, seven guys for a leadership meeting for a locker room with 23 guys. Well, some teams, they have that many guys where their input matters. Some other teams, maybe they don't have – I mean, Christ, I got notes here for the divisional breakdowns. Some of these teams, half the guys haven't even played 50 fucking games yet. It's actually wild how young the league's getting. But for a team like Toronto, I think that that would probably be the minimum amount of guys you'd want in that locker in that locker room getting people getting their opinion and seeing

how things go with I had a question for you so you guys were involved with HBO 24-7 uh the year where the uh was it Bugsy Malone who ended up putting the room in the hallway no we were never in HBO 24-7 oh what was that weren't they did that but that was when we were never on HBO 24-7. Oh, what was that? They did that, but that was when we were gone. Bugsy and I weren't on the team anymore. That was when they played the outdoor classic. I think that was actually the year Crosby got injured when the game got delayed, and it was at night against Washington at Heinz Field.

I think that was that year when they followed them, and they had redone it or somebody did that same prank. My apologies. I was going to ask you if you think it becomes a distraction with the camera crew following you around. I don't know. I actually never got to experience that. Most of the time, though, you hear that guys become boys with the cameraman, and they're pretty good at just obviously you know they're there,

but they do their best in terms of like you don't really see them or you get used to them in a sense. But I think there's definitely times where coaches are still going to flip out and know like that's not going in there. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Lots of open stuff. I love the part, Biz, when Keith was telling Foligno not to engage with Lowry

on Winnipeg. And he could tell Foligno wanted to. He's like, don't do it. He's like, well, I don't mind. He's like, I don't mind doing it. And he's like, just don't. He's like I don't mind doing it and he's like just don't he's like okay like he just got on the team so he's like you know he wants to make this impression with with his teammates and the coach is telling him to like lay off it was it was pretty funny and I think the fan favorite probably

was you know was uh Jack Campbell man like oh yeah like did you see when he got sunk by Keith he was giving fist bumps and he and he yeah he put his out he went that's a funny clip but then when I felt i was heartbroken for the guy and i'd fuck with the Leafs more than anyone man when they hit the clip of him like sobbing in the room after game seven like you just your heart broke for that poor guy he was just because everybody speaks so glowingly of him they say he's such a wonderful person a wonderful human being and through a lot to have that man it was it was actually heartbreaking to watch but at the same time it provided a lot of dramatic for for what we were

watching dramatics for what we were watching. My favorite part was seeing Millennial players singing Motown, personally. I was like, holy shit, they know the words to this fucking song. Who was the one guy who stuck out to you, Witt, as far as maybe a guy who had more personality than you originally thought? So far, two and a half episodes in. I mean, I wouldn't say Joe Thornton, like I didn't know he had a personality.

I obviously knew he did, but just his whole like aura around him cracked me up. Like he, when he hurts his rib, he's walking out of the locker room. He's like, I'm going to take this with me. Just like the way he talked,

he's driving around his Porsche, listening to Brian Berg, dog him on the radio. And he's laughing. It's like jumbo. Joe just loves the game. Seriously. He is a fucking character, man. So if you haven't checked it out yet it's on amazon prime all or nothing it's a series they've been doing for a while and if you're a hockey fan and you saw 24 7 on hbo years ago it's like

witt said it's comparable to that go check it out you don't have to be a leafs fan or not uh moving right along montreal extended forward jake evans with a three-year deal worth 5.1 mil, kicks in next season, 1.7 average annual value. Team Canada, general manager Doug Armstrong, named the first three members of the Olympic team. No shock here. Sid, Connor, and Alex Petrangelo, his defenseman. The teams who were playing were asked to declare three players.

That's why this, because I was like, what's this all about, three players? But the Olympic committee asked teams participating to do this so he said all right here's sid connor and alex obviously taking care of his boy who probably is the best canadian defenseman so it's an easy call yeah it makes total sense on those guys um for us i'd have to think uh matthews kane and seth jones i guess would be my. I don't know if that's... What? McAvoy. McAvoy, yeah. Look at the American back end, man.

You got Adam Fox, McAvoy, and they're young, too. You got Carlson. You got Jones. You got Wierenski. America's got a wagon. Hopefully fucking Eichel can play. It looks like he won't be able to. But, yeah, I think it's exciting. I wonder if all the other countries will name their three.

Maybe Canada was just first to do it. But those three names made total sense. You got to remember, Petrangelo in the playoffs last year was something else. He was at a fucking another level in the spring last year. Yeah, when the stakes get high, he comes to play. Yeah, he does. Let's see. Speaking of St. Louis, do you see the Berube?

I guess he collided with David Perron in practice, so the next time out, they put a chalk line out in the ice with spray paint with all cones around it. So he skates up and looks at it, gets all off that. I sent the link to you guys. I don't know if you checked that out. Pretty funny. You get about one of those a year.

Yeah, pretty funny stuff. Let's see. Oh, wait, I'm sure you saw this one. Edmonton, they unveiled the Joey Moss sculpture in the locker room. Great gesture by the team. And he's got his hand up because he was always giving the high fives. It was a beautiful thing they did for Joey. It came out awesome, too.

Yeah, it really did. It did. It was nice to see they did that. I can't imagine how much the guys missed having him around because it was just every day. It was so constant. You'd see Joey no matter what. Guys would fuck with him.

He'd give it to you right back. We talked about it a lot when he passed away, even before that when I kind of talked about my experiences in Edmonton. But it must still hit guys hard, you know, especially the staff that worked for him so long that he's not around. But the statue came out awesome, and it's perfect that it's there. Well said. Well said, Whit. Speaking with Edmonton, around but the statue came out awesome and and it's perfect that it's there well said well said

wit uh speaking with edmonton uh their coach dave tippett said that josh archibald is going to be out indefinitely he did have covid in the summer and he has since been diagnosed with the hot condition uh myocarditis which i guess is apparently an effect of having covid um so he's not going to be on long term i i might may or may not play this year, but I hope this story, the last thing I want to do once the season starts is say the word fucking COVID, a vaccine anymore, but, you know, again, it's part of the fucking NHL news. So let's see. Nashville announced that assistant coach Todd Richards suffered a heart attack.

He's been away from the team to recuperate. They said he's resting comfortably, and hopefully we'll see him back on the bench soon, so get well, Todd. We want to see you back out there. And I also want to send best wishes to, well, my favorite Bruin to wear number eight before Cam Naley did, Peter McNabb. The abs analyst, he's been diagnosed with cancer, but he's going to continue to work. Fortunately, it was caught early, and we're all pulling for him here at Spittin' Chicklets. Get well, Peter.

And trivia, do you know the last player to wear number eight before Cam Neely wore it? Reggie Lemlin? Guy. Reggie Lemlin was a goalie. Come on, at least fucking try. I don't know. You just said McNabb. Peter McNabb wasn't a goalie.

I know. You just said he was the first guy to wear number eight before Neely, I thought. No, I said. So I just threw out Reggie Lemlin fucking around. All right. No. The last player to wear number eight before Neely wore it buys oh lb lb yeah so people who don't know lb lb i i would say he's a straight up fighter at that time right all right right for

the bruins i mean that's pretty much what he was for his career yeah yeah so and then how long has he been on the radio i don't know if he still is but he became a morning radio radio show guy on waf right for all those years yeah i don't know if he still is, but he became a morning radio show guy on WAAF, right? For all those years? Yeah, I don't know if he still is or not. I don't listen to it anymore, so I'm not sure. I actually did a couple shows with him a couple years ago on EEI. And him and Neely, they were wingmen. Back in the day, you'd see them in town at concerts, whatever,

the two of them out raising hell together. Remember when Drew Bledsoe went to that concert and tried crowd surfing and he's like 6'6", 250? Yeah. And he got dropped? Dude, he like crushed some people in the crowd. He got sued. He's legit.

Drew Bledsoe I think is 6'5", 6'6", 240 and was at the stage. I think it was at the Paradise, which is on Calm Ave on BU's campus. It's like a little awesome music venue. And he tried crowd surfing. He crushed a couple people. Yeah. Who was that band again? I don't know.

I don't even know if it was definitely the Paradise, but that kind of rung a bell. But you just talked about two Boston athletes running amok at bars with a lot of blood so jumping off the stage. Was it Everclear? Maybe. Let me go. Let me. Yep. Mars, thought of Bledsoe jumping off the stage. Was it Everclear? Maybe. Let me go, let me, yep, Everclear settles lawsuit with fan injured at Boston show, 1999.

What'd he do, like hurt his neck or something? No, he landed on a girl. I mean, he's a football player. He stage dived and he hit some poor lady in the crowd and like fucking cranked her neck or some shit. They ended up fucking sewing the band. Father of mine. Tell me where have you been? They ended up fucking suing the band. Father of mine. Tell me where have you been? They did have a couple of jams.

That was like summer going in my sophomore year of high school. How was it the band's fault that he went crowd surfing? Because they invited him up? Because he's probably up on their stage. Yeah, exactly. It's not typical to have six, six, 260 guys up on stage diving off into the fucking crowd. It's like the guy who sued Winnebago because he put it in cruise control and then went to the back to make a pot of coffee,

not knowing that it didn't control the steering wheel. He didn't realize it just controlled the speed. And then he won the lawsuit. I think he won like $1.7 million or something. Actually, I got it right here. The fan who sued Everclear, two members of the New England Patriots, and the Boston nightclub after being injured at an Everclear concert. Three-way.

November 13, 1997, has settled out of court for $1.25 million. Ooh, nice. That's a good concert night. Better than your Chris Stapleton night. Oh, here it is right here. According to the Globe, Patriots lineman Max Lane, who's a monster, and quarterback Drew Bledsoe will each pay $500,000, while Everclear and the Paradise Club will each pony up a buck and a quarter to Tamika Messier,

who originally filed the lawsuit back in December 1997. Holy fuck. So she sued the two players. Wow, the players had to pay more than the fucking band and the venue because, well, they did land on her. They did jump. Yeah. Comes off the catwalk.

Just off the top row. It's like sting. Yeah. Elbows up. Yeah. Comes off the catwalk. Just off the top row. It's like sting. Yeah. Elbows up. Yeah. Well, that's because Busy said, the headline said Everclear, but when you read down further, it's actually they paid the least of it. It was the two guys who landed on it.

Well, I know it wasn't for the pre-show because nobody shows up to those. Fuck. All right. Let's go, boys. Stop busting my balls. I'm kidding. All right. Most guys have tried different ways to last longer.

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with our equilibriums all off and shit. It's good to be back on our normal NHL schedule again, and we're going to do the Eastern Conference first because, well, we are based in the Eastern Conference and on the Atlantic, so we'll do the Atlantic first. One thing, too, Biz, we got to mention. Why is Detroit and the Atlantic and Carolina and the Metropolitan? Makes no fucking sense.

Yeah. I don't know. We were texting about that, and it was grinding your gears. And I thought the biggest explanation was probably the original six matchups. And given that Detroit is not that relevant right now, maybe they need a little extra spice to create those old rivalries and to maybe draw some attendance attendance and some viewership that's the only logical reason i had for it because i mean from a logistical standpoint and travel

it doesn't necessarily make that much sense now does it no and even on the original six pot now the rangers are the only original six team in the metro division so they don't even have a divisional rival that is oh six i don't know either way we're not going to beat it to death we're going to move right along and we're doing alphabetical autosol don't cry have a divisional rival. That is 0-6. I don't know. Either way, we're not going to beat it to death. We're going to move right along. And we're doing alphabetical order, so don't cry. Oh, yeah. Our fans are going to be yelling into their fucking car stereos right now. We're starting with the Bruins.

Here we go, Bruins. Here we go. Here we go. All right. The Boston Bruins. Last season ended. They lost in the quarterfinals to the Islanders 4-2 because they started to garrasque instead of sitting him when he was hurt.

But either way, they brought a whole bunch of new guys in. They really toughened up the team after the Islanders pushed him around quite a bit. They brought in Nick Foligno, Eric Holler, Thomas Noshik. They signed Linus Olmark for the goaltending. Brought in Derek Forbart. They said goodbye to Tukorask and David Krejci. They may be back later. Also, Sean Corrali, Nick Ritchie, and Andre Kache are gone.

Their cup odds are 14-1. Right now, this Boston team, their core is dwindling. I mean, they've got Marchand and Bergeron left. They're still a contender. The clock is ticking, but, you know, they've got to win it one more time in the next, I'd say, two, three years here before this era ends. they got to win it one more time in the next, I'd say, two, three years here before this era ends.

I got to think that this is probably the, maybe the toughest preseason outlook for the Bruins in the last, I don't know, 10 years. And I think mainly it's because you lose Krejci and you didn't really replace him. And I know Charlie Coyle's like kind of penciled in right now as the second line center. If you want to win a Stanley Cup, I know Charlie Coyle's kind of penciled in right now as the second-line center. If you want to win a Stanley Cup, I think he's your third-line center. And then to have Krejci leave.

Now, who knows, by the way. He could easily come back once that season ends. I don't think that's that crazy to imagine. And, yes, he would have to go through waivers, but all he would do is tell every team, if you take me, I'm not coming. So it's pretty evident. The Jason Spezza treatment? Yeah yeah he could end up at the yeah put me up anyone takes

me i'm retiring crazy he's just like listen i'm going to the bruins if you take me i'm not coming but that that does that's besides the point because the team going in right now they still have that line i actually like the nickname the perfection line um but after that it's it's tough and i know felino has a lot of grit, and I think Boston fans will like him. But you just look at losing your second-line center, and how do you really recover from that? Now, I think Swayman could be phenomenal. That's another question mark, though, because he hasn't really done it.

And Tuca, I don't know if he will be back. I don't know if he plans on playing for the team again. But in terms of goaltending, there's a question mark. And in terms of offense from another line besides the top three, it's another question mark. So I love McAvoy's game. I think Grizzly's an awesome player. And I do think it's just a playoff team, no doubt.

But I don't know if they have what it takes to compete for a Stanley Cup. And I think just in terms of going into a season, other years in the past frigging decade have been way, way more exciting for Bruins fans than right now. Well, I mean, easily the best line in hockey, in my opinion. I mean, you could argue that McDavid and Dreisaitl, but they don't really have that third guy. Mind you, you could probably throw me with them and it would compete with the Bruins top line.

But over the past five seasons, I want to say Marchand third in point production, and then Posternok is at ninth, and he missed some time. Then you add Bergeron with his responsibility in the mix. So they're dialed in for that top line, but I agree with you, R.A. That window is closing and dwindling. That second line center, Charlie Coyle, the offensive production is going to have to jump up. If there's kind of one guy that really needs to elevate his game, it's Jake DeBrusque.

I know he had an off year last year, and that third line is kind of where the question mark is at. I think that their fourth line is maybe one of the best in the league. I really like that Nosek pickup. I liked what he did when he was in Vegas. He had some good production during their runs. I liked what Curtis Lazar brought last year when he came over, that Trent Frederick adds that toughness.

And just going to their back end, I mean, between – I don't know, is Grislik and McAvoy going to play together this year? Because right now I saw that Forbert was penciled in with McAvoy. But, I mean, going to Grislik and McAvoy, that was top five pairings in the league last year. So I would not want to break them up. Yeah, I'd be shocked if they did that. Correct.

And then picking up Forbert, who's a great penalty killer. I mentioned that I played with him before. I think he had a great year in Winnipeg last year. That was a great job of addressing the back end. I like that Mike Riley and what he brought, and then we know how much they missed Carlo come playoff time last year when he went down with injury. As far as in the net, Linus Allmark seems to be one of the better value

pickups in net this entire offseason. He was probably the toughest loss that the Buffalo Sabres face other than Jack Eichelmott coming back. So I'm interested to see what he's able to bring. But as far as their team outlook, I mean, I think 100% they're a playoff team. And I don't think they're that much worse, even though they lost Krejci, given the other areas that they addressed in free agency. I thought Sweeney did a great job.

So this is still a top team in this division, in my opinion, going into the season. This is still a top team in this division, in my opinion, going into the season. Guys, I actually think that Jack Studnicka, the 2017 second round pick, started as a second line center, and Coyle will be back on the third line again. Okay. Dialed in there, Mikey. There you go, buddy. Great job.

Yeah. I guess I should burn that website that I was looking at that had him listed as that second line center. Stay off Reddit biz, will you? Well, let's also think realistically that he's going to have a short window here of getting a look. If it's two games, he doesn't do anything. He ain't playing second line center the third game. I think he scored tonight, though, boys. Scored tonight.

And then you've got to think that Halsey's going to elevate coils uh you know production if he is on that second line and then going off to the right side that craig smith you guys uh you guys seem to enjoy him and what he brought he fit right in when he came on over from nashville yeah he's one of those guys very versatile you can pencil him in anywhere in the top nine and he'll get the job done for you he can score he can pass he can shoot just a terrific versatile player. So looking up and down that lineup, the Krejci second-line center issue, that's like their one thing where it really hurts them.

But they have strength all four lines and some versatility from guys. So I don't think that they look much worse than they did last year. Yeah. I mean, and I remain steadfast. I'm a Cassidy guy. I always have been. But, you you know I think he went with his loyalty when he should have went with you know the fact that Tuca was at about 80 percent and Swayman those guys played so much different in front of him all year you saw it and it's funny I talked to Jose Theodoro and I says the guy does a team play different in front of a goalie and he he says oh my god yeah it's like night and day on

some teams and it really happens and I think the Bruins were a good example of that. It's not that they like a guy different. It's just the goaltender style. But the Bruins rallied around, swimming all year. And I still can't believe they couldn't put him in there because I think he would have been a difference in that island this series. Last thing I'll say here before we leave the Boston Bruins talk is the most absurd power play going into the year

with Bergeron, Marchand, Halsey, Posta, and McAvoy. They can fucking snap it around. I don't know how much ice time that second unit will be seeing. So stay out of the box against the Boston Bruins. Okay, before we move along to the next team, Biz, do the Bruins make the playoffs? 100%. Whit?

Yes. Grinnelly? Yep. I concur. The Bruins make the playoffs. I just said the Bruins' clock is ticking. The next team, the Buffalo Sabres, their clock is broken. Oh, Jesus.

Last season ended. Probably not a moment too soon for them, although I will say the team finished way stronger under Don Granato. They played actually pretty good hockey those last couple weeks, but, you know, it's Buffalo Sabres. It's a tough situation up there. They're going to say hello to a bunch of guys making $750,000, goalie Craig Anderson, goalie Aaron Dell,

defenseman Will Butcher, and defenseman Robert Hegg. They're saying adios to defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Sam Reinhardt. Their cup odds are 300-1, the longest odds on the board. I feel like we beat on Buffalo enough, guys. I genuinely feel bad for their awesome fans, so we don't need to take too much time and beat up on the board. I feel like we beat on Buffalo enough, guys. I genuinely feel bad for their awesome fans, so we don't need to take too much time and beat up on them anymore. Everybody has to say one positive thing about this lineup.

I'll let you start, Whit. I really am excited to watch Casey Middlestad, who hopefully can make a big step up, and Rasmus Dahlin, who can hopefully take that next level. Other than that, it's the worst team in the league. We're not going to spend too much time. But when you're good again, Buffalo, someday we'll be chatting about you for 10, 15 minutes every episode.

We promise you. Now enjoy the Bills, and just hope Jack Eichel is allowed to get the surgery he wants. I think I'd rather watch their alumni play this season than the actual Sabres or the University of Michigan if we could just swap them out. But, I mean, I don't know. You mentioned it. Half the team is making $750,000.

I mean, Dylan Cousins is another young guy. He was drafted, I believe, seventh overall by them. So it's just really hard when you don't have that like a lot of great leaders to take focus away from these young guys who have to all of a sudden step in and make big impacts on the top lines um you know they lose reinhardt as well um and and even going in i mean going back to what i was saying about boston i mean the fourth line here kajula eakin and okpo so they look like the most dangerous line compared to the rest of the lineup. This is going to be a

very long year for the Sabres. I will concur what you said, though. They did do a lot better job with Granato as opposed to Ralph Kruger, but this is a lottery team, folks. This is a lottery team. Question before we move on.

Do they make the playoffs in the khl uh oh i don't know i i don't know either how much how much russian gas would they could they win a calder cup in the ahl is probably a more fair question and by the way no disrespect to the 750k guys that it was just every every they signed the guy, it was 750K for like three weeks straight, it felt like. So it was more of a Twitter meme than anything. Obviously, no disrespect to any of the guys. And I also never made 750K in the NHL, so I'm not even chirping that. Did you never make 750?

No, I think I did one year. You made 900 one year? One of the years was a lockout year, and one of the years I think I made $725,000. Thank you. So technically not. We don't have to do the roundtable. Four of us, Buffalo's not getting the playoffs this year, right? No.

Okay, next team on the alphabetical list, the Detroit Red Wings. Stevie Smokes' plan might be going a little slow than hoped for. I think fans might have thought they'd be a little further ahead at this point. Last season ended. They did not qualify for the playoffs. They were 7th in the Central, last year's Central. They're bringing in goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, defenseman Nick Letty, forward Pius Suda,

defenseman Joran Osterle, and they're saying bye to Richard Ponik and goalie Jonathan Bernier. Their cup I got to, no, I fucked that up. Their cup odds, they screwed up. I'll re- up. I'll look them up in a second. But they did lose a player. Ford, Jacob Rana, just signed a three-year, $15.75 million deal. He's going to be out at least four months with a shoulder.

He got hurt the first fucking 10 minutes of camp after signing his deal, gets out there and gets hurt. That's awful, man. You feel awful for a guy like that. Yeah, they trade Manta for him, and that's the main piece coming piece coming back looked awesome when he came over at the end of the season and that's just such a kick in the dick to train all all summer and get ready for for a season in which you're gonna get tons of ice time you're gonna be one of the top dogs there and to have that happen into the first skate just is awful luck but i'll say this about detroit similar i won't say similar to buffalo but similar

in a sense that they're not gonna make the the playoffs this year, I don't think. And they haven't really gotten to their window to try to compete for a Stanley Cup by any means. But if I was a Detroit Red Wings fan, and I think I said this last year, after all the success you had for 20 friggin years or whatever it was, I actually wouldn't be too disappointed where you're at right now. And the main reason being they are building this team from the goal out with a ton of size. And this Maury Sider kid, I think he was picked sixth overall. He's going to play this year. He was defenseman of the year in the Swedish Hockey League last year.

He's a stud. I mean, I love Dylan Larkin. I just think that if you're a Detroit fan and you saw what Eisenman did in building those cup winning teams in Tampa, I'd be very confident and happy that he's the guy redoing it in Detroit. And maybe it's not this year and maybe it's not next year, but at some point this is going to be a good team. Lucas Raymond is a really high pick. I think he's the highest pick Detroit's had since Steve Eisenman. Maybe that's wrong, but he's one of the highest picks they've had in 30 fucking years.

And he's a stud from Sweden who I don't know what the impact he'll make this year is. But Detroit won't make the playoffs, but they're on the right path. And I think if you're a Wings fan, after all the success you've had, all you can ask for is to have a plan in place, and that is going on there. Yeah, Stevie Sticky-Icky-Wee-Eiserman seems to think the back end's going to be a lot bigger and more mobile and contribute more offensively. This, Phillip, how do you say his last name? Ronick?

It's H-R- I just say Hironic, but I don't know. Hironic? I think it is. Yeah. Hironic. He led their team in points last year. It seems as though maybe he's going to be bumped back to that second unit

of defensemen. Is that how you say it? Second unit? Second pairing. Second unit? Second pairing. Second unit. Second pairing. However, whatever you want to call it. He signed a pretty good deal three years at four and a half a year.

But they got to see some stuff from the young guys. Phillip Zadina, he was the guy that they drafted, I want to say six overall. They got a few guys six overall. And you mentioned Raymond as well. Not sure if he's going to start the season in the NHL uh but yeah they got to start seeing some some more stuff from the young guys and I'm sure they're going to get a lot of reps this year in a year where they're not looking too good but they got the usuals as Larkin, Bertuzzi and Fabri and then a few other guys in

the mix but uh it just sucks because like they had a few other big guys on the back end that Dan DeKaiser he had back surgery 2019 and he just hasn't been the same since. So I don't know, guys. I know Letty's going to help out a little bit and help out those younger guys, but this is definitely not a playoff team. Agreed. Agree as well. You know, after you have a dynasty, you need to pay the piper,

and the Red Wings, frankly, are still paying the piper after all those great years. I know the last cup was what? Not to rub it in with 08. I know it's 13 years, but they're still content for a few years after that, and then you've got to bottom out, but hopefully they'll get back soon. They're a marquee franchise. Biz, after spending a weekend in Detroit downtown at the Old Chile,

I can see why Stevie Y might ask guys about smoking grass all the time because that place smelled like Cheech and Chung's living room for the whole fucking week we were out there. Yeah, you can definitely find it easy in Detroit. That's for sure. You can find anything there. That's what I heard. I can't confirm.

And by the way, their cup odds were 150 to 1. I wrote them down wrong. I just wanted to get them out there. 150 to 1. So none of us think they're going to make the playoffs, right, G? You don't have them in there, do you? Correct. I do not.

Okay. All right. Moving right along. Florida Panthers. Pretty decent season last year. I know they only lasted one round in the playoffs. They lost to the eventual champion, Tampa Bay, four games to two. Very entertaining series.

But there's no reason this team can't build on what they built last year going into this year. They said bye to our friend Keith Yandel and goalie Chris Dreeger, who got picked in the expansion draft. They're bringing in Joe Thornton and Sam Reinhardt. Their cup odds are 17-1. This is a team, we've said it before, they've been in the league, Christ, a quarter century now, and they can't really get that traction. I thought a lot last year in the playoffs. If they can have a great season this year,

they can maybe finally get something going on the east side of Florida. What do you got for the Panthers? I got a team that you got to be really excited about that I think is going to compete to win this division. Now, a lot of that depends on goal-taking. I don't really know how this is going to play out with Spencer Knight. And I understand that you got a goalie making $10 million, but at some point, is he your backup?

I don't really know what's going to go on there. But I just look at Barkov and Huberdeau, and I think Reinhardt was an unreal move getting him in there. I look at what Sam Bennett did when he came over from Calgary, and I think with Joel Quenville and Ekblad coming back after getting injured in the middle of what was his best career season, I just think there's a lot of things there to be really excited about. Now, I don't know if in the end they can win a Stanley Cup,

but I also think that this is a time where you're actually very excited. In terms of Bruins fans, this year being a season you're kind of, eh, maybe a little wishy-washy on. If you're a Panthers fan, the 11 of 11 of you you got to be fucking fired up for this year because they have never looked as good as they have going into a season than right now i mean you pretty much touched on it all going back to top five pairings in the league wieger and ekblad definitely up there um duclair he's finally found a home he gets that three-year extension and and i couldn't agree more as far as those pickups bennett looked like a completely

different player when coming over from calgary point per game point per game you know what you're getting from from barkov and and as far as guys up front probably the most well-balanced uh forward lineup in this division or one of them you got vetrano who's a 20 goal scorer on the fourth line hornquist on the fourth line as well Noel Achari who I loved him in Boston I know they couldn't keep him because of salary cap issues is that the case is that why they got rid of him oh Noel Achari Noel Achari and he's going to be their fourth line center it looks like at least going in him or Thornton might switch in and out but like I said as far as balance on that forward lineup man that is uh

that is looking mighty good with plenty of offense coming and that Forsling kid too Chicago seemed to give up on him a little bit early I mean I think I know they've said that probably about a handful of prospects recently but he's gonna fill in good they got him at a good AAV and he'll be playing with Montour it looks like on that second pairing another guy who came over from Anaheim who's having success. They feel like they got rid of every good young D prospect they had during this five-year period. So just a very good lineup. But you kind of touched on it, that goaltending.

Who's going to take that net? And can Bobrovsky get back to playing like he once was? But I guess if not, they do have Spencer Knight, but it's such a fucking waste where you look at if this team ends up finishing at the top two of the division and if they want to make a run, they could have been able to use that cap space to go add that one. $10 million to go add that one. I mean, even with $10 million, maybe two extra pieces.

So who knows? Maybe Zito's got a trick up his sleeve if Spencer Knight ends up taking over the net. But definitely a playoff team in my books. And as I said, a very, very lethal offensive team up front. Also, just quickly, Duclair, they re-signed. He was great there last year. And then the other, I won't say question mark, because last year, Carter Verhage was unreal.

I think getting the chance to play with Barkov but as long as he can kind of repeat that I don't think he needs to be a point per game guy but if you know he's a 60 point guy that makes a huge difference and and the stats last year showed that that was kind of his pace so we'll see what goes on but yes uh playoff team from the Whitdog uh playoff team absolutely for the florida panthers and biz just to go back to nola charry he actually was unrestricted free agent um after the bruins he was like the bruins had this run of like five years where fourth liners were so good that they would cash out they become free agents and fucking sign these monster deals elsewhere make a lot of money which

made good for them that's why i was pumping their tires earlier it just seems like every year they have an unbelievable fourth line and even dating back to one that when they won their stanley cup who was it was dan paillet uh thornton and and uh who was the other guy campbell soupy yeah craig campbell so yeah they just uh they do a good job but i mean this this is probably definitely one of the most most lethal fourth lines i know i've been pumping all the fourth lines up probably because that was where I played, but Vetrano, as I mentioned, a proven 20-goal score, probably averaging 20 goals

over the last three years per year. Achari had a 20-goal season, and Hornquist, I would say, arguably top three to five net front presence in all of the league. So he's going to help out on that power play as well. Lethal. He's got one of the funniest nicknames in the league. So he's going to help out on that power play as well. Lethal. He's got one of the funniest nicknames in the league.

Horny? Horny, right? I mean, I know it's like a fourth-grade giggle, but it's just like horny. I would laugh if I was on his team every time he said it. We all think he's going to the playoffs. Grinnell, you agree with us or what? I do, and I think Spencer Knight wins the Calder.

Woo! What a zodge, do you know? That might be a nice little wager. I'll look it up for you. Okay. All right, moving right along. The Montreal Canadiens. Can they repeat what they did last year?

They went on a Stanley Cup run. They lost in the finals to Tampa Bay. Had a hell of a run. But losing Corey Perry. They lost, yes, Perry caught Kenny Emey via the offer sheet. Defensive stalwart, Philip Deneau. Of course, no Shea Weber. He's going to be out hurt.

They did bring in some reinforcements. David Savard on D. Christian Dvorak. Cedric Paquette. I'm sorry. Cedric Paquette. I lost a tooth in the last three days. It's fucking me up.

Matthew Perreault and Mike Hoffman. Cupboards are 45-1. Yeah, I don't think they're going to go on the miracle run they did last year. Biz, let's go to you first on the Habs. Well, they have a better lineup to start the season than they did last year, and yet I think that they're going to miss the playoffs. I think this division's just too strong. I got Toronto making the playoffs instead of them.

I'm interested to see what Suzuki can do at that first-line center position. I think that that trade, when they ended up getting rid of Kotkaniemi. Kotkaniemi. Kotkaniemi. Kotkaniemi. And getting into, how do you say it? Kot, like a simple Kotka, like the show in Vegas. Kotkaniemi.

And I think that they improved from when they ended up, Carolina offer sheeted Kotkaniemi and getting into Vorak in there. You got Drouin, who obviously ended up uh carolina offer she did caught kenyemi and getting in devorak in there you got drewann who obviously ended up leaving the team last year for the reasons he did he's coming in with that fresh mindset but if you look at their wings man they're they're pretty strong they got caulfield anderson gallagher who all proven guys well i mean caulfield did a great job in playoffs to foley on the the wing. I mentioned, Drouin, that Armia broke out last year in playoffs. The one question mark is Hoffman. Like, how long is this guy going to be out?

I know he wasn't ready coming into camp, and he didn't pass his physical. Any word on what's going on with him? You basically summed it up right there. He didn't pass his physical. I mean, I don't know if they put him on LTII yet or what, or if he's going to be ready before season starts. But that was the last update I got. But, yeah, he's bounced around quite a bit the last few years.

I think that – Oh, go ahead, Buzz. No, I was pretty much done. I mean, Evans just got that new deal. Fans seem pretty high on him. They think they got him at a good price. But I don't know. It's just such a strong division.

It's hard to put these guys in the playoffs. Yeah, I don't have them making the playoffs. I don't think it's insane for them to possibly get in, but it really depends on Price. And if you remember, Price had that amazing run in the playoffs, but he struggled in the regular season. So I don't know if in the end Price is going to have a bounce-back type season. I don't dislike their forwards that much.

Like you mentioned, Biz, there's a lot there. Toffoli, I think, was on pace for 40 goals in a full season last year. Suzuki was awesome. He looked better and better as the season went on. And he's just a true, I think, will be, if not now, will be a true number one center. But no Weber. I know he's older, but still not having him is a killer.

And then the Deneau issue in terms of having that defensive Stoltworth center that you know offensively there were some issues last year but he could really play against top lines they lose him I have them missing the playoffs I don't think it'll be by a lot but but they're not one of my four teams from the Atlantic I agree with you I thought it was a pretty great run for hockey last year even if the final was kind of a dud in the end. But, yeah, they're not going to be able to overcome the loss of Shea Weber. He's just too much of a beast back there.

And David Savard, he's somewhat a suitable replacement, but he's not Shea Weber, so I don't see Montreal making it in this tough division either. Next up, the Ottawa Senators. Last season ended, they did not qualify. They came in sixth out of seven teams in the North. They brought in defenseman Nick Holden and forward Zach Sanford via trade. They said bye to Evgeny Dadunov.

Their cup odds are 125-1. This is a team I think that should continue to mature a little bit and gel, but making the top four in this division is going to be tough. I don't see it happening. Witt, we'll go to you first on this one, buddy. Yeah. Like I said, this is a prospect pool that the whole league's jealous of, but in terms of a team that compete for the playoffs,

I don't think they're getting in. Now, last year they were actually way better than I thought. I already picked them to win the cup. He ended up being just just a tad off but i do think that they will they will this year also be a pain in the ass to play against right yeah they're not they're not going to be a team that's like a pushover they play hard they have a ton of skill now they got to get brady signed like we mentioned before but it's it's up to guys to take the next step when you're a team like this right like? Like that Brandstrom was traded for Stone.

You know, he was the biggest part of that deal. He's a defenseman. He really hasn't shown anything yet, and he's super young still. But, like, this is the season. This is the type of guy you need to make a big jump, and that needs to happen with a couple different players. Like you look at Josh Norris, right? I think that there was a good rookie season for him,

but you just need to take that next level. It's like every year for your first three, four years in the league, you should get a little better, whether it's something small or something large that everyone can see or something tiny that just the coaches see. You have to continue to improve. So that's the question that remains to be seen. I mean, I don't know goaltending-wise what will be there,

but they will not be an easy team to play against, but I don't have them getting in the playoffs this year if that usually usually not a good sign when you don't know half of their lineup i like that batherson last year he really broke out of his shell but uh yeah all in all just uh not a very not not a very good team but you said that dj smith he'll squeeze every bit of ounce of energy out of those guys and get them to compete. But it's just like they're just like nowhere near where they got to be. Yeah, they will be competitive. And I know what's picking on me about betting on them to win the Stanley Cup. You put a future on them, did you not?

That doesn't mean you think they're going to win. That just means if they do win, you're going to profit off it. I thought Witta Gamble would understand that. And I think you could say it means you think they might win. Why else would you spend the money? If they do, I want to cash in. I also predicted Matt Murray have a great bounce back year last year. Dude, I gave Martin Jones the Vezina one season.

That was the whole basis of my prediction last year, if you guys remember. Matt Murray was going to recapture what he did in Pittsburgh a couple years ago, and unfortunately he wasn't able to do that. But I thought that team was competitive as hell. I mentioned the gambling statistics. They were top ten on the puck line bets, money line bets, and they were the only team in the top ten who didn't make the playoffs. Competitive as hell.

I'll be betting the shit out of them again this year. Okay. But none of us think they're going to the playoffs, right? No. Correct. All right, next up, Tampa Bay looking to be the first three-peat since the Islanders won four in a row back in the early 80s. Of course, like I just said, they beat the Canadians in five games,

and they've still managed to reload. They did lose Yanni Gord, Blake Coleman, and Barkley Goodrell, but they're bringing in Corey Perry for the little veteran leadership. Zach Bogosian's coming back. I'm sorry, P.E. Bellarmine, great depth forward. And goalie Brian Elliott to back up, what's his face, Vasilevsky. Cup odds for Tampa

Bay, 7-1. I mean, it's a fucking no-brainer they make the playoffs in this division. Biz, what would you say? I would say their biggest question mark going into the season is replacing what they got out of that third line. I mean, they lost the whole thing and it was proven how big they were in order to repeat a stanley cup champion so but you know going to what i said about detroit and buffalo like when your prospects and these guys

are you're drafting or having time to develop in the minors and learning how to play the game at a professional level that's where you have the advantage so they keep that core group together and you just need to fill in those extra holes and you know you saw you saw when uh who ended up going down with injury where they put in joseph and he ended up stepping in the lineup and and you know they didn't skip a beat so this is you know this is the advantage you have and it was much uh cologne thank you and it's you know much like how when you go back to the era where Detroit dominated, you would see their high-end prospects have to go spend a couple years in Grand Rapids. So they've done such a good job

of drafting and developing these guys to be prepared for them to step into bigger roles when they're finally ready to do so when they lose guys based on the salary cap. And I don't think they're going to skip a beat. Do I think that they're going to three-peat no I just think that you know eventually all that hockey does catch up to you uh but I tell you what man they're they're going to be you know as dangerous as they usually are and and they're definitely going to make playoffs there's no questions they're best goalie in the world no doubt um not only in regular season but the

playoff numbers are absolutely fucking redonkulous and even going back to last year they did what they did without having kucherov in there and now he's going to be healthy and ready to go for puck drop so just an absolute wagon again it's kind of cool to see these southern markets flourishing like like them in florida are going to be neck and neck at the top of that division, I believe. And that's exactly what the game needs. And the playoff series last year was something else, too. We finally got to see that. And the hate.

We finally got to see that hate for them. And, yes, you lose one of the best third lines I can ever remember, right, in going back-to-back with those three guys. But when you still have Hedman, Sergachev, McDonough, Kucherov, Stamkos, Palat, Braden Point, and Vasilevsky, you could still win the Stanley Cup. And killer. It does. In a sense, like, they lose all these key pieces in the bottom six

of the forwards, but, like, then the Bruins lose David Krejci. What's worse, right? You'd much rather lose these guys in the bottom six where you could fill in. And by the way, Ross Colton looks sick. I think he scored the cup-clinching goal in Game 5. He's going to get a much bigger role this year. He looked awesome, young American kid.

Big Glenny Balls fan. Yeah, big Glenny. And in the end, just to have that entire core and fill in the blanks like you mentioned, Biz, that is the difference between this team and the rest of the league. So I have them in the playoffs, and I have them possibly doing it again. I picked them to repeat. I'm not going to pick them this year, but I wouldn't be shocked if they're in the cup final. All right.

Definitely in the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if they three-peat at all. I mean, Vasilevsky's that fucking good. He is that good. Like what you just said, I mean, listen to that roster. Like, how couldn't they fucking three-peat? I mean, I think they would need a calamitous injury or some guy to shit the bed to not.

I don't think they're the favorites, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. And if you ever need comedic relief, right, you can watch funny shows, you can watch funny videos, or just watch Tampa's fourth line this year because Pat Maroon and Corey Perry on the ice together all season is going to be a full-blown comedy show. Yeah, we need a behind-the-scenes of that. The shit that they're going to be saying and doing on the ice, we really need an Amazon Prime all for nothing following them around.

Seriously. I would pay fucking PPV every team in the league if you could do that. Okay, we got one more team before we bring in John Bucciagras from ESPN. Of course, that is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Last season ended, I guess you'd say typically.

They blew a 3-1 lead, this time to Montreal in the first round. Lost the series four games to three. Let's see. They lost Hyman. That was a big loss. I was going to say they won the regular season. Lost Zach Hyman, Joe Thornton,

who they brought in for the playoffs. Nick Foligno also gone. They brought in goalie Peter Morazic, forward Nick Ritchie, forward Andre Kasha, forward Michael Bunton, and forward David Kampf. Their cup odds are 11-1. You know, same old story with Tampa. It's been since 1967. Toronto.

That's what I say. Sorry, I'm looking at Tampa. It's my fault. Nothing would surprise me here other than them winning the cup. I mean, I just don't see them winning the cup with this lineup. I mean, I don't know if they have top-flight goaltending mean we saw what peter marazic did in carolina last year he was the start of most of the year and he ends up getting pulled from playoff time because he wasn't up to snuff and they're bringing him him to be bringing him in to be the guy i don't know man i see more

misery heading for toronto i do see them in the playoffs though biz they're your favorite team what's up i don't think the goaltending got worse. I don't think that they addressed it by getting their guy. They don't have the money to. They got a decent one-two punch. I like Mrazic. I know he didn't have a huge sample size.

I want to say he played 12 games last year. I think he had his best save percentage of his career in that small sample size. I don't mind their D. Where I guess there's a bit of a question mark is the 5-6, that Sandin and Dermott. I think Sandin could be good, dude. I know, but come playoff time, he's not a big presence out there.

You need those big bodies, the guys who can remove guys from the front of the net, and he wasn't doing it enough offensively to outshine maybe the, I don't want to from the front of the net, and he wasn't doing it enough offensively to outshine maybe the, I don't want to say the lack of defensive ability, but just, you know, it's just like, well, what is he? If he's a puck-carrying defenseman and you got him as a number five and he's not getting his touches and his reps, is he as useful as he was, let's say, with the Marlies

and, you know, lighting up down with the Miners? You know, Dermott, I think he fits well as a bottom-pairing guy, but nothing to write home about. We got Riley going into his last season under contract. I don't know how much that's going to play a factor, but I do like their top four on the back end. Where the issue lies is we got those four monsters up front. So they got two unreal center, one two punch with Matthews and JT.

Then you got Marner on Matthews' wing typically, and then William Nylander on that second line with JT. That's looking how it's going to play out. I think that a very good cheap replacement for Hyman is going to be Bunting. He's good. Very good player. I was high on him i talked about him at the end of the season when he was with arizona he had 10 goals in the 20 games great anticipation

he's an absolute pain in the ass to play against and given the fact that he's never played enough nhl games i want to say he's 25 or 26 years old and he's still up for the calder with crazy odds and if he's going to be inserted on one of those top two lines ra i would look to put a future bet on him a lot of people have been talking about that online do i have to think he's going to win it or can i just put the bet in hoping he wins it plus 3500 two bays plus 3500 and if he's playing with one of those top two lines and i wouldn't say that's a bad number to bet. Right, R.A.?

You typically like those long-term plays. Yeah, but now they were dogging the age thing because of Kaprasov. So I think with him being older, they would never allow it to happen again. I don't know. You're getting that East Coast Maple Leafs bias. Very true. I think if he scores 10 goals, he might get it. But I could easily see him getting 20 on one of those top two lines.

And then I don't know who's going to insert on one of the other top two lines. Some people are saying maybe Nick Ritchie. Why aren't they saying Mikheyev or whatever, however you say it? That guy can skate, dude. I know, but he's one of those guys. He's got all the tools. No toolbox. I mean, look at his numbers from last year.

What the fuck did he do in playoffs? Absolutely nothing. I want to say he had no points in seven playoff games. So it's that bottom six where things get a little bit interesting. I like the fact that they do have that toughness. One thing that they kind of shied away from for a few years there. They do have Richie. They got that Curtis Gabriel who's been

running around like an absolute maniac in preseason and then and then Simmons are they going to get the same production from Jason Spezza that they got last year at his age at making what 750 he's making like the veteran league minimum so a lot of question marks there's going to be a lot of pressure on that top four guys making all the money that they make. But this is a playoff team. I don't know whether or not they're going to get past the first round. I'm going to have to see how the fuck this season shakes out. I think that they're going to be in a dogfight to make playoffs with Montreal.

I think they're going to finish 4-5. I do think that they step in. But I think those guys are more experienced going in, especially William Nylander after the playoff he had last year. And, of course, we know what Matthews and Marner can bring in the regular season. And I think that back-to-back Rocket Richard trophies for Matthews. I think he's going to get 56 goals this year and win the Rocket. You think they end up being the fourth?

I'll bet you that they're one of the top three in that division. I think that Boston finishes ahead of them, and I think both Florida teams do. I think they finish ahead of either Boston or Florida. I don't know, though. I think they're good. I mean, think about this team last year. Granted, it was the North.

Everything was completely different. But, dude, if those top two lines get going and they're able to stay healthy, I think the biggest thing is the goaltending. And is Jack Campbell, like, what are you going to get there? And when Mrazik's playing, it's the same question. But in terms of Toronto, like, I like that team. I like Bunting. I don't think Richie will end up on the top line,

but in terms of toughness, maybe a guy in front of them on the power play, who knows? But I'm not as down on them as you are. I'm not really down on them, and nor do I care if they finish first, second in the division because last year they won the North going in, and then they ended up getting beaten seven by Montreal. Oh, yeah, it doesn't matter now.

It doesn't matter. If anything, and then they ended up getting beaten seven by Montreal. Oh, yeah, it doesn't matter now. It doesn't matter. If anything, and I stress this the year that Tampa ended up winning all those games in the regular season, and then they got bounced by Columbus. I'd actually like to see them face a little bit of adversity in the regular season and catch their stride late in the season and take that momentum into playoffs. I don't give a fuck what they're doing in November, December.

I want to see what they're doing in the second half of the season and how they're able to figure out those top two lines because given the fact that they just don't have the money to snap it around, they're going to have to find some cheap replacements. I think that they found it in bunting. I just don't know who the other guy is going to be in the top six. Biz, is it better to have tools and no toolbox or toolbox and no tools? That's a great fucking question.

Say it again. Is it better to have all the tools and no toolbox? How many times have you said this about a player where you see him in training camp and you're like, best skater, best hands, scoring like a maniac, and then all of a sudden they get in the game and it's like, where the fuck did all that go?

Their brain shuts off. So it's all the tools, no toolbox. I mean, you've heard the saying before. Oh, no doubt I have. I was just kind of thinking. I mean, I think you'd rather all the tools and no toolbox because at least you get the chance. If you just got toolbox but no tools, you're just a scrub on the street.

You got even nothing. I got 200 games played. You don't even get in training camp. No, you could play the – you were DJ. That's tools. Oh, okay. Thank you. I like that clip.

I think you were kind of more tools than toolbox. And we're going to throw it to Butchergross here. A lot of pressure going into this season, I'm sure, for Dubas. I would assume if they miss playoffs, his job's on the line. Is that a fair – it's got to be – no? I mean, yeah, they're a cup contender. Well, they see themselves as a cup contender, and if they don't make the playoffs, that would be pretty fucking embarrassing.

So, you know, and that's a place that, you know, they don't think twice about firing someone that quick. Then again, they brought him in, all this hullabaloo, this young, brilliant, analytical mind. I don't know. Do you want to throw out the baby with the bathwater? At the same time, how many shitty seasons can you put up with, Biz? Did I just fucking put your brain in a pretzel?

Not many more, R.A. I couldn't even watch that little documentary you guys are talking about because I was so heartbroken. But I will say this. I will double down on last year, not with the first round playoffs, but if they don't make playoffs, I'll chop the whole fucking thing off.

I'm going straight Mangina if they don't make playoffs. This is going to go full eunuch if fucking the Maple Leafs don't make the playoffs. But we all have them going. I'll have Rick Talkett do it live on TNT. I'll give him a cross check at the back. I'll have him lace up the skates, and he's going to go full fucking heel right into my cock, chop the whole guy. I'll keep the ball sack, but he's going full chop on the show.

Hashtag bizbris20. Oh, fuck me. All right. Like you said, we're going to send it over to John Bucciagras from ESPN in one second. We do want to let you know that the interview is brought to you by Sezzle. Sezzle is a buy now, pay later solution that allows you to get what you want today while paying for it over time and for interest-free payments over six weeks. Sezzle is now available at the Barstool Sports Store and more than 34,000 exciting stores in the

United States and Canada. There are no hidden fees and no credit check if you pay on time with zero impact to your credit score. Sezzle is easy to use, offering instant approval decisions with no long forms to fill out. You just sign up and get an instant approval decision.

You can use it to cuff some chiclet swag and then simply pay it off over a few payments in six weeks. You just sign up and get an instant approval decision. You can use it to cuff some chiclet swag and then simply pay it off over a few payments in six weeks. You can't beat it. So go to the Barstool Sports Store now to shop and pay later with Sezzle. And now our pal, John Bucciagrass. Well, it's been way too long since we've had this fella on the show over four and a half years ago. For the last 25 years, you've watched him crush it as an anchor on ESPN, as well as call play-by-play for the Frozen Four. He's a huge hockey guy and as excited as anybody that the NHL has returned to ESPN.

We'll be seeing him talk puck once again very soon, and we cannot wait. Welcome back to the Spitting Chicklets podcast. John Bucciagras, how fired up are you for this season, my friend? Hello everybody. I am a, no, I am pumped. This is like for someone my age, um, to be pumped about still working. And when you come into work and to have this infusion of excitement,

that's a, that's a huge gift. You know, there aren't many 55 year old second grade teachers who are like yeah i can't wait for this year you know um so yeah i'm i'm really this couldn't happen at a better time and it's perfect i i mean you're the point man pretty much for everything there you're going to be wearing a lot of different hats this season right i'm a third line grinder i'm the first liner A little bit of everything. We are going to have a cool weekly show. Some weeks, more than one a week called the point, which we're real excited about our long show on ESPN too.

Sometimes the STM take it on the road or the all-star game, just the way to Andy Tennant is our E60 guys. He knows great stories. He's 60 and the sports center featured. He's, he's he's the man behind this. And so we're going to give the NHL players a great platform to tell stories, show them off, and, you know, get Mark Messier, John Tortorella, you know, Kevin Weeks, all kinds of great in-studio people to talk hockey for an hour.

And our debut show is October 7th, Thursday, October 7th, to talk about the season. Torts will be there and Messier in weeks and Emily Kaplan talking about some news. So I can't wait. That's really cool. It's kind of if NHL Tonight grew up, if NHL Tonight had a baby and then that child grew up, you always want your kid to be better than you

and everything better looking, smarter, the whole thing. This is the point. So I'm hoping the point is better than the NHL tonight in some ways. So, yeah, I'm really – I do some play-by-play as well. Fell in for in the crease in some intermissions. So, yeah, I'm really happy. You mentioned NHL tonight, and it's so crazy how long ago that was now. But I remember that was the best.

It was Barry Melrose was on and Ray Ferraro. Was it both those guys at different times? Yeah, Barry was there from show one. He got fired. And then, of course, I think there was a lockout, and the show started after the lockout. And it was Barry right from the get-go. Ferraro would come whenever his teams wouldn't make the playoffs.

He would show up in the spring and be like a guest analyst while he was an active player. And then when he retired, ESPN brought him the full-time to do um you know Stanley Cup stuff in between period stuff and uh and the NHL tonight so yeah that was I mean just think that's 2004 when we lost hockey so I mean if you're 16 years old or younger you've never seen um you know ESPN do hockey or NHL tonight you're really probably more like you know age 20 or younger because you know you're really probably more like, you know, age 20 or younger. Cause you know, you're three or four. You're not going to remember watching NHL tonight at 1am, you know, following a sharks Kings game, you know? So, so yeah,

so we kind of missed the generation. So we're going to try to win them back. And of course the older folks, a lot of nostalgia and some people kind of straddle it. I'm glad Joe Thornton still in the league. Cause he was still playing when NHL tonight was around. So that's kind of cool. So, yeah, we're back. And the music's back.

Just got to bump that music. Exactly. That's all you need. That'll catch on quick with the people who don't know about it. But the interesting thing for you is once hockey went away, you're such a hockey guy. It's like your true love. And in talking to you, we've known each other for quite a while now. It was almost like you saw on the horizon the possibility of ESPN getting hockey back.

And the whole time you'd have contracts come up. I mean, you had a great gig running SportsCenter and being an anchor, but you kind of knew there was a chance this could happen come 2021, right? Yeah, I talked to a couple of teams, you know, in these last 17 years, a couple of teams about play-by-play jobs, NHL Network, you know in these last 17 years a couple teams about play-by-play jobs uh nhl network you know and um i just you know this is still the place you know to be it's hard to some people can leave espn obviously i couldn't and uh then i got involved with college hockey 2006 i did write my column i started writing an espn.com column in 2001 did that for about 15 years when my son

graduated from high school and i wrote a column about watching his last game i felt like i just emptied the tank and i had nothing left emotionally and uh just felt like for 15 years i kind of poured my hockey soul out there as a parent and a viewer and uh so yeah so the college hockey helped kind of keep that alive and then of course we got the world cup and that was real a big thrill to get to call games with NHL players, not an NHL game. But I call that crazy North America-Sweden overtime, which was a blast. And then again, the Frozen Fours, which are in NHL rinks. So that was kind of cool. And that gives me some experience of maybe what I'm going to deal with when I call my first NHL game.

And so, yeah, so it's been a long road 17 years always thought it would get back and kind of saw it come in the last three or four years especially and was pretty confident we were going to get it but you never know I mean you know Apple could wake up and write a check for two billion and blow everybody out of the water you know so I never really was totally comfortable until the announcement came down what's the enthusiasm in the building? Obviously you, Linda Cohn, Steve Levy, Barry Melrose, the most known for hockey, but are there a lot of actual fans in the building that we just don't hear about that work there?

Absolutely. I always have like real hardcore people. You know, we've got a lot of people from the Northeast, but even across the country now as hockey's grown. So yeah, there are a ton of hardcore hockey people. So, you know, when we got the announcement that we got games. We have plenty of infrastructure in place for people to produce and direct and coordinate, produce and, you know, suits. And so, yeah, I just had to hire some broadcasters, some new analysts, play-by-play people. But, yeah, we had a pretty big infrastructure in place.

Really, real hardcore hockey people. I don't know how much you guys talked about it last time you were on it was four and a half years ago a lot new a lot of new listeners you grew up a hockey fanatic you're actually born in pennsylvania you ended up uh moving over to boston and then spent some time living in ontario who did you grow up rooting for who was your squad well yeah my dad was born in south boston mom and dad are from south boston and my dad moved to pittsburgh mom and dad are from south boston and my dad moved to pittsburgh at a young age thought he'd be there for a couple weeks and was there

for 30 years and uh and raised us out there so i was i was kind of a hybrid my dad was a stealer season ticket holder so i was a big stealer fan as a kid a pirate fan as a kid celtic fan and then a bruin fan because the bruins were the most popular team in boston they were like tom brady they're like the red sox of 04 to 07. Just massively popular. My dad was in his, you know, late 30s, early 40s. Gigantic sports fan. I was at my dad's hip.

I always said if my dad was a crack dealer, I would have grown up a crack dealer. I was going to do whatever he did. But he was a gigantic sports fan. Still got time. Yeah, still got time. I'm all not hoping. Just get the 401k dips. The 401k dips. I'll dips i'll be ready um so

yeah he would listen to bruins games on the radio i would listen right with them and you know when you when you're raised on and you learn about a game and listen to a game and consume a game on the radio because there weren't many hockey games on tv in pennsylvania you kind of invent the game in your head you use your imagination you just you know i i heard these games and listened to these games and to me it was a lot like it was like gothic to me it reminded me of going to church you know my parents are very catholic so when i went to church i heard the organ i heard these old big churches uh you know it's about blood and and you know murder and violence and there's organs and it reminded me of maple leaf gardens or the the Boston Garden it's like it's the same thing as church and so I just kind of used you know I heard these fights and these bench clearing brawls and you know and just it was such a mythic thing for me having invented

it in my head I think that's why it's so searing and that's why it always went like kind of right to my soul and it was always just kind of there and then even when my career first started on Cape Cod my first boss was fred cusick hall of fame broadcaster for the bruins his daughter was my first boss in television and so like that's how my career began in 1989 with martha cusick as my boss and so i just always was around hockey and i went to providence five years after cape cod my first kind of mini break i was at the last game at the Boston Garden, a preseason game against the Canadians. And two great years in Providence.

My first Frozen Four where BU and Chris Drury won. And then with ESPN in 96, and I'm doing NHL tonight. And then it's just kind of grown there. So hockey has always been part of my career, thankfully. Even so much so, I was reading up on a story, and I hope it's true, about you when you were living in Canada, traveling down to Pittsburgh. Is that whole without tickets? Well, breaking news, I've never lived in Canada.

I'm not James Duffy Biz. No, I'm John Bouchy Cross. I know, but sorry, a part of it had said something about how you lived in Ontario. No, I never had. We're interviewing GM of the Leafs, right? Fuck off. I'm going to read what I had here.

At first, he had me as 56 years old and living in Ontario. Time out. I never knew he lived up north. Were you in Steubenville, Ontario, and you drove down to Pittsburgh? Steubenville, Ohio. That's an H, not an N. Oh, for Christ's sake. Home of Jimmy.

You look like the third Pet Shop boy. that you look like the third pet shop boy don't think like the third pet shop now what's what's worse the fact that the first what's what's worse the first time uh granelli calling you busi or or me saying that you lived in ontario oh my name has been my name's been butchered all my life i am not sensitive to my name at all booger sauce bucca grossucca Gross, Boosie Gross. So, yeah. So, it took a while for people to see the Bucci Italian play. All right. It's all good, Biz.

I want to hear the story. I thought the Ontario rain were in Ontario. Go ahead. I want to hear the story, though, about you traveling to Pittsburgh. And my apologies. I thought maybe you had your dual citizenship or something. We can relate. Nana was born in Newfoundland.

My dad's mom emigrated when she was 18 to South Boston from Newfoundland. So I got a little bit of blood there. But now, yeah, me and two friends allegedly took one of my parents' cars when we were 15 years old and allegedly drove an hour away in Pittsburgh and allegedly bought a ticket off a scalper and then gave it to somebody else to let us somehow sneak us in the Civic Arena, which back then had glass around the front. You could see inside. So the guy was creeping around, looking at us. Keep going, keep going, creeping around, keep going. And he found this door. He opens this door and three of us sneak in to uh to to the game it was a north stars game that would have been 1981 and yeah i'll never forget it and then we

left after the second period because we want to get home to beat uh to feed our parents i'm coming home just in case they came home they they didn't so we made it and about an hour about a half hour out we were low on gas we We had no money for gas. And my buddy, Steve, pulled out three rolls of pennies. And we bought gas with three rolls of penny at this little gas station to make it home to Steubenville. But yeah, it's all allegedly. Siphoning gas. Saving for a fight. Saving pennies.

Put them in a sock. Exactly. So yeah, that was all allegedly that we did that. But, yeah, that's how much we love the game. Started a street hockey league in Steubenville. I would make a newspaper every week called the Hockey News. I would trace on the Hockey News, paint it in red. I'd write articles, keep stats, write features on my friends

in the street hockey league. And I would bring it to class on Monday, and they would pass it around in high school during the day, and they just loved it. Would you be ripping every guy? Would it be like joke write-ups? I did. I definitely brought the heat.

I look back, and I can't believe I wrote that. And like chirping the commissioner, why we need a new commissioner. Luke Lancia sucks. Get him out. All right. That kid's 12. No such thing as Steubenville, Ontario, for all you people wondering who are listening.

We got a lot of Canadian listeners. Oh, shit. Biz, we're going to teach postal codes after this episode. Okay, yeah. Oh, fuck. Well, hey, the writing ended up leading you to write a book on Keith Jones. I also read that. So hopefully I didn't fuck that one up, and that's true.

No, it's actually Eric Lindros. book on keith jones i also read that so hopefully i didn't fuck that one up and that's true yeah of course he had to retire because of his knee injury towards acl and they took the middle third of his patellar tendon to fix it and he came back and then suddenly he's like there's something wrong with my knee you know they do an mri they're like jonesy your acl is fine i thought he was faking it he couldn't he couldn't jog across the street he's playing nhl hockey and jonesy can't jog across the street he thought he's going to get run over by a car and uh finally they realized he went to this one doctor the middle third usually your patella tendon grows back but in his case it didn't grow back and that's why his knee he couldn't play anymore if they'd use the cadaver like they

usually do and you would have been fine but that. But that middle third of his patella tendon they took out to use for his new ACL didn't grow back. And then he had to retire. Came to ESPN and had a great relationship. We kept telling him these stories after stories after stories. I go, Jones, we should write a book. And this local Philly publisher got a hold of me, and so we did that. Writing a book is hard.

Oh, shit. I don't want to do that again. Maybe fiction. I can't even write do that again. You know, maybe fiction. I can't even write properly in my notes, butch, let alone, let alone a book, man. That's unbelievable. That was fun. It sounded like a great idea, but then like you're a couple of days into writing, you're like, Oh shit.

Well, what happened to my basement kind of flooded. And so I had to get a, I had a huge, I was, I got the software to write the book. I'm like, I don't want to write this hard. And then my basement kind of flooded. And so I had a huge, I got the software to write the book. I'm like, I don't want to write this hard. And then my basement floods. So I'm like, I got to redo the back. I got to grade it differently. There's like this bad slope and I needed 10,000 bucks.

So I said, all right, I'll write the book because I needed $10,000. And so that's why I did it because my basement flooded or I never would have wrote it. That's probably what you should have turned to the drugs. Yeah. Selling them anyway. Quick crack. quick crack dad you have any extra crack he's going between the glass this

year right jonesy yeah for tnt yeah he's going to be between the glass do a bunch of stuff so I'm glad he landed on his feet obviously when NBC lost the coverage um you want those guys to you know to find a new place and luckily jonesy did darren pang will be there as well biz pet shop boy number three you know so it'll be a good cast i don't know i don't know the reference to pet shop number three so i'm gonna have to get it afterward but look at it up yeah moving in ontario yeah i'm never gonna hear the end of this i'm a reference lost on younger podcast i'm gonna get tweets for a long time about it but but going back to all these old stories that Jonesy was telling you, I'm sure you had to probably leave a few out of the book,

but you guys have so many guys that you guys signed with ESPN. I would imagine that that's going to be part of the highlight of your job now is getting to hear all these amazing stories behind the scene. And you guys got some fucking heavy hitters. I mean, Messier is going to have a couple in the closet and, and Chelelios and you and you've actually worked with chelios before as well on the world cup at the world cup him and holly him and holly i mean getting a beer with those guys afterwards was just epic yeah oh oh a beer a beer 12 but yeah to get to know torts and get

to know torts and mass and chelie and uh and Chally and, you know, even Hillary Knight, which I'm sure she got some great Olympic Village stories. So, yeah, it's a great cast. I'll be working with Boucher and A.J. Malesko. In fact, I'm doing just a little news for you guys. I haven't even tweeted this out. I'm doing opening night in Vegas, the play-by-play. I can't believe it.

Oh, that's awesome. Really? No way. I never thought they would have me do that. I was pleasantly surprised. So, yeah, to go out there and do the first game in cracking history. Seattle, right? Yeah. Yes. That's fucking awesome,

Booch. Congrats. Yeah, I can't believe it. So it's, I'm really, I'm just absolutely on cloud nine. So, yeah, I can't wait for that. So I'm looking forward to, that's two weeks away. Congrats, Boosie. No, that is sick. And I was going to ask if you knew the games you were doing yet

because everything's probably changing. You're like, when do you do SportsCenter? When is it NHL or is it no more SportsCenter at 11? How is that all going to work? Yeah, I'm not going to do SportsCenter for a couple of months, a couple of months at least. I got a a contract with certain amount of days in it i went to espn a couple years ago and kind of i took a self-imposed pay cut and just kind of i wanted to work less and recharge and kind of you know wait and see with this that i kind of made a bet that this was going to happen i kind of um i'm not sure financially it was a

very smart move to give back that much money but um so i only have 85 days in my contract so they got to be careful how much they use me until hopefully we redo one of my contracts up in 11 months so i could be a big ufa next summer so um you know oh yeah yeah so i'm sure there'll be a huge bidding war between all this channel nine and news with all this time off you must be golfing quite a bit. TSN 12. Not as much because I sold my place in Connecticut just in case I wasn't going to be here in a year, and I left my local golf club that I belong to. So I actually have played less this summer,

but actually I'm playing better. Cold figure. I know. But I am headed to Wisconsin this week. I'm a big Steeler fan, like I mentioned. I saw the schedule come up. John Anderson, Green Bay Packers season ticket holder with his family going back centuries. He's from Green Bay.

I go, John, Steelers at Lambeau. I've never been to Lambeau. Let's go out, play golf for three days, get me on Milwaukee Country Club, top 100, having pegged it, the old top 100 board. Got on there, no big deal. Playing that Friday. And so a couple rounds of golf, Steelers, Packers, Sunday, and then come back Monday and it's all hockey. Oh, man.

Oh, that's a nice trip before you get going with the madness of the NHL, right? Exactly. I thought you guys crushed the FDNY-NYPD game. Turned out to be one of the funnest hockey games I've ever watched. And will that be your crew when you're doing your play-by-play with Weeksy and Ryan Callahan? You guys have great, great vibes together. Chemistry.

Those guys are awesome. I like emotional people who get fired up. Those are my favorite people to be around. That's why I kind of gravitate towards hockey, just because it's that kind of person, emotional and passionate and fun. And yeah, we had a great time. Just let it fly. And those guys were getting texts, you know, Yandel was watching with Kevin Hayes and they were getting, they were getting a big kick out of it. And so, yeah,

I went in with like a little bit of low expectations because like, man, the garden's unbelievable vantage point there for a broadcaster is unbelievable. So I had a for a broadcaster is unbelievable. So I had a great time. So, you know, I'll be working with a bunch of people. Like I said, Boucher and AJ opening night. I'll do a Sabre game with Callahan against the Bruins in October, which is kind of cool.

That'll be an ESPN Plus game. I can't wait for the guy in South to turn on Ness in that night saying, Hey, where are the Bruins, for Christ's sake? You know, they're going to call their son, you know, Billy, we're the Bs. What's ESPN Plus? Oh, you're going to download this app now. Yeah. So I think it's going to be interesting. There's going to be a lot of phone calls from 50 and 60-year-olds to their kids.

How do I, what's a fire stick? Roku, screw you. That's my billion-dollar idea, Booch, is to teach boomers how to you. That's my billion, my billion, my billion dollar idea. Booch is to, is to teach boomers how to stream. It's, it's incredible. Like once they get it, there's such a market for it too. I'm telling you. It's funny you say boomers. My idea was get Chris Berman to do it. Give a simple three-step thing. And if I can do it, you can do it. You know what I mean? And just let them know, Hey, get ESPN plus now.

And get the bundled Hulu, Disney. That's the best way to do it you know i mean and just let them know hey get espn plus now and get the bundled hulu disney yes that's the best way to do it all nhl.tv is going to espn plus you can see every game except the ones on tnt every single game will be on espn plus it's you know uh so you can it's baked into the package it's not like a usc fight where you got to pay extra you know to get the fight it's all in that same little fee so i think it's to be a good place for hockey people to go to. Tons of content, college hockey as well. So I'm excited. I hope there's as little snafus as possible and that things will go smoothly

and people will realize what a great product. Now, just to clarify what you were just saying, a lot of people were asking people who did did subscribe to Center Ice or NHL TV, if you have ESPN Plus, Hulu, that package, you'll be able to get every out-of-market game home and away like before? Right. Okay, that's awesome. Same thing, yeah.

Same thing as NHL.TV. I'm not sure if they have both feeds and everything NHL.TV had. I'm sure they want to transfer over as much as possible. Obviously, the Center Ice package is a separate thing. Right. That was with DirecTV, right? Yeah, you'll still get that if you get DirecTV. And yeah, I don't know about cable. It's going to be offered on Comcast.

I don't know. I cut the cord a while ago. I just get the FUBU and the Disney bundle. That's what I get. And that's enough. And Netflix. Those are the three things I get. So every out-of-market game uh will be on uh but we do

have 70 exclusive games we're producing them all so again if you're a red wing fan or a bruin fan or uh i like king fan there's gonna be some of your games that are gonna be on espn plus they won't be on your local feed so you got to be proactive and be ready for that yeah i already got my dad all prepped so i know you don't subscribe to hbo max no i know i should there's so much good stuff on there i'll probably have to eventually there's just way too much stuff just ask them all right have you seen ted lasso or what fucking christ that's on apple that's on apple i bought an ipad about 10 months ago and one of the perks of that was you get Apple TV for a year. Exactly.

So I am on the last, so I haven't seen the last two or three, but it's a great show. I'm a big fan. Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't even going there because it's not even on HBO. I like ball busting, R.A. I know. I had to get one back for the Ontario.

I still got to get Grinnelli and Witt. So, Pooch, I think, you know, NBC last year, there was kind of a lame duck status. It was their last year. I thought they became somewhat vanilla. What can we expect different on ESPN to maybe goose it a little bit this year? Well, they're definitely going to, you know, throw out all the toys.

I'm kind of curious to see what the broadcast is going to look like in terms of some different things, different cameras, lots of cameras. They want, you cameras, lots of cameras. They have a big initiative to make the intermissions a big deal and not just three dudes behind a desk in a suit just going blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, go to break. It's tough. And I've been pushed on ESPN+. Let's don't wear suits.

Let's sit in a couch or sit in a bar and get a sponsor. Just talk hockey like dudes would talk hockey, like you guys talk, you know? And I would even say, let us swear a little bit on ESPN+. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, just try to bring some of that realness to the – let Mets be comfortable. Let Chelios be comfortable. See how fast they might get fired.

You know, let's go. Let's just let it go. Just ripping the bong. They're saying the wrong thing. But, so, yeah, so I hope we stick with that initiative. It's easy to sink back down into comfortable. go let's just let it go just ripping the bong they're saying the wrong thing but uh so yeah so i hope we stick with that initiative it's easy to sink back down into comfortable but i do think michael quaid who's overseeing our games andy tenant who's overseeing our studios um i think we're gonna you know you hope it but you know for a lot of times the traditional hockey broadcast

is awesome you don't want to tweak with it too much so it is a fine line but i'm hoping with graphics and other things we really infuse some life i thought there would be a some life infused when they made the announcement i was even blown away the day we made it the day after uh you know the reaction from fans around hockey i know the players wanted to be on espn you know espn is kind of part of the landscape of america you walk through a airport it's on it's on you know one of the bars you go in your hotel you know you have it on your hotel package whatever so it's all that all that stuff it's just you kind of always see it and now like i said we'll have a hour-long hockey show on once a week and even more than that in the playoffs in the first week of the season so yeah i hope that it

does help the sport and the players are pumped we just got back from chicago for the players media tour thing and we had this gigantic hundred-foot screen, video screen on the ice at the Blackhawks Practice Center, having the players do their fun stuff with the cameras and everything. And you could tell they were like, wow, ESPN is spending some time on this week. And so to be out there, I talked to Ovi, talked to – it was so funny. We had the players listen to the ESPN theme music. And they said, hey, can could put the lap I asked all

the same questions looking right in the camera just we got a bunch of content for the for the start of the season and uh a lot of you know some of the Canadian young Canadian kids were like is that football music like they didn't know the music so I had Ovi in there I go Ovi put the headset on I want you to listen to a song tell me do you know it? And if you like it. And so he goes, he starts listening, goes ESPN hockey music. And then someone else said, can you hum along with it? He's like. So he takes it off and I go, you know that song? And Obie goes, of course I know that song.

It was like, Obie doesn't miss anything. Like Obie is like paying attention. If you think Obie doesn't miss anything like obie is like paying attention if you think obie doesn't know what's going on hockey wise record book rise like that was pretty impressive a guy who had never been on espn knew that was espn hockey somehow a lot of guys didn't a lot of guys didn't know he's done a few commercials with you guys hasn't he yeah he did the this is sports and commercial when he was 24 and that's when I was writing my column. This was 2010, and I had like 10 minutes with him to do a little

column because I was always looking for something. It's tough to write one once a week, 3,000, 4,000 words, and that's when I brought up to him about, what do you think about breaking Gretzky's record? So I wrote that column where I forecasted ahead until he was 40 years old. Here's the path Ovi could get to break Wayne Gretzky's record of 894 goals.

And it's probably a ridiculous thing to bring up when a guy's 24, but I did something about him. So, yeah, that column, luckily it's aged well. And so in Chicago, the last thing I asked him, I go, Ovi, how many goals does Gretzky have? He says 892. I go, 894. Pretty close.

How many goals do you have? Seven, three, zero. you see each number individually i go i go who's the first person to ask you if you had a chance to break the record he goes you i was like wow that was so cool you remember he remembered he remembered that he that he knows that like i said he knows what's out there he i think it's a big deal to break that record for his family for his parents his you know his mom and dad, his country, of course. And I think, like I said, it's not difficult for him to do it. I think it's more likely that, you know, more likely he'll get a thousand goals than not break the record.

Yeah, I mean, when you first, you were the first media person I ever saw really put it out there and talk about it. I was like, what? Because you never imagined it's possible. And kind of how you mapped it out is the way it's going. And the wild thing is now that it's become pretty realistic. It's almost like the next two years matter a lot. Like if he gets 100 in the next two years, then you're like, all right, it's kind of a foregone conclusion. If one of the years he gets 25, it's a question.

He doesn't need 100 in the next two years. I got of the years he gets 25, it's a question. He doesn't need 100 in the next two years. I got it mapped out. He's right now at 730. If he gets 37 goals this year, pretty reasonable. 32 next year. And then 40 at age 37 because Phil Esposito and Brennan Shanahan both had 40 goal seasons at age 40. So that's why I did the historical.

It's not out of the question. And then 27 goals at age 39 and 25 goals at age 40 so that's why i did the historical it's not out of the question um and then 27 goals at age 39 and 25 goals at age 40 so 37 32 40 one more real good one 27 25 that gets it with 9 26 like this isn't this isn't even close if he doesn't get hurt and like i said it's probably going to be more like if he pumps in 50 this year year like you said 42 next year now that's that's 92 instead of 69 now he's got stuff to play with now again he could tear his quad next year and that's a problem you know i mean anything could happen that's why i get when people are still a little skeptical but again like 37 32 40 and 220 goal seasons at at 39 and 40 and with the way he is, he could play until he's 45.

We know all these guys who can't out there. So I really think it's an inevitability. It's the biggest record chase since Aaron chased Babe Ruth, I think, for the two people involved and the record itself. People don't care about football records. When Brady breaks Drew Brees' record, that's not a big deal, which is actually probably a strength of football. Ripkins was big. That's a good call. That's actually – you're right. That's not a big deal, which is actually probably a strength of football. Ripkins was big.

That's a good call. You're right. That's a better call. It won't be maybe as big as that, but it's certainly in that top three to top four. And Boots, they added cross-checking to the penalty book. So more power plays, more chances for Overy to score.

That's right. To score, go out the bus stop. He just stands there at the bus stop at that left circle doesn't even flex his knees you know just to save his energy then he gets ready when it shows up but yeah the nhl was there when we had our week-long chicago thing and and they brought it you know steven waltham was there and they show that the point of emphasis that was going to be cross-checking early so we're going to have a lot of power plays early so yeah those power play specialists are going to get a good start since you have all these uh goals written down in the trajectory uh how many goals has he scored from that spot on the ice where he stands in the power play you know that oh they have every goal he's ever tracked i don't know off the top of my head but that wouldn't be hard

to find that every goal he's ever scored i'm gonna say 400 like seriously from that one spot from the top of the left face-off dot. Maybe 300? Yeah, I would say like 250. I'd say probably go 250, 300 because I don't think half have been there. But like you said, a third, you'd think a third have come from there. All right, gang, before we go any further, we're going to take a quick minute for a word from our friends at Herbal Active.

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That is U-R-B-A-L-A-C-T-I-V.com. And make sure to use the promo code BIZ20 for 20% off. And now, back to John Bucciagross. Who are some of the young NHL stars that really garner your attention? Like, who do you really want to really focus on coming into this season? That was fun being there. Yeah, because they sent the top dogs to that week. Yeah, Chickren was there. That guy is guy's an absolute you know rom-com stallion built built like a linebacker um you know

roman yosi was there uncomfortably handsome uh he's older now though but um but yeah actually you know robertson and chicken and mcavoy is amazing but jack hughes i'm telling you that dude has such charisma. He's like an X-game athlete. Like he's got a total X-game vibe. The NHL should push him forward and get him out there and follow him around and mic him up, put him forward to get that 16- to 25-year-old crowd.

I think he's the king of that demographic right now. He is really cool. And I had a big kick talking to him he's he's really cool but any um any teams that kind of stand out to you as like a possible i don't want to say surprise but a team a lot of people may not think about that could go going a little bit of a run this year yeah not not really it seems like you know it's still out west it's not as strong obviously it still seems like it's vegas or colorado um and in the east it's you know the east is interesting because the penguins are aging the capitals are aging um you know the bruins are in a weird spot

they're aging to it yep and um so who will young players step up can the breast get 28 you know they're relying on some of those young guys to break out um you know the flyers got the worst goal 10 in the league last year you'd think they'd bounce back but uh and can tampa get three in a row you know i don't think an american-based team's ever won three in a row only i think it's just the canadians and the maple leafs who've done it right and the islanders of course yeah you're on here my bad um so so yeah so you know can they do it losing that you know the gourd coleman and goudreau line that was they didn't do it until they got those brought those guys in now they're gone can they recreate it enough they got the best goalie they got a stud defenseman and they got kucherov so

they still got guys in their 20s in their prime why they are a legitimate threat but yeah no one really stands out to me who can make that big jump up. It seems like LA starts to come back with all those young draft picks. Some of those teams like that. But I think it's pretty open this year, which makes it fun. Who was the most improved team over last season? Most improved team over last season. What's yours, Whit? I think Philly is going to be way better.

I'm not necessarily saying what they did has made them that improved. I just think that year was such a disaster. And this year they're going to be way better. I'm not necessarily saying like what they did has made them that improve. I just think that year was such a disaster. And this year they're going to be very good. Yeah. Historically bad. Like it was just, you know, it's just so bad that they have to get better this year just from that. So we'll see if that defense,

they recreated that is a strong enough, but yeah, I think Philly could have a bounce back year for sure. But other than that i i don't nothing jumps out at me because the west no one really scares me that much i said chicago just given the fact that obviously they've addressed goaltending and they i mean that young kid who stepped in last year did a pretty good job they got their ace on the back end i mentioned them getting taves back they said kane's been a little banged up the last year and a half you would have never noticed uh they end up picking up Tyler Johnson so they're top nine forwards like even having Dylan Strom as a third line center like I think they're very very strong up front but I think I

don't know if it was you wit or even you are a last podcast who mentioned uh New York because if they start getting contributions and you mentioned getting the younger guys like getting contributions especially from guys on entry-level contracts like um uh who's who's the one guy capo caco like he hasn't really popped off yet and then of course uh lafreniere and then they they have a ton of weapons they have an unbelievable back end and then they got a pretty good tandem and net so i think i think new york it's tough to say most improved because they really haven't added much. But just from getting contributions more from the younger guys, I think that seems to be a sneaky pick for me.

Yeah, I think it's one of the best stories bringing Reeves in. And really, you know, they've been so public about that. The whole Wilson incident was just, you know, one of the biggest stories last year. It's going to be fun to see that first game. And just to see, will they really be that much of a different team? And was that really your problem? So I think that's a very interesting story watching the first 10, 15 games.

He was already showing Kravtsov how to fight. He's teaching guys how to throw punches, getting ready for the Washington game. Oh, I can't wait. Yeah, that was good stuff. I think he's teaching the whole team too, right? Didn't you guys have a blog about that where he's teaching the whole team how to fight? Does the Kraken make the playoffs, Booch?och yeah i think they're in a weak division uh it seems like they'll have a hard time scoring goals but man they got good defensemen they got a good goalie two good goalies and you know i think they're going to be you know

someone like you know yarn croak and mccann those guys could pump in 25 just like vegas's first year you never saw william William Carlson's year coming. Eric Hollis, his season coming there. No one saw that. And so, yeah, I think because of the division, how fast Gord looks like he's coming back way earlier than they thought, and they got room to make a move if they get off to a good start. I wonder after first 25, 30 games, if they're in a position,

do they then kind of maybe trade some people and start thinking for the future because as well as vegas is done they haven't won a cup and they're getting older quickly so it's like it's been an amazing story their success it's been one of the most successful maybe the most successful uh expansion franchise of all time in any sport how quickly they became good good. But what if they don't get it and they start going the other way? Seattle might say, see, we might want to take this slower. So I think it's going to really dictate for them where are they in early December. What did you think of their logo and the unis,

the whole basically outside the box from what we usually get from the NHL? It's just huge. The amount of revenue they're bringing in for the league and for themselves, especially post-lockout. The NHL could It's just huge. The amount of revenue they're bringing in for the league and for themselves, especially post lockout. The NHL could not have timed this any better. It obviously pops. I think the blue ones really pop more than the white. That's an amazing uniform, an amazing logo.

They can't keep stuff in the stores. So yeah, it's important for the league. And that was a great identification, Vegas and Seattle. And, yeah, they really hit it out of the ballpark. And they let those teams be competitive. It's like, why would Starbucks open up a new Starbucks somewhere and then let rats kind of walk around the store? They wouldn't do that.

You've got to give someone a chance to succeed. And by doing that with the NHL, it's just so smart. You don't want crappy teams i mean atlanta had the flames then they had the thrashers they never had a chance for hockey to work there and that was really pretty revolutionary of the nhl and i bet it will be copied in the future by other other sports when they expand uh i got a couple um not rapid fire but just easier questions that i want your opinion on first is is how many goals is Austin Matthews get? You're usually good at these predictions all the way with the,

used to have the column. You'd always be banging out these things preseason. Nailed them. Yeah. He's the best goal scorer in hockey right now. I'll go 60, 61 for Austin Matthews. AMATS. AMATS, that's his peers call him.

I didn't realize that. I learned that in Chicago. They all call him AMATS. AMATS? No shit. Yeah. All the guys that play with him at u18 u17 you know they all call them amats i never heard that you know so uh so yeah so that was that was all right he's got 61 what about do the edmonton oilers make the playoffs edmonton no no do they win a round in the playoffs i think they get in uh yes they will win a round in their division. Oh, shit. I don't know about that one.

They'll win the 2-3 series. Fair enough. And last one, what do I got for you? I'm going to save these. Last one I got for you. Oh! Who wins the division with Tampa and Florida? I don't even know what it's called.

The Atlantic, I believe. The Atlantic. Carolina, Tampa, Florida. Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah. Carolina's in the other division. Oh, they're in the other one? You're talking Bruins, Maple Leafs.

Oh, yeah, that makes no sense to me. I looked at it today. It's like, why is Detroit in the Atlantic and not like Tampa and know that it's it's all known. I think all most of it because yeah, Tampa, Florida in the same division as Bruins, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal,

but they get Detroit but Carolina's in the other one. I don't know. I don't know why I mean, you know, I want to I want to take Florida, but you know, the goal I'm just not sure about the young goalie and the older goalie. So I'll have to go Tampa again one more time to squeeze it in. Because remember, if they're not right, they'll fix it.

They'll give away every first-round draft pick in the future to fix that, you know, what they don't have. They've shown that they do that better than anybody. And like I said, they have the core Hall of Famers, Edmund Kucherov and Vasilevsky. So I'll stay with Tampa Bay. I was just going to ask, is there any other storylines going into the season that you're really going to be focusing in on?

I mean, yeah, to me it's about Seattle. It's about McKinnon and Colorado. I tried to have him eat a Kit Kat with me out there in Chicago. He wouldn't do it oh yeah just sharing a kid cat he wants to put that story to bed with his fanatical diet but uh yeah if a teammate eats sugar he'll have your family kidnapped yeah he's wound tight i mean you guys have seen it before he's an he's a very serious guy and uh i like it he just kind of simmers there sitting in that chair when you interview him um but yeah but yeah can he get over the hump because let's face it he's uh he wants he's suddenly a vet a grizzled

vet all of a sudden after seeing that jordan documentary i kind of there's a little bit of resemblance there and like just the intensity and like how he i don't want to say barks at teammates but he's like keeping them massively massively accountable like almost to a point where it's a little bit uncomfortable, but I mean, Hey, like that's, that's his personality. And he, I feel like he's like he wants that cup at a young age, much like Sid did. Right. But he, that's too late for that now. Like, I mean, he's in year nine, you know, it's like, what, when did that happen?

You know? So now he wants to get it. Now he's in his prime, his last prime window here is probably four to five years. He's got the defenseman. And now it's just, you know, can Darcy Kemper be the guy to be good for two months? You don't win with good goaltending. You win cups with great goaltending. And you gotta be great for two months. And that's what separates the men from the boys between the pipes. Gee, I know you wanted to jump on something, Mike.

Yeah. Booch, big, big college hockey guy. Who do you think wins the national championship this year? Well, the Frozen Four is in Boston, which I'm pumped for. It'd be great if they got there. It'd be great if Michigan, with all those number one draft picks, gets there. It's always good to have,

I always say I want three brand names and a Cinderella story at the Frozen Four for ratings and interest. So certainly St. Cloud State is loaded. They should get back there again this year. And Minnesota is really good. So we could have a Minnesota, St. Cloud, UMass, and Michigan Frozen Four. We'd get some Bucu ratings, and that would be a lot of fun.

So, yeah, I can't wait for that to get going. I hope I still call those games some regular season games in the Frozen Four in Boston. I think it will be my 10th. I know there's always talk about getting the international audience, of course, to the Olympics the next year. But I feel like there's a lot of potential fans here in the States that they still haven't reached.

Like what can the league do or maybe the networks, now that they're on ESPN and TNT, those leagues have the same networks that carry the NBA. Do you think they might get some crossover, like guys and ladies who typically watch those networks for the NBA might get roped into some NHL action? You hope. But as you know, there's 100 slices of entertainment nowadays. It's really difficult.

If you can just hold your head above water, you're winning. You know, the NFL is the only outlier that just continues to explode. But, yeah, I'm hoping between us and TNT a little more reach that we can at least keep bringing in the young fans and be certainly an alternative, give it a shot. I think it can only help. I think the league and Gary Bettman realize that.

This is a position they can grow from. They bring in Seattle, bring in Las Vegas. And so, yeah, so I'm hoping we'll see. But like I said, there's so many slices out there, but we know it's a great game and we have some young stars. And, you know, so it's up to us to try to push it and hopefully that can get them more in the mainstream. Austin Matthews, I think, is a big part of this,

if they can somehow get him out front and create a persona for him. He's so unique, such an interesting the way he dresses. And, of course his heritage coming from arizona um it's just he's he's the guy you'd like to see them hopefully put front and center and and really become a star also with the hispanic background like the multiculturalism as well and there's one thing i did that ea shoot with him and he said if there's one thing i i would love you to pull for on the podcast, it's like convince, convince them to do no dress code.

These guys want to be walking in just like the NBA guys. They want to have their Gucci tracks, or whatever the fuck their drew sweaters, like the, the, the Bieber line. I guess that's the new cool thing. And they want to have their own style. They don't want to be the black suit, black tie guys anymore. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Hey, whatever it takes. I don't know. be the black suit black tie guys anymore yeah exactly yeah hey whatever it takes i don't know you know how slow hockey is to change especially with all of canadian influence still in the front offices they like their suits and they like their uniformity um

and that is a great thing about hockey the uniformity the sacrifice the self-assist that is why we love the game a big reason why we love the game but there's got to be a balance where you can figure you can that's still a hardcore value of the sport you'll still block a shot you'll break your leg for the team but yeah if you want to wear jeans and one of your 300 pairs of tennis shoes you have to the game i think they'll still block a shot and break their ankle for the team i don't think that's going to change so yeah those are things you have to think about but there's still an old school hardcore feel in the NHL offices. That's that's still, you know, it's still a bit of a resistance to that.

There's a little resistance to change. It's a real thing there. The crazy thing for me is that like the best, a lot of the best parts about hockey and what make it so special are kind of the same things that are holding it back from growing a little bit. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. It's very odd in a sense that the humility and the players all being about team and rarely ever saying I is great, but in the end, it almost helped the sport if there was a bunch of guys that weren't like that.

It's up to guys to really end up not only be good enough to be able to do it and realize that they're still going to have a job and have a team who wants them, but be willing more than anything to risk having a team mad at you. If you do or say some things that'll get a lot of clicks and get a lot of views, but may not be popular with the team. So it's interesting. Yep. And we see that with baseball. They've done a nice pivot. They allow bat flip style, you know, Fernando Tatis Jr. It's like, that's, that's funny.

And his little stutter step at third base, it doesn't offend everybody. It's like, yeah, let him have his moments his moments cool and the pitcher will have his moment occasionally they'll jerk back and forth and you want conflict you want that that's part of the game and of course hockey has plenty of that that's another great part of the game it's real organic hate and conflict within the realm of the game so yeah you can't there is a way to have all both uh to have both baseball did it and they probably had very similar hardcore treatment that hockey does. And I always use the football analogy.

When a guy comes over the middle and he gets trucked, there's not a fight. Like, there's not a fight every time a guy hits a hard hit on a wide receiver, even if it's an illegal one. They don't fight. You know, if there's a penalty, there's a penalty. They know it's part of the game, and they move on. So that's probably the next thing about hockey.

You're allowed to hit hard and don't have to fight. But again, that's standing up for your teammate, standing up to a bully. That also is attracting. That's kind of, that's an interesting part of the game. That's why we love it. I think the young guys just need to do it. Just celebrate however you want.

And don't worry about the repercussions. Just do it. Like what? You might get hacked and whacked the next game and the guy might slash you. But, you know, if you want to be an individual you can still do it like there's nothing to hold them back or if you're the maple east like aston matthews go to the front office can we dress the way we want to dress let's try it one game let's do one game let us dress how we want to dress and we promise we won't look like hobos we'll look cool and give us

that chance or you know that's what it will take. At some point, you just got to do it. You're better off asking for forgiveness than permission sometimes. And just go ahead and do it. Booch, earlier in the interview, you alluded to the E60. Now, could you tell us about any of the type of features that you guys are going to have? Or are they all top secret going into the year? Well, like we had to sit down with Evander kane talking about the whole gambling thing and that

was you know we're not going to be afraid to do those stories we're not going to be you know we're just not going to be a pr arm and we're not going to you know we're going to if there's a big controversial story or something or in-depth thing we're going to cover you know we're going to sit down or when we're going to talk about it or have that journalistic side. So that's, that's, that's an example right there. And so those are the kinds of stories we won't shy away from that. If there's a controversy, we're going to take it on head on. We're not going to, you know, we're not going to, we're partners with the league for sure,

but we have to tell these stories in a complete transparent way. And we will. I agree on the, on the dress thing too, especially these guys who have like a half mile walk to work and picking up a coffee. And it's like, they got to put this monkey suit on just to walk 15 change and put on this sweaty gross equipment.

Anyways, it makes no sense. I want to get to another thing. You know, we've seen Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve. They've been doing the bad beats for a while. Awesome segment. Those guys do.

Are we going to see more gambling talk? Given that teams are now in bed with casinos essentially and the whole concept of gambling has done a 180 since 15 years ago, five years ago maybe even? I certainly would like to sprinkle it in the broadcast if there's an over-under situation looming late

in the game. I think it's okay to talk about that. Absolutely. Those empty netters are very stressful for people they're huge john i mean especially when they pull the when they pull them so early now right because oh yeah now it's three minutes patrick grom was great he was pulling his goalies with like five minutes left absolute revolutionary no one did it before him he revolutionized jock lemare would do it with 14 seconds left in minnesota he would not pull that goalie here

comes wah with three or four minutes to go, and he revolutionized. He changed hockey. One of the biggest coaching changes in the last 25 years is what Patrick Waugh did. He was ahead of his time. I want to say Sportsbook haven't adapted to the in-game line as far as when the goalie is pulled to.

So they say it's one of the easiest things to capitalize as far as making money and gambling in sports. that empty net no really yeah yeah so when i was in vancouver i was just walking by a bunch of guys and there were a couple guys outside having a cigarette and they were like hey what's up listen to the podcast and they traveled in because this guy was doing this like gambling thing now ra might be like oh yeah this guy's got him hook line and sinker but they said that that they basically had like a couple of them had like went part-time on their jobs because they made so much money in gambling on hockey puck lines like where they had like an algorithm down where they would all kind of be in this like text chain and and they were basically drinking one of the guys kool-aid and they were there to see him and he was kind of

giving like a lecture on it and how to keep capitalizing off it. And, and I don't know, maybe the sports book will catch up now given that it's, you know, the gambling is kind of being elevated and it's everywhere, but who knows? All right, here's your time to shine, buddy. If they can't figure it out, make up all that money you've lost. Yeah. You may have to sign me up for a hundred year deal for that, but no,

well, the thing with the puck line talk, too, is, like, you got to be clear because puck line is minus 1.5 or plus 1.5. And, you know, I don't advocate betting the plus 1.5 at all because, you know, sometimes you're playing 190 to make 100 for a team to basically lose boots, you know? You're getting the goal in half. Well, if they lose, you still win.

It's like, well, if you like them to win, then take them for the money to win. I just it's i just don't understand it as a gambler hey to each his own but the puck line yeah there is two sides to it when we say puck line on this show it always means minus one and a half because that's where the money is got it for sure for sure but we will be more transparent with that too i'm sure like i'm doing one of my the point shows i'm calling it from Vegas, opening night since I'm there, and doing one probably from that studio. So we'll try to bring some that night. Nice.

When are you going to be out there? Well, for opening night, you know, doing the opening night game, but we're going to do the point that the day before or the day of the game from the Daily Wager studio in Vegas. And then we'll hop over the arena and call the game at night. So Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro have the Tampa Bay game, the first game, Lightning Penguins, when they raised the banner. That's our first ESPN game since Game 7, 2004 Cup Finals,

Calgary and Tampa Bay. So Tampa Bay had our last game in 2004. Torts was the coach. And now they have the first game here with Torts in the studio for us. That's great, too. Sean McDonough is going to gonna crush it he's awesome on play by play now he's great he's gonna i think he's gonna be great well you mentioned you're gonna be in uh vegas for the all-star game so so will we so hopefully we can catch up in person there and do some stuff together there that'd be a blast we appreciate you coming on dude we're excited for this year man uh i'd love to come on out there uh don't forget bourbon neat and um yeah it's gonna be a great year

it's gonna be a great year and thanks for what you guys are doing some huge contributions in the hockey culture these last years we beat it to death uh the the the eichel situation but i just want to get your your opinion on it i mean it mean, it's, you know, with especially in an Olympic year and it being so important for Eichel, like, are you guys going to talk about that quite in depth? It's in our first show. In fact, I saw the rundown for our next for our show, October 7th, our first, the point and it's right in the a block. In fact, I'm talking with Messier. First I talked with torts about it, how he would handle it in the room.

And then mess comes on. I'm going to hit him with these. I'm going to hit him with the issue as well. it's weird it's the league's got to try to step in i'm sure that's why i hired pat for song thinking maybe he could facilitate a two three four nine team trade whatever it took to get this done uh but it's a bad look for him bad for the sabers bad for the league i get the sabers need their assets they just can't this guy's a absolute top elite more than a point per game guy um and you can't just give him away uh but he has to have surgery and so it's complicated but eventually the league and burson and the sabers have to get together and they got to figure this out because

it's not a good look oh did you get any sleep this uh maybe for a call the trophy future caprizov was pretty much the chalk last year but no it's cold cold coffee i'm gonna pump in in this guy's elite 500 goal score in his nhl career just stupid release everywhere and he could get yeah he's gonna get 500 when it's all sudden matthew's gonna get 700 so at least so uh so yeah he'll get 30 i think he'll get 30 to 42 goals this year right around there uh probably i probably i know what the over under would be i'd probably put the over what would you say 35 over under for him that's a good number i'd probably take the over but i could see someone taking the under that's still a great year 32 33 but if he plays with

suzuki who's dirty i like him to pump him in since you don't mind making predictions, would you say Patrick Kane is the best or going to be the best American-born player ever by the time he retires? And do you think that by the time Austin's done that he could surpass that? That's a great question. Last year, I did a column, kind of a guest appearance, top 20 all-time USA-born players.

So Google Bucci Gras, top USA 20 20 hockey players. So it'll come up. And I do have Kane number one and I got Matthews. I projected forward. So like this was like 20 years down the road. What will be my list? Cause I wanted to have Eichel and Matthews on it. And, uh, and I project Matthews to be number two. That's where I said, he's going to score 700. And I got like Eichel, like five, like four or five. I still very bullish on Jack Eichel

and it's all said and done Booch I know they got new owners a couple years ago Arizona sorry I'm not trying to pick on your team but I think I'm going to take a pester in this segment okay guys just give me a few you know they're basically get stripped for parts for the most time most part the positivity of the you know new owners

is kind of dissipated I'd say they're playing in a lame duck arena. The future doesn't look great there. It's a challenging time to be fans. I mean, is Arizona destined to go to Houston in three to five years? I hope not. That's such a great market. I think if the rink is in the right place.

Now you've got Arizona State. You've got, obviously, what, all four sports teams there. It's a cool place to be. It's got a vibe to it. It's got a beat to it, Scot got a it's got a beat to it you know scottsdale and phoenix i i don't see why you would leave there it's only growing they're only building more houses i think you got to find a way to make that work yeah and that's an arena in you know the phoenix scottsdale area that's just it's not going to work glendale you know no no so they're doing them a favor i think giving them evicting them. And hopefully it works out in their favor. But yeah,

I think that's a place that you want to work. You got to hand to Gary Bettman. He does not abandon places. Like he is patient. We're not going to do that. We're going to make this work. They laughed at him in Raleigh. And, but now you kind of see that map kind of making sense now, wherever I say, a hockey team is the best way to create hockey fans. I have 50 teams i mean whenever you go somewhere youth youth participation explodes adult participation explodes you create hockey fans it's the best way to do it is a hockey team you see in vegas see in seattle vegas will always be vegas this team the golden knights more than

the raiders because they got them right from the start. They were organic. They were hatched there. And that team's going to have a relationship with that hockey team more so than the Raiders. So, yeah, I think they've got to make it work in Arizona somehow. The Toronto Maple Leafs. How does this season end and where does it end? I'm always bullish on them. I am bullish on them. I don't like their goalies. I think they might have to fix that. I don't see them winning with their goalies, but I still believe in those guys. I believe in Marner the way he can drive offense and Matthews,

like says the best goal scorer. It's, you know, to embarrass me. I just, I just don't think that was the right move at the time, but I'm still bullish on them. I just think there could be a time where they get it all together, but it's just not as apparent as some of those other teams. And, and just don't know and i just hope we get austin matthews in america do you think dubas's job would be on the line if they uh if they face another first round exit yeah i think so i mean it has to this is his plan and you know but you know it's you know you just can't this is you just can't keep doing the same thing. And if there's no hope and it's like, now what do we do?

So yeah, I think it would have to be, it'd be only fair. Yeah. Well, there's so many storylines that that's what's exciting about this year because you usually have all the teams and the players and possible award winners. And we also have like the entire new broadcast with ESPN and TNT. So being a part of that is a joy for us. And we've known each other a long time.

I'm very happy for you to be doing play-by-play in the NHL. I feel like that was one of your dreams. So good for you. And thanks for coming on. No, thanks so much, guys. Thanks for having me. And yeah, we can't wait to start the season. We can't wait to see you in Vegas.

I guess last thing, is there a potential maybe sandbagger in the future? I don't know. Are you guys allowed to do those? ESPN and mix in with Barstool? I don't know. Are you guys allowed to do those, ESPN and mix in with Barstool? I don't know. It's a touchy subject. I think me and Ferraro versus Utah, too, would be a good match. That would be a real good one, Bess.

Okay, we'll do it in Steubenville, Ontario. We'll do it at your home course. Steubenville Country Club. I'm an out-of-town member. $200 a year. You're a little bit conflicted here in an Olympic year with Canada and the U.S. going at it. That's right. Thank you so much for coming on.

And next time, maybe we'll touch a little bit more on college hockey and talk about how Michigan's got a higher cap than the Tampa Bay Lightning. That's right. They're over the cap. Good call. Thank you, boys. My pleasure. Thank you.

Fellow son of Boston. Take care, Booch. Huge thanks to Boochie coming on with you, boys. All right, Bucci. Thank you. Fellow son of Boston. Take care, Bucci. Huge thanks to Bucci coming on with us, man. Such a great guy. He's been doing it so long at ESPN. It's great to have ESPN with Hockey Back and Bucci in control. So big thanks to him. And we also want to let you know that that interview was also brought to you by SimpliSafe.

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Again, that's simplisafe.com slash chicklets. All right, boys, moving over to the Metropolitan Division. Lots of talk, which is the worst division in hockey. Some people think this one is it. Some people think it's the Pacific. Either way, we're going to tackle the Metro right now. Let's see. Alphabetical order, as usual, Carolina.

This is a contender that had a complete rehaul of their goaltenders. I think that's pretty unusual to see in the NHL, just to have two whole new goalies when you have a pretty successful run in the playoffs. Last year, they did lose in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Tampa, four games to one. They were third overall in the regular season. They're saying bye to Dougie Hamilton, huge loss. Alex Nadelkovich, Peter Mrazik, James Reimer, and Warren Fogle. They're bringing in Ethan Beer, Ian Cole, Tony D'Angelo, Brendan Smith,

Freddie Anderson, Anthony Ranta, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Derek Stepan, and Josh Lievo. Carolina's cup odds at 19-1. This is a team, like, you know, this is their window right now, I would say. I know they had a nice run a couple years ago, and the Bruins knocked them out, but this is a team like, you know, this is their window right now, I would say. I know they had a nice run a couple years ago and the Bruins knocked them out, but this is a team built to win now. Rod Brindlemore's not going anywhere. Solid team. Witt,

let's go to you first on the Canes. Very excited to see this team play. I think that they're fast, they're hungry, and their coach gets every single ounce of skill and hard work out of the team.

So when you look at the lineup, it's changed a lot, which is kind of surprising in terms of you're talking about the goaltending. That is by far and away their biggest question mark and worry as a team and a fan base because Ronta can't even stay healthy. This guy, I mean, he's hurt every single season. So if Frederick Anderson somehow has injuries, then you're wondering what's going to go on. The big thing is, if both those guys are healthy and play well,

then it's like, holy shit, we got a great setup in that. A solid two-way tandem. I don't know if that'll be able to happen, but they're forwards with Ajo, Svechnikov, Taravainen, that's a ridiculous line. I like Niederreiter. I think that he'd probably be better than last year, but Trocek could easily get you 50, 60 points. Stahl's the third-line center. He's the leader on the team.

I just think Stepan coming in is a veteran-type guy for a young team. And then on the back end, like, Jacob Slavin is one of the top defensemen in the league they really are deep at every single position and like Tony D'Angelo say what you want like this guy could be a major factor coming in because he has a lot to prove who knows how many really chances he has

left in the NHL but the last time he played he had over 50 points with the Rangers so if he's getting power play minutes and minutes Dougie Hamilton used to get, I wouldn't be surprised if he got 45, 50 points again. And this is a playoff team for me, no doubt. And a team that if everything fell right and everything fell correctly and the goaltending was there, they could compete for the cup. I mean, yeah, you summed it up perfectly.

And like it's such a cheap replacement. And if you can get that type of Dougie Hamilton production, it's to shift some things around though like all of a sudden your power play looks different you know your you know your back end just looks a little bit different the fact that they got Ethan Bear um who's the kid they ended up losing to Columbus Jake Bean who was a guy that they were going to look to to come up and make an impact so things look a little bit different but they're so well slotted up front in their depth that you know i think it takes a lot of pressure off their back end and of course their goaltending so this is a very very solid team and i believe that they're a playoff team

grinelli play no doubt a playoff team and i wouldn't be shocked if they make a run yeah well that's it's another thing too mean, the goalies they're bringing in, Auntie Ratha is going to presumably back up Freddie Anderson. And I mean, Freddie was a damn good goalie in Anaheim. I think Toronto, he was good at times, excellent at times. And I don't know if it was the pressure of his injuries or what. I think maybe a new setting, especially somewhere like Carolina where he's not going to have 7,000

fucking cameras in his face after practice every day when he's not playing. Maybe it might have a nice effect on his game. But either way, I hope he bounces back. He's a good guy, a good goalie, and I'd like to see him have some success down there. It's a great place. You can just go get lost and focus on hockey. You don't have to deal with all the hoopla. Yep, exactly.

So we're all in consensus that they're going to make the playoffs. Next up, Columbus Blue Jackets. Last season ended. They did not qualify. They finished last in the Central. They lost Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson over the summer. They're bringing in a new head coach, Brad Larson, in addition to defenseman Adam Boquist, forward Sean Corrales.

They're bringing Jacob Voracek back in a trade. And Jake Bean, like you just mentioned, Biz, their cup odds 150-1. You know, this is a team, like, I know they're not great on paper, but they seem to go fucking all out. I know they signed Elvis Merzlikens, who's a great young goalie. I think they might contend for a playoff spot in this division. I think they might play above their weight class. I think they might come up a little bit short, though.

What do you got for us, Biz? I just think the inexperience on the back end is is just it's too big of a hill to climb they have 5d in their lineup who haven't played over 150 games in the NHL three three of which who haven't even reached 50 who are slotted in right now so there's going to be a ton of weight on Wierenski's shoulders and especially at the fact that they're going to be missing him the first 20 games of the season because I don't know if you heard with 20 game suspension for that ball drop on 19 in the sandbagger player safety hit him with so they're gonna be with they're gonna be without him just no i'm fucking around folks but on a serious note though you got two young goalies in in net and they're gonna be sharing time and i know that

they're strong in that position that's just going to be a lot of pressure on them and warensky at the fact that they just have no experience back there you said that that's just going to be a lot of pressure on them and wierenski at the fact that they just have no experience back there you said that that's the type of team where they kind of take on the fan bases mentality and their work ethic um maybe not line a uh maybe so though maybe he has a a bounce back year because i don't think he settled in great when he first got there i don't know if that had anything to do with torts, so maybe the coaching change will lighten things up around there. He will be playing with a guy who's got some experience in Voracek, but they're just really not that deep in their bottom six.

As I said, the inexperience on D is really, really going to catch up to him here. That's just weird. Have you ever seen a team that has so few games on the back end? Not a playoff team, so I don't think they get into the playoffs. The other thing is Jack Rosovich, he had a nice run when he came over. I think him and Tortorella ended up having a couple issues, but he's kind of their number one center right now. He's not a number one center.

When you don't have a guy that can really run the power play and and be a first line top centerman it's just really hard to compete at the playoff type type level that they're they're hoping to get to so i also don't know about line a like he could get 40 and you wouldn't be surprised or he get eight and be healthy scratch it's like the guy's such a wild card he seems to think that he kind of knows it all i think like i sense from his like press conferences and stuff he's just like whatever i don't know i i if this year he lights it up like i said i wouldn't be shocked but i'm not i'm not really sold on him in that trade now dubois i don't know what he's going to do in winnipeg but still kind of a tough deal the way the way line looked last year and in the end

it's a it's a team once you lose Seth Jones it's like Wierenski's kind of all alone there and yeah I don't I don't I don't see them getting in the playoffs a little bit like Ottawa in terms of they'll play hard um and and they won't be like a pushover by any means but I don't I don't see him getting an attorney you're almost better off getting rid of line a at this point and just getting worse before you get better we've heard that before the yotes i mean is rostovic slaughtered in as their first line center at this point some things and then that other one like uh is it texier texier how do you say his name i was texier yeah he's good and like so he could end up being the number one so he's a little more skilled i, I think, but they don't have much up the middle. I mean, he's just not a number one center.

That's just like, especially, I know it's the weakest division, but he's just not a number one center to me. All right, none of us have him go in the playoffs, I'm assuming. No. Okay, let's see. Moving right along, the New Jersey Devils. Last season ended. They did not qualify.

They finished seventh in the East. They brought in a big name, though. Dougie Hamilton signed to a big ticket. Ryan Graves, they also got in a deal. Goalie Jonathan Bernier and Thomas Tuna. Cup odds are 60-1. Obviously, they're waiting for a lot of these young guys to step up. Hughes, Hesha, who's been playing well, but I know he gets picked on.

I think one of the concerns with them, if I was a fan, and I know I said I hate bringing this up, but the whole Blackwood vaccine situation, and I'm not criticizing him one way or the other. I don't know his medical situation, but when you're starting goal, you're a hopeful starting goal. And he's unbelievable. He was great early last year.

I know the team kind of fell apart late, but I think think that's uh I don't say cause for concern but it's a it's a question mark going forward with this team you know and again I'm not judging him one way or the other I don't know his medical history or anything but you know if your goalie isn't vaccinated and can't travel to certain games and can't go out of the country and it could be ramifications for your team god forbid he catches something I don't know man I hope that doesn't become a factor but i think it's part of the story in new jersey i'm sorry to bring it up but anyways what do you got on jersey well i think they're much improved um totally totally confused as to what we'll see because i i really wouldn't be shocked if they had a really nice season but i also don't know because there's just some young guys you'll see,

like, do they take the next step? So that, is it Sharon Govich? Is that how you say his name? Yeah. Yeah, like, that guy was nice. Like, in terms of, like, rookie production last year, he was right up there, and he was a good player. And I think Jack Hughes will take a next step. And then, obviously, bringing in Dougie Hamilton just kind of changes

being able to get out of your own zone and having a big shot on the power play. I know PK is there, but he can't move remotely close to as well as Dougie skates or anything like that. I think Graves is a great option in terms of a shutdown guy and a penalty kill in your face type defender. It's a good point about Blackwood because he is awesome. So if all of a sudden you have this team and you get some production out of, like, Tatar, right? He comes over and say that he produces points, which it seems like he always does wherever he is.

I think the defensive zone can be an issue, but he can produce. So if they have all these guys, guys like him and Miles Wood, who's tough to play against, and these different players who step up, and then Blackwood's, like, missing road trips and stuff, it's going to be an issue because when he's playing, these different players who step up, and then Blackwood's missing road trips and stuff, it's going to be an issue because when he's playing, he's so good that the team could be solid and competing for the playoffs. So I think they're a huge wild card in terms of this year.

But definitely from a fan standpoint, you're way looking more forward to the season right now than you have in the past few because they made some changes to at least get some excitement in that building. Yeah, I agree. I do not know what to expect because any guy that you look in their lineup who like who might have had a good year last year it's like well they just don't they don't have the longevity to prove it i mean a guy like ty smith all of a sudden he gets bumped back to the third d man which is a positive right he doesn't have that much pressure on him with graves and dougie hamilton coming in he had a great start to last year, but he's got half a season under his belt. Same with the forward that you mentioned on the right side.

And then Tatar is a question mark. So, you know, can Jack Hughes end up elevating to actually be a number one center and compete with guys in that division going head-to-head every night? Nico, he's here. A guy that I don't want to say we've been critical of, but just kind of questioning like, hey, is this guy the real deal? What's that? I said Whit has. Whit gets shit from the devil's hands all the time.

He does. That's not necessarily fair. I've said it in terms of first overall picks. Right. And now he's slotted in that second spot. So now he's going to have better matchups. So now he's got to elevate his game. He's got to show a higher point production and then they also have that zaka but all in all

man they got you know half their team with a lot of inexperience so you know they all seem to really enjoy each other and get along and they got some veteran leadership but i just i mean i don't know man this is like with all this these question marks going into you know is ty smith going to have a good sophomore year can he sure take the next step and what can man. With all these question marks going into, you know, is Ty Smith going to have a good sophomore year? Can he sure take the next step? And what can we get from all these other young guys? I just don't know. I know that I'm not betting on him to make playoffs.

That's for sure. I don't think any of us are, right? G? No? No playoffs, but I think Jack Hughes has a monster year. What do you mean? In terms of points? You have to say that or the whole fan base will get on you. I just think in terms of production,

I don't think he had a great year last year, and I think he has a big bounce back year this year. So when you say monster year, are you saying like 65 points or 90 points? No, I think 65 points. Okay. You know what? We'll even say 70 points. I'll say 70 points. I'll say 70 points.

All right. All right. Moving right along. The New York Islanders, last season ended. Of course, they lost in the semifinals to Tampa, four games to three. Very tough loss. They could have very easily gone on to the Cup. They're waving goodbye to Jordan Eberle and Nick Letty, saying hello to a new bond.

The UBS Arena is finally going to open. Also bringing in Zach Parise, Richard Panik, and old friend Zdeno Chara. Cup odds are 17-1. They're also going to have a healthy Anders Lee back. I mean, this team's a top contender. Like I just said, they could have just as easily got to the Cup last year. That game went down at the last minute. A tough goal they lost on.

They probably would have went on to win it if they played Montreal. The Islanders are right there. Obviously getting the playoffs. I think they're a legit cup contender. Paul Bissonette, what do you have to say? I mean, you pretty much said it all. You talked about the guys that they added. I think they get better.

Throw Anders Lee in the mix, given that he was injured all playoffs with that torn ACL. To me, they win the division, and I consider them a cup contender this year, and I hate to say it. I'm not on the wagon as Witt might be moving forward here. Are you part of the fan base now, Witt? Are you going to succumb to all the peer pressure, or are you still giving it the fuck you Islanders double-barrel shotgun here?

No. I'm not a fan. I'm not joining that fan base. I just rustle around with the idea. There's no chance. But I will say this. The idea? As far as I, as hard as I root against that team,

and I hope they lose, and I hope they stink, they're nasty. And they're heads and shoulders above every other team in that division, I think. And I think they win the division, and I do think they can compete for a Stanley Cup. I'll just be along the way rooting against them and Frankie Borelli, that piece of shit. But I promise you that this

team is loaded, and I can admit it as a hater. And to get Lee back, and to have that goaltending tandem, and to add Chara, who can do a job of 15 minutes and some PK and some leadership, they just really do have it all to compete for a Stanley Cup.

So nothing would surprise me this year out of them. I hope nothing good happens to them. And I will say this. If they go on that 13-game road trip to start the year and they somehow come back, like, I don't know, like... Nine and four? Yeah, dude, then you're like, holy shit. I mean, even if you can go eight-5, just even 500, right?

Like to start the year, that's tough before the building's ready to then come home. They could then just go on a crazy run. But that is a tough way to start the season. So as long as they don't come back, you know, 3-10 or whatever it is, and even if that's the case, it's enough time to make it all back. But it's a little different beginning of the season, but still it's a great team very deep they're the best coach team in the division they got an unbelievable fourth line their d is incredible they got a great goalie tandem and and i i guess they're one issue with how structured they play sometimes it's filling the back of the net i just don't see

them having an issue with that i think that Barzell gaining more and more experience and him really coming out of his shell in playoffs last year, this is the team to beat, and I fucking hate to say it. We all agree they're going to be in the playoffs. Winning the division. Consensus on. All right, a few miles to the west, the New York Rangers. Last season ended.

They did not qualify. They were fifth in the east. They made a valiant effort but couldn't get there. They're bringing in a new head coach in Gerard Gallant. Also forward Barkley Goodrow. Forward Sammy Blay and forward Ryan Reeves to get some toughness in there. They traded Pavel Buchnevich to St. Louis.

Their cup odds are 22-1. You know, the Rangers were very close to a playoff spot last year. I think with Shesterkin, this guy's fucking dynamite. If he can play up to his potential and stay injury-free, 100%, I got the Rangers in the playoffs this year. They're much like Columbus to me

with having two young, good studs in net. Is it Gorgiev, the other guy, the backup? Yep. Their top four are incredible with Adam Fox leading the way. And guys, they have enough stars up front to get it done. And then you just talked about the depth that they added. If Lafreniere and Kapokako end up coming out of their shell and becoming what we think that they're going to be,

this team is going to be fucking dangerous. And I know I said that who did I have as most improved? I kept harping on it I had Chicago as most improved team over the offseason with the additions with the potential for some of their guys in their own lineup and organization

are ready to elevate their play they're another team I could see as being the most improved 100% I think they make playoffs if not I think the fucking owner is going to blow the whole team up. So they have to make playoffs. I wouldn't be shocked if they didn't make playoffs. Gallant was gone after one year.

No. That Nolan's fucking nuts, buddy. He fired the GM after all the unbelievable moves he made. Who was it, Gorton? Jeff Gorton? Yeah, their old GM. This guy doesn't give a fuck, dude. He's a billy goat.

He'll wear sneakers with suits. He doesn't give a shit. Patrick Nemeth, another defenseman I forgot to mention, they brought in over the season. They signed. He'll be like that Davis guy from Oakland just going to P.F. Chang's every day. The billionaire. Unreal bowl cut.

So they brought in toughness, the the addition of reeves now i think there was a lot of people who didn't like the buchnevich trade uh because of how good he was and and and remember when i thought he was um anisimov shooting the gun even though that was like 15 he was he turned into him yeah exactly but i i still think that this team is right on the cusp of playoffs. So I have a tough time, right? I have Columbus and the Islanders no doubt. I mean, sorry, Carolina and the Islanders no doubt getting in from this division. The next two spots, I think it's between the Rangers, Philly, and I'm sorry,

there's two spots for the Rangers, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Washington, and I'm having a hard time deciding who I think is going to be the other two. But the Rangers, in terms of the young production, that's so important. Like, Zibanejad and Panarin are going to produce. You know that. So Strom's been great there since he's been. But then you look at, like, this Kravstov. He's going to get a chance.

The Russian. And you also wonder. So if I'm looking at, like, Goudreau and the way he played for Tampa you got to understand like you're not really getting much offense there but can he bring the same type of third line energy right like I've seen I've seen lineups he's like playing with that that Hedl Philippe Hedl is like I don't know where he fits in on that in the lineup but it certainly shouldn't be like in an offensive role um so Biz you said it capo caco and lafreniere if they can step up and and i think lafreniere has shown a lot more than caco like i think he could kind of

explode this year caco's the question mark but i also like the two goalies too so they got the russian shisterkin and georgiev and we'll see what goes on but i can't give you a yes or no in the playoffs yet i don't know. There's 14 for two spots. That's why I mentioned those young guys. You've got Trouba probably making a little bit too much, and you've got some of these guys on these bigger deals, but they're fortunate enough where they do have these younger guys. Adam Fox, I think, is going to make $950 this year.

So he kind of offsets Trouba as far as what he's making, and you look at a guy like Goudreau who everyone's like, oh, gross overpayment. But that's where they needed to get better. that's where they needed to take some pressure off those you know the top lines so uh you know especially with crider as well i mean he's a proven guy who's going to get you 40 50 points and yeah i got him no playoffs oh i got him no i 100 i got him in the playoffs gee or everybody's to fucking get canned. Biz, Keandre Miller's another guy, too,

that's not making a ton of money, young guy, and I think he's going to do awesome this season. They got like four or five guys on entry-level type deals who can make really big impacts. That's going to be the biggest question mark for me. And I think that they're going to be able to do it because they do have that high-end talent that can take the pressure off them.

And you saw Lafreniere excel a lot in the second half of that season last year. And, I mean, a Capo Caco from at least the game sheets that I've seen so far in preseason, do I put a ton of stake in it? No. But at some point, this guy's got to come out of his shell. I do have them making the playoffs all right and i think capo caco puts up 30 this year all right so me 30 goals i do i do wow uh so us three do think they're in whitney doesn't all right moving right along philadelphia flyers lots of changes on this team will it all mesh who knows last season ended rough year for the Flyers. Lots of changes on this team. Will it all mesh? Who knows? Last season ended. Rough year for the Flyers.

Didn't qualify for the playoffs. Sixth in the East. They traded Jake Vorachuk, Shane Gostesbeer, Phil Myers, and Nolan Patrick. They brought in Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen, Keith Yandel, Martin Jones, Nate Thompson, and Cam Atkinson. Cup odds of

30-1. Like we said earlier, our buddy Hazy's going to miss the start of the season um this team man it really went off the rails last year i know kata hot had a tough year and i don't they just couldn't fucking seem to put anything together but these are wholesale changes i think it's almost like a reboot in some senses i get i see them getting the playoffs i see hot bouncing back i know martin jones had a rough ending in san jose he's probably going to be the backup, but Hott's too young, too good, too much potential. I think they get in this year for the playoffs.

I agree. I'll hand it over to you, Witt. I agree with you. I do have them in the playoffs, but I don't know if you guys are listening at home, guys and girls, if you can tell that there's a common denominator in terms of us discussing playoff teams and it's goaltending. So I understand what you're saying, Ari, in terms of how young and talented he is.

But, Puck, I don't know. If he struggles again, it's just like all bets are off with this team. So I like that they really did improve the D. I think Ellis makes such a big contribution because of how good he is at both ends. And people think he's just offensive. Like this guy can play in his own zone and he's just a true leader. Wrist to line, it's physical. I don't know if they expect him to be top four.

That might be a lot. I know at times he looks great. At times it may be it would be key if he was, you know, the fifth defender. But Keith coming in, Yance for the for the power play only helps i i i like this team because i think of what happened last year there's a lot of pride in that room and i also think that atkinson coming in in replace of well not in replace but in the in the trade uh to columbus for voracek i just think that that he's gonna he's gonna be like hungry to show up and have a big-time season.

So Broussard's there. And in the end, it's a team that I think there are question marks. But when I look at Faraby and some of the young guys, I do see him in the playoffs. So Provorov's also a guy you've got to mention in terms of one of the top young defensemen in the league. Works his ass off. He's humongously dedicated to the game,

and I only think you're going to see him get better and better, but they're a playoff team in my mind, and it truly depends on Carter Hart. Yeah, and they got guns up front. Much like how you said Islanders need to start out well on the road and get a good start to the season, and if they can, they can win the division, I think with a hazy out of the lineup,

if they can get off to a good start and then just having that energy coming back in and what he provides, I think it's just going to accelerate them. So, you know, you're focusing a lot on Carter Hart and I agree with you, but I do believe that they're able to put up that offense when they do have everyone healthy

to help out if it's not exactly up to standard. So I think this is a very good team from top to bottom. They addressed the issues that they had to. And like you said, R.A., exactly up to standard. So I think this is a very good team from top to bottom. They addressed the issues that they had to. And like you said, R.A., there's no way it's going to be as bad in the goalie position as it was last year. It's got to turn, and this is a playoff team in my opinion. All right, Biz.

What about you, Grinnelli? Philly in the playoffs? Yeah, if they stay healthy, I think they can make the playoffs. And the fact that Jans is on the team, if you thought we weren't going to pick these guys in the playoffs, you're an absolute fucking buffoon. And we got to mention it. Is Jans keeping this gold-toothed mouth guard?

Have you guys seen this? Oh, my goodness. What's he doing? He's being fucking Geethi Andel. That's what he's doing. All right, Pittsburgh Penguins. Well, we talk about the Bruins and windows closing. I think the same thing in Pittsburgh.

I mean, they still got Sid and Gino, but they're not going to be starting the year. It's going to be a tough start without them. Also, Jake Ensel is going to miss at least the opener due to COVID. Last season, they lost in the first round to the Islanders four games to two. They did win the division in the regular season. They brought in forward Brock McGinn and defenseman Cody Cece. They lost Brandon Tandem in the regular season. They brought in forward Brock McGinn and defenseman Cody Ceci. They lost Brandon Tandem in the expansion draft. Their cup odds are 23-1.

I don't know, man. This team had problems with their goaltending last year, and I think having no Sid and no Gino to start, I see them going behind the eight ball to start the season and not catching up in this division. And I'm sorry, Pittsburgh. I don't see you in the playoffs this year i mean jeff carter said it they're gonna have to get it done by committee and and uh and tread water while those guys are out but guys i this pains me to say what

i don't think that pittsburgh's gonna make the playoffs and at some point they gotta start looking to to start replenishing that prospect pool and they need to gain assets in order to look to the future darren dragger said it colorado sid could be going to colorado and you guys think i'm fucking around but at some point they gotta look to make a move and if they're not why are you why are you holding your hands like that? No, I was actually somewhat agreeing with you, Biz. I mean, what was the football game the whole world watched Sunday night? Tom Brady playing for Tampa Bay against New England.

I mean, these things happen all the time. So it wouldn't surprise me at all to see Crosby somewhere else. That's why when he originally said it, I'm like, it makes way too much sense, and I just don't see Pittsburgh becoming competitive for the duration of Sid and Gino being there and and I guess like I guess I contradict myself because I went on the Mark Madden show and the more I thought about it afterward I'm like the year they ended up winning I think it was the cup against Nashville they lost Letang their best defenseman was Dumoulin

and thankfully they ended up getting incredible goaltending from Matt Murray. And they had the best one-two punch at center. And they controlled the middle of the ice. And they were able to win that cup. Now, without these guys starting the season and without them having any type of depth and no prospects coming up and none of that young young blood I don't know man I just I just don't see it anymore and I can't keep lying to myself and I think that at some point they're gonna have to to move on and I don't know I hate I hate to be a doubter too because like it's hard

it's hard to discount those two guys but the fact that they're injured going into the season and I know that they said the the most amount of time that Sid's going to be out is, I believe, six weeks. Geno, a little bit longer. That's a long time for a very average team from top to bottom to be without their two best players and with unproven goaltending. And he struggled last year in playoffs. And I said it last podcast. I love a comeback story, but i don't know i don't know

about this jari kid yeah i it is weird i i for a few years now though people have been saying like is this the end of their run and then they've like actually had pretty good regular seasons they won the division last year but then the first round becomes an enormous issue and like the depth and i actually don't have them making the playoffs just because of these guys being out at the beginning of the season it's so hard to make up losses and now granted they might not be losses this meet this team might kind of catch fire early without Sid and Gino but I'd be very surprised to see that and in the end it's like you don't have you don't prospects there. You don't have young guys coming up.

What ends up being the case with this team? So when you talk about the future and these big names possibly being somewhere else at some point, as crazy as it sounds, yes, it easily could happen. So when I look at the entire division, I said Carolina, the Islanders, and then I'm going Philly and Washington as my other two picks. So that would give Rangers and Pittsburgh, you know, they'd be on the outside looking in. So at the same time, like if Sid comes back and has an MVP-type season,

they'll get into the playoffs. So it's not that crazy to think, but it's just looking at the roster and actually thinking about, like, who's going to take this next step while these guys are out? Like Carter's a great player. Luckily they have him, and Jason Zucker's good, but it's going to be a tough go at the beginning for this team, and Jari's going to be under fire, and we'll see if he can answer.

All right, Mikey, do they make the playoffs or no? I do not think they make the playoffs, but, Biz, to your point about trading Sidney Crosby, the Olympics is also this year, so there could be a little tampering going on in China. People trying to convince Sid to come over, so you never know. Look at G-Star in the pot.

Love it. After fucking Bob Yor, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, any guy can end up in any uniform. Nothing should surprise anybody anymore at all. I heard Sid likes no dress code, so who knows? Maybe he ends up with the Coyotes.

I don't know if he's like Houston. All right, one last team in the Metro Division, the old Washington Capitals. Last season, they lost in the first rounds of the Bruins, four games to one. They really didn't bring in any reinforcements this year. They did lose Zdeno Chara and Brendan Dillon. Cup odds are 27 to one.

If they get healthy goaltending, they should be in contention, but I've already picked my four playoff teams from this division, so I don't have the Capitals making it this year. We're just going to watch Ovechkin score a bunch of goals, I would assume, but Biz, we'll go to you first on D.C. Yeah, just like you said,

they didn't really address any issues, and they got bounced pretty quick. I think that there's just the high-end talent in this division is just too much and uh the goaltending to me is is the biggest issue it's unproven uh the one kid ended up getting injured in that first round last year right and that was kind of their demise they couldn't really get settled in after that but I don't know guys they got that high-end talent but I just I don't I don't see them as a playoff team and I don't really have much else to say about this lineup. I think with Kuznetsov, Ovechkin,

John Carlson, Oshie, Tom Wilson, the way he plays in the top line, I think they're in the playoffs. Manta looked awesome when he came over. I do think they're going to get in. There's times when you look at the D and you question things, but

in the end, Orlov, Carlson, Michael Kempney, and Justin Schultz, top four, those guys can move. I don't know much about, like, this guy Martin Ferrivi, Ferravri. How do you even say his name? Right now he's penciled in the top six with Nick Jensen on the bottom pair. I don't know much there. But I just think of the top-end talent. Now, the biggest thing is Kuznetsov this guy can be a dog there's times he he led the playoffs in scoring when they won the cup and then he just

kind of just disappears for a while so Laviolette's gonna have to push the right buttons in terms of getting that guy fired up and ready to play and hopefully Backstrom's healthy and they can get going but I I do have them in the playoffs I think they've won the division six years in a row or something. Have they not? I bonked on Washington in the sense of I completely forgot who they even had on their team, so I just figured I'd say no playoffs for them because I'm a big Penguins fan. No disrespect to who I'm going to mention, but this is a team that had to start

Craig Anderson in a playoff game last year. I know guys got hurt, but they didn't have any organizational depth to bring in. I know they suffered some goalie injuries last year, but I don't know. Looking at them after last year, I wouldn't call it their strength. So you are the only one that has them going into the playoffs from that division. So, Chris, who are your four teams? I got the Rangers. I got the Islanders. got the islanders i have uh

flyers you had flyers and i don't think you had a team and carolina yes i did no he did biz has carolina the island is the ranges um and uh philly the only other team i would swap out for for washington making it would probably be the Rangers. But I just think those young legs are going to come through. And that's why I didn't even bother studying on Washington. I completely forgot Ovechkin was on their team. All right, gang. Well, that wraps up our Easton Conference preview.

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There's not a ton what I call the et cetera portion of the program. I know, Biz, you sent a group assignment out last week. I know some of us were able to do it. Not all of us. People have been busy, kids and whatnot. Squid Game on Netflix. Awesome. Holy fuck.

Wow. You liked it? My God. Amazing. Absolutely incredible. I bridged it in 24 hours incredible i if i could have stayed up i fucking would have it was absolutely brilliant it was uh i mean i know and oh that's what i want to we want to talk here's how i would summarize it it was like

parasite the movie saw and hunger games had a baby is that a fair is that a fair assessment yeah that's... And the only reason I said Parasite is because they have the caption on the bottom that you have to read. Now, I watched it. This is the biggest debate going. Do you ever watch foreign films

with a dubbed over voice? No. Or do you read... I talked to somebody who's watched the show and my wife said she turned it on after 10 minutes. She's like, I don't know. She's like, I want you to watch it and tell me if you think I'll like it, so I'm going to give it a go. But I did speak to somebody who said it's not synced up, and that's kind of hard to get used to in terms of their mouse.

What are you? What the fuck are you shaking your head? No, he's agreeing with you. Calm down. I'm shaking my head at dubbing. I hate dubbing. It's not you. He hates dubbing.

He hates it. That's how fired up he gets about dubbing. Dubbing's not. You guys calm down. I'm shaking my head at dubbing. I hate dubbing. It's not you. Calm down. That's how fired up he gets about dubbing. Dubbing's awful. It's like watching a fucking 1950 Godzilla's movie. We should have talked about this before breaking down the capitals. Cause you might've fucking woke up a little bit. This is how intense this conversation is going to be. So I will say of all the dub movies I've seen, this one wasn't as bad as as i thought like the other ones were

i guess ra's rolling his fucking eyes no dude i can't i can't i can't spend 10 hours watch are reading the bottom of the screen and not seeing their facial reactions and not paying attention to what's going on people who can can do that, I commend you. But I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Now, I think that we're going to get a 50-50 split on people who would rather watch. You think it's less than that? No, I think that more people prefer subtitles than dubbing by far. We're going to do a poll on chiclets.

If you're watching foreign movies, what's better, subtitles or dubbing? I think overwhelmingly people are going to say subtitles. So now the movie Parasite, do they even offer it in the dubbed over voice? I don't know. I don't watch it. I tried to watch Parasite with the caption on the bottom. You call it captioning on the bottom? Yeah, subtitles, closed caption.

Subtitles, subtitles, excuse me. But it didn't bother me at all when watching squid game and i will say it sucked me right in i binge watched it as i've said in 24 hours i thought it was excellent i think we're going to end up seeing a season two now i think that they left it open-ended based on the reaction to it this will go down as the most watch show in netflix history that's how much action it's already in if it's not already it's gonna be yeah well globally the biggest show ever that netflix has ever it was number one in 90 countries uh viewed on on netflix because they heavily invested

into the international audiences because they let internet out of the countries just make their own stuff and then they could put them out to the rest of the world and it's it's just an incredible movie and i'm sorry showbiz and to follow your point i i said it was like hunger games running man and then parasite as well obviously the korean thing but plus the whole you know status thing and people like in different parts of society that that element but uh just a tremendous show it's nine episodes about an hour long each actually one's about a half hour uh i highly recommend it gets my highest recommendation one of the best things i've watched in ages we're not we're not going to give any spoilers you said running man was that the one with schwarzenegger yeah it was like a

game show like basically great phenomenal great movie phenomenal movie you seen that one wit i have never seen that but i just saw your reaction when he mentioned it you just both smiled talking about it i'm gonna have to check it check it out. It's a classic, classic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from the 80s based on a Stephen King short story when he used to write under this fake name Richard Bachman. It ended up getting made into a movie. Just a great, fun movie. A couple other

things. I don't think any of you guys watched The Many Saints of Newark yet, the Sopranos movie. We can table that until next week. I believe I'm the only one who's seen it, right? I haven't seen it yet. No thanks. Yeah, alright, so we'll we'll wait we'll wait you guys watch it i'd rather have uh talk saw my cock off than watch fucking soprano movie i got one last thing and i i i tweeted it and i could have the our account tweet out as well 60 minutes i i know i'm the old guy of the crew i still watch 60 minutes well they did a segment on tony bennett last night he's you know tony

bennett the you know basically ballad singer that your parents and grandparents listen to. He's 95 years old. He's got Alzheimer's. I'm starting to lose his memory. Well, because of COVID, he couldn't tour anymore. So his son was like, well, no, we're not ending like this. So they did a final couple pair of concerts at Radio City Music Hall with him and Lady Gaga. By the way, we should all have friends like Lady Gaga.

She's the best. I don't even listen to music, but she's such a... My dad is obsessed with her. She's such a great friend of Tony Bennett. They just have such a great friendship. I watched it today, man. I was a puddle watcher. Maybe I'm in an increased emotional state lately or something,

but he's got Alzheimer's. He's 95. But once he got on that fucking stage, man, it just clicks. He just went back to Tony Bennett 40 years ago and did the concert, man. I can't recommend it enough. Watch this segment 60 minutes. It's heartwarming. It's sad.

It's beautiful. It's poignant. It was a very moving thing. And I just think everybody should watch it. And it might make your day a little better. I think Tony Bennett was the guy who told Gaga, like, hey, your voice is so beautiful. Like, you don't need to dress up. He discovered her?

It is. You're right. Yeah, he was the one who told her, like, stop dressing up like such a goon. Like, just, like, you don't need to. And I think she's, like, really changed her whole look and vibe since, like, the discussion they had whenever that was. I mean, when she was showing up to the red carpet with, like, meat all over. Yeah, she had, like, a bacon a bacon dress yeah i'll meet her i don't know if you ever seen her doc on netflix biz it's

really good i mean i'm not like i said i don't listen to her music much i think she's a fascinating person but when you watch this segment if you do watch it it's it's just like i said a really beautiful poignant thing and the way she ties into the whole story man i was i tear not ashamed to say tears streaming down my face at the end of it. It was just a very nice thing. I'm not watching it on my cross-country flight to Atlanta, I'll tell you that. All right, boys. I was going to ask you, so he has Alzheimer's.

So when he got on stage, would he remember all of his lyrics? Yeah, I almost don't want to spoil it, but some people might not see it. Anderson Cooper did this segment. And he's sitting there there and he's not remembering like five minutes ago, but he went over to his, his piano guy starts playing the piano and he started singing it. And he, for an hour, he didn't have to look at a cue card or note. It was like muscle memory. His doctor comes on and explains like how the brain functions, but he come on, he sang for like an hour, just standing by the piano. Like after not knowing where he was 10 minutes ago. And then to do the concert, like right when the curtains open,

it was just such a wonderful thing to see. I'm going to check it out for sure. It was something I, like I said, I was very moved by it, and I just wanted to share with other people. It's just, you know, I don't know, maybe I'm getting older in life, a little more sentimental. And we all know people, unfortunately, who have these memory problems and dementia and Alzheimer's.

And I think it's something people should watch, and I think they would appreciate it. So that's all I got. I don't know if you boys have anything. Well, I was going to hop in on the music part, and it kind of ties into we can talk about the Brady-Belichick, the whole game last night, but the Super Bowl halftime show that was announced.

Now, I don't typically get excited about them. Who was the guy who did it last year? The weekend, it doesn't typically get excited about them. Like, who was the guy who did it last year? The Weeknd, like, you know, it doesn't get me going that much. This one, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. Now, I'd probably say the funniest thing about this is we sent the picture to the group chat, and Witt was like, I don't know who three of these people are. He didn't even recognize Eminem. It didn't look like Eminem, did it?

No, he looks like a suburban uncle. The graphic did Eminem dirty. I'm with Witt there, though. The graphic did do Eminem dirty. Well, he does have a beard now that he dyes. It is a bit weird. And if you haven't seen him in a while, maybe I guess you couldn't recognize him.

But you didn't know who Kendrick Lamar was? No, I had no idea what Kendrick Lamar looked like. Couldn't have picked him up. You didn't know who kendrick lamar was no i had no idea what kendrick lamar looked like couldn't have picked you didn't know who mary j blige was yeah i think i said i didn't know who two of the three were right i'm oh i thought it was three of them anyway i think it's going to be an awesome show they only got 12 minutes to share the stage i think it's 12 to 14 minutes they get for the halftime show so i don't know how many bangers each they're going to get but uh i'm i'm i'm ecstatic that that's the lineup. Mary J. Blige, man. What's the 411?

One of the fucking best albums ever. Good shit. I can't believe that's almost 30 years old. Not as good as the Fugees. Could be a debate there in the community. Fuck you, Whit. I did not know that was Mary J. Blige. I thought that was Lil' Kim.

No, Lil' Kim. She looks a little bit different now, right? She kind of changed up her look. Dude, Eminem looks like the Undertaker in this graphic. It's ridiculous. He does. Dude, I heard one of his songs. When he was popular, I didn't listen to him really all that much. I know he was wildly popular, but I heard one on Sirius the other day.

I'm surprised they haven't tried to retroactively cancel him for the stuff he said. If he ever come out with that today, it wouldn't get past fucking go. I mean, I was... Well, he was trying to get canceled big time when all this stuff was coming out. It was all being a provocateur. And I'm glad he did it. It was great art. But I happened to catch one of those really vicious songs about killing his ex and all this shit.

And I was like, oh, my God, this would fucking make Twitter explode if it came out in this day and age. The other thing I had written down. Written. Written down? Written. Jesus Christ. It's getting late, folks.

It is, boys. Is Steve Belichick mucking imaginary barn on the sidelines. He definitely got nine million DM slides after that clip last night. What was he doing i don't know he was on a bunch of fucking wolf coaching a football game it looked like i don't know man i don't know if you knew the camera's on him i think we all maybe do goofy shit like that when we don't know people looking but that was a great well i mean he's the defensive coordinator so many times the defense is on the field like you he's gotta he's gotta know he's

getting a pan every now and then i think he's a what outside linebacker coach i think yeah i think i think him and i think him and mayo are the co-defensive coordinators though did you see the tweet from pmt they're like hey my friend over there likes you and it's like my friend twitter was out of his mind when that was happening. I was fucking crying, man. Well, Twitter was funny. It was pretty cool, though, seeing the main reception when Brady ran on the field. For me personally and all my buddies and R.A. and Grinelli,

in my mind, the greatest athlete of all time, the greatest winner of all time. I know Aaron Rodgers in biz's book but not only did he like do it in new england but we got to watch it at like the best possible age you could ever like i was 20 i was 20 to 40 basically 18 to now 39 in terms of like getting to witness like history so i'll never i'll never like not root for for Tom Brady I love the guy I think he's just something else the way he's gone about his entire career and teammates love him it was cool to see him come back

no surprise he got the W awesome night to watch all thanks to the defense isn't it great you appreciated so much more I was a kid, a teenager during Larry Bird. I mean, I went to a lot of Celtics games, but you didn't appreciate it as much as a teenager.

Now you appreciate a guy like that more. His post-game press conference and even on the field afterward, just like deflecting and thanking all his receivers. And talk about the emotional buildup to that game. He said he was exhausted. And that was a late start, too, for the East Coast. That's just a long week. And a cool little meet-and-greet

with Kraft in the hallway before the game after he talked to Breeze. And then on top of that, he passes the passing yard record in the game. A little uneventful throughout the game in the way that it went down. It ended up being a pretty great game. I think people were expecting a shootout,

but a highly entertaining football game. Second half was awesome. Hats off to Mac Jones. This kid, you can tell an NFL guy sometimes right away they're going to be good quarterbacks, and this kid looks like he's been in the league for a year or two already. Future's bright. Thanks, Tom.

We enjoyed it, but what else you got, Biz? Anything? No, just Aaron Rodgers had a great day, too. Kind of overshadowed everything. Oh, I got one last thing sports-related. Teddy Purcell, congratulations on your first ever hole-in-one. I'm not exactly sure what course it was on, but 155 yards. I'm like, oh, what'd you hit, a 7 or 8 iron?

He's like, no, a pitching wedge. So this guy can play, folks. He's got some long irons. My buddy and I, Captain Action, the one-armed bandit, Andrew D'Aremio, I brought him up. We won the Anderson Cup four-ball this weekend at beautiful, historic Worcester Country Club. I believe it was hosted the first ever Ryder Cup.

And we shot minus 9 for the weekend, took it down in a gross four ball. So that was awesome. And there was a sign on the 11th hole, 10th hole. It's a par three. It says Worcester Country Club, 11th hole, 1925 U.S. Open. So it was the 10th hole. It must have been the 11th hole then. A defining moment in the game of golf.

During the 1925 U.S. Open, Bobby Jones called a one-stroke penalty on himself for moving the ball as it lie in the high rough upon address. Only Jones saw the ball move. When praised by the press, Jones said, You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank. There is only one way to play the game of golf. So a pretty cool sign and a pretty cool title for the one-armed

bandit and myself. We appreciate everyone listening. That's the Eastern Conference preview. Next week, we'll bring you the Western Conference. God knows who our Stanley Cup picks are going to be because they'll be coming at you soon enough. We appreciate you guys all listening. Nice chatting with you boys. Bobby Jones, obviously

not from Charlestown. By the way, the site once again is storeca.bostlesports.com right G? That is correct. That's our new store in Canada. If you live there, you want the swag, you can get it there and not pay through the nose anymore. We're so happy to do it for you. Again, thanks for joining us. Hopefully

you have a great week and we'll check back next week with the Western Conference preview. Apologize to you Capitals fans once again. So when you win the division, you guys can fucking tweet us your hatred. As always, we like to thank our awesome sponsors here on Spit and Chicklets. So big thanks to everybody over at Pink Whitney. Huge thanks to our friends at OCB Rowan Papers. Giant thanks to everybody at Rowan.

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have a great week everyone