Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 355: Featuring Darnell Nurse
Episode Date: October 12, 2021On Episode 355 of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Darnell Nurse. Darnell joined (01:47:20) to discuss playing in Edmonton, living with Connor McDavid, and the upcoming Olympics. The guys al...so open the show talking about Biz and his TNT debut this week, the guys then dive into their Western Conference preview. The boys wrap up talking about “the worst movie ever” according to Ryan Whitney.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
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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 355 of Spittin' Chickas, presented by Pink Whitney.
My friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family.
What's up, gang?
Opening night is here.
The NHL is back.
Can't wait to hear that ESPN music fight up tonight with Booch.
We're going to take a look at the West a little bit later,
get you caught up on everything.
We've got a great interview.
Biz is going to be debuting on TNT this week.
Are you excited, pal?
We've got to go to you first this time.
I'm a little nervous.
The suits are not in,
so I think I'm going to be going back to the old gray one,
the one that I've beaten the wheels off for the last five years.
But it's a nervous excitement.
And I actually got a FaceTime from 99 the other day dude i feel like the fucking coolest guy in the world gretzky fucking facetime me just give
me 20 minutes i'll do my best to change that what do you mean oh yeah especially if i fuck up any
names on tnt but guys i'm excited you We're going to break down the Western Conference, the Central, which is an absolute
wagon of a division right now.
And yeah, other than that,
Finnegan is a little bit
lonely. Katie left for a couple
days for a work trip, and he's got
runny bum and he won't eat, so if I have to leave
the podcast for a few minutes, it's probably
because I'm attending to
Finnegan just shitting all over our complex.
Awesome.
Love having pets.
Duly noted.
Gee, you're down in New York City.
We're all coming down this week.
You excited, big guy, or what?
I'm super, super excited to see you boys.
I can't wait for you guys.
Oh, yeah.
Free dinner.
Probably going to get another fucking Rolex.
I'll take it.
If you're offering, I'll take it.
Yeah.
I'll clip that, too.
All right.
Yeah.
It's been a while.
We were down at what? The Stanley Cup playoffs. It feels like six years ago
even though it was only a few months ago. So I'm looking
forward to getting back down. Whitdog, you
look like you're back home unless you travel with those things
in your suit. No,
if anyone would carry these around though,
it's just, you know, it's the
silver medal jersey from Vancouver and
then a giant wooden pink Whitney
chicklets logo sign.
Grinnelli sent me things phenomenal.
It's unbelievable.
I'm going to get this stuff, you know, hung up and try to get the office
looking good.
I only moved in here four years ago now.
So, I mean, it's not like I had time to set up a decent work area.
Yeah, we were in New York City for the finals.
You know, one of the worst finals in Stanley Cup final history.
But still, it does feel like that was so long ago, even though it wasn't.
I can't wait to get going.
Biz, I'm excited for you.
I mean, it's like it's really a win-win because in a sense of you doing phenomenal
and us doing just great on the show and everyone saying, oh, my God,
maybe we get a few more listeners that see biz on TNT and crushing it. Or you do horrific and I can make fun of you and have some of the best.
It's a win win for everybody. It's oh, it's so good. So I think that you're going to crush it.
But in the case you don't just know, we'll get a couple of video clips of me just going to town
on your performance. I hope I get comfortable enough where like the bus ride when we did the
West Coast wagon tour, you guys could start throwing words at me that I have to incorporate that
would get big time in the midst of the broadcast.
And also to have fun with our tricklets followers to direct traffic at TNT.
Now we actually went there last week for a little practice round to like,
what suit coat was that?
That was a, that was, that was, I didn't take this.
A hockey night in Canada acid uh blue blazer should i throw it
up on cherry micro dosing and then designing the jacket give me give me a sec i'm gonna throw it
on for the rest of the podcast yes please do this jacket was horrible i'm pretty sure biz just got
up probably his dog got running bum and he needs his suit coat he should actually use that suit
coat to wipe up the dog's running bum but he probably figured that was just a tryout
day and it would never get on tv or the internet and i think oh there he is anchor man hey that's
you know what it actually looks better it actually looks cooler it looks cooler now than it did on tv
next to gretzky hey that that's what wayne was calling me he was calling me anchor man while we
were there all all wednesday hey and another thing too there was a picture that came out and he looked absolutely
miserable in the actual still that they got of him he was on the far end and I was actually tighter
to the middle than he was I hope that's not the setup because for the goat to be all the way on
the end and me to be on the inside of him I even recommend it I'm like are you sure you don't want
me on the wall because you want he want I think he would want to be there. I remember when I was on TV,
I wanted to be at the end.
That way you're not having to do the tennis court match watching and like
back and forth on the end,
you're just kind of chilling and seeing everyone and from one view.
I guess I never thought that could have been his choice.
That's what I remember.
Cause at the beginning of NHL network that I had to be on the end.
And then sometimes like the longer you're there, they'll put you in the middle when you're a little more comfortable. I was like, no, no, no, I had to be on the end. And then sometimes, like, the longer you're there,
they'll put you in the middle when you're a little more comfortable.
I was like, no, no, no, I want to stay in the end over here.
Oh, okay.
That's why I got a sore neck.
So maybe that's a couple of things G-Man and I have in common.
I'm going to have a masseuse there rubbing my neck between periods.
I'm going to have a neck brace on.
Hey, but going back to the whole setup, like, so Toc was there,
Liam was there, Anson Carter was there, and the whole setup, like so talk was there. Liam was there.
Anson Carter was there.
And obviously, you know, it was fun, man.
It was great chemistry.
And I'll tell you what, you're just basically shooting the shit.
And Wayne's memory and his ability to tell stories and nail the punchline.
It's fucking it's insane.
I can't wait for the fans to be able to experience him telling all these old school stories. And I even asked him about that as far as like, like we talked about, like whether he liked to talk first and like whether he liked to go out on the first shift, like lead off a game.
He said his whole career, he usually liked being the second line to go out.
He liked to see the pace of the game in the first shift to be able to like read it.
And then he liked going over the board second.
So I always found that interesting that the greatest player of all time like didn't because like we i mean
you talk about crosby he always wants to be first right in like going out get going out of the gate
whether it's leading the the practice drills so it was just it's just so interesting picking
it's such a an incredible hockey mind uh you know in the time that I get with him. And also his son ties there.
He's going to help us with like gaining like,
like some of the stats in order to feed us information.
So overall it was great to get one of those runs in. And, and as I said,
I'm a little bit nervous, but very excited to get TNT going on Wednesday.
One question. Then one comment question. Is it every,
is it just once a week TNT
and that's Wednesday night hockey?
Or is it?
For the first part of the season.
So what they're going to do the first two weeks,
they got double headers.
So they're going to do, obviously, Washington, New York.
Then they got Chicago, Colorado,
which those are going to be two great games.
Then the following week, they have another double header.
And because, like, wrestling's becoming a big deal
again and there's a competitor to the wwe did it ever leave i feel like i feel like when the rock
left it you know i don't want to say there was a downturn but i feel like it's it's it's being
talked about more and more online especially on on the social networks ra would you agree with that
so i'm sorry can you repeat that i was googling a., would you agree with that? I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I was Googling a question.
I would agree with you, Biz.
I would definitely agree with you.
Because it's on the come up.
Yeah, because TNT also has, they carry the, is it AEW?
And Pat McAfee actually does the color commentary.
So now there's a rivaling wrestling league that rivals WWE.
So it's kind of driving the traffic back and forth and it's kind of gained its
relevance again. So for after the, the two double headers,
we're going to actually do 10 o'clock start.
So we're going to be doing all the West coast games all the way up until
Christmas time. So it's, it's the,
the AEW is from eight to 10 Eastern time and then TNT at 10 o'clock will kick
on for the, for the Western game. So.
That crew of you Gretzky Anson talk it.
And Liam is there every Wednesday night?
No Gretzky, I think is only doing 30 games.
And I think that for the, for the first week, it's going to be all of us.
And then I believe that for the most part,
it's going to be four people on the panel all the time.
Sometimes there might be five the most part it's going to be four people on the panel all the time sometimes there might be five i think it's i think it's very hard for for a bus driver like liam
to drive when there's four guys because everyone's trying to get their points in and he's got to like
collect what's being said feed off of it then also take it to the next thing so i don't know
if they're going to want to put them through that every single week so um the tnt crew they also got the the in-game coverage
right with like eddie olchek panger um kenny albert so and and i'm i know i'm forgetting more
names but it's going to be a really fun crew with a with a lot of experience and uh and also the
people behind the scenes man they're awesome they're like hey you guys let it fly you guys
have some fun and i think they're going to have some special guests on that first night too.
So I think we've talked about TNT
enough. R.A., snap it back
over to you. I know that you were tweeting
and going crazy about this fight.
It was an incredible sports weekend, folks.
I was going to say, all the sports going on, we got
playoff baseball, hockey starting up, hoop
starting up. Who would have thought heavyweight
boxing would have been the biggest event of the weekend?
And I'm not the biggest boxing fan I used to be i was actually going to see an
old friend of mine we don't get together much anymore so i was more to go and hang out with
him and have a few beers and the fight happened to be on and it was just an incredibly entertaining
it wasn't technically maybe the best fight but it was just two dudes just slugging like you thought
one guy was done then the next guy was done each guy got knocked down multiple times it was just honestly probably the best heavyweight fight i'd say in 25 years without
like going to google i'd say yeah i would say at least the last decade is decade 10 years yeah okay
i can't believe i missed the fight i saw the second fight and that's when fury pounded him and
and wilder said that he was too tired from the how heavy the costume was that he
had to wear to the ring and the walkout with so that there was all these storylines I saw Fury
before saying that he's he's never he's had excuses every time you know I saw the highlights I can't
believe I can't believe I didn't see this fight but of course it ended up being what everyone's
saying the fight of the year and and I just think that that Fury guy is so interesting.
I don't really know what a gypsy is.
So he's the Gypsy King, right?
Yeah.
What is a gypsy?
What is a family?
I think his parents were gypsies, like legit gypsies.
No, all right.
I'm not familiar with his history.
I know the people are called the Romani people.
And I'm just like, he calls himself the Gypsy King.
So that's why I was saying that some Some people might consider that a slur.
I know we said it before.
And someone, one person complained about it.
He's the heavyweight champion of the world.
You're canceled, all right.
You're done.
Get off the pod.
You're done.
Yeah, the Gypsies are the Romani people, I believe.
I'm not 100% familiar with his history.
But he calls himself the Gypsy King.
His mama call him Clay.
I'm going to call him Clay.
You know what I mean?
with his history, but he calls himself the gypsy king.
His mama call him Clay.
I'm going to call him Clay.
You know what I mean? Like, I mean, I mean, as far as modern day boxing,
far and above the most entertaining guy going, he does.
He sings songs after every time he wins his intro.
Did you see his rebuttal intro with he had the rope,
like the Roman Empire outfit.
And then that guy coming out without the shirt on.
Hey, it's what I. It's crazy to make it that big of a scene
with like the adrenaline you have.
I mean, I imagine you're just like,
most people are like a little worried,
if not solely focused on this fight.
And he has like the energy and the charisma
to be willing to like basically put on a show
as he's walking out to it.
Did you see how loose he was when he was showing up pre-fight goes in the locker room he's singing uh singing tunes in there while he's
getting taped up i mean if you also i don't know how many people who um listen follow boxing it's
a pretty cool backstory too like this guy was in a very dark place and i know like lately we've
been talking about the mental health stuff i want to say this guy had like a gun in his mouth ready
to kill himself.
And he,
you know,
before he did it, he thought of his kids and he just kind of shit.
Yeah,
man,
he,
he completely rebounded.
He said enough of this.
He's like,
I'm getting back to training.
And he went from being like a drunk slob to now the world champ.
And he's not,
he's not young.
I think he's at least 40 years old.
And it just seems like he's got all the energy in the world
and he doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon.
And I don't know who's going to be the next competitor
because that Anthony Joshua ended up losing to that Czech guy.
So I think he's going to hang tight for a bit
and wait until maybe that thing has a rematch.
I love how he doesn't need to be shredded.
He's kind of chubby, but he's just an absolute menace of a human being.
And he's just willing,
like he can take punches and he can hammer you down.
So he's like,
I can have a little fat on me.
I don't care.
Amazing.
The punches they take like,
like what's his face.
Wow.
Like he looked like he was drunk for like four of those rounds.
He was just like,
he's got a heart though.
Tons of hot.
I mean,
he,
he got a chin by a fucking blacksmith.
He was incredible all hot,
but like he was just wobbling. You blacksmith he was incredible all hot but like he
was just wobbling you just thought he was going to be done and it didn't happen till the 11th round
but just a wildly entertaining fight if anybody already had it figured out this whole time muscles
are overrated fucking wilder looked like he was jacked and he was the one wobbling around out
there you know what they say biz you can't pull fat so if you can be an amazing athlete with just a doughy body,
what are you doing even messing around with what you got?
That's why Phil Kessel is this fucking goat.
I said, wild, the heart of a champ and fury body of a podcaster.
He doesn't look like a heavyweight champ, but he got it done.
So that's all that matters.
Furies actually only 33, too.
So he's got a lot more time.
Hey, bring that to TNT.
Don't want to make any tough of the Chiefs.
There he is.
33?
Yeah, Austin Matthews turns 43 this week, guys.
Gretzky's like, what?
Biz, you just mentioned Ty Gretzky.
Congrats to Ty.
I like to keep our listeners on their toes,
and that's why I made up that number just like I made up
oh we're gonna get
to some of that when we talk about
the Zibanejad signing now what did you say
you said Ty Domi is a father
no no no you mentioned Ty Gretzky a few
minutes ago I want to give a son congratulations
to him he recently became a dad for the first
time so give Ty a little
shout out
and Ty Domi wear a chirp me that's ty and uh ty
domey wear a rubber um i i mean that's just amazing right there that he got told in his head
but by the internet max the only girl had a kid by by the time this hits the internet
that's true quite the start to the pod for busy boy here and this jacket um we were talking about
you said gypsy and the fact that it's a slur and offensive and
it sparked me to all this dialogue on social media about the new uh the closer the last dave
chappelle netflix special part of that last contract haven't seen it yet yep oh it's uh
yeah it's uh it's it's fucking hilarious um obviously obviously he you know he gets the
people going and the dialogue online was popping
based on some of the stuff he was saying.
He's pretty open and not giving one shit.
He basically began the not giving a shit
when he just straight-up canceled the Chappelle show
when it was the most successful.
He's uncancelled.
Dave Chappelle has proved he's uncancellable.
You can't cancel him. Next book is going toappelle is. Yeah. He is uncancellable. You can't.
Yeah.
He doesn't.
$60 million.
Like,
I mean,
which is great,
dude.
You hear somebody speak their minds.
I live.
I'm a big fan.
I'm a big fan.
Anyone doing that now in the way he delivers stuff.
I remember watching the Chappelle.
So like the,
the,
the clip of Eddie Murphy running,
rubbing them.
Oh,
I ain't rubbing my muddy boots on your fucking
couch it's just one of like his those that show i thought was the funniest show of all time
well let's go i mean yeah clarence bigby clarence bigsby you remember him oh yeah the blind i mean
there was so many blind white supremacist but he's black doesn't know he's black and when he
finds out he's black he was tries to kill himself he just like he revolutionized the game is what he did yeah and
he actually he he dedicated it to uh norm mcdonald who i mean i was i've been getting lost in these
norm mcdonald rabbit holes on youtube i just feel since his passing a lot of people have been
watching him so the algorithm's just pumping his stuff out. Just some of the, some of the shit he he'll say in these interviews,
when he gets asked to go on these mainstream networks,
just when he went on the view and he was called,
we talked about that.
We talked about it.
What other funny skits that Chappelle have that,
that were probably some of the most memorable.
Oh,
dude.
How about the real world?
The real world when the white guy shows up and then they're all
and then they stab him too.
They end up stabbing him.
Chappelle show, Chappelle show, Chappelle show, Chappelle show.
Remember the old guy playing the guitar at the commercials?
Oh, that was like a lifetime ago.
Thinking of the stuff he did. What was other one he did the um they did the racial draft did the racial oh my
goodness we select tiger woods and it's funny how much comedy like back then it was like hilarious
now people would throw fucking shit fits galore like what a crazy what a crazy thing that what
a crazy thing that something that could make that many people laugh like like that many human beings
enjoy it and find it funny and don't take offense and that the people who disagree and don't think
it's funny like they're able to like silence it it's just crazy to me yeah well i'm not crazy
hey the uh the player haters ball i like that was a great one times he was fucking great singing live in person chappelle you saw him yeah i see him a couple times yeah i see norm too i'm i was
a big norm guy fucking i told i think i told you biz i i look back if i still had a bunch of dms
with him talking about gambling like eight nine years ago they were still in there like
just going back and forth talking shop with norm mcdonald like yeah one of the youtube clips i saw
he's he was like a frequent
guy on twitter he would tweet about sports non-stop i didn't realize he was so active on
there people thought that could have been like a bit like not that he didn't love sports but that
he was so blatant and he would lose followers and he made it clear he didn't care and he would
like he would write the most mundane like ridiculous tweets like ball in the red sox
game two to one like
he was blatantly i don't know if he was fucking with people but he definitely loved sports
he was a big gambler very big sports gambler going back to chapelle show uh the the one when they
ripped off the the nfl theme when it's like this moment in in dating history was that the one
i don't remember the nfl theme i remember this hookup history
when they did that when they did the wife swap anyway we've been going on on chapelle a little
too long sorry folks that's all right laughs uh we did mention we're going to be talking about
the west so we do have a guest from the west we'll be bringing him on a little later don l
nurse defenseman for the edmonton oilers had a great chat with him we think you're gonna dig it
a little bit later.
But first, there's no better way to kick off the new season
than heading over to your local bar and ordering up some Pink Whitney.
Whether with club soda or as a shot, you can't beat that smooth Pink Whitney taste.
Enjoy it from the pregame to the after hours.
Grab some at your local spot today.
You enjoy any Pink Whitney this weekend, boys?
No, I've been on the red wine train like a fall thing i was i was in nantucket um i ended up do we we did like a 17 mile bike ride but it was supposed to be like eight i i totally
messed up going out to sanctity this golf course biz with this lighthouse oh my god it's just
beautiful but i'm so sore right i can't
even move around so i've just the red wine i don't know what like soothes me a little bit it makes me
feel a little bit better but the pink whitney interestingly enough was brought to my attention
keith yandel texted me and said the boys were just uh hanging out just having a drink watching
football one of those team bonding days right before the season gets going biz you know what
i'm saying oh yeah and r the line and offered everyone pink Whitney,
it's all he drinks pink Whitney with a seltzer.
So to know that,
you know,
that's a current player.
That's just on board.
We got to get maybe a sticker on his helmet.
Well,
on top of that,
Merle's shot us a group text.
He saw it at the,
one of the football games.
I think that was in Houston.
Texans played the paths today.
Pats with a ridiculous comeback.
They look horrible.
Came back to beat a garbage Houston team.
But the drink of the day at that stadium was Pink Whitney.
So, yeah, shout out all you guys for drinking.
That's kind of funny.
You're on the red wine train because so am I lately.
I like to have a glass at the end of the day.
Just as you said, it kind of sues me.
And I've been back on the workout train. I like to have a glass at the end of the day, just kind of, as you said, it kind of sues me. And I've been back on the workout train I've been doing. So like, it's, it's hard to get
back into it. Cause I took quite a bit of time off. I do a lot of hiking and, you know, just a
lot of body movement stuff. And a good way to get back into it is not get right back into the weights,
just do all body weight squats, lunges, make sure you're, you're, you know, you're staying
limber with a lot of like mobility, stretching-ups very light like shoulder activation i mean i do like the 10 to 15 pound
weights and i tell you what i feel great do some uh do some abs in there so you don't like most
guys think oh i gotta get you know back in shape you know i just do it with like a jog and some
body weight exercises folks and and you know and you're a little bit less sore why are you laughing all right no
i was like talking about getting cheap i was just like yeah like you know i have my workout my
workout is like fucking thumbs just fucking going to my twitter guy no that's i got my walks in here
there my old man exercises all right let's talk some hockey man uh this fucking this this is the
best off i shoot the nhl right now all Carolina Hurricanes, they did not play six preseason games
as mandated by the CBA.
Now, teams schedule their own preseasons.
The league doesn't do it as part of their scheduling matrix.
Well, somebody dropped the dime to the league that Carolina didn't play
the six mandated games.
Frank Cervelli said, quote, there's some thought it's the Habs who snitched.
So it doesn't sound like there's going to be any repercussions from the league or anything.
But this like off ice, petty version of the Hatfields and McCoy, it's fucking awesome.
It's hilarious. They play October 21st, the Montreal.
And you almost just think they're going to talk behind each other's back during the game or something,
because the level of pettiness is off the charts right now.
I think it's amazing that Cerve Valley, one of the top insiders in
the National Hockey League, had
to say that he's heard through sources that it
could have been Montreal. No shit.
What
an absolute layup this one is.
Who else would have complained about something like
this? It is so petty. The crazy thing
is, is like,
I guess if you're looking at possible teams, you're
going to play throughout the year. You're looking at their preseasonseason matchups but for the most part i would never think to look at
like what other teams and how many games are they're playing in pre-season like doesn't even
wouldn't even come to my head but when you hate a team and they just stole a young guy from you
with an offer sheet you're looking to continue a feud that you actually began. I loved it. I mean, the thing is, I also respected the hell out of the move by
Brindamore and Carolina because I think they're the biggest waste of time.
I think you need three preseason games.
Maybe four.
This six mandated it.
I mean, you're making money, right?
The league.
You're not packing the house.
Although some of these buildings have been jammed.
But in the end, guys get hurt.
They don't need that many games.
Get the guys that are going to play in basically three of the four
if it's going to be four, and then you can spend one game
looking at a lot of prospects and the other three games
testing out four or five roster spots.
But I do respect Montreal for being this petty.
They won't let it go.
The preseason pack that the Leafs force you to buy
is probably worth more than Carolina Hurricanes season tickets in general.
There's probably a chance that that's true.
And going back to Carolina, hey, you got to follow the rules.
And from a guy who most of the ice time he saw that was in preseason,
I feel for the guys who wanted to try to make a little bit more of an impact
and show their stuff off.
They worked hard all summer long to get a little bit of feel for the game
and show Rob the Bod their stuff, and they weren't able to
because they only had four games.
Now, some people were also tweeting that the league was well aware.
One of the games that they had scheduled, was it against New Jersey
and the lights went out?
Was that Carolina who was supposed to play New Jersey?
I saw that Frankie tweeted about the lights going on.
I thought it was an Islanders game.
I'm not sure it was Carolina.
Oh, was it the Islanders?
No, I'm just guessing it was.
He tweeted it, but no, he said Prudential Center.
So that's the Devils.
They had to put the electric bill in Dougie Hamilton's name.
Yeah, yeah.
By the way, Biz, you know that for a fact, NHL rosters,
the team's pretty much picked before camp. Like, you know that for a fact, NHL rosters, the team's pretty much picked before camp.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
There's always what?
One or two jobs?
One or two surprises, yeah.
So what do you mean?
Like, show those guys what you can do.
Show Brendan what you can do.
Like, chances are you're not going to make the team
and you're going to have to prove it in the minors.
I'm just speaking from experience.
I said that that was a time for me to shine the guy who would be healthy scratch half
the time and in regular season maybe touch the puck a few times over the course of the game
because i played three minutes i would appreciate if they extended the amount of games even from six
to maybe eight because i want more okay yeah i think that the i think that the plugs need to get
a little bit of playing time because that's their time to shine.
So that's just me speaking from personal experience.
You bring your preseason numbers to arbitration?
That's a possibility.
They're like September 28th.
This year, I mean, you got to think the motto was like,
no news is good news because there's been some carnage out there.
L.A. Kings forward Quentin Byfield taking second overall 2020,
fractured his ankle in a preseason game
versus Arizona. Definitely
19 years old on the cusp of starting
his career. Just awful. Hate to see it.
Ovi got hurt in a
preseason finale versus Philly. He's day
to day. Of course, he's only one goal behind
myself. Let me hop in here.
Jump in there. People were bitching
out. They're like, oh, that's karma for hitting the
guy from behind. Like some of these fucking idiots on Twitter who must have never played
hockey in their life.
He's open ice.
He's open ice.
If he's getting the puck there, he can hit him from behind.
He's not against the wall.
He's right.
If you ran at him and buried him from behind, you'd probably get a penalty
nowadays.
If the puck was on his stick maybe not actually it depends it's you know what i'm saying now it's
a weird call they might make it you might make you might call a charge if it's from a you know
a deliberate distance oh yeah exactly but if you just pushed him no way as soon as the puck got
delivered he met him there so it's like and same goes – are we going to go over the Revo one right now too, R.A.?
I was going to get to that in a sec.
Yeah, I also want to send – yeah, get well wishes out to linesman Ryan Gibbons.
He was concussed in a pre-game collision with the Arizona 4, Liam O'Brien.
He's doing the concussion protocol.
Like I said, we wish him the very best as well,
and hopefully he gets back out there soon.
That was a tough thing to see.
Never want to see him get hurt, but you could tell his head really got caught there.
And, yeah, I put in the notes, I mean, the scrapping throughout the preseason
has gone up, and Revo and PK, do you want to tell the folks what you got?
There's another one, too.
I watched both angles that were given, like close-ups of it.
Like, it didn't look great because as PKk went over to the wall his left skate which
he didn't have his weight on he had his weight on his right skate his left skate hits revo's right
heel but at that time it looked like revo was already already falling back and he just got his
left blade caught and it was an awkward you know it looked way worse than it's being reported as
they're saying he's what day-to-day it looked like his full mcl acl got torn it looked nasty
when he went down and listen do i do i hold it against crider for going after him at the beginning
of the second no i think that overall the the theme coming into this season for the rangers
where they were trying to change the culture up a little bit and also to seize up for grabs.
So I'm sure Kreider wants to show that maybe he wants that.
He wants to show some leadership.
So he goes right after Subban and right after the situation happened,
when Reeves went down and they collided,
PK was the one yelling for the refs to blow the whistle.
So this was completely unintentional.
I don't care about you people saying, Oh,
I've seen this a few times from PK.
This was not a fucking slew foot.
We've seen plenty of them that are actual slew foots.
This was a big nothing burger.
But as far as all the dust-ups and wit, I don't know if you want to chime in
about that incident specifically, but you're seeing a lot of spirit
in these preseason games.
You saw Hartmut and Landy going at it, and Landy was fuming.
these preseason games you saw Hartman and Landy going at it and Landy was fuming um you saw uh on Saturday the whole incident between Ottawa and Toronto uh and and then uh the Battle of Florida
which holy shit Bennett ends up touching Vasilevsky that obviously creates the World War III
because you can't be losing Vasilevsky in preseason. So Achari ends up going down with a shoulder.
There's like a big dog pile.
So I tell you what, man, I am all horned up, 20-milligame Cialis,
rock hard for this regular season to start.
And Perry did his Urkel into the other goalie, like, did I do that?
He fucking buries a goalie.
The Urkel.
Is that what you were calling it with, the Urkel?
I didn't say that, did I?
No, but that's a pretty good
uh example by uh by R.A. of the way that you used to describe him where he would do the fake fall
on goalies all the time no no I always I always said he would always just get up and be like what
did I do I didn't do anything I didn't mean what are you talking about like he always was like
looking like what do you mean what did I do? But the PK incident, it was just pretty easy once I watched it to see
it wasn't on purpose.
And then even after Gallant said it wasn't, he didn't think it was on purpose.
Coach of the Rangers.
So, yeah, but well stated by you in terms of the Rangers
and what they're trying to do this year.
The Florida-Tampa thing is wild because this is the year, like most realistically, the Panthers could actually win that division and finish ahead of Tampa. It's kind of crazy to say after they've won back to back cops, but them losing that bottom six, six step will change things.
and blatant i mean he doesn't give a shit he's always played on the edge but he pretty much no doubt about it put his shoulder directly into vasilevsky looking to bury him and it caused an
absolute melee it makes total sense it sucks to see achari go down i feel like he's an important
depth guy for the panthers how long is he out for i don't know it looked like his shoulder came out
or something and people were saying that it happened as a result to somebody coming over and grab him i want to say perry was the one to go over and grab
him but it looked like it came out as he went oh was it the big rig my apologies just an unfortunate
landing i mean big rig didn't do anything deliberately dirty bingo and the a for as a
if i was a teammate of azaleski exact same response my fucking wires would have crossed
but the fan in me
who not to say i don't care about either teams we got friends on each team it'd be nice to see
you know maroon win four in a row based on the fact that he'd be up there with the greats as
far as winning four cups in a row and florida you know you know getting back to you know creating
a cool hockey culture down there but dude more of, more of this, please. This is fucking.
I think it's going to be a little.
I think it's going to be violent when they play this year
because you remember the playoffs.
It's not like this is like something out of nowhere.
Like these teams actually hate each other.
So thank you to Sam Bennett for getting things going.
Now, he's got a big deal, big deal out of Florida, too.
Oh, yeah.
Best players in the league.
Absolutely.
But before we get to those big money
deals. We got to talk
about that Ottawa-Toronto thing.
Because that Hall ended up taking a run at
Stutzel, which I thought was a little
aggressive for preseason.
And that Scott Sabrin, who played
for DJ Smith in
Oshawa, and he ended up bringing him over
after he was in Toronto.
He pumps Hall.
And then what a response by Simmons.
He ends up challenging Sabrin and Sabrin.
You see those blocks he's got, how he always puts up his arm.
UFC style.
UFC style.
But the one thing that sucks as a fighter folks is you could see Sabrin goes in for the reach.
One, one reason it's so hard to fight
Simmons is he's got those long arms and and and you know you could tell that they were kind of
judge each other's distance out and then Sabrin goes in for the reach and misses and much like
when that happened to me against Revo all of a sudden Simmons gets the good grab and then
bongo bango bumbo on the ice gives him a nice pile driver and a great response.
And you could see the whole bench for Toronto just be like, hey, we're fucking right. So we
got our guy. And on top of that, that Richie's looking really good right now. I think he's got,
I think he had three goals in three games in preseason and he's going to fit nice in that
top six at a bargain. You think Richie's going to play in the top six all year for the Maple Leafs?
I'm saying he had a great preseason,
and I would assume that they're not going to be shy
to maybe start him out in that role.
You mentioned Mikheyev and maybe trying him out in the top six.
I think that they gave him a couple goes at it.
So I think that really it's whoever wants to up their level of play
and fill in on that top six role.
It's going to be a revolving door all season long.
Unless somebody wants to grab it by the balls and Richie's done that in
preseason. Do I put a ton of stock in preseason?
Absolutely not. Unless it's sometimes, unless it's my stats,
it's my stats and my touches.
I'll also understand. I'll get well wishes to uh edmondson zach cassey and
he banged his head off the ice during a scrap the other night with vancouver zach mckeown he's in
the protocol as well tippet city is going to be okay but you know hate to see guys get knocks on
the head so get well soon zach yeah uh like what said some big money deals but first that i know
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And be sure to tell them Boston will send you.
All right, let's get to those big deals.
Yeah, a couple extensions.
Florida locks up Alexander Barkoff with an eight-year, $80 million extension.
He's got a no-move clause for the first six, then a modified no-trade for the last two.
The deal will kick in next year.
He'll be just 34 years old when the deal ends.
This is money well spent, no doubt.
Maybe one of the most well-deserved contracts out there.
Ask anyone who's played with him, anyone who plays against him,
top 10 player in the league.
I actually think I would maybe go out on a limb and say that I would,
the only three forwards in the league I wouldn't trade for Barkov
are McKinnon, McDavid, and Matthews.
I think if you offered me anyone else, I wouldn't trade him.
Do you know what I'm trying to say?
Yeah, no, I mean, as far as what he, yeah, no, that's a fucking great point.
That's a hot take right there.
He's ridiculous at every single part of the game.
Yeah.
Like a $10 million guy where, I don't know, maybe it was out there.
I didn't read many comments in terms of saying overpayment, not deserving.
Yeah, the same guys who thought it was a slew foot by Subban.
Oh, were there people dogging this deal?
No, not many.
A couple buffoons a couple said
a couple people said overpayment and and and compared it to the couture deal and i was like
shut the fuck up they're not the same player couture is a world-class player but he ain't
barkov level so i don't know you know maybe i'm maybe i'm way off but i just from the short time
i was i saw him, he was super young.
What was that, 2014?
Might have been his rookie year.
It was his rookie year.
And then to talk to Jans and other guys who played there,
it's just like the sky is on another level.
So great signing by them.
They had to get it done, and they have their number one player locked up.
I think, you know.
Making the same as the goalie.
Yeah, exactly, yeah uh i mean
joking aside no state tax helps us get in at 10 million because anywhere else in free agency i
think that he's a guy who could probably get over what matthews and marner got so he's a probably a
12 million dollar player in free agency um looking back to his last deal, I think this is very well deserved because he was on the biggest team friendly deal based on his accomplishments. And you said, uh, you wouldn't trade them for any of those other three. The reason you're saying that is there's probably not a guy that you can rely upon on any situation, even if he's just came off from a shift and he even has like a minute rest, you could throw him right back out there it's pk whether it's pp whether it's a goalie pulled whatever it may be he's a guy
leading the charge probably a big component to them locking him in at such a good average
is the fact that majority of this contract was delivered in signing bonus and i don't know if
you have the exact numbers already i want to say at least 70 million i think i think 80 at least 85 percent of
the deal 80 85 percent of the deal signing bonus um which we talk about uh bark off oh yeah yep
okay uh yeah the signing bonus uh 11 million 11 million 11 million 10 6 9 7 6 2 6 2 so those are
the numbers i mean very similar to what you saw kind of in the Marner-Matthew situation
where I want to say Matthews got paid $30 million in the first 13 months.
Weber, same type of deal.
So a great average for the team.
Of course, if your owner has money and he's willing to deliver the signing bonus
on the 1st of July of every year,
that's a big component into locking one of the best in the league up
for a long
period of time and uh and even though like his you look at his numbers like he doesn't have a
point per game in his career and and so there probably would be people that think i'm a fool
for saying that but in a time where size you don't need to be big anymore it's it's just it's very
obvious now that you can be amazing five six or fucking six four
but i still love having a big number one center who's fucking six three two fifteen and a complete
Clydesdale so in terms of like breaking down the ability to play against anyone he'll never be out
muscle those type things in terms of eight years and him only being 25 or 26 that's just what i
say in terms of like a true number one player
that that any team would want i would say the best comparison i could give is he's a kopitar in his
prime and i mean i still think kopitar can deliver what he did in his prime too but that's the
comparable out west you and he will not sacrifice his defensive game for offense but yet he's still
able to produce at an elite level.
And as I mentioned,
good in every area of the game,
I'm so happy for this guy.
And Yan said,
he's just like the best guy going.
So pay that man,
his money.
That wasn't the only major extension.
New York ranges signed Amika Zibanejad to an eight year,
$68 million extension comes out to eight and a half million average annual value.
He's got no trade protection.
It kicks in next year and he'll be 37 when that deal ends biz were you a little surprised
either on the term or the number of the cash on this one or what okay we kind of went over this
last year or at least six months ago i think this one's a little bit of a wild card this is okay
this is a wild card and some new york fans were pissed at some of the things we said.
I want to take back one of my comments in saying that he had some points in junk time last year.
Now, let me give you the breakdown of what we were doing at that period of time.
We were going straight GM mode.
I'm thinking as a GM, okay?
This guy is 28 years old.
I think he was going to be 29 when his deal was up.
We fucked up by saying he was going to be an unrestricted free agent this past summer.
He had one year left on his deal, obviously,
which was going to be this season.
They wanted to get the deal locked and loaded.
He is an exceptional offensive player.
He's a world-class player.
He's going to play in the Olympics this year.
I love Zibanejad, okay?
What I was weary about, and mind you, last year he did get COVID,
so he wasn't at the top of his game as he was the year before
when he put up 41 and had a 19% shooting percentage
and lit the league on fire, okay?
Last year in a shortened season, he put up 68% of his offense
against the bottom feeders of that division,
against Buffalo, New Jersey, and Philly.
When I referred to the junk time comment, I meant the two games,
and this is not taking anything away from these unbelievable games.
He had six points in each of those games.
I think it was in a week span against Philly
when they were going through a real shit sandwich time.
Carter Hart couldn't save a fucking puck.
So looking back, 24% of his offensive output was done in two games last year.
You also made a comment where you said sometimes he's not the most reliable defensively.
Well, sometimes when you got these elite scorers and point producers,
yeah, they tend to cheat a little bit on the offensive side of the puck. Well, guess what ends up coming out and rolling out on Twitter as this deal gets signed a bunch of the
analytic numbers where it says five on five. Yeah. He's maybe not the best, but he does kill
penalties for that team. He's unreal as far as the shooting percentage. Um, and he's just an overall
elite player. Do I think he's worth 8.5 for the next four or five years yes i do where
they're going to get hurt is on term but in today's nhl he was going to be the one of the top free
agents this offseason and he was going to get it somewhere and right now the window for the new
york rangers is now so they don't give a fuck and they're a team where they don't care about money
either they want to win now so they ended up paying and locking in one of their guys.
Now, if this year is their window to,
if they want to keep all the guys they got right now,
because I mentioned all the deals that they have on either entry-level
contracts or just got guys who can contribute on cheap deals,
but this puts them in a bit of a jam moving forward.
But I'm not surprised he got that amount of money i'm happy
for the guy i think he's an elite player i think he's gonna have a bounce back year compared to
last year based on the things that i mentioned do i think that getting fucking you know 34 points
against the bottom three teams in division is is something to say oh that's shit no but it was just
interesting to see that he didn't have he had he
had 1.5 points per game against those three teams he had a half a point per game against the top
four teams in the division it's just a fucking stat i threw out there as a gm mind frame to say
i would be weary of giving a guy at 29 years old and we know the league's getting younger
that long of a term at that amount of money so i hope i
did a good job of breaking that down i wasn't taking anything away from his game i was just
saying as a gm i would be weary now i'm going to hand it over to you with uh okay great great
explanation there biz uh zibanejad is kind of one of those examples of the current day contracts
where i don't
think he's going to be finishing this deal with the Rangers.
And if he is,
he's certainly not going to be the player he is now.
So when you sign these deals now,
you,
you,
you kind of think there's a sense of a chance of a buyout.
I mean,
maybe,
maybe I'm way off there and maybe GMs don't think that.
And they're thinking best case scenario,
but in the end,
like to Benajad right now is an elite goal sc scorer there's been times when he's battled injuries and I think he's been inconsistent
defensively but in the last two and a half years since he got to New York it's been awesome he's
he can score with with anyone else in the league really yeah and so I think you're going to get
some amazing hockey out of him um I think that the Rangers had to keep him right they have Panera
and they have this young core.
Things are looking pretty good if you're a Rangers fan. Oh, yeah.
They look unreal.
You don't let this guy play this year and then possibly lose him.
It was something that had to get done.
And the last point being Chris Drury is a new head GM, right?
He's newly appointed as the guy who's going to win another Stanley Cup
for the Rangers.
And having known him since really 2008,
I don't think he's giving a deal to somebody that he doesn't completely trust and believe in, right?
And you saw his quotes about him and how good of a guy he is off the ice.
It's like I just totally see this deal making sense.
And maybe the number was a little bit higher,
but you heard numbers higher when the negotiations are going on.
So I think Rangers fans for the most part are happy.
I just,
I just wonder what you're going to get consistent consistency wise that,
that last year,
I mean,
he was battling COVID.
He still,
he produced offensively.
So I would be surprised this year if he doesn't get 35 goals,
but let's see how the, how the deal kind of ages, if that makes any sense.
One thing that's also tough to compare.
So the year he had 41, he had a 19% shooting percentage.
That's high.
That is very, very high, guys.
Last year, it dropped down to 14.
I think career-wise, at least in the bulk of when he was getting, like,
you know, top six- six type minutes i think it drops
down to like the 11 mark so listen i'm just trying to be honest about my assessment and what i would
give a player in free agency i think he cashed in at the perfect time and i'm happy for the guy
and everything you hear about this guy off the ice on top of the fact that he's a world-class dj too
i don't know if you guys know that he's got an absolute banger out there that he dropped.
I think it was like 18 months ago, maybe two years ago.
So he's bringing it.
He's probably got the aux cord in the locker room.
So at this point, it's an underpayment.
Great breakdown, boys.
Absolutely stellar work by you two.
A couple other deals of note.
Oh, thanks, R.A.
Absolutely.
Ball tire pump.
The real deal, James Neal, he took the Buffalo special with St. Louis one year, $750,000.
Alex Galchenyuk did the same in Arizona one year, $750,000.
Colorado signed defenseman Jack Johnson, Buffalo special one year, $750,000.
And this actually just got posted.
We knew about these signings a while back,
but the salaries just went up on Cap Friendly.
Zidane O'Chara and Zach Parise, of course, are going to the Islanders.
Buffalo special, one year, $750,000.
Come on, both of them, too?
But Jimmy Veazey broke the streak.
He took a one-year deal worth $800,000 from the New Jersey Devils.
He took an extra $ K and auto assigned Tyler
Ennis to a one-year deal worth $900,000.
So,
okay.
I don't know.
Maybe they're breaking the ceiling on these,
on the Buffalo special here.
Well,
first off,
I'm happy for Jack Johnson.
I feel like this guy just gets dragged through the mud online based,
you know,
the fucking analytics community had an absolute jammer when they saw that
he signed with Colorado,
but he's going to go there and he's going to get a chance to win a Stanley
Cup.
Galchenyuk, well-deserved.
He had a great little run there with the Leafs last year.
I thought he was one of the more impressive players in playoffs other than
that pizza up the middle of that one.
Yeah, that was a Whitney special right in Marlowe's shin pads.
Who else did you mention?
Oh, James Neal.
I think we called that one.
I thought maybe he would get a little bit more closer to a million,
but expect some big things out of James Neal this year.
I could see a 25-30 goal season for James Neal.
Also, there's your boy, Josh Hosang.
I know he's a guy you've kept tabs on.
He officially signed with the Mollies.
He was on a PTO because he was taking 28th overall back in 2014.
He's played a total of 53 games for the Islanders over three seasons.
Never really worked out there, but he ended up with the Mollies.
He's a guy that I DM'd.
I asked him if he would come on the podcast, and he said he would.
I mean, right now he's in the midst of the season,
so I don't know if we can get him on.
Just an interesting story.
I know he had some off-ice issues with the Islanders early in his career.
And I want to say a comparison to maybe like a Rob Schrempf type,
where he's very, very highly skilled,
really couldn't find his feet at the NHL level,
had great AHL numbers.
I'm not sure if he ended up going overseas,
but it seems as if, though, when he went to Toronto,
he just kind of brought a different mind frame.
He's been getting a lot of media coverage there.
And I'm just happy to see him sign that PTO.
And, you know, we talk about the holes on that top six.
You know, maybe if there's some injuries in Toronto, he's a guy who ends up getting called up and given an opportunity.
So you always like to see guys, you know, eventually figure it out and bring a different mindset.
So I just thought it was a cool story.
And, you know, I wish him the best and and a great job by all the media people in Toronto covering that one, because I just think it's such a good lesson for, you know, for kids to learn.
Great job, Toronto media.
Biz, he did go to Sweden last year as well.
Yeah. OK, there you go.
So I'm the best. Look at that. Plus two in the last little bit here.
Back to even.
You're the best, fellows.
You're the fucking best.
You tit fucker.
You tit fucker.
I was going to ask you, Witt.
What do you got, buddy?
VC. He can't seem to find a home in the NHL.
Yeah.
He, I think he's got to find his role.
That would be my guess.
And now you saw, he was actually to find his role. That would be my guess. And now you saw,
he was actually one of the guys they,
they probably showed the most negative attention being given towards from the coaching staff on the all or nothing.
Now they ended up losing him on waivers and it did seem like Dubas and
Shanahan were kind of surprised and maybe disappointed to lose him when
Vancouver picked him up last year.
Yeah.
You know,
and then doesn't,
you know,
doesn't re-up with Vancouver and gets a chance to go into Jersey.
And I think that him knowing Tom Fitzgerald well
and Fitz knowing what kind of player he is
and what kind of role he could fill with the Devils,
I actually think he could be a great third, fourth line NHL
who could also add some offense.
And now maybe different roles haven't been that way for him.
And he probably started as a more offensive player.
And that changed after his time in New York.
But I definitely think he's an NHL player.
And if Jersey can kind of bounce back and see what type of season they have
with Hamilton and the signings they've made, if he could find a role there,
he could play it in the league, no doubt.
Okay.
I just haven't been able to keep tabs on him.
He's been moving around quite a bit.
Yeah, man, you know what it's like.
Your roles change a little bit.
He was a Hobie Baker winner and superstar offensively,
and then you've got to come into the league
and maybe realize you're not going to be a top two-line guy,
learn how to be a third-line guy,
then find a coaching staff that's willing to give you that role
and believe in you.
And sometimes it takes guys a couple of different stops.
Yeah.
I mean, the first three years in the league, 16 goals, 17 goals, 17 goals.
He obviously has no problem putting the.
I mean, he got he got fucking Buffalo too.
Right.
I mean, like he went there.
He's probably still trying to get that stench off him.
Oh, my goodness.
This is nothing again. I want the the sabers to do i love the
sabers fans but i mean what are you gonna say it's the it's buffalo well right now would you
let them put you through a table if we went there to do some uh no dude on my neck i do i don't do
things that i could get injured and miss golf and i still get injured and miss golf anyway so i'm
not getting thrown through a table by any Buffalo fans.
Grinnell, are you going to step up?
I would.
I think it's the least I can do for what I did to that franchise.
Would you let them catch up and muster you?
Would you let them catch up and muster you like that one guy
at the Bills games?
I would, yeah.
Oh, my goodness.
We got to go.
We got to go to Buffalo.
I talked to some of the alumni after my comments.
I said I'd rather watch them play than the regular team this year um but they got they got some great guys on their
media broadcast like martin biron um rob ray who else is there am i oh like peters is there so it'd
be fun to do a swing there and go do some live interviews with those guys because they were there
during the glory days and remember when remember when peters fought emory that was those were some wild times
man dude when carolina won the cup they lost game seven that year and they lost on a power play goal
against from campbell he put one over the glass that brutal rule like they were right there that
year it was game seven i think and they had no defense. I think they had no D-men left. Was Jay McKee in the lineup?
I don't know if he was still there then.
I think so.
Well, that's the perfect segue into our weekly Jack Eichel update.
Pierre Lebrun, I think he tweeted or reported the other day
that Kevin Adams and Pat Brisson, Eichel's agent,
were talking three to four times a day.
Darren Drager tweeted,
sources say the Eichel saga may be shifting.
Ongoing discussions and additional access
to Jack Eichel's medical file
has helped teams with trade interests
clearly see a situation.
Both sides are helpful.
Something can be worked out soon
with one of the clubs in the mix.
Again, P.L. LeBrun.
Eichel is going to get the ADR surgery
with his new team
and then be out four months or so
with no guarantee he will be fully fixed up. So the Sabres are going to get the ADR surgery with his new team and then be out four months or so with no guarantee he will be fully
fixed up so the Sabres are going to
have to alter their trade demands
and he said what I've heard around some teams
around the league is that if this deal gets done
it's going to have a conditional aspect to the trade
Eichel's recovery and health very much
affecting the final payout to the Sabres
and according to sources Adams has acknowledged
in trade talks that there may have to be
a conditional aspect to the deal likely game to play.
So I don't know if we have to dive too deep into that.
I know I quickly dive into the beginning where you said that they're talking three to four times a day.
That's just seems so crazy to me. Like Adams, high school girl, Pat answers the phone.
He's like, what's up? Hello. He's like, what are you eating? What are you doing?
Rizzo, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?
Same thing I was doing 23 minutes ago when you called me.
Okay.
What's Jack doing?
He's rubbing his neck.
He's waiting for you to trade him.
Like the three or four times a day conversations.
It's just ridiculous.
Oh, my God.
That's good stuff, man.
Okay.
Call you later.
It's like a comedy hour over here.
You got any more?
What else do you think
They're talking about?
I got nothing
I don't know
He's like
How many more
750 contracts
You gave out
You fucking
You into this
Onlyfans thing too?
Yeah
I didn't think so
How the poopy
Pagoola's doing
You see Bissonnette's
Jacket on TSN
Holy shit
Oh my goodness
Fire this guy
Into a rocket
Ship to the moon
What do you think The RA's smoking today? Want to build a sandcastle? Yeah I think he's just On the weed it on tsn holy shit oh my goodness i like fire this guy into a rocket ship to the moon what do
you think ra is smoking today want to build a sandcastle yeah i think he's just on the weed
okay we're done we're done guys we're getting silly beavers and butthead uh we got more of
this fucking cable issue bullshit like in colorado this altitude sports and dish and
comcast honestly i try to figure it all out.
Like, it's just a bunch of greedy motherfuckers.
Like, the carriers say it's the fucking channel.
The channel says the carrier.
They all fight and point fingers at each other.
The stand crank, Kroenke.
Kroenke owns that altitude and the nuggets.
Oh, my God.
That's the guy troops hate.
He owns Arsenal.
Dude, like the Colorado fans.
This guy's a true bad guy.
You know what we need to do, R.A.?
He's Dr. Evil.
We got to go Oceans 12.
We got to go to the Dice Factory style.
We got to go March to wherever the compound is,
and we got to get the tiki torches out,
and we just got to handle it ourselves,
because every fucking preseason.
So you can't watch them on TV.
Every preseason, you're forced to do this.
I think if...
Oh my God, that is so crazy.
I mean, because there's so many carriers
and so many contracts.
It's a clusterfuck.
You'd think they would just fix it,
but then it gets worse.
Best team in the league.
New York City Metro teams
and now Comcast slash Xfinity,
they dropped MSG.
So the Knicks, Devils, Rangers, and Islands fans
are going to get worked over on this.
Like I said, all these assholes
just basically point the finger and say, oh, they want too much
money. They want too much money.
And the fans don't get to watch their team.
I know corporate
assholes ain't going to listen to us, but these fucking
people need to fix it for these fucking
fans. Well, I think, okay, the corporate
side, the Cronkies of the world, that
is not going to get fixed.
At some point, you got to tell me the Avalanche, the Islanders,
whatever you just said, the Devils,
they need to like with the league get this figured out.
Because you can't go to Stan Walter Cronkite and be like,
dude, can you show your, he doesn't even, you know what I mean?
That side doesn't even know where character's numbers.
But if the league gets involved, then it's a different ball game.
These fans have no voice.
They need their teams to fucking figure.
The Colorado Avalanche need every person in Colorado to be watching their games.
All right.
When we had Butcher Gross on,
he described this whole breakdown of the streaming services.
Now, could this be something that could be something to leapfrog it or no?
Yeah. No, because on those, at least in the past, you'd get blacked out.
Well, it doesn't help the people who want to watch Colorado locally
because I don't think they'll be able to watch the avalanche on ESPN Plus or Hulu.
Basically, it's on altitude, and the only carrier,
from what I understand in the Denver area that is it, is DirecTV.
So if you have Dish or Comcast or someone else,
they're not even airing these games.
So, I mean, this has been going on for years.
And like what you said, I don't know what the NHL can do here.
It's their product.
They need to fucking fix this, man.
It's a new day.
It's a new era.
Take the NHL.
Fucking send it.
We'll make sure it gets –
We're doing it now.
Well, I meant like as in like –
We're doing it live.
I meant like clip it for Grinnell League so you can do it socially
so they can – the social justice warriors can actually join our side for once.
But the biggest component to this is all these TV deals they're signing
with TNT and ESPN.
You're trying to grow the game, and you just joked about it.
You got the best team and one of the best players in the world,
and the local fans can't even fucking watch this guy thrive?
Like, give it a fucking rest.
So what's the guy's name again, the Arsenal owner?
Sam Kroenke.
Sam Kroenke.
Fuck you, Sam Kroenke.
Lick our ball bags.
We're coming after you with the tiki torches.
So St. Louis hates him because he moved the Rams out of St. Louis,
and then the Arsenal fans hate him because he was part of the Super League,
and he's ruined that team. Troops, your team
stinks. And he apparently
owns altitude. So this guy was one of the guys
behind the Super League soccer shit
situation. Oh, my God.
I might have to. He's
Dr. Evil. You know what guy
R.A.? You know what guy in Charleston?
I don't want to fuck with billionaires, man. Who knows what you guys
I mean, you know, we could talk off air.
I don't want to get anybody in trouble.
All right.
Yeah.
Then MSG.
Oh, Dolan owns MSG.
And like, he's a, he's a notorious fucking cocksucker too.
Everybody hates him.
No, he's, he's, he hates Boston.
He's trying to like call.
I guess Dave was saying the story the other day,
like when they had the fire Dolan shirts,
Dolan called up Michael Scherner was like,
this is your company's making these t-shirts.
Tell him to stop. And like, you know, it's like, well, I up Michael Scherner and was like, this is your company making these t-shirts. Tell them to stop.
It's like, I don't know what Scherner said to him. Seems like a super
self-conscious
billionaire that Dolan.
He is so
cares what everyone
thinks. I heard that
on the podcast. That's crazy.
Charles Oakley tried to chokeslam him at the
Knicks game courtside and then he got tossed from the building. That's crazy. Charles Oakley tried to chokeslam him at the Knicks game courtside, and then he got
tossed from the building.
That's the guy, right? No, they
just threw him out because he didn't like him.
Charles Oakley resisted. The guy's
a New York Knicks legend. I think Charles Oakley got in his face.
He was ready to punch his face.
I think when they tossed him, he hadn't done anything. I think once
they tossed him, he tried getting his face.
I think he tried getting him tossed
because he just hated him. That could be incorrect, though he might have done something i think let's just
make a rumor up who gives a shit fuck dolan the the funniest thing i think we've seen the last
week where it had to be kyle yandall's gold gold tooth mouthpiece that he was rocking like where
did he get that did you do you ask that was the best i thought the best part is the fact that
every time carter hart goes behind the net to set the puck up for him he now says thank you out loud and i'll let you tee up the whole story
no no go ahead no i that's funny i had that after yeah like we've heard it before when keith has the
puck settled by his goalie he'll always say thank you and he said carter hart was maybe the first
goalie to say are you saying thank you to me and he says yeah he goes well well, you're welcome. It's like they're two little buddies or something now,
like being polite manners.
Pete's always been such a manners kid his whole life.
You almost got to get a thing going with the crowd every time
that Carter Hart sets it up.
He screams you're welcome after he says it.
Yeah, maybe that.
Maybe the Philly fans can start doing that.
And then, of course, the gold tooth is just the cherry on top.
Did he tell you he was going to do that with?
No, he never tells anyone.
And actually, he probably tells Hazy a lot of stuff.
I never know what he's going to do, what he's going to say, what's coming next.
And boom, he just hits you with this comedy.
The gold tooth mouth.
Because somebody tweeted at us.
I was like, this is I was like, is this a doctored photo?
I'm like, he actually has this.
What a piece of work. it at us. I was like, is this a doctored photo? I'm like, he actually has this mouth guard.
What a council piece of work.
All right, we're almost at our season
previews. We're going to do the Central Division first.
We did it once. I'm asking the dentist, so
can you make one with a fake gold
tooth? The guy's like, yeah, sure.
I got you.
We should have him do a blackout. We can have
a spit and chiclets advertisement on his teeth.
That'd be all right.
Maybe.
I mean, all right.
I like where your business mind's at, my friend.
One last note before we get to the previews here.
Montreal goalie, Carey Price,
he took a voluntary leave to enter the NHL, NHLPA player assistance program.
His GM, Bergervan, spoke about the importance of asking for help,
which is,
you know,
often the biggest hurdle for folks who are struggling,
whatever they may be struggling with.
None of our business.
We just want to wish Carrie price the best,
whatever he's dealing with.
And hopefully we see him back on the ice as well.
Biz,
I'm not sure if you wanted to add anything to this.
I mean,
I there's really nothing much to add that hasn't already been said.
I mean,
Gallagher had some great words about it.
Actually,
Grinnell,
he rolled a clip for sure. I mean, I touched on just some great words about it. Actually, Grinnell, you rolled a clip.
For sure.
I mean, I touched on just how big of a role model he is for so many people,
young hockey players, young fans, the Indigenous community, you know,
and that extends to Montreal Canadian players that have come through our locker room. He's a role model in that sense, and I'm sure it extends throughout the league.
When you look at him, you know, anytime they do those player polls,
you see the amount of respect that he has from around the league
and what he's accomplished on the ice, but off the ice,
what he's meant for this community here in Montreal as well.
You know, he's a special person. He's a special friend.
He's doing the right thing, and he's going to come back a better man.
And you can just tell so much what he means to his teammates um and guys i've said
it numerous times if carrie price ended up if any guy just walked up and left because of you know
whatever they were dealing with personally i would wish them all the best and and and you know all
the success in the world you know this is this is just just a game when it comes to life, it's,
it's not really that serious in the grand scheme of things. So it sucks that,
you know, we don't get to see him play. Cause I'm, you know,
we love watching him play, but you know,
as mental health is the priority numeral one right now.
And I wish him and his family all the best. So this is it's,
it sucks to hear, but it's,
it's great to see how their whole organization dealt with it and,
and put the resources in place.
And this is a good opportunity to wit and I'll throw it over to you right
after this to compliment the league,
because I know that they get criticized socially about a lot of things,
the way they handle things, excuse me, but they've obviously set up,
put things in place to, to to to help guys in situations like this
so a great job by the the league and the team doctors and and whoever uh whoever helped him
out in this situation because uh right now he is getting the help that he needs no doubt that's the
most important thing and it's slowly changing i know lennar said that he feels like it isn't, but such a tough thing where I feel like most people who are 40 and older or even 30 and older, it wasn't like a thing. And so as it becomes more vocal and more open to be saying that you're mentally not doing well, I mean, it's only going to help younger kids growing up and realizing. So I think for him to ask for help and be open to doing that when so many
generations before ours, aren't comfortable with it,
it shows a lot because you got to get stuff figured out.
You got to get feeling right. And like you said, it's the game.
It doesn't mean shit when it, when it, when it comes to you and your health.
Yeah. I, I, and going back to what you said about Leonard,
I think that the frustration is it's maybe not taken more,
even more seriously. It's not where he wants it to be I think that even from when I first started
playing yeah go ahead well I just I just wanted to kind of follow that up because you know from
when I started playing like stuff like this wasn't even talked about let alone I pretty much had
things in place to help it out if it, if it did happen.
And now you see that, you know, the minute that, you know, you know, he can go to the
team and he can ask for this type of help.
They do have resources in place where he can go and get the help that he needs.
I mean, even going back to last year, like Dren went through it and the fact that guys
are able to be open about it and, and, and it's, it's just, you know, we're heading in
the right direction, I guess is what I'm trying to be open about it. And, and, and it's, it's just, you know, we're heading in the right direction, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.
All right. Well said once again, gentlemen,
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All right, boys, finally getting to the previews here. Of course, we did the Eastern Conference
last week. This week, we're going to to do the western conference going to kick off with the central uh biz did you
know that the average age of a player in the nhl this season is 27.4 that's got to be down over the
last 10 years right what has it gone down i i don't know i didn't get the fucking back okay
i just want to try to see if you like i would agree with you though i would think so too
league like you said creeping younger and younger yeah a little bit yeah you guys mind if i take
this jacket off i'm sweating my balls off go right ahead buddy you gotta do buddy all right let's
kick it off to wit maybe to start off with uh who the coyotes are we going alphabetical yeah we're
gonna same same way as last time but first i do Coyotes, I may just pour this glass of wine
right over the microphone.
And one thing, folks, we'll try to keep it a little...
or move it along a little bit quicker.
I know sometimes these things drag out a little bit,
but the Central is a very, very loaded division.
So other than the Coyotes, I guess.
First off, we, I, whoever, fucked up the playoff seedings last week.
I thought they were still doing the interdivisional,
fight your way out of your division in the playoffs,
but apparently they went back to the top three in each division
and then two wild cards.
I don't know how I missed this.
Apparently it was a press release somewhere.
So remember they talked about having to fight your way out of your division,
two playoff series, but sounds like it lasted for a fucking year.
COVID just messed everything up, but I do remember this being the plan and and the way it was so i was i was at fault too not realizing that
that was the case okay so after but it does make sense because in the end like if in the pacific
right if there's five teams that are loaded out of the out of the central and there's you know
and there's three good pacific teams it just doesn't seem right so i like how they did that
yeah there's more parity.
It is a lot more fair that way.
So after we do our previews, we can reshuffle our predictions from the East because we screw them up.
Or we can keep them the same if we think the same teams will be in.
Also, I meant to say Cody Ceci left Pittsburgh, not arrived last week.
Of course, he went to Edmonton.
So one other correction.
All right, Central Division, Arizona.
I look at this team, and I wonder in two, three years,
are they going to be in Houston moving to Houston?
Because they don't have a new arena.
The future looks rough there.
Didn't qualify for the playoffs last year.
They got a new coach, Andre Tarigny.
Also bringing in Shane Goss, this bear, Anton Stroman, Alex Galchenyuk,
Carter Hutton, and Carol Vizhmelka in net.
The same by the Dossie Kemper, Andy Ranta, Oliver Ekman-Lawson,
Connor Golland, cup odds 250 to one.
I mean, it feels like they basically got Chikrin and Keller
are like kind of the lone right spots here right now.
What would you say?
Yeah, it's a tough time there.
Forget the team.
What you're saying is so true in terms of
the uneasiness and not knowing what's going to happen.
They have nowhere to play. They've got to get a rink.
There's just so many things where
I think that the most
exciting part of this season is them bringing
back the old jerseys.
In a sense, you're a team
that you bring in a coach from
junior and you know that you're going to be bad
and you're looking to get some development out of guys
that you consider to be a core part of the organization.
Like the kid Barrett Hayton,
they picked him fifth overall in 2018.
He hasn't really done anything,
so he'll get a chance this year.
Dvorak's gone.
And it's more about a team that's kind of playing
to end up maybe getting the first overall pick.
It's the Shane Wright kid it's it's a it's
the shane wright kid so everyone's talking about whoever wins the lottery gets him and
he can change an organization or a franchise but this team's not going to do anything
i just got back i didn't hear much of what you said wit but i am going to join you and i poured
myself out a nice glass of vino nice dude what did he say was he bashing us sorry no i was very
honest about about the team dude it's just it's it's not not ideal right now it's tough sledding
right now well they just went on a team glamping trip for team bonding and uh i'm gonna imagine
that propels them in the right direction listen glamping they glamping you ever been glamping
glamour camping yeah it's apparently one of the hottest things in the country.
Like it's just exploded.
Yeah.
It's like,
it's like the new avocado toast.
Everybody's doing it.
Um,
okay.
My coyotes breakdown,
by the way,
happy birthday to Shane.
Don't you just had his birthday.
And one thing I forgot to say off the hop of the show and all our
Canadian listeners,
I apologize.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Did you know that we have a different Thanksgiving with? Yes. Yes, I apologize. Happy Thanksgiving. Did you know that we have a different Thanksgiving, Witt?
Yes. Yes, I did.
Happy Thanksgiving, guys.
So they just got back from their team glamping trip,
and let's do the whole breakdown of the team.
They're probably not going to be good as far as the standings are concerned,
but they have 14 vets on forward with three-plus years' experience.
They really like that Timmon so far in camp.
He was the guy who came over from Colorado.
They're kind of like a similarity between, like, Seattle,
where they're all the castaways.
You know, Bill Armstrong made some great moves in the offseason
to acquire a lot of draft picks.
We got Andrew Ladd, Roussel, Louis Erickson, Beagle.
And there's just, you know, a lot of guys out to prove a lot
that have been kind of these castaways from other teams.
And I think that with all that experience,
they're not going to be as bad as I want them to be
in order to gain that first overall pick that I caught you saying.
They'll be right there for first overall.
Don't you worry.
I believe so too by the end of it,
but I think that they will have a more competitive team than most people think.
Similar mentality to what R.A. said about Ottawa last year.
Couple studs, though, in the pipeline that I'm really looking forward to watching this year.
I know Chickering is coming off a massive season last year.
I'm hoping Keller takes that next step.
And, you know, they got some other guys who need to prove some stuff, likeossespierre who got buried in Philadelphia. So it should be interesting. And one other thing I see happening
towards the end of the year is probably Kessel getting moved over to a contender and then
acquiring another high-end draft pick. So I just wanted to touch on that stuff with,
and of course, a new coach, Andre Tourigny, aka The Bear. So no playoffs for my beloved Coyotes.
As I said, I'm hoping they finish worse than what I expect that they're going to do,
but I think that they have a lot of guys in this lineup that have things to prove,
and they're going to bring that work ethic mentality every night.
And don't be shy if they surprise a few people.
Yeah, because they get first two rounds of the next draft,
eight picks in the first two rounds of the next draft.
So certainly a stock in the cupboard for the future, no doubt.
But none of us have them go in the playoffs, correct?
No, no playoffs.
Okay.
Make sure we don't butcher it this time.
All right, next up, the Chicago Blackhawks, our boy Chiefs team.
Simple question, are the Hawks back?
They didn't qualify for the playoffs last year,
but they made some significant changes.
They said adios to Duncan Keith, Adam Boatwist, Nikita Zdorov.
They brought in the flower, Marc-Andre Fleury, Seth Jones, Caleb Jones,
Tyler Johnson, Jake McCabe.
40-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup.
They're getting also back a healthy Kirby Dock, a healthy Jonathan Taves.
Like I said before, this Blackhawks team last year,
you might not have turned them on this year.
You're definitely going to.
Biz, are the Hawks back?
A quick rundown of this whole team.
Of course, goaltending.
It wasn't really an issue last year, but they solidify a great one-two punch.
We saw that Lankanen come on the scene.
He did a great job in net for them,
given the fact that they didn't really have much of a back end last year. a great one-two punch. We saw that Lankanen come on the scene. He did a great job in net for them,
given the fact that they didn't really have much of a back end last year other than Duncan Keith.
And then who's the other one there?
Murphy, who just got the extension.
So, congratulations to him.
They got their defenseman, Seth Jones.
On top of that, keep an eye out for this McCabe kid coming off ACL surgery
and this Riley Stillman.
Okay, he's like a number four or five guy, lays guys out.
So not only did they address it with Seth Jones,
I think these other two guys will come on the scene
and make an impact on the back end.
So that bolsters that position.
And you kind of set it up front, man.
They got enough guys that get snapped around.
They got Kane Johnson at the brink of playing together right now,
and they got great chemistry.
You're hoping Doc obviously comes in and has an impact
after that injury-riddled season with that nasty –
that was one of the nastiest wrist injuries I think I've ever seen.
It looked like an L shape.
Did it not?
That picture was terrible.
Or an S. Mangled. Maybe it not? That picture was terrible.
Or an S?
Mangled.
Maybe I was thinking of the wrong letter.
And they got some good depth players, Carpenter and that Cara who came over from Edmonton.
So, guys, I have them back in playoffs as long as they can get contributions
from these guys that I'm mentioning.
And then that Bjorkstram, another guy, they got a first-rounder,
the first-rounder from Florida a few years ago. So they got some young blood in that lineup they got the stars in place
they got the good back end they got the goaltending figured out the best off season i would say of any
team in the national hockey league and they're back in playoffs and what i think is the toughest
division in the national hockey league wow is yeah crushing it i just think that with everyone they brought in and and and jones getting
that huge extension it's just all about taves coming back and to get him back in the lineup
apparently he's in ridiculous shape you saw him score beauty in preseason and
their leader being back in the lineup just kind of changes the whole vibe
there's excitement there with whoever just came in with Flurry and Jones,
but then to have him back, that just, that crushes all of it.
So to see what type of game he brings, I'm very interested.
This is why I'm very interested to watch this team early.
I want to see Seth Jones. I want to see how Taves bounces back.
Kane is a machine.
Kane of his four best points per game seasons,
three of them have been the last three years.
So in terms of getting older, he's not slowing down.
He's getting better.
Are they in the playoffs or not?
It's difficult.
This is the hardest division.
I could miss three teams in this division, guys.
Them or Dallas for the fourth spot spot that's not even considering nashville
ah well the yeah don't forget the we just said the wild i the wild card aspect hey no no i know
i know okay just make it on and on top of that i think they actually just picked up that gufstason
who had a 60 point season with them he's yeah so the fans there like hate him. At least Chief hates the guy. Wow. So he's probably legit.
I love you, Chief.
That was funny.
I think you should go playoffs.
I think you should follow my lead here.
All right, man. I'm going to go playoffs.
I'm going to go.
Nice.
Any flower?
Gee, you think I got in playoffs?
Yeah.
Flowers just too good.
All those bodies coming back.
All that skill they brought in. Definitely going to be back in the playoffs. No doubt about it. good. All those bodies coming back, all that skill they brought in, definitely going to be
back in the playoffs. No doubt about it here.
All right, moving right along.
The Colorado Avalanche.
New goalie, same mission.
Last season ended tough for them.
They lost in the second round, four games to
two to Vegas. They had injured goaltending,
which was the undoing.
They said goodbye to Philip Grubauer,
Jonas Donskoy, Brandon Saad,
Matt Calvert, Ryan Graves.
They're bringing in Darren Helm, Ryan Murray, Darcy Kemper,
and Mikhail Maltsev.
Cup odds at 5-1.
New hook might be ready.
They're hoping to get him inserted into the lineup.
But basically the time is now for this Colorado team.
I mean, it's win or bust mode right now.
No doubt.
I think that the way things are looking and the way things have gone,
they continue to just make a jump each year.
And the guys they brought in, I think, are huge.
They're not like the biggest names.
I mean, you talk about Kemper, that's a different story.
But I look at like Ryan Murray on D.
That's a solid player.
That is the type of guy who probably play maybe top four,
but could be five,
six.
I mean,
that guy's one of your fifth or sixth defense,
but you can win a Stanley cup.
And I think that when you look at like the forwards and what they have up
front for firepower in the playoffs,
it's all about,
you know,
being able to play defense.
So that's why Kemper is the biggest,
the biggest,
I'm not going to say issue is the biggest question mark in a sense that, like, can he be healthy?
Can he continue to play the way he has been?
And when they played, like, this game of chicken with Grubauer, right,
it ends up they end up losing him.
They had to be quite confident that they could get Kemper.
You know what I'm saying?
So, like, if you look at all of their hopes, right,
they could talk about all their offense and the defense
and Kale McCarr and all these different aspects
of, like, a great team they have.
But if they don't get good goal day, it's not going to matter.
You know, I look at their lineup,
and you talk about Donskoi, Graves, and Grubauer.
Like, those are some, you know, significant players
that line up, you know?
Those are some tough losses.
But they did a good job of replenishing that. You guys how i feel about darcy kemper given his numbers are things a little bit different
when you're seeing you know 40 shots a night compared to compared to maybe 2025 yeah that
might be difficult for a goalie to get into it first so i'm not going to put too much stock in
what we see from him maybe in the first 10 15 games as far as the back end's concerned that Bo Byram he didn't
play he didn't play in playoffs last year I don't know whether the organization was protecting him
well guess what now is his time to shine I think he's going to fit in perfectly in that top four
one thing I felt that they got bumped around a little bit on the back end and playoffs
and even though you know Graves is not a small guy either,
I like how they addressed it by getting McDermott.
Now they have that tough presence.
He's going to be their sixth guy.
Him and Jack Johnson, I would imagine,
would be flopping out as that sixth guy.
And I was going to trail off into the league's five top heavies before I keep going as far as this breakdown is concerned.
I would consider McDcdervid
a top five heavy who who are your other four guys if if you consider him in your in your top
five off the top of my head reeves uh fuck luch yep that's who i got too he's in my top five uh Gabriel so he's down right now I as far as willingness and
and you know and you know but I mean hey he'll be up and down I believe with the Leafs all year
do you want me to list off the guys that I have yes I got a couple question marks here so I've
got I've got Revo I have Deloria big Z is the ultimate Z? Yeah, Z's in my top five.
I had the Dermy here.
And you mentioned Lucha already.
I also had Weber.
Obviously, he's not playing this season.
But the last guy I had as a question mark was Matt Martin with the Islanders.
I don't know if I'd put him in the top five, but he's on the cuffs there.
So I think adding that type of guy to scare other teams off.
Now, mind you, I think that the top six on this team,
and the reason I like them to make a run this year,
is much like last year, is they're big.
They got Rontanen and Landy and Mack on their first line.
Then they got Nasushkin.
Kadri, who I guess you could say
he's maybe a little bit on the smaller side,
but he plays bigger. And that Burakovsky.
So you have fucking a lot
of big bodies up front who can work
the walls and play. And then on the bottom
six, you have more of the
energizer types.
Who's in their bottom
six? You got Tyson Jost.
They just signed Darren Helm as well. Helm, who's a their bottom six? You got Tyson Jost. They just signed Darren Helm as well.
Helm is a veteran presence.
He'll solidify.
So I think overall this lineup,
they might not finish as high as they did last year in the standings,
but I think this team is built better to go farther in playoffs.
And I think that they've addressed some of the issues that they had,
which being, I think that Kemper's some of the issues that they had which being i
think that kemper's a bit a bit of a better goaltender than grubauer people might think
i'm fucking crazy at the fact that he was a vended as a candidate last year and then and
the fact that i think that their defense are just a little bit better than last year i think they
are i don't think that graves losing graves is going to be that impactful based on what i think
byram's going to bring and that they had that toughness and that they added Murray as well as that other layer whereas if you lose if you lose Johnson
again I think Murray can step into that top four where it's not going to phase him as much
and we we haven't even mentioned the fact that Taves right now is listed as out I don't know
how long he's going to be on the IR but he adds an even bigger bigger layer to that back end and young gun wise just watch out for the
alex new hook i i don't know if it'll be that's what i forgot to mention at some point during this
season he will just make like a jump right where he played in the playoffs last year this is going
to be his first full year pro i think that he's going to make a huge difference once the team
gets into like later in the in the spring or, into the winter to the spring playoff season.
You're going to see him playing a huge role there.
Yeah, that's who I forgot to mention as far as that bottom six as the energy.
You get that young blood in there with Yost and a few of those other guys.
And I think that they're going to be really good.
Obviously, I would say all four of us agree Colorado is going to the playoffs.
Yeah, no, no fucking brainer. No fucking brainer.
Absolutely.
All right.
Moving right along.
The Dallas Stars.
They did not qualify for the playoffs last year.
Do they rebound after a dead year?
We'll see.
They're bringing in Ryan Suter, Yanni Hockenpah, Luke Lendon, Michael Raffle.
The cup odds are 27 to 1.
Really didn't lose anybody of significance.
Also brought in Braden Holpe.
The big question, I guess, is the goalie carousel.
You got Hadoubin, Ottinger, Holpe and Bishop.
Bishop is on IR right now.
You also got Sagan coming back after hip surgery, the healthiest he's been in a while.
This is a team that was on the cusp of a cup a couple years ago, and they really
struggled last year. Biz, what do you think they're going to do this year? I had that written down.
Biggest disappointment probably last season coming off to that cup final. Going back to the beginning
of last season, though, they dealt with a rampant case of COVID throughout that locker room. They
had to cancel games, and then they got jammed up in their schedule. So they just couldn't recover from that start. Now they've deeped up the back end by getting Suter.
And to an already back end, which I would say their top four is nasty
with Lindell, Haskin, and Klingberg.
Like they're probably one of the most mobile back ends.
I mean, I know we just talked about the Avalanche,
but these guys aren't far behind.
And then you got Sakara and that Hawk and Paw as your six.
Like, that's a very, very healthy back end.
You mentioned the issues in goaltending.
I completely agree with that.
Is Bishop still on the IR from that injury that was going on last year?
Yeah, he's on IR right now.
He's starting the season on IR.
And, I mean, he was such a young, promising goaltender with massive.
So he was kind of like a, like a Vasilevsky type, you know, before he came around.
And I don't know what, look, looking at the forward group, I think that their, their issue last year was being able to put the puck in the back of the net.
I don't mind their top two lines, but after that, it just kind of fizzles off.
And, you know, we saw that Robertson come on the scene.
He was up for, I don't know if he was top three in the Calder voting,
but he had a very, very impressive season last year.
He was a finalist, yes.
And, you know, he's going to be playing with Rupe Hintz and Pabst.
And then you got the Warthog line of Ben Sagan and Radulov,
the pushy muncher line, or lack thereof.
So, I don't know.
I have them as a non-playoff team this year.
And I know they got that good back in.
I don't think they can score.
I think they're going to get in.
I think a lot of it comes down to Sagan, right?
You missed him basically all last year.
Like, what kind of player is he going to be this year
when he comes back?
If he's dominant and that changes everything
and they have two lines, you can score.
And I think you're looking at a really good team. I they're like you said their top 4d can all play um goaltending
well it's not really sure who's going to end up being the number one they have a lot of different
options which you can tell nowadays is a good thing and then last year like it wasn't just
covid they had those those ice storms in texas it was it was just a disaster of a season and i think
like with health on their
side, hopefully knock on wood,
and some of the veterans there, I think they can
make the playoffs. And I
like this team. I was shocked last
year. I think everyone kind of was.
Like DeVis said, the COVID actually
ran rampant for them. The scheduling got all
fucked up. They were so far behind the eight ball,
man. It was almost like... The whole season.
It's like you don't say it wasn't their fault but like i don't think any team had a deal with the
scheduling in covet to that extent i know vancouver was screwed a little but dallas really
get fucking whammy last year this is one of those teams as i said when i could get a few teams wrong
this team could potentially win the division who knows right i just for whatever reason i have more
faith in chicago and it was between them and Chicago who I was picking to get in.
Let me see.
So, you got him in business?
I'm sorry, I'm going to write it down.
I do not have him in.
I got him in.
Whit has him in.
G, what about you?
I do not.
I'm on business side.
I don't think they can score.
Okay.
I think they bounce back.
I think Dallas bounce back, get in.
They got a pretty good squad, some offense. Let see moving right along here minnesota wild this is a team that
finally got a personality thanks to caril caprizoff last year they're going to be looking to make
strides after what they did last year i they did lose in the first round but uh they certainly
rallied their fan base they they put themselves back on the map I would even go so far as to say. They've brought in Alex Goligosky, Dmitry Kulikov, Jordy Benn,
John Merrill, Freddie Gaudreau.
They said adios to Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Ian Cole, and Carson Susie.
Cup odds for them are 25-1.
They got a new look D right now.
It kind of needs to improve.
They gave up 2.84 goals against last year.
They want to bring that down.
But they got a pretty good core of
Ek, Brodine, Dumba, Spurgeon.
And I think the question mark is
Santa Marco Rossi, number nine overall pick
in 20, ready to emerge and help this
team right now. Whit, let's go to you,
buddy.
The most exciting time you've ever had as a Wild
fan, no? We dogged
this team for years and last year i said
kaprizov changed the entire vibe around them the entire like experience watching the team play
on tv at least it was all switched up with this one player and that can happen i mean that can
truly change an organization around and i think he completely like really he's the he if he's not going this season this team really has no chance
you know i'm saying like he's gonna completely figure out and play the way the team needs to
for them to be successful so i know he can score offensively he gets this huge contract there's
going to be more pressure with that i don't seem it doesn't seem like he comes off as the type of
guy who cares at all about that he He just goes out and does his job.
I don't know.
I like some of the additions.
They brought in Alex Goligosky.
Who else did they bring in?
Kulikov, right, came in from Edmonton.
I got him written down.
You know, those are two defensemen that can move the puck.
They're later parts of their career.
But, I mean, I think John Merrill also.
It's like getting some depth in a team on the back end, which kind of struggled.
They did lose Suter, but up front to have Fiala signed, to have Caprasov and what he did, I think they're in the playoffs.
I got to make in the playoffs. I'll say that.
All right. You touched on it. The back end scares me a little bit.
And I had here written down, can they build off that momentum from last season? And you could really sense a culture shift.
from last season and you could really sense a culture shift and you know i was not in that locker room based on you know comments made about the fact that they got rid of suitor and parise
they seemed to think that they were going in an even better way as far as shifting the culture
um and i i like them up front though and they got some big bodies much like i said about colorado i
like those big physical presence you got felino the fucking moose you got greenway on his other wing how about that fucking line with hartman
i just maybe the depth at center scares me a little bit i love that zuccarello line especially
in the chemistry that they have with kaprizov and that uh erickson eck one of the best bargains in
the league in my opinion and the chemistry that they they gained after Zuccarello came off injury
at the start of the season.
I just – the back end, I just – I have my question marks about it,
and given the strength of the division, guys,
I have them taking a step back and not making playoffs.
I think this team is in great shape.
I think that they could definitely shove it up my hoop and make playoffs,
but it's just too tough of a division.
And you touched on Fiala.
I love his progression as a player,
and he has that fire that he brings to the lineup night in and night out,
and you see year over year he keeps taking that another step,
another step, another step.
Last year, 20 goals, 20 apples.
Best point production he's had in his whole career.
I would imagine that given the lack of offense in Nashville,
they're probably regretting getting rid of him.
But I like the team.
I like the way that the culture is going.
I love Billy G, but I don't have him making playoffs.
Yeah, he's really done a great job of just rebuilding this team
in his own image.
I mean, obviously, with guys like Parise and Suda, mainstays in that franchise.
He had no loyalty to them.
So it was like, all right, I have no problem getting rid of these guys.
And I mean,
they're going to have some cap issues due to those buyouts soon enough.
But right now, I think they're in the kind of win now window.
And as far as the goaltender, man, Cam Talbot,
I thought he was outstanding in the playoffs last year.
It was a tough series loss for him.
But I got Minnesota definitely 100% back in the playoffs.
What about you, Grinnelli?
Oh, okay.
I do as well, all right.
I definitely got him back.
Young guys, watch that Matt Boldy played at BC.
I think BC, right, Grinnelli?
And he played world juniors and then pretty much lit up the AHL
when he went there.
So he should get a chance this season with them,
another forward big kid who can play.
I think Biz is way off on the wild.
Yeah, I could be way off on Dallas and the wild.
So, so far in this division, you have Colorado and Chicago only?
Yes.
Okay.
I think that Marco Rossi kid from Minnesota is going to have a good year as well.
There's Grinnelli's pick.
Okay.
We're going off to the Preds now, and I'm going to keep it short and sweet.
Okay.
National Predators, last season ended.
They lost in the first round, four games to two.
They brought in Cody Glass, Phil Myers, David Riddick.
They waved goodbye to Victor Arvidson, Ryan Ellis, Cal Yancrock.
Cup pods, 90 to one.
A little bit of value there.
UC Saros is an absolute stud.
Is he enough to carry him to a playoff spot?
We'll see.
I think, what's his face?
Cody Glass, he was a number six overall pick in 17.
There's some good potential there.
We'll see what happens with the changes seen here with him.
But I think, Biz, the question with Nashville is,
has their window closed?
I feel like every year they just get like a tiny bit worse.
I was surprised to see them make playoffs last year.
I think they surprised everyone after giving that shitty start.
I mean, I think we had Hines as the best odds to get canned
after about 15, 20 games.
And, you know, he was able to figure that team out.
They were able to get it done defensively with unbelievable goaltending.
I think the only playoff team last year where a defenseman led the team in scoring,
they do not have any offensive threats up front other than maybe Forsberg.
But as I mentioned, you had a defenseman lead your team in scoring.
I don't think that they have a true number one center,
and that's going to be difficult.
The only slight sliver chance of hope that they have of making playoffs
is if they rely on their goaltending.
They get unbelievable structured game, and they don't give up any goals.
And also contributions from a couple of their young prospects
who we said that I said
they didn't have much in the pipeline I know a couple of you Predators fans lost your minds
you have Tolvanen and this Tomasino who played in the AHL last year also played world juniors
hey who knows maybe these fucking kids come on the scene like Kaprizov did last year and they blow
everybody out of the water and they somehow
find their way in but there's no way I have this team making playoffs in this division
biz you mentioned like maybe they could win you know because of how good Saros is but like
they got eight million AAV to Johansson and Duchesne and like they got to get offense from
them right you you're paying guys this much money, and in a sense,
you can look at who you're playing with
or the entire team approach to how you play defensively,
a little bit more defensively with John Hines, I would think,
and playing to Nashville's strengths, you kind of have to.
But they need those guys to produce.
They paid them big dough.
Those guys got to create.
And when you lose Ellis, you know, the backbone of that team, I think,
well, you know, Saros is, but on defense at least.
And then Arvidsson, who was like, not just a fan favorite,
that shouldn't matter, but a guy who brought it every night for them.
And I definitely do not see them making playoffs.
Yeah.
I agree with you.
They got Ekholm and Yossi on defense,
but guys,
other than that,
it starts coming up.
UFA,
I think.
Right.
So I thought they,
did they resign him?
I think they resigned them,
but no,
at home,
at home is UFA after this.
Is he really?
Yeah.
They just didn't trade him.
They just didn't trade him.
Cause they,
they,
they wanted to get in.
They did,
but he could end up being dealt.
No doubt.
I'm dash four today?
No, I'm good.
I had a couple good points earlier.
Breaking your balls.
Like the Gypsy King being 40?
You know what, Nashville, I'm almost tempted to pick him to get in the playoffs
just because I'm so high on UC Saros.
He's that good of a goalie.
I think his play could single, not single-handedly,
but help them immensely get into the playoffs.
It's just a question, do I think they're going to get in over both St. Louis and Winnipeg?
And I don't.
So I'm going to go no for playoffs.
Grinnelli?
I'm going to go no.
I actually think they're an injury or two away from being a lottery team.
So I really wouldn't even be surprised.
Holy shit.
Wow.
Holy hot take.
I like that, G. I love nashville love the people in
nashville got some fucking balls uh remember we self-financed that trip to nashville to spread
the chicklets gospel that time we did what a trip we shared a hotel room we did we did
that might have been the last time we shared one i slept on the floor i had to sleep on the floor
there was a crazy experience that was a fucking awesome time all right moving right along the st louis
blues another team whose time is now of course they won the cup a couple years ago they're
probably looking to get another one uh last season ended they lost in the first round uh they got
swept by colorado uh new faces brandon sod pavel b Buchnevich, James Neal.
They said bye to Sammy Blay, Vince Dunn, and Jaden Schwartz, among others.
Their cup odds are 35 to 1.
Of course, one of the big questions is Tarasenko.
He, of course, asked for a trade a while back.
He's been a model citizen since.
Who knows? I'm assuming he's going to come out and play his balls off.
They don't have to trade him, but we'll see what happens with that.
St. Louis got a nice top four, though.
Pareko, Falk, Krug, Scandella.
What they need, I think, is a bounce back from Bennington this year.
He was 18, 14, and 8, 2, 6, 5, 9, 10 last year.
You know, not exactly number one stuff for the kid.
And now we'll Clem Costin stick.
That's another question.
Take him 31st overall in 2017.
St. Louis, one of those teams, man, they should have been better last year.
They weren't.
Biz, we'll go with you first.
You guys know I'm a big Bennington fan, and this playoff prediction,
and I have them in playoffs, is solely based on him having
a very good bounce-back season.
You mentioned their top four.
I mean, when you look at the whole division, there's like four or five teams
that have an unbelievable top four back end. think that they're one of them um and i think
that it sucks to lose sammy blay and schwartz but i think that they actually improved as far as the
offense and that's also gambling on the fact that james neal puts in 25 this year because they added
buchnevich or if you ask whitney it's Anisimov um and Brandon Saad
so you look at their their top six forwards with Kairou in the mix as well that's very good you're
and this is also the assumption that Tarasenko is as good as advertised and how he came in
this is a guy who had five 30 plus goal seasons in a row one of which he hit four over 40 or 40 on the nose
and then another season he had 39 if he can get back to his old ways he has not played a lot of
hockey in the last two years so all those factors considered i am a gambling man i'm betting that
the blues are back in playoffs wouldn't be surprised uh i'm kind of struggling with this
one biz there are a lot of there are a lot of question marks that you're right if binnington playoffs? Wouldn't be surprised. I'm kind of struggling with this one, Biz. There are
a lot of question marks.
You're right. If Binnington plays
great and they can get scoring from some of these guys
bringing in, and my Butch Nevitz,
a Nisimov thing, they'll forever
be the same person to me.
But he's good, dude. They are. They just
changed birth certificates. Exactly.
Just different
KHL teams they came up with.
I think that last year was their first year without Petrangelo, right?
So they bring in Krug, who's awesome offensively,
but there's really nobody that's the all-around player that he is.
He's one of the best in the world.
So in a year when it was probably tough for them to figure out their way,
not having him, not having that guy to rely on,
I think you'll see guys step up in different ways.
Man, Tarasenko is like the one question mark, right?
I think if he wants to be traded, if he still wants to be traded, right,
he has no reason not to go 100% and play as hard as he can,
which he really always has in terms of playing as well as he can
to get out of town, if that's really his goal.
So I think you're going to see a hugely motivated Tarek Stanko,
like R.A. mentioned.
I'm going to pick him to miss.
I hate doing it.
I hate doing it, but I don't know.
Something about the team, I don't know if it's still there.
From winning that Stanley Cup, so many things have changed.
And if Binnington's good, dude, they're going to get in.
It's really up to that.
But with,
with,
with scoring,
maybe being a question mark and I don't know,
Pareko having a little bit of a struggle in the past couple of seasons.
I actually have the missing.
Yeah.
I'm in agreement with you too,
man.
This is a team.
They obviously won the cup a couple of years ago,
but I don't know that they is elite as other teams in this division.
I don't see them making it my fifth, you'll find out in a minute.
Grinnelli?
I got them in.
I love their depth up the middle.
I mean, O'Reilly, Shen, Thomas, Bozak.
I just love their depth up the middle.
All right.
All righty.
And like I said, 35 to 1.
Not a bad price for a team that won the Cup a couple years ago.
All right.
Last team in the division.
Before we send it over to Don L. Nurse.
Winnipeg Jets.
They showed up their D.
They brought in Nate Schmidt and Brendan Dillon,
a couple of friends of the program.
Of course, their season ended last year in the second round when they were swept by the Montreal Canadiens.
Tough loss.
Winnipeg Jets, 40-1.
Pretty nice price.
Good odds.
I think there's some really good value there.
If you're
looking by the way all these odds are per the basketball sports book of course but Schmidt and
Dilley are definitely going to improve that top four biz and they got a high-end top six
Connor Shifley Wheeler Stastny PLD I'm assuming he'll get his game back
Eilish I think they sure the D up enough this team 100% getting the playoffs, could make even a run if Hellebuck stays hot. I would
probably put this top nine
forward group on par with
Colorado. The only
question mark I have is how is Dubois
going to bounce back? Goaltending,
Vesna caliber goaltender.
Back end,
comparable maybe to the rest of the division.
Much improved, though.
The fact that they were able to get Dylan and Schmidt is fucking nuts.
We all we all.
You guys know our opinions on Pionk and Morrissey.
I think that they're an average decor in all things considered within the division.
But this top nine, if they can stay healthy.
Oh, my goodness.
Some of the most underrated players in the league.
I know we took we hadopp in the sandbagger.
An excellent offensive player.
Ehlers on top of that.
Wheeler, Scheifele, and Connor in that top line.
I love Lowry as a third-line center.
Kind of reminds me of him slotted in much like –
oh, God, now I'm drawing a blank.
Guy in Boston who was playing third-line center.
Coyle. He's like that Coyle type, that I'm drawing a blank. Guy in Boston who was playing third line center. Coyle.
He's like that Coyle type, that big body down the middle.
He's positioned perfectly there, can produce that third line scoring,
of course, with Snastny on the left side.
Appleton was a bit of a tough loss, but I don't –
I really like this team, guys,
and I think that they're going to make playoffs.
I love this team.
I think I said they were one of the most improved teams in the league in the summer before we took our little break.
And I if you if you look at their forward unit, right, they can play with anyone.
They have speed. And the Dubois thing is so true, Biz, because you didn't get the full sense of what he can be as a player.
And I'm not making excuses, but the whole way he went over,
and remember it was two weeks in a hotel room,
and it was just a wacky year.
We talked about Dallas, many different individuals and teams,
to no fault of their own, last year just never were able to get it going.
And the whole circumstance of COVID and everything around it
certainly plays a factor.
So Dubois being there, first of all, he wanted to be there,
spends his summer there as he talked about.
And then for him to be comfortable going into the season,
I think you're going to see a completely different player.
And then the main thing is like,
when I talk about questioning the goaltending of,
of teams that I didn't pick, like I, Hellebuck is right there, man.
He is as good as maybe not as good as
anyone in the league but he's a Vezno caliber goalie and that's all you can really ask for and
then up front with all the big guns they have Shifley's like a different level um I think he's
one of only four guys to average a point per game the last five years he's top 10 in the way he
drives offense if not top five yeah McDavid Crosby and Marchand are the only other 10 in the way he drives offense if not top five yeah mcdavid crosby and marshall are the
only other players in the last uh five years to average a point per game so that's an elite level
player i love the team i have them in i i knew that so that gives me five this division is so
true biz in terms of like it could be a complete gong show for how things have worked out. And in the end, we could be so off on these,
as we usually are with our predictions.
I got the Blackhawks, the Avs, Dallas, Minnesota, and Winnipeg getting in.
Hey, I'm a fucking idiot.
I totally forgot that I was able to pick five teams out of this division
because I went back to last year and only four through each division.
Yeah, so you three each division. So if I could have a redo,
I would probably have Dallas in the mix.
Okay.
Well,
all right.
I completely.
He's not happy about that.
No,
no,
no, no,
no.
I just trying to get Grinnell.
He's take on a Winnipeg playoffs.
That's all.
Love them.
Love them.
Love them.
Love them.
Oh man.
And by the way, we got to give full props
to Conor Hellebuck. He's not Vezna Caliber.
He's a Vezna winner. He won it back.
Oh, fuck. I forgot about that.
Yeah, and actually, he was a finalist
one other time, too.
Yeah, that's what I was basing it off of. Jesus Christ.
I just want to give him his props.
Winnipeg fans punching the steering wheel for the last
10 minutes.
Wayne from Winnie.
All right, boys.
Well, we're going to send it over to Donnell Nurse in one second.
But let's talk about your button down game for a second.
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All right,
boys.
Now it's time to send it over to Edmonton defenseman Donnell Nurse,
and I think you're going to enjoy this one.
We're happy to bring on our next guest.
This defenseman was taken seventh overall by the Oilers in the 2013 draft,
and he became an NHL regular when he was just 20 years old.
One of the many young defensive stars in the NHL. He's heading into his
eighth season in Edmonton.
He's also got a gold medal from the 2015
World Junior Championships. Not a big deal.
Thanks so much for joining us
on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. Don Elnuris.
How's it going, my friend?
I'm great. Thanks for having me on.
It's been...
We haven't been able to line up here
for the last year, so it's nice to be able to do it.
We wanted you to secure your bag before we got you on.
Congratulations.
We'll get a payday, and then we'll talk to you, pal.
Yeah, we didn't want to mess that up for you.
The trend is either I lose your job or get a payday,
so I'm glad you held off on it.
Is that a J.R. chirp?
No, it's not.
Oh, okay.
That was more at you than anything.
Oh, okay.
Not this chirp.
It's always a little sensitive when we get Edmonton guys on
because it brings up some old memories from Witt.
So I take it easy on our boy here.
I would say – oh, go ahead, Whit.
I'll let you start it off.
I was just going to say, yeah, look, I'll chirp the West Edmonton Mall
on how much I was despised, but I've been very clearly an open Oilers fan.
I root for the Oilers to do well.
So this is supposed to be the year, Darnell.
Let's get it going now.
I know you guys are chatting about that early.
Yeah, I know 100%.
I think look around the room
obviously a lot of new faces uh a whole different dynamics the team more more veteran team and
i think really excited about the group that we have and really mesh and that's that's a big
thing right you get into into camp and you want to make sure that the group as a whole you know
how it is like you get into the locker room all the time, or all those new personalities that come in, they're going to mesh.
And in our case, it's been awesome.
We've got a great group, and that's the first step.
Now you've got to bring it all on the ice in the regular season.
One guy I want to mention, I'm sure you've probably met him quite a bit,
as a fellow defenseman, Duncan Keith.
When we first met him in a hotel room several years back,
I'd never seen a guy with just such an aura about him
when he just walks in the room.
There's just like a sense of coolness. What's he
been like working with so far?
Yeah, he's been unbelievable. Obviously,
you bring a guy into your organization
who's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer,
has done it all in the league from
winning Norrises, winning Cubs, winning
the Olympics. He's done it all.
So for us as a group
to be able to really pick some things
from his brain, whether it's the preparation of the game, the work,
he's such a workhorse, comes in each and every day,
each and every practice, tries to set the tone every time he has a rep.
So, you know, when you see that coming from a guy that's, you know, 38
and has everything in this league, it really sets that tone.
It's really infectious throughout the lineup.
And as a D-man, obviously, when I was a junior,
he was going through those Chicago years where they're winning cups
and he was the man.
And so for me, it's a lot of fun to be able to suit up beside him
and pick his brain a little bit too.
Hey, I knew he was a competitive bastard.
I told him this too.
We were in the minors the same year, the lockout in 05.
He was in Norfolk.
I was in Wilkes-Barre, playing against each other.
And I didn't know him.
We were the same draft, but we were the same age.
But I'd never met him.
And he skates out.
He's like, you fucking suck, Whitney.
I was like, Jesus, man.
Lay off me.
But I knew he was a gamer.
He wanted to be better than everyone else he was so driven then and he still is
now it's just a little uh oh and
by the way his penalty last night I saw your
exhibition game against Vancouver was the biggest
bullshit call you know the penalty
he got last night how crazy was that
not to get you in trouble with the refs but I don't
know it's just a little off you can afford the fine wit
let it fly
no it's like
it's like Finland with speeding tickets.
They fine you based on what you get, so they could fine him like $2 million now.
Yeah.
Still nothing.
That's probably what he got in signing bonus.
That'll be IOU for next year.
Might want to hold on to that one.
That's a kick in yet, Biz.
Yeah, that's a kick in.
Has he been busting out a bunch of skates?
Because I remember when I was playing with the Coyotes,
he was getting them molded in our locker room,
and I guess he busts out a new pair like every five games.
Is he still abusing skates the way he used to?
I haven't seen that.
I have heard that he uses a lot of skates,
but I haven't seen that yet.
He's only been around for just over a week, so I'll keep my eye out.
One of the things I wanted to mention, like going back to your deal,
I know we joked around about it.
I was listening to 32 Thoughts, formerly known as 31 Thoughts,
and they were asking you about the two bridge deals
and how it affected you playing through contract years like that.
And you seem to be completely unfazed by that
like that's kind of I guess really not that standard where most guys are a little bit nervous
going into these contract years yeah it was you know what like for me having done the first time
the first bridge deal you have a little bit of butterflies about it like you want to get
something locked in I think a lot of that goes into the hockey mentality too right like you want to get as much money for
or you know even if you're taking less money but for for more security and more years um and i came
from a family with football players so i mean i remember talking to my dad and he was like yeah
i'm thinking about taking a two-year deal i was i he was going to come through the phone and slap me in the back of the head and say, but it's been a two-year deal, right?
So, yeah, for me, having played through that pressure
and then in the first bridge deal
and then coming into the second one,
it wasn't even a question for me.
I was like, I'm going to bet on myself.
I feel like I can take my game to a whole other level.
And I felt like I found a way to do that last year.
And on top of that, I feel like I have a lot more left in me.
So even coming into the summer, I was like, you know,
if we don't get a deal done and have to go and play out a contract here this year,
I mean, that was fine with me.
And looking back in retrospect, I think a lot of that confidence came from,
you know, really just, you know, staying true to myself and believing in myself the first time around
when I think in a lot of ways I could have just folded my hand.
Just wheeling his balls around a big old wheelbarrow in Edmonton
all season long, both contract years.
No, doesn't faze this guy.
Was it just a matter of everything going right for you last year,
16 goals, 20 assists, all over the place, highlights every night,
just everything kind of clicking?
Yeah, it was a combination.
I think there was a lot of work that went into it too as well.
That was another part about, yeah, there was a lot of things that went right,
but also when I looked at my tape and look at myself as a player year after year,
there's been a progression to my game.
It hasn't been something where all of a sudden out of nowhere i was you know putting myself in in
scoring opportunities and getting myself to high dangers i was like i've been getting myself those
those type of opportunities for a little while now is more being able to cash in on them and
you know making some adjustments uh maybe not trying to go you know high glove every time or
trying to beat the goalie up high and just maybe making a playable shot that if it doesn't win,
maybe there's a rebound.
So just kind of making adjustments to my game, I think,
allowed me to kind of get to that next level.
And like I said, I wasn't in no way content with last year.
I feel like there's a lot more still to give.
And, you know, you look at the top D-men in this league,
they don't do it for one year.
They do it year after year after year.
And that's the level I want to get to.
If I could just hop in here quick.
So I was thankful that Jim Playfair, your defensive coach, reached out.
And he told me that during the summer, you get every game and you watch.
You'll go through all your shifts, and you'll write down in a journal
about what you need to work on constantly.
That is – when did you start doing that?
And that is like – I heard that, and that is like i heard that that's
just fucking wild man i started watching like i was never a huge i i like to watch myself play
um it's gonna sound that's weird to say i like to watch myself play but like when i first got
first i think like there's there's nothing more honest than, than video. Like you could, you can talk to yourself all you want and coaches and,
and you know, your parents or whatever,
they can tell you all you want about your game.
But the most honest critic of your game is the video and you being able to sit
down and watch it. So I started watching my game a lot,
probably my second and third year.
And then probably a year and a half ago, two years ago, actually, when,
when Jimmy became our D coach,
that was the first summer that I got out the journal and started to take notes.
And I found that was a big help because I would have all these thoughts in my head of, you know,
each game that I was watching, but I would never really write it down.
So I'd never be able to go back and say, oh, you know, I want to clean up this part of my game.
And when I started to write it all down, I'd go through tendencies
and I'd go through like 10 game increments and see like the tendencies
within my game that I could work on.
And once I started to pick out those tendencies and be able to kind of
like bounce them off Jimmy too.
And yeah, I saw that too.
And to go through those tendencies and then you can lock in really on what
you want to improve on as a player.
And I think that's one of the things that for sure is helping me to to get to that level wow i think
the one of your most dominant like uh attributes on the ice is your skating was was that something
where right from the get-go you're eight nine years old you were always one of the best skaters
or was it later on when you really added the speed to your game because you can get up and down the
ice so well it makes your game that much easier.
Especially for a big guy, too.
Yeah, no, skating was always a strength of mine.
I was never a pretty skater, though, like growing up.
Doesn't matter, though.
I know, but you know those people watching the younger guys now,
like, oh, he's so raw.
That's what everyone always used to say.
Oh, this guy is so raw. So I started to work with with the skating coach whatnot then
you get to you get to the pros and uh you know you get to the nhl we've all been there like oh i
worked on power skating my whole life i'll need to work on that ever again like whatever like now
i need to work on handling the puck and and and just playing the game power skating is not important
and so i kind of threw it out the window for probably five years and and went back to it uh a year ago but went back to
actually the the rink that i started so like some of my earliest skating and skating lessons and uh
his name was greg moore at the pond and his daughter michelle moore was a figure skater
when i was growing up and she was she was going through every like all the canadian nationals and
whatnot and um now she's a skating coach so i went from working with greg to now working with michelle figure skater when I was growing up and she was, she was going through every like all the Canadian nationals and whatnot.
And now she's a skating coach.
So I went from working with Greg to now working with Michelle and like after
five years of really neglecting skating and you know, you do every,
you do stuff every once in a while with,
with the skating coach when you first got to camp in August,
but to be able to do it all year round,
it really helped me clean up my stride a little bit too.
I think things change a little bit
when you got to go out of the gate
against McDavid in practice most days.
And then you're like, you know what?
I think I might have to call up the old skating coach here
to keep up with this guy.
Yeah, I thought it was fast.
He beats you down the wing three times in a row.
So you're like, okay, I'll go back to the drawing board here.
As you just mentioned, Connor,
is it hard not to pinch yourself every day, Donnell,
and just not take him for granted,
knowing how this guy's a stratospheric player?
Yeah, he's obviously unbelievable.
I think, I was thinking the best way to describe him is,
you go into summer hockey and you want to make all these plays,
these little backhand sauce plays and plays through guys' skates and whatnot,
and it probably works one out of ten times so it works for him nine out of ten times against the
best players in the world at their peak so like that's the type of players right and it's uh it's
a lot of fun to play alongside them and no the work that he brings to the rink each and every
day because this isn't it's not just a god-given gift that he has to play this game. It's the work and dedication he has to the game as well.
So for our team, obviously, it's such a great example for everybody.
And obviously, we all have the pleasure of seeing it night in and night out.
He can't cook worth a shit, though.
I heard he can't cook.
You lived with him when you first got there.
Why does he got to cook? He does everything else, dude. I can't cook. You lived with him when you first got there. Why does he got to cook?
He does everything else, dude.
He should have a four cook school.
I don't know.
Everyone's so fascinated with McJesus.
This guy can't even work himself around a kitchen.
Peasant.
What's he making?
Dude, if he could probably cook one time and get some deal with Emeril on the Food Network
and be chopping it up, making the most money on A&E fucking food.
Come out with his own knife set. Have Bobby Flay in his overnight bag. the Food Network and be shopping it up, making the most money on A&E fucking food specials.
Have Bobby Flay in his overnight bag.
Hey, what was it like living
with him?
It was great.
Living with him was very eye-opening for myself
because
I was a guy that
1 o'clock in the morning,
you get home off the road, I'm stopping at A&W
or stopping at the McDonald's drive-thru and grabbing grabbing a little bit too much food
and then uh going back there and burying it and they'll live with him like this guy doesn't he
doesn't eat bad like i mean every once in a while right you'll have you'll have a bad meal but it's
like like most days like you have a 30-day 29 days, this guy is eating correct every meal, every second,
like doing everything right in his body to get ready for the next day.
And for me, I was like, man,
I should probably dial in some of this nutrition stuff myself.
Like, I think that was the biggest thing I probably took away from him in the
two years living together. And just like a competitor,
I think also like we had a ping pong table and I,
I might've won maybe one game at the ping pong table.
I'm the sorest of losers. And, uh, and like, I was bad.
Like you probably play a hundred games. He won 99. And,
and the one time he lost was probably worse than all 99,
but I also was kind of rubbing his face a little bit.
So McDavid's a fat shamer.
Now you tweeted out, you know, get the headline.
No, this is all we want.
We got the headline.
Thanks for joining us, Nursey.
That's all we needed.
Hey, has he been bitching about his contractor still?
Because when we had him on, he was just finishing his house.
And I actually think it was Rick from Red Deer,
the Calgary Flames fan, who ended up –
The guy hosed him.
The guy hosed him, I guess.
You know, I'm going to leave that to him.
I'm going to speak on his personal affairs.
He didn't build his basketball shooting room ceiling high enough
because if he shoots a three-pointer, it's going to hit the roof.
I can dunk on his net.
That's all.
Okay. That's all the nurse cares about. that's all you know okay that's all the nurse
cares that's all that matters that's all that matters he uh is there no color at the paint
shops in edmonton either just shades just white black and gray that's it it's a it's a beautiful
house like honestly but you probably obviously you've seen it because it was the black by the
way that gives you beautiful house business tried sneaking in. I snuck in when you guys were on the road.
I took all the paint from Edmonton and put it in your outfits.
I take all the crusty socks off the floor.
I'm trying to make the next best hockey player like the Hughes family.
Selling them at outside Rexall.
What's his face?
Like Newman in Jurassic Park.
You can get him on the new Canadian
Barstool Chicklet Store.
Free shipping, by the way,
for David's crusty socks.
Let's get it back
on the rails here. Going back
to your dedication to the game, obviously
your off-ice training, Matty Nichols
a big component to that. You talked about some of the things that you would watch on tape and try to to the game. Obviously, you saw your off-ice training. Matty Nichols, a big component to that.
And you talked about, like, some of the things that you would watch on tape
and try to correct your game.
I think you're one of also the guys using Adam Oates for video as well, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I am.
I've been using Oates for five years now.
Four or five years.
Yeah, five years.
So, yeah, he's – like, the way that OTC is a game, obviously,
is completely different than what – first off, my first game in the league.
You first come to the league, you're just trying to survive in the lineup
every night, so, you know, there's a lot of glassing out
and just trying to be very, very simple.
And OTC really, like, opened up my eyes to, you know, making plays in the D zone
and being more active and activating and having more confidence as well.
Whenever you're getting those reps in in the summer
and you're out on the ice, it brings confidence too within you as a player.
I think in this game, that's one of the most important things.
If you're not confident, you're not going to be able to do anything in this league.
You've got to be able to trust yourself.
I think that the work that I put in with Otsu and doesn't you know obviously with a lot of guys in the league uh it
definitely helps again you know does he bring up does he bring up the uh the the possibility of
when mcdavid's on the ice just these little tiny short breakout passes to this to him swinging like
that had to be one thing he's like dude you'll get a couple second assists. Give him a three-footer to him in front of the net.
A couple drop passes, just get a touch on it.
Just find him.
Yeah.
No, I think – well, he's always in the right spot.
So, I mean, if he's in front of someone, you just throw it.
But we have Leon, too, that you could give him a pass in the corner
and he'll throw a backhand sauce three-quarters of the ice down –
three-quarters of the ice on tape to tape to get on the breakaway.
So we're pretty fortunate in that regard.
Yeah, I know, Leon.
We're starting to cologne together.
He just won't answer my texts.
I actually just got the restraining order.
Do you know what that means, Nurse?
Do you know what he's saying when he says that?
Well, I'm guessing because it's his hometown.
Dude, he was fucking on Google one time.
We were recording.
We're talking about Dreitzel.
So he Googled him and he's like, oh, boys.
Also, he looks like he's starting a new cologne.
We were like, you mean he's from Cologne, Germany?
He's like, oh, shit.
Only the best from the boys at Spittin' Chicklets over here.
We got a big biz.
All right. What do you got for him? You got a question? Well, I was going to
follow up with Oti. Have you ever dealt
with a hockey mind anything quite like Oti
before? Anything close?
Never. Nothing. Nothing
even remotely close.
One, he's a
hockey addict. He
knows every play that went on in
every game each and every night and
you can call him back on he'll call you back and say like oh there's this play you know in the in
the winnipeg new york game two weeks ago you should go check it out oh it's like why like why
are you watching why are you watching that game and how can you remember that from two weeks ago
like so there's like his mind and his ability to
just you know see plays and when you get on the ice from to be able to like just break it down
with you and not over complicate it too much i think you know as a player that's that's what
you want because i mean it's easy to go out with these skills coaches and they throw out you know
120 120 pucks and 120 pylons in time you go through them.
Is that going to help your game?
Probably not too much.
It'll make for a good Instagram clip,
but I don't know if it'll do too much in helping you in the day-to-day
of playing in the NHL.
So I've been very fortunate to work with him,
and his mind is one of a kind.
I read at 15 you were 6'4", 176 pounds.
Now, were you just burying every kid out there regardless of size?
Were you picking your spots?
Were you keeping bullies in line?
When you're that much bigger than these kids, how were you handling that?
I was big, but if you rewind it to 14, I was 6'2", 135 pounds,
where a light breeze from the west would knock me over.
I was 6'2", 135 pounds, where like a light breeze from the west would knock me over. Like it was – I was very skinny.
So, yeah, when I got to like 15, 16 and to be able to kind of put like my whole frame together
and be able to actually move.
And I feel like there was a year there probably when I was like 14, 15,
where I was kind of like Bambi on the ice because I hit a big growth spurt
and hadn't really got coordinated with the legs and whatnot.
So at 16, I kind of started to put it all together,
and that was right before I went into Sault Ste. Marie.
And, yeah, it was fun out there because you could get away with a lot of,
you know, cheating down the wall on a pinch and get back
and, you know, just throw someone to the ice.
You get away with that stuff.
You can't get away with that anymore in the NHL, but it was fun back then.
I waited to become Bambi until I actually got to the NHL.
It's unfortunate that it went backwards for me.
But the other aspect of your game,
and we have to bring up this clip,
is the fighting and the playing mean,
which is so valuable to true number one defensemen.
And so with you, there's a clip of your father.
I think you were fighting McCormick from auto.
He's like, beat his ass.
Obviously, has this been a part of your game since the OHL
or was it even before that?
Were you just willing to do anything when you got on the ice?
Yeah, it was probably the OHL because you couldn't really fight before that.
Right here in Minahaw, you couldn't really fight before that.
We used to have a pretty good rivalry against Honeybakes.
And, gosh, I'm going to –
CompuWare, they had Little Caesars in that.
Yeah, we had a good –
Was that like Wierenski's age?
Are you like Wierenski's age?
No, no, a little older.
But it's like me and Mikey McCarron.
Like Mikey McCarron, I don't know if you remember him.
Yes.
But he was just a
unit like ever since we've been 14 15 so we have this huge rivalry so we used to always go at it
that was the closest thing that i ever got to a fight we had a little had a little mix up in the
corner where you know you're smacking each other's cages that was the closest thing to a fight till
i got to the ohl and then uh i got to OHL I got in a couple my first year and then
um my second year you know you're trying to you're trying to impress the scouts and whatnot
and show that you can do everything so I think you probably got like 10 10 that year and um was
able to put up some points too so uh yeah the whole fighting the whole fighting part of it I'm
very fortunate because I'm in the position that I don't have to fight. I think I heard Biz talking about this one time.
He enjoyed fighting until it became his job where he knew he had to go out each and every night and fight.
I'm fortunate I'm in the place that I can fight because it's enjoyable to do sometimes.
There's that rush.
You just want to punch someone.
I was doing all those fucking pylon drills drills and all of a sudden I had to.
Popping it on his Instagram.
I didn't get the Adam Oates memo.
You couldn't have afforded Oatesy.
Yeah, waited to the
NHL to become Bambi. I waited to the NHL
to become a pylon.
But yeah,
I've been very fortunate
that I'm in a position to
if I want to stand up for my teammates, always like that, I'll never turn one down.
And, you know, when I first, when I first got into the league, I think I probably made more of a point to, to get in fights with some guys that were, you know, tougher in the league, just to show like I'm willing and able to do it at any time.
It's not to, not to go out there and be the toughest guy in the league.
It's just to say, look, it doesn't matter who it is.
Like, if I need to stand up for a guy on my team, I'll go anyone.
And that was kind of always been my mindset.
And that came from, you know, how I grew up.
My parents always taught us that.
Like, as kids, like, you stand up for, you know,
you stand up for your family, like your sisters growing up
and going to school.
So that's just kind of how I've always been.
So, you know, you see old man uh on the jumbo
trying to earn on sportsnet there yell be his ass it was uh that was that was pretty funny i
remember coming back to the room that was in ottawa coming back to the room after in ottawa and
um the media guy uh jj at the time was like you gotta see this clip you gotta see this clip or
what like what clip he said he did i'm not even gonna tell you just watch this clip pulls it up and i'm like oh no no so i was like yeah it'd be his dad and i see my old man after and he's all fired up
like and my the one thing about my dad's like he doesn't like when i fight like he's my mom is
actually doesn't mind when i fight she's like oh you'll be fine to take care of yourself but my old
man's like you don't need to fight just go go play hockey. And I'm like, sure enough, I show him that clip.
I'm like, yeah, you don't like it when I fight, huh?
Like, you sure seem to like it.
So, yeah, that's kind of just how I was brought up.
And the fighting part of it, I can enjoy it because I can just do it
when it needs to be done.
Now I know why you were afraid to sign that bridge deal when he called you
and was yelling at you.
He looked pretty intense in that clip.
Now, I'm sure a lot of that aggression comes from his cfl days he ended up playing for the hamilton tiger cats right so yeah your whole family is just an absolute pedigree
of athletes you have kia who's a wmba all-star sarah who's a hockey star on the female side
uh your uncle is donovan Donovan McNabb as well.
You just have this massive, massive sports family.
Oh, yeah.
And then all of them bring home these huge accolades every year.
They can make you feel real insignificant about yourself,
even playing in the NFL.
So it's kind of funny.
Like, even growing up, playing, like, minor hockey and whatnot, like, if you had – it was school had it was school and sports so if you had like the worst mark if you came home with the
worst mark um like you were shamed at uh at the dinner table and then i mean i just like one story
um me and my sister so we're running cross country and i was never like a really good runner at all
so we ran cross country.
I think I was in grade six, she was in grade five. So run cross country.
I feel like I put on a pretty good, pretty good effort. Right.
And coming out, I think it was like 52nd place. So 52nd out of like,
it was like 300 kids. So I'm like, Oh, you know, that's not bad.
Like I get to the dinner table. What place you come Darnell? Oh, 53.
Like I really gave him my all. Oh, cool. What place you come darnell oh 53 like i really gave him my all oh cool what place
you come kia first see darnell that's what we need from you like they're like it was just like
demoralizing you know like the next year i came sixth because i i worked on my running all summer
because of the performance my sister put on but yeah so that's that's the kind of family i grew
up in hey so so you're just a kia sister Kia, I think she was 10th overall pick,
I'm reading, in the WNBA draft and played at UConn.
Were those those UConn teams that won the NCAA title every year?
Did she kind of miss that?
How did she do in those tourneys?
Yeah, she won her first two years,
and then they lost in the final for her second two years.
Yeah.
So she had two special occasions.
She has two.
And then, like, when she was drafted to the WNBA,
it must have been, like, pretty cool for you guys.
I mean, like, for her to be that good of a college star,
coming from Canada, too,
which is happening more and more now with Hoops.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, big time.
Yeah, like, even when she was first, like,
initially going through the recruiting process,
like, UConn was, like, a dream of hers,
but it wasn't really something that she thought was possible.
And then they went off to AAU tournament in the States,
and she had a great tournament.
The UConn coaches were there.
So then she got the call that they wanted to offer a scholarship.
And it was, like, no matter what she had on the table before that,
like, it was all out the window, like, she was going to UConn.
So, yeah, it was very impressive. And, like she was going to UConn. So yeah, it was very, very, very impressive.
And like for us, it was always, always fun to watch.
I think she started like after her, I want to say like four or five games into, into
like her career at UConn, she started and she started the rest of the rest of her career.
So she was, she was a big part of all those things.
And she's, well, her team is currently in the semifinals.
What is it?
The Phoenix. Phoenix Mercury. Phoenix Mercury. And her team is currently in the semifinals. What is it, the Phoenix?
Phoenix Mercury.
Phoenix Mercury.
Unfortunately, she got injured last night.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, sorry to hear that.
No, I know.
That's terrible.
And then I was going to ask you a little bit about Sarah.
Like, given, like, the hockey backgrounds,
you'll probably keep in touch with her quite a bit.
Yeah, and we actually played against each other.
Funny enough, like, when we were really young, like, you know, keep in touch with her quite a bit yeah and we actually played against each other funny enough
like when we were really young like uh you know seven eight years old like we actually played
against each other uh in Hamilton and she had more skill than me that for sure but I was a better
skater yeah I was gonna ask you guys are only a month apart you must have battled together as
little cousins no like you know that yeah like it just right in the mix like I think that
it goes into like even Christmas dinner like it just right in the mix like i think that it goes into like
even christmas dinner like it was talking about like that competition of like what can you bring
to the dinner table whether it's a gold medal or like that extended to christmas uh christmas
dinner with the extended family so like yeah there's still debates to this day about who's
the greatest athlete in my dad's family like between my aunts and uncles and it's like it's
a ruthless like gutless battle that, that goes on.
You obviously have CFL history with your dad and NFL history.
We just mentioned when your cousin,
which league do you prefer to watch?
Be careful.
Be honest.
I know you're afraid of your dad.
Be honest.
And who's your NFL team?
All right.
I'll say,
sorry,
Darnell,
you get a point for punts in the fucking CFL.
It's one of the worst leagues in the world.
The Rouge.
No.
It's not one of the worst leagues in the world.
But I'll say it.
I love the Hamilton Ticats.
That's my hometown.
I love the Hamilton Ticats that my dad played.
However, I'm a huge NFL fan because I think, like, I mean,
every team, you have these huge NFL pools,
and you got the NFL fantasy football.
Like, it's – I think they just, like, market that game so well. like i mean every team you have these huge nfl pools and you got the nfl fantasy football like
it's i think they just like market that game so well it's just you just feel so involved all nfl
season so nfl for me who's your team you must have one it's tough when a league when when half
the teams make the finals every year you know it's just a little bit difficult when there's
your canadian biz though like you should be helping out.
Oh, I ripped the CFL.
I ripped the CFL on my Twitter one time because I posted that clip.
Oh, people will go at you.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
No, I had to go in a witness protection program.
I think in my battle.
Kind of like McDavid's contractor.
My battles over the CFL, I was also able at one point to say,
guys, there's like eight teams in the league
and two teams are named the Rough Riders.
That was when like two teams with the same name.
Is this a real argument here, boys?
Yeah.
Is this a joke?
Yeah.
That's so funny.
I actually want to go back to, I believe it was the 14-15 season.
You actually played in the OHL, AHL, and NHL the entirety of that season.
That must have done quite a whirl one day.
Yeah, it was awesome.
I had started the year.
That's when I played my first game in L.A. with the Oilers.
So I started the year and got sent down to Sault Ste. Marie.
So,
I mean,
you get sent down after playing a couple of games in the NHL,
even if it was two,
you feel like just a huge,
like just a big shot,
right.
Coming back to junior.
So yeah,
it was a,
it was an interesting year.
Like it was,
it was the first time,
like I'd really been like,
I wouldn't say,
I don't know.
I'll be the second year because of,
no, I'm thinking of 13, 14 be the second year because of, no,
I'm thinking of 13,
14,
but that year was probably
like one of my favorite years
and 14,
15 is probably
one of my favorite years
playing hockey
because I got to experience
it all.
Like we,
we obviously got to play
in the NHL,
which was a dream come true.
And then the,
at Christmas time,
got to,
to play in the world juniors,
which we got to play in Canada, which was just over the top.
We played in Montreal.
We played Montreal on, I think it was Boxing Day against,
Boxing Day or New Year's?
It might have been New Year's, actually, against Team USA.
And it was sold out.
This is the best atmosphere.
There's never going to be a better atmosphere like this to ever play and then we played in the quarterfinals in toronto
and it was just on a whole nother level like you know guys that you score a goal i remember like
max dome you score a goal and they're chanting dome you couldn't even hear yourself think and
they're just chanting dome and like place was rocking um and we had an unbelievable team so
yeah that was uh so we had won the world juniors
that year and uh like and then sous-saint marie we had a really good team in sous-saint marie um
sheldon keith was our coach and we had brought in like a lot of uh you know really really good
players and had a fairly decent run ended up losing to to connor and um the western conference finals in the ohl and then ended up
going to okc and i think we played we played utica that year and in the playoffs so i only
ended up playing like the last four games in the series but it was kind of like a cool way to cap
off you know uh you were at the play in three different leagues and and play you know some
pretty pretty important hockey throughout it.
So, yeah, it was one of my favorite years in hockey.
And I think it was just, you know, when you play that many places, you get to meet a whole lot of different personalities, a lot of different people, experience a lot of things.
You go from Sault Ste. Marie, where we had a good team.
We traveled a lot, go on the bus but like we had a good team to
we went to okc and okc you're playing utica so you got a little taste of the 4am bus ride to
the airport and the two flights to new york and then the six hour bus ride to four four hour bus
ride to their fans are nuts too that auditorium They have a great fan base there as well.
So, yeah.
Yeah, see, I got, like, a little taste of everything that season.
You know, we started it off in Santa Monica and playing against the L.A. Kings
and finished it off in Utica.
So it was a crazy year.
Right on the gamut.
Who was your first –
Oh, you're talking –
Oh, go ahead, all right. When you first – your first couple games at Edmonton, who was your first you're talking oh go ahead all right let's say
when you first your first couple games edmonton who was your d partner
oh goodness i can't like oh yeah that's bad way to go all right put them on the
edmonton oilers for a few years have been like a little bit of a... He didn't have one. Three-ring circus at the end. Don't worry, they don't remember either.
I can't even...
Honestly, the only thing I remember
about my first game was the first shift.
I think I had a hit,
maybe a hit or two,
a shot on net,
and I was minus one.
So that was my first shift.
That's basically all I remember
from the first two games.
I want to talk a little bit more
about the current defenseman.
So you guys lose Adam Larson.
That's a very difficult loss.
But Jim Playfair also messaged over that you ended up training
with Evan Bouchard all summer.
He's a very high-end prospect in your organization.
Considering, I don't know if you did or not,
have somebody take you under their wing,
you're now taking him under your wing.
I don't know if he's going to make the squad,
but that must have been pretty special for him.
And I would assume that you were training with him with Matty Nickel.
No, I actually – don't put me on the spot.
I actually ended up – I switched trainers.
No.
Oh, geez.
I switched traps.
I'm north,'m north but I started
working out with Connor and
up at Gary Roberts' gym
yeah
that would have been just over a year
year and a half ago so
but no me and Boosh were
skating together actually we were talking about
power skating so we skated together
every week and
yeah I mean hopefully um he enjoyed it i
mean like for for me obviously whenever you have the opportunity to work with your teammates over
the course of summer i think it's it's a huge huge add because you know you're bringing the
the same type of intensity and work ethic that you want during the season you want to be pushed
uh to that extent in the summertime too.
And I think whenever you're doing that with, with your own teammates,
it's, you know, for, for me, I'm like, get Bush's,
if Bush is one of our high end prospects,
he's a guy that's going to be a really good player in this league or really
big part of our team. So, you know, I think it would be great for us,
great for us to work together and, and push each other. So as much as,
as much as I was trying to push Boosh,
Boosh was pushing me each and every day because he comes out there and he brings the work that we needed to get better.
So, yeah, it was a lot of fun in the summer.
And, you know, obviously working with Boosh in the power skating
and working with Dave in the gym.
And as well, we had Warren Fogle, Devin Shore, Zach Hyman.
So we had a mini Evan Toiler group going there.
Wow.
It was probably just a location reason then, I guess, with Matty,
because I know he ended up getting a new gym set up,
but it's pretty far away, isn't it?
Yeah, a little bit, yeah.
Yeah, so it's a little different spot.
We ended up working out with Connor just after the bubble, actually.
So I ended up going a little further north once the pandemic hit
and working out with Adrian at Gary's place, and it's helped me a lot.
I thought Connor switched over to Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod for trainers.
I don't know if you saw the – did you see the new commercial?
The commercial.
The commercial.
That was a great one.
That was really good.
His acting is getting pretty good, isn't it?
He's the new Tom Brady.
He's a very good actor.
Do you guys bust his balls?
Hey, do you guys bust his balls about all the acting stuff?
No, I think like,
because I think it's almost expected in the position that he's in,
that he's going to be putting the spots where he's got to do a little bit of acting.
And he's doing a great job with it.
One of my favorite ones before was the commercial where he would take a shot
and all of a sudden he was sitting down and sipping on like a pina colada.
I don't know how it was.
His acting's come a long way.
It has, yeah.
He's like David Hasselhoff now.
He's got the tanning bed in his new place.
What about the Olympics this year?
I mean, you see all the teams are naming their first three players,
and every list that I see for Team Canada, you're on it.
I mean, I know you're just playing your game and not trying to think about it,
but it's got to be a little exciting to know you have a chance
to represent Team Canada in Beijing.
Yeah, it's definitely a goal, I think.
You know, it comes along the line with winning a Stanley Cup
and playing in the NHL.
A lot of those high-end Canadian moments that, you know,
you think about, oh, where was I at this moment?
You know, like when, you know, Crosby scores in Vancouver.
Like those are moments as a Canadian.
Maybe, yeah, I know you don't like it, but moments as a Canadian.
Yeah, he does.
He fucking put $24 million in his bank account. He doesn't give doesn't give a shit i actually yeah i actually bet on him that game
okay i'm still a sport but i'm still a sports book
it was like have a type of moments you know you look back on and be like wow i wish i was a
part of that and with uh this opportunity coming up it's definitely a goal of mine but
um you gotta focus on the task at hand.
So I'm just worried about what I can do with our team here in Edmonton.
And for us, I was in a good spot when that comes.
I don't know if you know, Biz, hold on.
I don't know if you know, that's why the Canadians didn't win the cup,
because Carey Price, he was thinking about the Beijing Olympics
instead of the cup final.
Biz told us that.
That was a dumb
another dumb question i asked on this podcast darnell i'm not sure if you heard that one but
hey here's a way to make the olympic team every time you play against a team with a guy who might
make the squad they'll fucking cross-checking the ribs little little high cross-checking rules but
you can't do that anymore oh yeah that's, that's right. Yeah, that's right.
Hey, get them off the ice like the old Nancy Kerrigan special.
Oh, good.
Okay, yeah.
The game's changed a little bit.
The game's changed a little bit.
That's true.
That's true.
All right, what do you got, buddy?
Looking at the 15-16 season, Dino, I know you started on the minors.
Then with Edmonton, they sent you back for three games.
Then they brought you back. Did you knowon, they sent you back for three games, then they brought you back.
Did you know when you come back after those last three games you were never going back to the minors?
You were like, that's it, I'm done?
I mean, that was a goal.
I was kind of hoping after I got called up the
first time and played
70-whatever games,
I wasn't going back
down. I remember
the AHL team had been mathematically eliminated
from the playoffs probably like a week before our season was finishing.
So I'm like, oh, maybe I won't have to go.
And sure enough, the exit meeting, I hadn't had a flight book.
So I just kind of knew it was coming to go down and finish off,
cap off the season for the last three games.
So, yeah, when I went down there, it was definitely a goal of mine.
I was like, yeah, I want to be in this league
and not have to go down and play in the minors again.
Was it your first goal called that be scored?
Not your first goal.
No, it was my third game.
So my first year, I ended up playing two games.
It was actually probably playing against you, Biz.
You might not have been out there but
i think i had a pizza up the middle that's what sent me back to junior my uh that was that was
the first two games that uh that would have been the 14 15 year and then uh 15 16 that that first
the first game of 15 16 i got called up that was i ended up scoring in minnesota so that was a
special moment that was a special moment.
That was the first game my parents had gone to too.
Who was it on?
Dubnik.
Okay, and you got it early.
Sussie too, right?
Yeah, I got it early.
Yeah, I did get it.
My first year, I got it early.
Yeah, that was battling.
I want to talk to you about Tip.
So I had Tip as a coach. He was very very defensive minded when I had him. I mean,
we also didn't have the weapons to be an offensive type of team.
Like how has he adjusted since he's been back as a coach and what has been
your experience with him?
Yeah, I think he brings exactly what our team probably has been missing for a
long time. Like Edmonton, for as long as I've played here,
we've always been able to score with anyone in the league.
Like you come in and we can score with anyone.
But the defensive side of the game, we definitely weren't as dialed in with.
And with Tip coming in, he's kind of brought that perfect mesh of, you know,
you're able to create offense and not taking away the offense from the players
and making those plays,
but at the same time being accountable and defensive and then taking away,
you know,
opportunities that we're giving up and as well as,
you know,
trying to limit goals against,
I think for our team,
like I said,
we can score with anyone,
but to have that mindset that each and every guy is going to check just as
hard as we're going to play that off offensive side of the puck.
That's something that tips definitely brought in and,
and helped our team get better with.
You mentioned Hyman in this summer.
I watched the all-or-nothing thing on the Maple Leafs we've chatted about on the podcast.
Noticeably, he was a big part of Toronto.
To get him over there, he's making a lot of money, but just to be able to play on one
of those top lines and the energy he brings, you could probably tell already in camp how
good this guy's going to be for you. Yeah yeah he's a guy you can plug in anywhere right i
think that's the biggest thing about him is he you can play anywhere within your lineup and on top of
that like the the work ethic that that uh hyams brings to the rink each and every night you can't
you can't put a price on that because, you know, the way that he works,
whether he's, you know, in the first or second line
and he's coming out there and working everyone on the ice,
like that's infectious throughout your whole group.
Like those are the kind of guys that push your team to another level that,
you know, if you're trying to create a culture
and the way that your team wants to play,
those are the kind of guys that you got to bring in
because, you know, when they play that big role
and even, you know, if they're getting points and even if they're playing on the power
play um they still bring that hard hat each and every day and it's not it's like non-negotiable
those are the kind of guys that uh that make change within the organization another guy i play with
was smitty and i saw that nice assist he had last night he uh's quite the character. Is he still rocking those terrible suits, though?
No, his
suit game is actually pretty good.
Is it good?
His suit game is actually pretty tight.
I haven't seen a bad
suit. It was like a who shot the couch
every time he came in with a new blazer on.
Horse blankets,
Biz? Horse blankets.
No, his suit game, he comes's got he's actually got good style so
i can't uh i can't trip him on anything like that and uh i probably won't want to because
he might want to go me if i uh if i did trip his suit people don't realize how good uh you have it
as a defenseman when you have a goalie who can play the puck like smitty i know he probably gives
the the the fans some some jammers once in a while with how long he's holding on to it but he's probably the best in the league at handling
the puck no oh unbelievable i think uh as as a d-man is such a such a luxury back there to be
able to just go open up and i mean there's there's times there's probably every game there's one or
two that he just bypasses the d and hits the winger and beats three of the opposing four checkers.
It's incredible.
To have the confidence to do that, you've obviously coughed up a couple before
because you don't care.
That's me.
It's such a luxury to have.
He obviously stops the puck too on top of that.
Just talking about suits, where do you stand on teams relaxing
or even eliminating these stress codes like we've seen Arizona do?
I don't mind it, but I think it puts a little more pressure on the players.
Like you –
Better have a good outfit.
Exactly.
Like you want to say no suits, that's fine.
But, like, you got to come with the correct outfit.
Like we can't be the league that comes in in jeans and a Lululemon T-shirt.
Like, it's got to be – if we're going to have relaxed dress codes,
we got to start bringing the heat here.
We'll leave it on track.
Hey, Biz.
Biz, Scuds would have been fucked.
He's like, which jeans do I wear tonight?
He's like, I only got one.
One pair.
The old Levi special.
Got, like, grass stains on the knees. jeans do i wear tonight he's like i only got one one pair the old levi special got like grass
stains on the knees use them to cut the lawn in the summertime with the pete carroll new balance
specials the dad shoes who's got the who's got the worst style on the team oh i let's just start
picking guys apart fuck it no i'm not gonna I'm not going to pick anyone apart.
Sorry, Rusty.
Chris Russell's got the most stuff.
Hey, but he'll block a shot.
He's definitely
earned it.
He's another guy
that might have
one or two pairs of jeans
and a pair of cowboy boots.'s oh he's a cowboy yeah which like is good style like so
he would have really good style in in alberta probably because you know it's not like you have
nice cowboy boots and and levi's but like to us ontario guys that's not not the style you know
i i i could see cassian wheeling in with some cowboy boots
too i know he's a big harley guy yeah yeah he's not i haven't seen him in in cowboy boots but uh
he might be second to rest like okay after last night is he all right oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah he's okay he's what that's one of the toughest human beings i've ever met so yeah
um who holds court in the locker room like Like who, who are the clowns?
Like who keeps things loose for that group?
Well, Cass is up there. I think Cass is one of those guys that he's,
you know, I'll be rolling on the floor, just, just laughing. And Yamamoto's got great,
he's usually got some great lines and, and yeah, there, we have a, we have a few characters in the room, but I'd say
Cass is probably the biggest energy
guy and can probably hold
core with the most guys.
I gotta ask, when did
you start going with the skin cell? Did that happen
naturally or did you just decide to look better?
It was coming.
I wanted to beat it
to the punch. There you punch. It was starting to,
it was starting to get a little thing. Like I've,
I've been going with my, with my helmet off in warmups for a while.
And you don't,
you never want to be that guy with your helmet off and warmups.
That's just trying to hold on.
The monkey, the monkey bomb. That's why I get,
you don't get,ze finally shaved it.
You don't want to be that guy, so I just decided, you know what?
I'm going to go early and just come in.
There you go.
I got a good shaved melon, too, so I can make it work.
You and Cass get the two-for-one special?
Get the free bowl of soup, too?
Because he's shaving his noggin now, too.
No, but worst-case scenario, if someone use a shaver and they left theirs at home,
you just ask the other guy. So.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't know how much else I got boys.
This has been awesome, man. We appreciate all your time too.
I know you guys.
I want to quickly ask before we let you go, like the,
the best part of Edmonton when I was there was the staff,
like TD fours, medical guy, Dr. Nadeau, Happy, Langer.
They're all still there, right?
Yeah, they're all there.
I'm rooting for those guys because you have a long, tough go of it
when you're on a team that's struggled.
And I think the staff, right, they feel it just as hard as anyone else.
I love all the guys there, so you got to tell them hello
because I'm sure it's still the same way.
They're giving it their all for you guys to get healthy and get out there yeah we have an unbelievable
sound like that's one thing we're very uh very spoiled with like those guys that like you said
they give it everything and and they're all every single day and i think uh you know you can never
take that for granted because we're very fortunate here and in edmonton to have the staff that we do
and uh yeah i'll definitely i'll definitely say hi to them for you.
Whit, you sparked me to ask about the Joey Moss tribute statue on the way out.
Was that something that the team surprised you guys with?
Like, such a cool thing as you guys are going out to the ice,
you're able to still give them kind of like the fist bump.
Yeah, I think a couple guys had like a little idea
that they were going gonna do something to
for for the memory of joey um and i just think that was like the perfect just just the perfect
thing thing to do like just have it at his height and you know the hand coming like it's literally
something that you walk by you don't even have to be going out to the game like you walk by you
just want to high five it like every single time you walk by. Obviously, Joey's
going to be missed
immensely, not only by
the hockey team and the football team, but just the city.
He meant so much to the city.
I was very fortunate
to spend some years with him
and get to know him.
I was too.
How crazy was the first time
you get in the room and you hear guys like,
shut the fuck up.
And right away you're like,
Oh my God.
But then he's like,
you shut the fuck up.
That guy was so fun to be around.
I remember every time somebody came in the locker room the first time,
they'd be like,
Oh my God.
Yeah.
God.
I was surprised by it.
So yeah,
he's yeah. He was, he was, but yeah's yeah he was he was unbelievable yeah he he would
give it he would give it to you like no matter what so hard like he always used to uh he always
or he always say you know i'm gonna go see kevin lowe and like for me i always thought
like it meant like he wanted me to go see ke Lowe so like when I was like young in the league
I felt like you know I'm getting sent down because he was just like just even the word Kevin Lowe I'm
like oh I think he works for the team and he's not I think he works with maybe I'm getting sent
like you know I mean it was just put that down but like oh yeah Joey was the Joey was the best
and he's he's definitely gonna be missed by everybody or now that was a great way to end
this thing uh good luck this year.
Say hi to my boy, Tyson Berry.
I think you guys are going to go on a run here.
I think it's Edmonton's year.
That fan base deserves it, man, and best of luck,
and hopefully you make the Olympic team.
We'll be rooting you on, pal.
Thanks for having me on, guys.
I really appreciate it.
Spank the Americans.
Good luck this year, Darnell.
Thank you.
Have a great season, buddy.
Thank you very much. No problem. Thank you. Tell McDust luck this year, Donnell. Thank you. Have a great season, buddy. Thank you very much.
No problem.
Thank you.
Tell McDusty sorry about the socks.
I'll get him a six-pack for Christmas.
We'll give him some money out of the sales biz.
Yeah, okay.
Love it.
All right, see you guys.
Huge thanks to Donnell for joining us for a nice chat, man.
What a great young defenseman.
Love watching him play.
And he was a great surprise too, Biz.
I enjoyed his conversation.
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Good stuff.
Yeah, Biz, I was going back to Don Elman.
This kid kind of, I wouldn't say come out of nowhere,
but last year he really put himself on the map
as a premier NHL defenseman.
Just bent the north over 20 tucks,
gambled on himself twice with those bridge deals,
and just secured the bag.
Yeah.
Have you got a chance to check out that McDavid commercial
with Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod?
No, I have to look at that.
Fuck.
I meant to do that after we interviewed.
Do you know who that is?
Nope.
These are like, they're like these two legends, like in Canadian television, they used to
like teach people health clips and they used to have these funny things on TV that they
would do.
So they're just like, if you're Canadian, you know who Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod
are.
And going back to McDavidid he's been doing like the
they connected romantically i think they're married that's a great question i'm pretty
sure they're married yeah they get the tracksuitos on all the time what a squad the tracksuitos they
had in the commercial with mcdavid were the ones that they usually rocked oh back in the day yeah
they had like the 80s uh call on me, call on me, call on me,
like that kind of vibe going.
There's a video of some of the hottest women in the world,
the Eric Perdiz song.
I can never say his last name.
Eric Perdiz.
That's going to be me on TNT
pronouncing half the league's last name.
Eric Prides.
Isn't it Eric Prides?
Just text me a bit.
I'll tell you how to say it.
Check out YouTube.
Hey, kids out there to check out youtube uh hey kids out there check
out youtube eric don't be cranking your hoses off to the air call on me video and then in in
and don't be late to school put it in the mcdavid tube sock um but uh but his acting
throughout the course of his like you know he's he's probably getting fucking you know 500 grand
million bucks a pop of the big companies coming at him to do these things but he's getting better and better
that's huge that's huge for the game it's he's like the tom brady now you're gonna watch a you're
gonna watch it edmund to an order's game and then you're gonna see six mcdavid commercials and then
right back to him dancing guys on the ice much like brady throwing five fucking TDs at 400 yards at 44 years old. Fucking unbelievable. It's crazy.
It is.
Still second best to Rodgers, though. We can
move on and do the Pacific.
All right.
Pacific Division. Anaheim
Ducks. There's been a youth
movement.
Yeah.
There's been a youth movement afoot.
They didn't really spend any money this
year. They got 15 million in cap space.
Didn't make the playoffs last year.
Didn't add anybody via free agency, really.
Said bye to Ryan Miller.
Cup odds, 125-1.
I think they're going to throw the kids out there.
Zegers, Lundestrom, Comptoir, Jones, Steele, Terry.
See what these guys, they're all under 24.
See what they got up their sleeve.
Basically a rebuilding year for the Anaheim Ducks.
Wouldn't you say that, Whit?
Yeah, they got Zgris and Jamie Drysdale.
It's like these two super prospects.
I actually have been reading that their prospect pool is strong, right?
So this is just rebuilding time.
I think Bob Murray's even mentioned that.
And the worst possible thing that could happen to this team is if they actually like
play pretty well and then end up missing the playoffs by like five points at the end of the
year. You know, it sucks for fans of of teams like this at times where you're really you're
hoping for the younger guys to play a lot and play well. But in the end, for the team to lose
and get a high draft pick, because that's going to be the future of Anaheim,
rebuilding to where they were.
I mean, they won five straight division titles
from, what was it, 2007, 2006 to, I don't know, 2017.
They were a legit contender every year, it felt like.
Maybe besides the year I was there, legit.
And other than that,
it's a team that just needs to look towards the future
and move on
to the next step preview we have to do for this division yep youth movement i'd say the best move
they made was bringing getzlov back just to kind of nurture these guys and show them the way and
how to act and conduct yourself and you know the the you know the the discipline as far as what
you're doing off the ice as well so um it's not going to look pretty this year.
I think that they're going to be a lottery team,
and that's probably a good thing if you're that fan base.
I hear the name Drysdale.
I think one of these really – it's a Don Drysdale.
I know what you're going to do with me, but does that name ring a bell with you?
Don Drysdale, former L.A. Dodger great?
Yes.
Started on the Brady Bunch for an episode as well.
All I knew is that he was a legend on the L.A. Dodgers.
I didn't know anything else about him or that he was on the Brady Bunch. Yeah, yeah, he was on the Brady Bunch. Mars episode as well. All I knew is that he was a legend on the LA Dodgers. I didn't know anything else about him or that he was on the Brady Bunch.
Yeah, he was on the Brady Bunch.
Okay, Jan.
The fact that that show was popular, if you watch that show now,
that might be the happiest I've ever seen you on this podcast
when he said that.
That was my favorite.
Okay, Jan.
Dude, that was the show in my household. me my brother my sister loved that show it was like we like you
kind of laughed at him because it was such a dorky family but the brady bunch was fucking king
and it was marsha the rocket yeah she got her nose busted by a football yeah oh my god i think that
was in the movie wasn't it no well the. Well, the movie riffed off the show.
Yeah, but she got her nose broken on the show. Oh, my nose.
Did you ever crank it off to Marsha?
100% you think
he didn't? He just said it was his favorite show.
I had a Marsha Brady t-shirt.
I told you it got stolen up college.
Did you crank it off to Marsha?
You did it in the t-shirt?
No, I didn't do it in the t-shirt.
I had a Marsasha Brady t-shirt
from when she
I legit bought it
it said oh my nose
and biz you know girls in college
they're notorious for stealing your fucking hoodies
well some chick
stole my Masha Brady t-shirt
I would pay a thousand dollars
to find out who stole my Masha Brady
t-shirt and call it that was in one of your Grind the Gears segment,
but we never got to it about a month ago.
Yeah, good point.
I got into the Grind My Gears later, too, for the end of the show.
What is it, fake Vax passports?
I don't give a fuck.
I'm Vax.
All right, let's go.
Let's go.
Let's keep going here, Pacific.
Let's just do all the California teams.
It's absolute dumpster fire.
I feel like the southern focus of hockey has shifted from California to Florida.
All right, Piz, let's do it.
Anaheim, right up the street, LA Kings.
The team is aiming to get back in the playoffs.
Didn't get in last year, but they brought in Phil Deneau,
Victor Avidsson, Alex Edler.
Who else?
That's about it.
They didn't really wave bye to anyone.
60-1 cup odds.
They lost by field.
That's a huge gut punch.
But this is a team.
The Kings, they've been stockpiling.
What's his name?
Rob Blake's been GM.
He's been stockpiling picks, making some nice draft picks.
I think this is a team that sees itself as a playoff contender this year, Paul.
They do.
And Dowdy said if they're not back in the mix, he's going to be very disappointed um he's going to be hungry they still got some legit guys in that lineup
that's by field loss is going to be huge though i feel like he was going to have such a fucking
big year i'm so gutted for this guy what is he going to miss probably six to eight weeks minimum
breaks his ankle against the coyotes in preseason looked ugly going under the wall
the guys i just don't have, looked ugly going into the wall.
Guys, I just don't have him making playoffs.
I like the pickup of Arvidsson.
I think he's an absolute honey badger.
I understand why maybe Nashville moved on from him because they think they have a couple prospects that could step up
and contribute and give him that ice time that he was going to get.
But I just – no.
They rely too much on Kopitar.
I like the one-two punch of them picking up Deneau,
but he's yet to prove to me that he can produce offense.
Maybe he can in that second-line center role
where Kopitar does take a little bit more
of that defensive responsibility off of him.
But Dustin Brown has had a couple of good years here,
even past of what people
thought his prime was going to be i don't know can he still produce 20 to 25 goals a year i just
guys i don't i like their prospect pool i think they have some good young players i do not see
them as a playoff team i see them as a a bottom i see them as a bottom eight team especially in
the fact that the western
conference is so strong this year i think that they're i don't think they're going to get in
the playoffs i think they're going to be a lot more competitive than anaheim is um like dowdy
had quotes of like all right i'm sick of losing if we got to bring players in so you know they
go get to know big contract there arvidsson's nice player. So they definitely went out and improved their team.
They're a better team than last year.
So I do think that they might compete for the playoffs.
I don't have them getting in.
The one thing to watch this year is like,
I think there's a chance by the end of the season,
like Cal Peterson could be their number one goalie, right?
So like that's somebody with a ton of promise.
And as quick gets older, you wonder, like,
how the whole goaltending position is going to play out there.
So I don't have them getting in the playoffs,
but I think they're going to compete and definitely give it a go.
They won't be a pushover.
I don't think they're a lottery team by any means.
I think the torch has been passed.
I'd say you see about 50 starts from Peterson and 32 from Quick.
And what an unbelievable guy to mentor you.
No doubt about it.
Same thing with Kopitar.
Not that he's even done playing at a high level,
but for these young guys coming up to have him, it's so clutch.
Doughty, I think he's always in the top 15, 20 defensemen in the entire league, even still at his age.
I just like you look at the you look at we talked about the central and every team seem to have a very, very good top four.
I think that their back end compared to most teams in the West is not that strong.
And I will say this, though, about the back end and Doughty.
I wish there was a prop bet you could make for the first 25 games of the year
like overall play by a defenseman in the
league because it's an Olympic
year. He's heard rumblings
that certain people
don't have him on Team Canada. What?
Yeah, I mean, dude
like if you look around, there's not everyone
who would take him. You're a fucking clown
if you don't have him on the league. I'm not saying that they're not
clowns. I'm saying he he has seen that that type press and for him to come out and be focused
and playing top end amazing hockey i am would not be surprised one bit he didn't even show up on time
for the fucking gold medal game this guy thrives under pressure He thrives for the big moments. That's going to be 12 years, dude.
If you don't have probably the best natural defenseman,
I don't even know if the guy trains.
He steps on the ice, and he fucking gets it done,
especially under pressure.
You're an absolute buffoon if you don't have him on the Olympic roster.
Boom.
Buffoon!
Okay, just to backtrack a little,
nobody here has Anaheim going to playoffs correct
just double checking just doing my notes here uh la anybody have la going no playoffs neither okay
oh for four all right biz i know you want to keep the california trend so we'll go up north
thankfully you think that go ahead thankfully brett merriman isn't driving us because we won't
almost die on
the way there on the dot that's right the pacific coast highway yeah i think i think that they're
missing playoffs and just too much money invested in in too few players uh obviously some rumblings
on the inner circles that too many distractions off the ice i think everybody who listens to the
podcast knows exactly what i'm alluding to.
We don't like to dip into the personal life bullshit,
but it's a bit of a clown show.
Hurdle wants out.
I don't know if he's going to get his wish or if his feelings are going to change.
Is that true?
Hurdle said he wants out?
Unless this was a complete rumor mill online.
I saw something saying, well,
he's a UFA.
He hasn't signed yet.
Listen,
it could be complete internet rumors that I'm, I'm hook,
line and sinker too.
It's,
it's not,
it's just,
no,
no,
they're not making playoffs.
They had a,
they reigned Supreme for so many years in that division.
One of the toughest buildings to play against in the league or playing in the
league, excuse me, they are not going to make playoffs.
They don't have the guys. And what, what do you got?
I got a 26 and a half million yearly to Eric Carlson,
Vlasic and Brent Burns. And, you know,
those are guys getting a little bit older.
And I think that Carlson's offense has dropped off pretty quickly.
I don't know if all those guys get back to a level that they were at a few
years ago.
Yeah, they could get in playoffs,
but Vlasic's game's not the same as it was.
And even Burns offensively last season, it was a major dip off.
So, you know, the Kane stuff, it's like, you know,
there's a report comes out that some of the players don't want him back and don't want him on the team.
And then he said, oh, no, I'm just I'm just easy to blame. I'm just the guy that's easy for them to blame.
It's like it doesn't seem like the most cohesive group, along with question marks throughout the lineup.
And listen, like they could they could have a really good season if some guys really bounce back and
Thomas hurdle dominates the way he can, but I do not have them in playoffs.
And just to backtrack a little,
this is a team that was in the 2019 conference semifinals,
Mr. Playoffs the last two years, expect expectations on high this year.
They weren't in the playoffs last year. They did bring in a Nikki bones,
Andrew Cogliano,ames rima aiden hill
martin jones left 75 to 1 uh the cupboards and just to get into the vanderkeen stuff
i know business is personal well this is you know this has been reported that
uh per the reports the league is looking into the possibility
that he was using a fake vaccine card i'm starting to wonder about this guy
listen guys like i said we're not going to dive into it we don't know if it's true or not but we that he was using a fake vaccine card. I'm starting to wonder about this guy.
Listen, guys, like I said, we're not going to dive into it.
We don't know if it's true or not, but we don't.
I've never seen a player grab the headlines in an offseason like this guy.
In worse ways.
He's currently not with the team for camp.
So, I mean, that says a lot right there. And if it turns out he did use a fake COVID vaccine thing,
the league would very likely suspend him.
So he's not even around the team anymore.
This is a guy who led the team in scoring last year,
was a key part of their offensive structure.
But like what you said, there are guys who don't even want him in the room.
So this team is somewhat of a clusterfuck.
I think bringing in guys like Nicky Bones and Cogley,
I know we'll have some veteran accountability there.
I don't know if it's too little too late for this squad,
but none of us have this team on the playoffs, right?
No.
No.
No playoffs.
Sorry, California.
Yeah.
We did the California trifecta for you, Biz.
All right.
Now let's slip back.
Hold on.
All right.
Calgary.
San Andreas.
Hey, you guys ever have stuff?
Pepper do's.
Do you like these?
What?
Oh, is this an ad read?
No, it's not at all.
No.
These things, they're a little like they're not hot peppers.
They're like sweet peppers with like cheese in them.
No, but I'd love to watch all of them, but I'd love to watch you eat one.
Oh, no.
But, you know, you know, Bob's a Medford, right?
What?
It's the best. I used to live right next to it. All right. know Bob's in Medford, right? The best.
I used to live right next to it, R.A.
I've never been there.
I've heard of it.
It's one of the best food places in the metro Boston area.
Great subs, but it's an Italian import place, too,
so you can get Italian food.
And they got these stuffed pepper do's.
They're not hot peppers.
They got some sort of, what kind of cheese is that?
Mascarpone cheese that they put in there?
Not fully sure
can't see oh phenomenal absolutely phenomenal what's gonna puke in his sock right now
no before we start recording granelli's like yeah my stomach isn't feeling great like you know which
obviously you think one thing but already took took it to, yeah, dude,
best creation of all time is the wet wipe.
So he took it to like the shits and them being gross. And I was just like,
ah, that was a tough start. Wow.
We weren't going to bring it up with, but you did.
Yeah. I'm still disgusted by it. All right. All right.
Let's move right along. Uh, Calgary flames. This is another team that sort of, and I don't know by it. All right. All right, let's move right along. Calgary Flames.
This is another team that's sort of in, I don't know if it's no man's land.
It is no man's land, all right.
Okay.
They look like they were a contender a couple years ago.
They didn't make the playoffs last year.
Obviously, they lost Mark Giordano in the expansion draft.
They brought in Nikita Zdorov, Blake Coleman, Eric Goodbranson, Tyler Pidlick,
Dan Vladar to back up the goaltender.
40-1 cup odds.
This is a team, it wouldn't surprise me if they made the playoffs
or if they were a lottery team.
I couldn't agree more.
One of the most confusing teams.
So many storylines going in.
It's really about Goudreau, who's a UFA after this season.
And, you know, he's definitely coming off an off year and i think that or an off couple years right and and in a sense
it's like a crossroad for this team it's like are they are they closer to like ra said a lottery
pick and like completely trying to rebuild everything or are they closer to competing for
a stanley cup but when you look at their roster and the fact that giordano isn't there and like
the thought of thinking of them as trying to compete for a Stanley Cup to me seems crazy
so I don't think you're going to see uh excuse me I think you're going to see unreal Johnny Hockey
it's a contract year he's out to prove a lot of people wrong married this summer not that any of
that really matters but in a sense like this is a guy who knows that he's got to show up and and other than that it's like i just think missing giordano and losing him and maybe analytics
people and maybe the the tree living and the rest of the staff there considers him maybe on the down
on the downside of his career a little bit he is older but to lose your captain and your leader and
to come off a season like you did and bringing in Coleman's a nice addition, no doubt,
but they need to be able to score goals.
And I just don't really see it happening.
And as you say, it wouldn't be surprising if they make the playoffs.
I agree, but I'm not picking them to get in.
Yeah, I think the Giordano loss just puts so much pressure on Monaghan,
that top line of Goudreau and fuck man yeah i i don't have
him making playoffs i don't really have a breakdown for him i just it's a it's the biggest wild card
team in that pacific division right now and i don't have them making playoffs so you're predicting
them for the wild card or what do you mean i'm just trying to break your brain bit you call them a while i don't i
don't have much on them i don't want to be too critical but i'm like this team this team got
worse by losing their true leader um they you know it's it's kind of proven over time and time again
monahan and goudreau and that top line have have let they've they've kind of let them down no
yeah i mean the results speak for themselves
at this stage of the game, Paul.
Am I being too critical?
I hate being too critical on guys.
I think you're going to have to be critical
if you're on TV.
You're on TNT.
You can't be tummy sick guy on TV, dude.
Nobody likes that.
You're going to be like stroking.
I won't be tummy sick missing playoffs.
Is this great enough for you?
Edmonton Oilers.
Will the Duncan Keith effect be enough to contend?
Last season ended.
They lost in the first round.
They got swept by the Winnipeg Jets.
Humiliating fashion.
I can't say humiliating.
I told you I lost a tooth.
I'm struggling with certain ones.
Oh, yeah.
How did you lose a tooth? I had a feeling lost a tooth. I'm struggling with certain ones. Oh, yeah. How did you lose a tooth?
I had a filling that fell out.
It was like an old filling, and fucking the tooth did crack.
So I was chewing into something, and the rest of it fucking went.
So I can talk normal.
Hold on, though.
So you had a filling, and the filling fell out, and you knew it.
How long had that been going on?
Well, I traced this back to Detroit.
Remember I had the toothache in Detroit?
Yeah.
I don't know. That went away. I put
Orgel on it and went away mysteriously. So I
think it was connected to that
somehow. But bottom line is before
last week, like the night before, like half
my tooth fell out. So certain words
I sound like Cindy Brady when I fucking
talk. So I want to put that out
there. We'll keep with the Brady Bunch team
once again.
That's hilarious.
If I had a toothache in Detroit, the Orgel, no doubt might have helped.
But I had to see the dentist when I got home.
You were just like, I'm good.
Well, no, I had an emergency appointment.
But what was crazy is it went away in like two days.
I woke up the next day. I know, but you still know something's wrong.
I'm going.
I have an appointment.
Thanks, Dad.
No, I am going to take care of it because it is an oral problem.
Oral.
Last season, like I said, Edmondson lost in the first round.
They're bringing in Duncan Keith, Zach Hyman, Cody Cece, Warren Fogle,
Derek Ryan.
They traded Ethan Beer and Caleb Jones 24 to 1 on the cup.
I think the big question for me, I know I just brought up Duncan Keith,
but is the Mike Smith, Mikko Koskinen combo enough
to bring this team to the promised land?
Biz, you first.
Actually, I think you should throw it over to the former Edmonton Oiler
for his assessment of this team.
We know they got the two-headed monster up front,
but what do you make of the additions?
The time is now.
The time is now for this team to take the next step
i've long said even though the people couldn't stand me i'm an oilers fan to the core once an
oiler always an oiler is written in the locker room biz i'm welcome back there anytime and i
can't wait to show my face when they make a run in the playoffs because i'm telling you
the time is now i couldn't agree more withA., in the sense that the one big question mark is Mike
Smith and Nett.
I will say this, though.
Under Tippett, he's just, he's a different player than without him.
And he is getting older, but the guy's an absolute machine.
He's shredded.
It's, yes, yes.
As you get older, the game is tougher, no doubt. But the way this guy keeps himself in shape,
it makes me worry less of the age he's at.
Do you know what I'm trying to say there?
He's like a third defenseman out there.
Yeah, the way he plays the puck and undertip it,
how comfortable he seems to be.
I know it's definitely a question mark on this team,
but I do think that they can at least make the next step,
win a playoff round, make a little bit of a run. And McDavid writes out, it's like,
these two guys are going to do their damn thing. They're going to both get a hundred points.
They're both going to dominate anytime they're on the ice. Hyman is a huge addition. And it's
not just the ability to play with those guys and to play at a high level like speed wise and it's his
honey badger mentality business favorite term it's this guy's in the dirty areas that's what
edmonton needs if cassian can get back to playing the way the way that he did a few years prior i
know he got injured the other night but word sounds that he's okay word is that he's okay
and i just like look at this team and i want them to do well so much as their fan base does.
And I truly think like with how driven McDavid is and how good he is and the additions they've made.
And I think Duncan Keith's going to make an impact.
I know some people talk about his game and decline and the numbers.
And I think he's going to make a difference.
Maybe Evan Bouchard makes it makes a huge jump after you heard what Nurse said.
It's just it's the second best team in this division,
and it's time to take the next step.
If they don't get out of the first round this year,
who the fuck knows what happens.
All bets are off.
You really can't blame McDavid.
If McDavid throws up another 125-point season
and is the best player on earth by a mile, as he continues to be,
and they don't get out
of the first round who knows what's going to happen there but the time is now playoffs yes
wit yes biz yes they're a playoff team and here's a hot take 140 points for mcdavid 140 look at how
offensive their back end is they got tyson berry we We know Duncan Keith can snap it around. Darnell Nurse coming off a 20-goal year.
Their power play is disgusting.
Dry Seidel, the whole fucking kit and caboodle.
They're 100% going to make playoffs,
and 100% they are getting out of the first round.
You can rely on Mike Smith.
He's a third defenseman,
and he's going to bring the noise even at Tyson Fury's age.
And love handles. Grinnelly, at Tyson Fury's age. And love handles.
Grinnelli, playoffs, Edmonton.
Love this team.
Love this team.
And I think they make a run this year, a deep run.
All four of us.
And let's actually skip back to Calgary.
I was asleep at the switch.
Who has them in the playoffs?
Anybody?
I do not.
Gee?
I do not.
And I think they have a fire sale at the deadline.
Oh, breaking news.
Squid Game fire sale.
Four no's in Calgary, four yeses in Edmonton.
We already did LA.
We're getting long here.
We got to bring the energy back up.
Three more teams left.
Three more teams.
Uh-oh.
What's cracking, Biz?
The crackheads.
The last season, they didn't have one.
It's their first season they
say hi everybody you're a fucking idiot man that's a simpsons joke that i know hello everybody it's
great to be here because you know it's a new team uh say bye to uh me listing potential nicknames
to this team 45 to 1 cup odds for this squad.
They got a nice pair of goaltenders in that, Chris Dreeger,
Philip Grubauer, Andi Giordano, we mentioned, Alexiak, Dunn, Larson,
pretty solid top four forwards, Schwartz, Gord, Tanev, Geeky,
Donato, Sheehan, McCann, Eberle, Wenberg, Jankrop, Johansson,
Donskoy, new head coach, obviously, Dave Haxtell.
This is a team that I think is going to contend for a spot.
I think they have two unreal goalies.
I think they have a genuinely good team.
I see this team getting in the playoffs.
I'll tell you what, R.A., I respect your opinion.
No, you don't.
But it's not like teams are traveling into vegas going out doing ketokes
butt chugging pink whitney getting all fucking crazy their main line in starbucks and then and
then going into the lions den i think that they're going to have a great inaugural season they're
doing like open mic night ra and like smoking weed in the rain i think that they're going to
compete for a playoff spot i think that they're going to compete for a playoff spot i think that
they are going to actually move some assets at the deadline acquire some more pieces this will
be a team that's set up very nice moving forward but once again given the strength of the west
i just see them being a cusp team but not making it in and i only get three teams in this division
given the fact that i had five in the central so no i disagree with you a great bunch of just crafty hockey players it's going to be fun it's
going to be a great atmosphere in that building i hope i get to go catch a game they are not making
playoffs sorry crackheads my bad so vancouver i'm sorry vegas and Edmonton are my locks for the playoff here. And I am battling, battling in my mind between Vancouver and Seattle for that third spot.
The reason I'm sorry, Seattle, the reason I'm going with Van is because Seattle does not have a Pedersen, Quinn Hughes.
They don't have that top end superstar talent.
So I'm going Vancouver.
So I do have Seattle missing, but I can't wait for this season.
Also, I'll say this.
I was one of the guys that Vegas played the voiceovers of
at the beginning of the game before it got into the real pregame intro.
I think my quote was, they're going to be the doormats of the NHL.
So I was the fool.
I was the idiot who said they would be the worst team in
the league. And they went on to the final, the score. Yeah. Make the clown nose shirts with my,
my nose on there, but, or my ears. But listen, I do think that it could be one of those examples
of me thinking this team's going to be really good and compete because of what we saw in Vegas.
And then they really do struggle. So the crowd will be amazing. The atmosphere will be top-notch.
I think the team's going to be competitive.
I'm going to go with Vancouver getting in the playoffs, unfortunately.
I don't think they get in.
But if they do, I would not be too surprised.
It just comes down to, like, will they be able to score goals?
I think they're going to be able to play good team defense.
I like their goaltending.
Goal scoring-wise, it could be a little bit of a struggle,
which it could be for, like for almost every team in this division.
So in the end, they could get in,
but I got Van with Vegas and Edmonton as my playoff.
Let's move over to Van then, right now.
I love Van.
I got him in too.
I love the one-two punch.
Everybody posting the video of Oliver Ekman-Larsen
in the fucking bag scheme.
Yeah, can we honestly just describe
this because Biz is going to try to hop over it.
I want your true opinion on it.
There was a video of
the team doing a bag skate probably
four or five days into training camp
where at the end, you're doing the mountains. You're going
goal line to blue line back.
Goal line red line back. Goal line far blue line
back. Goal line goal line back. You do
it over and over. Ekman-Larsen was like with the goalies you know you're you're what a fucking idiot he basically
dude skating five man units two defensemen go with a forward line eight defensemen go with the four
lines he was a zone behind and and I I'm not gonna lie I was shocked. That's a guy who's skating.
He's a long guy, rangy.
He's been able to skate his whole life,
and granted it was a day he could have been feeling like shit,
but in the NHL, you do not see guys lagging that far behind.
He's saving his legs just like the fucking hurricanes.
All right.
If you're going to go with the joking explanation, fine,
but if you're not a little worried by seeing that i i
well you know what you're right i was a little bit concerned and then the first preseason game
two primary assists you look fucking awesome okay so enough with this fucking bag skating and
training camp going viral video bullshit he's gonna have a bounce back year he's gonna be the
eight and a half million dollar offenseman that we all fucking seen in uh in arizona when he went what six straight years with multi or double digits and goals okay two
of which years he was around the 20 mark and it's an awesome one-two punch as far as offensive
ability on that back end do do i like tyler myers at what he's making no but i think he's a good top
four defenseman they got thatcher demko andko, and Nett, and I love their
forward group. They locked in their guys.
They got great leadership
in Horvat. They got a couple honey badgers
up front, too. I'm drawing a
blank on the one guy's name who I'm always...
How good did Miller look? We dogged him
giving up a first rounder for him, and
he was no joke. Who? JT
TJ? TJJT.
60-1, that couple odds, by the way.
I think there's some value there as well.
I mean, they brought in Conor Gallo, man.
That kid's a fucking stud.
Love watching.
We didn't even bring him up.
I don't think he's at the best preseason.
I think he's a little bit in Green's doghouse.
Maybe not bringing that, my favorite word, the honey badger mentality.
The one thing that made him very successful in Phoenix
was the fact that he worked relentlessly.
He was the first guy on the forecheck as well as the guy
doing the figure eights in the corner making D look stupid.
If he gets back to that work ethic and contributes offensively
like he was doing in Arizona, yes.
This is a playoff team, in my opinion.
I think they're all going to start clicking,
and it's going to be real pretty.
And that's all I got.
Jim Benning's out of the doghouse, the capologist.
The top six is sexy biz.
It's just a matter of will the D hold up?
I think Demko's solid, but it's a big question with the D.
So, playoffs, Vancouver.
Yes.
Yes, Whit. I'll die on that hill all day. That's a big question with the D. So playoffs, Vancouver. Yes. Yes, Whit.
I'll die on that hill all day.
That's a yes for Biz.
G.
Absolutely.
I love this team.
R.A.'s got a hatred for Vancouver.
No.
And honestly, you could say that.
I hate them, too.
Typically, Whit.
But this isn't.
I don't hate Vancouver.
That's not why I'm not picking them.
I think I'm just thinking Seattle is going to surprise a few people this year.
All right.
One more team.
Vegas Golden Knights.
Their time is still now.
They obviously had their great run out of the gate when they first joined the league.
And they haven't been as successful the last couple of years.
Last year ended, let's see, they lost in the semifinals.
4-2 to Montreal.
I believe we had our fights booked to Kentucky and Vegas last year,
and they didn't come through for us.
They're bringing in Nolan Patrick, Laurent Brossard to back up Robin Leonard,
Evgeny Dadunov, Brett Howden.
Obviously, they traded Marc-Andre Fleury, Cody Glass, Thomas Noshik
became a free agent, went to Boston.
Screws me to cup odds for Vegas seven to
one uh the creases lane is right now there's no more goalie controversy no more swords in the back
of goal he's that he shares the crease with uh I think a question here can no one Patrick's change
his scenery maybe help his career a little bit uh also another note Alex Tucker's hurt to stop the
year but Vegas like I said, this time is now.
I mean, they're a contender right now.
The time is now.
For them to win the Stanley Cup, though, they need to get a power play.
Their power play was brutal.
In the regular season, I think it was 22nd.
And then in the playoffs, it was even worse.
It was pathetic.
I mean, it's literally why they lost to the Canadians.
So, Dadunov comes in.
I think he could help their creativity wise up, man.
That's a big addition for the power play.
That's definitely where they see him fitting in and helping their team.
But there aren't many weaknesses and goaltending.
It's going to be different, right?
There's some pressure on Leonard that wasn't really there before.
I think Lorraine can do a decent job but
it's not at all like the backup ability you have when Fleury and Leonard are going back and forth
so I think the team gets in I think they can make a run on the Stanley Cup but without a better power
play and without really good goaltending it'll all be for naught but they're definitely an elite team
in the league I might be completely talking out of my ass right now yes i
haven't making playoffs i think that they just need to kind of keep things steady to start the
year especially without talking the lineup i don't know what their prospect pool looks like
i think they need to make a stab for jack eichel i think that they need – What do they do with the dough? They need to – I don't know.
I'm not a capologist.
I'm as smart with the money as Jim Benning.
You're a rocket Scientologist?
I'm a rocket Scientologist, but I don't know the finances, guys.
I think that they need to make a stab for Jack Eichel.
I don't know how they fit it in,
but they need strength at the center ice position. You mentioned Nolan Patrick and what impact he can make. Hey, maybe out of the gate,
he's right back to normal and looking like his true self after dealing with all those head injuries.
Maybe, maybe the Jack Eichel is not the answer, but I think if they want to make a stab at the
Stanley cup, they need to address the middle of the ice and they need that one extra piece.
And I think that he's the guy.
So that's all.
I'll leave it at that.
Everybody knows that lineup.
Everybody knows what they're going to bring.
Everybody knows the goalie situation.
Yes, they're a playoff team, but can they get over the hump?
Can they make that extra move?
You get them in the playoffs, right?
No doubt.
And, G?
I do.
Okay.
All right.
That wraps up our preseason.
Isn't it nuts when it comes down,
we're going to see actually how incorrect or correct
and how this all plays out.
What a bunch of storylines going into this season.
Can't wait for Wednesday night.
Or is it Tuesday night?
Tuesday.
Tuesday.
Wednesday's for biz, So you weren't wrong.
Yeah.
I was staring at the Red Sox.
Just got the luckiest break in the history of baseball.
Oh, you got it on.
See, I can't.
Top of the 13th inning.
They got a man on first.
The Rays do with two outs.
A guy rips a ball off the wall.
So if it bounces in the on in the outfield and then goes into the
dug into the, you know, into the stands. It's a ground
rule double. The runner would not
score. This ball
hit the wall in the air, came
back, hit the right fielder in the chest,
and then bounced into the
stands, and the guy
still wasn't allowed to score. So it's
second and third with two outs, and they got the
guy one and two. They got to take advantage of this,
because what a lucky break that was.
Was it the wrong call?
I don't understand how they don't allow them to score once it was –
do you know what I'm saying, all right?
Yes, they got out of it.
Holy shit.
See, I can't host them much.
Holy shit.
It's a big game at that because it's too distracting.
But do you know what I'm saying?
If the ball bounces and then goes into the stance, ground will double. But if it hits
the outfielder, I feel like that
first guy should have been able to score.
What a break.
Sorry. Josh Allen.
Josh Allen. Wait, we ain't done yet.
Josh Allen, first TD of
the game tonight, 10-1.
Your boy had that. That's the third one I've hit in like
the last two weeks. Marstool sportsbook.
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A few more hockey notes.
We mentioned last week that Canada named their first three Olympians,
Conor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Alex Petrangelo.
A few other teams did as well, just because the Olympics asked them to.
Sweden listed Victor Hedman, Mika Zibinijad, Gabriel Landeskog.
The United States had Patrick Kane, Seth Jones, and Austin Matthews.
The Czechs went with David Pasternak, Andre Palat, and Jacob Voracek,
while the Finns went with Alexander Bakov, Mikko Ranthinen, and Sebastian Ajo.
And the good old Ruskies went with Ovechkin, Kucherov,
and the only goaltender preselected thus far, the big cat, Andre Vasilevsky.
Some question about the Bergevin.
He's going into this year without a contract.
Some people call that lame duck status.
Darren Draga said there's a far bigger percentage
that berger van will not be back next season as gm of the canadians canadians than it is that he
will be back uh i guess berger van put his extension talks off till the end of the season
he said quote the rest is business as usual it is what it is i do my job the best i can and always
did nothing changes
there's no distraction here so he's going to focus on getting the team into the playoffs
meanwhile he doesn't have a contract uh i have a follow-up note to be part of it there could be
part of him that he might not even want to do it anymore yeah oh i can't imagine how exhausting
that is oh my god that job that job in any city is tough, let alone there.
So who knows?
Maybe he's looking at it like, fuck, I don't even know if I want to continue to do this.
But this year, definitely, they're going to try to give it a go.
I do not have them getting in, as I said before.
And this is a follow-up last week.
After we were talking about Robin Leonard's stuff,
and he didn't make accusations in some of his comments.
He said a fellow named Drew Wheeler on Twitter, he has a blue checkmark. I don't know who he worked't make accusations. Some of his comments, he said a fellow named Drew Wheeler on Twitter.
He has a blue checkmark.
I don't know who he worked for or whatever.
He reported something that turned out not to be true.
He rescinded it.
But what happened was he rescinded it, but then he privatized his account.
So like when I went to look at it, I couldn't see his apology because he made his account private.
So I continued to run his report.
But he said, hello hello the report that i published
earlier this week to my twitter account was proven to be posted prematurely and inaccurately i am
embarrassed by it and truly apologetic he did that and then made his account private and then
made his account private it's like well if he left it open i would have i would have never
fucking ran with it because i would have seen it so you know but whatever yeah so he was full of shit essentially uh new jersey
devil's prospect nikita uh papa gaev he was taken on the fourth round of the 17 draft love this move
has retired at age 22 to become a social media influencer he bounced around the khl the east
coast league in the ahl uh fuck i did if i'm not mistaken busy bust out a python on one of
those videos i don't mean i don't mean in his pants either i mean an actual snake it's so
interesting go live your best life man fucking do what you want to do i said it earlier if you want
if you want to quit hockey and go do whatever go do it oh no doubt it's just what i was going to
say though is like when you're growing up, I want to be in the NHL.
There's so many people like, oh, teachers.
You always hear the stories.
You got to think of something else.
You can't really rely on that.
Now kids say they want to grow up to be influencers.
A wiggle dicker.
What?
A wiggle dicker.
Yeah.
That's what they call the TikTok star.
Yeah, a TikTok influencer.
It's like, I don't know like what do
you say what do you say to that it's so weird it's like thinking as a parent like what like
where whereas you don't want to like tell the kid he has no chance of doing it it's like what does
that do right he's going to want to do it even more so if you tell him not to yeah my agent told
me my agent told me that nothing good could come of Twitter, and look at me here now.
Exactly, exactly.
But what a weird time where, like,
oh, I don't need to go to school.
I'm going to be an influencer.
Like, oh, you better be funny as shit.
You better be hot or funny as shit,
or you really got no chance as an influencer.
Is that true?
You either have to be hot or funny.
If you're ugly and you got nothing and no personality charisma and you're trying to be an influencer or the nicest fake jammers you've ever seen
charisma,
supremacist implants.
Maybe I'll get some ass implants.
I need them.
Dude.
Like all those do is just gravity.
Just takes a toll.
After a while,
your ass just sags,
right?
If you get those,
like I'll just get the injections.
I'm not you,
but like,
you're going to stay on top of it.
All right. But how, like on a treadmill, 24 hours'll just get the injections. Not you, but like... You're going to stay on top of it, all right.
But how?
Like on a treadmill?
24 hours a day?
More injections.
Are you saying once you get a butt injection,
these women are going to be screwed at some point?
They probably just get another one.
Yeah, I don't know.
I left my ass in the womb,
so I'm probably the wrong guy to ask about this.
Pizza box.
Pizza box.
Yeah.
David Pasternak is selling pasta.
Goes right from his shoulder blades to his calves.
Oh, that's right.
In Canada, he's fucking rent-free in Toronto's Grill already.
Oh, he's selling it up there, really?
That's where it's being sold.
Ask Grinelli.
He knows the whole story.
He's probably got it.
Walk off.
Ha ha.
Boston Red Sox.
If I was a Devil Rays fan, which there's got to be six of them.
It's a crime they play games at the Tropicana. You
would have every right to lose your mind
and smash TV right now. Is it series
over? No, the Red Sox
just took a 2-1 lead. Yeah.
Holy shit. Sorry.
Well, the game's in Boston, right?
Tropicana.
No, I was just mentioning like if you're
a fan of that team and you go to games at that
disgusting stadium
where it's like balls hit, like, the ceiling and shit.
Well, you know, the Tropicana's NHL claim to fame,
it has the NHL record for the largest playoff crowd ever.
The Tropicana, the home where the Devils always play.
That's a fun fact for everybody.
Speaking of six fans, I think we have six fans
still listening to this pod right now. What are we, five hours deep keep keep telling us about our timmy pemberton's fourth
year roommate yeah all biz i'm just teasing you hang on one second oh yeah i'm good i can take it
all right some of us some of us have to bring hockey knowledge before we wrap up i uh i saw
the worst movie one of the worst movies i've ever seen in my life this weekend.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
It's called Guilty with Jake Gyllenhaal.
I don't even know how to describe this movie.
I'll say this because this really isn't giving away the plot while also possibly giving away the whole plot.
The opening scene is Jake Gyllenhaal, who's a police
officer. He's taking 911 calls.
That's
the only scene in the movie.
You see
Jake Gyllenhaal
the entire movie.
You see two other human beings
and then you listen to
all these calls and all you do
is stare at him. Good looking you do is stare at him good looking bastard
you stare at him that's the whole fucking movie it was the worst movie i've ever seen in my life
front to back on it uh yeah my wife fell asleep she woke up like near the end she goes you're
still watching this thing because she didn't fall asleep till we realized it was only going to be
on him the whole time i said yeah how long how long into it were you like oh my god this is all that i said
like it was 15 minutes i hadn't really thought about it i was just totally in la la land watching
me she's like it hasn't gotten off like this the scene hasn't changed and i was like holy
shit it was like we're on different coaches i sat up i said you're right this has
been on him the whole time and the movie ended that way it was some fucking some of these terrible
movies though they find a way of being so bad that they'll suck you in for the entire time
because you're so fascinated at how bad it is the full length of the movie well i was like i have to
know how this ends now and like i was just more oh my God, it was just a brutal movie.
Brutal.
Were they different calls or did it somehow all court?
So he was taking different calls here and there.
And like he gas him because there was one main call.
Like I can't, there's one main like issue.
You know, chaotic moment or situation that he's dealing with.
It's just watch it. It's just, watch it.
It's horrific, dude.
He was talking recently about doing sex scenes
with Jennifer Aniston in like 2002 or whatever.
I heard about Howard Stern.
The good girl.
He sounds very, very artistic, artist, actor,
drama club growing up
type.
I don't know if it's a guy you're looking at.
I don't know if it's...
You're not looking to have beers and watch the Leafs
with this guy. I'll say that.
The Mickey Mouse Club
trajectory.
Where they're
in the drama class in high school.
The whole kit and caboodle. i went two for three last night did you like the one when he was the
paparazzi guy oh that was awesome i don't remember disliking i remember loving it that was when he
was yeah he was like chasing down like the nightcrawler nightcrawler yeah he's you know what
he was he's a good actor he was good in that because he was so creepy. That guy can
act. This movie was just...
Hey, what's the one where
the kid went missing and he was the
detective?
He was a 10 out of 10 in that one.
Was that Prisoners?
Oh, yeah.
With the guy who
played Wolverine
was the father.
Prisoners already.
You're correct.
Yeah.
Prisoners already.
That's a fucking flick.
He's normally excellent.
I even like Brokeback Mountain.
Well, I just said, oh, yes, Brokeback Mountain when they fight.
Dude, honestly, that's a fucking awesome movie.
I know people like snicker at it.
It probably should have won Best Picture.
Fantastic movie.
But going back to the good girl you were just talking about the the movie where he had to hide his boner
with jennifer aniston have you ever seen that the good girl no is it good fucking fantastic movie
it's a it's one of those like kind of vintage independent movies from the late 90s early 2000s
and like i so who blogged it the other day okay marco blog he called it a rom-com it's like
it's hardly a rom-com it's kind of a dark movie but basically he's like a young kid and uh jennifer
aniston has a crush on him and she's married it's kind of a dark movie but it's a really good flick
i i would definitely check it out if you can it's like quintessential like independent movie from
that era when independent movies are still like game everywhere. Wish I knew how to
quit you, Biz.
Actually, Southpaw wasn't bad. I saw
that. Southpaw's alright.
Zodiac might be
his best movie. Zodiac
was fucking wild, dude.
Apparently, do people think they found
the Zodiac killer, too? I saw that in the news.
I don't know if it was legit or not.
Have they found this kid that's on the run? Apparently, Dog the Bounty Hunter is after him, too. I saw that in the news. I don't know if it was legit or not. Have they found this kid that's on the run?
I apparently dogged the bounty hunters after him, too.
Brian Laundrie.
Is that kid still on the run?
Still going.
He's got to be dead, right?
Let's hope he's fucking dead.
Awful story.
Jesus Christ.
Oh, it's Terry.
Yeah, Buzz Killington over here.
Yeah, well, I did bring up the Zodiac Killer.
Something to cheer the mood up. I, well, I did bring up the Zodiac killer. Something to
cheer the mood up. I got something to cheer the mood up.
Quick reminder, we do have merchandise
that is now available in Canada,
and you can find that at storeca.barstoolssports.com.
There's 10 people listening right now.
Also, there was six
10 minutes ago. There's three now.
Yeah, a couple people hop back on.
We got a Bauer launch.
Rick from Red Dead just got off a lunch break on we got a baller launch rick from red did just
go to awful lunch break we got a bower launch coming this thursday we teamed back up with
bower hockey we got hockey bags we got hats we got sweatshirts we got t-shirts it's all coming
one there that pink hat they're on the right we got a pink whitney hat we have tons of merch coming
i'm saving it all for black friday we got a ton of merch coming for black bring me that hat for
the sandbag hey is that the one that I asked for?
This is busy.
This is the one you asked for.
You're welcome with, dog.
Guys, I know we've ran so long here.
There's probably not many of you still around.
We love you guys.
We had to do the divisional breakdowns.
I hope that you guys like their picks.
And if not, just tell everybody to fuck off on Twitter tomorrow,
and we'll be good.
We'll be even.
I think that's about it, boys. Actually,
Riley Sheehan, he's going to host a mental health
podcast. I want to mention that. Speak Your Mind.
It's called Prayer of the Seattle Times.
He said, I was looking to do something where I could
get uncomfortable and get out
of my comfort zone a little bit.
His co-host is going to be Tyler Smith, a
mental health advocate and a survivor of the
Humboldt Broncos crash from a
few years ago. That's. So you guys want to check
that out. Again, I just mentioned pasta is selling
pasta. The proceeds are going
to Dana Faber and the Jimmy Fund.
Two great causes here in Boston.
Just 88 cents a box. You can get them at
Stop and Shop.
In the Gamma Corner, I mean, I gave out
predictions here and there about who I like
for the cup. I told you if you get the Islanders
over 20 to 1, great value.
I know that down to about 17-1.
90-1 the Predators. I find
that very intriguing if they can get in the playoffs.
Also, Nate Dogg, 9-1
for the Art Ross Trophy.
I mean, I know McDavid, it's his to fucking lose,
but go off a bit, he tweaks his knee or something.
Love McKinnon for the hard R.A.
I love McKinnon for the hard.
160 points for McDavid.
And then even looking at the Rashad Trophy for most goals.
I mean, Patrick Lanny, 35-1.
Mashi, 32-1.
Ovi, 13-1.
A lot of value out there.
So if you can find it, jump on it.
And by the way, the Gamma Corner, last year the season started.
It was kind of fucked up.
It started in January.
I'll be Instagramming all my picks.
If I don't blog them, I'll be posting videos for whatever.
If I ain't fucking if I don't like it, I ain't going to blog.
I'm not going to make videos of bits I don't like.
If I'm telling you, we got Merle's for that when he just looks for action.
Yeah, that's anything.
That's what Merle.
He's heating up, too.
And also, like, I'm up.
I don't know what if you know what IATSE is.
They're like the big union in Hollywood
they also do like a lot of theatrical aspect like the underlying stuff they voted to go on strike I
just want to tell those guys we support them here at Chicklets I don't I don't want at least I I
should say I do they're a big fucking a huge union that helps Hollywood helps TV shows movies run
these are the people who do the blue-collar tough jobs,
and they get work to the bone,
and they voted to go on strike for the first time in like 100 years.
And a few of their members reached out to me,
and we just want to let them know that we support them
and all their endeavors because, again,
they do a lot of ball-busting work.
They don't get their glory,
and they need to get some better working conditions.
So I just want to say we stand behind you.
need to get some better working conditions so uh i just want to say we stand behind you
and you can research it and double check back later on that as well but anyways that's the show boys girls uh it was fun and uh we'll catch you next week
bye mom guys As always, we like to thank our terrific sponsors here on Spitting Chicklets.
So huge thanks to our friends at Pink Whitney and New Amsterdam Vodka.
Big thanks to our friends over at Cross Country Mortgage.
Huge thanks to our friends over at Earnest. Mortgage. Huge thanks to our friends over
at Earnest. Check them out for your student loan finance needs. Big thanks to everybody over at
Peter Malak, keeping us looking sharp on the course. Huge thanks to everybody over at Sling TV.
And finally, big thanks to everybody at Sport Clips for taking care of the guys here.
Have a great week, everyone.