Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 358: Featuring Nic Dowd

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

On Episode 358 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Nic Down of the Washington Capitals. Nic joined (1:22:40) to talk about playing with a cast of characters in Washington, playing with Biz in the AHL, the birth of his child and more. The boys open the show talking about the recent news surrounding the Chicago Blackhawks and Kyle Beach. The boys then dive into the hot teams around the league and some big contracts that were signed. The guys wrap up the show talking Ryan Getzlaf and give some details about their meet up in Philly.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Checklets 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 358 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney. From our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka, here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family, what's up gang? Already three weeks into the new season, we still have an undefeated team. I have a couple of completely defeated teams as well. Also coming to you from a new venue tonight. We'll get to that a little bit later, but first let's say hi to the gang. Producer Mikey Grinelli has some big travel news for the boys this week.

Share it with the crew. Well, I am just very, very excited to see you find gentlemen in Philadelphia this weekend. We'll be doing tons of stuff. We'll get into that later, but very, very excited to get to Philadelphia. We can't fucking tease them and leave them blue balled here. We're going to be doing a live event. Well, a couple of them, one of which thrown on by somebody else.

And we, all four of us are going to be in Philadelphia joined by maybe a couple other people, a couple of special guests. And we're going to do a nice little gambling activation on Saturday night for the Philadelphia game. They are on the road. So if you are in the Philly area, and I believe it's downtown, please come join us. Let's have some fun. Let's get R.A. buckled, and let's have a good time.

We'll be at the Tradesman. The Tradesman, and that's 1322 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. Come on by. Blue balls. We got the chestnuts. We got it all, folks. Love it. Philadelphia Warriors will be

there as well playing so looking forward to seeing those fellas we met them a few years ago when we were down in philly always had good time paul biz nasty bison at tnt star knocking them dead still buddy what's going on oh you're just playing tummy sticks because i gave you the national broadcast broadcast shout out when radulov scored and and you know how horned up he gets when he scores folks, he just goes crazy. And as soon as, as soon as he smiles, the first thing that comes to my mind every time is the warthog and RA and that fucking basement in Charlestown. Biz likes that.

Mummy, mummy, mummy, mum, mum, mum, mum. And yeah, no, you got the shout out, buddy. Things are going good. No Gretzky last week, though. He's on like a six week vacation. Surprised considering. You got PP1 when he was out, I noticed. I got it. You got that nice chair.

No one to your right, dude. A little easier. Just what I say, surveying everyone to your left. No big deal. I didn't need a neck rub the next day. I felt great. You weren't watching tennis. Nope. No, it was good. No, it was's good uh good third broadcast we're gonna keep humming along uh i think we got uh what do we got uh wednesday is la versus st louis who's been blues or a wagon

they are but they got a little fucked up by the covet situation ended up dropping one of the abs but uh a good bounce back against well no, no shocker Chicago, but yeah, that's pretty much it for me, folks. What do you got going on? Well, we're going to go to the wit dog, Ryan Whitney. What's new at you, buddy? Anything? Not much, just a great Halloween. It was a lot of fun. You know, it's like so amazing becoming a dad and having kids. And as they get older, it becomes even better and better.

Every year it becomes better and better. And now Ryder's like really into it, right? He's turning four at the end of November. So he was bombing around, crushing. He probably hit up 100 hosts. I'm not kidding. And a very veteran play that a friend of ours and a neighbor, Krista, told us. She said, you got to bring a couple bags of your own.

And then when his candy bag gets a little too heavy, you load it into the bags, your cats, and then his candy bags light again, right? Cause you don't want this kid hurting your shoulder, carrying around a bunch of fucking. Oh yeah, get him a roller bag next for Christ's sake. I would never, I would never have my kid bringing a roller bag into a hockey rink,

but it was a lot of fun. My highlight of the night was, you know, for the most part, I see 815, 830 is kind of the end of trick or treaters. Like it was over. We hadn't had we hadn't had somebody in at least 30 minutes. And at 915, the doorbell rings. I'm like, what? And of course, who's hitting you up now? Like the 13, 14 year old. There was one kid. He was six, three. He must have had his license. They are dressed up with nothing. One kid had a Bruins T-shirt on.

And then one kid is standing at the doorway with a full blown normal outfit. I go, what are you dressed up as? He had glasses. He goes, a nerd. I'm like, OK. We had like 20 full bar candy bars. I said, here you go. And they just absolutely raided this whole thing.

But it was a great night. So I had a lot of fun. Other than that, not much, dude. I mean, I'm getting ready. I got surgery coming up November 12th in the elbow. Real bummer.

Real bummer. Five months out. Five months without playing golf. What a kick in the dick, but I'm going to come back bigger, stronger, better, faster.

You should get on. No, you can work out. You know what I can work on? Putting the goddamn putting stroke. You can work on that after a couple months. Can't do full You know what I can work on? Putting. The goddamn putting stroke. You can work on that after a couple months. Can't do full swings, but I can putt around. You should come back like DeChambeau,

just go on an absolute cycle and come back ripping weights. Oh, I would love to get some HGH. Anyone out there with an HGH connect, you get in touch with the Witt Dog, and I will be glad to pay whatever you need because I want to juice them. They're already in your DMs, dude. You're going to look like Peyton Manning by the end of that cycle with that forehead already oh Jesus Christ I mean my forehead's big enough you can already it's a drive-in movie theater I think

though in the end I could be ripped up but I'd probably be the guy that gets in the hgh and then like tears his achilles knock on wood so you So you only knock on wood with your right hand, folks. Never knock on wood after you say something. There's rules to it. Three times, right hand. What if you're a lefty? No, you got to do it right. Don't fuck with your left hand.

And I am a lefty. Don't shake her over the left shoulder. Even numbers. What? What if you have OCD and you can only knock on even numbers? Well, then the knocking on wood ain't going to do shit for you. Fuck. You talked about golf, okay? So for you big sand sandbagger fans just to give you a heads up we got one coming out in the next couple

weeks we got caulfield and zegras then we got another one when we were in help me out jersey we played against scotty gomez and teddy purcell so that's another one that we got in the bank that's going to come out around christmas. And then now we have another special one that we're going to do before wit has to go into surgery. So we're going to give them a week before. So the swelling can go down. This guy's battling through injury folks, guys, I'm pushing back surgeries for Sam baggers. I'm pushing them back. I'm pushing back my golf in the spring for you fans out there and for biz and for us to get more content. So when you come at me and you call me a prick and you call me a curmudgeon, you call me big eared and you call me a prick and you call me a curmudgeon, you call me big-eared and you call me a donkey

and you call my takes bad and you say I'm too tall, don't forget, I'm doing stuff for you constantly. I'm living my life daily for the fans. I'm never forgetting where I came from and who really butters my bread, so lay off me. He's fuck you and greenskeepers for your entertainment, folks. I like fuck you and caddies, but greenskeepers, if they do a good job, I love them. it'll be step up wallston it'll be a good philly trip we got a couple uh live interviews

planned uh we're not going to divulge any of that information because they're going to be hounding us who we got uh but no it'll be it'll be good and we're and we're ready to go and then witt's going to have a nice little uh little time off to recuperate biz did you have any costumes this year or not nothing going i was going to ask you guys who were some of the best costumes you've ever uh that you saw this year i saw taylor hall and in portnoy when it's the same thing pretty pretty woman they oh did they the guy and girl with their couple richard gear richard gear and julia roberts 30 year old 31 year old movie wow it's that's uh that's yeah i hadn't seen that in a while and

they both both couples look great like they had it and i would probably give sight edge to halsey i want to say dave went a little bit lazy with uh the hair dye the spray the gray i mean get a gray good looking his girl's good looking dave's girl's good looking dave's disgusting so three of the four can pull it off but Dave ain't no Richard Gere oh I'll tell you Halsey's one of those guys as he's gotten older he's gotten like way better looking like he's like I mean I seen him talking the other night he's like a handsome dude now you know as he's got his lips are like fucking airbags too if you get he's coming out with a lip gloss I don't know if you guys heard yeah because he's from lip gloss Ontario

just like the cologne that Tritile has by the way biz if you ever do need Yeah, because he's from Lip Gloss Ontario, just like the cologne that Dreitzel has. By the way, Biz, if you ever do need to make your hair gray for Halloween, the best thing to do is just to take baby powder and just put baby powder in your hair. Coming from the bald guy. Cheat code. The bald guy had a Halloween costume master back in the day as well. But wouldn't you then be like, wouldn't you then, if somebody touches it, it's just like

it's like LeBron doing the pregame thing? Like, it's going everywhere. I mean, if they come over and like rub your head, like, Hey, Oh, so if now, now listen, if I knew somebody had baby power in their head, what do you think the first thing I'm doing is I'm rubbing their hair. Yeah. Well, most people, that's the thing. You don't give your secrets away. You look like collateral.

What are some of the best? Is that what he did? No, no. I just said he had the gray hair for the first time in a movie, but maybe he didn't. I don't know. That would be, I thought that was the worst part of that movie was how phony his head looked i thought the collateral was such a good unbelievable man is fucking unbelievable movie but the whole time

you're wondering is like what like who did the fake dye job on tom here yeah i because i disagree i yeah i thought they were trying to not look like Tom Cruise. Cause he's such a fucking like icon and image. Like, so by putting his head in a lunatic. So, okay. So Grinnelli deciding factor, did you know what we're talking about?

Grinnelli, did you, or did you not like the dye job on Tom Cruise's head for the movie collateral? Now, if you have not seen it or don't remember Google it. And I think a lot of fans will agree with me. It was preposterous how bad it was. Oh now listen that movie is now i might have missed prior things but i'm

off top my head that's when i was like jamie foxx is a fucking absolute five could have been the movie that is terrible that is horrible that is Thank you. Gee, the voice of reason. Grinnelli agrees with Biz. What a shocker. What do you... Great call on Jamie Foxx. He was nominated twice that year. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral, and he won Best Actor for his performance in Ray Charles.

Which is one of the all-time greats. Wow, he was... Oh, okay. You know what? He actually looks a lot like how De Niro looked in Heat, and I didn't think that was that bad. I guess it's very white. As I was starting out with the movie,

I'm Michael Mann right now. I'm about to not. Sorry. All right. Am I mistaken? Did Jamie Foxx do something that, that really showed his range prior to collateral or he more been like comedies up until then?

Oh, plenty of stuff. I mean, I think that he knows before collateral biz. Um, you know, if you gave me five minutes i could think of a few things where he he showed his diversity and roles before collateral yeah i live in color any and we don't play that or was that damon wayans i think that was damon wayans me he don't play it, but Jamie Foxx is Shanaynay. Shanaynay. Shanaynay.

So, Ari, I want to ask you a little trivia here. Is that the first time an actor has ever been nominated in the same year for Best Supporting and Main Actor? No. That's a good rip. It is a great question. It's happened a couple times. I know it's happened in the actress category as well. I'd have to Google it to look it up.

But there's only been one guy who's won two Oscars. He won an honorary one, and he won for the actual award. It was a movie called 1945, The Best Years of Our Lives. It was like the first movie about the war after World War II. Yeah, it was like the CFL. It was the only movie nominated for anything this dude like he actually was the only guy to win two oscars for for what for the same oh you know it was before um any given sunday any given sunday wasn't a drama but he that was any given

sunday was five years before collateral so that might be the one of the best undercover sports movies where you know don't let me don't normally hear that in the top five. I died for that inch. I died for that inch. Oh, and Ali. He did Ali, too, of course. Another Michael Mann movie. I've never seen Ali.

Hey. No, he didn't. That was Will Smith. No, he was in Ali. He was in Ali. He played, yeah, he played Bundine. Suck on that TNT. Showed his dramatic chops a little bit.

By the way, Booty Call, all-time class. You haven't seen Booty Call. I believe that's the movie where she's like, wrong hole, fool. Is that Booty Call? I don't know, man. Sounds like... It was disturbing intercourse.

The man was in the wrong hole. But yeah, I don't know how we just got here, but God damn it. We were talking about Halloween costumes and how bad, what's his name's dye job was Tom Cruise. Now what were some other costumes that you guys saw this year that were creative to far too many squid game ones.

I think that was the most predictable. It's funny to hear me like, I'm not complaining, but way too many Ted Lasso's I think maybe because it's been out for a long time, but it seemed that seemed to be by far the most popular. Oh no. I got some devastating news. Cause Cole Perfetti ended up DMing me and he was Ted Lasso. And he's like,

Hey, I went as Ted Lasso and let our rain know he'll love it. So you just crushed. Sorry, Cole. His was the best. We won't have RA on the interview. And we have,

you don't worry. He doesn't want to interview for dress. I guess I thought there was going to be way more Squid Game, but I guess a lot of people didn't see it, whereas people finally caught up with Ted Lasso. I think that's more indicative of people who are late to Ted Lasso because they've been out for so long. You would have thought Ted Lasso costumes would have been big last year,

not this year. Yeah. No, that's true. A lot of followers out there. I was on the Squid Game train early. One of the people that helped break the Netflix record for how many times it was watched in the short amount of time. But what any

other costumes quickly before we move on from the Halloween stuff? I didn't see a lot. TJ Oshie did Mean Girls, which was pretty funny. Him and his wife. He was dressed up as Regina George. So that was pretty funny. And I saw Charlie Coyle and his wife were Bobby Boucher and Vicky from the Waterboy.

I thought that was really funny as well. He was like head to toe in football gear. It was nice. Igor Shesterk and his girlfriend, wife, whatever. They went to Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction. They were doing like the fucking dance and stuff. You didn't see the clip on Instagram. They dressed up.

No, I'm trying to keep focused because you keep focusing in and out on your new camera. We're always in a new place, guys. That was the other thing I mentioned in the lead there, the intro. Yeah, I'm in a new place. I moved back to my hometown finally after 17 years.

I didn't know if I'd get back, but I moved in today. It's still a little sparse in here, sparse, whatever the word is, but I'm in. All I needed was a bed and internet to get my first night in. So I'm psyched to have that. And yeah, back in Charlestown.

We lied. It's actually a prison cell. I've already gotten a little bit of trouble. He only went back 15 years. Must have been the statute of limitations for something. So he waited two more. Now he's back. I said I wasn't going back.

No, but all kidding aside, it's great to be back in the hometown, man. I didn't know that I'd be back. 17 years I was in South Boston, and, you know, life is a funny road. If you have free food and Wi-Fi in the clink, sign me up. Oh, my God. Three huts and a cot, biz. Are those pajamas? Those look comfy.

What's the third count? I was going to mention our guest. Obviously, we're not bringing him on right now, but a little bit later, we have Washington Ford, Nick Dowd, and you're going to love it. It's a doozy of an interview. He's an absolute beauty, so we do have that a little bit later.

I know you guys probably didn't hear it. Harold Russell is the name I was looking for, Best Years of Our Lives. That's for our old stoolies out there who actually seen that movie. It's the original like war movie ptsd movie it's unbelievable holds up 70 years later still so uh what else we got here boys oh of course what else are we going to talk about but pink whitney it's all about hockey football hoops right now so head on over to your local bar and make sure to order some pink whitney it's the

perfect fall shot for you and your boys and your gals. And now that I'm relocated, my new local biz is my old local. Warren Tavern used to be my bar for years, so I'm across the street from it. Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing, but I know they got Pink Whitney behind the bar, so I'll probably be over there after we record and whack it back a couple shots. My girl was in Buffalo this past weekend, and she said she was going around trying to buy a little bit of it, and she struck out at three stores, sold out. I don't know if because everybody was all getting boozed up for Halloween and the festivities this past weekend.

Or it's because Buffalo is the biggest bunch of drunks you've ever seen in your life. What a city it is. It's a drinking town. And they're celebrating a competitive hockey team right now. Oh, actually, I love Josh Allen came in as Phil Mickelson doing the thumbs up. Did you see him doing that? Flexed his calves in.

Yeah, flexed his calves doing those nerdy Phil thumbs up. So that was a good one. Josh Allen is a freak, and the Bills are nasty. Actually, I have a neighbor. He's a huge Bills fan. I saw him during Halloween. I said, if the Bills go to the Super Bowl, are you going? Before I finished the question, he goes, yes.

If the Bills get to the Super Bowl, it might be 80% Bills fans. Like, they are just a rabid bunch that love to drink, and they love to get after it. And I'm a Bills. If the Pats can't get it done, which I don't think they can this year, I'm a Bills guy. Go Bills. So Bills and Oilers you're on. I'm on the Oilers so heavy.

And all these Leafs fans coming at me for my comments shut up holy shit by the way like talk about getting me to go after you even more do you know what you're supposed to do if somebody gives you a nickname that you don't like you're not supposed to let them know that it bothers you so now you dumb fucking leafs morons jesus christ now i know i'm under your skin. I'm coming to get you. You think you can play with the Oilers? Seven game series, Edmonton, Toronto. That's in five in Edmonton.

Fucking unbelievable shit kicking. McDavid stomps all over you. It's just, it's just, it's not even close. I'm an Oilers guy. Once an Oiler, always an Oiler. I've got Oilers jerseys getting sent to me. It's not here yet. I'm going to rock that next podcast.

I mean, I think Hyman would end up getting eight goals in a five-game series against the Leafs. So you went from taking all that energy against the Islanders to transferring it over to the Leafs. Well, the Islanders are probably going to win the Cup, but the Oilers is who I want to win the Cup. Well, I just meant in the sense of like you used to speak that

way and bash on the Oilers fan base, and now you're or Islanders, excuse me, and now you've shifted that over to the Leafs. I might have said Oilers first off. I meant the Islanders to the Leafs now. Yeah, I just – I talked to a couple of Oilers fans. A couple of people wrote me actually. They said, hey, Oilers fans don't hate you, man.

Oilers fans don't hate you. And I started thinking, like, I really actually like the town. I dogged on it too much. I'll go to different Aldos. I don't care. I'll go to the Cactus Club in the mall. I shot a machine gun in the West Edmonton Mall. How many cities can you say that about? Shooting fucking guns

in the mall? I'll go back to Edmonton right now with my family. I'll settle in, and my kid will be a stay-at-home defenseman, hopefully plays for the plays well someday. Let me ask you a question. Would you wear square-toe dress shoes from Aldo for a year if the Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup? No, because I've been saying they should win. I should get to wear designer sick kicks that make me look awesome.

I shouldn't have to wear these pigeon- Okay. How about I wear square- square toe dress shoes on tnt broadcast for a year if the oilers win it okay and if the and if the leafs and if the leafs win it i have to every single day of my life when i leave my house wear a pink tuxedo for one year why did you go so hard? I don't know, because I'm that confident that the Leafs aren't winning the Cup. Oh, I don't know, man.

Do you want to start there, R.A., or we got to get to the... We got to start with something that unfortunately is tough news. Yeah, yeah, we hate starting with this shit, but it's obviously the biggest story in hockey for the last week. Talk about a pathetic organization. Holy shit. The Chicago Blackhawks, yeah, they were the big story this week. Of course week. Talk about a pathetic organization. Holy shit.

The Chicago Blackhawks. Yeah, they were the big story this week. Of course, the scandal that's been going on there about the unreported sexual assault. Well, the general block law firm, their report dropped on Tuesday and things just got uglier. In the words of the law firm, nothing was done by the law, by the Blackhawks. After all this happened, less than a half hour later, General Manager Stan Bowman was out, as was Senior Director of Hockey Administration Al McIsaac. They resigned.

The team was also fined $2 million. And then on Wednesday, John Doe from the lawsuit, well, that was player Kyle Beach. He came forward as John Doe as the person who filed the lawsuit. He did a pretty gut-wrenching interview with TSN's Rick Westhead, who's done a great job in reporting on this stuff, by the way. It was really tough to watch, especially when he's asked about the victim who came after him. Just, like I said, a gut-wrenching thing.

And then shortly after that, Joel Quenville coached Florida that night. A lot of people were upset that he was allowed to coach that night. He met with Gary Bettman Thursday, ended up resigning later in the day. And then Tim Sheveldayoff, who was the assistant general manager, basically the lowest man on the totem pole in the room when the meetings were held. He was not disciplined. And Gary Bettman had, I know people have their quibbles with him. I thought he had a pretty good quote.

He said, while on some level it would be easiest to paint everyone with any association to this terrible matter with a broad brush. I believe fundamental fairness requires a more in-depth analysis of the role of each person. I thought that was important because I think a lot of people are kind of getting thrown out, thrown out with a lot of things that people really don't know. If you read any of the report, there was a definite Rashomon quality about it, where everybody sort of had their own version of the report. There was a definite Rashomon quality about it where everybody sort of had their own version of the story. So, you know,

for people to conclude that someone absolutely did or didn't do something. I don't know. I don't know that that's necessarily the best way to take it, but either way, Joe Quenville out, Scott Bowman out, huge fucking story. Biz with, I don't know if you guys, which one of you wants to jump. All right. I got to correct you. It's Kevin Shevelday off, not Tim, and it's Stan Bowman, not Scott.

So you're minus two. Biz, do you want to go ahead? Yeah, it's just like I'm sure your minds scram a little bit too, all right? Yeah, of course. I just had to, you know. It's like one of those things where you're just like your heart aches even having to talk about it. And just like some colossal, colossal mistakes by the organization, the way they handled it.

And obviously not dealing with it when it was presented to them in the first place. And then essentially forcing this kid to have to live out the experience that he had with the organization publicly, just so anybody would have to listen to him. Like, it's just, it is, is just it's brutal guys and you know it's um probably the worst decision those guys could have ever made at that time and it's probably going to haunt them a long long time um as far as the kids concern like i you know i i just hope that he's able to like find some sort of peace and and and i and i hope that the organization drops this lawsuit and the back and forth like at this point write him a check apologize till the end of time and and just make this you know make this not have to be any more embarrassing than i'm sure it was for him to have to come out

and live this publicly and and and i i commend him on his strength for doing so never should have been a situation where a coach was interacting with a player like that and the fact that not only was it colossally mishandled at the time there were consequences to not handling it properly at the time as well because then the guy ended up going over to work with a different team and had another issue. And apparently that was with a minor. So it's just, it's as ugly as it gets. I can't remember a story this shitty coming out in the hockey world. And I think that everybody who, you know, was let go was done so for a reason. And, you know, when you're in those positions of power, guys, you're hoping that, you know was let go was done so for a reason and you know when you're in those positions of power

guys you're hoping that you know you are in those positions because you're going to make the right decision when those decisions have to come to be and to put that really above winning it doesn't make a ton of sense to me like deal with the video coach and get them out of that environment and then the professionals can handle it besides that. Protecting it to not disrupt the morale of the team heading in. And I would imagine, and is it fair to say that was probably the main reason as to why they didn't want to bring this up anywhere? They wanted to make sure this team was focused going into the Stanley Cup playoffs and like when you're talking about the incident at hand based on on trying to go win a

Stanley Cup you're just like this is like a an unbalanced scale at this point with yeah there's so many different thoughts that come to my mind and the first is it feels so bad for the kid and you know to to have a he was drafted very high. I think he had over 50 goals his last year in junior, right? He's a black ace on a team that's going for a Stanley Cup. I mean, at that point, it's really hard to say this kid didn't have a very bright future. And now his career did not pan out. And you see people, you see articles written at the time when he was finally away from the Blackhawks.

What a bust, blah, blah, blah. Little did anyone know what the kid had gone through. And it is disgusting to see that in the end, it was all about we're on the road to winning the Stanley Cup. We just beat San Jose in the Western Conference Finals. We can't deal with this shit right now. Dude, what the hell would have been the issue if you fire a fucking scumbag creep video coach?

Who cares? Gas him right then. then now maybe i don't know maybe legally you can't but like in the end like you cannot ignore it no chance no how and i am so proud to say that i am friends and for a long long time i've been very close with paul vincent paul vincent was a former police officer he's from massachusetts he's probably the only goddamn person in this whole story who handled the thing correctly. And he made a big difference this summer when this entire thing came out in terms of being the guy spearheading. Listen, this is what this kid told me. I told the people above me and nothing was done. So good on Paul Vincent. Joel Quenville, listen, what do people say? What do you try to teach your kids? And I've been a victim of this when I was younger.

A lot of times it is not the action what you get in trouble for. It is the covering up of the action. And Joel Quenville to come out this summer and say that he didn't know anything about this is fucking wild. That's a blatant lie. And Beach tweeted it right away. He said that is a full-blown lie that Joel Quenville is trying to say he didn't know anything about that so if quenville comes out and says like yeah we didn't do it right and i did you know who knows maybe he's still coaching the panthers but if you blatantly get caught in a lie like that later on 10 years down the line i mean you're done you're done and for him to have now i

don't reading reading the report is difficult right it's a law document that's like 100 pages it's like i i read through it but mind you i'm not a great reader let alone reading like very official lawyer speak type words for the most part there's there's there's times in there that say like quenville's like we got a stanley cupton when we can't be dealing with this right now it's like this kid was sexually assaulted like what the fuck you talking about stanley cupton like what are we doing here? I'm going to say right now, I've had some discussions with different friends, and I've thought about it myself.

I'm going to bring it up because there are many people out there who have said, this video coach, this scrawny rat, was 5'6", 125 pounds, and Kyle Beach at the time was 6'3", 210 pounds. There's a lot of people out there who say, what are you doing?

Fucking punch the guy. Do something. And it's unfair. It's unfair to say that because the power dynamic thing is a scary thing. And you can be somebody who knows in your heart of hearts that you would never allow it to happen to you. The guy could be 6'9", 280 or 5'6". It doesn't matter.

You would go down swinging, punching, biting, whatever it takes to not be sexually assaulted. But not everyone in the world is like that. And if you're a kid who's me and I do not know Kyle Beach, but if you're somebody who's maybe not very confident or maybe really nervous about where he's at in his career and just a different type of person, you could really be affected by a guy telling you, I'll ruin your whole fucking career. And so in a sense, like, yeah, man, you could have fought him back, but you don't know this kid. You don't know the situation.

It's an unfair take. And it's just not right to say because I wouldn't allow it. It's like, well, not everyone's the same. And in the end, this dude was drafted and he was part of an organization and he's a black ace and he's watching this team go around and try to win a Stanley Cup. And in the end, like he could look at it like his whole life was kind of ruined. I mean, it's nuts.

And nobody knows what happened that night, but you got to believe this kid. And once this dude went on to fucking assault somebody else, a minor, that's what makes it so sick and that's ra you're right that's the hardest part about watching beach's interview is that he even felt bad he even felt bad about make it feeling like somewhat at fault that somebody else got assaulted so just a horrible time to be in hockey and um let me tell you like in terms of like quenville statement bowman statement a lot ends up going back to this John McDonough, who is, from what I've heard, one of the biggest fucking assholes to ever be involved in pro sports. I'm talking a full blown goon that I've never heard a good word about.

No word of a lie. And if you know Chief Barstool from Chicago, he has three different blogs describing how much of a rotten clown goon this John McDonough was. So he's not with the organization anymore, right? So he has not spoke. He has not said a thing in listening to Elliot and Merrick talk about this subject. They mentioned, who knows, they could end up going after his salary that they paid him from 2010 on until when he was gone. But in the end, it sounds like he had a lot to do with this as well in terms of everyone told him he didn't do shit so a lot of people the buck stopped with him and he did nothing but the buck but i will say though if if if it's it's like hindsight right like when you're when you're at that age and you hear that and i understand that you're in the midst of a

stanley cup run you're when you hear like, Oh, I'm going to handle it. You just don't stop really thinking about it at that second. You're more like, well, like, how are we handling this? Like handle it right now. The guy, the guy is inside of our locker room and he's, he's interacting with all of us and he's part of this team at this point. So at that point, that's where it's like, well, I'm handling it. It's like, well, they're all going to be aware of how it's handled.

That guy is still in the locker room as essentially a coach. And, you know, one of the tough things that Kyle said was the fact that when he made them aware of it, after the fact to not only see him on the ice celebrating with the Stanley Cup at the parade, he ends up getting a day with the cup and getting his name engraved on the thing. It made him feel like he didn't even exist. Everything that he just brought to the team, they just completely ignored. And that guy got to go continue to live his life, and he got basically shriveled away.

And guys, we're trying to make this a conversation because there's still plenty of elements to this that have trickled out and people are very upset about and in you know in in light of this news some people are not so happy with some of the players now let me just describe to you the dynamic of a black ace and and the and the main team this is in the midst of a playoff run if you're a black ace there is little to no interaction with the main team itself some there's some stories going around that like some of the players knew and and some of the players on the team have even came out and said that they were aware of this situation to what no current players continuing to play no

no current players who are retired There's guys who are retired. To which degree and level of what they knew involving the situation, I don't know. But apparently, you know, some media members want to go after some of the players and continue to grill them until they find out whether they were, not only did they know at the time, but I guess now they're saying in training camp comments were made to the

player that the following season about the incident and his, his interaction with Brad Aldrich. Now, I don't know, guys, I, no more information on that has came out. Correct. RA like none of the players have really spoken up other than the fact they're like, we were unaware that these were the details of the story yeah i don't think people really talk specifics i i know you know taves and kane made statements and you know they wish they maybe handled things different but even then they didn't really get into specifics of what they heard or they didn't really convey what was conveyed to them so you know that's the other thing too is

you don't know how i even like the players they said they were, you know, like saying stuff to him in the practice and stuff. Some of them. And I wonder, like, what was conveyed to these guys? Like, was it was the same information conveyed? Was it a rumor? And, you know, and that's where I like going back to Bettman's quote where, you know, maybe you shouldn't assume everybody here did the worst thing. And I'm not defending anybody. I have no skin in this game. You know, I just think that to make a blanket, anyone to do with this should be dead and buried, and the Wurtzes should sell the team. And by the way, I did omit that detail early.

The report found no evidence at all that the Wurtzes were told about the incident, which if you know people covering things up, that's not a surprise to not tell the bosses. I wanted to throw that there. And I did also forget to mention that Stan Bowman, not Scott, Stan Bowman also out his Team USA GM. So, yeah, like you guys said. It's a little off subject.

I'm just thinking about this last week and few days and since this news is all broken, how in the world did Joel Quenville coach that game against the Bruins? We didn't know what was going to go down. He had the meeting with Bettman the next day. I think the meeting was on a Friday and they played Thursday. Just, just let's not have you coach tonight and wait, wait to see how this all figures out for that report.

And that Kyle Beach interview to come out and him to coach the next day was beyond bizarre. I tweeted it out. Crazy town that somebody that the Florida ownership decided that like, yeah, let's have him coach tonight. What a weird move. So that was another thing. It's just like, sometimes there's so much more than winning a hockey game. It's like, it goes back to the beginning of this. It's like, these are human beings. Things matter. These things are what it's all about. And you cannot look past people being affected with horrible actions to just like always be thinking about we gotta win the game like holy shit like read the room a little bit so

in terms of the players that were there I know I'm talking about like Quenville mentioning you know we got a Stanley Cup to win we don't need this right now going into the cup final like I don't know man like these guys are playing in games. Like, what are they going to, if Jonathan Taves knew, what's he going to say? Like,

we're not playing. Like, it's just, it's a way different ball game for players dealing with black aces. Do I say dealing with, does that sound bad? I don't know, but biz says it's best.

You don't even see black aces. They're not even in the same locker room. They're not. It's, it's, it's unfair for people to be going after players on that team and i believe it's sople and nick boyden have come out and said that every single person knew but then a lot of guys say they didn't know anything until rumors they heard next

training camp so it's a really a true he should see shed holy shit he said she said yeah he said she said she said and like when it when it comes to that like it's you know if if if for the people that were completely aware of the entire situation and then obviously it's boiled over to this point like you you know those people are going to have to live with that decision that they made and this is like but the fact that the management and everybody at top was clearly aware of this and didn't act appropriately. It has caused colossal damage, and some of which, when you go to Kyle, this changes life forever. It's not – and then it had to all be made public

because they kept trying to deny it. It puts a stench on the entire Stanley Cup. It's got this weird I'm not I'm not telling I'm not saying those guys didn't didn't deserve winning that Stanley Cup by any means but forever when NHL fans and Blackhawks fans look back to the first Stanley Cup that they that dynasty one of the three it's just it's got an ugly stench on it. And that's a fact. RA, I'm going to ask you, like, they're talking about, I don't know if they've done it yet,

removing that Brad Aldrich guy's name. Or some people also said put X's through it just to kind of remind everybody of the stain and what's going to happen, you know? Glad you mentioned that, Julia. That was the other thing. Rocky Wertz sent the letter and requested his name to be X'd out. And I mean, yeah, I think there's enough evidence. I mean,

this, this isn't a court a lot. This isn't like, Oh, you need a preponderance of evidence. You could, I think there's enough for the NHL or the hall of fame or whoever decides to take a name off the cup. I mean, they did it with the owner of the oil is when he put his dad's name on for no reason, they X'd it out. And that's a pretty fucking, you know, that's a pretty easy reason to take it out. So if this guy is already a convicted sex offender, a predator, I don't see how it could be really be an issue for the whoever decides to take the name off to take it off. I mean, they've done it before. They've made corrections. And again, the one I just mentioned, the guy put his dad on and they took it off because he shouldn't have been there.

the one I just mentioned, the guy put his dad on and they took it off because he shouldn't have been there. Well, you know, you could say this guy had the role in the cup, but yeah, it would be a send a good message maybe for future teams and future front offices to pay attention to this shit. And who's going to care? Like other than that guy, who's going to give a fuck if they X his name off the cup? I won't. You won't. I don't think anyone will.

No. Yeah. I just, I mean, yeah, obviously, I think most people would want the thing removed. Yeah yeah i guess just we got to summarize by saying i know sometimes we get caught up in the dialogue of the whole situation but we don't want it to to we want to be we don't want to be overlooked that our our you know our sympathy goes out to kyle beach and showing all that bravery and having to deal with everything that he's dealt with like that's just like i i don't really know what, how else to summarize all of it. Nobody should have to go through that. Any, the experience.

And in the aftermath, Paul, like he, he did quote unquote, the right thing. He went through the right channels, Bob, Whit mentioned Paul Vincent who went above and beyond and did what, what a normal person you would think would do. And, and, and people failed them. Like I said, the lawyers, the quote from the lawyers, nothing was done. And I think that sums it up. Nothing was done by the Blackhawks.

And if you guys want to go read the whole transcript, it's very graphic. As Witt said, you almost got to put it down a bunch of times to get through it. But you'd find out a lot more of the details of it in there. And I'm sure you can make your own assessment for yourself of how bad this was. And just a couple of notes on this story i just mentioned uh bowman lost his team usa gm gig well uh bill garren's gonna take over that and uh we mentioned taylor hall early he um he called out you know you don't hear often hear players in their post-game presses

i don't know how many guys were asked about it that night because the news was fresh about Quenville losing his job. But, you know, Taylor Hall called out the quote, you know, the old boys club. He talked about the secrecy and saying that things need to change. It was just a lot more forward than I think we're used to hearing from players in the NHL. Like, just to even say the word old boys club, we don't even hear guys say that enough, I don't think.

Yeah, all right. Actually, I think it's best if we maybe throw it to the audio first and I can mention what I think after. Yeah, I mean, you know, our hearts go out to Kyle Beach. We were playing junior at a similar time, and it's just so unfortunate that, you know, he had to go through that. And, you know, I think everyone we were talking about last night, everyone just feels terrible for him

and hope that he can get some solace in the end of this. Is it a reminder of what hockey culture needs to be? No, I mean, every culture needs to keep getting better, and hockey's no different. You know, this is a game that's, you know, a little bit of a, I guess what you would call an old boys club. And there's definitely some secrecy and things that need to change. And hopefully they can.

You know, you never want to think of an incident like this, you know, positives coming from it because it's been so terrible. But there needs to be changes. And, unfortunately, people need to be held accountable so for the most part you hear the word and the term old boys club used when talking about coaches and how they recycle the same goddamn coaches over and over and gms and you can't get any new blood in and it's certainly starting to change but i think halsey in this sense means like the old way of like you know we just got to win games who fucking cares it's all about winning it's all about keeping things hush hush it's like some

things are just so much more important and go so beyond the game of hockey that you cannot constantly be pushing things under the rug that in the end truly affect people at the time and later on in life so i I was also pretty impressed by Sheldon Kennedy, who's been a former victim of sexual assault, spoke out and, and, and, you know, really kind of thanked Kyle Beach in a way in terms of how many people he may help by coming forward and giving that interview. So that was another, that was another factor here.

And like biz said, you know, very well, it's just, it's a horrible story and you hope this kid can maybe now feel a little better and kind of try to move on as best as he can. But a tough look for the Blackhawks. No doubt. And I think what Halsey, when he talks about that, I think of like the nepotism with the cronyism, you know, the payback of favors.

These guys, more than coaches, like the whole front office and GMs, just these guys have been around the game for 40, 50 years. And, you know, still think of that era. Yeah. Anyways, boys.

All right. We can, we can, I think move on. I think we all could use a drink or two or three or four after doing that segment. And we'll do that after the show, but we want to let you know that no days wasted is here to make sure you

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Wheeling nailers. i don't know i mean anyway we can move on okay yeah we can move on and talk about the fun aspects of the nhl and the carolina hurricanes after three weeks of play like i said in the intro the only team that is yet to lose a game eight zero and zero a large part of that. Freddie Anderson, 7-0, 1-2-9 goals against, 9-5-6 save percentage, a shutout and an assist. He had an assist and stopped all 33 shots he faced for his first Kane shutout, becoming the second goalie in franchise history to have an assist and a shutout in the same game.

Art DeZerbe did it back in 0-2 versus Boston. But, of course, it's Carolina. They're getting tons of contributions up front. Svechnikov, Ajo, Tony D'Angelo on the back end, Trochek, Teravine and Slavin, all these guys getting it done. Tony D. had a little scrap tube busy. Might have got a little low blow in there too, huh? The old dick punch.

When's the last time we saw a dick punch in the NHL? Oh, when's the last time Matt Cook played? Did you end up seeing it with the dick punch i saw the dick punch i was just racking my brain i can't think of another dick punch in the nhl in the last 10 years i don't know maybe i'm forgetting something but you don't see them they're not very common how do you how did he missed his head by that far well he didn't miss his head by that well which one well we don't know what country he's from so get it biz get it or do you not get it because you have a large amount of skin overhanging the head of your penis oh oh it hurts when you get punched right in the

right on the top of the head unless you got a cooper helmet there's another fucking advantage for having a toque on it. Carolina Hurricanes. You know what I think of when I think of Freddie Anderson? I think of the guy who had a nice girlfriend in high school, and he was going off to uni, and they decided to part ways. And, you know, he ended up going to Anaheim for a little bit and seeing all the fish in the sea.

And then he found that absolute rocket launcher in the Leafs, you know, the 10 out of 10, but, you know, maybe the girl who's a little bit of a headache, maybe, maybe, maybe a little clingy asking you what you're always up to. Why are you hanging out with the boys? And then meanwhile, in her spare time, she's getting double teamed by some guys on the, the football team. Right. And what happens now is he's done he's done he's done his college days and he's found his one true love he's gotten back with his high school sweetheart he was

drafted by the carolina hurricanes and he has rekindled the love and it is absolutely stunning to see and i'm so happy for him he's gotten rid of that toxic toxic ex-girlfriend and not i'm not talking about the guys in the room where i'm talking about the people that you were talking about that toxic fucking fan base that was ragging on him and ragging on him and ragging on him well guess fucking what he's back to his old ways with his high school sweetheart and he's happy and you guys are mostly still miserable so that's the only way i could describe what's happening with freddie anderson right now that just kind of came to my mind i completely understand what you're saying i like the

analogy he was also battling injuries the guy could he couldn't stay healthy it's hard to produce when you're injured you're in and out of the lineup you got moron fans dogging you every bad game you have and all of sudden, we've talked to players before that have moved on from Canadian markets. We actually interviewed Connor Garland today, similar type scenario where he's the opposite, of course, but you go from this enormous, that made no sense, but you go from this enormous, crazy, hockey-centric,

banana land market where every single thing you do on and off the ice is just under a microscope. And you get to Carolina where not only are you on a better team, but you got three reporters in the room as opposed to 27 after every single practice. So I think the relaxation, the whole North Carolina, Southern mindset that maybe Freddie Anderson's enjoying right now, it makes life easier. And now it is not fair to say that it is all about the fans and all about the media and how much different your mental mind can be

when you're in a market that doesn't put so much pressure on you constantly because we do have to mention how much better the Hurricanes are. Oh, yeah, that too. That does end up factoring into this. And you know what? Good for Tony D'Angelo because he's looked phenomenal. He's over a point per game right now. He's running the first power play unit.

And it's funny because they didn't want to pay Dougie Hamilton $9.5 million. Well, now you've got D'Angelo doing the same exact thing at not even remotely close to the same price tag. And I know there's been stories and there's been different instances of Tony D'Angelo maybe not being the best teammate, certainly having some issues. Well, I'll also say this. If he was a left-leaning Joe Biden superfan, people would not talk about him the same way they do. Okay? That's a fact. So now he's in a market where he's obviously doing a better job in keeping his mouth shut and staying away from the bullshit and the stuff that's gotten him in trouble before, and he's also producing on the ice.

So I've talked about Slavin until I'm red in the face, how underrated and how good of a player he is. Quick reminder for everyone who forgets, the guy had one penalty last year playing over 20 minutes a game against every other team's top line, and it was for delay a game. So this dude is a top-notch, true number one offensively. Get him out of the league. What?

I said, goon, get him out of the league. Beat it. Beat it. So he's not dick-punching anyone? No, he's not hitting anyone in the head. He's not hitting anyone in the shaft. He's not hitting anyone in the shaft. He's not hitting anyone in the balls. He's staying all away from the private areas when it comes to punching. But it's a great team.

It's an awesome team that is a legit Stanley Cup contender. And if Anderson keeps playing like this, Toronto Maple Leafs fans might completely lose their mind because I don't necessarily think he can keep these numbers up. But even if it's a fraction of this, they got a goaltender in Carolina. might completely lose their mind because I don't necessarily think he can keep these numbers up but even if it's a fraction of this they got a goaltender in Carolina and this is after a summer where everyone including me was all over them for just getting rid of Nadelkovich maybe they knew exactly what they were doing but when you look at the forwards and you look at up

front so what you're saying is Iserman isn't that intelligent well he's baked stoned I was good no I don't think I don't think I'm dogging eiserman one bit i think he got a nice young goalie at nadelkovich i'm just saying that carolina maybe wasn't foolish to get rid of him it's more what i'm saying so you you can reach for that but um i know vinnie trochek real well i've mentioned i played with him in the minors before he shot to stardom with floridaed up getting injured, struggling a little bit. He's found his way in Carolina. And just Ajo, game-breaker, one of the best, most enjoyable players for me to watch in the NHL. And Tara Vinen's awesome, those two together.

And I just love Svechnikov. Which just named their whole roster. So I guess I'll play clean up here. Rob, bring them more. I can continue to go if you want me to. Well, hey, guys, we just had Brady Shea on last pod. Great interview. Super chill guy.

I'm going to bend him over in a sandbagger pretty soon. It starts at the top. And when you got your coach doing the fucking wind gate and training camp before all the players just to pass. So if you don't pass, you feel like a pathetic loser. That's where the tone is set. And they were undefeated in the month of October. Their fan base is completely full of storm surges and they are a wagon.

And probably in my opinion, the best team in the national hockey league right now. What a re what, what a crazy reach there, Buzz. You mean the team that hasn't lost yet? Wow. Hey guys,

that one Grinnelli put it on's 8-0-0? Wow. Print the shirts, Grinelli. Quote that one, Grinelli. Put it on the quote board. Paul Bissonnette believes that the Carolina Hurricanes are the best team in the National Hockey League. You're welcome. You heard it here first here, folks. That's why he gets paid the big bucks. That's why I make the big bucks.

And they're fun to watch, man. That's why I'm on TNT. They really are one of those teams that you throw on and the games are often entertaining. Oh, Thursday night, they put a whooping on the Bruins. It was like, all right, this is a – and, you know, at home, it looks even tougher to play against them. So the takeaways being that Iserman isn't as good as everybody thinks,

and Carolina is, in fact, the best team in the NHL. So great little summary there, folks. What do we got next, R.A.? Keeping down south, the Florida Panthers still humming along as well. Of course, we mentioned they lost coach Joe Quenville. He resigned after all the shit that went on in Chicago. Andrew Burnett took over as coach. They beat Detroit Friday night.

I don't know if you guys – did you watch that game, any of you guys, Friday night, Detroit? Okay, so there was a few wild sequences. Is that what you're going to bring up? Yeah, the boot to Russ. We have to, even the audio itself is entertaining. Grinnelli, can you please roll the audio? When the point rips it and blocked,

and down goes Ernie, he's stunned. Pampers control again. Aronik, nice hit in the corner. That room shot. Another block. Oh, Ernie. Crash test dummy. One timer.

Another block. Down goes Fabry. And Fabry again. Shot saved. The Dankovic. What is happening? Pikes in front. It is loose.

To the corner. What crazy action. Shots. Block shot again. The broken stick. Montour saves it. That's the craziest sequence I've ever seen. Yeah, I mean, Butcher Gross, I think he's been fucking doing a great job so far for ESPN.

He did a perfect job of explaining the chaos that was going on the ice, like block shot, block shot. He was just going bananas because it was what was going on the ice. It was a fantastic game, man. It was highly entertaining. Detroit's one of these teams that nobody gave much of a shot at. They played with a lot of spunk, a lot of fire this year, but, well, we're on the Panthers right now.

They keep rolling along. There's 8-0-1, a lot of fire this year. But, well, we're on the Panthers right now. They keep rolling along. There's 8-0-1, 17 points that leads the league. They've only lost one game, and that was a shootout to Boston on Saturday. By the way, both teams did honor our pal Jimmy Hayes before the game. The Bruins had hazy shirts on. Panthers had Broadway shirts on. That was nice to see. But the story in Florida, same thing in Carolina, I guess, goaltending.

Bobrovsky, 6-0, 1-8-1 goals against, 9-4-4 save percentage. And Spencer Knight's only been in a couple games, but 1-9-5 goals against, 9-2-9 save percentage. And again, similar to Carolina, they have big guns getting it done. Huberdo, Barkov, Ekblad has been a huge return for Florida. So let's go to you, Biz. I mean, doing what he's done off of injury is amazing. I know we've talked about them since our preview

and knowing that this team was going to be at the top of the division competing with what we thought was going to be the lightning. But this has been a wacky start to the season. But just contributions from everyone. And, you know, there are some rumblings right now and not to take anything away from the team that torts might be the guy to take over. have you got have you guys heard that caught when i want to say even kevin weeks might have touched on it he tweeted it the night that quenville lost his job i don't know if he meant

like talking later down the line or as the interim but i mean obviously they brought in brunette but obviously we'll keep our eyes yeah and and and part of me what what makes me question it and i think torts is definitely the type of guy that you could bring in midseason that could take on that type of role, but it would concern me in the fact that your starting goalie who's had all this success and who did have some success under Torts, I don't know exactly how that relationship was left, and do you think it would maybe mess with Bobrovsky's head a a little bit and this isn't stirring up any rumors as to their reputation I just don't know how long

that they got along towards the end and how much animosity there might have been at the fact that he left for the dough and on top of that I think Duclair liked him a bit but he did he was definitely getting the play in time that he's getting now and Duclair has finally found this this home that he enjoys where you know he wasn't able to really find it anywhere else. He did have that early success with the Coyotes. I think he had a 20-goal season. But what he's doing in Chicago, folks, he's completely rejuvenated his career. So I don't know what that type of – adding that type of coach,

how much that would shake up not only those few guys, but the entire group. And it seems like this guy, Brunette, who's taken over, probably has a pretty good pulse on the group and the fact that he's been there for however long he has and really knows the feng shui, so to speak, of the group. Is that a good point? Much like Hurricanes being the best in the league or what? Yeah, I feel like, you know,

Crosby to the Avalanche and Torts didn't get the Florida job because Wabrowski said, no, it's busy. You're on fucking fire tonight, buddy. You know what's up? It's a really good, it is a really good point though, in terms of like, there's one side of me that thinks Torts could be the perfect guy to come in because this is like a, I'm not going to say a veteran team, but it's a team that they got some leaders who've been there a little bit you know

hubert obarkov ekblad they've been there quite a while now the team's really kind of finally turned the page looks like it's one of the top teams in the league so it's not like torts is gonna have to completely change how the team's playing right he can come in and fix a broken team well he doesn't need to fix anything he just needs to come in and keep this train rolling. And then the other side, and what you say is, Duclair's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But Brovsky's like, yet, yet, yet, yet, yet, yet, yet. And in the end, maybe that could be a killer.

Now, they still have Spencer Knight, who most people thought would end up being the starting goalie. But I think in the end... Oh, yeah, Torch will make him the starting goalie. Torch could be a good coach for this team. It's like, at the beginning, it's always great with them. It's later on when guys are like, I can't stand this mean person anymore yelling at me all the time, telling me I stink.

I don't know what's going to go on. Keep in mind, though, you say just come on in and keep it running until there's a couple bad games and a couple bad turnovers, and next thing you know, a vein pops on his forehead and you hear a torts postgame press conference where he goes on a 10 minute rant. And I know that he has a turf and Barkov and everyone's just what are you doing, dude? What I respect about torts, as you could tell from when he originally started till when he finished with the job in Columbus, it seems as though he definitely toned her down progressively where he wasn't the same old torts where he was snapping as much as he was. Well, he talked to her before he told him.

You got to relax, John. Yeah, the blood pressure was a little high. I would just find it not humorous for Florida, but from an entertainment perspective, if all of a sudden they hire torts and then next thing you know, Bobrowski ends up with an 800 save percentage like you know yeah it's got to be in the back of their minds or the back of all of our minds from the fandom perspective six more years of Bobrovsky right my question is so brunette takes over as head coach and any coach you bring in is not coaching currently okay so why not just give Brunette 10 games?

Well, that's the interim tag. I think that's probably what they're doing. No, no, I know. But from the words and noise I'm hearing from insiders is that they'll 100% bring someone else in. It's like, why is that a definite? Whereas, like, what if this guy's awesome? What if the guys love playing for him? I know they had the one loss to the Bruins, but it was a shootout loss.

By the way, Duclair scored such a sick goal in that game. Oh, my goodness. He is a – when he's going, dude, his speed and skill, it's crazy. And I think he's basically been a 20-goal scorer the last three years. And, yeah, that's a guy that's really rounded out this team. I brought up Bennett every time we talk about this team. The offense continues. Yeah, Reinhardt.

You're just going to name the whole forward group on Carolina? Reinhardt's quiet. Are we going to go through the whole roster again? What? I said, are you going to name the forward group like you did Carolina? Well, what I do, Biz, when talking about teams, is talk about the players on the team. So, I don't know.

Will you want me to fucking talk about the training staff? More torts. All right, who do you want to talk about torts of the players i'm a big torts guy what do you what do you think the play is here ra do you give this guy 10 games and allow him to feel out the group to see what he can do and then they go 10 and 0 and then they still hire torts what do you do yeah i think 100 i mean i he's already familiar with the team he's been you know, behind the scenes type of jobs, assistant coaching jobs, scouting jobs. This guy knows the league. He put a fucking

bow on Patrick Waugh's career. So, yeah, give him 10 games, 12 games, and if he has the knack for the job, then fuck, there's your coach right there. You don't have to go find a new one. And, you know, I think a guy like him deserves a shot. He's a hockey lifer. He's been around a long time. I mean, what do you got to lose? If you don't like what you see after a dozen games,

then bring in torts and fucking sink Bob. The traditional tradition. What about Hitchbiz? I'm trying to say. Oh, yeah. I was trying to say traditionalists. That's a tough one. I'm not going to use that one much more.

Like the hockey guy in me. I just I want to see them do well as a group i want to see him get the interim tag remove become the head coach and then they go on this crazy run the fan who who wants the drama like the like you know you know yans watches those shows where it's like 16 and pregnant and wants the drama i want the 16 and pregnant of the league. I want Torch to be the coach of the... What? Reality TV. I know. I'm just laughing.

No, that's a show, R.A. It's called 16 and pregnant. I know. I'm just laughing. If I can reference it, that's I know. I'm familiar with it. I know. That's what Witt watches. He watches the Kardashians and all that shit. Right, Witt? Bravo's always on in my house. I'm a big Southern Charm guy.

By the way, as I talked about maybe facetiously bringing up the Florida Panthers trainer, Teddy Richards, Biss. Oh, yeah. He did his 1,500th game. Good call. So Teddy Richards was the assistant to Doomy in in wilkes-barre and that was back fuck when was that 18 years ago now and he's worked his way up he's the head guy in florida now a phenomenal guy great is his job he's gotten all the way to the top of the nhl he's got 1500 games

so good for him congrats to teddy and uh his brother, Head Richards. Josh Head. Josh Head Richards. He wrestled for a while, I believe. Yeah, he wrestled on the underground, did the barbed wire, the tacks on the ground. He was hardcore. Head would suplex you. We call him Josh Head Richards because this guy had the biggest melon. Peyton Manning times two.

I don't think there was a hockey helmet on the planet that would have fit his head. You would have had to go to the pennsylvania recycling plant to mold every fucking square inch of plastic in the entire state of pennsylvania to make him a joffa bucket no offense uh josh uh none taken so so back to his brother he was awesome for us and wilkes-barre got bumped up to pittsburgh ended up moving on uh to, and an unbelievable guy, type of guy you want in the locker room. And our boy Ian's got to spend a little time with him in Florida as well. So congrats on 1,500, Teddy. One last note on the Panthers.

Jumbo Joe got his first with Florida, 426th goal of his career. I think he's been getting about 10, 12 minutes of ice time per game so far. All right, moving right along. Another team that's been red hot. They lost their first game 5-2, and then they've gotten points in seven straight since then, including six straight wins. Mangiapane and Lindholm, seven goals each for the Calgary Flames.

Absolutely on fire. This great little quote on Mangiapane, 19 goals and 23 points in his last 17 games dating back to last season and including the world championships where he won gold. It was tournament MVP. Eight of those 19 goals were game winners. This kid is just feeling it right now. Johnny Hockey feeling himself again as well, 11 points in eight games.

And, of course, again, goaltending, goaltending, goaltending. I beat the drum all the time. Markstrom playing his ass off right now. 4-1-1 with a 1-3-3, 9-5-7 safe percentage. Three shutouts already. He's already got three shutouts. And on D, Rasmus Anderson been getting it done. Calgary, one of these teams we didn't know what to expect with,

and they're fucking rolling. Oh, you want it with? I was going to take Mangiapane, the bread man of the West. And I don't know how we feel about that. There can't be two bread mans, right? There can only be one bread man. Well, he's out playing the other bread man. That's what I'm saying, baby.

That's what I'm saying. And you talk about this kid and the trajectory, my favorite word on the podcast, and where he came from. Play with the Barry Colts and the O.H.L. Organization biz, come on. What did I say? You said trajectory is my favorite word on the podcast, and where he came from. Played with the Barry Colts and the OHL. Organization biz, come on. What did I say? You said trajectory is your favorite word.

Let's not fuck around, biz. You're an organization favorite word type guy. Well, I was getting to that because he played with the Barry Colts organization and the OHL. And, you know, we talked about just interviewing Garland. Back-to-back 100-point seasons there. Well, ends up getting drafted I believe in the sixth round by the Calgary Flames gets sent to the AHL to start his professional career not quite a point of game guy but definitely made an impact he came back that

next year worked on that became over a point of game player got his feet wet in the NHL and what has he done ever since finally establishing himself in the NHL? Every year over year, more points, better production. And then at the end of last season, you know, there was a disappointing year. They played, you know, the 56th game in the North. I thought for sure that was a playoff team in that Northern division. They don't make it. Well, he gets the opportunity to go represent his country overseas. I think they lost the first three games in that world championship.

They ended up getting hot he becomes tournament mvp i want to say he had 14 points in seven games and then off to this start and mind you this is a guy i think he wanted a bigger contract than he got and he ended up signing a bridge deal he held out for a little bit i think he was late to getting the camp at the beginning of last season yep and he's bet on himself. He is going to get absolutely paid. He's leading in the clubhouse for the Cy Young right now. He's got seven goals, no assist. I think seven goals in eight games and has turned himself into quite the player. And just a much added bonus for these other guys that you mentioned, R.A.,

who are stepping up their game. Did I have my fucking doubts on Johnny Hockey? I haven't really seen the same old Johnny Hockey I had in years past the last couple of years. Contract year, though. It's fucking personal. Oh, shit. That'll change things, won't it?

Contract, G, baby. And Sutter's got the whole team playing well. Fucking Lucha's bringing what he brings. They got the goaltending. And I thought that Giordano last was going to impact them a lot more than it has already. And they came out of the gate a little bit slow, but ever since then, man, they are fucking rolling.

And as I said, getting contributions from a lot of guys. And I tell you what, Edmonton might not even be the best team in Alberta at this point, Whit. You want to bet? Paul, you want to bet on who finishes this season with more points, buddy? I'll bet you who goes deeper in playoffs. All right.

What's our bet? What's our bet? All right, you let us know what you think is appropriate. I mean, you can't go around with a fucking steak dinner. That's always a fucking. How about this? With me and Grinnelly. How about this?

I'll shave the top of my head like I did in that Peter Mann's biz biz commercial okay okay you look like bald both and i'll okay okay you shave all right here's the deal but hey but tnt tnt has to be over i can't go on tnt no no no no no no no no no no no here's the deal and this is good so we got the pink um tuxedo ifedo if the Oilers win the cup, Leafs win the cup, and you got the priest shoes if the Oilers win the cup on TNT. Now we got Oilers-Flames. Flames go further in the playoffs than the Oilers. You have to, I have to pierce my big left ear and wear the Barry Bonds cross earring for a month straight.

And if the oil is go further than the flames, you have to shave the top of your head. And I have to make Peter Mansby's on TV. Come on, dude. OK, and I'm talking about an ear that sticks out three feet with a Barry Bonds cross earring. OK, if TNT approves it, I'll do the... They can't fuck it. What are they going to say? You can't cut your hair like you want to? You can sue their ass. That's assault,

brother. Hey, here's the thing, babe. I need one pot. If they both lose in the first round, it's a null bet. If the Oilers win and the Flames lose, you're on the second round coverage of TNT with a fucking bald head up top.

Okay. What? I get a full week to think about it, and the bet becomes null and void if neither team makes it out of the first round. So if Edmonton makes playoffs... Well, that's the same thing. Oh, no, no, no, no.

Oh. So if... Oh, you're chickening out on the Flames possibly missing. No, I'm not chickening out. How scared of this bet is he, boys? I'm confident. Fine, fuck it. Let's go.

He now thinks his best team in Alberta might not even get in the playoffs. I'll go. All right, let's fucking do it then. I'll do it. One week. The Barry Bonds earring on this fucking ear of mine could be a goddamn nightmare. All right, I'll do it. The only thing that's not fair is the only thing that's not fair, Biz,

let's do this, is that I only have to wear the earring for a month. Your hair would be, it's like, I think you should have to actually wear the man, Biz thing. So you don't have to actually cut your hair, but you have to wear it on TNT. So you don't, like, because it's unfair

because your hair will look like that for months and I only have the earring for a month i don't i would just shave my whole head i get i get the giordano back and that's that's how we circle the wagon folks talking about the flames we're right back to your down i will remember you we sing that like every other episode. Hey, I want to talk about D-Man. You talked about Goudreau. Rasmus Andersson, he got a pretty big deal a few years back. Maybe was it last year? All right.

I mean, look up Rasmus Andersson's contract. But I think he makes just under – Wait. He just makes just under five. I believe it's on a six-year deal. Okay, yeah. And I think it was maybe signed two years ago. But a hard-to-play-against-big-bearer-of-a-defenseman

who can log over 20 minutes, he can PK, and now, right now, he's six points through eight games. So he's throwing some offense in the mix. And the fact that, like, Monahan... What's up, G? So his contract is a six-year deal with an AAV of 4.5. Great job, Ben. When was it signed?

When was it signed, Grinelli? The contract was signed January 8th, 2020. Oh, so it was last year. So I think some people at the time were like, what's this deal? Whereas a lot of Flames fans are like, yeah, we know about this guy. We know what's up with this guy.

It was more around the league. Yeah, it's like more around the league. People don't know, you know, a a quiet shutdown type defensive but he's played great and then on the forward side like monahan hasn't really gotten going yet i think chuck's got a little more offense to give but he's doing his thing being a rat and in the end goudreau plays like this on a contract year fuck we talked at the preseason predictions where we all thought they were going to do nothing this year that he could get traded at the deadline. Now who knows what goes on if the flames keep rolling like this.

But have we had Battle of Alberta yet? I don't think we have. One, yes, one. Edmonton won. Oh, actually, I did know. I just wanted to hear you say that, bitch. Shut the fuck up. Plenty of games. I think that's their only loss. And that's when your boy Anderson head-butted Yamamoto.

So listen, you can have your hot start to the season, buddy. I watched the last game that they played against Philadelphia. And they looked a little bit lackadaisical after there. I can't wait to tell my wife about the goddamn possibility of a cross earring on my monster. Dude, that cross. Oof. It can hang.

It can hang. Hey, Austin Matthews ended up getting his ear pierced on the one side. Did he? Yeah, he's got the EMJ going. Austin Matthews is an NHL superstar that can dress cool and look like the man no matter what. I'm with a Muppet. That's true.

We'll get you the spray tan so it can match the earring. Thanks, dude. Who else are we going to talk about after? Well, first off, we're going to talk about our friends at Cross Country Mortgage because Cross Country Mortgage is, much like us at Boston, a people-first group of people. They're dedicated to the fundamentals of mortgage lending, which results in a fast, convenient, and less stressful home financing or refinancing experience.

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Who knows? Either way, go to crosscountrymortgage.com slash Bostel to learn more about your future home buying experience or to refinance your current mortgage. Cross Country Mortgage, LLC, NMLS3029, all loans subject to underwriting approval, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org, and be sure to tell them that a boss tool sent you. Biz, next up on the docket wasn't just one team. It was two teams. It was one game last week, St. Louis versus Colorado.

It was the second game between the two since the playoffs last year when the Zim Kadri knocked Justin Falk out. He got himself an eight-game sussy. Of course, they played earlier this season. Kadri fought Shen 40 seconds into that first game. Well, this game he fought Justin Falk 47 seconds into it. Falk ended up getting a two, five and a 10 for instigating. But then we got a snapshot from our buddy, Jordan Bennington. There was a little skirmish by the goalie and he went into Hextall mode.

He shot the puck toward Darcy Kemper and then he skated toward Cadre and he swung a stick. I mean, he wasn't really close to him. It was probably three, four, five feet, but both of them got 10 minutes, 10 minute misconducts. And Kadri was like, I got no idea, man. All I did was like exchange words. They gave me 10 minutes, but highly entertaining, wild stuff.

I know people don't like stick swinging, but I thought it was a great clip. Biz, I know you want to talk about it. There was a few wild sequences this week. We talked about the one between Florida and Detroit with Butcher Gross on the call, his organic, like, what is going on? And there was another, what the fuck is going on moment in this game?

And St. Louis is not going to forget. They want retribution every single game they're playing the abs. And if anything, man, it kind of makes it a level level playing field we know how much more quote-unquote superior we thought the avalanche were coming into this season but st louis seems to be finding a storyline how to go into every game and bring that level of play up and they've done an unbelievable job of it now kudos to falk and kudos to kajri for answering bell. Great spirited scrap, just like the one was in that first game. Then the scrum ensues later in that game.

Binnington, he is a showman. I love Jordan Binnington. Now, folks, if I'm in the other locker room, if I'm in the Avs locker room, I'm motherfucking this guy till the end of time. I'm saying this guy is the biggest fucking loser in the league. I can't wait to fall on him by accident, just like Corey Perry does, just like Nick Kiprios did to fucking Grant Fuhrer, all the fucking shenanigans.

But let me tell you, one, he doesn't give a fiddler's fuck. He's a Stanley Cup champion. He's got his big contract you can lick his left nut for all he cares okay and the guys inside that locker room love him even more and he looks great to start the year and on top of all those antics people say oh he lost the game he looked like a clown he's not ron hextall he can't back it up he's the dude that would get his face caved in and still be there blowing kisses at you behind the glass with while he's bleeding he's he's guys

he's a little squirrely okay he's he's a few sandwiches short of a picnic but he can stop the puck and he's an absolute gamer and he loves his teammates and that's why I love him. So I have all day for Jordan Binnington. And other than that, the next game out, shut out against the Hawks. I want to say he played in that next game unless I'm a complete donkey and fuck that up. Can I get a little help here from G? I mean, if it was the Hawks, it doesn't count. But they look great.

I think there's a chance that somebody fights Kadri from the Blues every single time they play this year. Both times, both times. And geez, geez, thumbing you up. He did play against the Hawks. I am on fire this podcast. Yeah, you're crushing it until you're bald man biz on TNT. But it's been within 40 seconds, both times,

right? Shen got him the first game and Falk got him. Cause he was actually the guy that he hit in the warmups. Next game. It's like, it's kind of slap shot style. The popcorn vendors are going after him. And if I was down there,

I'd be standing up to them. The Zamboni driver just ran them over. What the fuck is going on? Yeah, this is hockey organ starts playing the ice girls just swings a shovel at his head as he's skating by the Hawks got rid of their ice girls too

saw that they used to smell so good anything else on the Bennington situation? No, he's just classic. I mean, he shot the puck at the other team's goal there, so you don't see that often. He did say it was the heat of the moment.

I might have taken it a bit too far. I don't want to condone the stick swinging. Having a guy sit in the box for 10 minutes isn't being a good teammate. I definitely don't want kids out there swinging their sticks. I mean, let's remind everyone. We interviewed Bennington at the All-Star game in St. Louis. The dude was sent to the East Coast League and just said no. Yeah.

You get sent down and you just say no? He told Martin Brodeur at NHL Hall of Famer, yeah, no, I'm good. I don't think so, Marty. Go film another commercial for that. Listen here, Marty McFly. Go ride your hoverboard back to the GM's office. I ain't fucking going. Oh, you like doing ads for dollar rent-a-car?

Dollar rent my nutsack because I ain't going down. It's Enterprise. Not dollar. Oh, sorry. We got to go to Nick Dowd boys. We, these guys, we tease Nick Dowd. This is a hell of an interview. All right. Absolutely. All right. We'll throw it. We'll throw it over to Nick Dowd. Let's do it. Then before we do that, we do have a word from one of our favorite sponsors here.

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94105 visit earnest.com slash licenses for a full list of licenses. And now without further ado, Washington capitals forward, Nick Dowd. It's a pleasure to welcome my next guest to the show. A seventh round pick of the Kings back in 09. He's heading into his seventh NHL season and his fourth with the capitals. He's just the third Alabama native to play in the NHL and the first of the modern era. He's also the first Alabama to score

a playoff overtime game winner. Thanks so much for joining us on the Spitting Chicklets podcast. Nick Dowd, how's camp going, brother? It's good. It's been going well, guys. We've been on the road. Road Warriors have been on the road for the last three games, so it'll be nice to get back home tomorrow against Philly.

And the road is still the day of trips for the preseason, right? Yeah. I don't know how you guys could ever forget those. Those were such a bummer. You're like, wait, we're not going the night before. Totally forget your roots. Yeah.

We got, we got a ton of guys on the team with kids. So like, you know, when those with kids and families and it's like, obviously guys are getting up early with kids and stuff. So I think those those sleep ins are welcomed when we. Oh, yeah. Well, you got you got a newborn. You actually brought a pretty wild story about how your wife ended up giving birth or at least when her water broke. Can you can you tell us in here? Yeah, sure. Congrats. Congrats, by the way. He's getting tugged off in a hot tub aren't you

we're gonna keep it real loose here doubter yeah just like in the locker room in manchester pal that's right that's right i know we should bring stetsy on for old time's sake yes we should you'd love that yeah so um yeah so lou my my boy's name is louis and, um, we, uh, I went, we were playing a noon game versus the Islanders. Um, and, uh, I was getting, getting the, getting the body warmed up for my six minutes at the time. And, uh, and I was sitting in the tub with, with Carly and, um, Carly was getting ready for his 32 minutes and, uh, yeah, we were just hanging out and I got out of the hot tub. It was like,

I don't know, maybe 10, 15 or something. And maybe, I don't know. And, uh, yeah, we were just hanging out and I got out of the hot tub. It was like, I don't know, maybe 10, 15 or something. And maybe, I don't know. And, um, just walked out and I was, I was telling off and till it's in our, uh, our hockey ops guy came up and he was like, Hey man, I just got a call from your wife, Paige. I think she's going to have a baby today. And, uh, I remember the way he said it, my first instinct was like, Oh, that's awesome, man. Congrats.

remember the way he said it my first instinct was like oh that's awesome man congrats like like because he said i think she's gonna have a baby and i was like cool man cool and we kind of looked at each other until he doesn't have kids i don't have kids and he was like what do you want to do and i was like i don't know i was like should i stay and play the game i was like does this stuff happen like right away and uh and he was like i don't know i don't know what we should do and at the time reards my head coach was like he had like, I don't know. I don't know what we should do. And at the time reared, my head coach was like, he had had kids. I'm sure, you know, the whole process, whatever. And he was like, yeah, you got to go. So I was like, oh, okay.

So I went in, I got dressed. I'm putting my suit back on. Guys are kind of looking at me like guys in the, in the dry room and ocean half are in there. And, uh, they're both looking at me and I'm putting my tie on and everything. And they're like, what are you doing, man? I was like, oh, my page is going to have Lou today. I have the kid today. And they're like, what are you doing? Put your tie on. I don't know. So I just put my stuff on. I scrammed. I ran home,

uh, you know, like full panic mode. We didn't have anything set up. Lou was a month early. So like we had nothing set up, no like bag or whatever people take to the hospital at the time. And, um, went to the hospital didn't change out of my suit so i show up in my suit my wife's like sitting there on one of those like bouncy balls eating ice chips and uh and she's like why did you come in your suit and i was like i don't know i guess i i guess i don't know why i came my suit so i showed my suit we sit down and then um i just ordered some food and waited for lou to come that was basically it hey that's the life of a fourth liner, right?

Like never being too comfortable. Like you don't want like Ovi to chirp you for not having your tie on and maybe get fined, right? That's the life of the fourth line, man. Biz, forget the tie. He just was ready to just knock over to the boat. He's like, team needs me. I got to play.

It sounded like you were like, hey, what time's the game? You know what? Like Biz just said, you know, at the time time i was still kind of trying to cement myself and you're like hey honey can we like i can't miss this game here i'm in the lineup here we can't get this game so i'm trying to get this one way girl hold that thing in yeah but it was some duct tape on there yeah yes we still have one of those dinosaur coaches though at least todd was like hey you know go you got to go do the right thing here. Yeah.

We got an old guy like Milbury who would have been like, fucking, you don't play tonight, you're going back down. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know. Rude was good at the time. He was – I mean, we got – I think we got – I think we might be the oldest team in the NHL. We got more guys with kids than I've ever played with.

And so I think everyone had already been through that. That suit retired, I'm guessing. What did you say?. So that suit retired, I'm guessing. What'd you say? I said that suit retired. I'm guessing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I tried to get it laundered at the hospital. It must be a blast playing with all these legends in that lineup.

I guess you were kind of used to it because you were drafted by LA. And that was when they kind of started their dominance in their cup runs. But like just walking into that locker room you know every day and you know ovi oshi carlson just like a crazy amount of like established veterans yeah i mean like you look at our team and and i mean you forgot backstrom off that he was like who best all-time one of the best all-time passers ever and like the i think the coolest thing about these guys is um i mean yeah they're like legitimate all hall of famers and uh and they're just like great people you know like good dudes make for a really good locker room um you know

really close team and it starts at the top and funnels down i mean you guys know you played on teams where you got all the best players that are great dudes and you know it's like that helps everything else so much and and uh yeah so it's yeah it's been it's been good it's just fun like watching these guys all the time too i mean you know early in my career with the caps i had great seats so i just got to watch these guys a lot and and uh and learn and you know like drop my jaw a little bit and they do it every night it's unreal i'm actually shocked you're able to have a kid given their uh their little routine in the hallway with all these fucking cup checks. Yeah.

Just not, not superstitious, just a little stitious. What a, like bring us through this whole routine. Like when new guys get to the team or like, do they have to talk about like, who's going to cup check who, and like who goes out first?

And cause charge has joined the team and he seemed to get right into the mix in the hallway routine. Yeah. Z God, what a guy we can talk about him forever just another guy i got to play with that was like incredible but um yeah so obviously this routine's been going on forever right because like carly oh uh osha obviously joined a little later but nikki like these guys have been around for like 12 13 14 years now um and they've been doing this stuff like i mean you know so uh the cup checking i i don't ask a lot

of questions when it comes to this stuff um but the cup checking is hilarious i mean i saw it before i got here um yeah i don't know i think i i guess if i had to like guess uh i think when osh got here from what i've heard a little bit is he kind of loosened things up quite a bit um and uh again like he's got a lot of stuff going on before the game with guys but yeah the jump jumping right into it i mean yeah you kind of just got to find your mix and and and get in there and then i think like the first time you go through the line you're kind of like figuring out what you want to do with people and then it kind of like the best ones organically make themselves uh and then yeah you end up having like like i got like going through my head i think i

i got one with like every person in the hallway. So I probably got like close to 10. So, you know, and it's, you know, nothing's done before they're all done. Right. And the guys are like shuffling around and everyone's got their own thing. And yeah, it's good. It's a lot of fun before the game. So. Talking about Z, is he off the ice basically the opposite of how he is on the ice? Man. I mean, yeah. Nicest human being ever uh i got a great z story he he um well let me press that so yeah z unreal dude on the ice like like the fact that

i mean i don't i don't even know how old he is i think we just stopped counting but it was like like i'm 31 and i feel how i feel and z's like a mutant that he can still play and be successful at and he's still a great player uh and just to do it he's such a pro but like so he comes over we we have uh we have uh like a get together at our house um just outside and then we're having just like a little like a small group of guys with with, would like a, a bonfire in the middle of the day or whatever. And Z shows up and he's a vegetarian, I guess, like kind of pseudo vegetarian. And, um, and, uh, he brings, he comes over and he brings these, uh, uh, veggie patties, frozen veggie patties, and he brings them in his own bag and he shows up and I wasn't

planning on like cooking or doing anything. I was, we were just going to ask him like a couple of beers and hang out with the boys. And that was about it. And he's like, Hey, Nick, when's the barbecue? And I'm kind of like looking at him like, Oh shit, this guy thinks we're cooking food. He brought his own, basically he brought his own lunchable. And, um, and, and then he's like, yeah, he's like, and I was like, I don't think I was going to cook Z and he was like, what? He's like, no, we got to have a barbecue. So anyways, long story short, Z comes over to our house, leaves, goes to the grocery store, takes Hath with him, shows up with like the most amount of food I've ever seen, uses our entire kitchen, cooks everything, grills, does everything, hosts a barbecue at my house, feeds everybody, and then leaves. And that was it.

It was incredible. He's not everyone's's dad he's everyone's granddad he's just like that much of a legend he is mad it's like it's like and it was like garnie told me he's like man like i'll never forget the story i get to go to the grocery store with z like how cool is that like and garnie grew up you know like he's he grew up in maine uh you know i think he you know he's obviously tied to the Bruins a little bit. So, like, Z's, you know, in the mix for him growing up type of thing. And so, like, the fact that, like, you know, Hath went to the grocery store with him, like, I don't know. It's just kind of a cool story, right? Like, we're kind of just like, man, this guy's, like, the legend of all legends.

And we got O and Z. We got guys that literally just have one initial as their name now on our team. So, it's like you know hey if if i went to the grocery store with big z i would be checking out some of those unreal peanut uh filled pretzels uh you know and i'd get greco roman style fucking chokehold by him because you know if you grab any of the trash he's he's getting ready oh yeah hathaway could have been looking at doritos and boom he gets slapped in the face he must have been shaking his head at the fact that uh that ov drinking pop on the bench man it's yeah like those two those two are like they're so good for each other because like they

pulled and pushed each other in good directions you know and like yeah z shows up to our house and i'm like hey z like you know i don't know like can i offer you a beer or whatever he's like do you have any juice and i I was like, and Paige, yeah, Paige goes, uh, I think Louie has some juice boxes. You know, like, and, uh, and then I was like, I, I don't think we had, I I'll go look. And then like, you know, we, I think, I think we ended up having to pour out like four juice boxes into a cup, you know, just so like we could, because like, I'm not going to like,

I'm not going to like embarrass the guy by giving him a juice box you're like andre the giant with that beer can't get you exactly yeah he's an awesome dude man great um uh the boyd gordon when he was playing with olvie he said one thing that drove him nuts is the fact that he would take the marinara uh scooper and he would put it in the alfredo and he would cross the sauces is that still something that happens and has that picked up since we've been talking about he doesn't do that anymore he doesn't he doesn't cross i've never seen him cross the sauces no but we i mean we're we're pretty spoiled we have a pasta guy now biz you okay so we had an omelet guy in pittsburgh you guys have your own like what what do they what does he do what does a pasta guy do yeah i mean it makes pasta for him well i mean like that's pretty simple like i mean what the fuck do you need about out in the in the

in the main room for yeah it might have been like a covid thing to be honest i don't know like where they stopped i can't remember how we when we started doing it but yeah obviously they used to have like buffet of everything right like i remember my my rookie my rookie year when i walked into the nhl buffet on the road and they had like 30 different kinds of meats and 30 different kinds of pastas. And like, you're like, man, remember when we used to eat on the road business for the American league. Oh my goodness. We should, by the way, for those listening, we want to call their cup in Manchester together.

We'll get to that later and why I became to love this guy. And, and I'm very thankful for our friendship, but let's continue with your, your, your your the fancy buffet setups and uh yeah so i mean once you know too like there's just like there's everything above everything it's just i don't know it's just ridiculous almost how much food is wasted but uh yeah so we have a pasta guy now who like basically all the pasta comes pre-cooked the meat like everything you could ever think of and then you just go up to him he's like hey i want this this and this he tosses it in like a frying pan heats it up for you on the spot and then boom there's like

fresh fresh pasta so yeah it's pretty awesome that's fucking national league right there that is national i mean you play with vancouver la and then now washington so every single team you've been with is just like an a plus setup like they do not fuck around in washington yeah yeah no washington's top three in my opinion i mean i've been on three teams I know, we know, you know, guys around the league and you talk and you work out with guys in the summer. I mean, wash from, from just how, how the people are, the, the G or yeah. I mean, like our, our equipment managers, like everybody, they take unreal care of us. It's it's yeah. It's amazing. So I got to ask one quick question since we're on like the food and beverage thing. I was talking to brooks orbeck and he was saying that oh she has this

weird mix of like guinness beer and wine have you ever seen him drink this on the plane or anything uh no i've never i've never seen him drink uh guinness and wine on the plane but orpy man that's another that's another guy i get to play with i mean you just keep naming these people there i mean just yeah uh oh no i mean we got yeah we got some probably some stories that we'll have to talk when i retire but or or or never let out of the vault uh he also mentioned that he's uh he's like attached to the card table like the game the game on the plane gets a little bit silly well oh she's oh she's like uh like he's he's such a competitive guy and he's good at absolutely everything he's good at everything like as what you see him play hockey he's just as good as everything else that he does so yeah i mean they

the guy that's so good we me and half sit behind him on the plane and uh oh carly and usually nicky um and osh and they play relentlessly like it'll be like a flight from here to there at like one in the morning. And like they got their, you know, the music going and they're playing cards. And yeah, they, I mean, they, they don't, they don't ever not play ever. They always play. It's like, once you sit, you sit, you're in, you're playing. That's it. They probably land. And then like the flight attendants, like guys, you got to get off the plane.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, last day, last day. They probably land and then like the flight attendants like, guys, you got to get off the plane. Yeah. Yeah. Last hand. Last hand. Yeah. Plenty of, plenty of times there's been where like, you know, we'll be, there'll be kind of last guys off the plane just because it's like, they got to finish up.

But yeah. You were saying, Oh, she loosened up the room. Is he just like a jokester, a ball breaker? Cause usually like top end guys, not the guys who usually break up the room like that. Are they? No, I mean, he's not, he's definitely, I wouldn't call him a jokester.

No, he's just, he's just, I mean, he's just one of the, one of the best people I've ever played with genuine individuals. So like, you know, when he talks,

people listen and he's like, he's, I mean, he's one of our best players too. So that helps. Right. And he's just, I think just everyone values his opinion so much.

And he's there to help everybody. You know, the best thing about the guys on our team is that these guys have been here forever and they've won a Stanley Cup. You got O, who's broken a ton of records. Arguably, you know, in my opinion, I play with him every day. He's the best goal scorer ever. You know, I mean, in this modern age of hockey. And then you got a guy like Carly. I mean, they're all future Hall of Famers. They're all incredible players. in this modern age of hockey. And then you got a guy like Carly.

I mean, they're all future Hall of Famers. They're all incredible players. And they're just great people. And you come right into a team like I did, and they make you feel welcome right away. And it's like, you don't get that everywhere. And they don't have to be like that. I mean, there's a lot of superstars out there in different sports that aren't like that.

And our team is full of them. Why is Backstrom still so underrated? I mean, I know people in hockey know how good he is, but we just don't hear about him as much as we should. Why is that? I don't know, man. It's such a great question. Cause I mean, arguably, I think he's like one of our, I think he's our, our best, one of our best forwards all around. I mean, he plays defense, he plays offense, he kills penalties. He's five on three guys,

power play guys, the best passer in the game, the list goes on. He's a great human. So it's like, I don't know. I don't know why he's five on three guys power play guy he's the best passer in the game the list goes on uh he's a great human so it's like i don't know i don't know why he's consistently underrated maybe because we he plays with like five other great players you know i mean that could be an issue like right like um but yeah he does everything right i've never seen him make a mistake ever so is he a low-key personality yeah very yeah yeah quiet guy but again another guy where his opinion is is very valued and guys really uh respond to what he has to say and and you know he's a he's a great leader so what was it like going through the coaching change because you you had todd reardon to start and then laviolette came in i know you started establishing yourself as a full-time nhler like

you're in your couple first years with washington was it hard to like earn the trust of a new coach while you did that yeah it was interesting I had never been through a my contract had never outlasted a coach before so um it's the first time ever so congrats yeah thanks yeah mark that off the list um yeah so it was it was interesting like you don't know what you're going to get into. I knew that, you know, the previous year, um, under the previous head coach that I kind of started to really cement myself and play more and more games and, and put myself into, you know, certain roles that allow you to kind of stay on a team and cement yourself. And, uh, so when Labby came in, you know, I, well, honestly, I wasn't sure I, I, you know, I knew that I had played with half the whole year before.

Um, so that was kind of, I assumed I was going to play with half again. That was really the only assumption I had. And then, um, you know, lab just kind of pulled us aside early at the beginning of last year and it told us what he expected of us and, and, uh, said that, you know, we would get an opportunity to, to do that type of things. And it was, you know, kind of our responsibility to, to, to figure it out and claim it. So I think that's kind of what happened is, you know, I get to play with Hath and Hags who are two really good players and really good people.

And they kind of carry me along. And we put together, you know, I think one of our best seasons, the three of us. I mean, Hags is definitely downgraded. He used to play with like in you know saint louis and guys like that in new york now he's playing with me but um that's okay but uh yeah we i think as a line we just you know we played all 56 or 62 games together last year um you know we we all saw our ice time go up and and responsibility go up and kind of put together

a good identity and and uh you know so yeah hopefully keep rolling that into this year and and that's nice too because oftentimes like fourth line it seems to be scrambling quite a bit where you don't get to stay with the same guys guys are like up and down the lines especially you mentioned hags who's i guess a little bit more versatile and i would imagine that he he reminds you guys that he was playing with those guys at one point constantly yeah i mean no he's not he's not bad he he's uh again like i can't you know i i keep saying this but it's so true another another great dude um and humble guy you know i mean is it i don't know what year this is for maybe 10th

or 11th but uh two cups and you know he's been he i mean the guy used to play with sid now he's playing with me so it's like uh you know it's like it's um yeah i mean he doesn't ever remind us no and and uh he's is versatile i mean he can play up and down the lineup if he did that and i think we just clicked so well last year that it was like well don't pull him away you know and don't pull hathaway and whatever so uh yeah i think we kind of we kind of sucked him in like a tractor beam so you gotta you gotta take me through um the pre-game thoughts and and the the feelings right before puck drop at msgG in the line brawl that opened up the game with the Rangers.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. What do you want to know? When did you know that it was, you guys were going off the opening puck drop as you went into the circle or in warmups or after when the lineup was announced by head coach?

Yeah. I mean, honestly, like I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen. Like the whole, the whole New York thing that happened that day, you day you know well the game the night before and then like the next day like the coach and the gm were fired like at like pre-game lunch and we were like man what is going we were like i think i don't i don't know we just we were kind of like everyone

is just kind of like wow like what's going on and um and then i didn't hear i mean i didn't know what to expect like it wasn't like it wasn't like it was like you know 10 of our guys did something really bad to 10 of their guys or something it was just kind of like a something happened it was a hockey flexing in the box where you guys must have been fucking howling about that video of him going like this in the box come on you guys must have had some laughs oh yeah i just saw that photo the other day too it's pretty good um yeah but i didn't you know i i didn't know i had no clue and i hadn't really thought about it from like because like we weren't really involved in the

play right so we were kind of like um you know whatever but then right off the draw it was it was actually kind of funny right off the draw me hath and hag start and they start their fourth line which isn't like rare right okay buddy which isn't rare and uh and i'm just thinking like oh like our fourth line is going to go out they're going to match you know like you know biz like fourth lines a lot of the time will match their fourth line whatever so yeah i don't think i would start a game no matter what line started but okay keep going i got so many absolutely oh not yet well let's stick with the washington new york talk right now okay so nasty yeah yeah he wants it he wants it for sure um yeah so and then we i'm putting my helmet on and everything doing my own stuff like before the game

because i got like a criminal amount of stuff that i do before the game and uh and so i sit there i'm getting my stuff on i'm skating up to the dot and uh the other really the other centerman like kind of yells at me from across the way and he's like hey we're going and i was kind of just like skating up to the dot and he's like hey we're going and i was like okay and then uh and then he kind of like settled down because i think he was like oh okay so so then and then at the exact same moment half was over with at our bench and one of our coaches was like no one's going and so half comes cruising by me in my ear and he's like no one's going and i didn't hear him and and so then and then you know

me and rooney are there hags and uh i forget who was who hags was tied up with but then hags hath comes screaming over to his dot and uh his hash mark and they drop the puck and like I I just like threw my stuff off immediately and if you actually watch it really closely Hath goes to like get the puck and start like playing and then he's like oh shit so then he like drops the stuff and that's kind of how it all ensued but then like yeah that was kind of like the whole story was that I don't know nothing was really supposed to happen but then it happened but yeah there wasn't like any like build up and like warm-ups or anything like that it was strictly just like hey hey you know like and then they felt like that's what needed to be done to take care of whatever and you know it so i understand but

yeah that was basically it so i love that it's kind of like breaking news that it was all started by by doubter no no it wasn't started by me way to go doubter trying to eliminate violence from the game we're gonna have a bunch of uh lefties coming at you on social now yeah no it wasn't started by me hey i i'm you know i think there's there's a lot of room for for fighting still in the game i mean it polices itself so absolutely now has has the discussion happened about the fact that you guys are playing each other opening night they end up acquiring reeves like or are you guys like no business as usual this isn't going to be the focus going in it's like not even it's something that's completely

in the back of our minds yeah i mean i think yeah i think the latter for sure i think it's business as usual we're looking to win game one and you know like i know, it's, it is what it is. I mean, they obviously like they made some, some trades and stuff over the, signed some new people over the, over the summer, but, you know, GMs are always looking to make their teams better. So it's not like it's like a big, a big thing, but yeah, I think it's just business as usual. And we're going to go in there looking to win, you know,

game one at our building. I just had one more about Washington. You're a free agent what made you settle on washington as an unrestricted free agent what kind of other offers did you might have yeah i think what made me really settle was that they were the only offer so fucking rights narrow it right down don't have to do anything down i remember i remember my agent called me and he was like i had three goals and one assist the previous year so really tore it up i think there was actually players that came into the league after college that tied my points that year in like two games so um so i came in and i remember he called uh my agent calls me he's like hey he's like yeah great news um you

know washington offers a one-way um you know this and that and i was like i was like oh cool i was like that's awesome i guess my first year as an unrestricted free agent i was like is there anybody else and he's like washington offered you the the one way i was like all right i was like let me let me talk let me talk to page he's like what is there to talk about i was like yeah that's a good point okay man thanks yeah yeah actually if we could stick one more with Washington, I feel terrible because, like, last podcast, I picked Washington to miss playoffs this year.

Only reason why is I was questioning goaltending. There's a couple of guys who aren't household names who are in net for you guys. Of course, it goes back to last year with Lundquist dealing with what he had to deal with. What is something that we need to know about these couple young goaltenders that you guys have and maybe if they're going to surprise people coming in yeah I mean I think our goaltending last year was unreal and it was a tandem of these guys

and Craig Anderson who came in a little bit here and there and did a really good job for us but yeah Vitek and Sammy um I mean like both really good goaltenders a lot different from each other um but both really hungry and young players. So, yeah, I think I don't I don't think that's anything that we've been worried about at all. I think both these guys are really good goalies. And I think it's, you know, young goalies can be a great thing. Right. These guys, these guys, young legs and bounce back and they're ready to go. So and they were they both work hard. So it's going to be a good, good pair. So. So once again, I don't know what i'm talking about great let's move it along here uh

what do you got i wanted to go back to like you growing up but getting into the game and being from alabama can you kind of explain to to me and anyone else who's curious in terms of like how you got into the game who first introduced you to hockey things like that yeah um yeah i mean it's probably gonna bore you guys but i had uh i had two two older brothers 10 and 12 years older than me josh and matt um my parents are both from england so my dad coached them growing up from the bench never skated never learned how to skate tried to learn how to skate he was the guy that started going out to public skate with like just skates on and then gradually over like each time he put more equipment on because he kept falling. So like by the end of it, he had like the entire set on with no stick.

Um, and so, uh, um, yeah, so, but he coached from the bench, uh, coached my two brothers and, uh, yeah, I just got into it because of them. We played a lot of mini hockey in the basement and then you know alabama's got actually really good youth hockey you know until i was 15 i played in the youth organization which is like haha it's huntsville amateur hockey association so we travel around and play nashville knoxville uh memphis atlanta maybe a little bit of birmingham um yeah and then when i was 15 we started up the t, which is like total package hockey. I think they're under a new name now out of Nashville and then played there for a year. And then we, we, like four of us ended up going to Culver, which is a boarding school in Indiana because actually,

because I was playing with the Jeffrey on family. I don't know if you guys, you know, obviously Danny Jeffrey on and boom, boom, Jeffrey on. And, and you know, they're, you know, their sons too, and they've all played and, um, you know, they were, they were within the program as well. And, and, uh, their oldest son or their, I guess their second oldest son was going to Culver at the time. So they brought the coach down there, talked to us and like five of us ended up going there, uh, and then, you know, played there and then was on the JV team my first year, which was the lowest team. And I was I think my freshman, my sophomore year of high school, I was five, three, one hundred and ten pounds.

And I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I looked over when I got there and I was benching the same as the girls hockey team, like ten, ten pound plates on each side. And I was repping it. And and she was doing the exact same thing. And I was like, man, I'm in one. So yeah, but 5'3", what? 110? 110. 5'3", 110. Yeah. Hold, are your parents big?

No, no. My dad's the shortest out of all the boys in the family. My mom's, you know, like, normal mom, I don't know, 5'3", 5'4". Normal mom. I think my mom's the same thing, 5'3", 5'4". Yeah, you all think about it right they're all the same size kind of you have to go on some special diet because man that's like i mean they're small but then there's just like massive you're undersized you must be getting thrown around out there yeah yeah yeah but i'm a big believer though so so like people ask me about that i'm a big believer and so you have all these kids right and you know them too

you'll all these kids will start popping into all your guys' heads right now that you grew up with. And these kids were like bulldozers, right? Like they were flying around at like 12, 13, 14, they were crushing everybody. They were the fastest. And then all of a sudden at like 16, 17, 18, when everyone started growing, these kids were not as good anymore. And, and then you see all these other kids that are coming up and like maybe a little bit late bloomers, whatever, but I'm a big believer that like, because I was so little at the time, I had to develop a lot of different stuff in order to keep up with the rest of the game. And then when you grow up and you all of a sudden get size and you know, you're bigger, then you still have all this stuff that you had to develop. But I know tons of kids that like could skate like the wind.

And then all of a sudden when they got older and everyone else was bigger, all they could do is skate like the wind. And you're like, well, yeah, like, I mean, you know, so yeah, but no special diet or anything. Did, didn't Lyles go to Culver at one point too? Johnny Lyles? Yeah, he did. Yeah. So his dad actually was a counselor there when I was there, but I didn't know, I didn't know John Michael at all, but he was there way before me. I think he went there for a couple of years. Yeah.

So is it like, is it like, is it like a hardcore like military like what's the what do you guys have to do every day at that place yeah i mean it's it's like military base so we basically walk around looking like mailmen like we wear those that blue we looked just like mailmen so we got like in formation or walking like normal no no so it's a co-ed school. So it's like 400 guys, 300 girls, whatever. It's kind of half and half. And, you know, you live there, you're on campus, you got your own dorm, the girls got their own dorms. And, and yeah, so you do some like, you know, it's all based around some military stuff. So like they have like a roll call in the morning.

You got to be outside to March into the cafeteria to eat breakfast. And then, and then, but you got to be up at like six 30. I mean, imagine trying to get, imagine trying to herd like a hundred and 110, like, you know, 14 to 17 year olds at six 30 in the morning to go to breakfast. It's like be like herding cats right so it's like it was yeah it was it was just like pseudo base we did on sunday we did parade we had to like march around in the field and drive trucks and stuff like that dude like chance like bill murray

and stripes no no no just walking down the street yeah yeah that was way cooler looking back though because even when i play with you in manchester you would always show up at the same time, usually before a lot of the guys, you would always have the same regimen of stretching and activating. Do you think looking back on everything, that's kind of where you learn to stay so disciplined in your routine? Yeah. Yeah. I'd probably say that definitely helped. Yeah. I think that's kind of where it all started.

And you know how it goes, like the more you play pro, right? The more stuff you pick up. Oh my God. It's like, it's like, you can't get out of your own head. Yeah. Two and a half hours of activation stuff you got to do before you get on the ice to feel good. Yeah. I'm surprised Biz doesn't activate his brain before he gets on this podcast.

The way this guy used to activate. Was I doing shit back then? Man. Whatever he's doing. Isn't working. I was fucking a foam roller for about an hour before practice this guy was this guy was so in tune with his body it was out of control he would he would sit so in the american league you don't have a massage guy in the nhl you do and and biz would sit in the in the room and he'd come up with something new every day i remember for a week

it was hamstring stretches man these hamstring stretches this is i was just changing my game it's changing my life i feel so good about myself then the next week he was self-massaging his vmos and it was like he had he'd have he'd sit in there and you remember this he'd sit in there i was a mental midget man i was a mental midget at that. I was a mental midget at that. Oh, your body was always hurting you, huh? Oh, I was breaking down. I was like the most unflexible guy too. I wish I would have been doing yoga or something. Why are you laughing? Because it's true. I remember watching you stretch and stuff. It was, it was insane. I was breathing like I was on a golf course before I hit that shot before I,

when I was taking 15 practice strokes, I probably sounded like your wife giving birth when I was doing my breathing routine stretching. That's why you have the shortest backswing of all time. Probably you got no mobility in your pecs or hips or anything. So, so obviously at a certain point you started growing and it started clicking and then you ended up getting, you, you, you played in the, uh, what the USHL one year.

Yeah. I played in the uh what the ushl one year yeah i played in the north yeah i basically went like jv varsity b varsity a played the north american league for one year played in ushl for one year i played college for four years in the american league for two years and then yeah you know so and then uh and then you got um recruited by saint cloud state now we've had bugsy malone on the podcast and he talked about his recruiting trip did you did you have anything special and had you heard about the legend of Bugsy Malone when you went there? Yeah. So, I mean, this guy's all time and I know, I know, I know Bugsy a little bit, you know, just as much as like a younger guy would know a Bugsy who based, I mean, his

generation at St. Cloud is just all time. And, uh, we have, uh, we have, I've met Bugsy who based, I mean, his generation at St. Claude is just all time. And, uh, we have, uh, we have, I've met Bugsy a couple of times. I've skated with him a couple of times. Really? You guys obviously know him really well, right? Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. So tank when it comes to like consuming alcohol, at least he was back at college, I'm sure. Right. And, uh, yeah, I mean, the, the, the rumor, the rumor and like the legend about him is that we have this drink at saint cloud called the hairy buffalo and uh it's it's it's

at mc's dugout and it's called the hairy buffalo and like and this is no lie there's three there's three or four different types of like vodka uh rum whiskey uh something else tied into it and it's like basically yeah and it's basically like a tropical drink but they got a hairy buffalo a shaved buffalo a white buffalo a brown buffalo uh and they're all different like you know mixers they go into the same liquor and you have one you have one of those and it's like but mostly lights out like you're you know you're not your night's over you get there you get you maybe you get there you get there at 11 and it's it's over and uh supposedly bugsy holds the record i think he's had uh six um and was fine basically so So that's like,

that's what we always heard about Bugsy at school was that like that he holds the record for, for Harry Buffaloes, which is like, you have two of them and you're totally done. You can't function. You're done the next day. You're drooling. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you're lucky to get home. Nick, did you have an offer from Alabama Huntsville? And if so, were you torn on not taking it? Yeah.

So again, St. Claude was an easy choice because it was my only choice. But I figured you were local. They might have brought want to bring you in. Yeah. I mean, I think. Yeah. What were they thinking? I did get brought in for like an unofficial visit.

I don't know. Maybe I did something wrong. They never call me back. So yeah, you're probably like, hey, you guys do the hairy buffaloes here. They're like, what are those? Described it. They're like, yeah, this guy's going guy's gonna be up he's like i got a record to break yeah yeah that's all well you you guys had a great program at st cloud i mean it's still a great program like tons of guys end up coming out of there we play with kevin gravel uh johnny brudzinski what makes that program so good because it seems like a bit of a hidden gem

there in Minnesota. Yeah, I mean, I think it kind of started getting really good a couple years before I got there. They really started to turn it around. They had some really good recruits. And I think the biggest thing is that a lot of these players that are obviously getting passed over for these really big schools like the University of Minnesota, University of North Dakota,

who are getting these blue-chip high-end players at 18 19 years old uh saint cloud is benefiting from like you know maybe picking up players that you know were passed over they get them at 20 and uh you know they're giving these guys opportunities and they're a couple years older so you know that goes i mean the years between 18 and 21 are big years uh you for, for like just the growth of a kid and the maturity and whatever, I mean, the confidence. And, um, so yeah. And then they, they, you know, Bob Motzko, who I played for was an unreal recruit, uh, was able to go on and like, our team was made up of kids that, that were basically like, you know, passed over or weren't going to these huge schools. And, uh, and then we ended up having like, I think from my junior year, we had like eight or nine guys play NHL games that from that team

alone. And I mean, that that's, that's unheard of. So, uh, and Bob was a good coach all off. And we played on that Olympic sheet too. Right. So it was just like tons of space out there. And that was great for, you know, for what once was a skilled Nick Dowd, but you know, and so yeah, but it was good. I mean, and then like the rink is awesome. It's a hard place to play, you know, and then, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a great, it was a lot of fun, you know, so. I got to go back to one thing that R.A. talked about in the intro. I think it was in the intro.

So were you the third player in fact drafted from the state of alabama because i i read first and then and then r8 corrected me before we ended up hopping on who were the guys before you if they're in fact were i i don't know i'd like to hear that too okay so you so you technically you believe you were the first player from alabama ever drafted the national hockey league i think what he said too was probably right i did hear there was a guy like in the 50s or 60s that was played or drafted i don't know is that right i kind of heard i kind of i read there were there were two guys before you in the nhl whether they were drafted or not i was i wasn't able to confirm that before we started but there were two but it was like 70 years ago so you were like the first of the modern era yeah i know i know jared ross

uh who's actually from michigan but he played at alabama huntsville um he played games in the nhl for philly uh and he was like uh he was an awesome he was a great player i watched him growing up i still know roscoe he still lives in huntsville um he is technically not from huntsville he's from michigan i believe and uh so i guess like you can't really count him as being from, but I heard there was only one guy, one guy before me that was in like, like the fifties or sixties, that was either drafted or played in the NHL actually from Huntsville. So odd Tutin is his name. Yeah. I found the, the article I was looking at.

It says doubt is, and this is per fan sided and not a few months back. It says doubt is just the third player in NHL history from Alabama, joining Jared Ross and odd Tutin play back in the forties. And it took nearly 70 years for another Alabama native Ross to play in the NHL combined Tootin and Ross played 52 NHL games. Doud has played 307 doesn't rent reference draft. And I mean, I suppose you can probably dig that up somewhere, but either way, you know, you've definitely helped put this place on the map.

Do you still spend your summers off seasons in in huntsville no no even my wife and i live in minneapolis in the summer yeah so she's from there and then i went to st cloud she went to st cloud so it's easy but yeah my mom and dad are still there both my brothers are still there uh you know minus covid we go down there once uh once a summer for you know 10 12 days and spend some time down there so are you alabama or auburn where were you go family i both my brothers go to go to auburn so um uh one other thing about college you uh took veterinarian medicine that is fucking nuts dude did you end up getting your diploma in it? Oh, no. As my freaking wife likes to point out, my, my son has a father who doesn't have a college degree. So, um, me too, man. It's been working out. Okay. Though. Yeah.

I was hoping to figure out why my dog keeps wetting the bed. So I guess, uh, I guess we could pass on the veterinary and medicine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got close. I got close. Yeah, I got close. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe take your dog into a real vet. Yeah, we tried. He just keeps pissing all over the place.

Maybe try some self-massage. Oh, yeah, get my own VMOs going. Hey, why do they call you Speedbod? I never heard that nickname when I was playing with you. Is that just a rumor online, kind of like Steubenville, Ontario? Yeah, I've never even heard that either. I was playing with you is that just a rumor online kind of like Steubenville Ontario yeah I've never even heard that either oh okay well I guess I'm two for two in the past two interviews where'd you read that hey well hey at least at least I do know that you ended up being runner-up for the Hobie Baker and that's true and that was what in your last year at St. Cloud yeah that was my last year at St. cloud that's when gaudreau won it when he had about 70 points more than i did so johnny hockey yeah johnny so you

knew you weren't getting it but still pretty sick to be in the final three like did you go to the is what do they go to new york city yeah uh they go wherever the frozen four was and which was in it was in philly that year so yeah i mean yeah I thought I was pretty sweet. We got to stay at like the Lowe's hotel there, which, you know, at the time we thought that was unreal. And yeah, so yeah, but I knew I wasn't getting it. There was absolutely no chance. And then I think, I honestly think he had like almost a hundred points. And I had like 40, I think people were like upset that I even got nominated, but, but yeah, they, I mean, you know, whatever. So, but yeah but yeah it was fun it was a good experience to

be a part of yeah biz i just did a little poking around he looks like he definitely was the first alabama player ever drafted yeah okay so we'll give it to you undrafted so no college degree but we'll give you the first ever player drafted at alabama um so one of the one of the main reasons i wanted to get you on is because you you know, we have a lot of, like, college kids and junior kids who play, and a lot of them are even, like, the stars coming up. You know, they're the offensive players, and similar to the way you were kind of going. And then when you got to pro, you got to Manchester,

they had a lot of guys in the lineup, and you kind of had to develop more of a bottom six role and develop that side of your game. Let's just dive into that and, like, maybe what your expectations were coming in and how you were eventually able to carve out a very, very good career, maybe not where you expect it to be, you know, playing pro. Yeah. I mean, yeah, me and you have talked about this a lot.

Even when I was in match, you know, we chatted, cause you had kind of been through it too. I mean, we should talk about, you know, we should talk about your first camp. And used to be like bobby or out there east coast all star yeah so i think it all ended when i was in in camp as a defenseman as an 18 year old and we were doing that drill you know the one where you go up to the hash marks as a defenseman you stop you round the net you hit the winger yeah and then you go around you hit the other winger and then you hit the centerman that kind of just to get warmed up yeah and that was that was when mario had came back and as an 18 year old i was still using wood twigs and i ended up coming around the net and mario was the guy that

i got a hit and i must have fucking missed his tape by 15 feet and then that was pretty much the writing on the wall that i was going to be ended up moving up to fourth line left wing although i did get to carve out a few few years in the east coast as a defenseman but uh no but it was this these were good conversations because like i don't know i don't know if you were necessarily frustrated that you weren't getting the opportunities there but you know what what you what you did is you kind of learn all the elements of the game and i usually i usually uh talk about brad richardson as an example because i play with him in junior and he was a 50 goal scorer in junior and then all of a sudden he's playing fourth line center in the National Hockey

League and some guys they get really stubborn about their role and then they end up just fading off into the distance and you really worked at that side of your game and I had so much respect for you in the way that you were able to handle it yeah I mean yeah it was interesting because like you know Witts knows this too like anybody that plays at the level that you guys played at like you know that everyone that is in the nhl was the best player on their team at some point right like you don't you don't go in being like a fourth line guy your entire life and then all of a sudden you're like i'm just going to be a fourth liner in the nhl too because that's just what i've been doing my whole career like we were all like everybody that played was the best defenseman,

the best forward, the best goalie. And then you kind of start getting to the top of the pyramid and you know, you eventually have to figure out how you're going to stick. Right. And you know, there's, you could just count the numbers. There's 30, what? 31 teams. You got four centermen, a team, you're like 120 something centermen. Then you look at it, you got Nick Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov. So now you're cutting it in half and you know, now then you, then you got to figure out, okay, how am I going to stick? And I think, you know, when I was in LA, they did such a good job of developing us as players, you know, and teaching us the right

way to play. And then, you know, I played under Daryl, which was obviously had his challenges, but in a good way, you know, and I really liked Daryl off the to play. And then, you know, I played under Daryl, which was obviously had his challenges, but in a good way, you know, and I really liked Daryl off the ice too. And, and so, you know, you learn how to play there and then you get to watch these top end guys like Kopitar and Brown play and sorry. And yeah. And then you eventually like, you have to understand, like, you know, I'm not telling kids that they shouldn't try and go out and be Alex Lovett and Nick Backstrom. Cause for sure that that's, that's the play do that. That is, that seems like a lot of fun,

but it's like, there's only a limited amount of spots. And, you know, like if you want to stick around, you got to figure out ways to, to make yourself useful. Um know, and sometimes it's, you know, not always about where you're at at that time. It's about like, you know, who's going to like you in the future and can you play a certain game where you are that's going to maybe open doors for you down the road. But yeah, I see, I mean, I have tons of buddies

who whether or not they, you know, without them even knowing it, were not able to pivot their game. And you see these guys who are high end, maybe American league players. And you're like, how is this guy not transferred? But you just, I mean, you're not going to come in and jump, you know, Nick Backstrom or TJ Oshie or guys like that. So you got to figure out ways how, okay, how can I make myself useful, carve out a role, extend my shelf life in the NHL. And then maybe you get an opportunity to be a Nick Batch or a TJ Oshie because of an injury or because you move on to a different team.

And then that's where you can play. But so many guys just get stuck wanting to do the one thing that they want to do. And, and you know, I mean, I mean, you gotta be the guy that's willing to do the stuff that people want to do. So I was just going to hop in quick about the challenge. You said you really enjoyed Sutter off the ice. Did he maybe not necessarily like you as a player? And did you kind of not feel that confidence from him in order to kind of transfer it onto the ice?

Were you always maybe playing scared a little bit? Yeah, I mean, I definitely I actually do think he liked me as a player a lot i i think that i think that uh i actually yeah i actually do think daryl liked me as a player i think that i went in to la my first couple games i played really well and then i think i made some rookie mistakes that daryl was like goddamn rookie and uh you know and then i think it's easy as a head coach to be like, well, I got Kopi, I got carts, I got, you know, whoever the, you know, third line center was at the time. Like, you know, like I liked outer, but I'm trying to win games here too. You know what I mean? It's not it, you know, Daryl had a job to do as well. So, um, I do think he actually liked me a lot as

a player. And I think, you know, I think LA was a great spot. I just think that like I made some of those mistakes where a head coach is like, God damn it. I can't trust this kid, you know? And then, and then they got to move on and you kind of just like get shuffled around. And then at that point you got to be willing to play those like, you know, five to six minute games and be happy about it. And, you know, and, and, and like I said, extend your shelf life and then maybe you get more minutes and more minutes and that's, you know, and like I said, extend your shelf life

and then maybe you get more minutes and more minutes. And that's, you know, but yeah, I think, I don't think Daryl had any issue in my game at all. I just think I made some really rough mistakes early. And, you know, it was just like one of those things where they were trying to make the playoffs. Remember they lost to the Sharks that year. So it was like, that was kind of a make or break year, right?

So. Yeah. So then you ended up being traded to Vancouver, spent a little time there, and then were you a free agent? Was the signing with Washington something that came pretty quick or had you talked to Vancouver about re-signing? How did that all go down? Yeah, I hadn't really talked to Vancouver about re-signing.

Yeah, so that at the time wasn't really a thing that was going to happen. And then, you know, we went into free agency. Went into free agency. And I, again, I was talking to Biz earlier about like, you know, when you're a younger player, I think you're naive to what's going on behind the scenes. And that actually helps a lot because I think if you people at the end of your career, if you knew how hard it was to do what you did, you'd be like, man, if someone had told me that at the beginning,

I don't know if I could have done it. Um, but yeah, Washington just popped up. If you remember, we had that, uh, they, they, they started that one week long interviewing process for free agents before the actual signing. And remember they had all those deals were done like right when the, right when noon opened on like July 1st or whatever it was. And, uh, the deals had already been basically signed. So I think they took that away last year and this year coming up. But, yeah, so Washington had just called some time before, and it was basically all set up to get it done right away. How was your time in Vancouver?

It was a place you would have liked to have stayed if they gave you the opportunity. You played under Travis Green for a bit. Yeah. I mean, looking back, I'm glad I didn't stay obviously just because how it's turned out here in Wash, but you know, I think anytime someone offers you a job in the NHL, you're happy to take it. But yeah, Vancouver is, I mean, you know, we stayed there during the wettest winter, I think in like 80 years. So having a dog and stuff like that,

that wasn't too great, but you know, I was in and out line up there. I was still trying to kind of cement my place, but you know, another good group of guys, actually I think one of the coolest things was is I was there for the Sedin's last season, you know, and I, you know, obviously didn't know them at all, but was able to be a fly on the wall. And those, those two guys too, are some of the nicest people I've ever met in the game, you know,

and they didn't know me at all, but they were really inclusive and, and really, really nice people and great players, really fun to watch. And I was there, I was scratched, but I was there for their last game where. They played the Coyotes. Yeah. Yeah. And then one of them, I forget who it was, but one of them passed to Hank or whatever it was, and it was a pass.

And then they scored in overtime to win their last game ever in Vancouver, which is unreal. So, yeah, it was good. Yeah, I got a stick sign from both of them, which was like the coolest thing ever. Oh, yeah. Go ahead, R.A. I want to go back to when you first met Biz in the locker room in Manchester,

then Ontario. Were people laughing with him or were they laughing at him? Well, no. It was one of those things where I remember when he signed and I was talking to Biz Mershey. I was talking to Mershey and Michael Mersh. And we were both like, holy shit, man. Like, Biz and that.

Paul Biz and that is going to be here. Like, this guy is a big deal and oh yeah and no seriously i'm not i'm not ripping on you like and we were like this guy we were like this guy's a big deal and um yeah so i remember when he signed but just like people definitely weren't laughing at him because biz at the time could you know beat beat everybody up and especially you know in our locker room and um but yeah i mean he was good man he's awesome guy one of the best teammates you know beat beat everybody up and especially you know in our locker room and um but yeah i mean he was good man he's awesome guy one of the best teammates you know i mean i'm gonna rip on him in a bit but you know for all the fans out there you guys give this guy a hard time but one of the best teammates i ever played with too listen on a on a personal level like

before we get into the joking stuff like i was in a difficult spot when i ended up coming over because i was a year that i didn't get an NHL contract I went to Portland and just like from the way that year started for me to the way it ended like that group of guys like lifted me up in in ways that I could really never pay back the favor for what you guys did for me the the group of guys was incredible and of course to end it the way we did winning that Calder Cup man I have so many amazing friendships from that experience. And we had such a good group of guys like Brian O'Neill, who's still playing over and he's playing over in Finland right now, lighting it up.

Yeah, he's pretty clear. Sean Backman, the team DJ, he was an excellent player too. He went over to finish career in Germany. I mean, the list goes on. Laverde, we had Berube, we had so many great guys. Krezma, and I'll tell you what, one of the tougher teams too because we had Sabourin and Josh Gratton as well. Oh, we had for sure the toughest team in the American League that year,

no question. Yeah, it was a good team. Nick, what's the best part or maybe most underrated part of playing in Washington, D.C.? I mean, most underrated. I think we probably have one of the best part or maybe most underrated part of playing in Washington, D.C.? I mean, most underrated. I think we probably have one of the best buildings in the league, too. I mean, you know, we pack it out every game, and it's going to be great to have those people back. It's a hard place to play.

And, you know, the city, too. Like, people – Washington, D.C. doesn't pop up as, like, one of your great cities, but it is. I mean, it's an unreal city. Where the boys live, usually over in Arlington, Virginia, is a great spot to you know great for families and the dc has a lot of the stuff for the younger guys too um which is good great restaurants i mean i think one of the coolest things is is like you know you're driving to home games and you're driving past the white house uh the monument you know like you're on constitution avenue just to go right to your game and it's a pretty surreal feeling.

So do you ever visit any of the museums and memorials in your spare time? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, we try and get out to those. We try and get out to those a lot. Yeah. And then walk the monuments a lot, too. Yeah.

That's right over business. Yeah, it's pretty sacred stuff when you're there, man. It really overpower you a bit, you know. It is for sure. Arlington National in particular. Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah yeah it's it's there's a lot of history here you know for obvious reasons so uh i want to go back to willie again he's he's pretty much a unicorn in the league he's a guy who can score big goals 20 goals score and then he could kick most of the league's ass like is it so good to have a guy like him in a locker room even though the rest of the

league hates him yeah i mean you know you put that guy and everyone said this before but like you know everyone you say everyone hates him like yeah guys hate playing against him yeah you got all these fans that you know are just like hiding behind their phones a lot of the time too but uh every single fan and player would take that guy on their team no question so um you know and i think guys are not telling the truth if that if that's not what they're saying but he's also another great human being. Or he's broken their jaw. Yeah. I mean, we're not going to get into that, but Willie plays the game one way and that's what makes it good.

Also, he's like an absolute specimen. So, you know, like you can hear that guy, you know, it's just, yeah, he's, he's, I mean, he's a good player, man. He's a really good player he's really tough um you know good teammate and and like i said he i hate it i remember specifically in vancouver he was running the sedans and i pissed me off so much there's nothing i could do about it though so you know and i i hated i was like hey stop it man yeah hey come on you're a meanie come on this guy's yeah yeah so i couldn't do it and then when i got on his team i'm like thank god like you know like Yeah. Hey, come on. You're a meanie. Come on. You're a big meanie. Yeah.

You're a bully. Yeah, so I couldn't do it. And then when I got on his team, I'm like, thank God. Like, you know, like I don't have to, you know, I don't have to skate with this guy. Hey, you can go back to ripping on Biz in Manchester. Like, was he trying to sell any of his old outfits at a discount price like we found out earlier? Yeah, Abercrombie and Fitch.

Oh, Balenciaga. This guy was all about Balenciaga. He loved the valenciaga shoes he still holds on now he's the lavens or something josh gratton took a shit in one of them at the end of the season one year he was so fed up about hearing about the goddamn valenciagas i was wearing the margillas too the stupid margillas those red ones i went through such a horrible shoe phase it was like my it was like my jenko phase with the jeans transferred into the shoe game people would people would take your shoes and hide them around the rink at all times oh yeah i would get so mad oh he's like i'm a veteran treat me like some fucking respect yeah big time the show he for first first first day in camp he

comes in and starts trying to be the dj and like guys are like whoa whoa whoa man like like you know like you know like sean back was like i've been doing this for like four years and uh god i i started a group chat with like five of the older guys last night and they were just bombing my my phone with all these and i gotta i gotta i gotta i'm gonna have to pull them out oh One of my, one of my, one of my favorite, one of my favorite ones of all time was we were in Newfoundland and, and biz biz, you know, obviously being like the richest guy there by like, you know, a hundred grand was

I know who fucking texted you this one back backy because he was the fucking uh he was the the fine master yeah oh god it was so good fuck him yeah so he goes uh he goes up to the bar in like in newfoundland right like you know they have all these hockey teams showing up every week so like the public love it because these guys are all drinking and then the hockey team shows up you get like a night off there because you can't fly back till the next day because they're like eight hours ahead of everybody and you you got to stay the night off so all the guys are going out to the bar and like the american league's full of all young guys minus biz and uh we get to the bar and business like all right boys i'm putting my card down so he puts he puts his card down and like everyone's

loving it right like you and and then you know and knew from then you probably can't drink enough to like put a dent and even business credit card and by the end of the night it was like i think the tab was like 1100 bucks and at the time they fucking abused it and i told the girl i said let me know when it hits 500 they were buying everyone drinks they were paying their mortgages. Everybody. Yeah. And then he pays it at the end of the night. Like, he's the man. You know, he's feeling it.

He's played in the NHL. He's got all the dough. And the rumor has it, obviously, I wasn't privy to this. I was a rookie. But he went back to the fine manager and asked him to pay him back. That's how big of a cheap fuck i was back then but i i i told hey first of all hey the boys look over i'm just giving it to the bartender because i'm like i said a 500 max back he was back he ended up giving me uh pushing me back

a little bit of coin for that one but fuck it that's so funny that he reminds you of that because that just gave me the dollar no he paid me back i think he gave me back a couple hundred bucks to make up for how they went over the amount that fucking asshole god it was oh that's funny shit hey i'll tell you what though i got tonight boys when hey when you went to newfoundland though and is that how you say it newfoundland i always get shit on how i say it but when you went there if you were a single guy and you didn't get laid you legit had to saw your cock off and hand it back in because that was the easiest place to get laid in pro hockey it was a joke man it was a we would all be on the same floor of the hotel and it would just be a shit show after the bar every door open people shifting around no valley doubter coming

in the hallway saying i'm trying to get some sleep here and make it to the national league guys i'm trying to finish my online schooling they can become a veterinarian yeah biz what was biz saying biz was paying for all the girls cab rights home then asking for their venmo uh paul you said you'd get me a black car yeah yeah yeah yeah black who else is fucking chirp me in the group chat yeah let me pull these up like i gotta put you on i gotta look here like the guys were so i've never had so many people text me back at once oh my god was mercy probably i was all over me about something oh yeah so venmo wasn't even created back then shut up doubter yeah i needed something though hey while you dig them up had you ever visited nasa headquarters because it's in alabama what do you mean that

what are you talking about nasa what do you mean nasa like oh nasa nasa not the capital of the bahamas i was gonna say i've never been to the bahamas no did i pronounce it wrong a little yeah nasa is not nasa yeah no you were close i'm french canadian daughter i know buddy that's why i translated thanks thanks all right thanks for taking it easy on me yeah i wasn't yeah nasa sorry i just didn't know what you're talking about um all right yeah so yeah so yeah i went to i went to uh when you go to public school in huntsville you go you have to go to space camp for a week when you're in like fifth grade so no shit really yeah it's like part of a part of a thing right so they just ship all the kids off for a week the parents probably love it like that all right we'll allow

you to tell one more story of you bashing me after no and hey i want to preface all this too like you know it's great to make fun of biz but he also fought like all the toughest guys in the american league for all of us all the time so um you know we rip on you because we love you buddy but yeah so this this next story too um we uh we were playing in providence it was the last game of the year and uh and biz we had to play guys like we shouldn't have been playing guys like our top guys shouldn't be playing and a couple of them had to play a couple of them sat but biz got put at in at center for that game and uh biz was like notorious if he made any type of play at all throughout the game he'd go up to the video

guy post game and record it on his phone and send it out to all the boys like complete a pass completed a pass we were in that we're in the caldera finals he picked up uh a breakout pass off his foot and went skate to stick and dumped it out of the zone. And we got that the next day. And, and, and so like, you know, that was always good stuff, but Biz had to play center that game and he was so choked about it. And within, he started the game and within 45 seconds, he was minus two. And, and like the guys on the bench are absolutely howling. And, um, what happened? Were they on the goals on you? are absolutely howling. And, you know. What happened? Were they on the goals on you?

Oh, I lost my guy both. And it happened like legit. I stepped on the ice and within 10 seconds lost my guy. They scored and I'm fucking rattled. And I'm going back. You know, I'm like going to the bench because every time I get scored on, I'd be like, get me off the ice. I'm so embarrassed here, especially when it was my fault.

Stutsy's like, no, stay out there. Yeah. Legit 15 seconds within the draw that I lost, lost my guy again, minus two, both goals, my fault. So like, I mean, half the guys are mad because they're actually having to play and we're ready to hit into playoffs. They didn't even want to travel the Providence. So I'll let you continue the story. Yeah. So, I mean but then like um god what are some other really good ones oh but but i think i finished the game minus three on which another mistake i made and josh gratton was so mad because he was on my wing and he was worried about his plus minus because he's like dude i'm trying to fucking get a contract for next year in europe and they take these stats very seriously

and i go dash three because you're a liability at center ice fuck me yeah i was like oh my god we uh stutsy to mike stutters was like one of the best coaches i've ever had he used to walk biz out of the out of the video session once a week because his would show up late from stretching his hamstrings and uh and i remember biz biz like you know like probably think he's an nhl guy just coming off that you know you know x you know league in the nhl or career in the nhl i remember he opened the door he's like 30 seconds late maybe maybe not even late poked his head in and he's like he's like hey hey studs i'm here for video and studs he goes yeah we're all good and biz

biz like closed the door on his head i just remember he gets nuts he wouldn't let him into the video i just have him once a week we uh i mean we had the we had referees in the american league that would not allow biz to stand up on the bench so biz when we get into tight games or whatever say biz wasn't playing something whatever like biz would go park himself all the way down at the beginning of the bench and he would operate the door for all the boys. Need a good door guy. Ask Lannis Gog. Yeah.

So he would always operate the door. And I remember one of the lines – or one of the referees came up and told Biz he couldn't stand up anymore. He couldn't talk, and he couldn't stand up anymore on the bench. Like, I don't know. The American League is just – Oh, hey, we had star wars night one time and they got darth vader dropping the puck and he's dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb the guy fucking steps on the ice falls tears his acl we couldn't even know puck drop had to help the guy

he lost his bucket his bucket goes flying biz had his bucket on his stick oh waiting for this guy to get up after he torn his acl remember joey crab went down on the shootout and shot her right in the bar sex pad when he wasn't looking oh yeah that was a wild year we had so many crazy things happen oh that went like kind of viral i think yeah yeah the referee signaled i played with crabber yeah and so Krabber starts going. He comes down the ice, and our goalie didn't hear the whistle and signal him to go. So our goalie's looking down at his feet, getting mentally focused

to prepare for the referee to blow the whistle and allow this guy to come down and shoot. So Joey Krabb comes down to stick handling, dangling, and then puts it right into fucking – I forget our goalie's goalie's name bartosak oh bartosak yeah he ended up he ended up making the save so i'm sure grinnelli can end up pulling it up but i have that video so yeah you could send it over but okay i appreciate you bringing up those stories other than the fact that i went to astri in that last game at center i said probably this game was so good what a great group of guys out are you uh john car Carlson said

he'd do a sandbag with us. Maybe you'd be his partner. It could be a solid team. Yeah, I don't know. I think he's a lot better than I am. That's fine. I'm a lot better than Biz. There you go. I know. I've seen Biz golf. It'll even it out. Doubter, I want to go back to your childhood a little

bit. Like you said, both your parents are from England. I believe your father was a doctor, your mother was a nurse, correct? Yeah. Settled in Huntsville, Alabama. You don't typically think of England and Alabama in the same sentence. Was there a lot of cultural differences? Was it tough to adapt? What was that like? can imagine there was probably a lot of cultural differences that um you know and but uh yeah i mean huntsville at the time i think was like a pretty up-and-coming um city and it still is i mean it's it's you know it's always rated in the top like 10 places to live with families and everything like that so um yeah it must have been interesting i mean my dad came over on like a basically a program that uh a program that you know placed english doctors in the u.s and he was

a professor and he worked in the hospital and eventually took over his own practice. But it was actually between Huntsville, Alabama and Lissuer, Minnesota, which is like a tiny farm town in Southwest Minnesota, I believe. So I guess it could have gone either way, but they just happened to pick Huntsville. So. Being close to Tennessee, did you become a Preds fan when they joined the league? Yeah. Yeah, actually I did. The Fang Kingers, I still remember that.

I don't know if they still got that going. But, yeah, we were definitely Predators fans. That was one of the big things of our childhood. Every Christmas, our dad would take us up to watch a Preds game, usually Detroit or Colorado. And, yeah, we got to watch all the big-time players, which was great. That's awesome i was actually surprised to hear that that alabama had such a good minor hockey league system and that's like part of the reason i helped you you know accelerate is is it getting even better

from when you you played yeah i mean i believe so yeah like i said i haven't been back in a while um but yeah i mean they have a great i think they transferred their their total package hockey the tph program and maybe even change names but uh they moved all that up to nashville now i believe and then uh you know they form it based off of kids from the whole southeast so like florida uh i mean looking like what our parents did for us was insane i mean we just it we i think it was uh something like one one weekend out of every month we traveled somewhere to play like these triple a programs and then the other two out of the other three weekends we would have to travel to like a different city and practice and we only practice and then during the week you would practice just with the kids in your hometown so like you might have like six or

eight kids that were from huntsville and then on the weekend those six or eight kids would go and they'd stay at the houses of the other kids that lived in Atlanta or Nashville and you would practice there on the weekend and then you'd go play games on the weekends in like Chicago, Michigan, you know like everywhere and then you'd fly yeah I mean it was nuts yeah. When you said that your dad coached your older brothers, when he came over from England, was he a hockey fan or he actually not even know anything about the game? Like how, how did he even know what to really coach them?

Yeah. I don't know. He's probably, he's probably putting some soccer stuff mixed in there a little bit, but. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I don't, I don't, honestly, I've never asked that question. That's something I'm going to have to get into with him, but he was, he just coached from the bench just on his shoes. And, and, honestly, I've never asked that question. That's something I'm going to have to get into with him. But he just coached from the bench just on his shoes. And I think he just got into it, honestly, because they needed someone to coach.

And then my brothers just wanted to get into hockey. I mean, you can imagine, too, parents probably just sometimes get their kids in the mix of stuff just so they can beat other parents. And I think that's kind of how it started. And then my brothers continued to play. And my my mom and dad met great friends in that in that organization. Yeah. And then that yeah, that was that was basically it. And then I just kind of turned it the same way. So what an incredible story. They must be flabbergasted at the fact that you not only made it to the NHL, but you continue and are having such a great career.

And I tell you what, you guys got a great squad. And I think we're going to be eating our words on the fact that we didn't pick you guys to make playoffs. Yeah. I mean, I hope so. Actually, we have to redo that. We fucked that up last week. So you guys might end up in with our prediction. Yeah. We're going to win the division. We got to redo them this week. Yeah. I mean, how can you count against a guy like Obi?

Yeah, I know. Because we picked Pittsburgh not to make it, so we got poopy pants at the fact that they probably won't. And we said, hey, we're Pittsburgh guys. We can't pick Washington here. So there's not much real thought behind it. Stop the seat of our pants. Like I always say, if we don't put money on it, it really doesn't matter.

But Nick, thanks so much for joining us. This is awesome. Our fans are going to love it, and we appreciate you joining us for such a great chat. Yeah, thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. Thank you very much to Nick Dowd. Great interview. Great guy. We appreciate him coming on very much. And I got to talk to you guys about

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Love to see it. I'll start doing more ads. I don't mind it. I used to suck at it. I'm growing as your dick does once you put the Roman on. Coming from Boogie Nights over there. Well, Biz, I'm surprised you're not mad we haven't got to the Toronto Maple Leafs yet. I know deep into the show.

Oh, no. I was snapping inside. And I knew I had to bring them up earlier with the toxicity of some of the fan base. But I'm ready to pump their tires and compliment the other half of the fan base that are with me and believe in this team. Well, you can pump Morgan Riley's tires, or at least his agent. He just signed an eight-year extension worth $60 million. Comes out to $7.5 million a year, average annual value. He's got a no-move clause for all eight,

and a modified no-trade clause for the last two. He'll be 36 when the deal ends. Of course, the Leafs' cap crunch is even worse. Nowadays, they've got about $76 million committed already to next season. Still got a bunch of guys to sign. But I think this is a key player for this team, Biz. Let's get your take on the signing. Well, and I don't think anything crazy either,

based on what market value is for a guy of his caliber. I think that he could have easily went and got 850. God, Jesus Christ. Only guy to take a deal for that team, Biz. Buffalo, so he couldn't go to Buffalo? No, he would be a hundred grand. Fuck off. 8.5,

but a great team friendly deal. And I love this about Dubas. He's stuck by his guns. He says he believes in this group and he keeps that core together and they love each other. And last time we were talking, we had fans throwing jerseys on the ice. We had a tough loss to the Carolina Hurricanes against our former goalies.

So it just, it didn't feel so good. But I believe in this group as I always do. And they've rattled off two wins since. They have a very tough schedule coming up here. But one thing that was important in that rally win against the Chicago Blackhawks when they were down 2-0 was after that first period and JT, John Tavares, warming up the bus. He had a beauty backhander

on that one. And Austin Matthews in their post-game quotes, they touched on it. Simmons steps up in the locker room after that first period. Accountability. The Wayne train had seen enough and JT says he doesn't talk often but when he speaks, the group listens.

And Austin says, we all love each other in here, but sometimes it's just strictly about accountability. And that's one thing that I think that there isn't as much of in the locker room nowadays, or at least in some locker rooms where guys aren't willing to step up and look at every guy in the eye and basically tell them the fuck off. I know you got more to give to this team than what you're giving right now. And we could figure this fucking thing out. Dig within.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop being the losers that we're not. And let's turn this thing around. And they did. And I don't care what fucking team in the NHL it was against because it's a tough league. And we all know that the parity's there. And the Wayne train stepped up. He said something. They came

out and they rallied and they win that thing in overtime. Austin Matthews giving the double barrel to the fans at the corner who were taunting him, much like Garland was to the guy in Seattle who was crushing beers behind the bench. And now they're rolling. They got two in a row.

So they're figuring out their identity. They're trying to fit in those puzzle pieces that they've lost from last season. Goaltending starting to look a little bit better and they're addressing the accountability in that locker room, which is one thing that I think is very important with you can talk about it too. How many, how many times have we had guys on the podcast? I know we joke about Chris Pronger sometimes not being maybe the,

the friendliest teammate, but he doesn't give a fuck. If you're friends off the ice. He'd rather see you competing and helping him win hockey games and bringing what you need to to the group because that's more important. That's what's going to eventually mend the real friendship is hoisting a Stanley Cup together. So I'll throw it over to you.

I've babbled on enough. Yeah, I think Morganiley deserves this money and and good for him happy for him great defenseman but i more want to look at this disastrous toronto maple leafs organization and having literally no money and they got to sign what six guys next year i'll play for 750 we got curtis gabriel 750 yeah we got all the talk you get off the roster and fill in the blanks. What is the game plan? To me, it looks like the game plan is you're trading one of these dudes.

It's making all this money, right? How else are they going to legitimately feel the hockey team next year? I do not get it. It seems like Dubas is willing to obviously pay their superstars and their guys that deserve this money. But I don't know, like what is the next step next year? All right. You're a fan. You're guys that deserve this money. But I don't know. Like, what is the next step next year?

All right. You're a fan. You're a Maple Leaf hater. Like, I don't know. I'm so dumbfounded by what what are they going to do? Like this team has been like so close to this, like salary dump and trade for years. And they just don't seem to make it. They seem to avoid it.

And we talked about the goaltending crunch where they had to fucking sign a guy off of college because they couldn't call a guy up and potentially losing a guy. I mean, so like you guys. They're so all in. They're so all in. They're so like you guys to talk about next year. We're fucking... Oh yeah. Oh yeah. What

Leafs fan ever talks about next year? We're 10 games into the fucking season and you're talking about next year. I was just answering what's the question. No, no, no. It's not your fault, R.A. It's this guy's. That's the toxicity I'm talking about, folks. I'm out west.

What's a toxic male? I'm out west. I'm watching the 9 o'clock start Oilers-Seattle crack and I don't give a fuck about those Maple Leafs-Saud Leafs the epicenter of the hockey universe. Suck it. You got no team next year.

You got no team this year. You got a team that's probably going to make the playoffs and lose in the first round. Now, great for Morgan Raleigh. He's an awesome defense and I'm happy for him. I'm looking as a journalist already tells me I'm a journalist. I'm looking as a journalist. R.A. tells me I'm a journalist. I'm looking as a journalist like, what are you doing?

What are you doing? You have like seven players making all the dough on your team. I don't get it. Now, when they win the cup and I'm wearing a pink fucking suit, you can drive to my house and take a shit all over my driveway biz and then just punch me in the face i got blood dripping down my pink uh tuxedo but i don't think it's gonna happen and i don't think you're gonna have shit to say when they lose again in the first round

we can move on great accountability in that locker room proud of the boys two two and oh in the last two player what a player. What a player. The Wayne train. Bringing that leadership. What a leader. Who do they got next? I think they got Vegas pretty soon, don't they? The next Maple Leafs game is against the Golden Knights, Biz. You're on fire tonight, buddy. Wow.

Looks like a Rayman memorizing schedules over here. Well, because that's why before I spoke on it, I want to see like 2-0, they needed this little bit of confidence. They got a very tough stretch of games coming up here we know there's no easy games in the league but specifically and the fact that the golden knights haven't been playing the greatest like what are they 500 right now a lot of injuries a lot of injuries you get worried about teams that have like who are expected to do a lot and all of a sudden it's like okay now they caught their stride vegas is one oh my god they got murder's row here. They got Vegas Tuesday, Tampa Thursday, the Bruins Saturday,

the Kings Monday, Philly Wednesday, Calgary Friday. So heads up Toronto. I think they're going to win four of those five games. I listed six. If they can go four and two, that's nice. And actually, Calgary's a back-to-back the next night with Buffalo, who their odds are the same as for the Cup, as I've six. If they can go four and two, that's nice. And they actually – Calgary's a back-to-back the next night with Buffalo, who their odds are the same as for the Cop, as I've mentioned. So, yeah, seven – they got seven games in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 14 nights, right?

So good test right there. Biz, if they can go five and two out of that, you're loving life. Yeah. Yeah, Biz, we've heard enough about the Leafs so far. Super fan boy over here, but we appreciate your input anyways. The ranges, another team that you are hard on for five,

two, and one with, well, actually if I'm sorry, six, two, and one after Sunday's win, but the big news with the ranges,

they extended 23 old stud defenseman, Adam Fox, seven year extension worth $66 million. Comes out to 9.5 AAV. Was going to be RFA this year. I mean, this kid has been a study. The artist last year, we've been raving about him since. This is just in line with what these guys are getting.

I mean, these guys are getting sick dough. You wish you played now instead of back then or what? Oh, yeah. No. Have you seen how fast the game is now? Have you seen how fast the player of this guy was? Jesus, dude. I mean, if Crosby was coming around now, sure,

I had to follow his footsteps everywhere to make any sort of dough. But Adam Fox, I haven't seen one thing online, which whatever, it's online. But Rangers fans, they love this deal. They love it. I mean, if Seth Jones is getting this dough and he's older and he's UFA, fuck, why wouldn't Adam Fox get it? And if he waited until the end of the year, he could have had $10 million a year. And if he got offer sheeted, he could have got $11 million a year.

It's the largest contract ever given to a defenseman coming out of his entry-level contract. And the way this guy's played, last year was one thing, but this year to continue i mean some of the passes he makes i cannot verbally blow his dick harder than i usually do and in the end this contract makes total sense because he's a young game breaker he's pretty much now you can say with confidence like he's a point per game player yeah i think you know last year on an 82 game pace he's getting 75 points and this year he's nine points per game player. I think, you know, last year on an 82 game pace,

he's getting 75 points. And this year he's nine points in nine games leading that team, not only defensively, but offensively. He's a breakout machine. I've said this all a million times, but it's right in line with Wierenski. It's right in line with Kale McCarr. And it's right in line with who was the third unrestricted guy? The third big D contract I'm thinking of.

There was a McAvoy McAvoy McAvoy, excuse me, restricted. So I love the player actually biz. If you could take, so you got Wierenski McAvoy Fox and McCarr all locked up at nine and a half, roughly who you taken.

and Makar all locked up at nine and a half, roughly. Who are you taking? If we're talking same amount of years, not based on their contracts, like let's say they were all eight years. Say they were all eight years, nine and a half. Wierenski's a little bit older. So say McAvoy, Makar, and Fox. I'll say this. I was swayed by the online opinion early on of Kale McCarr.

But after Adam Fox had done last year what he'd done, and now that I'm keeping a closer eye on him, like I'm – and obviously I've been very bullish on the Rangers since the start of the year, so I'm tuning in to see how they're evolving as a group. There are like two, three times a game where he just completely takes over. And we went back to that road trip where they went four and O where two of

the games, he like made like the winning play by like, just like spinning off a defender and finding the open guy for tap-ins. And then on the day he signs this extension for nine and a half sheets, he ends up getting the game winner against Seattle, in which Shusterkin made a great save. He ends up breaking the puck out to Panarin. Panarin does a great job on the zone entry of finding space,

but Fox, you could see him come up the ice and find the gap, accepts the pass perfectly, and kind of does that toe-drag shot where they pull it in and snap it, change the angle on the goalie. I'm taking Adam Fox. And he's on a run right now, and he's caught a wave, and I think that he's the best defenseman on the planet. He's incredible. We've been talking about him every single podcast.

I know, I know. I feel like a loser. I feel like I'm going to get a restraining order. No, it's okay, Biz. It's okay, Biz. The guy loves him. We might help them get paid. And in the end, I said Wierenski's older.

He's a year older than the three guys I mentioned. I think McAvoy, McCarran, Fox are 23, and Wierenski's 24. I might be Fox too. I actually – it might be McAvoy. Fuck, the game they had the other night was ridiculous. Just insane against Florida. If you want to look at the complete package as a defenseman, I would – I mean, we talked about Pronger earlier.

I would say that – you can't be as nasty as Pronger was when he was being nasty. Like the cross. He'd be sussy. Like, the cross. Oh, he'd be sussied every three games. He'd be sussied to be in the box. But the full, physical, complete game with offense, best five-on-five defensive player, yes, you have McAvoy. Wierenski, what he can provide to Columbus being, like, a not so – being a very average run-of-the-mill team, I don't know, man.

If you put him in the environments that those other two guys are in, like who knows where the sky is. I know. And then, and then of course we know what McCarr, McCarr could the second half of the season and I'm running away with a Norris. Right. That's how good he is. He's a video game player. He is the McDavid of the backend and the way he moves. So it's, it's like,

we're coming upon a time here where where it's like the the greatest generation of tennis where you get like nadal federer and jokovic and even andy murray i feel like that's what we're dealing with as far as balancing these defensemen who is the best one i don't know and that and that's with victor headman still running around this league yeah to wrap up the adam fox contract i'll say this he he got himself traded twice to get to his hometown favorite team, New York Rangers. And his quote is, I feel like I've been a part of the Rangers my whole life.

You know, from being a kid and to have this opportunity now and be with this organization for seven more years, it's so special and there's no place I'd rather be. Oh, my God. And I truthfully believe. I got chills. The next player to wear the C on the New York Rangers uniform has to be Adam Fox. Wow.

So we'll see what goes on. I completely forgot about the. The phantom gallant comment. Yeah, the gallant song with the A's. Song me. Did we mention that song got into the big booty mix? I don't know if you mentioned it. It's been a big week for the song because because Sonk got in the Big Booty Mix,

Big Booty Mix 20. Check it out by two friends. And the Sonk this week on the Play Barstool app gave out $15,000 to a winner who went six for six in his picks. Free to play. Playbarstool.com, baby. Playbarstool.com. You want to just do a game that takes three seconds to fill up with 15 Gs?

That's what Adam Fox makes in one shift. But the best thing is if you win the song, you get the 15 Gs, and then a check comes that just says song. Does it? Tough joke. Crickets. Biz, I know we're talking about the ranges. You want to talk about the moment with that?

I didn't understand if we were being serious or not, so that's why I didn't react to that. But great game that you guys got going online. What were you asking, R.A.? No, I was going to go to the Elvis Merzlikens, Igor Shostakhin clip that you wanted to talk about, the ranges goaltender. Yes, but to put a nice cap off on that whole adam fox breakdown

i think that it makes way too much sense to make him captain now after giving him that contract whether he gets it this year or not i say i say play the season out with a's give it to him in the office things are going good right now don't fuck with the chemistry don't put another thing at the back of his mind or on his plate stick with the a's stick stick with the galant song we got to talk about uh more goaltenders because we we were stroking them off on the front part of this with all the great goaltending with bobrovsky with markov um or markov jesus markstrom binnington another bizarre thing happened in the columbus new york rangers game where, R.A., was it at the end of the game as

things were getting wrapped up? Yes. It was basically it was 4-0 with about 16 seconds left, 18 seconds left, and Blue Jackets were down 4-0. They had the puck in their own zone, and Elvis Merzlikens basically told his team to just hold the puck,

and he raised his stick to salute to Igor Shostakovich. And I've never seen anything like that in hockey before, like in the NHL. I mean, it was pretty cool because I guess the game's over. It's 4-0. But I've never seen a goalie kind of call off his team and give like a salute to the other goalie. And I mean, some people thought it was cool.

I don't know. It was unique. It was different. I don't have a reaction, negative or positive. I just never never seen it before i'm kind of shocked when i first saw it just to have a goalie like tell his team like all right man just leave it like i mean they're not going to score probably anyways but to tummy stick or not a tummy stick is that a tummy stick situation what is i thought maybe wait till the hallway afterward. What's happening here?

Maybe I'm a little old school. I thought it was fucking embarrassing. I saw the comments on the Instagram when we put it up, or maybe the NHL. This is amazing. This is so cool. Oh my God. What are you talking about? The game's over.

You won the game. The Rangers, right? They won the game. Go try to get one. When did it become like, let's make sure he gets the shutout. There's 20 seconds left. Good job. I'm not saying this wasn't an honorable, nice

thing for Merzlikens to do but you want to talk about john tortorella he might have smashed merslikens head off the post head he'd seen him doing that when he was coaching him what when r is right i've never seen that like like you're that proud of him and happy that he gets a shout out against your team that you're you're you're not only like cheering for him but you're like guys stop stop playing let's all stop and just high five him from the other end of the ice great job shisterkin awesome you just fucking owned us i just thought it was bizarre i just thought it was weird i don't know and i guarantee that i'm not the only guy i'm guaranteeing there was a guy on that blue jackets team was like what the fuck is going on right now let's at least

go try to get one who cares why do we want him to get a shutout makes us look worse yeah I had my guy yeah I thought it was definitely bizarre but just kind of shows like how nice the guy is true to his core I'm not yeah no no I feel you

RA from a fan perspective like let's say let's say S, like let's say Swayman. Let's say Swayman gets – let's even say it's at home because I know it was at MSG. Let's say at the Garden, he's tapping a stick, calling back. He's saying, McAvoy, get behind the net. Rag the puck. Stop trying to score.

Stop. Hey, congrats on the 4-0 win, bud. That's a dummy in us. Stick tapping, the salute. What do you make of that as a home fan? That wouldn't go over well in Boston at all. I mean, if it was my team doing it, I don't know. I think, though, what – and I just was reading some of the comments online,

and I hate to even bring it up. I don't know if this would matter. But afterward, he went through this this year. You wonder if he might have a different perspective on life. What Elvis went through with losing his teammate. Agreed. And I hate to drag that into it or bring it into it. But, you know, I can't help that it might have like a little it brings a different perspective.

That like what he went through changed his whole his whole world, his whole trajectory of his life changed. A real prick. No, no. I think it's good to get all sides of it. So I agree. We weren't even, you know, he just like, all right. Yeah, man. Like a year ago, maybe he wouldn't have done that. And maybe now it's like, Hey man, we're not scoring fucking five goals in 13 seconds here. Just pull it back and fucking wave. And I know that goes against maybe what professional athletes are trained to do, but I do think that maybe, you know, Just pull it back and fucking wave. And I know that goes against maybe what professional athletes are trained to do.

But I do think that maybe, you know, what he saw over this last summer may have given him a different perspective where big fucking deal. Dude, the guy got a shutout. I'll give him a stick. At the end of the day, who cares? All right. I appreciate that perspective. And to throw it back to you, I know you're probably like, oh, I feel like a jerk for saying that. No, there's a lot of people who are competitive in nature who would have, as you said, maybe even some guys on the Columbus team.

And, R.A., your point is completely valid, and it goes back to the good versus evil where we were talking about the Binnington situation earlier. You think Binnington would have done that? No, I'm saying good versus evil. I know, I was agreeing with you you gotta have your villains and you gotta have you know the good guys and and i think that that's kind of the beauty of it all so i don't think that it's a bad thing in any situation yes i thought

it was a bit bizarre i don't think that they're going to score five goals in in in whatever time it is but regardless i don't want my goalie pumping the other goalie's tires when we're trying to score one late in the game. To ruin a shutout. I mean, I've been on teams, it's like, let's ruin this guy's shutout at least. Now, R.A., it is a very good point. It is a very good point where he's just, yeah, his life is completely different.

And I actually think about it now. It's like if Shostakovich was doing it to Merzlikens, it'd be like really kind of make sense. You know, like, hey, this guy's just got gonna shout out what he's been through I wouldn't be as judgmental as I was so I do feel bad the way you worded that it's true his life is different his outlook on life and the game is probably completely changed um it's just funny though it's like okay you're down four nothing and a guy's got two goals say Panarin had two goals like is it like all right let's make sure he gets that hat trick against us fuck you know it's just it's just weird to try to think

about an opposing player like proud and looking out for like in the midst of going against of competition in the midst of the game it was just I guess in the sense that ra said it was so bizarre that my first thought was like this is this is just weird that's why i wanted to bring it up on the podcast and have the conversation but gary i really appreciate your perspective and and i i i hadn't really given that thought that side of it yeah he did he did of course go through a lot and yeah and so course, I bet Columbus that night, too. You were really motherfucking him at the time. Another thing we got to mention, though, and this is on the real ugly side,

was I want to say it was in Dallas, and he was going out to the ice. Actually, the game was in Columbus. It was a Dallas fan. I thought it was a Dallas fan. Okay. You're talking about Merzlikens, right? Yeah, I'll let you take it away.

Yeah, just an absolute scumbag fan. And I don't want to say a scumbag Stas fan because then people assign scumbag fucking label to all fan bases. And every fan base has scumbags. But it was a Stas fan in this case. And he said, I'm not going to repeat it, said some awful shit to Elvis as he was coming out to the ice for a game.

And it's just the fact that like, you go into a fucking game and you're going to like say something like that to a guy who watched his friend die. Like to even like bring that up, to have the mentality to bring that up. You're a fucking scumbag. I don't know if they found out who the guy was. I know Aaron Portsline,

who does great job covering the blue jackets for the athletic. He initially reported it. They were looking for the guy. I don't know if Portsline, who does a great job covering the Blue Jackets for the Athletic, initially reported it. They were looking for the guy. I don't know if they found him, but, like, fuck you, buddy. Don't ever come to Arena again if you're going to talk to somebody like that. And listen, I've said some stupid shit. I've yelled shit as a Bruins fan over the years, but never, like, to fucking say something like what he said about the incident, the accident that happened.

That was pure evil. Just a fucking scumbag. It was, like, evil. Just fucking scumbag. It was like evil. You have to be an asshole. How deranged do you have to be to yell something like that? Like actually evil where that guy deserves to get his head punched in. Like, oh, I could not believe when that tweet came out where you could hear what the guy said.

It's like, I can't believe there's people out there like that. So what Witt's alluding to is there was a video that came out because the social team for columbus was videoing as all the players are going onto the ice so you could see mers lincoln's heading onto the ice and then about five seconds later you can hear the fan say it word for word like it came in clear as day so we're not going to play it for you guys guys but if you're a fan fuck that listen if you want to chase the goalie and you know and you know say certain things call him a sieve jesus yeah but this is just this is gross fucking gross okay boys moving right along um hey have you ever wanted to make your home feel safer there's no better time than now this week our friends at simply safe are giving chiclets listeners 40 off their award-winning home security.

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I'll keep an eye on that Vegas salary cap. Yeah, because there's no loyalty there. Yeah, hey, you said it, not me. The New Jersey Devils, P.K. Subban, had a little slew foot incident with Milan Lucic last week. You mean P.K. Sluban? Oh. That's what people are calling him online.

So listen, I defended P.K. Subban in the incident with Ryan Reeves in preseason. And I will say, I still think that that was not a slew foot. It looked like Revo's body weight had already been working its way like behind him and into the pretzel that he found himself in. Does he typically use his leg a little bit when going into puck battles? Well, it just so happens a lot of people have been telling me when that Revo thing incident happened, they were like, hey, this is a regular occurrence.

They see this like two, three, four times a year. Well, sure as shit, they're playing against the Calgary Flames and him and Milan Lucic are in a puck battle. And this one was very blatant. Whit, did you end up witnessing it? I did. I did. blatant wit did you end up witnessing it i did i did and i i i thought it's been an issue for a while now and there's been a bunch of different examples of it and i will say the one on reese i it wasn't nearly as bad but he got somebody on the bruins last year it was trent frederick correct oh he's shaking his head he's angry and and this time he finally really got caught doing one and

it's funny because you've seen brad marchand pull them also but suban has made it a habit and and avery sean avery actually had a great video where he's like hey dude your trick's done you you cats out of the bag man you got to get a new move and And that's true. Like guys have dirty little moves that they get away with long enough until finally it becomes a big enough storyline where everyone's looking out for it now. And that's going to be the case with Subban. When he's gone in with contact with people, he's, whether it's deliberate or not gotten his foot behind them and taking them down with the occasional slew foot. So that's a dirty play.

I've all long said my father growing up, totally dirtiest playing hockey is a slew foot. So that's a dirty play. I've long said my father growing up told me dirtiest play in hockey is a slew foot. So I didn't like it. I think it was trash. I don't think it was a respectable play. And I understand the fury that was online going towards him and calling him PK. What is it? Slew band? PK slew band.

I mean, nicknames that people create online. That's a 10 out of 10 nickname. And to the people who made me aware of the prior incidences and they sent me the YouTube clips that, yeah, there are probably at least five or six online that are blatant. Now you have six slew foots in your career. Yeah.

I guess you're kind of a slew footer, no? That's not happening that frequently. And I will say in the Revo one and more so in the Luchich one, it looks like he's protecting the puck and it's visible between his legs, even from PK as he's kind of closing the gap on him. Maybe he's thinking about reaching his foot in to try to scoop that puck out of there but i'll tell you what i can no longer at this point make excuses for him because i already did that

and then once again i put the clown nose on so pk slew band look out for it we love him here on the show but you can't be slew footing guys and especially guys like lucic because okay yeah of all the guys that slew foot what what the fuck are you picking him for? He was fuming on the bench. Oh, that ain't over. They play again. You play every team twice. Yeah, seriously.

And there's a guy who takes a fucking number, Luchich. PK might have the Luchich flu next time Calgary is facing off against the Devils. Seriously, I'd have it. Well, if I had as much money as him in the bank. Because Luchich, next time they play, if Subban's in the lineup, he is getting him. He's going to fight him, whether PK wants to or not. You know what he's telling his centerman?

He's saying, put it in that fucking corner 20 times. I'll make sure I get him once. Yeah, that's how he made his fucking career, man. All right, a little bit of an injury update for some superstars out there. Kooch, Tampa Bay's Koocheroff, out eight to ten weeks after an unnamed lower body injury procedure.

Jack Hughes is going to be out five weeks with a dislocation of his left shoulder. Spit it out. And Drew Dottie of the Kings suffered a tibial plateau contusion. He's going to start skating about six weeks from now. Hopefully, we'll resume play in about eight weeks. I want to give you an update there.

Everything downhill since he tore his labrum, throwing that stick into the crowd. I don't know if you New Jersey Devils fans have heard this, that that's when he did it. When he scored the OT winner and he threw the stick in the crowd, when he extended his arm, it popped out. And here we are. Oh, my God. the Blackhawks

are winning 2-0. All of a sudden, the New Jersey Devils are a lottery team, just like that. We want to give a shout out to our boy, Ryan Getzlaff, alumni of the Spit and Chicklet Show. He became the all-time leading scorer for the Anaheim Ducks, formerly the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. 989

points. He passed the great Tay Musolani to pass him uh 11 more points he's going to hit a thousand you what you played with gets you a few years back you must have something to say about this guy i i've long said one of the greatest players to play in the nhl the last 15 years an incredible force on the ice a monster 10 years ago in his prime, even, you know, six, seven years ago, a power forward that really was unmatched in the NHL in my mind, the sickest hands and the sickest vision I've ever seen.

And not, not I've ever seen, but right up there, he had the ability to play mean, angry, his shot, which he rarely used, is filthy, an absolute rocket of a wrist shot. He could run a power play from the top with Niedermeyer when they won the Stanley Cup, and years after that, he could be on the half wall. He really could do it all. And now to go down as probably the best player

to ever play for the Anaheim Ducks is well-deserved. He broke Solani's record. Of course, he did it in a humble manner, talking about how Solani did so much for the game in Southern California. Excuse me. And I'll never forget the year the Penguins won the cup when I was traded for Kunitz. We played in the playoffs. We beat the president's trophy winning Sharks in six games. And then we lost in seven to Detroit who ended up losing to Pittsburgh. So in 13 games, I think gets left,

had 18 points. He was playing close to 29 minutes a game. And he was by far and away through the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs that year, the MVP leader, the con Smythe winner. I was at the top of his game. Oh dude,

this guy, he fought Joe Thornton. I think in game three off the opening faceoff. Just like the ultimate leader. So good and dirty, too, man. This guy, little Mark Messier in him. A fucking Western Canadian prick.

I think he's a Saskatchewan boy. I think his brother played football. I mentioned that. Regina. And Getzlaff is just like such a funny guy, too. He's always busting balls. real good chirper, funny guy, loves golf would love to get him in a sandbagger. And the interview with him was a blast. I thought it was a great interview.

I think that was during COVID if I remember correctly and an amazing career he's had. I think he's 11 points away from a thousand. He'll get that. No doubt. One, two, three on wood. And it was an honor playing with him truthfully it was a guy that you you you've heard over and over if he was in a big market out east he would be that much bigger and within the game and he really couldn't give he could give two fucks he's got the gold medals he's got the stanley cup he's got the world junior goal he's done it all with um funny you mentioned that uh playing with him i actually i don't know

if you know i played with him yeah it um in under 17 or something you said under 18 he didn't make the original team in the summertime he should have and then calgary hitman got beat out of playoffs i think in the first round he joined us and he ended up being the mvp of that tournament and that was when we ended up winning gold and you, you know, I wouldn't have that ring if it wasn't for him because he pretty much put the team on his back. I thought you pawned that ring and sold it when you were short of some cash in the minors that year. You're a fucking idiot.

He actually sold the ring when he sold the Abercrombie clothes in the parking lot. One of the pair of jeans came with the ring. Why would you try to ruin my story, buddy? Are you fucking kidding me? Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. I wasn't really going anywhere other than the fact that he helped me win a ring. So I'm very grateful for him.

And to see that he went on to accomplish everything that he did is no surprise because i saw it from that minute that this guy was going to be special and what a fucking run buddy congrats congrats getsy congrats talk about the hey talk about the matthews dragon shoot you can youtube and look back at some of get's laughs like snapchat goals oh yeah check out his highlights too not that not not his like highlights goals like the highlights on his head I was going to say Pussy showed bald is beautiful I mean that's why I love the guy who is he again from Sopranos

oh Adibuco he is Adibuco the frosted tip special baby yeah well more so like he's actually doing the full shade but yeah early when he started going bald he definitely definitely had the Adi Bucco. No, but before. So there was like there were stages to it.

It was starting to thin out a little bit, but he was still going with the. What do you call it? He wasn't picking it. Basically, there's a name for it. The same boat as him. I think, yeah, the man biz when the Oilers go further than the flames. No. Yeah. What man biz when the Oilers go further than the Flames. No. What do you call it, Grinnelli, when you pull the hair through and you dye it?

The frosted tips. Yeah, I said the highlights. I said the highlights. Oh, yeah. Well, they're called frosted tips. All right. Well, boys, you know, there have been a lot of depressing things going on lately, but one of the saddest sights these eyes have ever seen occurred

in the last few days. St. Catherine Street, Montreal. Super 6 burned down. I don't know if you guys saw that. That screams insurance fire. That screams insurance fire. I mean, that shit must have been on fire. Let's ask Theodore.

He definitely knows what's going on up there. He lit it on fire. But, no, I mean, it was awful to see. Anytime you see a picture of anything on fire, again, as a son of a fucking Jake, you hate to think of guys going to work and putting that out. But there was one picture, and it was the fire burning out from the top of it.

But the super sex sign was still lit up in the Superman colors. And then in the morning, everything was just burnt down, melted. Just sad, tragic. I mean, people lose a business, but any guy who's been 17 has gone to Montreal, has

a super sex memory. Just a giant inferno ends and there's rubble and burnt trash everywhere and sticking up a giant dildo yeah it was used at super sex they made it through the fire yeah so hopefully everyone's okay obviously and hopefully the insurance company can pay out the owners who probably had that fire happen on purpose yeah

and if you find unless it was hell's angels and i take it all back and if you find my ring, please return it. And if you see business wall there, we're off the rails. Email the Chicklets account and we'll get back to them. We're off the rails. We'll talk to you guys next podcast. Are we done here? And everyone, thank you. What else you got, R.A.? The only other thing, R.I.P. to Jerry Remy,

who was the Boston Red Sox announcer for a long time for me and you with Generation U2 Grinnelli. Just the Boston Red Sox announcer for a long time for me and you with our generation, U2 Grinnelli. Just a former Red Sox second baseman. He became basically an icon around here, and he battled through Kansas seven different times, and he passed away the other day. So just we're Boston guys. We'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the passing of Jerry Remy,

just a huge influence. The Remdog. So many announcers, the Remdog. So that, and also, I was sitting home watching hockey, Remy, just a huge influence. The Remdog. So many announcers, the Remdog. So that, and also, I was sitting home watching hockey, watching the Bruins. Nine o'clock Saturday night, my phone rings. It's Walshie.

Brandon Walsh. He's like, what are you doing? I was like, watching the Bruins. He's like, you want to go to San Tapio's? I was like, okay. So I'm like, I do like, this is the most out of the blue thing. I mean, Walshie will call once in a blue moon, but like, we usually text, like, I'm like, okay, we went over. I think I ate the most out of the blue thing. I mean, Walsh, you'll call once in a blue moon, but like we usually text.

Like, I'm like, OK, we went over. I think I ate the most aggressive pizza I've ever eaten in my life. It had sausage, hot pepper and garlic was the pizza at Santabio's. It was delicious going down. But boy, I paid five for the rest of the weekend. Oh, Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening, folks. Yeah. Everyone have a wonderful week and

head up Saturday night we got Carolina Florida who would have thought that this is the battle of two of the best teams Biz says the team that's 8-0-0 is the best team in the league right now so as we said that's why he makes the big bucks we love all you listeners we love all you fans and you're welcome for me pushing back surges we're going to do another

sandbagger piece Philadelphia we will see you Saturday. Philadelphia. Grinnelli, help us out. At the Tradesman, baby. 7 p.m. Get there early. First come, first serve.

Barstool Sportsbook. Download it. Let's get ready to fucking crank. Win some money on the flyers. No disrespect to Santops. I got GI issues. I don't want Rock at my front door. But everybody, have a fantastic week.

We'll see you in Philly this weekend if you're down there and we'll catch you next week on this show. Have a great week. As always, we'd like to thank our awesome sponsors here on Spit and Chicklets. So a huge thanks to our friends over at Pink Whitney and New Amsterdam Vodka. Big thanks to our friends over at No Days Wasted for taking care of us when we go out. Huge thanks to our friends at Cross Country Mortgage. By all means, check them out if you're looking to refi or mortgage for the first time. Big thanks to everybody at Earnest. Check them out for your student loan needs.

Huge thanks to our friends at Roman. Fellas, check them out. And a big thanks to everybody at Simply Safe for keeping us safe. Have a great week, everybody.