Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 363: Featuring Patrik Eliáš

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

On episode 363 of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Patrik Eliáš. The Devils legend joined (1:37:30) to discuss his time in New Jersey, winning the Cup and even how he almost became a New York Ranger. But first, the guys open the show discussing the massive news surrounding the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers. The guys also dive into Jack Hughes massive new contract. Are the Minnesota Wild cup contenders? The boys break it down.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 363 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney. From our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family, what is up everyone? Had a crazy 12 hours from Sunday into Monday that saw two head coaches and a GM get fired. We also have a couple suspensions to report on with possibly more coming. A huge extension in New Jersey. A new beast out west. And we wonder if Blunts do have more fun in Dallas.

We'll get to that in a little bit, but let's say hi to the boys first. Producer Mikey Grinelli, what's up, guy? What's going on, boys? I spent the weekend, I went to Rockefeller Center in New York City. Probably the worst idea I've ever had in my entire life. It's so packed, you can't move, you can't even process a thought. So it wasn't the best weekend for me, but a lot of NHL news, so I'm pretty excited. The big Christmas tree and you go to the ice rink and stuff.

Did you do the whole tourist thing? Yep, I did the tourist thing, which is so stupid that I thought that would be a good idea because i live in new york i've lived here for four years well you gotta do it once just like i've done it before that's like new year's eve you gotta like you know piss piss down your own leg when you watch the ball drop and no you don't have to do that dude you do not have to take it a shit on the sidewalk with the old lady just because you're stuck in the in the midst of why do people do that that whole that whole new year's eve ball drop there all right doesn't it seem like hell it's just yeah it's just a tourist trap those are people come from like the midwest all over they see it on tv and think it's a big deal and then they go get fucking suffocated

just a quick shot at the midwest to start the show off. I like that. I went to Times Square one year for New Year's. You're an asshole. Sat front row for Gangnam Style. Remember Psy, Gangnam Style guy? Oh, my God. That guy was so famous. I had a blast. Where is that guy?

Is he still dropping beats over there? Dude, he might have got shipped up to North Korea. That guy was not exactly like that song was terrible. I think he had a follow-up tune that did okay on the charts. Really? Yeah, nothing like the Fugees or anything like that, but pretty close. Yeah, he had a couple back-to-backers.

R.A., do you know anything about Gangnam Style? Was that William Hung? She bang, she bang. No, no, that was the guy from, what's that show called? America's Got Talent. American Idol, America's Got Talent? Is that the same song? Oh, maybe it's American Idol.

He was American Idol, yeah. Wow, G, I'm surprised you're still getting dragged to those things after all these years in the city, but got to do what you got to do. Oh, he dragged her. Did you drag her? You said it was your idea or hers? Yeah, it actually was my idea. It was.

I didn't even know that, but I knew it. I didn't know it, but I knew it. You know what I'm saying, Biz? Grinnell, are you a romantic boyfriend? Yes and no. So I had a tough weekend in that sense, too, because the night before, I suggested the restaurant we go out to as well, and it was like an expensive restaurant.

Had to send my steak back twice. It wasn't even cooked. Well, that's not your fault. So it was just a tough weekend for me. What happened the second time? What do you mean? So I first sent it back. It wasn't cooked.

I get it back again, and then I look at it. I'm like, hey, I don't even think they put it back on. A couple of butthole hairs on. It was just cold. It was just like this cold piece of meat, and I'm like, I think you guys might have forgotten to put it on. Yes, sir. That's the dingleberry garnish.

I didn't want any sugar on my pancakes. What is that movie? Road Trip. Oh, the dingleberry garnish. I didn't want any sugar on my pancakes. What is that movie? Road Trip. Oh, what a movie that is. Oh, then he sleeps with that smoke show too. Oh, yeah. What a funny flick. How do you order it?

Medium. New York strip medium. Oh, my God. I cannot wait to hear the comments about you getting the fucking leather wallet sent to you every time. So now. Wait. Medium medium medium's not bad that's how i order my steak what do you get yours rare you can't so i actually go medium rare plus i always ask what a pain in the ass how do you mean medium you're leaving it on for a little bit more time you're actually medium is a little longer so in fact i'm i'm not making them not making them cook it as long so what do you do you want do you want the

middle middle middle red and everything else pink or do you want like how do you decide like all i want is the is a pink steak me too yeah i would i would say maybe a little bit a tiny bit red towards the center like there's a there's a fine line i would say i would say maybe a little bit, a tiny bit red towards the center. Like there's a fine line. I would say mostly all pink, though. I heard people say when they want it like really rare, just like, yeah, just knock the wind out of it. No, don't they call it? How do you want your steak cooked?

Just wipe its ass. Don't they call it blue rare? I don't know. I should knock the wind out of it. Put a bullet. I can't say that. What did you do all weekend, Biz? That's a little too gruesome.

Anything exciting or what? What did I do? I had the weekend off because Coyotes on Friday were the ESPN game. So it was good no i just uh i didn't really do that much i went to a persian restaurant that was a great experience with my with my pal and my girlfriend uh took care of the dogs uh just got a lot of rest because i'm actually going to go back home uh for canada right before christmas from the 15th uh or the 14th to about the 23rd so i'm pretty excited excited. Have you been to Canada since?

Yes, I went to Vancouver, but I never got to see my parents. I haven't seen my parents in like over two years now. Holy fuck, dude. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we talk like every couple of days. But they were staying here in Arizona when COVID first broke out. So they actually had to leave about 13 days before their month lease ended. I think it was towards the end of March

and all the pandemics started going down. So I haven't been over to the east side since. So I'm going to spend a little bit of Christmas with them. Very excited to see my sister and her twins. But yeah, nothing crazy. I mean, other than all this insane hockey. And I told you last week i said the minute that the american thanksgiving hits the wires cross things start getting fucking

wacky in the nhl this couldn't have been like i'm system overload right now i don't even know how many fucking fan bases have thrown a jersey on the ice i don't know how many coaches or gms have been fired so all right i don't know if you could keep us on track here after we get what Witt's weekend was like. And we got a lot of hockey to talk about. Absolutely. What do you got, Shaq? I know you're still banged up with your elbow and whatnot. I got nothing.

My elbow feels incredible, though. I'm talking, I'm three weeks out of surgery. The guy says it looks like he hoped it would after six weeks. It looks like he hoped it would after six weeks. So part man, part machine. An unreal experience so far coming off elbow surgery. I'll be golfing by mid-February. I thought it was going to be May.

At least March. Early March, I'm playing golf. So that's a great thing. I've been sick. Sick as shit. You're going to be like rookie of the year. You're going to come back. What if you're better and you're better than a scratch? I'll quit this goddamn podcast so fast and try to make it.

No, I'm just kidding. I think that Rookie of the Year is actually one of my favorite movies growing up. That was such a good flick. And then his arm, remember he slips on the ball and he breaks it back. Terrible. I always rewatched it. Hey, Rowan Faust. That was such a good flick. And then his arm, like, remember he slips on the ball and he breaks it back. Terrible. I always rewatched it. Hey, Rowan Faust.

Nah. I always rewind it and be like, no, watch the fucking ball, you fucking idiot. And then boom, it's all over. I love Marv from Home Alone when he gets locked in the closet. Hot ice. Hot ice. It's a great movie. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

The ping pong, or not the ping pong. What's the machine that he's playing at that party? Those are awesome. When he's like fucking the machine. Pinball? Pinball. Pinball. Pinball, yeah, it's a great time.

Pinball is a good, isn't there a movie art you told me about about pinball? No. Pinball documentary or something? Maybe the King of Kong, maybe the one about Donkey Kong. That's the one. That might be the one. Okay, that's something? The King of Kong, maybe? The one about Donkey Kong? That's the one. That might be the one. Okay, that's what I was thinking of. But I also, for some reason, think that there's a movie about, like, what's it called? Pinball.

Pinball. Well, you said ping pong, so now that's in my grill. I know. Yeah, but dude, I'm sick. I'm grinding. I know I keep saying I'm sick. Yeah, dude, you have kids. You get sick.

They go to school. They bring back sickness. It sucks. But I'm still. I'm grinding. I know I keep saying I'm sick. Yeah, dude, you have kids. You get sick. They go to school. They bring back sickness. It sucks. But I'm still ready to go. I'm actually on Toradol right now, which is what you take for the Stanley Cup playoffs when you're injured. I'm on it to podcast. Like I said, part man, part machine. Well, if you come back stronger, maybe I'll have to name the surgery after you like they did with Tommy John.

Yeah, seriously, that'd be pretty cool. Although Eichel might get that surgery named after him, considering Tyler Johnson got the same one for the Blackhawks. I mean, that's just a little minor story. He's going to be out three months. But he paved the way, and he brought up in the interview with us, yeah, nobody had gotten Tommy John until he got it. So I know the surgery's obviously been done to different athletes,

but no hockey players. So Eichel's paved the way for other hockey guys to get it done. Tyler Johnson was like, this is great. I don't have to take any of the heat. Once he gets it okay, I'll slide right in there and get the same surgery. Well, before we get to the Pucks, boys, I think we're burying the lead here. Guys dropped another sandbagger last week. We got to talk about Biz's epic swamp ass.

I couldn't believe it. I thought you had an accident out there. The countdown of all the dudes said during the course of the day it was something else uh great stuff boys i was highly entertained per usual so so sorry biz to cut you off did you piss yourself i'm not you i think you did listen guys i've talked about wetting the bed before like i'm not embarrassed by this hole i know you're not so on i think it was the last hole like when you when you accelerated the cart like the pink whitney i was pouring ended up getting all down my crack okay and so all of a sudden it went from like i don't think 17 there was anything there to 18 it was like you know as i said swamp ass it looked like like complete dog shit but no for those wondering although i did get

crippled so i can understand why people would have thought I urinated myself. Oh, dude. We were smothered by the end of that thing. So I'm kind of on the parallel to Patty Maroon celebrating with the cup, all the rumors swirling about him urinating himself to the sandbagger swamp ass rumors. So no, I didn't. I would be very open if I did because I think it would add to it. But thank you to everybody who stopped by. Very successful sandbagger these kids on the course with telling us telling us that we have the life we got zegers going between the legs every night seeing the contracts that these kids

are signing this guy's gonna have fucking 50 sheets guaranteed to him in no time so i don't know i don't know about us having the life those two's got the world by the balls the fact that they kept saying like oh we gotta, we got to talk shit. We got to get in their head. You young pussies. There's no chance you're getting in our head. I'll play young guys any time, Biz. I don't think we'll lose to young guys.

It's the old guys who get in our head. The young guys, there's these little peasants. By the way, it was so funny. There was comments like, it looked like we could have been playing our kids. Well, we were. I guess they could be. We were. We're 20

years old i mean all the champions in the nba they usually have the memes with like the them holding a kid and then they have the other guy's face on it they should we should get one of those for having caulfield and zegras bent him over and and i'll tell you what i think zegras went in a three he was not he's not a three he couldn't putt for shit yeah i think if he plays real well he could i think if he plays good he probably could you know shoot 75 76 and and be a three but that day he certainly wasn't wasn't a three and i mean like caulfield has a nice swing he'll get better and better but he bunts it dude he was hitting drives as pure as he could they were going as far as you hit it all right you know what i knew you know when I knew they lost that match?

When their dads came out on the first hole at that green and then they each four putted. Wearing their jerseys too, right? I was like, okay, I can start definitely having more drinks than planned upon. Oh, we were wrecked. Wrecked by the end of that thing. Somebody wrote me a tweet or was it a text?

It was like, I could tell the exact hole you became shit-faced. I was like, dude, we were – that was kind of a bender of a week. That was the last day of five days in Detroit. So – Yeah. The highlight was that dude driving on the green with the fucking car. I mean, even I know you don't do that in a fucking golf course. Absolutely hilarious.

And he was so butthurt about us giving giving him shit the kid was getting so rattled it's like buddy you drove a card in the green well what do you want us to say to be fair he didn't get a he didn't get a sheet that told him the rules dude that's like that's like grinelli that's what he's saying like it's like saying you didn't tell a guy to drive backwards on the highway. Like, he didn't know. How are you supposed to? It doesn't matter if you've never been on a golf course. Every course. I'm just happy he didn't hit the brake.

I'm just happy he didn't hit the brake. Imagine. Oh, my goodness. If he would have skidded on those nice greens. That was a beautiful course. That course is tit. They hate ourded on those nice greens. That was a beautiful course. That course is tit. They hate our guts, but nice course. I don't think we're ever going to be invited back,

but we're going to leave it at that. So to the people wondering about Caulfield and Zegers, pink coffees in their cup, I have no idea what that was. We didn't give them any Pink Whitney. We kept it in our cart. So whatever they got their hands on, they might have taken out of ours, or they just naturally drink pink coffees. So I'll leave it at that. No, it was BioSteel So whatever they got their hands on, they might have taken out of ours. Or they just naturally drink pink coffee.

So I'll leave it at that. No, it was BioSteel, wasn't it? Oh, was it? Okay, drink the pink. That's right. Because they had a skate the next day. Oh, that's right. So they were drinking the pink.

Okay, so there you go. Biz, we got to also mention your TV appearance on TNT. We had evidence that you were, in fact, Sidney Crosby's line mate way back in the day. Great clip, by the way. Oh, it was great chatting with him. Oh, my goodness. Did you listen to Talk Story? That was amazing.

I'd never heard that story. That's how sweet. I mean, we told the dog days are over story. And first of all, it was great to get Sid beforehand. He didn't want to do the answering the questions on the ice, which I wouldn't do either because I can't stick handle and answer questions. That's left for guys like Matthews and McDavid. But it was good chat with them but for those of you who haven't heard the story Grinnelly can we should we roll the clip you wouldn't do the on ice interview

you weren't surprised superstitious huge Mr. Routine and superstitious bought a brand new 1800 blue suit for the playoffs when we won the cup. Anyways, halfway through the playoff series, he pulls me off the bus. He goes, Todd, you know that blue suit you've been wearing? You're 0-2 with it. Please put it in the closet. Never wore it again. It's been in the closet.

He got me a ring, so I burn it. I took the $1,800 suit and threw it away, but I got the ring from Sid. But he is the Super Sid. I love how he mentions, like, I just spent all this money on the suit. And Sid's just like, don't wear that suit again i think it's fucking borderline psycho that you're you know you're the number one center and you have all these things to worry about and you somehow know that your coach has worn a suit that you've got you've went on to like this guy is just

cut from a different cloth all right have you, have you ever heard anyone being this type of superstitious? No, that's crazy. But I mean, if it works so good for you, why would you change anything? You know, I mean,

considering the success he's had, why, why fuck with it? Right? Like, I wonder, I wonder what exhausting. That's what I was just going to say.

Cause, cause Sid's got to have this, this, this question or this reflection period with himself about how he's going to have to go up to his assistant coach and tell him that he can't wear a new $18 100 suit he just bought. He's giving it time and energy being like, I got to go address this to call him off the bus and tell him that,

hey, man, we're 0-2. You should probably not wear that suit anymore. So this guy is a funny motherfucker, man. suit anymore so this guy is is a funny man mike sullivan buys a brand new truck drives into the way rick they lose the first game of the series said like return that forward right now mike yeah yeah you go back and you give that f-150 back to the dealer and you get back in that box you would drive you get to the rink tomorrow and you get us a game plan that we're gonna win Yeah Hey Doomland Ever since that

You know you got married this summer I haven't put mine I'm gonna I'm gonna need you You know you had that kid Get that fucking kid Out of your house right now There's an adoption shelter

Right around the corner no no no i think we've brought it too far i think we've gone hey but oh excuse me i'm laughing a little hard now so i told the the dana heinz story of when i got called in and they made me switch my number from from 67 to 16 now i thought that was always a joke man i thought you were legit joking the whole time that you made that story up no that's the way that i remember it now i'm thinking like maybe this guy was given the word to like like basically thrown on him this was a long time ago i was persistent about keeping that number because i don't want to say i'm superstitious but that's how i made the team so i was pushing back on it so i remember it to where he was like

no no he told me that story he could have been completely fucking around me and or i mean mark maybe mario's watching the game and he's like like the first game of the world premiere games being like wait a minute this dude at a training camp was 67 actually made the team like we're not going to have a guy in the ice between 66 and fucking 68 the two greatest players in our organization's history like that that that's a strong possibility too right all right like it's kind of fun i didn't even think of that until you just said that i didn't either yeah grand mario that's a fucking hell and and if this is if this is something i somehow dreamed up in my head over all these years then then i dana hines might be like i never told him that about sid's parents well whatever that's that's the way i remember it and fucking the

reason i thought you made it up is because like one it's funny and two watching like there's no chance anyone would ever think you you were Sid I don't care if you had 87 you could have been wearing 87 as well like college football and the offense and the defense have the same numbers and they still wouldn't have mistaken it I don't know I was a pretty good skater back then oh yeah just like Sid anyway we can move on was there anything else oh and then we we interviewed McDavid about the I was asking about the Arc Digest and the hot tub. I would imagine that he's got the boys over there in the hot tub after wins, but he won't give me nothing.

Really? Oh, yeah. He's like, no, we've got a lot of games coming up, and we've got to make sure – Yeah, he won't even give you a sniff. Yeah. Meanwhile, they're probably actually gassing beers in his hot tub because they're fucking playing some good hockey. I don't know.

Although they're a little – They need their D-back, dude. Yeah, their whole probably actually gassing beers in his hot tub because they're fucking playing some good hockey. I don't know. Although they're a little bit. They need their D-back, dude. Yeah, their whole D-core. They're fucking in the hot tub still boozing at fucking Conor's new pad. Well, we're not going to forget to mention this week's guest. We're not bringing him on right now. A little later, but New Jersey Devils legend Patrick Eliash. Huge thrill to get this guy.

I think we got, what, $1.45 with him? Gee, we ended up with a great interview. What an interview. A guy who actually played behind the Iron Curtain. First time we've had a guy who actually grew up in that era. So awesome stuff coming a little bit later. But first, we do want to let you know the holidays are here, and sometimes you need to take a break from those you're closest with.

Adding the shopping stress and everything else, it can be overwhelming. So head on over to your favorite local and make sure to order some Pink Whitney. It's the best stuff from the first night of Hanukkah all the way to New Year's Day. Enjoy that Pink Whitney. Oh, boys, what a crazy couple 12 hours I mentioned in the intro. After a brutal start to the season that had fans calling for heads yet again, the Vancouver Canucks finally made some major changes Sunday night when they fired general manager Jim Benning,

head coach Travis Green, assistant GM John Weisbrot, and assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner. The team then went out, brought in Bruce Boudreau for its 20th coach in its team history, and Scott Walker as his assistant. The Canucks also named Stan Smeal interim GM and Ryan Johnson interim assistant GM while they searched for a new hockey operations leadership.

Boudreau, the former Hyannis Port president, signed a two-year deal he last coached in the NHL 22 months ago. Of course, he has 14 seasons under his belt between the Wild, the Ducks, and the Capitals. Won the Jack Adams back in his first season in 08. This felt like a long time coming. Biz, were you shocked that the manner went down or that it finally went down? What was your reaction last night? Sorry, one sec. I got to interrupt.

Sorry, Biz. What is Hyannis Port? That was a little Slapshot reference. A little subtle. He was in Slapshot. I figured I'd slide that in there. Bruce Boudreaux was? Yeah, yeah.

Actually, I tweeted out last night. I was watching it when I was prepping it last night. Yeah, he's number seven on the Hyannis Park Presidents. No shit. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, that's all right. No, I'm more interested in this cameo by Bruce Boudreaux.

No. Okay, so I love the hire. I wasn't surprised to see it finally go down. I guess things were getting bad enough. The jersey on the ice, which has kind of become the patent move now by Canadian fan bases to get their teams going. Their performance against Pittsburgh was kind of the telltale sign and the fan base was kind of just barking.

It sucks for Green because he worked his bag off to get in that position. Although throughout his tenure there, the talent pool seemed to get better, but the team kept doing worse. I'm willing to snap the blame over to benning way more so than than travis green um in in the way that that he constructed the team listen i don't as far as my hockey knowledge guys we come out here and fuck around like when i'm questioning a lot of the moves usually things are probably not going maybe in the in the best direction of course the the cap situation was another nightmare alone of asset management

that became a problem. So he had the reins long enough, and I think that it's definitely time to hand them over to someone else. But as far as having to see Green get fired and seeing it go down like that, I think he's a coach that has the respect of his players. I think that things really went south, and I think that he's definitely going to get another shot now as far as the the Boudreaux hire and going back to that I think it's a great hire because of his experience with developing high end talent now did he ever get Washington over the finish line as far as winning the Stanley Cup

no but they were also I believe winning president's trophies and and having a ton of success where they were getting into playoffs it just so happens they were running into to pittsburgh and in some tough situations sometimes so i like to hire in the short time to see if he can get through to these to these young superstars that you know the the pressure is really mounted on them and and they have a fairly young group, and things are not really going well right now. As far as their play, how much they open things up and get exposed defensively, they're one of the worst teams

at generating off the rush while giving up the most off the rush. So the margin is just ridiculous. Witt, you sent a fucking tweet to the the the group chat and i'm not saying this this would have been the answer for this season but they got rid of rusell they got rid of beagle and they got rid of some guys who are some muckers and some grinders their penalty kill has been absolutely fucking atrocious so one of the worst in the history of hockey through through 25 games so i don't know if that's sometimes a result of of guys checking out and really hoping that something changes because they're not as a as a group not

happy with the environment to where there becomes less commitment maybe blocking shots uh maybe effort defensively and really hoping there's a major change so then they can figure things out but this is not this is not something that I believe is just going to be the flick of a switch. I think that the Boudreaux hire, though, in the short term was probably a great one given the talent pool of guys available. So it sucks, man.

These guys are going through hell in that locker room. I would imagine that in this next little stretch of about six weeks, they kind of figure out where the team's going to go. Like I would imagine that in this next little stretch of about six weeks, they kind of figure out where the team's going to go. And then they probably, in some cases we'll probably try to get rid of some, some assets for some, for some draft picks or some talent,

young, younger, talented players that they hope to exceed. Like JT Miller is a number, a name that's been floating around big time, which, you know, has,

has been tied to Boston rumors. But I'll hand it over to you, Witt. Sucks to see people lose their jobs, but it was the inevitable. Yeah, they've been so bad that it was just a matter of time before something went down and you figured it would be. I thought if it was just one, it would be Benning, and there was a chance of it being both, which it ended up being in terms of coach and GM. But Travis Green, I do feel bad for a little bit.

You could tell. I mean, by the end, it was like the looks on these guys' faces. Like by the end of this thing, the players, the coaching staff, they had nothing. And Bruce Boudreaux has to get there and figure out a way to get Besser and Pedersen going. Because I don't know, like, were we completely wrong? I mean, I've said before on this podcast, like, Pedersen reminded me of Datsouk.

And you saw what he did in his first year, rookie of the year. The next year, he was just as good. Like how strong he was on the puck sometimes. Yes. And I haven't really seen as much of that in in in the last like let's say 12 months but you haven't seen anything remotely close to that so you mentioned that he gets a ton out of his offensive players boudreaux and he he plays a lot like ovechkin played a ton gets left perry played a ton in anaheim right he's minnesota's a little different at that time they were a

completely different team than where they're at now. Shout out to Wild. But if you go there and you can't seem to get Pedersen going and Besser going, then you look at, like, is he not the player? Is Pedersen not the player that he was at the beginning? Was he just kind of, like like completely playing out of his shoes right when he got into the league which is kind of hard to imagine like if you can come into the league your first year and play the way he did you got to think that there's a special player there still

and confidence is a crazy thing any sport in the world it doesn't matter what you're talking about but it's it's like everything to a guy and once you lose it it is so hard to get it back it's a lot easier to lose it than it is to get it back. And so right now, this guy's going to need to find a way to get these two going. I think the playoffs are completely out of reach now. They'd have to go like 40 and 20 or whatever. I wouldn't say that Travis Green isn't a player's coach, but I think that Boudreaux has a – I think if any criticism faces,

he's probably not hard enough on his players throughout the time in Washington as far as like maybe emphasizing you know playing more defense and I don't know you know what the situation was in Anaheim where I feel like they had a pretty they had a pretty pretty old team not not old in a sense of like uh like you know Getzloff's age I guess but there seemed to be a lot of veterans where where like they I think right now if anything they need a soft coach to go in there and really kind of help these younger guys find their confidence again because you because you do have to approach these younger guys a little differently than than you once did we've talked about that many a times so in order to get these guys going i think that they're going to have to

really feel the the you know the the confidence from their coach and their abilities. I think that's a big component to getting the most out of young players. They have to feel like their coach actually believes that they can accomplish it. And I'm not saying that that ever deteriorated with Green, but if there's one player's coach that can do it, at least to the guys available, it's definitely Boudreaux. There's one player's coach that can do it, at least to the guys available. It's definitely Boudreaux. I remember when Terrian got fired,

which he recently just did with Philly and Vigneault, but this is when I was on Pittsburgh, and then Bilesma came in. I was struggling. I wasn't having a good season, and Bilesma came in. He was meeting with guys, right? He came in, and then we had a game. We had a game that day against the Islanders. And so he's meeting with these guys and he grabbed me and he's like,

Ryan, I know you're a great player. Like an enormous pump-up speech, right? Like you got to go back to trusting and believing like what you can do. And it was really nice to hear. It was something where he needed me to play better. You know, Ray Shero needed me to play better. And it was something that I'm sure Boudreaux will do with Pedersen and Besser in terms of guys.

Like, you're such incredible players. You have world-class skill. Besser, you're shot. You're vision, Pedersen. And just really try to get them to believe. And it's not going to happen until they really believe it themselves and they have some success on the ice. But it means a lot when a new guy comes in and tells you that. i'm sure that'll go down now mind you in my case we lost the game

against the islanders i got traded three days later but still i'm just saying when a new coach comes in to guys who are struggling they can really try to get through to them with words and being like i know how good you are loosen it up now. Try to take the weight of the world off your shoulders and go out there and just play. Like, it's crazy to me that when your son or daughter is nine years old and you say, hey, go have fun today. Have fun at the game today. Like, that's realistically what guys in the NHL sometimes have to do.

They need to hear it. Why did you play this game? Why did you begin playing this game? Because you love it. It's so much fun. And when you're this game? Why did you begin playing this game? Because you love it. It's so much fun. And when you're playing great at the highest level, it's the most fun thing in the world. So that'll happen.

But I still think this is a lost season. And the defense, when talking about Benning, like, what is this defense? They got one guy that can get the puck up to these forwards. So you can't say that's not a factor in all this in terms of – Pedersen's not getting the puck through the middle with speed the way he would if he had Colorado's defense feeding him. So there's a lot of holes in this lineup.

And Demko looks like the best goalie in the league in the past few years. And he's really struggled, but it's the defense in front of him. So we'll see what Boudreaux could do. The hire makes complete sense to me because of what he's done in his past. And he was at NHL Network probably like,

Jesus Christ, I want to coach again. And he gets the chance. So good luck to him. R.A., Bilesman's like, how am I going to get this guy to elevate his stock so we can trade him? I got the right answer. Goes over, pumps his tires,

whits, snap it around against the Islanders. Out of town two seconds later. No, I've told you how I got traded. I told you. I was away. I was visiting my mom. She was sick. Oh, that's right.

Yeah, and then I got the call. It's a business. But to be fair, though, even for you, if you're struggling and all of a sudden you get that new coach, you're like, he's probably aware that I've been struggling. Your first impression in your first game means a lot lot so there's a little bit of pressure so for

him to come to you and you to hear that probably takes a little bit of weight off your shoulders and and that's what like that's that's getting the best out of your player this isn't like oh yeah well we see how he can handle the pressure of trying to show me a good first impression like that's not that you're no he extracted the best out of you and and by trying to calm you down and i think that that's definitely an art of coaching not to mention last thing is that when coaches are fired that the high-end guys the top paid guys i'm not gonna say they feel bad because some of them might not like the coach but they know like oh boy this is a lot on me too yeah so you have that embarrassing this is embarrassing like this is this is my play

that's been a reason that this is happening so a huge wake-up call will come forward and and bruce boudreaux i think he'll get that team playing better yeah this was green's fifth season with the canucks uh benning was with them for seven and a half years the canucks made the playoffs just twice in seven tries under Benning. They lost in the first round in 2015, and they lost in the second round in the bubble after taking Vegas to seven games and also under Benning. The organization hadn't selected in the first round

in two consecutive drafts in their bottom ten. They are in the bottom ten of the prospect pipeline, so he hasn't exactly left the cupboard full. And Ryan Kennedy of THN tweeted that the canucks are very interested in the burger van which probably isn't too much a surprise oh well he's crazy if he takes that job crazy yeah that was a great rumor it's better actually than the patrick waugh to the montreal canadians rumor so i hope it's true um listen i know i've been beating this drum for the last like two years since it happened you just said they haven't had a first round selection in the

last two years I that was the the the red flag for me where you start hearing rumblings about them questioning GM moves I thought it was a completely rushed rebuild and it just kind of got you know worse and worse and worse and you just mean, there's a prime example right there. I said that acquiring JT Miller and giving up a first firm was the start of the rush of the rebuild, in my opinion. But I think Accolini has been quoted in saying that there's a pressure to win in Canada, and for some of these teams, the business model is you just got to make it to the first round. Once you move past to the second round, it becomes a profitable business and of course if you got canadian fans barking non-stop

you're trying to get you know into the playoffs as much as possible so uh was there anything else uh ra that you thought that like should be mentioned about the whole situation in vancouver uh just to kind of piggyback what witt said that nine points out of the wild card right now it's an uphill battle but i wouldn't say it's impossible. It's still relatively early in the year. It is a lot of points to make up, but I wouldn't be surprised. Okay, I don't know. With that roster, impossible, I think.

Okay. But I know what you're saying, all right? I know what you're saying. Maybe a move or two that could do something, but I don't know. But you've got to think, bro, give him a little bit of a kick in the pants. The season's not over yet. I mean, nine points in November. I agree't know. But you've got to think Budrog and a little bit of a kick in the pants. And the season's not over yet. I mean, nine points in November.

I agree with you. I say not impossible because they have such a high talent pool. Like all of a sudden, if they kind of just figure it out, it's better than gambling on a team that's just got really like nothing. You're just like hoping they catch

lightning in a bottle. These guys got some fucking world-class players on their team, front end and back end, and a net if Demko's playing up to his capabilities. So, R.A., I think that, especially with the amount of wins they can pick off of that division, but they got to eat up the bottom feeders now. Yeah, I mean, going off a 6-7-8 game run,

and you're right in the thick of it, but we'll see what happens. Anyways, we went to bed to that firing, and we woke up, got the news Monday morning that the Flyers fired head coach Alain Vigneault and released him with Mike Yeo on an interim basis. They also canned Witt's favorite coach, assistant Michael Therrien, Michel Therrien. Flyers are eight, 10 and four. They've lost eight straight. Yesterday's 7-1 pounder from Tampa was pretty much the final straw for GM Chuck Fletcher.

This was the Vigneault's third third season they were knocked out in the second round of his first season didn't qualify last year Mike Yo last coached the Blues three years ago and Frank Sarvelli our pal at Daily Faceoff he's pretty wired in on all things Philadelphia he said his sense is Rick Talkett will be very high on

the list that would be a good hire, man. Almost makes too much sense. I mean, an ass-kicking former flyer looks like what they need right about now, Whit. Yeah, and I think that the crazy thing about the Vigneault firing is this was a huge contract, dude. It was a five-year, $25 million deal he signed. So he's got two and a half years left 12 million

13 million left and and now he's let go um but with what was going on there and how bad they've been and ironically enough it it hasn't been goaltending really it's not hasn't been the biggest issue as years prior in philly it's just been overall just horrid play and the injuries have really hurt, right? Like you can't take that for granted because Kevin Hayes is an enormous part of that team. And Ellis is supposed to be a great part. And Ellis has played four games. He's got five points.

But his injury, they can't really figure out what's going on. So two huge players out of the lineup for most of the year. That's a kick in the dick. But you got to look at what happened. And you look at, I think it was Tampa beat them 7-1. It was Tampa's fifth game in eight nights, right? And Philly had been waiting, and they're at home, and they're rested. And then that happens. It's like, holy shit, Chuck Fletcher had enough.

But Yosey stays. Mike Yeo, he stays. He's the interim coach right now. And like I've said before, Terrian, I've said before, Jose stays. Mike Yeo, he stays. He's the interim coach right now. I've said before, Terian was a dick to me a lot of times, but he is a good coach. So I think Vigneault and him, maybe they're tight friends. I don't know.

Fletcher decided they're the guys to let go. I'm friendly with Mike Yeo too. I think he'll do a good job as long as it takes to hire a head coach, if they definitely are. But the Flyers,ers certainly they're in a tough spot right now because they're just ahead of the islanders who are horrific so i don't even know if they i don't even know if they could come back and make the playoffs at this point because once you get in this hole dude it's just so difficult especially in that division yeah it's kind of like a doug armstrong move in a sense of he was pretty confident in the roster that he'd assembled when St. Louis when they ended up firing Yo.

So kind of like a reverse situation for him. He ends up getting the reins now on what is to believe the playoff team. And, you know, he was able to turn it all around. As far as the A.V. firing, I feel like this bad luck streak kind't have came at a worse possible time. Some of those games, yes, the straw that broke the camel's back is getting fist pumped when you got a Tampa team who's depleted.

They're going through all these injuries, worse probably than what Philly's going through, and they're sitting there licking their chops, and then they can't come out and put up a decent performance. Everything came unglued. I guess you could blame that loss on everyone. But I watched that game against the Rangers.

I thought that they outplayed them. And then Shosturkin stood on his head. So every possible thing that could have went wrong in this little stretch after what was a pretty good start to the season kind of just led to be like something's got to change quick because it has to soon in order as you mentioned to make team in this in this come out of this division and make playoffs nowadays with the competitive nature of the league it's like it's it's so hard to fall behind now because there's

no easy games anymore especially in that division and i feel like we say that about each division i guess the two strongest ones we probably thought this one was going to be the strongest one coming in i think we kind of got to give the nod to back to the central just given with what's going on there it's close though i yeah the flyers it's what's crazy is the year um when covet hit 2020 like going they were the number one seed when the bubble started they were unreal that year that was vigno's first season so things changed so quickly and last year they really struggled didn't get in the playoffs and then this year it's just been a disaster so i i mean i wouldn't be shocked i know fletcher said like

he's talking to people but he's in no rush so like if mike yo if they start ripping it up who knows maybe he's their guy you know i don't i don't know how that's all gonna play out they need another assistant i don't know who will be his assistants right now, but it is definitely time for Philly to figure it out. And they're seven points back as well, but they do have a couple games in hand, so if they win them, you're only three points back. They're hardly out of it as well,

and I think that's probably why Fletcher did this now before it gets too far away from him. Also, this clip went around. I guess it happened Monday morning. I think some police were bringing their dogs across the ice, and one of the dogs stopped. It couldn't have been any more perfect. Right in the middle of the logo and just dropped a heat stick

all over the Flyers logo. Just obvious metaphors you can get, but I don't know. Maybe that'll change the team's luck biz, having the dog shit right on the center ice logo. I mean, we've seen it all this year, you know, teams trying to shake it up, whether it's closed-door meetings, firing GMs, firing coaches, jerseys on the ice. This is, I mean, the fan base has brought it to a whole new level.

They got dogs shitting on the logo, middle of the ice, to turn this season around for the Philadelphia Flyers. And I tell you what, desperate times call for desperate measures. So let's hope that steaming pile of dog shit is what turns this season around for the Philadelphia Flyers. 47 years. It's going to come up on 47 years. What do you think Mark Madden's thinking right now?

Oh, he's so happy. Just dancing on the Flyers. Actually, he's not happy because the Steelers won. He despises the Steelers too. But quickly, going back to Rick Talkett, that would be such a fun hire, man. That's like the perfect fitting glove. We've been joking around in the group chat,

but he ain't giving us nothing. So hopefully I can get some inside intel out of him in the next couple days at TNT. What does your gut say, Biz? Does he take it? My gut says that the – does this probably mean that Yo is going to take over until the end of the season? No.

Right now, Fletcher has said that he's talking to people, but there's no rush. And right now, it's like Yo's team, and if they do well – Yeah. I think this is probably the smart approach because, like, if he's got such a good pulse on what's going on and maybe the things that need to be fixed, better off giving him maybe three, four weeks to figure it out. And then it gives Fletcher a little time to buy time to figure out who the next candidate is. And I feel like that's the way that Vancouver handled it too.

I think this has probably been orchestrated in the last six weeks about who they were going to end up picking. So that would be a great fit. I don't know any other names that have popped up. I just saw a pocket from Sarah Valley earlier, but of course it just happened this morning, so I'm sure we'll hear more as the day goes on. Any final notes on the firing boys? I mean, Torts is another guy with a personality

that I'm sure they'd love in Philadelphia. Oh, my goodness. So there's a couple of match made in heavens. We should turn this into a reality show. Torts would probably be the number one guy to get something turned around. For them, if they were to do it in the next couple of weeks here? In terms of any team who fires their coach in early December and the team's really struggling, I think Tortorella, it's just such a culture shock that it's like, let's go.

He's bound to get teams figured out. I also think Mike Yeo, though, who has experienced being a head coach twice now in the league, right? And he's getting another chance, and maybe they go on a little run with him. Because this team, talk about being able to come back and make it in the playoffs. Like I said, that is impossible for Vancouver. If Philly turned it around, I wouldn't be shocked with this roster. If they can get Ellis back. I agree with you on the sternness too, though.

Because you saw Berube in the lead up to the Winter Classic. And the way that he talks to the guys in the locker room. He's just flat out honest, man. If you look, you're right in the eye and tell you're playing like dog shit so yeah sometimes you need that sternness for those quick turnarounds so who knows man but the carousel continues r.a absolutely i'm not sure if any of these guys are going to be looking for new houses or mortgages if they are they should check out our friends at cross-country mortgage cross-country mortgage is much like us at Bostel, a people-first group

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years we always said how boring they were but head coach dean evison he came in by the way he's in the last year his contract but i'm sure billy garran just working on a new deal for him because he came in same thing we were just talking about sort of as an interim guy and he clearly had the read of the room the guys love playing for him and you know the wild have not lost more than two in a row under evison since that took over is crazy he have not lost more than two in a row under Everson since he took over. That is crazy. He hasn't lost more than two games in a row since he's taken over. That is such an unreal stat.

Whit, I'll let you start this one out. This team's deep. They're fast. They play with pace. They're getting great goaltending from Talbot. They really do have a team that I think could win the Stanley Cup. Like, I don't know. They're just very deep in every position, and they play with so much pace that it's a hard team to deal with. And then, like, that line with Foligno and, like, the way he plays.

And then I look at Greenway. So I saw Greenway play at BU. He was a U.S. national program kid. I've heard nothing but really good things. He actually played on a line with matthews i think there and ended up going to bu and goes to minnesota and keeps getting better and better just a huge guy that can skate right that's somebody that's so difficult to play against in today's nhl you can't hold up and he's so big and strong felino's similar felino's all also tough as shit you mean

the bench jumper well so the bench jumper biz mentioned so felino's the other night is going off the ice he's got one leg over the board and in the process of that happening um simmons the the wayne train went to try to fight who was he trying to fight uh shit this shit i should know this because i was watching but either way felino said nope nope nope and got right back on the ice now people right away were saying like is that is that off the bench 10 games i don't think no way i don't think no chance if you're a 10 game suspension if you're sitting on the bench you're not a part you haven't been a part of the play at all, and you hop over to fight. He had just been changing.

Clarkson. I don't know. What? Remember when Clarkson did it in preseason for the Leafs? Yeah, he did. Because I think he was protecting Kessel from John Scott, Tomahawk. I've talked about it many a times. I ended up getting a 10-gamer for a very, very similar situation.

But in this case, I think Kaprizov ended up staying on the bench so he didn't or near the bench so it didn't look as bad uh throughout the video i was just poking fun because i think some leaf fans wanted him kicked out because he ended up scoring a goal and then of course they uh they beat toronto a shootout so i was being a poopy pants leafs fan there but uh but kaprizov definitely saved them for at least it being a conversation because it's a 10-game suspension automatic. I did it in preseason where Max Domi was skating towards the bench, but then a scrum ensued, so he turned back and went back on the ice because I thought he was coming, so there was a little bit of confusion.

So I'll throw it back to you, Witt. So that was one of the quote-unquote controversies of that game. But those two guys, Foligno and Greenway, back to you wit so that was one of the the quote-unquote controversies of that game but those two guys uh felino and and greenway and then this erickson ekman we talked about that contract last year when they gave him the extension how good of a deal it was and and the fact that those they have three guys like that they can skate they're big they're hard to play against they're good defensively like let alone the the caprizov and Zuccarello and how good they can be

and their power play can be buzzing. The fact that they have these different players now that play with pace and play with energy and that are physical, it is a team that is hard to play against, man. And they're exciting. And Kaprizov, I always say Kaprizov. It's Kaprizov.

I feel bad. I can't get it right. I'm a mush mouth. Marbles in my mouth peasant but I love watching them play and what do we say for so long we hated watching this team play if they were on tv boom change channel and now I look for their games they had the Leafs the other night I was really fired up for that game I bet the wild thank you and I think I think also it's crazy to not mention Hartman and Hartman was a guy that Chicago decided to get rid

of Nashville decided to get rid of and now he's doing what I think people kind of thought he always could get and picked as high as he did in the first round but to get this coach that believes in him and gives him an opportunity and to be doing what he's doing he's playing in the middle on the power plate a nice tip-in goal the other night it's just a team that's well well well rounded and and i think that when i look at them whoever they play in the playoffs like last year they took vegas to seven it will not be easy playing against them and if a team's going to take them out it'll be a grind in a battle of a series and you also look at these little tests you have to face throughout the season and you know they're without spurgeongeon they go against the Red Hot Maple Leafs and then they must start a

win even after giving up that three goal lead and you could really go through the entire lineup you mentioned Zuccarello like I feel I feel like him and Kaprizov had a bit of a slow start together you know and then all of a sudden lately they're kind of picking it up but you know you had other lines at the beginning of the season and guys who were able to pick up fiala that trade they made to get him over from nashville he keeps progressing as a player as well so you know when you can when you can miss a guy like spurgeon on the back end and and and beat a team who's red hot and keep this train rolling and as you said they're kind of they're kind of built for that you know that playoff hockey with how big they are they have such a big balance and and people say, oh, like their first line, Caprizo.

Caprizo, I think he's like 220 pounds. No. I think he's like, somebody was telling me that he's built like a brick shithouse under his gear. Like you would never think it the way he moves out there. Grinnelli, maybe it says 210 on HockeyDB or something like that. NHL.com has him listed at 5'10", 202 pounds. Really?

Okay. Even if it's just that, that's a tank, and he's probably a little bit heavier. But the way he moves, I do what you're saying. But that's why people, when they hear Ovechkin's 235, they're like, what? You know what I mean? Sometimes you can't tell. But Goligoski too, man,

shout out goose. You saw him in Arizona. That's a huge deal. They bring him over. He's been money. Steady. Eddie gets the puck out of the zone. Doing it.

He gets it out tape to tape. And all of a sudden the transition game and the ability to get in the office of zone quicker changes immensely. So I've talked about Spurgeon forever. Dumba looks good. It's his team has no holes dude and and going to goose i mean we talked about chris russell last episode about how he was able to adapt his game like he was an offensive defenseman coming in and despite his abilities

to make plays with his touches and really get clean breakouts and you know not a lot of fumble fucking always giving his partner a great pass and leading him with it so they can also come out clean on the other side. He fucking blocks shots like crazy. I don't know how he's doing this year in Minnesota with it because I haven't had an ample amount of time to watch it, but here with the Coyotes, man, he's a guy who's great on the penalty kill, eats pucks. They got Jordy Ben as well over from Vancouver doing the little dirty work as well.

So this is just a great team that's playing well as a full-man unit Jordy Ben as well over from Vancouver, like doing the little dirty work as well. So this is just a great team that's playing well as a full-man unit and getting really, really, really good coaching. Now, do you think... Sorry, one sec. Have you heard anything about Evanston? Do you know anyone who's played for him? No, but I was going to ask you, do you think that they need to make one more move before the deadline

if they want to be taken seriously? I feel like they're just one move away up front. Yeah, you know, there aren't many teams who I think could not use bringing in somebody, whether on the back end or up front. Maybe Colorado on the D doesn't need anyone else. But any team team if they can add something at the deadline nice would look to do it they're no different but i just wonder i was watching the game evanson he looks intense dude he is on the bench he's into it he's fired

up i mean he was he was fired up because i think when in overtime when spezza got the slash he went down and grabbed his wrist, and it wasn't even the one that got slashed. So it was embellishment. But he left the game. They played the next game, though. Maybe he was okay, though. He was grabbing the wrong wrist.

He was grabbing it. And Evanston was losing his mind. Because he gets to see the replay. And we have another incident with a coach losing his mind that we're going to talk to you about later. R.A., do you think that there should be a like a challenge in that situation well when they think a guy's faking an injury well no like i mean it's it's clear on the video he ends up you know he gives him a little bit of a tap on the on the glove he goes down in a heap and he ends up grabbing the wrong wrist and

i will say like it was a bit of a love tap. I didn't even think it warranted a penalty in overtime. And if anything, you definitely could have gave him embellishment because he grabs the wrong wrist. The video does not look great. I'll just put it that way. Yeah, I don't know. If you want to start adding every penalty to potential reviews, I know they only have certain circumstances now,

but I think that's something where the refs will see the video after and kind of make a mental note, and maybe the guy won't get the benefit of the doubt on the next couple of calls, perhaps. I got this question for you guys as we finish up on the Wild. I figured you want to slow down the game a little bit more already. Wild fans, you should be fired up because this is a fun team to watch.

That building is sick. If you ever get the chance to check out, I don't even know if it's still called the Excel Energy Center, but what a sick barn that is, and it gets rocking. So right now, they got a seven-point lead in their division. Colorado and Dallas are the only two teams who haven't played 24 games in the Central. They both have 21. So right now, they got a nine-point lead on Colorado with three games in hand,

or Colorado has three games? You don't remember? Yeah. Would you take Minnesota to win that division right now? Or would you take Colorado? Ooh. Say Colorado gets five of the six points available. They're still down four or five to them.

Or three or four points. Man, I'd be hard to bet against minnesota win that division so i i had them not making playoffs and i think that you guys talked me into picking them and or dallas so i might even not have minnesota making playoffs like the fucking clown that i am yes i think i was dead wrong about this team i thought it last year was a bit of a kind of one of those like glory you know what i thought last year was i thought it was a bit of a kind of one of those like glory. You know what I thought last year was? I thought it was a Vancouver Canucks style, made a good run, got to the second round, lost in game seven to Vegas. And the next year, oh, we're going to see it again.

And then, no. But they look good, man. As you said, they just don't really have many weaknesses. And with certain guys out of the lineup, they still get it done. They're still a well-oiled machine. So, yes, I would still pick them to win the division. Buddy, Mike Russo did a great article on Everson the other day. I guess he kind of delegates a lot with the leaders in his room.

Because he played, he's not one of these up their ass all the time. He's an intense coach, but he actually leans on his veterans quite a bit. And Marcus Foligno has really blossomed as a true great NHL leader in the last couple seasons there, particularly under Everson. Also want to mention rookie Rem Pitt. This guy was claimed off waivers back in October from Nashville. Five goals, five assists in 15 games. He's really stood out a bunch of games too.

And also, boys, I don't know if we've mentioned this yet. We're going to be out in Minnesota for the Winther Classic this year. December, January, Minnesota. I can't fucking wait. If anyone wants to send us somewhere where we can go ice fishing, these guys want to go ice fishing. Just get me a hot chocolate with some fucking liquor

in it if we're going ice fishing. I can't imagine. People love doing it. They sit in these huts and they sit around and they get loaded and they fish for fish in the fucking frozen ponds. But I'll try it. Me and Grinnelli were thinking of a little idea where we compete against Chicklets fans in some type of dikathalon where they have to meet up with us at these random spots. Like one of them, they'll have to do a best of seven series against you for the paper rock scissor.

And then if they win win they get like a pink whitney merch package with some with some vodka and then maybe do a quick game of bowling because you probably can't bowl right now because your arm right i can bowl i'm a righty bowling oh maybe we go maybe we go full team of four us against four fans at a bowling alley one game uh we could find like an axe throwing place as one of the other events. So we go around town one afternoon going to all these different locations

doing these events. Ice fishing being one of them, like you got to catch, first one to catch a fish. And then you guys are going to go head to head in chess, I think. Oh, 100%. In Minnesota as well.

So Whit thinks because he went to a private school that he can beat me in chess. He doesn't know that. No, I think I can beat you in chess because I know how to read. You went to Cranbrook, a private school. His parents had a real nice marriage. R.A., are you a chess player?

I haven't played in so long, I don't even know the rules anymore. I mean, I could probably take a refresh. You just hop them, right? It's the one that you hop over. Oh, no, wait. That's Connect Four. Yeah, I haven't played in so long.

I'm very rusty. I probably couldn't even give anybody a game. That's how long it's been. I mean, I haven't played in 10 years. I just know I got biz beat. So you don't want to play chess? Yeah, I watched the queen's gambit once well i never watched that show you just moved from the f4 to the other numbers right

um but okay i'm looking forward to playing you in chess i think that i can put up a better better fight than you think buddy i was all right who do you got who do you think wins dude i i don't know i have no idea how good either of these guys i've never seen them play i wouldn't even know who's a good chess player all right i'm gonna delete your number if you don't say me i got i would put a line as a pick them because i've never seen either but um i don't know my god this is like sometimes like plays dumb but he's really not so i think he could be sneaky shopping chest that's what i was thinking too i picked witt in the cook-off but i'm gonna go with uh biz with the chest.

What if I make three moves and I got him in checkmate? All your spitting chicklets, idiots, fucking jaws will drop. Because you think Witt's a smart guy. The only chance Biz beats me is if he has a tiny little, what are those things called in your ear? Like a headset. And then he's got Jeff sitting there fucking telling him what move to make. next like his whole life like an old actor who can't remember his lines like and get yeah exactly to him oh yeah jeff wait what do i do yeah what oh sorry yeah okay i'll

move this pawn and then i end up like uh what was the the movie with that guy where the nipple the nipple things uh end up electrocuting him. What? When the guy's got the earpiece. I got nipples, Greg. Can you milk me? No, it was the, is it, not forgetting Sarah Marshall. R.A., it was with the guy from American Pie. And he was in this movie where he had his buddy in his ear while he was on this date with this girl.

Who was going to become a nun. Oh, Saving Silverman. Saving Silverman. One of the best undercover movies ever. he was on this date with this girl who was going to become a nun and oh saving silverman saving silverman one of the best undercover movies ever yeah that's saving sylvanaman yeah yeah amanda pete throwing that's gonna be me at the chess table just nipples on fire and then his buddy ends up with the cuckoo cuckoo chick at the end oh the one that they kidnapped yeah yeah his buddy ends up with her she's like he like collects like animals and shit that's a great movie um what were we talking about before that oh yeah

me spanking you in chest so it'll be a fun time in minnesota we're gonna i know we've had some minnesota fans being like we haven't seen enough love from you guys we're gonna hopefully get a couple player interviews while we're there uh we'd love to sit down with billy g talk about yeah we can actually use we could actually use your help, Chicklets listeners. If you ever run into Billy G, just say, please go on Chicklets. You see him in a restaurant, go up to his table

while he's eating steak, just get right in his face. Billy, please go on Chicklets. If you see him in the grocery store, anywhere you see him, say, Billy G, please go on Chicklets. That might help us. By him getting you guys off his back by coming on our show could be a good thing so uh our loyal listeners we appreciate your help getting billy g and the thing is as much as we want to talk about the wild with him

and how he's built this team we want to talk about his career fucking guy as a legend two-time stanley cup champ no doubt so when we're in mini look, look out for our dikathlon, as Biz called it. It's just an idea, Ed. And, R.A., should we talk about the – we're having a Pink Whitney party there, too, the day of the game. We're going to be able to walk to wherever the game is. So it's going to be – do we have the address yet, Grinnelli? I don't know if we're supposed to give out the exact address yet,

just contractually and stuff yet. Okay. But we will soon. Okay. Got to follow the rules, guys. But we will be in minnesota and we're looking forward to seeing all of you all right gang moving right along we had a pretty big extension signed since last week the devils gave jack hughes an eight-year 64 million dollar extension that will keep him in newark until 2030 there's lots of speculation that this deal will be a bargain in a few years but he has 20 goals 35 assists in 119 games before he signed the deal and I think that raised a few eyebrows but Biz what was your take on this one yeah I don't want

to be the grandpa yelling at the cloud old guy take I am very happy for him I think that he has dedicated his life to hockey and I think that he's going to turn into a superstar. I just don't understand why not just wait. He's gotten 55 points in a short amount of time. If he's able to produce a point per game rate leading into the summer, then you say, hey, here's your 8 times 8. Well, what's he going to do at that point you're like oh at that point he's going to ask for nine and it's like well then fucking sit at home

like at one point there has to be a little bit of pushback from from general managers in order to in a cap situation to to get give your team a little leeway for potential mistakes down the road i just i don't understand the the the term being given now as opposed having to prove it and or that getting the the number a little bit lower if this is a bargain i'll fuck gladly put my shoe in my mouth but far too many times we've seen like okay well you know they you know they still could have in my opinion got him a little bit cheaper and or made him sit at home and if you're turning down eight times eight after this season let's say the the whole season plays out minus the games that he was injured for, he could maybe, he'll probably be just broken over 100 points in his NHL career.

You don't think as a general manager you're going to have the fan base's side in saying, listen, we're offering him $8 million for eight years and this guy has put up 100 points for the organization with a pretty a pretty strong you know background of winning championships championships and stuff like that so i think that you're really going to get the fans on your side if you don't give that up right away so i don't know what i'll hand it over to you i just think that it's getting crazier and crazier on the on the the getting it without proved it. I love when the guys get paid, though. Yeah, it's great, and that is this league now.

It's betting on and paying for potential as opposed to paying for what's been done and what's been proven. And I'll say this year he does look like he's been hurt, but he looks bigger and he looks stronger. Before the year, a lot of people said he's got three goals in five games and you've got to think it's Tom Fitzgerald and it's the entire staff believing, listen, we know, we truly know that this guy is going to be an 80 to 90 point guy

every single year and in two years, what a bargain this is. But I do agree with you in that like at the end of this year he didn't have he doesn't have our braids right so it's like coming off his entry level part of it is like the other part of it is like maybe teams are just so afraid of like pissing off these young players and which is which is so different than years past and the way the nhl used to be and who gives a fuck how pissed off these young guys are. We'll do whatever we want to them. But to see that deal given

out, I was like, wow. If you are a first-round pick now, and Grant, he's first overall. There's a big difference between first overall and 12th overall. But if you are a first-round pick now, dude, just come out of the gates decent. Come out of the gates good to to really

good and you are set for not beyond set for life you're set for life with with the contract i got let alone fucking 64 million dude it's it's it's a crazy game now and it's why these guys have changed in terms of uh in terms of like how professional at a young age guys are, how little drinking goes on nowadays, the training, how serious guys take it, the money now involved at such an early young age. It's like, dude, when you're at 16, if all of a sudden you're being talked about as a first-round pick, 15, 16 years old, buddy, buckle in, do your work, dial it in, and you will be money. And if you get in a team that's going to give you a chance to play at 18, 19, 20, and you light it up for a couple years, not even light it up, if you just do well, you're going to get paid. And speaking about how much the game's changed, Biz, oh, this made me throw up. This made me want to puke. I'm talking to one of my buddies in the NHL, and he goes, dude,

do you want to know what the young guys on my team did the other night? I said, what? They went out to dinner, six of them, and they split the bill. Oh, I knew it. So the bill came. Hold on. Hold on. No, no, this is worse.

They split the bill, Biz. Six cards. Hey, just, Miss, just please, you know, divide it evenly. six cards hey just uh miss just please you know divide it evenly they then got a hat and they took the hat and they put the six credit cards in and they played credit card game to see who would have lost oh i'm gonna log to see who would have lost this great great podcast i'm done it was fun boy i'm good great great seeing you guys today my phone off my kitchen can we send it to elias now please they played credit card game fake credit card game to see who would have lost that dude me and this kid we used to play credit card

game for everything i'm talking that's worth a fucking jersey on the ice i'm talking the movies i'm talking to shoot guns in edmonton on the ice. I'm talking the movies. I'm talking to shoot guns in Edmonton. Oh, I didn't mean to give away who it was. We would play credit card game for everything. And now they're doing fake credit card game. It made me want to throw up. It made me not know what the NHL is.

The worst part, they were at In-N-Out where they did it. Fucking rates are, right? Fucking, that's brutal, dude. Why even bother? I mean, just six guys going and getting six different fucking checks is bad enough, but then to fucking play a dummy version. That's worse than getting up

and not even paying the bill. And then there was one guy who was like, I actually only had a salad. That's worse than getting up and completely ditching the bill. We can move on. Uh, what were we talking about?

Uh, Jack Hughes extension. Oh yeah. But Hey, I like, so what do you think about the new slew ban? Uh, okay.

We'll get to that quickly though. But do you agree with what I'm saying? Like from a, I'm trying to take my mind inside the GM's head here and say, you, I agree with you. These guys, maybe they're not trying to piss off these young guys. Like that to be the case because I would be thinking to myself if we're prepared from

ownership we've gotten clearance to give him eight times eight I'm going to say listen this is sitting here waiting for you if you're able to show me the rest of the year that you can be the guy that we think you are because I at least have to see it for a sustainable amount of time at like I would say that somebody who's going to garnish that much money at least in the third year their entry level should be a point per game player and and you know taking over games at some points so just show me that sustainably where he didn't he was so young when he came in his first year i don't i don't blame him for not putting up the points that maybe crosby did when he when he stepped in he still had to grow into his body more so than a guy like Sid Sid didn't even fucking get paid based on accomplishments Sid didn't get paid anywhere near what this guy's making

after the three years that he'd performed in the NHL I don't think he had an injury I think he led him to the Stanley Cup finals in the last year of his entry-level contract so it's just like we're talking about like you say about times of change like i'm willing to move with the pendulum i just think that this is getting a little bit to the lunacy side to where if we have a lockout in a few more years well it's going to be because gms decided to start paying guys based on all these projections and i'm not saying these things have never happened before what there is going to be some ugly ugly cases of teams getting burnt that's what i'm saying that's that's what you know you and and that'll that'll that'll kill

some gms there'll be cases of gms who gave a couple guys deals who didn't deserve it yet and then they didn't pan out and then boom the fucking teams in the shitter but um quickly away from that and by the way congratsats to Hughes. That's sick. Because I actually do think this kid is going to be a game breaker. We'll see, though. But I want to shout out, and we haven't done it yet on this podcast, but if you've watched Jersey, and the fans are definitely listening to this show because of Elias on this episode, but this Dawson Mercer, dude,

is so nasty, and he's probably going to lose a little bit of ice time with Hughes coming back and some of those offensive touches he was getting. But the 18th overall pick in 2020, so two summers ago. Wow. This guy's a player. So that's someone that's a

player good enough that will quickly turn around the devil's fortunes in terms of where they want to go in these next couple years when you're able to get a guy 18th overall that is this good, this young. So I wanted to shout him out for a while. I think people were barking about the Calder early on for him. I mean, there's a few other guys who have stepped it up in the meantime. Raymond right now is running around.

Oh, my. Raymond is fucking nasty. I think for what Mo's doing as a defenseman, as a rookie, because I would consider that maybe a little bit of a harder position to come in at a younger age. Yep, true. To where you're maybe a little bit more on an island. And Zegers.

All of a sudden, Zegers is second in rookie scoring. And then we've mentioned Bunting at the beginning of the year, so I know we're fading off into the rookie of the year talk. You mentioned the Slw ban situation. Well, R.A., I guess we could tie it in with the Marchand situation because he ended up getting three games for his slew foot on Oliver Ekman-Larsen against Vancouver, correct? Yep, got it right here.

Yeah, Marchand, he did get three games. That came out after we recorded last week for slew foot and OEL on Vancouver. And like we said, given all the punish we've seen for Slew Footen, namely from PK, three games seemed like a reputation call. I talked to some guys from around the league, nothing to do with Boston over the weekend, and they kind of agreed that they were very surprised he got three games from it. And then, of course, what happens?

PK looks like he did it again this time with Nick Gielis. There's been nothing announced so far. You've got to think he's probably going to get fined again where he's already gotten two fines. But I don't know, man. Is something just clicking in his head where he's just like, don't do that, don't do that, and then he just ends up doing it or what? Yeah, well, we brought it up, I think, what, two or three podcasts ago.

We let it settle, but Tim Peel ended up sending out a tweet recently. I'm pretty sure we haven't mentioned it, saying that he he communicated with pk and that this has become a bit of a glitch where he he doesn't want to do it but he just so happens it keeps finding himself in the situation so it's becoming his natural reaction i don't think he's going to get benefit of the doubt on this ehlers one because it once again looked like it i would say that based on intent and maliciousness and result, the Oliver-Eckman-Larsen one that Marchand pulled off

probably was worse than any of the PK ones, but that still doesn't exempt him from punishment at the fact that there's clear intent there, regardless of if he's got this glitch or not. Wait, did you read that tweet from Tim Peel? Like, I completely believe that... I do too. If that...

Yeah. That he might have a glitch because he's clearly aware that people are now aware that he's doing it. I'm kind of shocked that with how the league handed out a three-gamer to Marshawn, they have yet to acknowledge or address any type of suspension

for PK. I would imagine if this is a glitch, we are going to eventually see a PK suspension. I got the tweet right here if you want it. Yeah, read it off. He says, I can unequivocally say that PK Subban is not a dirty player. I talked to PK and he told me this is just a bad habit that has crept into his game. I refereed him and i know him personally i can guarantee he is not trying to intentionally hurt any player wait i mean what do you what do you like what if you're the guy on the receiving end of his next one and he's like oh sorry sorry you're just kind of no you're fuming it's like dude glitches are real when you do no matter what happens you do it because you've been doing it for so long. Like, dude, I put a G in the word especially. Especially.

It drives people fucking nuts. I know I'm doing it. It's a glitch. I cannot help it. The same way PK is probably defending and engaging in guys, and naturally his leg just goes behind. The problem is it's one of the dirtiest plays in hockey. Since this podcast began, I said slew footing is the dirtiest play in hockey.

in hockey i've long since this podcast began i said slew footing is the dirtiest play in hockey now the eelers one the eelers one it almost looked like he kind of realized it at the end yeah and didn't and didn't really go forward maybe that's what it's gonna take is like oh my god like i have to i have to be so hypnotized you gotta hypnotize them it's like people try to quit smoking by like being hypnotized. I think that he's just going to have to be so weary and understand that like when I engage with somebody, I cannot get my feet behind their feet. Because if he does it again, dude, like a bad one. Not only that way, it's also the extended arm quick tug back. it's also the extended arm quick tug back and in hockey it's just like the minute even if it's a little tug with that weight that that kick from behind coming there's a clip for when he was with the canadians when he did it to kunitz and this one didn't result in anything bad but it looked

ugly like kunitz went and skate first into the boards it could have easily been a fucking ankle on the other like facing the other way on his leg type of situation so it it sucks because like i where i believe him it's just like well if it's a glitch you got to worry about the player safety so if this keeps happening and all of a sudden somebody gets injured real bad by it we're gonna have a shitty situation on our hand so i just kind of felt that it was odd that marshall got the three when everybody's clear that that there's another situation going on in the league and with that all right i think we could probably stick with the boston conversation yeah might as well um let's see uh tuka rask that was the story another story monday he's the emergency backup goalie at the bruins practice uh he's obviously not signed yet uh feels like

better than having the Zamboni driver uh it does feel like it's just a matter of time he's back with the team I mean this was sort of the plan I think from the get-go he's going to get the surgery see how things go with their two goalies and you know they're not playing at a level that's going to get this team into the playoffs right now obviously bringing Rask Olmock will be his backup they can send Swayman down to Providence not risk losing him but what I mean it feels like the writing's on the wall here he's going to be back with this team sooner rather than later yeah and

the fan and the fans who don't want him back they are such fools because you're not getting the goaltending you need like Ari just said to get into the playoffs you're not getting the consistent goaltending you sign Olmoc to big dough so like people are always paying him five million bucks for three more years. Can't be the backup. Well, in the end, you're probably going to give Tuca 800 grand. So you got six to seven million for

two goalies. Who cares what the backup's making? And Swayman has looked great at times. And then who knows if somebody goes down, you have him in the pipeline. It's a good scenario. It's a good situation. Rask only wants to be a Bruin. He can help you right now. The fans who don't want it are the fans who have – what is the word when you have something against somebody over the things in the past? Prejudice? A grudge, right?

A grudge, yeah. They don't like Tuca. There's fans in this city who do not like him. I've long said they're fools, but because he's never won the Stanley Cup, people will forever say, we don't want him, we don't want him. Well, let me tell you something right now.

As somebody who knows more than you do about hockey, you need him. So I don't know how he's feeling, but for him to be on the ice, that means the hip's feeling good. He must be at least getting close to ready to play. And why wouldn't you take a guy like that, who's one of the better goaltenders in the league

at a short, short run? It's a dream scenario. It it's a dream scenario they have because i think that they have two competent goalies i don't think they're getting the best out of both guys you're not financially over committed and swayman's still on entry level you can send him down he doesn't have to clear waivers he can go dominate in the american league correct he's off his entry level right or he's on his entry level excuse me yeah they Yeah, they can't lose him to waivers like they could have. That's what I'm saying. This is a dream scenario. And if these fans want to get poopy pants,

it's like you also don't know how many more years Rask is going to play. So you have a competent net miner in all mark who can then, you know, when Rask doesn't want to play. Rask might do one more run and say, you know what? I'm fucking sick of these fans again. Fuck, you know, they don't appreciate it. I think it would be year by year by year for him yeah i don't think he gives a fuck about it the fans be honest with you what what i don't even think he gives a fuck about the fans no no you don't think it wears on him no i don't i think i think i think the only thing that wears on him is when he's

playing hockey he can't play golf so that's kind of annoying but i think that the fans he dude tuka is his own fucking cat dude he does not give a shit like he's not somebody that is going to be sitting at home like worried about fans telling him he stinks yeah good to know i just meant from like a exhausting standpoint when you as an athlete when you give your a city all you can give them and yet they don't appreciate you i just didn't know how that would be received from an athlete i never had to deal with it the reason the disconnect there is what you just said is the fans the fans who don't like him do not think he's given them everything he could give that is the difference right there and i think it gets amplified to it with like felgar and maz on the radio they've always

kind of beat that drum and people around here are sheep when they listen to sports radio they start beating the same drum i think the vast majority of bruins fans okay appreciate him and what he's done and would love to see him i just you know i look back i'm not trying to look too much into things too like last year he played with that torn labrum you know i didn't know maybe if that was his kind of to show boston, like regardless of how I feel, I'm going to stay in here and try to do what I can to help this team win. So I'll take your word for it. I don't know him well enough, but I know this.

If I had given as much as he'd given to City and still had a portion of the fan base ragging on me that hard, I think that it would affect would affect me but i'm also a sensitive guy so uh all right the other story out of boston uh spider-man he wants out of town jake debrusk has officially requested a trade he's got uh four goals three assists in 20 games so far he's kind of been in and out of coach cassidy's doghouse for a while now i guess they reached out to otter about a potential trade over the summer. Didn't pan out. He's going to be a restricted free agent after this season.

He's making $3.675 million. Now, with a league like this, Biz, doesn't that sort of make a deal less likely or even sort of torpedo his value? I don't even know why an agent would want that news out there. Yeah, I don't know, especially if it was made aware in the summer and they'd already garnished interest. Garnered. Garnered?

Yeah. Garnished goes on food, right? Yeah, we were talking about it earlier with the butthole hairs on the steak. R.A., I've got to ask you. I know that there's been inconsistency in his play, and he hasn't reached the play he had a few years ago where he had close to 30 goals, like 27 goals or something. 27.

Yeah. What do you make of his play? I just don't think he has a ton of confidence right now. Like Witt said, that's a huge factor. He hasn't really played confident. I don't think he's the most physical guy either way, but he does not look like the same guy from the playoffs a few years ago when he scored those big goals versus Toronto.

In and out of the coach's doghouse, I'm sure that's going to wear on a guy. You don't want to play for him, but just because he made the request doesn't mean he's going to go anywhere. But have you guys ever been on a team where guys make the request and does that have any effect in the room? Do guys understand it? How does that go over sometimes? I was on the Coyotes when Kyle Turris had the yeah i think there was a trade request because he wasn't getting what he

wanted uh contract wise um depends on who it is yeah it depends on who it is you know and you know what they've done for the team i i never really held it against guys because i didn't understand what their their relationships were with the coach behind closed doors and and even if a guy wasn't playing that great if he felt that a change of scenery would would have been better for him I think that that's kind of his right now I think that there's also if you're if you're not going to take accountability for for maybe how you've been playing like that's the thing is some guys think that like oh I just you know I need a different coach when really it was like well no you you needed to figure it out yourself that's why i asked i have not had the opportunity to watch him close enough with do you think that this is a guy who could figure it out and turn around back in boston or does he

does he need that change of scenery i i think he needs a change of scenery um cam neely's quotes were oh that it's to see the team president say that when i asked about he said uh he used to be greasy jake where he'd get a lot of those greasy goals around the net we haven't seen much of that since his second year so it's like at that point it's like it's pretty evident that there's a there's an enormous disconnect between what he thinks he's doing and what the team, the coaching staff, and the president thinks he's doing. It's like when you're that off base with each other, it's almost like time for a change. Now, they don't want to give him away for anything.

What would they get for him? Who would be interested? The thing is that's odd about R.A. bringing up, why would you put it out there? You've got to still play for the team. And I've never understood why. Did you say, sorry, I might have missed it, that they put this out there? It's like, you got to still play for the team. And I've never understood why. Did you say, sorry, I'm going to miss it, that they put this out there?

His agent did? His agent did, yes. His agent mentioned it to someone. Now, as an agent, you got to know way more than I do in terms of maybe this actually helps a deal get done that other teams know, but it makes it a lot harder for the player. I think you're also trying to show your client,

I think you're trying to show your client you're willing to do anything for him to get him in the situation that he wants. Okay, well, I'll argue there because as your client, the next game after that came out, he was getting booed relentlessly. I hear you. Hey, I'm not saying it was the right approach. I think it was in Nashville. I think he scored.

Yeah, it wasn't that game. It was a home game the night that it came out. He wanted to be traded. And I don't remember who they were playing against. But, man, it all goes back. It all goes back. I've brought this up a bunch on this show to June 2015, man. And that draft might be the draft that ended up ruining the Bruins.

It really might be. And you look at what went down and who they picked. They went three in a row, dude. Jacob Zaborl, Jake DeBrusque, and Zach Shenshin. I can't say his name correctly. Dude, Barzal, Connor, Thomas Shabbat, Joel Eriksson-Ack, Ilya Samsonov, Brock Besser, Travis Konechny. Dude, Sebastian Ajo, man, all after three in a row.

Add three of those guys to your lineup right now, and the Bruins are fucking cup favorites every single year. Yeah, Marshall's on the second line. Yeah, and they... Oh, R.A.'s pissed. That was Don Sweeney, right? Right, R.A.? That was Don Sweeney?

Yeah, it was his first draft, and I think all the other GMs saw him coming because I think he thought he was going to get a deal somewhere, and it never came, and he had to make three picks, which was unusual. And then you've got a bottom six guy, a guy asking for a trade, and basically an AHL. That's just not good for the healthy future of the franchise. You've got to get one.

It is what will be the end of the Bruins dynasty, that draft right there. Yeah, huge misstep. I'm calling them a dynasty. But I don't mean that. I mean, they've had a fucking 15-year run here, a 10-year run of being legit contenders every year. Yeah, I mean, they were basically, I would say,

I don't know, is it two titles for a dynasty or three? Probably three, but I think it's two if it's within three years maybe, but to get a dynasty, it's kind of Chicago three in ten years or three in eight years. Well, they got three in six. Chicago did? Yeah. That was six years. Holy shit. But even if the Bruins got one more,

they would at least get mentioned in the same breath as the big bad Bruins from that era. I don't consider the Kings a dynasty. Okay, so I was just going to say I would put them in the Kings category, R.A., where with that core group, they won two. They won two in three years, I believe. And I think it went Chicago, L.A., Chicago, L.A., Chicago. And I think Boston was the one right before that right before chicago am i am i mistaken no because i went chicago 10 boston 11 la 12 chicago 13 la 14 chicago 15 oh shit okay well then i'm an idiot i'll tell you this though i i in interviewing him and knowing

his dad i really root for him yeah so i hope he gets out of town and he can flourish somewhere else because great family and a really good kid. But, yeah, it's tough to see a guy who doesn't look like himself for a little while now. All right, we wish him luck whatever happens, of course, friend of the program. Biz, the holidays are here. I know a lot of people are going to be having some pops

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So try it out. As R.A. mentioned, risk-free trial, incredible product, and I use it all the time. All right, boys, we've got some more discipline to get to. This time it was a coach, Carolina coach, Hot Rod Brindamore was fined 25 000 for i guess animatedly arguing a call late in the game versus washington uh the league said it was quote inappropriate conduct end quote uh but no officials or referees filed any post-game report about it

usually sometimes they'll say this guy was an asshole to us and that kind of gets the ball rolling but that didn't happen here uh worth noting he was fined the same amount in the bubble for criticizing the officials during a double OT loss to Boston. But, boys, it just feels like the league is taking emotion out of the game. I mean, he didn't show any of those guys up. He flipped out a little. He bitched about a call. But, I don't know, $25,000 fine for this?

Not to mention that it was the wrong call. It was the wrong call. So I guess a horrible missed offside led to a penalty when they went to make contact on the puck wit, where he ended up getting a slashing call. And they ended up scoring on that power play, and that's what kind of changed the complexion of the game. It made it a 5-on-3.

Yeah, so I almost think that the league is just doing this to garner attention because the fact that a ref didn't put a report in, and this is kind of, I feel like this is something that happens in games all the time and for one of the most likable coaches in the league it almost feels like it's got to be personal or they're just doing it to garner attention because i didn't think that this was that bad to begin with would you not say that you've seen that snapshot on a ref? Same exact thing go down 25 times in your NHL career? A game. Buddy, when Sarah Valley, I think he was the first one to put, like, this is what happened.

Like, he had the clip of what happened. I was waiting to see, like, Brendamore give, like, the blowjob motion to the ref or something. Or like flick him off. Like I couldn't believe that was it. Grab his cock. He was just yelling at the ref. I sent a tweet out.

I thought that was absolutely mind-numbing that he got 25K for that. And I couldn't, you know what? A lot of people write, oh, well, there's problems with abusing referees at a young age in minor hockey. Buddy, come on. I know.

I'm with you on that. There's a definite shortage of referees because asshole parents yell about little Jimmy's tripping penalty that he got on Saturday morning. Might House League. This is the National Hockey League. Do not try to talk about Rod Brindamore yelling at a ref being a statement to the entire hockey community that that's not how you can treat refs. He was in an NHL game giving the ref shit for fucking up a call. And he got $25,000 for that.

I think that was insane. And Biz, you said it. It might be something personal. It might be something personal with someone. Somebody in the league might hate Rod the ball. It had to be on maybe a player for the Oilers something when when they won the cup against them or some shit had to do with it maybe chirp betman sketchers or something i don't know i when i saw the video of what what he got fined for i was like i i couldn't i couldn't believe it he was just giving the ref

shit for making a bad call and you saw another ref uh i don't know if we have the audio of it roll it granelli so wit that was rooney who is he your next door neighbor oh he's my neighbor yeah when i'm taking the trash out he drives by says the same thing fuck you it's crazy he does it all the time check to figure it out. To where, like, I don't know. I think things are just handled a little bit differently on the ice. And if there's a little bit of conflict, it's okay.

It adds passion to the game. And the fact that he ended up getting dinged 25 grand is fucking loose. I didn't know until R.A. just said that a ref didn't even make a report. That makes it even more crazy to me. So someone at the league office has a little issue with the board. Maybe he's just too jacked for their liking. Coaches aren't supposed to be that shredded. You got a lot of these guys that have been doing this, you know, 30 years, guys like Mike Murphy and Colin Campbell.

And you wonder, like, you know, did they not like these guys after a while? And maybe I'm being personal about it. I mean, remember Campbell with the Max Ava stuff? He called him a little faker because he was his coach before. I don't know. Maybe a little fresh. I like Colin Campbell and his son Greg's my buddy, but I don't know what's going on

with Brendan Moore. Getting that 25k is nuts. Let's get a GoFundMe going. Do you think Chica got it? I might take 200 bucks out of it because of the Leafs loss the other night that I put on. Do you think Chica got an email from his bosses for getting caught on well on camera on mike swearing like that even though it happens all the time well who is he who is he uh telling the fuck off was it hayden flurry for seattle yeah yeah and he basically just said horrible call and he's like fuck you

it's kind of awesome that's what happens it's part of the game it's kind of awesome. It's what happens. It's part of the game. It's kind of awesome. Nobody wants emotion anymore in the game. Seriously. Well, this guy does. Last story before we send it over to Patrick Elias. Brendan Lemieux ended up getting five games for biting Brady Kachuk, the longest biting suspension ever. There was a tweet going around that said the first father-son combination to be suspended for biting, but I looked into it.

Lemieux wasn't actually suspended. It was during the 86th Stanley Cup. Calgary's Jim Poplinski said he did bite him, but Claude was never suspended for it. Since being twice bitten, Brady Kachuk hasn't been shy about putting points on the board. He's got five points in the three games since being bit.

I don't know. This is just putting the cap on the story, I guess, boys. Five games. Well, no, somebody posted a picture of Spider-Man. Oh, yeah. And looking at his hands like he's turned into Spider-Man since being bitten by Brendan Lemieux. But I tell you what, man, pesky Sens.

They ended up pulling off a couple big wins against the Canes, and then they traveled out west to play the Avs. And holy smokes, barn burner. I tell you what, when they do get going, man, they have some exciting games as far as offense. But Brady Kachuk's got some unbelievable celebrations. Just so animated. What was he doing there, the Superman chest?

Looked like he was putting on the belt. Title belt, right? Yeah. The title belt. Maybe he was putting on the Spider-Man costume. Maybe that's what he was doing. We dethroned Panarin and gave

the bread man to Mangiopani. He scored again last night. And then DeBrusque went from Spider-Man to now it's Brady Kachuk. We're just snapping around the nicknames. All right, boys. I think we should probably send it over to Patrick Elias shortly. But first, we do want to let you know that this interview is brought to you by SimpliSafe.

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slash chicklets for 40% off your entire system. And now, Patrick Eliash. Well, it's a true honor to welcome our next guest, who in my opinion should be in the Hall of Fame very soon. A two-time Stanley Cup winner, this dynamic player spent his entire 20 year career in New Jersey, and he is the only forward in Devils history to have his number retired. He played over 1,400 games for them. He holds just about every team scoring record. It's an honor to welcome to the Spittin' Chicklets podcast, Patrick Eliash. Patrick, thanks for joining us, man. It's my pleasure.

Like I said before, it's about time I got on this great show of yours, guys. So it's my pleasure. Do we have a lot of listeners over in the Czech Republic? I don't know, but you got one for sure. That's me. That's all that matters. Yeah, really. You're the only one that matters to us over there.

How often do you come back to the States? I actually do quite often, even obviously with the situation last couple of years or so, it's been a little more difficult, but I do have a dual citizenship. So in my case, it was a lot more enjoyable to be honest, to travel because you know, the planes weren't crowded. There was no one at the airport.

All the people were nice. So from my perspective, it was quite easier. And I've been back and forth, for example, since last December. I'm heading back to Jersey on the 7th of December, and that's going to be my sixth time. So I do come over uh quite often either myself for a little bit of a work with the devils or uh or uh with the rest of my family my i got two girls and they love it back uh back in the states and uh we still consider it as a

our second home and uh we have a residencies in jersey and florida and we love it back there nice i mentioned the czech republic when i introduced you of course when you were growing up it was still uh czechoslovakia back then and you know as a young kid growing up i know a lot of our listeners hear about the cold war and the cold war and the iron curtain but they're probably not really familiar with it but growing up in a communist country back then during the cold war was the nhl even on your radar were you even familiar with it at all or what? No, honestly, there wasn't anything with social media or mobile phones or internet back then. So my first time I found out about NHL was when I was about 16, 16 and a half,

and I traveled overseas to Canada with the junior national team. And that was about the first time I started figuring out there's a better league than Czech League out there. And in a way, it was quite nice because I wasn't shooting, you know, growing up, I wasn't shooting for NHL right away. I took probably necessary steps in my career and growing up. I come from a small town of 30,000, 35,000 people. I had two older brothers.

So my first goal was to be as good as they were and always looking up to them. So and as I said, the NHL that came out way later. And so I took the necessary steps. So when you when you say you had two older brothers, is that kind of what got you in the game or was your father a player? Like, what was your true beginning? Was it just seeing your brothers play out in the out in the ponds or the rinks wherever they were? Yeah, my dad, my dad played a little bit. He told me a story that they were missing a goaltender when he was a kid, and he went into the net, and actually he liked it,

but got hit with a puck, went home to my grandpa, and was all bruised up. I don't know if he had stitches or not, but the grandpa obviously put a stop to it very quickly. Smart man. That was it for hockey. That was it for the hockey, but he was a football player or a soccer player,

so he played soccer and coached soccer later on. And, you know, I had two older brothers. My mom worked at the hockey rink to be closer to us because she figured out very quickly all three of the boys will be playing hockey and all the weekend's going to be at the rink. So she started working at the rink. And that's how it began. I really didn't have any choice, to be honest,

because just, you know, from the beginning, I was at the rink even watching them. And it just came naturally. So I started playing hockey when I was about five five and a half and when I was seven I started playing soccer and I played both sports until literally until I was already with the junior national team 16 17 playing in the top league in Czech by 17 years old and i played the last game of my semi-professional career and as a soccer player uh in in the summer training and it was a 80 89 or 90 those years and uh

i loved it i actually enjoyed soccer more than hockey at some hockey some of the years. You're going to get Witt going on Chelsea here. Witt's became a big soccer fan. Speaking of Chelsea, Biz, their legendary goaltender, Peter Cech, right? That's right. He's still involved. And actually, he obviously finished the career back then. His main campaign was with Chelsea. He's back there working behind the the scenes and he's very involved.

And we have a mutual friend that I actually play tennis and pedal tennis with. And we were just chatting about him the other day because he just was there for three days. And he said how great of a job he does with the Chelsea, that he actually makes quite a bit of decisions and big decisions. And obviously, we know the owner of Abramovich, and he has a lady that actually does make all the decisions for him. And Peter is the go-to guy on a player's development. And if they want to get a player, he goes to the lady,

and he makes pretty big decisions. And it's a great accomplishment for Czech soccer, again, you know, having those type of players that mean something in different countries that had a great career and they're involved even behind their playing career. So that's off to him. That's how Witt lost his voice. That's how Witt lost his voice because he's been cheering for Chelsea so much. Oh, yeah?

Too many hockey teams and soccer teams to cheer for. Yeah, they're actually doing very well under Tuchel, under the new coach. And sometimes, you know, you guys all know it. You guys went through coaches, and it's amazing what it does maybe to have the right coach, the right type of coach for the right team.

He's done it. Had Jager's impact already been influenced in Czech when you were coming up? Like, was that a big reason why NHL became more on the scene as well? You know, for me, I actually played in, when I was 14, I moved from my hometown to play in Kladno. So I, you know, my major development went from, as you guys know, obviously it comes when you're 14, 15 years old. And so I went from my hometown.

Back then it was about three, four hour bus ride, which in Czech, that's more than half of the country, across the country. So it was quite difficult for me at that age to leave the leave home and uh go somewhere else but i actually end up playing in the same town where he came from when kabarla came from and pivanka came from so a lot of those players even before uh jagger and uh um but yes i came in he he just left the NHL the year before that. But I watched the national teams by then and watched the best young trio of forwards,

having him, Reichel and Bobby Hulik later on, my teammate. And it was just amazing what they've done at a young age. And they kind of, for me, for my age group, probably were the guys to look up to and kind of go that route. When you're growing up in Czech, I'm wondering, how do you end up in Kladno? Like, how do you end up signing there or being recruited there? Like, what changes from going there or somewhere in another city?

Yeah, good question. You know, my hometown was kind of in the middle of the country situated and close to me was Jihlava, which was probably one of the best teams, best organization with the most history. And it was a military team. So all the good players back then, obviously military was, you had to go to it. You have to follow the protocol and go to for two years of military program

and all the good players, hockey players, they recruited. So it was always the best teams. And that team was about 25 miles from my hometown so that that was my goal where i wanted to go eventually where i you know when i realized at 14 this is this is the route i wanted to go and uh i i we reach out to them they had a tryouts and they said that they have good that they have enough of their own players from their own hometown and so they didn't even invite me for a tryout then there was another city about 40 miles from my hometown called Brno they were up there with with the programs that they had but they were kind of on a

downgrade a little bit and they were going they weren't having such a good results programs and um so that was one of them i consider and there was cladno which was the furthest furthest from my hometown and my oldest brother one of his teammates went there five years prior to me so we called him we reach out to him and he had you know just the good things to say about a city uh and uh we give it a try i i went there for a tryout um a couple days later they came to my home to my school actually i was at school and uh um walk into a practice it was we had a practice in between the school because we were a hockey school kind of.

We had the kids, my hockey team, we were going to a sports school together. And so twice a week, we had a practice during the school day. And I was walking to a practice and this gentleman from Kladno are standing there. And they just said, hey, you know, we want you. You know, you don't have to go to, we have to obviously for a school program, you would have to do tests and all those things.

And they said, you wouldn't even have to do any kind of test. Nice. And I'm like, well, that's it. I'm signing me up. And my mom said, you know, I just ran up to her at the rink and just said, you know, this is where I want to do it. This is where I want to go because they just came here. And they offered me to make the team there.

But, you know, once once i did it was difficult i remember you know my dad drove me there in the summer and just the saying goodbye you know when you're not even 15 years old that was kind of hard and uh but later on i was so so uh so appreciative of that time because you know you gotta at the young age to to realize to grow up fast to realize what it what it's about and and uh to take care of yourself and uh so it prepared me for the you know what was coming up later obviously my uh transmission and transfer to to the United States that was a lot easier when you say it was was hard like did you get homesick at all or was it more of oh really early yeah i was i was the youngest out of

the three so you know you guys figured that out so i was the mama's boy and and uh um you know i could never do anything wrong and uh i always say to my wife my wife is asking you always talking to my parents you know how was i as a kid and i always say i was wife, my wife is asking, always talking to my parents, you know, how was I as a kid? And I always say I was always nice. You know, I wasn't troublemaker or anything like that. And then my brothers come into the conversation. They say, yeah, right. You were pretty vicious, but you just had that face and you were the youngest.

So you never did anything wrong in our parents' eyes. But yeah, it was homesick uh you know and uh being away obviously being on my own and kind of you know it was a it was an um the school was for it was different back then so it wasn't for um any kind of major or you know being at school to study for something we were we were studying craft right we were studying crafts so i was going to be uh um in a metal factory uh and uh taking care of or repairing all the big machines and working on the machines and things like that. So that's all we had to do, really.

And we went to school for six days. And then four days, we were at the factories at six o'clock in the morning till four o'clock in the afternoon. That was our kind of part of the school. And then, you know, you're 15, 16, 17 years old and you wake up at, I remember that, at 4.55, we were waking up, 5.13, 5.17, we had a bus going to the factory. And you came from the practice at like 11.30 in the evening. So it wasn't that easy. Obviously, the school wasn't hard.

You know, that just, you know, it wasn't the way I was going. It's if I had an option and I was able to go to college in the States and play hockey, you know, doing that, that would be the best way. But there was nothing like that back home and still isn't, which is a big problem. But it was, again, learning process, you know, waking up early, going through practice is late. And, you know, you have to do it. So you feel like you missed a little bit of your childhood because you got kind of thrown into that kind of mix there? No, not really. I love it. No.

Oh, you enjoyed it. You enjoyed the structure. I enjoyed the structure. I wasn't ready for the structure with the Devils, to be honest. It came after that. That was worse. That was worse. That was a little with the Devils to be honest. It came after that. That was worse. That was worse. That was a little bit of certain age, certain years and certain coaches

and obviously having a little beggar for most of my career. Well, that was going to be one of my questions was that that experience early on helped you for the move over here, but you're kind of alluding to the fact that it was was just as hard if not harder when you got got over to north america yeah um you know i realized pretty quickly even with not knowing language that was the toughest for me you know moving to states i i didn't speak any english uh i had i wasn't homesick obviously because i was away from my home already for four or five years. But the language was a big issue. So that became a problem, obviously.

And I always say that story. I learned my English watching Ricky Lake and Jenny Jones. Yeah. No more Mikovic? Yeah. No, he came later he came out he came later but i i like watching ricky ricky lake and jenny joe's first of all you know they were pretty good looking both of them yeah and and i enjoyed it because they were

repeating all the same words and it was right the the the time slot was right between you know after practice i came home i had lunch or something i rested or something and it was right the the the time slot was right between you know after practice i came home i had lunch or something i rested or something and it was like from two to two o'clock to four o'clock they were you know one after another so all i did was watching the tv i had my diction dictionary and when i heard some you know repeatedly some words i looked it up and that's how i learned honestly oh and then big help big help was uh to be honest, a big help was Christoph Oliver. You know, he was Polish. The Polish language is very close to Czech language.

And he helped me out big time. On the ice, off the ice, speaking the language, taking care of, you know, going to the bank. And that was just, was in in a wow you know i came from czech and the the communism was here you know in 89 it it just you know we got it broke and so i i left at 94 was drafted i left in 95 and the changes weren't really that obvious yet in the Czech Republic. So when I came to the States, just seeing big cars and having four-lane highways and big trucks, big cities, it just overwhelmed me. But I had a lot of help and the structure, going from the management

with the Devils, that kind of helped me because I got used to it very quickly and I enjoyed it. When you were drafted, how did you find out? Had you had some expectations going into the draft? Did you have an agent at the time? What was the whole story of getting a call from New Jersey? Yeah, there was only two agents

and one of them came to Clodno and came to recruit Pavel Trenka and Tomas Vokun. And both of them and Marek Zidlitsky and a couple other guys. And those two guys actually lived together in an apartment. And so we came to them, talked to them. Tomas told me, hey, you know, this guy just offered us that he's going to represent us. And I was just standing there and nothing happened.

So I came out running after him and yelling his name. And Mr. Hanish, Mr. Hanish, is it possible that you can represent me too? So I asked him if he can actually represent me. And he said, OK, I'm'm here so I'll just sign you and it's just weird I was actually part of that age group we were same same age and we played for the same national team but I guess it wasn't interesting did you keep the same agent throughout your entire career no no no no I I I started with Rich Winter and uh then i uh moved to uh mark gandler and uh i end up with alan walsh and i even that i'm retired i'm still with alan oh wow well she just yeah oh he is

intense is he you got any funny walshy stories no well not in my case uh obviously you guys know all of them with all the other players but uh with me, he was nothing but a respectful, all-behind player. And maybe because I was already in a kind of a different point of my career. You know, I was three years old when I signed with him, 31. And we just worked out know we became a great relationship and I'm still working with him and with this with these people that work for him and they've been more than helpful and I love working with him. All right I know you had this one written down we're gonna ask you since we're on the topic of the the crazy situation with you ended up signing

back in New Jersey. Or at least there's a few stories behind the scenes. Can you kind of go through that whole situation when you hit free agency and how you ended up back with the Devils? Yeah, well, there's only one true story. And that is that after that season, Luke came up to me and just said, you know, listen, you had a great season.

I'm sure you're going to have a lot of teams going after you and offering you big money. And I honestly don't think that we can afford to manage that and afford to sign you. And that's it. That was very short, you know, the season-ending meeting. And I kind of thought that it's just, you know, it's just he's just trying to play the role

or maybe just trying to set it up. So I kind of have that in my head and maybe for the negotiations. But throughout the summer, there weren't any. And I was already with Alan and there wasn't one phone call so i uh started getting ready to honestly gonna sign with someone else so when the um free agency started happened i wasn't ready for that to be honest that was one of the probably the most

stressful except playoffs maybe you know the finals and all that. That was probably one of the most stressful nights of my career or my professional hockey life. I was here, so the time change was an issue. And I started getting offers from, you know, other teams. And we ended up collecting about 12, 13 offers from team. Then it came down to about five and working out the numbers and years. And at the end, it was LA and Rangers. And LA said, you know, we'll give you anything you want

for how many years you want. Rangers offered something big. And at that point, little did I know, I didn't want to go to LA. I kind of wanted to play for a team that still had a chance to be in the playoffs. And that was kind of my goal. And Rangers just came in hard because LA just said that they they signed they had a discussion with Rob Lake unexpectedly that he decided to sign and play for another couple years and which they didn't count on and so they had a discussion with him and signed him up for

two more years I think and then they came back and said that, you know, that they have a certain amount of money for a certain amount of years. And Rangers were offering a little bit more for more years. I work out with the Rangers pretty much. We agreed on the years, on the amount. And it was right after, actually, it was the year, the season prior to that was a lockout, and I ended up contracting the hepatitis.

So I didn't play for 10 months, and I finished, I started to play that year, you know, just a short season. I played only 43 games, I mean, 38 games, and I ended up with 43 points, which I had no idea why I did that in the shape I was, because I had no business of I did that in the shape I was because I had no business of honestly putting up those numbers but I played with

Gomer and Gio and they had an unbelievable year so I kind of you know rode away with them. That's huge. But with the Rangers we already had an agreement so I'm like okay Alan let's make it work let's ask them for no trade because i'm going to do

you know obviously the biggest rival across the river i know what happened when bobby went there a couple years before me and if i'm doing that and i want to have something some kind of a leverage that if anything happens they're not happy with me that at least i can i can make a decision if i want to go somewhere or not eventually. And so we end up that conversation. He called Glenn Sater. And I was hoping that or I was assuming that we're going to sign with them a few minutes later.

And then Alan is like, well, this is what happened. And Glenn Sater said that they didn't give a no trade to anybody. And, you know, not even Gretzky, not even Messier and other players, which I knew they did prior to, you know, me negotiating. And I'm like, well, Alan, but I'm not going to sign without that. It just kind of got me thinking. I'm like, Alan, if they're not going to do it, I feel like I need to call Lou.

And he's like, I don't know you know let's let's give him let's give him you know let's give them a couple more minutes let's try to let me talk to him again he says well there's they said there is no way that they'll give you an old train i'm like okay uh i'm gonna give a call to lou so i pick up the phone myself called lou and and said, Lou, I'm not going to lie. I'm obviously having a negotiation with New York and, but you know, for this amount, for this many years, and if there's any way I can sign with you guys, I'd love to stay with the Devils. And he's like, well,

what if we do this? What if we do this what if we do this or this and I'm like if you think there's any chance please give a call to Alan and let's make it work so Alan calls me couple minutes later

and says Lou is willing to do the same amount but for one more year I'm like and has no issue with no trade i'm like well we got a deal so that's how it happened we actually got an extra year one more

i was gonna say one less year no one more year you must have been like giving her one of these no well no i'm gonna put it straight i got the same amount of money, but for extra year to be, you know, so I had average with the Rangers for, I think it was 7 million per back then. Okay. And it ended up being with the Devils for 6 million per, because we added a year, but we lowered the cash. Same amount of money overall. Okay.

Sorry. My apologies. So I'm like, let's get the fund going Grinnelli. Yeah. So I'm not, I'm not, I'm not i'm not i'm not i was like after the hepatitis i'm like i'm fine with that it's it's a lot of money for me and uh you know i'm he and it's it's it's the way it's supposed to be but i'm just i was just shocked to be honest that it happened that quickly i'm like in back of my head thinking i'm like how the hell he didn't even call us like why didn't he even negotiate with us like and then we have a deal within five minutes later i am like

where was he the whole summer did he just buy his phone waiting because he knew the call was coming maybe he's in your brain no i'm like is is he trying to was he was he waiting for me to make that step again like to feel like this is really where i – was he waiting for me to make that step again, like to feel like this is really where I want to be, this is where I want to play? I'm like, but it was just so close for me to go to New York. And obviously, you know, Glenn Sater wasn't really happy because we end up signing back with the Devils.

And Alan is like, oh, I can't even tell you. I don't have a long enough dictionary with the badils and Alan is like, oh, I can't even tell you. I don't have a long enough dictionary with the bad words to tell you what Glenn Sater was saying on the phone and he's like, it's not going to be easy for you to come. Yeah, well, that's what I said. If he just did that,

I became a Ranger, but you know, obviously, it just happened and it ended up the way it was supposed to be. Because to be truly honest, I couldn't have written it better the way my career ended, the way it finished. But Lou always kind of said, you know, I'm happy we worked it out. I remember back then, you know, when you were signing, you know, signing and all that, he didn't, it wasn't his credit back then. It was, it was all on me. You know, I made that decision to give him that, give him a call and, and make it happen. But it was supposed to

happen that way. So yeah, I became a devil. Did he just assume you were probably gone because you are unrestricted and you were such a great player, somebody would have thrown the bag at you? Well, he said that. He said that from the beginning. You know, he said, yeah, you're going to get a lot more money than what we can offer. And we don't have that, you know, that we can match it. So, and I was like, maybe it's a tactic, you know,

obvious for the negotiations and trying to make me think about it or something. But he really didn't call, which kind of, you know, to be honest, it upset me at that time. But once it happened, transpired again, signing back home, back with the Devils, I was so happy. We're probably going to get to a lot of it. Has the time off since retiring, have you had more time to reflect on where the game of hockey

ended up bringing you from beginning to end? Like your career is insane. Yeah, and I'm so thankful, you know. I was just back home over the weekend to visit my parents and my brothers and my grandpa. You know, he's 89 years old and he still followed my career back then obviously who came to visit me in the states a couple of times and and he still talks about it you know my my family here and even in the situation right now

you know you look at a COVID situation and you see a lot of people that are struggling that are going you know what how it's affecting their lives. And me, because of hockey, I don't have to think about it that much. And those are the things that being a hockey player, it's a privilege and it's an honor. And you got to enjoy every moment. And if you have a good enough career and even different roles, you know, you don't have to be the best player, but any kind of roles,

you realize you're part of the family and bigger family than just on your own. It's a different family. And I'm so thankful because it helps you out in different kind of situations, not just financially, but even mentally,

you can deal with different things. You know, you guys, I read about it. You see it more and more with some of the mental issues that some of the players can have. And I'm glad we have that bond, all of us, and the family that we have that we can rely on each other. Patrick, I'm going to go back to the Czech for a minute. There were so many big names in Czech hockey before you.

I'm going to go to Big Ned, Václav Nedermansky. He was the first player to ever defect a communist country. Now, was your generation aware of him or was it because of the political situation you had no clue about? And also the Stastny brothers too, same question. Did you guys know about these guys? I didn't honestly you know i was uh and again i know it was a communist it was a different regime uh for many

many people uh a terrible regime and uh you know my daddy was part of the communist party you know he was a he was a he was a construction worker. He was driving trucks. He was building homes in Czechoslovakia, or he was sent to Russia to build the homes. And he had to be part of it. And so was my mom. But on the other hand, there were things that, because of that, we were capable of going to school where

um there were athletic programs set there were uh for us we were capable of playing hockey all three boys you know we didn't have to worry we didn't have to pay money a lot of money for equipment and for fees and for traveling and all that it was all paid for it you know my my parents paid very little money that they could afford that's why we played the sport and so yes uh obviously if you were talented if you're good enough in something you couldn't explore it you couldn't do anything about it you know they shut you out they shut shut you down. And they had their own agendas. I understand that. But there were things that for a lot of the families

and average families and below, money-wise, we were capable of doing things that maybe in this age, in this state of the country, we couldn't do. So I had no idea about some of those players that they defected. I had no ideas. You know, I watched the Czechoslovakian, the Czechoslovakian win the world championships in 85. But those were the years, first time I was kind of getting,

getting to know what you know and follow hockey you know until then i just i was just a kid watching any kind of sport and really not reading into it it was just part of my life i didn't know any better so um it was just a just a common sense and common you know common thing for us when you did come over from czech and you know you dominated for two years in the ahl pretty much you got a couple games here and there but were you getting frustrated like i can play in the nhl i'm i'm proving myself in the ahl were you kind of just waiting and patient nope uh no patience there you know we all did don't we don't didn't we all think that we're good enough to play in NHL right away? And how come they're calling up that guy?

And how come, you know, you didn't understand the game, you know, behind it. You must have heard, though, from other guys, though, that Lou typically like to take a slower process with the guys, right? I feel like they were known for that from an organizational standpoint. But you're probably like, I don't care. Like, you're seeing all these other guys that you're better and get called up it's hard to understand well that that was a good that was actually uh the positive positive positive of not understanding english back then because i had no idea you know so uh even the guys were saying they're telling me something i

didn't understand to be honest i i felt comfortable speaking maybe my second third year in the states so i was very basic so uh you know uh yes lou obviously knowing it now lou would uh very rarely very uh uh it had to be a player even peter sikora was a one of the guys first guys that actually or during my career that he got a chance to play in NHL right away but

then the second year he ended up in the minors again you know because he Lou felt like he had to go through the process you know

and for me I I had a meeting with Lou and again I can't even imagine how he must have felt because I really didn't understand much

and I had a meeting with him after the training camp and he said I'm gonna send you to juniors and I'm like juniors but I played in like a top league in Czech so he's like

no no no juniors but i played in a like a top leaking check so he's like no no juniors in uh and here in the in canada i i was drafted by sarnia sarnia lakes is it was it sarnia sting sarnia stinks and i had no idea i didn't even know until lou told me that i was drafted by sarnia stinks uh so i'm like yeah uh i came to the states to you know to try out and to play in an AHL if you sending me somewhere else I'm going back home and I actually stood behind it I'm like he talked to my agent then he called me up again the next day I said no I'm going back home I don't want to I don't want to go play in juniors I already played with the man for you know two years and i wanna i wanna play at least in the minors so he sent me in the mines i don't think he was happy about it but uh uh i i end up in an unbelievable situation with robbie

toric and and um and having having those guys just want to call theder Cup the year before that. And having those players there, you know, Scotty Pellerin and Brian Helmer and Chris McAlpine and Mike Dunham and those guys, they were unbelievable pros. And, you know, older guys, veterans already kind of that accomplished something on the minor league level. And, you know, Stevie Sullivan was there and Stevie Brule. So I remember a lot of those guys and we had an unbelievable team. So I was, I ended up playing there with another Czech player

that played with me in the junior national teams. Danek Skorepa was drafted with me. So we both ended up being there. And I fit in right away and even you know i didn't speak much english robbie just threw me right in there and i just played in the first line right from the get-go i played with stevie sullivan scottie puller so uh right on the left left wing and it just clicked and uh i love the love the practices you know we were battling all the battling drills and i love this this type of hockey even though that uh i came to the states and my training camp at

that training camp i was about once i was about 168 pounds or something like that yeah i was i was little and uh and uh you know you came in and back then the hockey was different. Obviously, you know, the guys were 220, 230, 240 plus, you know, and big guys, the hockey was – it hurt playing back then. And even on a minor league level. But I enjoyed it. I kind of enjoyed my game being quick, agile, smart. You know, I try not to get hit too much. And even though that I was little, I didn't mind playing a little bit physical too. I wasn't

afraid. So I fit in right away and the style of hockey and the style that we played with Robbie, I absolutely loved it. The system was amazing. The practicing was, they were great. A lot of fighting, even like a lot of intensity at a practice. And it reminded me of the best couple of years that we had with the Devils later on, that the practices seemed harder than the games and if I'm not mistaken my first year in on Albany we broke some kind of record for the wins back then we end up

we end up unfortunately losing in the first round to Cronwall Aces back then you know and and we got swept I think it was 4-0 and because we got I think, like 10 guys, nine guys were hurt and some guys got called up and all that. And we had a totally different team in the playoffs. And we had to even sign one of the scouts, Bobby Hoffmeier, back then. He always laughs when we talk about it. And he was 40-plus back then, you know, and poor guy probably didn't play hockey for many many months and he ended up playing for us in the last game in crone wall there oh no uh yeah we got swept but

that's what happened in the jungle sometimes man things can the wheels can fall off quick oh yeah yeah it goes quickly so i but i enjoyed it i i loved it i had the best year there and uh it prepared me for what was coming up later on. So the year before you came, they won the Stanley Cup and the Calder Cup. Yeah. Seriously. Right. And you're trying to make it to the team and try to make it to the, to the, to the, either

of the teams, honestly. And I was drafted the year before that. And I was actually coming in 94 already to training camp but i got uh we were coming with the national team we were playing a tournament of uh four countries in uh i think it was august or september or something like that and we were we had a couple exhibition games prior to that and i got hit from one of the little guys here in Czech and ended up separating my shoulder for three weeks. So I was out and I couldn't make it to the training camp. And I was so pissed because I didn't want to play here already in Czech League.

I actually wasn't playing much for the big team. And if I did, I played four or five minutes. And for the junior team, it was great. But it wasn't enough already for me. But I came a year later, and it wasn't ideal because they won the Stanley Cup. They won the Colder Cup. But I worked my way into the minor league team, at least.

One of your teammates was also one of your countrymen, Peter Sikora. Did you already know him from back home? Were you familiar with each other? Did you play with each other at all? Yeah, we played on that junior national team. He was older than he is, born in 77. So he's not even his half a year or something like that. He's a few months younger than me.

But he played, he was unbelievable. He was a stud already coming up when he was 16. I think he started to play maybe even 15 and a half. He played the Czech League, the big boys league. And his first year, he was just lighting it up as a young kid. So he played the year up with the, for the national team. So he played with me,

but he played for on a third line. He was a funny guy. When I play with him, wit was with him a little bit longer, but was he always silly in the locker room? He really stressed the rest as a weapon and he would be getting massaged every day multiple times on the table yeah we called him kobe you know right not as a kobe brian but as a kobe beef you know get him you need to massage that so it's so

that's come on yeah that described yeah you asked j, called him Kobe, or we called him a grape, that he was soft as a grape. He could score, though. Oh, he was a good player. He had an unbelievable sense for scoring, and at the right time, too. He was a clutch. You know, his overtime goals and I still can. Didn't have anybody else, didn't have with anybody better chemistry than with Peter.

You know, and it came from get-go, from training camp, from playing in a minor slow bit when he was sent down that year and obviously then end up playing together in Jersey. Practices, it was just amazing. Some of the things, I love watching some of the highlights and some of the old tapes and some of the old games. And it just amazes me what we were capable of back then with Peter. And then, obviously, with Arnie.

He just fit it perfectly with us. Would you guys talk Czech and would it frustrate Arnie? It wasn't. We were making fun of him, you know, just kind of, you know, just screwing around a little bit. But I think it's amazing. We played together not even two years. We played together only as a line.

And everybody remembers us. If you ask any Devils fans, what was your favorite line, they'll probably say me, Peter, and Jason. And we didn't play together for long. Lou made a couple of decisions because of different reasons to to to to trade them and um it's unfortunate and it was unfortunate for me because I had I had unbelievable chemistry with them and they did so today you know we we spoke about a couple a couple years ago when he had when we had a 20th anniversary from the Stanley Cup. But with Peter, it was so...

It was a lot of fun. And even when he came back in 2011, when we again, when we made that run into the finals against LA, you know, after not playing together for six, seven years, it was just like that. It just happened again.

Yeah, and we, you we you know we sense each other on the ice and uh it was a lot of fun the other two guys that had a lot of chemistry was with gomer and brian gianta and uh but with peter and jason it was amazing and we had so much fun even off the ice we were kids we were stupid you know back then we had we were so we were just so silly and and just having a lot of fun to the point where like away from the rink were you and sakura talking hockey and strategizing or was it just you kind of show up and you just kind of knew where each other were going to be and it's business as usual like what kind of work has to go into it yeah it was all about hockey back then um and we uh we

lived together a little bit when i was called up he had an apartment in jersey so i stayed with him when he got uh sent down he he stayed there and i took care of his dad because he assumed that he's gonna get sent down right away but he stayed in jersey and his dad already got an apartment so i had to take care of him back then. But off the ice, we were very funny because there were periods of time that we didn't speak to each other. We were so pissed at each other because we argued about some things on the ice. Why you didn't pass me there? I saw and then and i was strong strong strong minded i kind of spoke in czech language not in english but in czech language you know i was kind of outspoken and stubborn and uh got pissed off and uh so did he sometimes even though that he

wasn't he was very quiet but then when it boiled up he he let it go and uh it ended up that we didn't speak to each other for a couple games games or something. But on the ice it worked. But the guy's like, what the fuck? What just happened? What's wrong with you guys? What happened? And he scored a couple of goals even during the game and kind of gave each other a pat and that's it.

He didn't say anything. He was like, something's wrong with these kids. But we just wanted to do so well and push each other you know and and i wanted to do well he wanted to do well so it end up like automatic like for example you know we were sent out there for empty netter all three of us had to touch a puck me jason and arnie so we all get it we all get our cookies obviously you know and we all get our points. So we always look for each other. And it was one thing, it was a couple of examples. You go and you go buy yourself an empty net and you look back,

we can pass it to him. So it happened a lot of times. And that's kind of the way we wanted to do, the way we wanted to play. We wanted to share the puck. We wanted for all three of us to do well. People remember, cause you guys obviously won the Stanley cup in 2000. I want to talk about that. Now you had Robbie for Toric all year. He gets fired with 18. You bring in Larry Robinson. What was the reaction in the room to having the coach fight?

It's so late in the year, right before the playoffs. And we were still first in the Eastern conference at that time. But we lost like 10 of 16 games I was reading, right? Yeah, maybe it was actually even more. Maybe it was 10 of 16, but we lost a lot of games down the stretch. And it just shows you how big of a kahuna Zilou has, you know, to make that decision at that time, you know, of the season. And obviously, we all can speak, you know, it was the right decision now

because it ended up, you know, we ended up with the Stanley Cup. But at that time, we were so shocked. But we knew we had an unbelievable that time, we were so shocked. But we knew. We had an unbelievable team. We were playing so well. And something happened. And you guys know it happens to the best teams. You just go through the emotion all of a sudden.

And you're kind of looking already at the big picture. You're kind of looking into the playoffs. And any manager, any coach doesn't want to have a team kind of not playing your best hockey down the stretch. And Lou felt like he wanted to make that decision, and he did. And it was a shock. It was a shock to us. It was a shock to Larry. And Larry, if you ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you

he doesn't like being head coach. He loves being assistant coach, being the good guy, communicating with guys, having fun on the ice and behind the bench, but not making the tough decisions and being under distress. But he did an unbelievable job at that time and even the years coming up after that. So in that playoff, you get to the Eastern Conference final, you win game one, and then Philly takes the next three in a row.

So you're down 3-1 all of a sudden. What's the team saying before game five? Were you at a monster game? But what was the whole switch that ended up allowing you guys to get back and win that series? Larry. Larry, I'm sure, yeah, Larry, you know, very uncharacteristic uncharacteristic you guys help me out

what is that word buddy you're not gonna get judged on this podcast I don't even know what word you're saying holy shit I shouldn't uncharacteristic

very unusual for him you got better we should have a spelling bee we should do a separate content piece me and you well then I then I gotta call back then I gotta call back my famer then i got to call

back my girls because they're going to british school the english-speaking school so they're way better than me and yeah there you go spelling yeah uh yeah so it was very you know very unusual for him to to come out and just throw shit around you know kicking a garbage can pick it up throwing it around and just kind of making us realize how stupid we are not realizing what position we are in and what situation we're in

and just kind of said, you guys better realize quickly how good of a team you guys have and what needs to be done and we kind of looked around and the older guys just it was pretty quiet after that and we kind of looked around and the older guys just it was pretty quiet after that and just kind of said like we got it let's get it done you know for for larry to do this and be pissed off and just uh uh show the emotions that way

let's go out there let's get it done and just honestly from that point on it just happened we start playing a game and we knew if we played the way we were capable of as a team, we could beat anybody. But, you know, heads off to Philly. You look at the team they had, it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable, you know. So it started at game five. Obviously, the game when Scotty

Stevens happened to be Scotty Stevens on Eric Lindor, that helped too obviously for the team and we just end up turning the series around. You ended up scoring the game winning goal in game 7 right?

I was talking to Rick Talkett today so he says give him one of these yeah uh you know what i i i was i don't know if you guys know but uh we had a we had a massage therapist back then from german older guy jürgen mertz and he was awesome he was a great guy he had a very uh german accent so he was kind of had that lisp right bone with his with his english so it was funny to to listen to him more funny with the way he talks sometimes but he was amazing and he started doing a little bit of a visualizing with us

uh during that year with some of the guys that wanted to do it he introduced it to us and end up few of us doing it uh and consistently it was me peter and arnie we did it every uh every uh every game day sometimes the night before the game and he kind of uh was uh it was matter of putting relaxing you and putting you down and starting to do mental training and so you kind of went into the deep sleep kind of or deep relaxing mode and start relaxing your body and starting to visualize, you know, things you're doing well on the ice and all the negative things to get out of your head. And before the game, it was different.

The day of the game was a little bit different. And we all did it separately. And then we did it as a line sometimes. And I truly believe it for us as individuals, as a line, and I truly believe it for for us as individuals as a as an as a line it helped us unbelievable and for me I I and I I did that for rest of my career and obviously before the game seven it was the same thing and I kept telling myself the day before as like yeah I'm not saying that it happened because of that but we all wanted to be all players wanted to be the the the guy that uh you know is out there when the game is on the

line and uh being the hero and you know scoring the game winner but i kind of did that even during the game you know just kind of when i went on the bench i just kind of kept telling myself you know this is it let's do it let's go out there Let's, you know, let's get it done. Let's be the guy. Let's let it happen. And it just, it was just one of those games that he did. You know, even though that wasn't a pretty goal, but it was probably the best goal of my career.

But it just, the way it happened quickly and just kind of have that state of mind that I came up from behind and, you know, behind the net, kind of snuck in behind Danny McGillis and lift his stick up, you know, on a fake shot from Jason and

just end up being in the net. But I truly believe that some of those, the mental training can help you to go a long way. Then, of course, the Stanley training can help you to go a long way. Then, of course, the Stanley Cup double overtime versus Dallas, one of the best assists in Stanley Cup history. How did you even see him?

I watched the replay. I didn't even see a look behind him. Did you see him off the glass or something? How did you even know he was there? You know. Repetition, right? Got that question asked hundreds of times question asked uh hundreds of times and uh sick bitch all right

and no i i i honestly i i think it happened because of the the heart the sense the the chemistry that we had and uh you know you you you asked Jason, you asked Peter, you know, what we did after practice. We stayed out there, all three of us. And all we were doing was trying to pass sometimes to each other, doing all kinds of shooting stuff. But all we did was just kind of moving around. It wasn't just, you know, one guy in the corner

and just passing to the other guy. We were moving around, just kind of crisscrossing, passing behind the back and all that. And we did that for 5, 10, 15 minutes always after the game or after the practice so it kind of end up it translate onto the ice and obviously during that uh during that play you know puck was coming up on the blue line it end up in uh got thrown across cross corner from scotty into the corner and if you see i'm when i'm going there I kind of do a little bit of a kind of check. Not all the way, but, you know, all the coaches, they coach all the players. You know, before you get to the puck now, you do a shoulder check, right,

to see kind of who is out there and what's going on behind you. I kind of really think that that happened and just saw that opening maybe in a bag that something, someone could be there. I wasn't 100% sure that Jason is there. of really really think that that happened and just saw that opening maybe in a bag that some something someone could be there i i wasn't 100 sure that jason is there but uh it end up uh you know perfect kind of on a little bit on the front foot of jason which probably was a good thing because he had to lean into it and therefore he had he put it a little bit higher than he would probably he would usually put it but uh what a feeling that was uh oh man and if you guys ask me uh the feeling for me it was oh thanks god it's over it wasn't uh it was

excitement you know i was happy but uh the what what came over me was oh i was so happy you're saying the toll it takes on your body to accomplish a Stanley Cup? Yeah. Like mentally, how draining? Yeah, physically and mentally. You know, you as a – maybe not as an older player, but as a young kid, because you want it so much, you don't sleep well the night before that. You're nervous.

You're anxious. You're kind of playing all the scenarios in your head and, uh, uh, you know, what could happen if, if we accomplish that and what, what happens if it doesn't, if it doesn't happen. So it just everything, you know, and you cannot really shut off the mind quickly. I, it helped me all the, all the mental training. It helped me a lot, a lot, but still, you know, I wanted it. We all wanted it bad. So I was so happy it was over at that time.

And then on the ice after, Peter Sikora, he got knocked out a dirty elbow from Hatcher in that game. Yeah. You actually wore his jersey backwards so his name was facing front so everybody could see it. Then you brought the cup to win the hospital, right? Yeah, I felt like, you know like Peter needed to be there with us, obviously. And I called the trainers, asked them for the jersey to bring it up

and put it on. And it just was part of the moment, the right thing to do. But it pissed me off later on because I didn't have any pictures with my jerseys on yeah yeah yeah yeah with the selica surprise on you yeah a lot of the pictures were with with the peter sicora jerry the number 17 here, you know, when I had it. So, no, but it has a story. You know, it was supposed to happen that way. Larry took it after me. You know, the jersey put it on him, which was great too. And then me, Jason, Bobby Hulik, Larry, and I think Lou went up to the hospital

to meet up with him and bring the cup to him. It must have been special for you, Bobby and Pete, at three checks all the way in this other country, winning the Stanley Cup together. It must have been quite a moment, huh? Yeah. You know what? Bobby was a very difficult human being as a player to play against

and even off the ice if you didn't get to know him well and first couple of years when Peter and me were in Jersey he wouldn't speak to us much and he wouldn't speak Czech you know maybe he didn't want to he wanted to be polite maybe to to all the other guys in the locker room, all that. But he – or – not or, but honestly, he didn't speak very well Czech all of a sudden after all those years in the States and having an American wife and really didn't have anybody else to speak Czech with. So he lost it pretty quickly. He had a big accent and forgetting words.

And so, you know, he spoke. When we came in, we started speaking Czech with him a lot more. A lot, you know, we went for dinners. He became a lot more friendly with us and we became great friends. And he is still, to this day, one of my best teammates, best friends. We're still in contact. But back then, it was special. It was special having his dad there.

He's a hero. He's a legend here in Czech, or was a legend. He actually coached and played for the team closest to my hometown, 20 miles away. The one team I wanted to play for, which they said they're not interested. But he was a coach there

and he was there for the celebration when we won the Cup. I have a picture still at home with him and Bobby and probably one of my favorite pictures behind the scenes. And it's such a great memory and very special for, you know, that's one of those things I'll remember forever to have a Bobby and Peter as teammates and accomplishing that together

was my first time. On career accomplishments, where does the golden hockey stick ring? Because in Czech, they kind of had this ballon d'or. Is that the way you pronounce it? For like the gold soccer ball for the best soccer player in the world? So you were the best Czech hockey player, and you dethroned in 2009 Jeremie Jagr, who'd won it four years in a row.

Well, that's why it was so special. That's why it meant quite quite a bit obviously you know it seemed like it wasn't a possible for anybody else get it then uh then uh yaks obviously uh he's he's played a you know he had an amazing career, amazing years, but a lot of times it's supposed to be for a guy that, like an MVP, you know, not for a guy that has the most points, but for a guy that is most valuable for the team and for the out-of-the-check players. not only in NHL but also in the other leagues. So sometimes I felt like it wasn't fair enough to always give it a guy that has always the most points out of the Czech players because I felt like every year maybe David Krejci

and even different guys, Marty Straka and some of those guys, they seemed to me more valuable to players than Ajax at that time. But, you know, media and all those guys were voting, putting the votes together. And you could argue with that, but he always had the most points, most of the years he had the most points out of all the checks.

So for me, it was special. And I'm obviously quite happy that I have one of those awards at home here. And now it seems like nobody else is going to win it except David Pasternak. He's been winning it now for three or four years in a row too. We don't have other players that are good enough to be a big part of the NHL teams. And we're struggling with that. Yeah. Is there anything you can put your finger on in terms of why Czech as a nation has struggled the past few years?

Because you've produced so many amazing players and were so successful on the international level, but it's been a little bit of a struggle. Is it something that you know what's going on or is it more confusing? It's a question, you know, I came back to Czech five years ago, four and a half years ago. So every year it's a big issue here, big conversation. There's some changes at the Czech Federation, some changes to system. A lot of it they made changes to junior hockey,

how many teams there are in the top junior hockey league. There were like 24 or maybe even more teams. We're a small country. We don't have that many good players. So if you have that many teams, you don't have competitive enough games. And when I was growing up, we had like a TSM,

which means for like, there were 10 or 12 cities that had the best teams and kids from around those cities, they tried out. And if you were good enough, you played for that team. If you weren't, you played for lower in a lower league. So I always played in when I was 14, 15. That's why I want to go to a different team because my hometown we were it was a lot of fun it was great but only until 14 years old i want to move

on and to to play in a better league so i had an opportunity to play and try out for for a team that was better and now it's it's impossible it's because you have – the kids don't have to be good enough. Obviously, money came in hand too. I thought the game of hockey got expensive to buy equipment, buy hockey sticks for parents. So what happened was – I don't know if it's the same thing in the States. I don't know if it's the same thing in States. I don't think it is. But what happened was the kids of parents that had money start playing hockey more than kids. Like we were, like my parents, you know, my parents wouldn't be able to put all three boys into hockey now.

So, and we were more driven probably than the kids are now. You know, we wanted to because we didn't have much you know i was growing up and we didn't have any fruits in the store we didn't have bananas you know we there was once a year so we all had make we had to go to the line and wait if you if you could get a banana here all the kids have and my kids are the same way we were because we want to take care of them we give them everything and it's not so we're trying to yeah they're not as hungry so we try you know you're trying to implement in different things obviously trying to teach them to be appreciative appreciative to be hungry to to to to do your

best obviously but a lot of the parents don't do that and because they want to do they want for their own kids to to do well and they hand it to them. And certain kids don't have that. They don't know how to. And you see that the kids are better. They have better potentials, but they can't afford it. So all of a sudden, they end up playing hockey when they're 14, 15 years old. And so I think that's a big issue here in Czech.

15 years old. And so I think that's a big issue here in Czech, you know. And with the national teams, you know, I was for two years assistant coach for the U20 with Václav Varada. And we dealt with the same thing. You look at the talent that we could have picked from and look at the talent that Canada can put, Sweden, Russia, all these guys. We had no business of going on the ice with them, you know, talent-wise. It's not that the guys didn't try, but the talent, we were way behind them

and still are. And they're trying to, you know, they make a couple changes with the leagues, trying to implement of those uh skill coaches they're they're learning from the from the from the canada from finland from sweden you know what they're doing their system wise but uh a lot of it is uh i don't it's gonna take a long time i want to go back to the the devils the second Stanley Cup run. Now you got Pat Burns and Chives. Did you get along with Burns at all? Yeah. No. No, I was one of those guys that

he didn't like and I had a hard time. I had two coaches in my career and two years in my career that I was ready to quit.

I was ready to quit. I was – Pet was one of them. The other coach – I'm not going to say. Well, the guy who took the C from you, Brent Sutter. That's right. Yeah, Brent did. And it's funny because then you talk about other guys, you know, you talk to Martin Irat and Satse was coaching him in juniors and he said it was awesome.

It was great to him. And I truly believe that, but he was treating us like we were junior kids. And, you know, it was a good start we were junior kids and uh you know uh it wasn't a good start when when he came in and he took the C which I had no problem problem with that but going about it the way he went wasn't right and I found out from the obviously reporters and uh so he didn't even ask me he didn't tell me he. He didn't say anything. That's the way he was going to do it. So I was kind of, you know, it wasn't a good situation from the get-go.

But with Burnsy, it was hard. It was – I didn't like his approach to the game. I didn't like his communication skills, which there weren't really any. He was just really tough, very strong-minded. He just pushed us. any he was just really tough very strong-minded he just pushed us uh it was more we in 2003 we won almost despite of him to be honest you know we we we were so pissed a lot of the times as a team that we just like let's just fuck it let's go out there and let's just kind of play our own game let's do it it was almost seen someone was some and let's just kind of play our own game. Let's do it.

It was almost seen some of the games that we were coached. We coached ourselves as a team. But maybe that was his approach again looking back. He kind of – he knew we had a lot of veterans, you know, Scotty, Dano, all these guys, you know, Nader and all these guys. Maybe he just wanted to throw it out there and have us kind of approach the game the way we wanted to. He just wanted us.

And we, I don't know if, I don't remember correctly, but I don't know if I led the team back then in the 2003 season too in scoring. But the scoring was like 57 points, I think, or something like that, which it was terrible but we were winning we were winning by one goal always you know two one one nothing you know three two three one but we weren't scoring at all and uh he he loved it and lou loved it you know lou always said salaries down yeah maybe you know maybe that's such a keep those salaries down. Yeah. Maybe, you know, maybe. That's such a great point.

And Lou always said, we only need, we only need one goal to win a hockey game because we were playing such a good defensive, you know, style of hockey.

But me, after playing those couple of years for Larry and having, you know, point a game and then having a season

when I was, I had the 94 points that one year, I wanted to play that type of hockey obviously and having fun and with Burnsy it was different. We didn't see ITI and we had a very intense situation in Ottawa. Trust me, I a uh a player that would go against a coach or was looking for trouble or you know wanted to talk to him or or things like that but it just kind of I was so frustrated and I was so unhappy and so you know I wasn't myself and I couldn't

play the way I wanted to I came to a point obviously throughout that season that I was so unhappy and so, you know, I wasn't myself and I couldn't play the way I wanted to. I came to a point, obviously, throughout that season that I was like, you know, screw it. You know, I'm just going to kind of, you know, mute him and just get it, not even listen to him and just play my game. And in Ottawa, we had a game and he's, you know, if you guys remember how, you know, if you guys remember how you, you know, visitors locker room, you go through a back of the bench and into the locker room and he's standing before you turn right. And he's standing there just kind of having these hands in his, by his waist and just looking, you know, his mean face like that, you know, and just looking at every guy and like looking at me i'm coming in and you

know i'm like start to look into his eyes and he's just looking at me it's like makes that face i'm like what you're gonna fucking say something or you're just gonna stand there so he comes into a locker locker room and uh he starts screaming at me you know come you know you know, fucking guy, what the fuck are you doing, guys? You're selfish. You're not playing for a team. And I honestly, I played pretty good or great, you know, the last few games prior to that. And he starts going after me.

It's probably because we were losing, I think, that game or something like that. And so he's just trying to push the buttons again. But he went after me, and's probably because we were losing, I think, that game or something like that. And so he's just trying to push the buttons again. But he went after me and I was, I just... You had enough. I had enough.

And I would never disrespect a coach like that. I would come to him, you know, one-on-one, but not like that. So he comes to lock and screaming and yelling at me and Turner Stevenson stands up

and just kind of goes in between me and him and says, you know, shut up, fuck you. Get out of our locker room. We're going to straighten it out here. You're not going to talk to him. He's, you know, he's leading us. He's playing his best. And he just stood up for me.

And Pat kind of left and just, you know, left the locker room and Turner says you know this is bullshit you know let's let's pick it up let's you know let's play our own game and start it again and from that point on when I did that when I had that little

fucking match with Bernsie he wouldn't say much to me but he all of a sudden started playing me a lot more, left me alone. Honestly, left me alone. I could, you know, when I made a mistake or something like that, he wouldn't do anything.

And I just started playing way better. And from that point on, we had a really good relationship. Obviously, you know, we went out and we won the Stanley Cup. So that was just, all of a sudden, it was like Jekyll and Hyde, you know, the way he acted towards me and the way, obviously, our relationship turned and progressed. And obviously, you know, the second year, he found out that he had a health situation and what happened to him.

And that was another thing. That just changed him totally. He was all of a sudden start talking to us, ask about families. So it was just a persona. He became a human, honestly. You know, he's a totally different person. He became a human and it was just a persona. He became a human, honestly. You know, he's a totally different person. He became a human, and it was so sad.

And so for me, it was a kind of a learning experience to know, and that showed me that the coaches, I don't think any of the people are bad people. They just kind of have their own way to push the buttons, their own system, their own style of coaching. And yeah, some guys can communicate better. Some guys don't know how. So they do, you know, they coach different way.

Some guys know the systems. Some guys know how to coach. Some guys know how to talk. Some guys are, you know, that's why I started appreciating later on in my career coaches like Pete DeBoer, you know. He's a smart guy, smart coach. And if he had an issue with you, he explained it. And I'm like, wow, this is amazing.

So it made me appreciate the coaches that were a lot more communicative. But on the other hand, it made me realize that Pat was just a great coach. He knew how to push buttons, even though you didn't like it. But you look at the teams that he coached, he was successful as a coach. And it's sad that, obviously, his life ended the way it did. Was there ever a time where you got to communicate that after the Stanley Cup win about like maybe how sour the relationship was or was it just kind of like it just kind of poured itself out

and you left it at that? Yeah, we just left it at that. We became – you know, he liked marty bordeaux and those guys phage canadians and all those guys so yeah he he had a lot better relationship with them but he opened up even to rest of us so it was fun and i i i left it i left it in the past it was in the past and i left it you know know, alone. And, and it's funny because his wife, she's, I invited her obviously for my ceremony.

When I, when my Jersey was retired and all of that, I saw her at the 2000 event and all that. And every time I see her, she does that, you know, I know that was always the toughest on, you know, but he, he, you were one of his favorites always the the the toughest on you know but he he you

were one of his favorites if not the favorite oh wow and it's yeah so it made me but again that's that's that's the way it is and i didn't mind the toughness i didn't mind the hardness but i just wanted to have i'd like to get explanations and uh sometimes you didn't get that because the code the people didn't know how to communicate how to tell you that so you realize that quickly patrick i want to ask about uh game seven of that oh three cup tremendous series versus anaheim were you guys nervous at all going into game seven given the ways you had played all playoffs and take took you guys to seven games not really because we won all the games at home.

Yeah, we actually played the series before that with Ottawa. That was a tough one. They had such a talented team. And one of my good friends is Marty Havlat, and we still talk about it. And he's still sorry about it. And they had a lot of the Czechs and Slovaks. They blew Alfredson and all those guys. They played great.

And we, at the end of the day, we end up, you know, having the unsung heroes at the right time at the game seven, Jeffries and, you know, going in the finals. We played great. We played good hockey, but it's just very unlucky.

I think, I don't want to be mistaken, but I think all the games in Anaheim went into overtime. And we lost all three games and some unfortunate bounces. And Jigar played great, obviously. But I didn't have a doubt. I was nervous that we weren't going to win that game seven. And that, Mardi played great too during the series and again

different games that pop unsung heroes you know yeah I was going to say the Hollywood star, the movie star now you know, Mike Rupp the rapper the trasher

one of my favorite teammates to this day, too, and a good friend. I love him. And what a big goal for him and for our organization back then. I also want to talk about the lockout. It was, you know, obviously a huge turning point for the league.

They started enforcing rules that had been in the books for years. The game changed a lot, but did you have to do anything different after the lockout? Did you have to change your approach at all? I, well, you mean the second one? Yeah, the 2005 one.

Yeah, the trade tour, a couple of the 2005 lockout. I went through two. So in the 2005, well, for me, it was a difficult one because I went back home. I went back home, obviously. I played in Czech League to begin with. Then once I found out that there won't be an NHL the whole season, my agent suggested to go to Russia because they were going to pay me quite a bit of money for a couple of months, to be honest.

In a duffel bag. In a duffel bag from the trashers. And I actually went to a good team. I went and played in Magnitogorsk. Yeah, terrible city, horrible city. But they had a Czech coach. Peter Sikora was there. Sergei Gonchar was there. Zhenka Nabokov was there. So they had a Czech coach. Peter Sikora was there. Sergei Gonchar was there.

Zhenka Nabokov was there. So I had those guys. And I went there and ended up playing with Peter and Malkin. Zhenka Malkin. Oh, my goodness. And I'm like, oh, my God, this is great. I loved the hockey there. It was skilled.

Even guys on the fourth line were just dancing and dangling. I was like, wow, this is great. I love the hockey there. It was skilled. Even guys on the fourth line were just dancing and dangling. I was like, wow, this is amazing. And I love that, you know, the hockey was great. The city was terrible, but the hockey was great. But I ended up contracting hepatitis and it knocked me out pretty bad.

And I ended up three weeks later here in the hospital in Prague and still in the hospital for a month here and didn't play for 10 months after that. So the lockout ended, but I was out. I was coming back from that. And six months later, you know, from the hepatitis, my workout was five minutes walk on a treadmill.

That was it, a stretch. So I worked. It was slow progress, long progress. And when I was kind of coming back, because I wasn't training for a long period of time, I had a sports hernia done. So 10 months later, I ended up having a sports hernia, and I had to recover from that. But on January 3rd, I was my first game after the hepatitis and after the lockout and I like I told you guys I end up end up having 38 games and 43

points playing with Brian and Gio so but that was a probably toughest situation situation for me health-wise during my career. And, you know, it just kind of shows you how quickly you can go up and down. And if you just kind of work and just put your head down and break your butt off and believe, then you can just get up and get back to your best. And something was watching me or someone was watching over me because I had no idea how i played and it was funny because i was proving lou and everybody wrong because they were all for morning skates how you know how important it is for for guys to

you know not to not not to be here not to hang around a lot obi was probably advocating for this that's right that's right and they uh and I'm like coming in after the hepatitis. And I was conserving energy any way I could. You know, I wasn't training. I wasn't practicing much. And I just played games, honestly. And no morning skates. And I just end up playing all those games and scoring all those points.

I'm like, see, you guys, you don't need a morning skate. You don't need to practice. You just need to play games. But, yeah so that that was kind of a for me it was kind of a little bit i guess it's hard to say you know because i was dealing with that uh so i wasn't dealing with the changes for the of the nhl but i'm a lot of the changes came in the systems the style of hockey changed quite a bit you know the referees were you know you were playing a little bit more of a skill game started to play and I think it's for better I honestly do I think that you look at the skills you look at the game the last decade so you look at some of the skills that it's being shown.

I'm a huge fan. I love watching the games. Even though, you know, again, it's hard to say because I feel like it's a lot more skills, a lot better to watch, but it's so structured. So, you know, the video wasn't – you look at the beginning of my career, the video was a big part of the NHL. And a lot of the coaches didn't watch. They didn't want to watch the video for 15, 20 minutes, half an hour.

And we weren't watching PKs all the time. You know, they just kind of tell you what to do, what the other team does, and let's go out there. They just kind of tell you what to do, what the other team does, and let's go out there. And obviously the game, when I started the late 90s, early 2000s, it was a lot more physical, but it was a big difference between the good players and some of the maybe average players. So it was a lot more open eyes sometimes, a lot more two-on-ones a lot more odd man rushes uh then you you you go into uh

seasons of 2000s and or early 2000s and 2010 later on and everybody's playing swarm everybody's around the house and that's you know it's it's hard to score in the league all of a sudden yeah so they again then the league has to come up with how to score more goals because the coaches want to win to keep their jobs, right? Because otherwise they get fired if they don't play the right way. They get blown out or they don't score enough goals or they don't win hockey games. So they're trying to keep their job.

So they come up with the right systems. But right now, where the game is, I love it. I love watching defensemen rolling all over the ice, filling the lanes, crisscrossing uh you know the not cross checking the guys not the guys are very careful of hitting guys behind from behind so so you can truly see the skills of the hockey players what do you uh what do you make of marty broder uh getting his design skills going and making this new third jersey yeah right i saw it you're kind of a component to it too i'll let you get into it right now the five rings why well tell me about it well they said that the five

rings represent the five guys that have had their jerseys retired for the new jersey devils on the jersey i know that marty marty was a big uh he had a big implement on it a big input on on on a design. When I saw him, I was there for the training camp with the Devils for 10 days and was part of his annual charity golf outing. And I was in a flight with a lady that actually has done the design with him. And she was telling me about it, that they're coming up with a third jersey. It's going to be like a pitch black with the silver design. And I'm like, oh, this is great.

I love it. But I didn't know actually that the five stripes represent that. So I'm, that's, that's cool. I'm very proud of it. That's cool. I love it. Hey, and on top of that, here's a little cherry on top for you. They retired his Jersey against the New York Islanders.

Cause he played the most games against them. And he had the most points in his career against one team. I love that. I love that. So I don't know how much you listen to the podcast, but this guy loves trashing on the Islanders. And obviously you did too, my friend.

Yeah. That's well, I, we played them so many times, obviously. And when, when the league had to play, had us play it and play them eight times a year,

you know, it adds up those numbers. But I like playing the Islanders, the Flyers, the Rangers, the rival games. That always hooked me up and I love playing those games. But back to the jersey, I love it. I think it's cool.

I think it's time for the Devils. So does R.A. For me? R.A. loves it, too. No, he doesn't, right? No, he's dogging it. I don't think I was the only one dogging it. I'll say, at first, I was like, eh, it's grown on me.

And when you see the players. I like the five rings thing. Yeah, and it's the black on black. I kind of like that stealth mode. At least for a modern style jersey, I always like the ones with the green on it. The old-school, old-school ones. Yeah, well, I did too because every time we put them on, it was once for St. Patrick's Day, and I always scored or had a big game.

There you go. There you go. This has been amazing. I got a question, though, going back. 1998, it was your real rookie year in the NHL is your third year pro, but rookie year in the NHL and Czech Republic, they won the gold medal, amazing performance by Dominic Hasik.

Was there any chance you could have made that team or was, was it really not no chance because you were so young or going into that? I'll tell you what I know and what was said to me. The team, obviously, the late Ivan Linka, one of the greatest coaches here in Czech,

he always had, which is understanding, he had his own players, his guys that he trusted, that he relied on, right? And had a chemistry with as a coach. And the guys had it all together. So he picked these guys and he picked the right team.

And he always kind of put in a couple of new guys and implemented into the team. And he already picked a team. And one guy got hurt. And I'm not sure who who was who was the guy that got injured and we got a call that it's me Peter or Milan Heyduk that are the extra guys so it's that that he's gonna pick one of one of us one of us to go for the injured player. All three of us, we actually are this, we played together for a junior team.

So we're the same age. We were buddies and we were like, oh my God, this would be great, right? So we all wanted to go, honestly. And back to like, you know, how you felt in the minor leagues, right? We all felt like we want to be, we should be playing already in NHL. So that was the same thing. all felt like we should be playing already NHL. So that was the same thing. I felt like I should be part of the team. But you don't know exactly how the coach is thinking,

how he's setting up the team. You know, he did great that he combined European players with the NHL players. And that was his big thing. And so he didn't just go to the way that maybe some, most of the coaches would go, hey, let's pick up from the best league, the best players that we have in NHL, and that's going to be our team. No, he felt like he wants to have the right chemistry,

combine the players from Europe with the NHL guys. And he did and he actually ended up taking milan because he played in uh in here in europe still back back at that time uh he was still in uh in european i don't know i think he was in finland he playing or maybe in czech league para de bice i don't know if i'm saying that right? Oh yeah, so he played in Paredo Bice, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he played in his hometown still. And he was a stud, obviously, you know, 23 years old too and playing great as a young kid.

So he saw him daily on a daily basis, you know. So I think that kind of played a big part in Linka's mind for him to pick him over me and Peter Peter. But obviously the team was unbelievable and but you said it right I think that the the reason why they won was Dominic Harsik he was just freaking unbelievable back then uh you big Garth Brooks fan I had no idea who he was no idea until my first year in albany and my first concert probably ever brian helmer took a young kid from czech republic and we were living in the same same area was about six, seven players. And he took me, he goes, hey, you know, come with us. And took me with him and his wife, Pam, to a concert.

And he said, we're going to go to country singers concert. I had no idea. I've never, you know, I listened to folk and polka songs and all that growing up here. And sometimes Queen, you know, I listened to folk and polka songs and all that growing up here. And sometimes Queen, you know, when my older brothers played that on a boom boom box. And that was it. So I was back into music. I had no idea what's being played overseas.

So he took me to country music. So I listened to a little bit of country music before that. I'm like, oh, my God, this is going to be terrible. music so i listened to a little bit of the country music before that i'm like oh my god this is gonna be terrible and uh so i i went and probably one of the best experiences and best concerts i've been you know until this day i loved it people singing every one of the people you know in the states and just having so much fun and you know watch you being there with one of my teammates that i couldn't speak to because i really didn't know any english but it was uh one of the best experiences that i had

it's like uh lou probably had him bring you like he sent scotty bruce springsteen watch the work effect on him kid yeah yeah well he knew about everything trust me lou i stayed in the hotel for eight months, and he knew every step I took, what time I got back and all those things. He had the black light out when you would leave and go to practice, see what's going on in there. Not with me. Not with me.

Talked to an old teammate. He said you were an absolute clothes horse. He said if it was a six-game road trip, you had six suits, you'd wear them once off to the dry cleaner. Big fashion guy, he told me you were. Well, maybe later on, yeah. I actually enjoy clothes. That's true.

I was going through. You know what happened my first time in Albany? So I come to the game, obviously. We've got to wear our suits, which I had one or two suits from the junior national team, right? Still from the when we went to the U-20 tournament, I had a suit. So I kept it. I brought it to the States with me. So I had two suits and I maybe game two, three, something like that. And I bring my A-suit, mustard, yellow mustard color.

And I come, I walk in through the arena, I walk into the locker room and you guys are actually obviously giving me a hard time. Oh, you're closing their eyes you know bring my shades you know and like this is terrible you cannot wear this and they were giving me such a hard time and i was so uh embarrassed by it so right after the game i took it and threw it in the garbage no that was the first time and last time i wore that yellow must suit. Yeah, I felt so embarrassed. I had no idea.

So maybe that's why I kind of started following a little bit of... Then I went to... What was the store? Something Bauer. Oh, Eddie Bauer. Eddie Bauer. And I think I bought a suit from them. You're going backwards, man. You're going backwards, man.

You're going backwards. What was it called? Crossgate Mall maybe back then in Albany. And so I went there and I bought a suit, you know, like it looked like an old chair kind of, you know, old chair. So I wore that. But I got better with the style. I got better with the style i got better with the

style once i made it to an nhl i kind of watch what the guys are wearing and i actually got a deal with the hugo bar so that was way easier so they start dressing up yeah after everything you achieved through your entire career is there anything you look back on like i wish i could have accomplished this or maybe that. Not saying that you didn't accomplish a ton. It's just sometimes guys of your standard maybe say, that's one thing I wanted and didn't get. I'd love to experience

to play for a Canadian hockey team sometimes. You know, that's the one thing that I would, you know, even though that I'm so, so happy that I had a career with one team only. Sometimes I kind of wonder how it could be to play in Montreal. It was my favorite, to be honest.

And I was quite close to go to Montreal, even in the... Free agency? Yeah, during the free agency. But even when my loan contract expired, my last three years of my career they talked to me so I was quite close but that was my favorite team so

to maybe that's one thing maybe to play for a Canadian team my dad always wanted me to play for Detroit his favorite team was Detroit and he only followed the Devils obviously because of me but his favorite team was Detroit then and he wanted me to play for the Devils, obviously, because of me, but his favorite team was Detroit then, and he wanted me to play for the Devils.

I mean, for the Red Wings. For the Red Wings, yeah. I want to ask Patrick, we've had guys, players on, who've said the sting of losing in the finals lingers more than the thrill of winning in the finals. Is that something you feel similar about? I didn't have that experience, and the only reason is because we won the year before that

right so we won in 2000 in 2001 we should have won we were close we were

at the end we were the better team but it's again you know the stories

you know the happy ending you look at the way it ended up for Ray Borg, you know, you feel like it was supposed to happen that way. Right, right. In 2011, that's the one you kind of, I felt like, I would like to get that one maybe. Although I feel like maybe we were in a better team,

but not always the better team wins. I feel like maybe we were a better team, but not always the better team wins. You know, we, that's, but in 2011, I wish we could win because of the young kids that we had on the team. You know, you look at Zach Parisi back then, you could get Travis Zajac and those guys, Andy Green and those guys.

They were so, I enjoyed it totally different way. I was, you know, obviously towards the end of my career, and I loved it. I was just so happy. There was no pressure. I enjoyed every moment, and I was just so happy to watch those guys experience it and how nervous they were. And I was the opposite. I was so calm and just had fun. And that's,

that's the only one year that I, I, I kind of regret maybe that we weren't, we didn't win that one for those guys. I got just one more. I guess you're, you're a pretty big skier. I read, huh? I'm pretty big, any sport. My wife will tell you, I'm, I can't stand still. I, even when I, when I finished my career you, I can't stand still. Even when I finish my career now, I'm doing quite active in any sport. Obviously, skiing was and is. I was supposed to go to Austria last weekend and this week coming up, but they're already on lockdown with the covid situation the whole austria

it's coming here too so unfortunately that's not gonna happen but when things were back to but when things were normal yeah i loved it i got to it i'm i but i won't i wasn't i was okay i was very average but i left you know the challenge of getting better and start you know a little bit of free riding a little bit of ski opening which is ski touring you know the challenge of getting better and start you know a little bit of free riding a little bit of ski opening which is ski touring you know you put those things on your and that's good cardio you you climb up the up the hill then you go right keeps your mind stimulated are you doing a ton of that and maybe getting back into the game a little bit more or because of you know how the game

treated you financially you're more inclined to just enjoy retirement and spend a lot of time doing those activities uh i do it because i love the work i love the sweat i love the you know uh the feeling after i love the challenges um i i ran a couple half marathons you know i i end up i finished my career because of a knee injury right so i had a um patella so uh they i had a donor so they took a piece of my patella out and put a donor in there like oh you know the worst thing is obviously running for it and things like that so when i was recovering i uh i started walking a little bit i read an article from a guy in finland that had a similar issue and he said that the doctor in finland told him you know start walking start

jogging the running and all that moves is okay if it doesn't hurt you and it actually strengthens your ankles your you know your toes your calves and all of that which is very important for the knee too so I kind of listened to that and I started doing that when I was recovering and all of a sudden I enjoyed it I got in I got at runner's high and I started running almost every day you know and I had a couple half marathons run I went with a couple of my friends that invited me that was enjoyable i love watching other people wow yeah just i love watching the other people just kind of having that being so into it and enthusiastic about that and the atmosphere and not just for like then i then i did a couple for for for push myself for times you know to get

better and then then i do biking in the summer a lot of mountain biking this past summer i went we had a couple of my friends we did a prague to split which was uh uh like a nine-day bike trip you know which is it was like 1200 miles or something oh my goodness and uh and so because some of it was on a road bike some of it was on mountain bike and so just things like that and i don't do it for you know i don't do it for because i you know financially i can't but uh it at the game coming back to it that's what hockey gaming right it allows me to do that these trips i'm sure are awesome like 12 days with these nice bikes and stuff i eventually want to get into all that stuff too but i mean it takes a little bit of time and energy to plan it i mean you said you're

getting a little bit more competitive with it like do you think to the point where you might like hire a coach to help with like diet and times and all this type of stuff with those sports i i actually did that i did that about two three years ago because i started running quite a bit and i'm like hey why don't i just do it right way and uh um i had a person kind of doing tested test on me or like we all did before the care sometimes before the camp uh i did a treadmill test with the active acid taken out and, and checking out the heartbeat and all of that. And they gave me a program and I was running like I played hockey. I was always running in a, in a high heartbeat. Right.

So I was always up high and I could run in it for an hour, for an hour and a half. And it was like, Oh my God, this is so wrong. You can, you know, you can run for that period of time or longer, but you need to learn your, your heart to, to, to beat in a lower heartbeat. So I actually started and trained a different way. And I was like going slow. Sometimes I had to walk. I'm like, Oh, this is so annoying you know because i wanted

to put a i wanted to sweat i wanted to put work you know behind it and that's why i was doing it so all of a sudden i was doing six minutes a little bit of a jog two minutes walk i'm like ah this is terrible but three months later i was i started seeing a little bit of a different way that i my heart rate I start running maybe in certain periods of time like five minutes quick run and my heart rate was way slower I'm like wow this is great and then

I was starting to building I built it up build it up and I was training for a half marathon for Prague here and COVID happened I'm like oh this is terrible I was in the best shape like like running wise. And, uh, from, but I still do it. But now then with the COVID, you know, there weren't any events happening here. So I didn't do any and I kept running,

but I just started doing it, uh, more kind of enjoyable. Again, I do it. I still, I still do it it by the program but not as often because i do a little bit of a bike i do a little bit of a running i do a little bit of quite a bit of tennis i start playing pedal tennis i don't know if you guys know that it's yeah well it's different than pickleball it's a little bit like that but uh it's played in a cage, but it has a glass behind you. So it's almost like a little bit of a squash too. And it's a lot more intense. It's unbelievable.

So we play doubles. So we play with your buddies. And so I started playing that for the last couple of months. And so that's a different sport I took now. And I love it. I love the challenges. I love learning new sports you know among friends and people and doing all kinds of stuff so yeah this has been uh this has been unbelievable we appreciate you opening up and I I think a lot of our listeners

are going to get to know a lot about your personality and not so much just the hockey player but the person um all right do you have anything else? No, I think close to two hours. This is one of the longest runs we've ever done. We want to thank you. And Ryan had to check out. He had to give his son a ride, so he wanted to thank you as well. He had to leave abruptly. His kid's going to learn a skate.

He's going to be an NHL hockey player, so we're going to be able to get some free tickets off him. I'm sure. I'm sure. Hey, you guys are doing a great job, honestly. I love watching you and listening to you guys, and it's Hey, you guys are doing a great job. Honestly, I love watching you and listening to you guys. And it's great that you guys doing that. And,

you know, having a different, different kind of people on it, on the show, talking in different kinds of stuff. And it's important, you know, there's a huge hockey family out there throughout the world.

And, and you guys are fun. So keep it up. And anytime you guys want me on and drink your pink drink, I'm open to you. Jeez, that's quite the tire pump on the way out. You know what? Look, look, look.

I'm already all set. I'm already starting to, you know, I'm looking forward to my drink a little bit. That looks expensive. Pink Whitney's a little bit cheaper than that. That's okay. It's a little bit of rum, and I'm actually excited to watch the Champions League is on

soccer, so I'm looking forward to that, guys. Patrick, best of luck. I know you're going to be up for the Hall of Fame soon. Like I said earlier, I think you should be 100%, and I want to wish you the best of luck with that. You deserve it. Appreciate it, guys. Well, we'll see about that, and whatever happens, I'm happy for my career and

being part of the Devils family and the NHL family. So thank you guys. Keep it up and have fun. Thank you. It was a pleasure and an honor. Thank you. Huge thanks to Patrick Elias for joining us. Just an outstanding interview,

man. And like we said, his time, his first time on the ballot is next year for the hockey hall of fame. And we're going to beat this drum. This guy was definitely a hockeyockey Hall of Fame caliber player. Numbers were a little lower in Jersey, but anybody who saw him play knows how good he is.

So thanks again, Patrick. We had an awesome time with you. Also want to let you know that that interview was also brought to you by OCB Rolling Papers. Listen, gang, I said it before. I made this switch, and you should too. OCB Rolling Papers are the best I've used, and I promise you

will not be disappointed. OCB is the largest rolling paper brand in the world and has been one with nature, crafted naturally since 1918, so you know they've perfected the process for a consistently great session time after time. And now's your chance to join the OCB family forever. time and now's your chance to join the ocb family forever ocb rolling papers are giving a lifetime supply of rolling papers cones and some fresh swag to their loyal fans make sure to check out at ocb underscore usa today for a chance to win all you have to do is follow at ocb underscore usa on instagram like the ocb high haul post and tag two friends in the comments to win. There's also a shortcut on OCBUSA.com slash chicklets with the link to enter on Instagram now.

You must be 21 plus to buy our papers and to follow the social accounts. Good luck. And again, make the switch. Great stuff. He was awesome, man. All right, Whit, could you use some OCB rolling papers to calm down before some of his skates back in the day? So, Whit, do you know this guy named Colin Mulvey?

No. You don't know who this is? Okay, well, he's a hockey player, and he went on this podcast, and he had this summer skate experience with you. And even if it's not true, I don't care because I fucking laughed for about half the day thinking of you because I would say when things don't necessarily go your way, sometimes you can be animated to a place where it just fucking puts me in tears.

So I'm going to have you listen to the story that this Colin kid told on this podcast, and hopefully it's the case. Do you want to tell story that this colin kid told on this podcast and hopefully it's it's the case you want to tell the uh the audience about that story with uh whit there yeah so i used to skate with whitney in the summers before uh nhl season started and this was right when he was coming off the oilers which if you listen to spit and check that, it was not his best years in the NHL. He stole from them. He robbed them. Yeah, he robbed them.

He robbed them of their minds. So he's in his full Edmonton Oilers gear. I can still remember it. And we're practicing. And there's this one drill where the guys are standing in the one corner next to the goalie. And then there's another guy who's skating down at the far blue line and he's skating full speed and you have to make a pass

uh from the corner to the far blue line and he's like stopping and transitioning you have to hit him with the pass right as he's stopping so you have to guess it perfect it's like a really difficult pass and it's like 160 foot pass so i'm the guy in the corner and whitney is the guy moving that i gotta hit with the pass so i rifle a pass the only problem is i smoke them in the skates and he stopped dead still and just tomahawks a stick in the stands and the guy running the practice is my greer he's like wait what the fuck are you doing you can't just what the fuck are you doing where are you throwing the stands for and wit just turns off the ice he's going to the door and i think he's getting a new stick i

don't know and greer's like where the hell are you going whitney he's like i'm going to call my account to see how much longer I have to play this stupid fucking game. Listen, that very well may have happened. I don't remember that, but I have. There's so many. 100% that that had to have happened. I believe the kid. I'm just telling you, I don't remember, remember but i do that might like ring a bell i have i have dude i don't remember so many people tell me things i've said and did and i'm really honest to god swearing my kids do not remember

that but there were some dark times man like if the kid put it on my tape calling for fuck's sake wait i was in line for a bar this weekend, and some kid came up to me, and he's like, hey, I don't want to bother you, but I have the funniest Ryan Whitney story of all time. Put it on my tape. Please let me send it to you right now. And the whole line at this bar listened to that story

and was dying. And that's when I texted Biz. I'm like, we got to play this in the pod. Buddy, I would suck a dick to get an animated of that. Oh, my God. I do kind of remember saying the accountant line because it was when I couldn't even skate. So, yeah, this definitely must have happened. Oh, yeah.

Oh, my goodness. Would I ever pay a lot of money for the surveillance of that arena? As the story was going, I thought he was was gonna say that i was making the 160 foot pass and i was like there's no chance i didn't put this on the kid's tape but once he said that he did it and he put it in my skates i believe it it was some dark days come on work on the passing buddy shout out to tommy crincola for sending that over his what a name tommy crincola he's probably to blame for one of those foot surgeries. No, I probably had to get a new blade in my skate, though.

He fired one into my feet up all the distance. RA, I just thought I had to bring that up, buddy. I thought that was pretty humorous, so I don't know what other hockey we got to talk about, so we'll gather things up here. I just had it on mute. That's all. You just couldn't hear me chuckling.

That's all. Oh, okay. Sunday night, man. Toronto, Winnipeg. Well, first off, we've got to congratulate Blake Wheeler, his 1,000th NHL game. This guy, man, I still hear what Bruins fans complain they traded him, even though it got them a Stanley Cup.

But this kid really blossomed into a true superstar. He's been a joy to watch. So we want to give him props for his 1,000th game. You can tell his teammates love him a bunch. But this game, man, pretty violent. 6-3 Winnipeg win. Earlier in the game, Neil Pionk, he catches Rasmus Sandin knee on knee. Tough to see.

Never want to see that. But then later, Spezza goes after Pionk, and Pionk has kind of fallen, but Spezza ends up catching him with a knee right to the head. And then we saw Austin Matthews and Pierre-Luc Dubois having a tussle going at it. Late in the game, Wayne Simmons missed the hit on Morrissey, but then he cross-checked him trying to goad him into a fight. Logan Stanley kind of comes over the top. He takes Simmons on.

Then Stanley's giving a salute to the crowd, holding his helmet up like some brave hot shit. The crowd was going nuts. Oh, yeah. But then we've got Monday. Let's see. The Department of Player Safety said that Spezza was offered an in-person hearing and that Pionk was having a hearing today.

So it looks like there's going to be a few suspensions on top. Then afterwards, the Jets going back on the room. Is there anything better than betting the Leafs? And they're like, let's go get fucked up. Not betting them, all right? Beating the Leafs. I love it. I love it.

Did I say? I thought he said betting, beating. Well, no, I was, but what was funny, they closed captioned it. What did they put on the words? Like, oh, we're going to go celebrate with like. Oh, this was funny. Sports net. Yeah. So Stanley gets the, I think they give up, I think they give out a helmet for player

A jet helmet. What is it? Like a jet fighter helmet. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, and so he goes and they're like speech speech stanley's like let's go get fucked up but sportsnet sportsnet like you know has the closed captioning on their tweet of the whole exchange in the locker room and they wrote as he wrote as he said let's go

get fucked up they wrote let's go have fun and be responsible yeah which i got a kick out of so i good old family fun yeah good old family fun. Simmons was an absolute man-possessed looking to kill someone at the end of that game. Yeah, he was not happy. Man, Pierre-Luc Dubois bitched around Matthews. Luke Dubois, he's huge, and he's fucking tough too. Let's be fair here, though,

and say that there was no reason that should have been offsetting minors. It should have been Dubois going alone. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. That was not a penalty on Matthews. And when things... So I didn't have a chance to catch the beginning of the game, but I don't know if the refs had lost control. But clearly a spirited bout from both sides,

and especially with the comments from Shifley after the game. I don't think that this was a targeted attack on this is how you have to play the Maple Leafs. This could have naturally happened organically in that game. But yeah, it got to a level of where you don't see often Jason Spezza loses cool ever. Has he ever even been suspended? I don't even know.

I didn't even research it before the pod but i mean this is uncharacteristic but clearly that they were they felt that this was they kind of felt like it was a targeted attack they felt like these guys were getting a little bit dirty and i would imagine the video doesn't look great now with the in-person hearing that means he's at least getting five correct ra or or maybe even six yeah most likely it could be more than five but it could land on five as well when you get that in person yeah you don't think that deserves five games no i need them directly in the head i think it i think it does deserve five games i think it was i

think people thought maybe it wouldn't have been as bad given that they thought the knee-on-knee deserved something that Sandin got, and I don't think that that got anything from player safety. No, he's got a hearing. Oh, he does. Pionk does. Okay, all right, well, that's good to know.

I think he'll get two games for that. I think they were more frustrated about that, and then maybe the news that rolled out later, or maybe I just missed it. But yeah, for Spezza to come out of character like that and retaliate like that, and then you saw Simmons at the end of the game, and I thought it was justified. I really liked the response from Simmons.

I don't think that they want to be pushed around like they have before. I think round one goes to Winnipeg, and I got the next one circled in the calendar that's for sure I think the next one with what Stanley did leaving the ice I think Simmons is going to challenge him first shift like he really showed him up and they didn't even really fight for him to do that

you know like it was more like the refs got in there and like he just all of a sudden celebrated the crowd went nuts but Spezza I will say like he's going to try to light him up and then he falls so at that point you have to be able to like the league's gonna end up saying him you have to be able to control yourself to not hit him and he almost like went down even lower to get him okay so my only defense in that situation is as you're going in because it

looked like he went down to plant to make the hit and then when he noticed that he fell he went lower you don't know what you're going to get caught so you're trying to get as low as possible so nothing can happen to your knees right you don't want to get clipped to where all of a sudden you want to get as low to the ice as possible the but as i said as you watch the clip it doesn't look good it looks like it's a targeted attack where he he lowers in order to put his knee into his head but i don't know spezza to be that player because i don't have any prior evidence of that so he's going to pay the piper in the first situation i just have to speak up from a player and from a

player standpoint i've been in that situation before where the guy does fall it logistics don't look good because it was the same guy who threw the knee so it's like it looks like a targeted attack and he's and he's going to pay for it all right is that is that like would you have known that as a fan that that maybe he went lower to kind of brace the impact for himself yeah i don't think spezza did it intentionally i i think it was sort of like the perry play in the playoffs last year where perry caught tavarez in the head and he obviously didn't know i disagree he didn't get anything i i think spezza was going to hit him but i think peon was lower than he expect them to to be i don't think spezza intentionally meant

to neem in the head but he, so he's going to get disciplined. And I'm okay with people believing that whip because Spezza's never done something like this before. I just think that everybody's wrapped up in the emotion of that game, and it just so happened. From my understanding, it was the same guy, right? It was Pionk on Sandin, and then he ended up kneeing Pionk in the head. That's what hurts it, too.

That's what hurts it. For him to go lower, people are saying like, oh, he deliberately moved his knee into his head. I'm saying, I don't know, man. This guy might just be worrying about his knees and making sure

he doesn't fucking end up in orbit where he's going ass over tea kettle. Well, there you have it. It was ugly. It was emotional. That makes my cock hard when i when i like watching hockey games about in the fact of the emotion of the game i think we we are drastically missing that these types of games in in everyday regular season nhl and as i said i

will be glued into the continued rivalry and we need more of this type of thing so i'll leave it at that and um after the comments by Scheifele, nothing's better than beating the Leafs. A lot of teams feel that way. First of all, the Leafs are one of the best teams in the league. And even before that, even years when the Leafs haven't been great, it's like beating Toronto is just a good feeling. It is an enormous market.

All the news comes out of there. The amount of coverage the team gets. I mean, even us, we talk about the team so much because there's just so much drama constantly coming out of Leaf land that any team wants to beat them because they know it gets discussed on radio. They know there's articles about it, and it just feels good. So I think a lot of Leafs fans should almost take pride in the fact

that teams get fired up and ready to play you and really enjoy beating you and this year it really hasn't happened at all this could be a pivotal point in the Jets season like you know they're playing pretty good a little bit more consistent than they were at the start you mentioned Wheeler playing his thousandth game he he's been off to a slow start I don't even know if he scored a goal yet or maybe he hasn't won he still hasn't scored but you know maybe that's the type of win that kind of gets everybody going all of a sudden where now they become come unstoppable and they go on this this this nice little run but uh going back to dubois because we were critical of him last year and maybe the lack of offense and what he provided but he's looked really good so far this year and when he's when

he's making himself that relevant in these types of games where he's willing to go to that level to try to get under Matthew's skin and and listen I wasn't crazy about the call both of them going off but he did his job he took the you know he he got in their heads and he had a solid game and if he continues to be that type of player for them, that's also dangerous moving forward. Because between, look at their middle. Then they got Scheifele. Then they got him as a number two. And then they got, I play with his brother, Lowry, as their three.

Like that is, that's a scary team, man. That's a scary team. And maybe this propels them to play even more consistently. Sunday night we also saw something. I don't know if we've seen it before uh conor mcdavid he gets the gate he got a five minute major and a game misconduct for our board and adrian kempe on la it didn't look like the meanest toughest hit i just think the way he got him did you think he deserved the gate there biz or what it see these guys get hit like this frequently, and guys don't even get penalties sometimes. No, I don't think he deserved the gate at all,

regardless of who he even is. If it was a fourth liner who delivered that hit, it just seemed like a lot was happening, and the momentum brought him to where his back was to him by the time he got there. No, I'm okay with a five-minute penalty during the course of the game without him being thrown out if that's where you want to bring it. I think that looked like a two-minute rough.

I think that that's where the league's missing it now. Yeah, it wasn't like a malicious hit. No. You didn't line him up and gun him. It just kind of almost bounced off him more than anything. But, yeah, I was surprised he got the game misconduct for that. The problem is if you're going to kick him every time it happens kick the guy out that hit happens all the time and it's like there's zero consistency on that hit his face did hit the stanchion he was

bleeding so it's like i don't know i was so i i bet the oilers again i they i don't know what i'm doing betting them right now with all their do butO., but Nurse came back and had a goal. But, dude, that game started. I think L.A. outshot them like 13-1 to start the game. It was embarrassing. So they had nothing going. Tough night to be an Oil fan. But I don't know, man.

I don't mind that they kicked them out of the game for that, but just do it every single time that hit happens. I think you're opening a whole new can of worms if that's the standard now. I think it's Mickey Mouse or whatever. Maybe I'm a bit of a dinosaur though. Four-point night for him. Excuse me, a little burp there. Oh, against the Pens?

Four-point night against the Pens. Crosby's in hot too. Not his best game. Obviously ended up on the losing end of that one. I think he was dash three as well. Holy shit. Avoid Edmonton off the rush. And they give him up, like what, four rush goals.

One of them got called back, which would have been Hyman's hat trick. He kind of got hosed, I think. Was it Yamamoto who ended up going offside there to cock block him of the hat trick. So very entertaining on pride time. As I said, four point night and seems like the load's getting a little heavy with the depleted back end though. It's catching up to him a little bit.

And also the travel wit. They've been kind of like in and out of their home barn. They got a five game homestand here coming so hopefully they can get a few of those guys from the back end and get going like your typical Oilers.ers but right now man it's the flames division i told you i can't wait to see you in that fucking earring buddy um it's not just whoever wins the division it's who goes further this year oh i know okay just letting you know just letting you know know. I'll bet more that we go further.

Fuck you, Biz. What do you mean? Fuck you. Fuck you and the Flames. We're Oilers. Hey, another beauty by Kachuk. So he keeps bumping down McDavid on the nice goal of the year list.

He did the Forsberg in the shootout. One-handed. That was dirty. All right, boys, a few other notes here. Our pal Robin Leonard tweeted out Monday that he will not be playing in the Olympics. the shootout one hand it was dirty all right boys few other notes here uh our pal robin lennar tweeted out monday that he will not be playing in the olympics uh he said quote i'm very disappointed it's a tough decision for me as it's a once in a lifetime opportunity he cited that it's not ideal for his mental health and also not knowing what happens if you test positive is too much of a risk

for me sweden will have a great team and and Markstrom is a beast. Hope people understand. I'm sure they will. It's like we talked about last week. Nobody wants to be stuck in a foreign country for three weeks after a positive test and have to come home and do the same thing. So we certainly understand. Let alone China. Buffalo, we thought they were maybe going to try to get Matt Murray

when he was put on waivers last week, but instead they dealt for Chicago's Malcolm Subban for the old future considerations, which is basically, here's a player, see you later. Oh, and this one, this is a hilarious one. There was a TikTok out the other day. It was four blonde women at the Dallas Stars game, and allegedly, and we say allegedly because we don't know, one player invited four women to the same game, and they're all sitting there, and they're all kind of sitting there with the same game and they were all sitting there and they all kind of were sitting there

with the same look on their face. But how much does this suck for the guys who get named on social media who had nothing to do with this? I'm not going to repeat their names, but what people think of the usual suspects and it's like these guys have nothing to do with it. Well, I think that you earn a reputation

at a certain point. I mean, come on here. I mean, I think it's well aware that Tyler Sagan crushed a lot of women when he was playing in Boston. And he sends out pussy flares constantly. And he sends out pee flares on the ground like it's his fucking day job. But he might be living a different life now. So, yeah, he shouldn't be taking the blame if it wasn't him leaving the tickets.

Now, if it just so happens it was, it's fucking awesome. I hate to be Buzz killington here but like i don't think that was the i don't know if that was legit i don't believe it went like oh i i allegedly oh i that's what i was gonna say i felt like it was orchestrated and in fact oh okay yeah i thought everyone kind of like believed it i'm like there's just maybe maybe he left two girls. Holy shit, I can't even describe what I'm trying to say. He left tickets for two different girls, two sets of two different girls, but there's no way he left four tickets for four different girls.

There's no chance. Let's talk about the real problem here, Witt, is the ticket guy for the team. and there's no chance let's talk about the real problem here with is the ticket guy for the team right is is i've maybe found myself in this situation before where you need to make sure you spread them around the arena you got to put one in one section and then win in a section at the completely opposite end of the rink so if anybody's got to take the fall for this one it's the team ticket guy you gotta snap these around right yes yes yes the worst was when they the single girls would be around the wives and the wives are just disgusted like get these girls out of here i think that there's a story that where that happened and i want to i don't know

if it was on the road where it was like a girlfriend ended up meeting a wife in that section based on tickets that were left and yeah and then i'm sure you can imagine kaboom so uh you want to make sure you're really dialing that those ticket situations are a i mean if it was the same guy safe to say he has a type uh all four blondes there but have you ever like seen a scenario play out like maybe in the hallway with like you said a girlfriend and a wife show up or a couple girlfriends and like it just gets cringy and uncomfortable. No, I have not. I have not.

I've just seen like single guys leave some girls tickets and then they're sitting with the wives. And it's just like it just sometimes it's just not vibing. I'm sure there's plenty of wives who are so nice and friendly. They're going to be nice to them. And what? Well, yeah. and they're going to be nice to them. What?

Well, yeah. I mean, sometimes when you're putting the one that looks like Snooki in the wives' lounge where they got the fake tan, the tits out, the fucking makeup done like crazy. Some of them stick out like a sore thumb. Some of them are working at the Rhino on the weekends that get the tickets, and others are ones that maybe vibe with the girls a little bit more. I mean, let's just be honest about it, right? True.

Yeah. Not everything is a long-term relationship. Sometimes you're just hooking some friends up, and there's nothing wrong with that. Okay. I don't know about four of them, but also congrats to the head coach, Rick Bonas. He coached his 2,500th game in a win over Carolina.

It's the most in NHL history. In the same game, Braden Holtby, it was his 500th game, and he made an absolutely ridiculous trio of saves. Two of them on Svetchnikov, one of them on that kid Jarvis. He had the scorpion save. Unreal sequence of events. You guys see that? What was it?

I don't know. Thursday, Friday night. Unreal. Just a tremendous sequence. Also, it was pretty classy. Rick Bonas did. Mike Heike, who's a beat writer for Dallas. He's been there for a tremendous sequence. Also, it was pretty classy that Rick Bonas did. Mike Heike, who's a beat writer for Dallas, he's been there for a long time. I guess he suffered a stroke, and Bonas opened up his press conference

by acknowledging him and wishing him well. It was just nice to see. I know the media kind of gets picked on a lot, but it was just such a classy gesture for Bonas to do that. And I just wanted to make note of it. And Dallas is buzzing. They've won five or six in a row. And forget those Pavelski at the deadline.

Where's he going? Because Dallas right now is looking beautiful. Jake Autinger, former first. I think he was a first-rounder. BU kid. He was. He was sick 5-0 this year. I think it was that game against Minnesota.

Closed-door meeting afterward. Now they're 6-0 since. I think they've only allowed eight or nine goals in those six games, just locking things in defensively. You mentioned Pavelski. He's been fucking red hot. So has that Rupe Hintz. And overall, if they can get Ben and Sagan playing where they're producing,

even Radulov's not producing to the normal rate. When they can get those older guys going too, look out. Rickick talkett said that that's a team if they sneak in they could do what they did the year they ended up going to the cup with uh tampa he said that yeah he just like he just like loves it the way they play they just you know they're big they play the right way they got mobile defensemen who are always gonna yeah they're they're deep on the back end too um like and they're getting contributions from some young guy. That Robertson. He's nice.

He's a nice player. He's continuing to do what he did last season. And who's the other kid that's been producing well there? There's like one. Oh, no, we mentioned him. It was a kid, Pavelski. Still getting it done. You mentioned potentially moving him at the deadline.

No way the way they've been playing now. Biz, you mentioned in the outline, the best way to get out of a slump is in a bag skate, team getting in one, players only. Well, I mean, we've seen so many examples of it this episode. You see the coach firing, a bag skate. I mean, you talk about, wait, have you ever been part of one where it got so bad you guys had to go out and just get completely fucked up

and then things got turned around? But it's a way that some teams have. Yeah, I don't remember. I'm sure I had. We were just looking to go out anyways. Like, oh, perfect, we've been losing. That was Bugsy. Edmonton, we did it every two weeks in Edmonton.

That was Bugsy's solution for everything wow we gotta go and get fucked up to turn things around he's like the reason we've been going things have been going wrong is because we're getting fucked up too much Bugsy oh my goodness but uh yeah no but that I mean hey that closed door meeting obviously changed something something snapped and. And sometimes it's not the coach that has to say anything. It's a bunch of the players that need to step up. And I know 17 guys in the room say the exact same thing. You know when the train gets going with it and then, like, the next guy goes, the next guy goes. Yeah, that's brutal.

Yeah, guys, just, like, come on. Like, get out there. Like, play hard. Get some pucks in deep. Yeah. Get it out of our zone. Easy play. Get loaded.

It just keeps getting past to where the backup stick guy is saying it. But, yeah, that's definitely one way, R.A. All right. Gee, we mentioned earlier we had an update on the Chicklets Cup in Vegas. We have an announcement for the Chicklets Cup in Vegas. We have an announcement for the Chicklets Cup in Vegas. The tournament will take place at the Strat in Las Vegas in the giant lot across

the street. Now, the Strat had a $100 million renovation a few years ago, so trust me, this is perfect for us. This is perfect for this tournament. You can sign up Tuesday, December 14th at 6pm Eastern Time at chickletscup.com. So for the tournament, registration night will be Wednesday, February 2nd.

The tournament will then take place the 3rd and 4th, like we said. But we're going to be throwing a huge, huge party the night of the 3rd. We've already started planning it. We've had some cool meetings about it. It's going to be unbelievable. And not to get confused with the NHL All-Star Game, that's on the 4th and 5th. Ours is on the 3rd and 4th,

so they won't be competing with each other. Ours is going to finish before the skills competition. That's when all the semifinals and finals games will be played on that Friday. Guys, it's going to be a blast. I'm going to create a team this year. We have some extra surprise announcements that we're going to roll out throughout the next couple weeks.

The Wednesday registration is great. You have a couple drinks. You get to meet all the people that are going to be competing. Remember when we met the kid last year who was saying, we're going to win this thing. We don't care. And then they dusted everyone. And then they dusted Wierenski's team.

7-1 on the round robin. Wierenski goes and picks up some fucking ringers, and they end up battling back to play them in the final. And that kid's team, who was chirping on that Wednesday meet and greet. And he had two goals. And he had two goals in the final. So those types of things are going to happen. Thursday is going to be a blast all day long.

We're going to have live music there, guys. Tons of drinks. Even the general public can show up these are very fun events where we can meet uh you know uh some of our fan base in a certain area and it just so happens it's going to be through all-star weekend so if you were kind of on the fence about doing all-star weekend come enjoy it our way as Grinnelli said to an awesome shaker that's going to happen on that Thursday night after all the round-robin games to the ball hockey and roller hockey. I'm pretty sure the Pro Bowl is that weekend too there.

Pro Bowl is on the Sunday. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So it is going to be a very fun weekend. We are going to have a great location. And come enjoy some Pink Whitney's. And it's going to be like Detroit, but maybe on steroids. Just once again, registration.

And other drugs. Tuesday, December 14th at 6 p.m eastern time at chicletscup.com you can find any questions there find any answers there busy you're gonna hire a fuji's cover bin the refugees i just like coughed up phlegm there you caught me off guard there already coming down one-on-one like McDusty. I think I'm going to put a request in now. No Stones music, all Fugees, all day long, even day two. But no, R.A., it's going to be a blast. And I wasn't kidding, guys.

I'm going to put in a legitimate team. I've reached out to Terry Ryan. I'm getting ball hop ball hockey specific players i'm going to get some nhl players i'm going to play in that top division and we're going to fucking compete among some other special names like we talked about grinelli when when are we going to find out exactly who's coming as special guests uh that will be announced probably the week after registration so once we get all the teams in we see who's coming how many teams have signed up and all that.

But it's going to be incredible. This one's going to be way better than Detroit. No offense, Detroit. What else we got, Ari? I got to start resting up now. Let's talk about student debt biz. You could potentially save thousands with refinancing. It's been a while since I've had loans, but I don't miss them.

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And right now, Earnest is offering our listeners a $100 cash bonus. Refinance your student debt at Earnest.com slash chicklets. Not available in all states. Once again, you get a $100 cash bonus when you visit Earnest.com slash chicklets to refinance your student loan. for more details not available in all states terms and conditions apply earnest student loan refinancing made by earnest operations llc nmls number 1204917 california finance and law license number 6054788 535 mission street san francisco californ 94105. Visit earnest.com slash licenses for a full list of licenses. Check them out. Save some dough. Get those loans taken care of. They're no fun. Biz, you've been having a little buzz about people not liking the three-on-three overtime.

They want to get rid of the blue line. I think it's getting too strategic now. It's getting too defensive. Too much rag in the puck. enough you know bringing it towards the cage and people like i okay i tweeted out after the leafs game so i'm biased i just think there's so much more to provide the game with three on three i hate the shootouts now i want to gas the shootouts and i like the idea of there being a winner i just want to see more three on three times so people were saying do away with the blue line i think we can do better than that

i like the gretzky rule where he said once you go over the blue line uh you know with with a clean like you don't go offside and you have possession. You can't yourself bring it past center now. You can come out of the zone, but you got to stay within center. And if you don't, I don't know what the penalty will be. A penalty seems a little harsh. Maybe an offensive zone faceoff for the other team. But even that, it's like, oh, wow, that's not that much of a punishment. Maybe a minute power play for the other team.

I don't know. I want to see more three on three i fucking hate the shootouts and i hate the fact that teams are getting even more defensive and strategic about it because it's too exciting to ruin how about what fedorov's doing in the khl what fedorov i fucking love this do you want to explain what he's doing with so he he coaches uh seska which is you know csk moscow and when two games in a row now, they get the puck in the offensive zone, he pulls the goalie. Boom, four on three.

And they've won both games. So I guess if you're getting a point either way, he's looking at it like, let's just really give ourselves a power play and a true chance to get that extra point. So who knows if that ever comes into play? It's not that crazy to think about. I mean, you can't just ice it. You're not on the penalty kill.

So keep in mind, folks, it's four on three now, right? So there's so much more ice to expose in order to have guys moving and putting pucks into areas that they can step into for high top scoring chances. So it makes way more sense of the fact that it's four on three and not like a five on four type power play. And he's 2-0 since doing it. They did it last game, and then I guess they just won another game tonight

with pulling off the same move. Whit, do you think that an NHL coach would have the balls to try to pull this off in an NHL game? I could see it if a team really needs that extra point where you've seen people you know pull the goal even in regulation when they're tied like at the end of the year but i can't see it happening if a team's not in like dire need of that second point i don't know i don't know why um if you're a team who really struggles in shootouts maybe that's something you'd look at

why i just i just like how how the risk is being rewarded offensively in this situation. And we've seen crazy instances where coaches pull the goalie with like eight minutes to go in regulation. I think Patty Waugh did it, maybe as far as eight anyway. I like seeing this type of unique behavior by coaches taking risks. So kudos to them and two big wins in OT. Yeah, I think points are at such a premium now

because everything's so close. And these coaches are coaching for their jobs, coaching for the playoffs. So of course they're going to strategize. They're going to do whatever they can for that extra point, even if it has kind of taken the excitement. Well, Witt, you're a soccer guy. Both teams get one point for a draw in soccer, right?

Yeah. Are you okay with that game ending in a tie uh soccer's so different and there's no playoffs so it's just like hockey i don't i don't want games ending in ties in hockey no way no way that's brutal all right yeah can't have that in the playoffs agreed there okay moving right along here. Update on the Canadians. Jeff Gorton said his GM hire will likely be after Christmas

and that Dom Duchamp will coach the rest of the year. Let's see. The Rangers have won six straight, largely on the back of their goaltender, Igor Shosturkin. He's been absolutely lights out. That guy? Let's see. 937 save percentage.

13-3-2. He's got a shutout. 2-0-5 goals against. Biz thinks he's the leader in the clubhouse right now for the Vesna. He's going to be out for a little bit. He tweaked something, but I don't know. I think a lot of people have him. I currently have Markstrom.

I don't have him as the leader. I think he's one of the three I think he's living up to the hype and I mean I mentioned that game against the Flyers the other night I thought the Flyers had the better better end of that as far as high quality scoring chances I might be wrong by the eye test but if not for him making some 10 bell saves they're you know they're not in that hockey game I think that the Flyers end up winning it. So this is going to be a big test for them. Do you agree that he's probably right now in conversation for the Vezina?

I think he is the Vezina winner. I think he's so incredible. The only worry I have about the Rangers is maybe this isn't as legit as I think, but at times it's like it kind of is similar to the old Rangers with Lundqvist where they relied on him so heavily that at some point you really like, you know, you can't, now they went to a cup final, right? But he is so good. This guy, like people talked earlier in the year, I think we talked about Sorokin versus Shisterkin. This Shisterkin dude is at another level. And luckily, it's not a serious injury.

Same thing last year. I think he was only out two weeks with the groin. This one I thought might have been way worse because it was non-contact. He just spread out his leg, and all of a sudden, boom, couldn't put any weight on his leg coming off. I thought it could have been a knee.

Luckily, it's just a groin. It's only going to be about a week. But he is at another level, and an unreal goaltender. I'll tell you, I went to the Tampa-Boston game Saturday night, and Vasilevsky, man, stood on his head. I think right now, best player on the planet, not a huge surprise, winning two back-to-back cups.

I know his numbers are a little bit lower. But Bruins outplayed that team. I think they outshot them almost 3-1. Vasily won that game hands down. Did you watch any of it? No, I haven't been watching much Boston right now. You, Witt? Yeah, I watch a decent amount.

I always have them on. I have another game on the computer or something like that. I don't know, Boston. It seems like win one, lose one. It's just there's not much consistency. I don't think they're a team built to... I think they're going team built to i think they're going to be fighting to get in the playoffs i don't think that the the three top teams in that

division are pretty much set right like do you see them bumping any of those three out yeah i mean there's still a lot of time left man it's still only december a quarter of the schedule gone teams are going to slump i i wouldn't be surprised if they get in the top three but yeah that's they got to clean up the goaltending, and who knows if Krejci's going to come back. But if they do bring Rask back, that's going to be a huge addition. But it's going to be a struggle to get in for a lot of teams. Well, boys, I think this has been a hell of an episode.

I think we could probably save a couple things for next week. These people probably got to get to their jobs. They're probably already late listening to their car in the last four hours, Biz. Well, it's hard because we get these unbelievable interviews with these guys, and they're willing to give us an hour and a half of their time. So we hope you guys enjoyed, Patrick, and we had a blast rapping with you guys. There was just a shit ton of hockey news. So hopefully things calm down a little bit,

and we've got a couple more big ones in the, what do you call it, the holster for you. Chamber. The chamber? Holster works, too. Holster works, too. Yeah, thank you, everyone, so much, as always, for listening. We can, the holster for you. Chamber. The chamber? Holster works too. Okay. Yeah, thank you everyone so much as always for listening. We can't tell you how much we appreciate it. So much fun stuff coming up with interviews and the Chicklets Cup.

So thanks again and we'll talk to you next week. Peace. Peace. Go one. As always, we like to thank our Dynamite sponsors here on Spit and Chicklet. So huge thanks to our longtime friends over at Pink Whitney. Big thanks to our buddy Devo over at Cross Country Mortgage. Make sure to check them out if you're looking to refi or start your first mortgage.

Huge thanks to everybody over at No Days Wasted. By all means, grab some of them if you're going to be having a few cocktails. Big thanks to everybody over at SimpliSafe for keeping us safe in our homes. Huge thanks to our friends at OCB. Like I said, I made the switch. You should too. They're the best papers out there. And big thanks to everybody over at Earnest. If you're looking to refinance your student loan, check them out. They're the best. Have a great week, everybody.