Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 409: Featuring Brad Treliving

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

On Episode 409 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Calgary Flames General Manager Brad Treliving. Brad joined to discuss a crazy summer in Calgary, claiming Biz off Waivers, GM stories and more. The guys start the show with a Western Conference Preview, and wrap up the show with their playoff predictions.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 409 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family gang. The NHL is back this week, the boys hit the road next week, we can't wait to get back out there with our listeners but first we gotta say hello to the fellas once again across the pond to Matty Merles in Sweden. When are you heading over this way, my man? Looking at Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll start my trek over there.

I'm hoping for an easier trip than it was to Buffalo. And I'm real excited to get over to Pittsburgh. Going to be coming over hot as a pistol still or what? You're going to be carrying that Euro streak or what? Yeah, it was a great week. 2-0 with boots on the ground up in Timra. Both games were decided in the last minute, too. So had a lot of fun.

And this week is all taking care of the kid, laundry, taking care of the wife, getting ready for that week-long trip with the boys. Don't forget to take care of yourself, too, Murr. Murr, so the one thing I did notice from boots on the ground game was their little uh pre-game ceremony before puck drop explain it to the fans and you ended up hitting the over and the win on that game although they were doing everything in their power to blow it with all the penalties that they were taking oh yeah they did that when i played here this little trucking company pays the sponsorship to drive the truck out to the to the referee and i've seen guys run into it when they're skating because the lights are off

and the and you know the spotlight's going they're introducing us at the other end so the other team's not paying attention but that was a fun little thing but yeah both games were unbelievable i tried to get down to the locker room i tried to use my pass credential to get in and get the interview with the ot winner the one night, but I missed him. He was out of the room before I could even get down there. That's how quick this guy moves. Was that Lelegio? Yeah, Joey Lelegio. Yeah, so I bet the game when I saw Murs been on

fire and then I had no idea who was on the roster or anything, but I see the game winner. I'm like, oh my God, it was Nugent Hopkins' best friend. I don't know where they played together, but he always used to talk about him. I think the kid played at Denver little fast absolute like little water bug out there offensive D man so sure enough it all came together my uh six minutes I knew Nugent Hopkins his best buddy won me a couple G's and the merman obviously imagine imagine skating around pre-game

and then going ass over tea kettle because you hit the little motorized truck on the ice. You know you're going. I actually wouldn't have minded it because I wouldn't have an excuse. I hit the truck. I was falling on my own. Regardless of injury, you would have pulled shoot. Oh, that truck. My ankle, my foot.

Also, quick shout out till we get around to everyone else. Merles, I think it's 3 a.m. right now as we start in Sweden. So the guy's up, the guy's bowing. I said, did you take a nap? Nope, obviously couldn't go to sleep. So we appreciate it, Merle's. It's great having you on. And I know 3 a.m. is no joke.

2.08 a.m., but you were close. That's standard. Thanks, Merle's. Let's go all the way across the pond again. And then out to almost the West Coast. Mikey Grinelli, where are you? That's not your apartment in New Jersey. That's Jeff Dahmer's apartment.

Connor McDusty Dahmer. Yeah, I'm here in Vegas for the NACS trade show, spreading the gospel of big deal brewing. And I'm meeting with tons of different convenience stores from all over north america with the hopes that they'll pick up big deal brewing so uh shout out to the entire fifth coast sales team that's here moving the product for us my guy matt goldman has been slinging deals for us left and right i also got to see the big deal brewing cans in person for the first time

fucking gorgeous at all there we go there it is there we go there we go what's with the room though uh i don't know i am in like a fully like red room it has a red couch red walls it's like a red velvet couch so it's uh it's very vegas and on top of that i've been getting crushed on the blackjack table so it's a very vegas trip for me i would have loved to have seen you like weaseling deals for free jewels from different convenience store owners. But yeah, we'll give you a couple of free. No, no big deal brewing. And you're going to send me over some tobacco products. You don't smoke jewels.

This is a trade show. So this they had every single thing that's in a convenience store. They each like company has a booth. OK, so I spent an hour just buzzing around, grabbing some Skittles, grabbing some nerds, huge Reesey guy. So I had some of those as well. It was, and then the food, oh, unbelievable gas station. Grab me some ribbed domers while you're there. I will. 37 years. You're going to start wearing them, huh? Yeah. You asshole. Next up, Paul biz, nasty, Bissonette you're always traveling a lot lately. Where are you today?

That's a new background for the fellows. My new apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, a bit of difficulties with a thermostat though. So it's currently 86 degrees in my apartment. I'm probably going to be tarps off in about six minutes. If I passed out during these, uh, these preseason predictions on who we see going to playoffs breaking teams down at least you got merles right he can replace me

that's why we brought in the extra gun for the breakdowns but uh very very eventful week uh i was in uh i was in victoria said goodbye to all my friends there i went over to a wedding dinner missed the wedding so the wedding dinner was on thursday uh got to say bye to all my vancouver friends uh ended up uh staying with a friend my friend jackie the alien in north vancouver and sure as shit the one afternoon i'm just driving right by our place bear thousand pound i don't it wasn't a grizzly i would assume it's a black bear i sent you guys the video yeah it was black just roaming around going up to doors around the neighborhood everybody obviously out in their cars after that just sneak a peek so that was pretty cool that was the first close-up encounter i've

ever had with a bear uh and then made the trek i i drove to arizona in less or yeah from vancouver to arizona in less than 48 hours i did a 16 hour shift in the car on saturday so that was pretty stops on that 16 hours just a lot of like just pulling over and hosing i stopped at whole foods grabbed a bunch of whole paychecks grab a bunch of fruit and granola and just did the trek i do i do have a confession to make between arizona and uh and vegas i did i had to fucking pull over to stay awake i tugged one off on on the side of the road in the middle of the desert stay awake so yeah surprisingly it gave me a jolt of energy but i had to try anything and i'm i'm trying to where'd you come i had a a coffee cup i just had a coffee

cup in my in my cup holder. So I just did it in there. And that was the end of that. So I don't know. And then you what? You had some natural buzz energy to yourself after. Buddy, I was I was I was I was rumble stripping it. And I had to get back because we had, of course, we had to record the podcast.

So I yeah, I just figured, hey, let's do it. Let's let's let's get the endorphins popping and it worked i fucking threw on some brap all the way home for the next you know three three and a half hours i was just i was just driving waiting to get some bars on my service and i'm like yeah there it is hey i love i love by the way that on the um pink whitney tour business pink whitney expedition out western canada i watched the behind the scenes very funny and he mentions i love these long drafts so i get a lot of my thinking done and apparently ejaculating all over toyota's corolla yeah it wasn't like i did it in a casino

parking lot i was in the middle of nowhere i said basically where the hangover crew broke down uh but aside from that back in my new place here, and like I said, I'll probably be tarps off in a few minutes because I am leaking right now. And just excited to be back. We had a couple calls with TNT already, and we are just fired up on all cylinders. We're traveling to Colorado to kick off the year.

We're doing preseason. So we actually were going to take a look at, I think Boston's playing New York in preseason. Yeah, I saw the Bruins are at MS at, I think, Boston's playing New York in preseason. Yeah, I saw the Bruins are at MSG, I think, this week. It'll be good to get a little look at what they have without a few of their stars in the lineup, right? They're going to have a lot of work ahead of them as far as, you know, managing these injuries and at least trying to stay afloat

in a very difficult division. We saw Pittsburgh do it last year without Malkin and Sitt to start the year. But now I'm hearing Taylor Hall might not even start the year. So just a couple of weeks, just a big shit sandwich for the bees, but hopefully the sway man, the titty bouncing sway man can, can hold a minute. But no, just really, really excited. And then I, and then we got Colorado too on the preseason. So against Dallas, another team who,

who it should be interesting to see the outcome and whether they can get Robertson signed. So a nice little warm-up before things get going on the road, live in Colorado. And then you mentioned it, R.A., Thursday, flying in to watch the Coyotes on the road, season opener in Pittsburgh, then follow the next night by a live show. Sold out in eight fucking minutes, and then we put a few more tickets on sale. Those sold out in probably two seconds.

And we're going to start off the season in style. And I think we actually have, I don't know if now is the time to mention, we should probably throw over to Witt. We're going to give you guys more details as to what's going on on that trip. But I'm excited to hear what you have had going on in the last couple of days. We'll get to Witt in one second. You did mention Colorado Dallas. We are previewing the Western Conference a going on in the last couple of days. We'll get to it in one second. You did mention Colorado Dallas. We are previewing the Western Conference a little later in the episode,

and we have General Manager of the Calgary Flames, Brad Tree, living on with us. A great interview with the current GM. You're going to enjoy that. But let's check in with the Whit Dog. What have you been up to, buddy? Pitting them sticks at all? I did today, yeah, but this weekend was amazing.

Before I get to that, Biz, you mentioned Grinelli's background looked like Dahmer's apartment. I would realistically rather be in Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment than in an 86-degree place in Arizona like you are right now. I cannot believe that. For how much money you have to have the AC not working is insane to me. But nonetheless, my weekend was incredible. Congratulations to my brother Colin and his new, new wife, Claire, on an amazing wedding they had.

Bar Harbor, Maine. Holy shit. I knew nothing about this area. It's a hike. Very up north. I think there's a two-hour ferry from Bar Harbor to Nova Scotia. One of the most beautiful little towns. I felt like I was in Europe.

R.A., you ever been up there? Not sure I've been to Bar Harbor. I've been a bunch of spots in Maine. Okay, well felt like I was in Europe. All right. You ever been up there? Not sure. I've been to Baja, but I've been a bunch of spots. I mean, OK, well, this place, I knew nothing about it. But my brother's wife's family has a place a little bit north. And it was just an amazing weekend. Right. We saw all the guys that we had down at the Georgia football game that I mentioned.

It was a blast Friday night. Nice dinner. And then like, you know, a little party, a welcome party for the entire wedding. And then Saturday boys got ready. It was an early church wedding. Then we went to, I think it's Acadia, Acadia National Park. Beautiful. Take some pictures, lakes, mountains, just this amazing.

I realized it was the first national park I'd ever been to. The first one. There might be one that I was at, but I'm pretty sure this was the first one. And then at the wedding reception, my brother Sean and I, we toasted Colin and Claire. We did the best men speech. Like I mentioned, Colin and I did Sean for his wedding. And so Sean and I did it. We set some things up Thursday and Friday night.

And I think I did it. We set some things up Thursday and Friday night, and I think we did good. Actually, a couple people even told me Colin had a couple of those tears coming out of his eyes during the toast, so that made me feel pretty good. We chirped him. We more told him how we really felt about him as a brother and about talking about Claire as well, but we also had to mention a couple times, I mean, this kid, I had to bring this up we would get you know make make popcorn or get pizza and watch movies growing up you know what i'm saying

like any brothers would he would slam down glasses of milk while we were eating popcorn and having pizza milk dude how disgusting is that i'll never get over it the fact he used to do it it's just dairy upon dairy. It makes me want to throw up even talking about it. So that was mentioned in the speech. But it was great. It was great. And flew home Sunday.

A little bit of an issue flying home. We got a plane to go up there. I didn't want to drive this six hours. So, you know, ended up splurging to get what they call a PJ in the biz. And we fly up instead of six hours, 45 minutes. No problem. Amazing. Leave at 11 on Thursday in the hotel room, 1230 joke. Well, Sunday we go back, dude, it was blowing 40 miles an hour right around where we're landing.

Small little airport in the town of Marshfield, South of Boston, tiny little airstrip, bro. Tiny. It was gusting up to 40. And the pilot mentioned, hey, when we're coming in, this thing's going to be landing. This is a propeller plane, six-seater. Nice, very comfortable ride, but I'm telling you, Biz, it was not a heavy plane whatsoever. Final destination type shit?

Listen to this. So we're going down, and it is as bad of a landing as I've ever experienced on a plane. We are, I can see the runway in the distance. Dude, we are legitimately facing sideways to the runway and then going back left sideways. And we're going down at a hard ass clip. You know, we're in an airplane. My son says to breathe. Ryder has no idea. He has no idea. He goes, Mom, are we going to crash? Like kind of laughing.

I go, Ryder, don't say that. It's not funny. My brother in law's in the backseat to this kid. He checked his whoop after his heart rate got up to one eighty five, one eighty five. And my and my wife's aunt is behind me. And she, dude, is white knuckling my seat in front of me. Sweat pouring down her face. Brie has her eyes shut. Like I'm talking, it was actually very scary. I go, shut up, Ryder.

I didn't say shut up. I said, Ryder, don't say that. Five minutes later, five seconds later, he goes, yep, we're going to crash, I think. Four and a half years off. Yep, we're going to crash. At this point, I was like, oh my God. So right before we get to the runway, dude, we go back right.

I had a moment. I'm like, this is it. And he rips it left. Boom, boom, boom. One of those bouncing landings. I let out a fucking scream. I go, yes. Great job.

It was Steve and Manny. Yes, Steve. And thinking back to it now, it gives me the chills because this thing was a panic attack. So it was a great weekend, though. I think we can. R.A., you mentioned like clapping when you land. I think we can let this one go, right? Yeah.

R.A., you were talking about when it's a normal flight, right? I mean, this was like, you just saved my life. No, that justified the clap when you got a white knuckle. Helicopter landing? Helicopter landing. Stand up and do a twirl. One of those. Actually, I think you used to live in a national park when you you were down the navy that's technically a national park so you okay so

that's exactly what i meant by i probably have been him but i'm talking true national park nature ish like a yellowstone type giant park in acadia i haven't been there but i've heard nothing but incredible things about especially if you get catch a sunrise there as well. How much would you have to pay you to go on a one-week hiking trip and go to a national park and camp out and just chill out? Not glamping. Go on the hard way. I wouldn't do it. Not any amount of money?

Oh, what did you say? How much would I get paid? That question's tough because the amount of money I'm going to request for some of these things is just pretty ridiculous. But I don't know, 200 grand you give me, I'll go do it for a week. You need a sponsor, Biz. Bankroll it. I just worry about my body.

It's not about the activities during the day. That's great. It's about sleeping in a fucking sleeping bag. I'll be crippled. I did mention in the intro, the NHL starts later this week over in Europe, so make sure you're stocked up on the old Pink Whitney, everyone's favorite five-times distilled vodka

infused with fresh pink lemonade flavor. Not sure if they have any over in Prague quite yet, but make sure you have some back here in North America. You get it at your local package stores, or you can belly up at your local bar, get a nice shot, mixing some club soda. Whoever you take it, grab some Pink Whitney for the upcoming season.

Merles, I know you're probably fired up already. What's it, Czech Republic? They're opening up, or Chechi. I'm sorry they call it now. Nashville, San Jose, they're playing Friday at 2 o'clock Eastern time, then they're playing Saturday 2 o'clock Eastern time as well. NHL Network, if you want to check them out, those are the first two games of the season before we jump into everything

else. Did you, are you aware of that? So, so they did rule that they're going to let those guys play, right. From Nashville and San Jose. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. They're here. They Nashville played tonight. I watched the game. They played the Switzerland team burn and it's where Yossi's from. So it was a huge homecoming for him. And, of course, he scored two goals. Oh, my gosh. How many ladies just jamming themselves with vibrators in the crowd?

I wait until you see the clips of them, like, after the game. It was insane. And then tonight, Tuesday night, San Jose is playing Berlin, Germany. So that game will be on, too. But it's cool. It's great. It comes on at 8 o'clock my time here so i'm loving it yeah that clip was pretty cool the whole the whole crowd going wild for yosi not just because

he's good looking because local herald uh biz last week's episode um you know you took the stance that pk suban will be should be in the hall of fame i know it causes quite a few ripple effects out there oh my god i got destroyed i believe he said it would be crazy if he's not in the hall of fame no but but it was also a hypothetical in a sense i i thought i made that point clear i said with what he's done on the ice and everything for the game of hockey i think that if he ends up having a media career that last let's say 15 years at espn which it seems like he's going that route he ended up doing some appearances last year i think it'd be crazy if he doesn't end up going into media.

I think he was born to do it. And we went back to how much success he had in his NHL career. Grinnelly thought he might even make more money in his post-career. Don't agree with that comment unless he is doing good morning America or what's the other show called that, that Kelly live with Regis and PK and Kelly Lee. Or, or opens up an only fans.

But I think that if he, if he has a 15 year media career where he is headlining ESPN for the hockey category, I think 100% he's going in as a builder because I, I agree with his hockey resume. He just simply doesn't make the cut. People's argument would be, well, the Norris was in a shortened season. I think it was the shortest gap in which a player, a defenseman had ever won it.

People talked about his sustainability of being a top defender, probably only lasted about six or seven years being a top, I would say 10 to 15 defenseman and racking up points and playing in all types of situations so I agree with you just simply his playing career he's not going to the hall of fame I think the playing career adds so much value to the fact that if he does go on and have a successful media career that it would be ludicrous if they didn't put him in as a builder I would say aside from Jerome McGginley he has the best hockey resume

as far as a black hockey player am i wrong here is there anyone else i'm forgetting grant fuhrer i would throw into the mix i know he's a goalie so it may be skewed off the measurements fair enough i gotta throw grant fuhrer in there forgot about grant fuhrer gretzky's gonna absolutely scald me for that one so do you so hypothetically maybe i didn't make this point last week merle's wit ra i'll throw it to you do you guys think if he goes and does espn and he's front and center growing the game on the biggest sports channel in north america and he runs away with that media career do you not think he's going in as a builder at some point i don't know paul because it's then you're like well if he's doing it as a media person should he get in a media member, in which case you don't really get in the Hall of Fame as a media member.

You get voted on – they vote on a writer and a broadcaster every year. So that's not actually being inducted into a Hall of Fame. I guess that as a builder, Paul, if you were to do that, yeah, then you could say, well, you can add in what he did off the ice during his career. You could probably make a case where he'd have a nice TV run here. But, you know, and I'm not sure if we clarified that last week that you meant as a builder. I mean, strictly as a player, I don't see him getting in just as a player. But yeah, if he has this extended TV career where he further extends and expands what he's done,

you know, outside of the game and, you know, minority communities and whatnot, then yeah, I'd certainly say we could revisit as a builder. But, you know, right now, as far as, you know, I think it's three years after the summer retires, three years or five years, is he going to get voted in? I don't see it happening. No, I don't see him going in as just a player. I thought last week I mentioned with what he's done as a player, if he does go on to have a very successful media career

and continues to do the types of things he was doing as a player and more obviously because he has more time on his hands. Yeah, I think it's inevitable that he will be in the H hockey hall of fame okay i'm not saying it's 15 years down the road it could be when he's you know 50 60 years old and and and finally retired but i mean i just think that overall at that point the the the resume would speak for itself i mean i think people said well you don't people people would say like well you don't just get voted in for the color of your skin. And I would say, well, like, I mean, like, and, and people might start going nuts, you know, cause you start talking about the race subject, but it's like Willie O'Ree, you know,

he, he was the first, he was the first black player to ever play in an NHL hockey game. Well, you know, how many games he ended up playing probably, you know, 20, maybe a handful, maybe half a season and obviously because he was the first that you know that's a an important aspect of of of growing the diversity in the game and inclusion and and of course you know breaking the the color barrier in the game of hockey I would just think that there's there's a lot of responsibility and and as a as a black player in the NHL in a predominantly white league that he did have an extremely successful career. He did so much off the ice as well while he was playing.

And that's my opinion, and I'm sticking with it. I'll just say that being a superstar media personality, if you do that along with major, like that's not going to, if you do that along with major, major things towards growing the game, helping out the youth and doing all these things, you could be a builder being a superstar in the media could help, but being a superstar in the media on its own does nothing for getting you in the hall of fame.

Correct. So you're saying being a builder, you're saying as a builder, but I'm saying is like, you're going to spend so much time as a media superstar. Like, what are you going to be doing to build the game well i mean we already talked about the the money that he's donated and that happened happens over time to the children's hospital uh you know i just think that it would given the full body of work it would be crazy if this guy did have the successful media career that I expect that he will have I think

it's just he's I would say he's the most known black hockey player to ever play the game Jerome McGinley you think I but but you have to understand that he also retired how many years ago and PK is also the type of guy who he's put himself out there so he is he's he's still visible because he because he also wants to be not, this isn't saying that he's as decorated of a hockey player as Jerome McGinley. I would just argue that from a national, even world standpoint, he's probably the most known black hockey player to ever exist. Yeah. I wouldn't, I wouldn't disagree with you on that.

Another name, Paul, that, that keeps coming up, Paul Henderson, of course, he scored the big goal in the summit Series, Canada versus Russia back in 1972. It's the 50th anniversary, so there's been tons of news about it. You know, it seems like every year it comes up, Paul Henderson should be on the Hall of Fame based on, you know, what he did in the Summit Series. Matthew Bonneby doesn't really agree. He said, Paul Henderson is only a Hall of Fame if you're a Canadian

and over 60 years old. Stop it. Like, I don't know, it cracked me up. It wasn't disrespectful to Paul Henderson, but I think he was making the point making the point like you know is that a resume that get him in the hall of fame now if canada lost that series would it still have the same impact business he must have grown up hearing about it quite a bit yeah i i would put the summit series on on par with the the miracle on ice and how much canadians talk about it it was it was big at the time just because of the hatred towards the Soviet union and

maybe with what they were getting away with early in the series. And then obviously the, the, the physicality and the dirtiness and all that shit ended up taking over. So it just created so much more drama. The fact that it ended up going the distance in the series. So yeah, I, but you're, you're asking, you're a guy who has shane doan in the hall of fame too right i'm the most if i had a vote the hall of biz i'd have fucking merles in there for giving mckinnon his number for crying out loud yeah and the hot streak he's been on with the

that could be in for that and and i'm the and i'm the first former NHLer to turn into a handicapper. Am I not? Do I get in for that? Okay. And this isn't shitting on anyone either because Kevin Lowe and Guy Carboneau had tremendous careers. I think Lowe won five cups. Carboneau, how many did he win?

Three or four? Or at least a couple, I would imagine. And Guy Carboneau, I think he scored less than 300 goals, what how many he went three or four or at least a couple i would imagine yeah and and gee carbineau i think he scored less than 300 goals and he was uh inducted into the hall of fame because he was one of the best shutdown forwards for probably the better part of seven years to maybe is it is a what's that what's a 10 years is that that's not a decade is a decade yeah oh fuck i was on yeah there you. Like most people would argue that. So like, oh, what are you saying?

A team achievement is what got him into the Hall of Fame? That's not what, I don't think that that's really what it's about, right? It's about your individual accomplishments. Of course, being a good teammate and there's other things that require to be, you know, on the resume in order to get in. But there's other guys you could argue who had similar careers as pk who haven't done what what he's done or or will do off the ice is that is that a fair statement with going back to pk in the hall i yeah i would say it's a fair statement i mean because we're on the hall talk about we went to oh i know i know i know i, I know. Yeah, I just don't see him as in the Hall of Fame.

And my whole point is that it's so hard to say, like, yeah, if you do all this stuff, you're in as a builder. Because it's like you got to just – it's stuff to me that I wouldn't even know what you could do until I see it. Do you know what I'm saying by that? Yep, yep, yep, yep. I was speaking hypothetically, which I usually do. Yeah, no, I know, I know.

That's what we do here. But as you say, if my aunt had a cock, she'd be my uncle. So let me move on from the PK talk. I got him going in the hall of fame. I have a thing about the summit series though. I have a thing about the summit series as an American. I'll say that's one of the coolest like stories in hockey. I, I don't know if I saw a movie on it or read something,

but eight games for Americans who don't know they played the Soviets, eight games, four in Canada, across Canada, four in Moscow. And they were down big after the four games in Canada enough where I believe Phil Esposito was pretty much calling out the Canadian fans who were booing them.

And like basically saying, we need you guys behind us. And then they went over to Moscow and we're dealing with God knows what in terms of the absolute bullshit by dealing with god knows what in terms of the absolute bullshit by those scumbag russians in terms of the fucking uh fire alarm going off in the middle of the night not sending pros over the hotel all that stuff and and then and then henderson scores this goal they end up winning the series it's in one of the songs by uh who's the gourd downies band tragically hip tragically hip has it in one of the songs by who's that Gord Downie's band. Tragically hip. Tragically hip as it in one of the songs.

It's just even as an American, that is one of the coolest national like hockey stories you could ever even think of. It's it's it's amazing. So I don't mind putting him in the Hall of Fame because that's hockey history. All right. Take that one, Barnaby. And you're the American saying put him in. I like that.

I mean, I'm going to have Katie DMing me to fuck him. Let's get a roussillonian now. Well, there are some points. The Hall of Fame is just so ridiculous in so many ways. Alexander Mogilny isn't in the Hall of Fame. Come on. Joke. Yeah, Guy Carbone, you just mentioned. Great player. Alexander Mogilny versus Guy Carbone.

JR should be in the Hall of Fame in my opinion. Yeah, absolutely. All right, we can move along with the Hall of fame talk murray we were talking about the beginning of the show this little truck that come out in the ice during the game now did you say it was bringing the pucks out to the to the linesman or was it it was yeah it brings the puck out to the ref for the opening face off just another way for the european teams if a lot of people probably don't know like european teams are run by like sponsors in like cities you don't have like a rich owner and you don't make the money on the ticket sales so it's any little way

you can find a sponsor you get one for instance like if you score a goal and and our team whoever scores the first goal has to go over to the penalty box you get this giant billboard of bite line pizza and you skate it back across the ice and you give it back to your bench so they're paying just for that commercial you know basically as you skate across so any little thing they can find to make money they're trying yeah me and biz we were talking and setting the outline the other day we were going over all these pre-game things that happened biz i found the one with the anthem singer he's skating as he's singing and he trips over the rug he takes a plate and dixie but he keeps

singing he gets back kept on trucking this song there's so so many of them but then the other one the lady she forgets the words like the crowd just sitting there she leaves she comes back out starts singing takes a dixie and then gets up and just completely so that was i i want to say it was team canada playing in an international competition and i was a deal flurry who was by the door. Somebody was by the door to end up helping her out. But she draper draper draper. That's who it was. So she butchers it gets embarrassed, goes down the tunnel. Finally, someone's like, no, no, you got to go out there, regroup and finish this thing. So her wheels must have just been spinning oh my god she comes out like a bat out of hell and there's you know the little rug she steps on it slips out and then ass over tea kettle right back down the hallway for repairs but i was my wheels were spinning obviously the guy cruising around singing it who bailed and then just kept going i remember seeing a bunch of tweets because i want to say it was at a canucks game and luongo had already been traded and he

had this slick back so people were like holy fuck luongo looks like shit he gained a few lbs um the minor league ones are always the craziest because just as you described about how they had the truck come out they have to do these silly things in order to garner attention uh they you know they do special themes night theme nights there's most teams that end up doing a star wars night uh we had one in manchester where they had darth vader come out and you know we were the fourth liners so we were at the far end of the gate and i'll never forget josh gratton josh gratton was leaning over and this guy dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb same thing just high stepping a little too hard on the rug slips out acl torn couldn't even drop the puck grass is like grab

steps on the ice he's like helping him up that was that was a tough one uh the the bakersfield condor had a real or come out and then it just started flying around going crazy on the benches down the tunnel um but was there any other wild ones i think the khl didn't they like slid a turkey's throat or something yeah drew drew short told the story pre-game goat throat slit or something right in the locker room yeah they were doing some sort of animal sacrifice but okay so that wasn't pre-game just not on the eye pre Pregame, I think, in the locker room. Yeah. They were trying to get some.

Can you think of any other good ones that happened, like, right before puck drop? There's one. I looked hell and high water for this clip. It was a retired, I want to say a Montreal Canadian, not like a big-name one. And he was taking a pregame lap, and he fell, like, twice. This guy was in his, like, 80s, like, close to 90 years old. And, like I said, he wasn't, like, a high echelon Canadian lap and he fell like twice. This guy was in his like eighties, like close to 90 years old. And he,

like I said, he wasn't like a high echelon Canadian and he fell, he got back up, skate and he fell again. It was like, and he finished, finished the run. I asked online, I couldn't find the goddamn thing. Someone will probably tag us in this after they listened to the show, but going back to the star Wars one biz, like when Darth Vader fall ripped his ACL or MCL, he lost his helmet to it. And as a a as a person in the costume community which could probably speak

to this I forgot about it probably hurt him more losing the helmet and showing everyone he wasn't Darth Vader that it was actually shredding his knee when he fell down like that yeah same with the condor to the condors putting around the ice yeah Billy Darren was pissed when the

helmet came off. He's like, he's not real. Hey, if those are the ones that we've seen, I can only imagine what's happened in leagues that we've never heard of or, you know, college. Or the internet. Oh, exactly, yeah. So for any of you fans out there who are listening

and you have crazy ones that are just on iPhones, send them to the Chicklets account whether it's Instagram or Twitter, TikTok whatever the fucking app you guys are using and send them to Grinnell so we can see them but that's pretty much all I could think of off the top of my head for the pregame shit shows

yeah if anyone knows that old time I'm pretty sure it was the Canadians it's like they're supposed to be like a nice tribute and he takes not one but two dicks. He's any, he just gets up and keeps going. The guy's in his eighties. So that that's a classic one as well, but we can move right along here.

Mike Johnson made an interesting proposal on Twitter. He said for preseason games, if you lose a player to injury in the first two periods, you should be allowed to replace that player from one of the two guys not playing. It makes, I'm sorry, from one of the guys not playing,

it makes no sense to force guys to play extra minutes or out of position in preseason. Whit, I'll go to you first. Is this something the NHL should seriously look into? Are there too many drawbacks? What would be the benefit of maybe bringing this rule into the preseason? I saw that tweet by Johnny who said he'd come

on the show. We have to get him on. And I agreed with it. I couldn't think any reason i wouldn't the only thing i'd say is real kick in the dick to whichever guy they pick i mean unless actually that's that's old miserable me think it's if it's a hungry young buck that wants to get in the game he's probably real fired up but you gotta you gotta get a nice little warm up going right i mean you're hopping right into the middle of a game a game that is kind of make break for a lot of players pre-season hockey. I mean, guys are playing for their livelihood. So

you'd have to get ready quick, but I think these young guys that have no problem doing that. So I see no issue with that whatsoever, because it's true. You don't want to be getting overplayed or a D man goes down. All of a sudden a guy's got to play 29 minutes in a preseason game. It's a little ridiculous. So those are the two main arguments that were brought up, were the fact that, you know, especially with the speed of today's game, throwing a guy in cold could just result in another injury, and or like maybe they were, you know, crushing dogs up in the press box or they ate like a massive roast beef.

I think I was listening to 32 Thoughts, and Elliot used the example of somebody eating a roast beef sandwich and going out there and like feeling like a piece of shit i would imagine though that if they did change the rule they would just designate guys but i think i personally think it's fucking crazy that they're willing to throw an e-bug in there in the in the in a regular season game and not why not just distinguish two beer leaguers? Pick two beer leaguers for each team before the preseason games to where, I mean, I think the element of surprise and the fact that there's an e-bug and it gains national attention is one of the reasons why the NHL doesn't mind it. Because every time an e-bug ends up coming in, it ends up making the news.

I mean, you saw the one that was in Chicago, the most famous one we ended up having on the podcast. I'm drawing a blank to his name. David Ayers when he beat the Leafs? David Ayers. Jocker, you forgot that one. You didn't need to throw that in, you fucker. I mean, it's just the people listening.

That's a fact, all right, correct? Don't you talk about my Leafs like that. But just pick a couple of beer leaguers each side. Think about how awesome that would be. These guys would fire up and be an opportunity they would never get. Do it. Do it. Do it as part of the 50 50 draw. Oh, that'd be an interesting one. What would you say, Whit, as far? Why not? Right.

I couldn't agree more. It's kind of it just reminded me. I think I've seen Big Cat tweet this. I'm pretty sure it was his idea. Maybe it wasn't. But he used to say, like. Every Olympic event should have one normal person just to show how good these people are at things. So in the 100-meter sprint, you just get some guy, Joe Stanley, from down the road, and he just is, like, 40 meters behind these people

when they finish. They should scroll through Twitter and all the guys acting like hard-os thinking they could do it and pick one of those guys and throw them out there. And that was, I mean, I know Big Cat already already said it but i think it would give fans a real big appreciation for how fast and how skilled these players are and and it would shut a lot of these random people up on social media barking about how they could get the job done girls i want to

ask you does it take away like an actual game scenario that could provide useful experience for some guys like just you know when you're down a man and just having a juggle the bench a little or just having to play into those circumstances. Well, exactly. A guy like me that's trying to make the team and I'm penciled in on the third line, no power play time. And a PP guy goes down. Then all of a sudden now I'm getting that extra ice time. Maybe I'm showing off and I get that lucky goal to keep me on the team or

whatnot. But I think why not just dress the extra guy then just dress this 21 players or 22 players and let the coach deal with rotating them all through and keeping them all warm and into the game. I don't know the lucky goal to make the team like when you scored and then got sent down on the flight home. Yeah, thanks. yeah thanks um i think that the whole point got brought up because uh rasmus sundin and the fact that a couple players forwards for the leafs had to drop back and play defense so after the game i know there was a bit of a holdout between rasmus sundin and uh or sandin excuse me i don't want to mess that one up for you leafs fans i don't want to give you hope that he's coming back uh but he was holding out for apparently closer to the two million mark per season uh antelope settling at one four and said that it was like oh i don't want to put my

you know my team at risk or in jeopardy because now they're down a couple d where i mean he's restricted and didn't have any leverage but okay not not not a bad pr move by trying to get ahead of it and the fact that you held out for camp oh my god and I'm like that is such a great like flex I guess like oh you know I don't want these guys to be too tired we did I know they need me it's like dude you couldn't get any more money you had to take their offer well it was said hey this is my final offer well that and he's a little offensive defenseman so I think he's trying hoping that the Leafs fans don't get on him if he's got a couple early turnovers after signing his new deal. One of the arguments, though, that his side had was he wasn't really able to to get the reps and the ice time in the situations that he wanted in order to earn that money. Well, you know, they had, I guess, a decent amount of depth on defense in order for him not to get those reps last year.

Well, hey, man, you got the first half of the season to show your stuff now you just got the new two-year contract you got a couple d that are banged up you're going to be able to get your reps and hey you have a good year maybe you re-sign in the off season you play next year at the the other one four number and and you earn yourself a big extension after that so uh not like leafs had any cap space to begin with. So I don't know what they would have done in order or who they would have moved if they could have given them any more money to begin with. Alrighty then.

I think we should probably move along to the previews after, after the Leaf talks, even, even in a Western conference preview, we get some Leaf talking from biz. Kick it off with the Pacific division. Bring it up. Why the whole conversation came up from Johnny. Breaking your balls. I haven't seen you for a while.

I know. I love it. I told you. Western Conference preview, Pacific Division. We're going in no particular order here, so we're going to run it around. Vancouver Canucks. Last year, they finished with 92 points, ended up 10th in the conference. This year, they're 50-1 to win the Stanley Cup, plus 5,000.

New faces in town. Ilya McKay of Curtis Lazar. Andre Kuzmenko, who comes over after eight years in the khl uh they lost backup goaltender yaroslav halak but largely remained intact uh team got a huge bounce after hiring bruce budrow last year came up just short in their playoff chase uh like i said essentially the same team coming back which means i suspect the d is probably still an issue uh thatcher Demko as well played 64 games last year. You might want to lessen that number because I would say a good start should keep the connection, the playoff chase all season,

still a little ways from a cup run. Brock Bess is going to miss the start of the season after getting surgery on his hand, but what's your prognosis on the Canucks biz nasty? I think that I think the, the list in which Boudreau was named 16th hottest coach in the league goes to his head. He gets involved in a sex scandal and everything comes unhinged and they don't make playoffs. That's that's really my only prediction. I, you know, some people disagree with the fact that he was that high on the list. I don't know who made the list. Some people like different shapes and sizes. some people like different shapes and sizes and i just like i said i think that you know he's on cameo now uh he you know he loves the media i just really think that there's probably a lot of ladies in that town that want a piece of the bruce that is bruce that is uh hey big boy weren't you in slap shot a worse chance oh you don't think he's fucking putting barbecue sauce on toes

and licking it off? Oh, yeah. He's getting donuts right in between your cornhole. It's just amazing. This is all alleged, by the way. Yeah. They want to get sued. Some website, I'm not going to say the name.

They supposedly used some app to determine the list, whatever formula they used. But here's how you kind of suspect it was a joke. The number one best-looking coach, most handsome coach, Jay Woodcroft, followed by Daryl Sutter, Derek Lalonde, John Hines, Paul Maurice, Rick Bonas, Craig Berube, and Dallas Eakins tied. Where is David Quinn?

David Quinn was 29th. Oh, I think it's an opposite list. I think that they take personality into account. They take overall, like, games one resume into account. Foreplay. Dirty talk. They take all of it into account. So it's not just looks.

I mean, fair enough. Just think about all the guys on that list. Like, that's what coaching does to you. All those guys look a little weathered now. That's why you don't want to get in a coach and half that list is bald no offense all right but none taken coaching in the nhl would just age you since chicklets started look at what chicklets has made me look like in all seriousness ra i would say that i would probably put bednar as the the looking coach in the league. And then I would probably put Quinn right below him.

What other man rockets are behind the benches? Bednar was 15th. Cassidy was 23rd. Cooper was 27th. I just said Quinn was 29th. Montgomery 31st. And Pete LaViolette was 32nd. So the list is a little wacky, you might say.

Like I said, it sounded like it was tongue in cheek. And after that top 10, I'm guessing it was. Seems like it's in reverse order. Yeah, it does. That's why. It felt like a troll job, and I guess it succeeded because here we are talking about it. So, yeah, Vancouver, what do you got to take on it with?

I love their group up front. I mean, the major question all year is kind of the Horvat contract situation, being their captain, UFA at the end of the season. And that's going to definitely be a big-time storyline there. The D is just – it's probably not good enough to get into the playoffs. I do think – and the record with Boudreaux was so good. They were such a successful team when he came over. But I don't know.

It's like no offense at all to luke shen but he's in the top four right i mean that's probably not a top four guy at this point of his career i don't know what ekman larson has like i actually do not know how did he play the second half how did he play last year it's i think he's just really like turned into just a like a regular like third fourth defenseman he's not really i I think that in most teams in the league, he's, he's probably at least a number four, but it's just people look at the tag and they're saying like, this is ludicrous for what he's making because he's just simply not providing

the offense that he once did. I mean, I, I think I've mentioned it multiple times on the podcast. I think he went six or seven straight seasons with multiple or a multi, not multi. What's the word I'm looking for? Double digits and goals. I think in two or three of them, he had over 20. So that's what he got paid for. And he just, he, you just can't get it done offensively anymore. And also Quinn's getting those reps. He's getting those touches. So he's,

he's kind of come second fiddle to the to the um to the offensive uh touches as far as the back end but a lot of money committed to that back end between buyers eckman larson and quinn you're looking at what 20 million bucks right there so agreed with with what they're um commanding financially just not a good enough back end. Now we, you mentioned Shen, he is working with Adam Oates. So maybe he comes in and he looks like fucking Quinn. Who knows?

No, that's, that's, that's a possibility. I'm just looking at their D up front though. I love McKay. I actually thought he was awesome on Toronto. I know you kind of used to bring up as maybe his post-season numbers and

performance wasn't great, but can fly. And they brought them over there. Pedersen probably has the ability to be a 90 point guy i mean well i don't know what we're gonna get out of him a little bit of a question mark there and i mean jt miller was so sick last year so looking at them up front they can score and play with people it's gonna be the defense and it's gonna be the goaltending and i don't have them getting in but i have them bad i think all right battling all year for to get it one of those wild card spots or maybe the third

in the pacific so just quickly before i hand it off to merles rra i agree with you which is probably not a good thing because i think that they're going to win the president's trophy no demko is going to slap lipstick on a pig i like that boudreaux is the coach because it seems like a skilled group that needs needs to play loose and a pig. I like that Boudreaux is the coach because it seems like a skilled group that needs to play loose and with confidence. I felt that Green probably had a little bit more structure, maybe commanded more at both ends, which most coaches will tell you. But I think everybody knows that Boudreaux is a player's coach.

I mean, you saw the way that it happened in Washington. So probably the perfect coach for that group. But you're going to end up drafting 12th, 13th overall, and you're not going to get any impact players. I don't think that they're going to make playoffs. I just don't think that they're good enough. And Demko is going to keep him in it until the end. Just a note, too, we are going to give out playoff predictions

at the end of all 16 teams we talk about tonight. Merle's quick question for you. If Vancouver were to get in, what would be the major reason why they'd do? Yeah, it's got to be Pedersen. You know, everybody was all over him last year. Had a terrible year for his standards, so he'll bounce back. He's a hockey nerd. You know, he's been listening to this stuff

and like Witt was talking earlier, he's going to play better for this coach. Boudreaux always has winners. Boudreaux always gets into the playoffs. If it was in Hershey, if it was in Washington, Minnesota, he's in the playoffs. All right, moving right along. The Seattle Kraken had 60 points in their inaugural season,

were 15th in the conference. They're only 75-1 to win the Cup this year. That number seems suspiciously low for a second-year team. New faces in town, Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Justin Schultz, Martin Jones, and if Shane Wright sticks in camp, him as well. They lost Riley Sheehan from last year. It seemed like last year, guys, nobody knew what the Kraken were thinking, the way Ron Francis constructed the team.

He brought in Haxtell as a coach, but at least they brought in some offensive punch this year with Burakovsky and Bjorkstrand. Of course, Matty Benaresdie beneas his first what nine or ten games last year he looked like an nhl ready guy he played the other night i think he had two goals the other night he looks like he's gonna jump right into this lineup uh they're another team probably hoping to hit the badad lottery as well like i said 75 to ones wads yeah seemed wicked low they should be better this year but how much better merles we'll go to you first on this one seattle how much better are they actually going to be yeah i think they're gonna be a lot better that just those players you mentioned are all better

than anybody they had last year barakovsky bjorkstrand and berniers wait was that three b's three b's yeah so that's uh put them all in a line and uh they're gonna be a lot better than last year but yeah they're still a long ways long way to go did you mean benears benears yeah is that how you say it? Baneers? I'm pretty sure. R.A., you forgot their biggest acquisition this offseason. Was it that new troll? That troll? How do you say it?

Boy? Boy. What's up here, boy? Biz, did you see the tweet? I think somebody tagged it was a legitimate combination of me and you with his ears and his snout. It actually made me laugh out loud. Although, quickly, not the funniest tweet I read this past week, which was, I don't know who sent it.

Under the NFL protocol, they'd put JFK back in the parade. After the two of them. Sorry to get away from Seattle. They stink. But awesome hockey market. We saw last year. We saw those fans come out in droves. And Merle's, they are better.

They are. But they can't really be much worse. I think they were the third worst team in the league. They were horrific. But already said all year their goaltending was trash. I think now it's Grubauer and Martin Jones. So if they can get some stability in net and get the three Bs to start ripping it up and get a little bit more mojo within the team, I could see them improving.

But they're nowhere near the playoffs. And they probably don't even want to be near the playoffs yet. Like if you ask Ron Francis, I know that sounds crazy. Yes, he's going to say I want to make the playoffs, but ideally they get a couple very high picks for the next two to three years. Shane Wright, a couple more like that. Like they got lucky. They got fourth overall and ended up getting Shane Wright there.

So things are looking up, but there's no success to be had quite yet. No, Ron, you said it. Ron Francis, when he did the expansion draft, he was looking for sustained relevancy. He saw the draft crop coming in. They're going to be going for Bedard. No questions asked. They're going to be going for Bedard.

They're going to be a bottom feeder this year, but that was the goal coming in. There was plenty of guys they left on the table. Tarasenko is a name just off the top of my head they ended up picking up. They thought they solidified their goaltending in Grubauer. He was not great at the start of the year last year. think that he's going to have a bounce back season but i you know and they got some great pieces for moving forward and they would definitely be more competitive i mean how could you not be but yeah i you know this is the goal this is the plan all along and they got some young studs in this pipeline and if it wasn't for the

coyotes i would say they would get bedard but we all know that he's coming to the desert so suck on that and uh the mascot what are we giving this mascot rating i i don't know let me give the folks a little background a seattle sea troll he's described as biz not to be confused with twitter which is your standard fucking internet troll buoy is the nephew of the Fremont troll. I guess in Seattle, the Aurora Bridge, there's an 18-foot-high, 13,000-pound concrete troll that's just like an art presentation, I guess, they built years ago. And he's supposedly the nephew of the Fremont troll.

He's got an anchor in his earring. He spits a single chiclet as well. He has a removable tooth like a couple of you guys do. And legend has it that he once jammed with Mudhoney at the Crocodile. Mudhoney fans of the chicklets. What does that mean? You jammed him? Like rock and roll.

Mudhoney's the group that the lead singer that I met at the Black Crows. And I didn't know it was him. And then he let a chance. I thought you said Mudhoney. Like H-U-d-d-y mud mud honey like that i mean if the goal is making the ugliest mascot of all time i mean they accomplished it so i'm i'm not i'm not crazy about it i'm sure we're gonna have a couple run-ins now that i said that i'd like to see gritty pound his face in to be quite frank i still think gritty's

uglier i know but it's like that ugly cute like like a pug or something philly it's ugly trash yeah yeah cigarette butts in his beard and shit when i seen it because i was just like it's like it looks like one of those old troll dolls a little bit like kind of like matched with wally the green monster from boston it's just i don't know it's supposed to be for kids but it doesn't look like the most kid friendly i mean i feel like they've gotten jk rawlings to just write all these like crazy things for like how they were gonna like you know release the the name and the sea monster now they got this mascot and everything's got to be this like wild crazy story but i mean a a for effort

but not my cup of tea and the fans are like like, just get us a W, please. They got those stupid octopus heads for the fans. I had one of them going at me online. I'll dig that up and start chirping him. You had one of them on your head during your draft picture. I did. I did. So this leaves the Rangers as the only team without a mascot in the NHL. I don't imagine it's going to change on the Rangers.

And how about this business? Come over mascot in the NHL. I don't imagine it's going to change now in the ranges. And how about this business come over the Twitter the other day, the Denver nuggets mascot, Rocky says he makes $625,000 a year. And the average mascot makes $60,000. And I tried to find the article. It was behind the paywall. I guess this guy must get a lot of side gigs. So like they must hire him out to do all these like local things.

Cause $625,000. That's gotta be fake. There's no way this guy's pulling in 600. I sent the link, the Lincoln, the Denver Nuggets, uh, mascot Rocky,

625. All right. All right. You, you got to blog that that that's blog worthy right there. And I saw you, uh, you did a blog today.

So good job on that. Well, I mean, what's the girl from the the the u.s soccer team who went to congress about equal pay why aren't these other mascots making 600 grand they should be we're in a crack house if there's a rink wit if there's one guy on this podcast who can vouch for mascots and why they should make six hundred thousand dollars for all the people who haven't

order the the biz does the coast series wit came down when we were in orlando when we did pink whitney night he was kind enough to throw on the mascot outfit and have a little bit of fun he almost lost his life yeah i barely made it out of that suit so you're right biz i should be right right on by the way where would i be on the ugliest mascot list? I don't even want to know. But I actually am on the side of every other mascot getting big bumps in pay. But if all the mascots are making $60,000 and this guy says he's making $625,000, there's just something completely incorrect there. Either he's lying or all the mascots make way more but i'm way more bound to believe that 60k is the average salary for a 41 game per year job in a cartoon suit and so i've

met a few of the nhl mascots i think it's a cat a little bit of a caddy industry too like there's a member the guy it's very we have we had we had an issue with one didn't we were they were oh they were upset at you for telling a story or something. Remember that? Yeah, we don't need to go into it. I don't want to be getting attacked by these mascots. They're like bike riders on Twitter who just band together to scream at people online if you call them out for driving their bikes around like assholes.

Can we roundtable right now about, just quickly, what should the Rangers mascot be? If they had one, I would imagine that they're, they're traditional and they're never going to get a mascot if they haven't done it already. What would you say should be their mascot? Glenny balls,

pizza rat, fucking big rat. That's like a piece of pizza out of his mouth. Very emblematic of New York city. You mean a splinter? Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's like a piece of pizza out of his mouth. Very emblematic of New York City. You mean Splinter? Oh, Mass Ninja Turtles? Yeah.

I don't think you can have one. I actually love that they don't have one. What is a ranger when they're called that? I don't even know. Yeah, that's a good question. Now, going back to Rocky, this happened, I don't know if it was the current person who's in the In the suit, but like 10 years ago Remember they were lowering him From the ceiling

I mean he had passed out, so when they lowered him down It was just a passed out mascot Rocky the mascot, he was just total luggage So they're dropping him down instead of Being all excited and getting the crowd pumped He just like literally slumps to the floor They have to unhook him, he probably fainted What can attest to how hot they're like?

Wheel him back up. Wheel him back up. I got a buddy. I got to shout out Mike Higgins. Me and him used to get kind of stoned and watch bloopers of mascots. I'm telling you, it was the hardest I've ever laughed. Tears running down my cheek

watching some of these mascots fumble fuck over their feet. I remember that one. All right. Passing out in the line. It's just I mean, the guy who went didn't get caught in the hoop. The hoop that was on fire. I mean, there's just so many of them.

It's amazing to watch. I'm going to YouTube it tonight. OK, just YouTube. YouTube mascot bloopers and turn your day right around. Rocky Pastel might be the frigging funniest. Okay, before we continue on, here's a word from our friends at Blue Nile. Whether you're looking to pop the question, have a milestone to celebrate, or want to let your love sparkle,

Blue Nile can help you make your celebration even more memorable. As the original online jeweler, Blue Nile offers the largest selection of independently graded diamonds and pieces priced significantly below traditional retailers. Blue Nile has helped millions of couples create their perfect engagement ring. Their easy online tools let you choose the diamond shape, size, and clarity as well as the setting style. And Blue Nile's bench jewelers will then help you handcraft her a perfect one-of-a-kind engagement ring. Looking for a fine piece of jewelry to commemorate a special milestone but still having trouble choosing? Blue Nile has jewelry experts on hand 24-7.

They're available via phone or chat to help you find a memorable gift at every budget. Shop stress-free with Blue Nile's 100% satisfaction guarantee. All Blue Nile orders are insured and shipped for free in discreet packaging. They also offer overnight shipping if you're in a rush. I got my wife gorgeous diamond errands a while back. She absolutely loves them, as does everyone who sees them. And she tells them, my husband got them at Blue Nile. So make your moment sparkle with Blue Nile.

Go to BlueNile.com and use code CHICKLETS to save $50 on your purchase of $500 or more. That's B-L-U-E-N-I-L-E.com, code CHICKLETS, to save $50 on your purchase of $500 or more. bluenile.com, code CHICKLETS. All right, moving right along. The San Jose Sharks up next. They had 77 points last year finished 12th in

the conference they're 100 to 1 to win the Stanley Cup this year new faces include head coach David Quinn Oscar Lindblom Luke Coonan Nico Sturm Aaron Dell and Matt Benning they say goodbye to Brent Burns Aiden Hill and Rudolph's Balsers let's see new GM Mike Greer he's definitely got his work cut off for him. This team, they're kind of in salary cap hell. And after losing the Western Conference Finals in 2019, it's been three straight years of no playoffs. And again, this is a team that spends the cap.

They still got five more years left of Eric Carlson at 11 and a half million. Four more of Mark Edward Vlasic at seven million. I don't know, man. What's going to get fixed here with San Jose fixed? Yeah, first, what do you got on the Shockies here, boy? Not much. I feel bad.

I feel bad for the great fans out in San Jose. And that building was hard to play in for a long time. I'm not sure. And correct me if I'm wrong. I'm guessing the atmosphere around the games is probably a little different with the team struggling right now last year being a tough go. But I'm very much so rooting for this team because as we've mentioned a bunch, Mike Greer has a plan. Everyone who ever play with them loves him. He's going to be loyal to the players, loyal to the coaches. He's going to be no bullshit, tell you the truth, doesn't really care about mincing words, if that makes any sense. He's going to know exactly what he has to do to make this team better. But the salary cap issues that they have, the Vlasic deal and the Carlson deal, and it's so crazy.

I guess there must have been people who at the time said, oh, this is going to be a tough deal with Eric Carlson. He's had injuries. But 11 and a half now? It's unbelievable. Kale McCarr makes nine point. What does he make? Nine and a half. McCarr's going to end up being the best deal maybe ever signed. The fact that

that guy makes nine and a half and Carlson somebody making an 11 and a half. It's tough for teams to compete when you got players that are and this is this is not really a shot at Eric Carlson. He's getting older. He's had tons of injuries. It's more thing about this team being at a place right now where I was shocked Hurdle signed with them.

So it's great they have Hurdle, but they just have so many different guys that are going to kind of have to get off the books before you can really start revamping this thing up again to become contenders, which they were for about 15 years. Yeah, I mean, tough when you start out the breakdowns with mentioning the, you know, the,

the, the bill to the GM, the coach, the GM and how the building's tough to play in. I bet you couldn't name six players on their roster. Yeah. So let's see how many I could make. Logan could share Mark Edward Vlasic,

Eric Carlson. I'm not good at this. Sometimes Thomas Hertel. I'm not good at this sometimes. Thomas Hertel. I'm not looking at anything right now. Nick Bonino. Barbenov or something. Some guy, some Russian name.

Oh, shit. LeBanc. LeBanc. More than I could have named. Looks like he's on the dozen trivia cheating right now. I'm not cheating. I'm looking at the rug, dude. I'm looking at the rug.

I don't have any others coming to my mind. I'm sorry, Biz, rather. How do the Sharks go from a bonafide contender to a lottery team so quickly? Well, listen, shout out to Ron Wilson. Is it Ron Wilson? Doug Wilson. Is that who I was thinking of? Doug Wilson. I was thinking of the old coach.

I'm just struggling with the names today, as always. Shout out to him, man. They had like 15, 20 years of relevancy. I think his plan shifted to where he was going to build from the back end. And, you know, you look at when they signed Burns and then when they brought in Carlson, what they gave up to get Carlson, which ended up being like a massive, massive mistake. Hey, man, good run. You put the team in a very difficult situation now.

You know, you look at other teams and they would have fucking prayed to have a GM that good for that long to sustain relevancy. So they yeah, they're going to be shit for probably a good two or three years. And Greer's got a lot of work ahead of him. You look at other teams around, for instance, the Ducks. Yeah, they're going to be shit, but at least they got Cap to work with. They got some young guys in the pipeline. So it's going to look pretty grim here. And I got really nothing positive to say other than the fact that they're going to be getting a very high draft pick next year.

But it ain't going to be a dark. I got a question. Merles, why is Darlene in Sweden? Yeah, he didn't get an offer back from them, which I was always surprised. Yeah, he's on their first power play last year, and now this year, nothing. So that's a guy that left, a young guy that you could have maybe

billed around, but they need to just trade everybody. And like you guys said, in a few years, start all over again. But if you're, if you're, is he a free agent or is he still like restricted and they have their, his rights, like he could have signed anywhere else. So that just tells me, I think he became unrestricted. Yeah. And I don't think he got offered a one way. He wanted a one way to stay over there. Yeah. A little more, a little more stability. He's helping us cash bets here in Sweden.

I will. I will say though, an organization that is drafted and developed very well over time. So I, I trust that they will get this back on the, on the rails. Well, speaking of drafting and develop and the LA Kings are up next last year,

they had 99 points. They lost in the first round, four games to three to the Oilers. They're 30 to one to win the Cup this year. They brought in Kevin Fiala, which will certainly help their top six. They lost Dustin Brown to retirement. Andreas Anthonasiou left, and Ole Mata left as well.

This is a team that surprised many last year by making the playoffs and certainly looked to build on it with prospects like Quinton Byfield, the year older. I just mentioned Fiala solidifying that top six, making a much more dangerous. Jonathan Quick head into the last year of his current deal. They'll have a healthy Drew Dowdy back to start the air along with Matt Roy, Sean Dursey and Sean Walker is coming back after a torn ACL. So the Kings are going to sneak up on anybody this year.

But Merle, let's go to you first. Do they improve on last year's performance and how much or how little? murray let's go to you first do they improve on last year's performance and how much or how little i had them not doing anything better but i think you might just talk me into it with that breakdown um the fiala i still want to wait and see though he he had the perfect spot up there in minnesota and he jumped ship now to la it's always a little difficult when you come to new new line mates new city so i'll be interested to see how he does. And Quickie's last dance probably. So I'm a big Quickie guy.

And if there's anybody that can pull off one more run, it's him. Whit, we'll go to you next with that one. It's right over the heads. What's the biggest issue for the Kings, Whit, heading into the season? The biggest issue? Yeah, in your opinion. I think they need some of these young guys to take big steps forward. I think Quentin Byfield is not, like, he's the one I think of second overall pick with all this skill.

It's one of those things where we hate calling guys out, like, really early in the career, but you got to see something, right? You got to see some big time step up in terms of like that one more year of confidence development. You could see him hopefully kind of breaking through. This team is like bizarre because like, I actually love Jersey. This is the D man. They signed Jersey. This team's weird to me because of how good they played last year they got in then remember they almost beat Edmonton like I thought I was like first of all before the season no chance the Kings get in the playoffs they get in and then they look like they have this thing one up game you know up three to two so it's it's it's a team that

for sure is looking to keep going and the biggest thing is that Dowdy had mentioned he was done with the rebuild done with the shit and now it's like all right i want to compete for a cup again and they they they didn't have him for a long time right they need that guy healthy they need him playing but he's not there to fuck around so i expect this team to get in the playoffs again i don't know how they're gonna do it because i don't even know how they accomplished the feat last year but getting more exciting to watch them. I mean, when they had those cup teams, I loved watching LA beat the shit out of teams at home,

but I haven't wanted to watch them in quite a while, but I'm getting more into that team. Biz, does this year's LA Kings have a cup run in them at the end of the season? They made me look like a complete idiot last year. I thought there was not a chicken dicks chance in hell that they made playoffs, and I will not, to be made, look like a complete idiot last year. I thought there was not a chicken dicks chance in hell that they made playoffs and I will not be to be made look like a fool again. I think you look at the strength down the middle, they got Kopitar, they got to know, and then by field. So I, let's not

forget last year in training camp against the coyotes by field ended up breaking his ankle. So he, you know, he had a, uh, you know, he had a very difficult start to the year coming back from injury, trying to get up to NHL speed. So I think he's going to have a breakthrough season, especially with the lack of pressure when you're playing against those third line reps. I think that their bottom six is extremely underrated. I love their top six, especially at the fact that they added Fiala. They got Arvidsson in the mix there. Kempe all-star last year. He's getting better year over year. He has that speed. Let's not forget, Doughty was injured in the back half of the season, didn't end up playing in playoffs, and they still ended up getting into playoffs. Why is that? Because everybody on the back end knows their role.

They're all committed to team defense. They did play that weird system last year where they were shutting teams down through the neutral zone. Am I crazy about it? No. Does it make for boring hockey? Absolutely. But Todd McCollum doesn't give a fuck.

And they got a good one-two punch in net. Merles, you said it. Last dance for Quickie, it might be. That team and those guys and that leadership group love that guy. Everybody does. He's the fucking man. And he doesn't have to be the the guy they got cal peterson they got him they can split the games 50 50 they're going to have arrested goaltending

night in and night out along with that that overall you know team game and how they shut down teams with that offense i just talked about i think that la is making playoffs for sure and i am i supposed to be saying that i i think that they're going to make playoffs or not, or am I supposed to wait to the end here? We can wait till the end. I mean, you could sort of tease a little bit. We're going to do a final,

final talent. I'm going to give you, you, you California crew out there out West, a little ball tickle. Cause you're the only California team. That's going to be making playoffs. The other two.

The other young guy. Kaliev. American sniper played in the O and you saw him have some impact games and play pretty well and then you know like can deno be as good as he was there last year it's it biz i'm with you i don't know how they're gonna get in but i'm i'm not i just told you probably gonna pick them i just told you how they're fair enough fair enough should listen i should have listened better hey we didn't even mention that walker kid They have so many young guys that aren't talked about because they're starting games at 1030 on the East Coast.

I'm telling you, man, Rob Blake and staff have done a tremendous job, and I'm not wearing the L again, LA Kings fans. Yep, I didn't last year. Won't be again this year. Going a little further south from LA, the Anaheim Ducks. Last year, finished with 76 points, 13th in the conference. They're 80-1 to win the Stanley Cup this year. They brought in John Klingberg, Ryan Strom, Frank Vetrano,

Dmitry Kulikov. They lost Ryan Getzlaff, who retired, Sam Steele, and Sonny Milano. I think adding Klingberg and Kulikov gives the D some much needed experience in the background to go at Fala, Shattenkirk and Drysdale. We'll see if this Olin Zeldweger manages to stick around. I heard he's fucking nasty. Yeah. Every kid I talk to, I'm like, hey, who do we have on?

Was it McTavish? Yeah. I mean, he's going to be his teammate. So no wonder he was stroking him off. But every person I asked to for that team Canada, who the most underrated guy who's going to end up being a star, this kid. Yeah, Vetrano and Strone, they should goose the offense.

They combined for 86 points last year. The team's about $16.5 million below the cap. They do have Zegers and Troy Terry, RFA, after the season. GM, Pat Verbe Beek he's basically putting some dough aside he's rebuilding via the draft they have six picks in the first three rounds of the next draft so they're definitely stockpiling picks there Goli John Gibson back for his 10th season uh playoffs definitely a long shot here but with so much young offensive talent they should at least be fun to watch and unfortunately our buddy Trevor Zegers got

the wrong kind of chicklets bump last week. Oof, tough hit. Looked like a clean hit. He took him out. You can't be hitting the cover boy like that. What the fuck are you doing, Coyotes? They said Dallas Eakins confirmed that it wasn't a head injury. So they didn't specify, but it wasn't a head injury,

which I guess is good news in today's day and age. You don't want a dinghy at this stage. But either way, Docs, we'll go to you first. Biz, will we let off? It was a cornea injury from staring at the sunsets. His beard is red and spit at him. I mean, I kind of touched on it earlier. I don't think that they're going to do anything this year.

I still think they're going to get a high draft pick. I would say that they would probably maybe be in that playoff contention. But I love Gibson. i think he's a tremendous goalie he has struggled to stay healthy that's probably because he's facing 60 shots every night because they're a bit of a liability defensively but uh i i'm just really excited to watch this team and to see how these young guys progress um i don't think that in hockey the the mad and curse so to speak is a thing i want to say every guy ends up lighting it up like roman yosi was on the cover not too long ago matthews was on the cover so i

expect zegras to have another breakout year i mean he ain't worried about it you heard him say it a couple pods ago he's like oh yeah i just did the same stuff you know not a care in the world so um just really excited to see the growth of these young guys, whether McTavish sticks. And I'm going to be tuning into more Ducks games just for that reason. But it's a team that is definitely going to rebuild, but I think it could happen sooner than later, especially with where the cap's going and with some free agents that are going to be on the blocks coming up. And they can replenish stock pretty quickly and be relevant.

Is there any chance that they kind of surprise? I mean, remember, this team, I think, was leading the division halfway through the season, which was smoke and mirrors. But I don't know. What if McTavish is sick this year and Zegras lights it up? And like maybe this Zellweger makes it on D. Drysdale takes another step. Gibson's a hell of a goalie. I don't see them getting in playoffs but

everything I read makes it sound like they're just going to be horrific I don't really see that Strom's solid you bring Strom in I don't know I I think they could surprise more than people are leading on I think sometimes young teams do have starts like that because they're so amped up for the season and they tend to blow their load pretty early. I think we all knew with the lack of experience and how young they were that the 82 games is eventually going to play itself out and they weren't going to make playoffs. I think what's great about it though, wit and I hope it does happen and they do get out to that hot start because I want to see more fans in that building. And, you know,

and if they do get up to that hot start, you know, when they fizzle out late, at least it keeps everybody in the fan base engaged. So I don't know. I, I just, I, I just don't see them having a great year. Burroughs after that hit on Zegers, Adam Henrique went over to Arizona's Jan Yannick to take them on. Now, do you think the team regrets not keeping or at least replacing Nick

Delarier? Cause you know, you, you get into, you got young studs ran out like, like that. And they don't have a Manson. When you're facing business coyotes, like Biz said, he's going to get a bunch of meat in there to get that little barn rocking. But, yeah, I actually had a little stat about the Madden curse for you, Biz. And only two of the past 26 EA NHL cover athletes teams have gone to the second round of the playoffs.

Eleven of the teams have missed the playoffs. Okay, so it's more of a team curse, not an individual curse. And when I see on my notes, only one, Patrick Kane was on the cover and they won the cup. He was the only one. Interesting. Great nugget, Merle. Great nugget.

Little nugget. I think that's pretty much all I had on Anaheim anyway. Yeah, no, that's about it. I don't think there's any huge expectations for them. California had a long run of wagons in that state. So just going back to your comment, everybody's bringing it up. Should stars be able to get hit in preseason? It's kind of like a dumb fucking argument, man.

These stars have already made their money. He's either, these other guys are trying to prove themselves to make the roster. That's how I did it when I was in Pittsburgh. I had no business making that team, but I went into camp. I was hitting everything that moved. I think I fought four or five times in camp and, you know, Terry and called me in his office, blue cigarette,

smoke my face and told me I was coming to Europe for the premier games. Oh shit. Oh, shit. Put that in your tarantula and smoke it. All right, next up, the Vegas Golden Knights. Last year at 94 points, they were ninth in the conference, 17-1 to win the Cup this year. They bring in head coach Bruce Cassidy, Phil Kessel, Aiden Hill, the same bye to Max Pacioretty and Matthias Janmark.

After all this early success, I'd say the buzz come off this franchise a little bit in the last year or so. Teams got through a bevy of coaches, made a lot of trades. I mean, they have nothing to show for Max Pacioretty right now. New coach Bruce Cassidy's taking over after being fired in Boston. They're going to have no Robin Leonard to start the year, hoping that Logan Thompson can grab the goalie reins while Aiden Hill and Laurent Brousseau will fight it off for the second fucking spot there.

On defense, Petrangelo, Martinez, Theodore McNabb, White Cloud, and Hutluck to make up a pretty good decor. Restricted free agent Nicholas Hagg remains unsigned. And of course, Jack Eichel. He gets to start the season fresh and healthy. You know, not if they'll jump in midstream or go out of camp. So it's going to be interesting to see what he does.

Him and Phil Kessel obviously got some early chemistry going thus far what dog what are you thinking on bag oh i fucking wanted this one oh i'm sorry i'm fucking rock hard to talk about the golden knights you take it first i'll win i trust you all right i mean buddy i'll go to you quick the biggest thing is this injury to lennar it's such question mark. Is their entire season pretty much fucked with Leonard out for the year? Not to mention, bro, Suarez out for possibly half the year with also another. I think he's got the hip injury. It doesn't matter.

They got Logan Thompson. Okay, yeah. Logan Thompson. Forgot about him. He's going to backstop into a cup. I actually, I will say this is one of the most confusing teams to me. I do think Eichel is going to light it. He looks at this crazy different level in preseason.

It's preseason, but, I mean, imagine the bullshit of injuries along with an entire city and fan base hating you because of you wanting out, and all of the off-ice things that he's dealt with. To go into this season healthy, finally, is probably such a peace of mind thing. Make some future bets on him for the over points, a possible award winner. I mean,

this guy superstar level this season, I think it's the health. And it's like, I don't understand how you're going to win games at a consistent level with bad goaltending. Maybe your boy Logan lights it up and this isn't an issue, but if it is dude, I don't understand how you're going to win games at a consistent level with bad goaltending. Maybe your boy Logan lights it up and this isn't an issue. But if it is, dude, it doesn't matter how good the offensive is. It doesn't matter how many times Kessel scores this year.

30, according to Keith Yandel. And it doesn't matter if Mark Stone comes back and dominates both ends of the ice. Without a goalie, you got nothing. I think that Loganpson ends up top seven in vesna voting that is a hot take and take it now everybody loves a come-up story this guy played canadian university hockey and now he's going to be the starting goal he played canadian university hockey and he just got i believe a three-year one-way deal he is on an absolute bargain you got a top seven and i got him top seven in vesna voting i think he's going to have And he just got, I believe, a three-year one-way deal. He is on an absolute bargain contract.

You got him top seven in Vesna. I got him top seven in Vesna voting. I think he's going to have an incredible year. There's no pressure on him. And he's making peanuts. Yeah, there is. Yeah, there is. No, there ain't.

He's making peanuts. I bet you half the fucking fan base didn't even know who the guy was. You don't think this kid becoming a starting goalie is going to feel a little bit of pressure? Not when you're making a million bucks and everybody else in the team is making fucking seven or eight. Yeah, he wants to make more to maybe retire and have some money left. I mean, fuck. There's pressure, dude. I think this is going to be an unbelievable season for the Golden Knights.

I think they're going to get back to their winning ways. And the best part about it all is if they don't, I think management's going to have to walk the plank. Nah, nah, nah, nah, right over treasure Island. Hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I'm a good man. I'm a good man. I'm a good man. I'm a good man. I'm a going to take the house down but then you end up calling uh your insurance company to file for a stolen road lower lex out of the safe from some fucking skunk you met at the chandelier bar and

your passport's gone so you can't get on the plane it is going to be an entertaining year no matter what whether they're shit whether they're unbelievable i personally am all in on the golden knights i think they will get back to their winning ways book it logan thompson top seven in vesna and eichel is gonna fucking light the lamp and all you sabers fans sending me fucking eichel cumshot memes fuck off fuck you all right that ain't funny enough with the cumshot memes i'm right i'm right with you i have this already written in my ebr futures blog for barstool sports book art ross trophy winner jack eichel 80 to 1 80 to 1 for fresh jack eichel and this one i can't believe i can't believe you're on this one with me

i got logan thompson plus 1700 for rookie of the year he's going to be a starting goalie no much more like chances he has than these other guys just playing a couple minutes a game plus 1700 barstool sportsbook vegas wow and the last reason can you imagine if we get to do our western conference trip like we did last year all right get your hand out of your pants it's a kid's show which hand i want to go back to edmonton biz i i like the ten vegas in the final that's the only place where it feels like elvis i'm a god there now vegas sent out a tweet biz uh they call it the jack and phil show jack and phil and i'm like oh that that's what they call business pregame routine as well jack only on my road trips yeah he watched his goal assisted by kessel the other night on the side of the highway in oregon would you like a little creamer with your coffee sir

oh which is that hit hit cream what's the hit condition some of the low mary i think the milk went bad. It's a little salty. Who is that? HL. Oh, bitch. Y'all fucking bananas. All right.

Moving right along. We already tell me you're not hammering that Logan Thompson for rookie of the year. Dude. 80 to one for art Ross. That's only going to be DM and fucking Merle's after. I was thinking. I was thinking MVP. Like I know art Ross is scoring later.

It's just so hard with those two in Edmonton. MVP, 50-1. Oh, there it is. All right, dude. I'm on one of those. I was like either one, and then I was like, I'll take that one. 80-1 is the value. It's not so much that he's going to beat the other guys.

That's just tremendous value. I understand. And the reason I love Vegas so much is because how many to beat the other guys. That's just tremendous value. I understand. And the reason I love Vegas so much is because how many hockey fans despise them. They have to be the most hated team in the league at this point. Leafs.

That's fair. No, the fans definitely have done a 180. The hockey world as well, but it's just like I was saying, all the coaches and players. They're not the fuzzy little teddy bear they were a couple years ago. Let's put it that way. Before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Shopify. It's time to knock that new business idea out of the park with Shopify,

the all-in-one commerce platform to start, run, and grow your business. Forget the off-season work. Shopify makes it simple to sell to anyone from anywhere. Whether you're selling warmups or wall hangers, it's time to start selling with Shopify and join the platform, simplifying commerce for millions of businesses worldwide. With Shopify, you'll customize your online store to your brand, discover new customers, and build the relationships that create diehard fans. Shopify fields all the sales channels to grow a winning business, from an in-person POS system

to an all-in-one e-commerce platform, even across social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. And thanks to 24-7 support and free on-demand business courses, Shopify is on your team every step of the way. When you're ready to take your winning idea to the world, team up with Shopify, the commerce platform powering millions of businesses down the street and around the globe. Try out Shopify for free today and start selling anywhere. Sign up for a free trial at shopify.com slash chicklets, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash chicklets to start selling online today. Shopify.com slash chicklets. All right, there's a couple more teams to get to here. Battle of Alberta played the other night. These teams

already scrapping in the preseason. No surprise there. And next up, the Edmonton Oilers. A bit of a breakthrough year for the oil last year. 104 points. They lost in the thirdseason. No surprise there. And next up, the Edmonton Oilers. A bit of a breakthrough year for the Oilers last year. 104 points. They lost in the third round to the Avalanche. Four games to none. They're 16-1 to win the Stanley Cup this year. They brought in a new goaltender, Jack Campbell. Also brought in Mattia Schienmark.

They said bye to Duncan Keith who retired. Mike Smith who was on long-term injury reserve. And Zach Kassian, all parted ways. Let's see. Campbell is the big ad for this team right here, Biz, that reached the first conference final in 16 years last year. Then they went and extended Evander Kane to ensure a pretty potent top six.

The big question right now is how do they become cap compliant? There's still $7.5 million over the cap. You know, they can long-term injury reserve. Smith, as I mentioned, and Clefbaum, that's still going to need another move or two after that. But, Whit, I know we just went to you first, but you are a former defenseman for this team. Is this top four on D good enough to win a cup with?

Yeah, how are they getting out of the cap, jock sniffer? Not too worried about getting out of the cap. You always hire some math genius to figure that part out. And even though I'm a math guy, I don't have to worry about that. I know that after last season, and yes, the haters are, you got swept. You didn't even sniff winning a game in his color. I don't care. Last season is what had to happen.

They had to have a little success in the postseason. They felt it. They realized what it took to get there. And they were battling a bunch of injuries as every team is, but they were. And now to solidify the goaltending and it's tough because I was all over Jack Campbell when he was a leaf, he was walking his cat on the side of the road. And I said, Jesus Christ,

how are you supposed to win a Stanley cup with this guy? I've changed my tune. I have completely changed my tune. This is a goalie who has proven to be a number one goalie and Mike Smith's awesome hell of a career. But I mean, last year, it just wasn't wasn't good enough. Koskinen, I couldn't stand when he was playing. And now you have a guy, not to mention Skinner as the backup who could play a role, right? I mean, hopefully Campbell's able to play healthy, but he can't play every game. Skinner's going to have a big impact. He can play.

Broberg on D is a young kid. The D is not their strong suit. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows it. But this Evan Bouchard is going to get better and better. And this season, I think you're going to see a monster. I was reading even that the other night he played in preseason. Barry didn't play.

And so he was on the number one power play unit snapping it around and woodcroft mentioned after it's not even a done deal that barry's going to be on that first unit it could be bouchard has a rocket of a shot from the point condition around skates well and that with nurse and everyone says nurse is overpaid well still dude he's an animal to play against and yeah he's not gonna probably get you 60 points but he's a prick out there and he could skate as well as most d-men in the league as well as the high-end skaters that guy could do it so i haven't even mentioned mcdavid and dreissel which will obviously keep us in the hunt all year long we're gonna win this division we're gonna probably go to the western conference final again and and

and this time we might end up somehow shocking the world going to the stanley cup final this is connor mcdavid this is the guy that's every single year somehow he's doing more and more and more and now this is the prime years dude this is like this is the time and you saw the passion and the hunger and the playoffs he was so good imagine him now how fired up he is to get this year going leon's healthy again pooey rv is a big big player for them if that guy could take that step i know i keep saying it i feel like bison man oh bison man i mean i can go on and on with this team. Yamamoto, I can see him breaking out. You mentioned injuries, right, Witt?

And Yamamoto and Nurse, well, Yamamoto didn't even play. Nurse was fucking, his groin was hanging on by a fucking thread in last year's playoffs. So I agree with you, man. I'm a little scared by his eyes. They're still the second best team in the division. They ain't the best team in the division. They addressed the goaltending. They're going to be a tough out in the second best team in the division they ain't the they ain't the best team in the division they address the goaltending they're going to be taught they're going to be a tough out

in the second round for the battle of alberta but this year's the flame year um but as far as everything they did in the offseason they addressed what they had to and i agree with mostly everything you said other than the fact that you fucking you're a liar and last year you said that campbell wasn't a number one goalie. I know, but then he became the goalie of my team. Oh, oh, okay. Well, that makes sense. And I got the blinders on.

I got the Oilers blinders and the pom poms going. So Merle's did the Oilers make it to the third round or even beyond this season or what? I'm hoping I left a few Bellini beers at the cactus club on drank and drunk last year. I need to go up there again and get a few more of those. And I think McDavid tasted it. He found that next level.

He knows what it takes now. They're going to beat the Flames again if it's the Flames biz. I'm sorry. 100% they will. And Hyman was sick. And listen, do you remember McCloud in the playoffs, how good that kid looked? He's going to get more chances. He's going to get more chances.

He's going to get more minutes. This team. What about this other kid, Holloway or something? Isn't he a first-round starter? I think he played at Wisconsin. He's got a chance to make the team. I don't know exactly what's going on in camp right now. I don't know.

I know they got some young guys really fighting for jobs. I don't know if right now he would be in the lineup. I should probably know that. But I do know that they're exactly where they need to be and they are fired up to get this thing going so the oilers legitimate cup contenders if you're gonna name 10 teams in the league who could win the cup they're in the they're on the list 100 they're on the list i just how does this cap circumcision work? I actually have no idea. They got seven and a half million to get rid of. I mean, the only logical thing I could think of is

Vander got to gamble it away. That's the only logical answer I have. I'm not a capologist. I'm not a rocket Scientologist over here. You could lose that in a blackjack table in one night, that guy. According to Twitter biz, McDavid also tasted human flesh in the Dama series on Netflix. Oh, my God. I know we're late to this and it's gone viral already.

The minute I was watching. So I didn't even know this thing was coming out because I barely watched television. But I was at my friends that Jackie Alien I mentioned. And I was like, what's that Dahmer thing? Like that's like the old murderer. She's like, yeah, like there's been so many of these biopics and she, she didn't like it,

but we turned it on and I'm like, that's Connor McDusty. That is con he should, what would you win for that? An Emmy? Yeah. Would he be the only human being to ever win an Emmy and an MVP in the NHL? Quite possibly, yeah.

I'm trying to think of any other. Well, I mean, Wayne was on the Young and the Restless for an episode, so he might have gotten it for that. But that would be quite the feat, man. He would knock out your boy Ted Lasso. You do a search, McDavid and Dahmer, and it's not one of two people. There's tons of them. And certain clips, he does really resemble him.

Have any of you guys watched it? Biz, Merle's with any. And you guys watch this Dahmer thing yet? I've watched it. All right. I'm with you. Like, I don't even know if I want to watch it. It's just such a downer.

Everyone says it's amazing. I'm just not. I'm not in a rush to watch it. I'm all in. I'm all in on this show. I love it. Because, all right, like you said, you kind of lived through this. I didn't in. I'm all in on this show. I love it. Cause Ari, like you said, you kind of lived through this.

I didn't, I didn't really know any of this. Like I knew Jeffrey Dahmer was like a joke and he ate people, but like the fact, like how, how in like the, the cops could never get them. And like this,

this show, I think is a 10 out of 10 show. I think that might've been a little dressed up for the show though. Right. There's gotta be some things that they dressed up for the show. No, I mean, it's just like,

how, how did he never get caught? Like, it's like, I don't want to give away too much of the show, but it's like, people were calling the cops on this guy all the time. And like,

he was always getting busted, but they just let him go back out there. So it's, it's crazy, man. All right. How much do you know about the real story? Was he actually living in that apartment?

And the lady next door was like, Hey, like multiple, multiple times calling the police. Yeah. I remember Christ was a 30 years ago. I, I, when I say lived, lived it, not I was in Milwaukee, just, it was in the news all the time. Yeah. People had called the cops and Mike, like Mike just said, the cops did show up at one time he was able to convince the cops. I mean, he's a white guy and there was a black teenager i think was in his house and this guy was able to convince the cops that this black young black kid should have been in the house with him and he you know like something

didn't jive there and you know the cops let the kid go back on the house he ended up becoming one of the victims and there was certain other way several other there was a real recording that was the one example they had in the show they had a couple other ones where the cops like pulled them over. I just weren't, wasn't sure if those were accurate events, but there is a, a, um, a documented phone call of that lady calling in about when there was like a minor he had and they just were like, yeah, no, we handled it. And she's like, are you sure? And then it was back and forth, back and forth. And then, yeah, nothing. Drop the ball. Yeah.

Like what was you saying? I just can't stomach these shows anymore. Not just Dahmer. I mean, I was around when it all had happened. I just had no desire, man. I got a couple hours to watch something. Not everything is going to be funny or hilarious, but excuse me. It's just murder porn on everything.

And, you know, John Wayne Gacy tapes, the Ted Bundy tapes. Like, why do I want to hear these fucking sick fucks talk about what gross, disgusting, despicable things they did? I mean, I understand the lure of it, but for me personally, man, and I know I just told everybody to watch Blackbird on Apple TV. That was a story I didn't even know about, or serial kill I didn't even know about. I

told you to watch that because of the acting, but just as far as those nonstop documentaries, like Netflix is just murder docs all the time. For me personally, man, there's so many other things I'd rather watch than fucking waste my time on these psychopaths. Is it considered a biopic? This is a series. I guess you'd call it a drama series.

I will say they've been hammering the biopics lately. It's like everybody gets a biopic. Yeah, it's fucking brutal and people say biopic they they should fucking they shouldn't be able to watch tv people pronounce biopic biopic that's fucking insane yeah what a bunch of losers hey gee is it gory i think it could be gorier though i like it doesn't usually show him like doing the killing it just shows him drugging the victims and then it just shows them like dead right yeah that's like that's so sad

I know it sounds like it's just so like depressing to watch that I feel like but everyone loves it I'm not saying it's not a good show I'm with RA though I'm just not looking to just hop into that right now just too that's enough serial killer talk

there's a serial killer preview maybe he could figure out their cat problem That's enough serial killer talk. There's our serial killer slash Edmonton Oilers preview. Maybe he could figure out their cap problem. Yeah, he'd just get a scalp out and cut a little slice. Slice a little bit of it off. He's used to taking off caps. Saute it up with a little fava beans. All right, last team on this division before we get to our interview.

Calgary Flames, they finished last year with 111 points, but they lost in the second round, four games to one to the Oilers. They're 15 to one to win the Cup this year. Lots of new faces, lots of old faces left, new faces in town. Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Khadri, Mackenzie Wieger, Kevin Rooney.

The Flames said goodbye to Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Kachuk, Sean Monaghan, and Eric Goodbranson. This team had tons of roster turnover, but as we get to the guy in a few minutes, Brad Treedlivan, felt like he got painted into a corner and he kind of Picasso'd himself out of it just with the moves he was able to make and put the team in arguably a better position than they were.

If they are better than they were last year, are they good enough to go even deeper? What an analogy by you, painting himself out into Picasso. The only painting I'm doing is going to be my mascara to give this guy the double wrister. Every team would be fucking giving away their firstborn to have this guy as a general manager. What he was able to do was like, who is the old magician that used to

get tied up and they'd throw him in the water and he'd say david blaine harry houdini houdini not david blaine i'm talking card tricks here i'm talking about escapes bro he escaped it he escaped free agency brother and we talk about edmonton getting better because they added a second string goaltender as wit would describe him last year but he now a turncoat because he's on his team he put the fucking blinders on this is the best team in the division by far they have everything there is to offer they got mark stromanette top tier goaltender i think he was an all-star last year if he's not he should be in the man rocket hall of fame they got an incredible back end which we talk about defensemen who were banged up last year with the edmonton

oilers they had no tan of and then on top of that now they're adding wieger so add two fucking studs on the back end to bend that oilers team over in the second round of the battle of alberta baby and then up front i'm gonna say very difficult losing johnny extremely difficult losing kachuk but we can all agree maybe kachuk has a little bit more offense than, than Kadri, but all around 200 foot game, a great swap. And of course, Hubert. Oh, I think he holds every record in Florida. I know they got it in that the worst little hockey hall of fame set up who was in the hockey hall of fame there, Oli Okunin and Luongo.

It was like an old, like power helmet with your pieces in like from the pro shop, a plastic. Exactly. They get it. They get a hundred point guy in order to replace another hundred point guy. And on top of that, we know Sutter's going to have the boys kick in.

They got the bread man, Mangia Pani. I think he had 29 tucks last year. They have depth. They have toughness. They have an incredible fourth line that provides energy and that physicality. This team is the real deal. Horrible, horrible. I don't want to say coaching, not enough adjustments against that Oilers team. They are going to learn from their mistakes and they're going to blow by and they

will see Colorado in the Western Conference Finals and I think that we could possibly see an all-Canadian Stanley Cup final Calgary Flames against the Toronto Maple Leafs book it book it Merle's book it at the Barstool Sportsbook right now what are my odds both of those Tiano that'd be a lot of Harvey's poutine I would take down though. But yeah, you're, you're talking me into the flames too. They're great. I just, I will stick with the Oilers so they can prove that they can beat them. But I can tell you a great Brad tree living story. Maybe the greatest move he ever did was when I asked him to give me a one

way contract for Phoenix. And he told me to go kick rocks. Yeah. He gave it to me. He was going to be a goodm way back in 09 he really said yeah nice try buddy like let's get serious and before we throw it to him the best guy he's like salt of the earth he came on i know he can't let it fly like he normally does but just a fucking absolute beautician the type of guy want on your hockey team. And now he's gone on to have all the success in the world as a general manager, manager learning under the tutelage of a guy he brought on with the Calgary flames and Don Maloney. So I couldn't be happier for the guy. Um, I know that I'm stroking them off. Cause he pretty much guaranteed me my one way contracts when he was the assistant general manager, when you're in a peasant, like, guys, you don't get the GM doing your deals.

You get the assistant GM doing your deals and all the AHL guys. So I just want to thank him for paying my mortgage off and well in Ontario to Brad Tree Living. Cheers. Hey, if Cody Eakin, I know he was on a PTO. If he ends up making the team, has there ever been a better match in heaven with the guys like red sweat red flow matching with the fucking

I think team logo and everything I think they have a lady McDonald with Calgary best flow bar none in the league Calgary Flames they got Tanev they got Luchich with the perfect lego head on when he's walking in with the all black suit they got uh uh eakins and then i mean markstrom's got some nice flow on them too tell me a team that's got better hair than the calgary flames you should show up for warm-ups just for that reason well whatever that cross-country team was that was going viral last week some random cross-country college team photos all the all those wild kids one kid biz he had half a mustache it was like a wicked thin mustache but he only had it on one half of his face i didn't see that all right well we'll

send it for next week and have some laughs about it but uh should we send it over to brad you think biz about that time i think so and last thing i'll say about the flames give them a new rink enough with the locker room we got to get free. It's a dump. All right. But before we send it to Brad tree living, his interview is brought to you by game time. Game time is the exclusive ticketing partner of Boston sports created by fans for fans. Game time is a new ticketing app that makes it easier than ever to score last minute deals on tickets to sports concerts and shows,

and they guarantee the lowest price tons of basketball fans are using it and hitting us up on social telling us about all the great deals they've been getting me and g were using it all year we got a bunch of great playoff seats got some concerts underneath our belt as well and we got awesome seats because of game time so use it get the amazing deals you're gonna love it just the GameTime app, go to the account tab to create a login and redeem code CHICKLETS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download GameTime. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And now enjoy our chat with Brad Treeliving. All right. It's a pleasure to bring on our next guest. After nearly seven years as an assistant general manager in Arizona,

he's been the GM of Calgary for the last eight-plus years. In that time, he's helped return the Flames to NHL prominence, winning two of their last four division titles. And after the moves he made this summer, they'll likely remain there for a while. Thanks a bunch for joining us on the Spit and Chipmunks podcast. Brad Treeliven, how you doing, my friend? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on, guys.eliven. How you doing, my friend? I'm doing good.

Thanks for having me on, guys. Pleasure. How does it feel to finally get the season underway after a very, probably, stressful summer, I would imagine? Yeah. No, it feels good to get back playing instead of dealing with all the other stuff. It was an eventful summer, for sure. And I'm like everybody else. I don't, you know, we'll see.

Obviously, we've made a lot of changes here, how it all fits. Um, you know, that's, that's what we've got the preseason and 82 games to go. So I'm excited to get, you know, get through camp and we've just got camp underway now. So get to the preseason and see how this all looks. You're acting all calm. Did you expect it to be that big of a shit show? No, um, no. see how this all looks you're acting all calm did you expect it to be that big of a shit show no um no i mean you know what it is guys at the end of the day you you know where everybody is in your in your in their contract in their sort of in their contracts and you know the contractual status of everybody and yet you know that there's you know um a bunch of different potential

outcomes at the end of the day and i've said it publicly before i mean we went in the summer but there's a bunch of different potential outcomes. At the end of the day, and I've said it publicly before, we went in the summer wanting to sign both John and Matthew. Players get to a certain stage, as you guys know, in the CBA, and they've got rights and all the power to them, and I don't fault them at all. They made decisions. But for it to go, it was it was a roller coaster

to say the least and uh but like you say we'll see how it how it you know we really like the guys that we've got in here um they fit in with our group now now we'll have to spend the next 82 games figuring out how it all works that must be how going worst case ontario in your own head for like months leading up and then sure as shit it goes worst case yeah you you're right biz you plan out okay what does the worst day look like and uh you know but again at the end of the day you you know we really we didn't do a lot of negotiating with players till the season ended and and and as much as as quick as it was we still had an extended period of negotiating with players till the season ended. And, and, and as much as, as quick as it was, we still had an extended period of time. So as, as the summer went on, or, you know, once we were done up until free agency, you know,

the longer it went, you kind of have, you know, you're always, you're never, you're always nervous till you get a deal done and the deal's never done till it's done. And then obviously Johnny made his decision to, to move on. You know, had regular communication with Matthew and his representatives. They made the decision. And then you get to work. You know, at the end of the day, as much as you think, okay, here we go,

you know, it's your staff and it's all of us just getting to work. And it was a busy few weeks. I know it was a roller coaster for Flames fans. And here we are. You're like, you fucked up my cottage time, you motherfucker. Well, my wife was probably not real happy. She's like, I'm going up there anyways, Brad. I'll see you in a couple weeks.

Yeah, they got out there. I've got two daughters. And so they were like, you know, one day my daughter's just shaking her head at me like you know I don't really want to be known I don't want to be you know my last name and then when things turned out she was trying to use it to move up at the the Cowboys line at the you know during Stampede oh yeah I get the VIP wristbands in there i said t-r-e-l-i do you know who i am you know who my father got here he went and had a filet in montreal and signed an eight-year deal with johnny well that that's what i wanted to ask when you when you guys got that done i mean that's under the understanding we have to sign

and we want to sign them but that wasn't at all a done deal when the trade went down, right? No, not at all, Ryan. And when you're going through this, and we were talking to a few different teams on different deals, and then obviously with the Florida deal, obviously we really like the players. We like Jonathan and McKenzie, you know, Cole Schwent, a young prospect there, and then the pick.

Obviously we like the package there, but the guys at the top of the food chain with, with Jonathan and McKenzie, you know, that's the question. They were both, they were, you know, they had one year left, so they're coming in and you're kind of almost, you know, one of the scenarios is you can't get them signed and you're, you're in a lot of ways in the same situation that you were in before with, with, with the guys that you had.

And are you kicking the can down the road a little bit? So we went into it and talked as a group and said, okay, in before with with with the guys he had and are you kicking the can down the road a little bit so we went into it and talked as a group and said okay if we go down this path our intention is to get them signed and then you know that's great for us to have that intention you got to have a willing partner on the other side so um you know we were able to you know able to get something done i met we went out and met with with uh jon Jonathan in Montreal, probably a week or so after the deal was done. You know, when things progress, we're able to get a deal done there. And we continue to work at it with McKenzie. So hopefully we can, you know,

get back to the finish line as well. But at the time of the deal, no, there was no, there was no understanding that the deal's done. Like right away. Are you planning that trip to Montreal? Or was that something that maybe kicked in a week later, maybe assuming like maybe he wasn't happy about the trade or anything or like what sparked the Montreal trip well I think I think because it was like we knew when we made the trade that you know Jonathan's been there for his whole career right and like any player when you've been in one place, he's got roots there. He's been, you know, he's a, you know, holds all the franchise records.

He's been a lifelong Panther. So there's going to be shock. And so really once the deal was done, I talked to him briefly. It happened late on a Friday night. And I just wanted to give him a couple of days. And, you know, I talked to his agent right away Alan Walsh and you know we we spoke that fairly regularly over the next few days and I just said you know what why don't we all get in there and get together and it wasn't to go in there and

start pounding away on a contract but you know he never met me I've never met Jonathan and so it's just a chance for us to spend some time together, get to know each other, let him sort of understand, let him understand what we were thinking of our team, where we're at, what we're trying to do, how he fits into it. As you guys know, as players, at the end of the day, it's just trying to give them a comfort level. Who's this guy at the other end of the line that wants me

to make a commitment to him? So that's really what it was. A lot was made of it. It wasn't anything more than going out and having a dinner with them and just getting to know each other. And I think after that, it's like anything else. So much of this game, I think, is relationships. I think we had a good day together. He at least put a face to a name got

an understanding what we're trying to do here and and we went from there did uh did he beat the pot a little bit did he get like a surf and turf or a nice bottle of opus or anything or what was he just off the glass and out baked potato steak i saw you got a new free truck it's a little different for the that must have been negotiated during the steak for sure yeah it's not it's not a it's not a convertible. I thought you were going to say you talked to Alan Walsh and say, can you not make a meme of a flame burning Mike's face? He's like, hey, put those tweets in the draft

box and give me a week here and I think you're going to be happy. I said, Walsh, you just keep the tweets. Let's just figure this out first before you start firing the tweets out. Johnny's got to pay for the sidewalks cement at the new rink though. That's part of the negotiation here. So we can get the city council to approve the new barn because if we see one

more free agent, look at our locker room, I'm going to have a fucking meltdown. Hey, Hey, now the locker room's taking a lot of heat here. I mean, I heard it was nice and then Sutter tore it down and then built that. My daughter's telling me about the heat the locker room took on social media the locker room and i don't know if somebody came in i took some pictures of it but it was at that time it's the middle of the summer a lot of the stuff's done the locker room's just fine let's just pump the brakes in the locker room locker from when it's all dressed up, the locker room looks good. There better be some rich mahogany in the new rink. The GM is pumping the locker room's tires,

so we have to take him for his work. But forget the Florida deal. I mean, obviously, the Cadre signing was enormous. And the question that we had as a group on the podcast was, as time went on and on, it was like, is this a Lamorello Islander signing like a one week before the season the whole time were you guys in discussion like what was that whole process like in terms of finally getting that deal signed for him well we talked to them you know when free

agency opened but at that point in time we were you know we had all these we had a few balls in the air yeah and and just you you know, we communicated that. We liked the player. But until we know, you know, that time we, we hadn't, we hadn't got the Florida deal done and, or had the Matthew situation resolved, quite frankly. So, and then it just timing, I think there's a bit of luck as we, as we went through everything you know, Nas was still there. And so, you know, I think a big thing in this, especially in the environment in the last year or so, is as normally is the case, free agency opens, there's a big rush.

And with the cap pressure right now, with everybody up against the cap so much, you know, once you get into free agency, even a few days, usually there's very few teams with cap space. And we were one of them. And we kept talking to Nas, you know, we were able to get a deal done. And then, and then we needed a few days to, to, to clear space. And we, we made the move with Montreal, which is a tough move. You know, Sean, Sean Monahan's a player that's been here since he precedes me in

Calgary, just a great kid, a wonderful, Sean Monahan's a player that's been here since he precedes me in Calgary. Just a great kid, a wonderful, wonderful guy. And but we, you know, we had to move some money to fit Nas in. So it took some time. And I think there was, you know, that's really I think there was some luck involved in it, Ryan, just because as much as we like the player,, we had to do some things to move some things around. And luckily enough, we were able to get a deal done and Nas was still there. Was he still talking to Colorado a little bit?

Like, would he be honest about that? Like, were they trying to still work something out? I mean, I'm not sure. I know that, you know, listen, I think Nas, anytime he went to cup somewhere, I think he obviously had a fond, you know, had fond he obviously had fond memories, or not even memories, but he had a great time in Colorado, liked the situation there.

And I think if he could stay there, I think that would be his preference. But we all know that, again, in today's world where the cap is what it is and there's player movement, I think he was talking to a number of teams. I don't think we were the only one. We stayed in regular communication. We tried to let them know what we were trying to do. We'd like to get something done. And if we were able to get something done, then we've got to move some money.

So, you know, we came to an agreement. And then, you know, shortly after that, it took us a few days to free up the space to officially get it done, and here we are. You're the mistress. He left his wife for the mistress. Brad, prior to the last deadline, you know, given the unsurety with Johnny Gaudreau, was trading him something that was even on the table

or just never considered it at all, given the circumstances? No, I mean, the team was going well, and, you know, our hope was we were going to, you know, we said our hope was to have a strong finish to the year and go on a playoff run. And, you know, these things at the end of the day, they're easy to, they're easy to Monday morning quarterback after the fact and say, okay, well, you know, he ended up, you didn't end up resigning him and you should have moved him. I think it would have been a real difficult thing to see a thing for us to do

the season that we were having, um, how important Johnny was the season that he was having. Um, and again, our hope was our hope was to get them done at the, uh, you know, in the off season didn't happen. Um, but no, that wasn't, that wasn't anything that we, you know, that we put any, any thought into. Uh, can we bounce around a little bit? Can we go talk about your playing career for a little bit? It's a very short time as we do. We got 30 seconds.

We had some similar roles. You played in the coast, you bounced around a lot and you were a scrapper. I looked at the penalty minutes. Were you getting beat up a lot? A lot of tens, a lot of tens, a lot of tens. Asking the rep to give you a 10. Yeah. Yeah. Or earning them. You know your career was not great when every team you played for is no longer in existence.

When you finish playing and there's no longer, none of the teams are actually in business anymore. You probably said, yeah, it wasn't what you'd call a Hall of Fame career. You probably put them under when you started your own pro league. Yeah, that's what they said. They moved me around so much. I said, damn it, I'm going to start my own league. Yeah, it was the best thing I could play.

You know, we all love to play, but, you know, when you're not a good player, I try to use that period of time just to kind of, you know, learn the business, if you will, and figured if I was going to have any future in the game, it wasn't going to be on the ice. And you're right. You probably couldn't plan. You know, when I was planning that we were going to get involved with a group that started a league and, and did that for a number of years, but great experience.

And, you know, that level that i put you know that at that point the echa or the it was called the east coast league back then was just starting out so i'm starting to date myself a little bit what was it right from co-founding the it was the western professional hockey league right so was it right from co-founding that and being a part of that to becoming the assistant in in pho at the time? Was that the jump? Yeah, that's what it was, right. We, you know, we played a little bit and then, and then an old coach of mine, Rick Kozabak was starting, you know, he was looking at starting a league and we put together a group to sort of

really fund a exploratory stage, if you will, just running around, basically running around Texas and looking at, you know, basically at that time, rodeo barns if they wanted to put hockey in and, and the Peter North stars. What's that? The Peter North stars. That's right. And it, uh, it really started the league startup with six teams in Texas grew into, I think I can't remember how many at the time, maybe 16 teams, 18 teams throughout Texas, Louisiana, down in, you know, in the Southern U.S.

And I did that for 12 years and then, you know, was introduced to, you know, had a relationship with the late, great Pierre Lac Lacroix and Eric Lacroix was a good friend. He, they were, they were owners in one of the leagues or, excuse me, one of the teams in the leagues. And it was through Pierre that he had put me in touch with Don Maloney. When Don at that time became the manager in, in, in Phoenix and, you know, interviewed with Don, I said at the time, became the manager in Phoenix and interviewed with Don. I said at the time, after the fact, after Don hired me, with the WPHL,

and we later became the Central Hockey League, merged with the Central Hockey League, that our offices were in Phoenix. So I think the key thing for Don hiring me was he didn't have to pay any moving expense. I was local. He could squeeze the shit knows we were running on a little bit tight budget there in Phoenix he could squeeze a nickel so tight the beaver will shit and uh so he said hey no no moving expense you're in you're in he but but I tell you what though he was excellent at what he did. Like in Arizona, I mean, when I was there, like how he was able to win trades all the time.

He didn't have a very big budget and like getting guys to fill in roles for cheap. So you must have learned a ton from him while kind of like, you know, learning to eventually become a general manager. 100%. I say it all the time. And unless you were there and, Biz, you were there during those times, like the uncertainty, it was daily, right? And for what he was able to do leading that organization

and sort of putting it all, you know, not allowing that to affect the group. And, you know, he was able to put together playoff teams. And, you know, we were at the bottom of the scale in terms of the payroll every year. You know, he brought tip in, I thought tip did a marvelous job with the group there. But it was, you know, you learned a lot, you know, you learned a lot on how to, you know,

make the most of what you got and have to make smart decisions. And, and, you know, really that's, I owe, I owe everything to Don of bringing me in there and and and learning from him and getting giving me an opportunity to you know work in the league and it was a great group you know we had a great group of people there from the coaching staff led by Tip to the training staff Stan and and the crew there it's a you know and and when you go through all the things that we had gone through in that time where it felt like every year, you know, the team was moving here, the team was uncertainty all the time. It sort of built that bond. And,

you know, to this day, you know, Chris O'Hearn, who's now in Minnesota, you, you know, you feel a bond with that group. So those were, those were, those were fun days. Remember we're at the sushi place with the, with the rich people. We thought we're going to buy the team. And like, next thing you know, they were just not even involved anymore. Thanks for the no-boo. Missing Ed shooting his mouth open.

It felt like every couple of months there's a new rumor that so-and-so was coming in or there's a new owner coming in. So there was a lot of uncertainty. And the league was awesome in terms of, you know, they would give us a budget and gave in the league was the league was awesome in terms of, you know, they would, they would get up, give us a budget and, and gave us the support we needed. And, and away we went. So negotiating with my agent at the time must've prepared you for all these

major deals that you're doing. Well, biz, I was going to, I was going to ask, can you, can you bring the listeners and myself and RA into the room when the Pittsburgh penguins put ball, Paul Bissonette on waivers, and you guys were like, let's get this guy, let's throw a claim in. Like, what was the thought behind that? You know what? I remember it because, and again, I give a lot of,

all the credit to Don Maloney because, you know, you're going through the preseason, and we like Paul, we wanted to add a little, you know, a little bite to our lineup. And I was out watching games. We're like, okay, we were going to trade a pick. And I said, okay, if we can get this guy, I think he'll help us. And Don was like, just be patient.

I think he's going to go on waivers. And sure enough, he went on waivers. And we got him. And we brought him in and and you know i didn't before he had this you know huge media career now paul was paul was uh i mean he was he he was a really great addition to our team not only not only did he give us um you know he made everybody a little braver on the ice, but he was, he brought a lot of juice to our team, like a lot of around our room. There was never a quiet moment. I do remember negotiating Paul's contract. I think, well,

I think we got you and then you played a year, you had a year left and then who is your agent? Was it Mark guy? Mark guy, Mark guy guy so i remember getting the call finally and we're like okay we want to sign paul and i really felt it probably would be about a 30 second conversation here's what we're going to offer you out we'll take it so you know mark's experienced guy calls back and and he and and he said you know well i appreciate the offer but when you look at the points per 60 and you look at this and you had all these analytics and I was like. That's where analytics started.

Was that phone call? Business basement. There's really nothing per 60 that we need to look at here on this negotiation. Here's what the number is. Punches per 60. I should have got Jonesy as my agent. They're like sips of water on the bench per 60.

Yeah. Old town. That's amazing. Did you know that the analytics were going to be brought up? Old town Starbucks coffee dates per 60 minutes. After numerous calls, we were able to wrestle that file to the ground. How many tweets? 750 times, too.

Yeah. Raunchy tweets per 60. Yeah, I was going to say, how many HR meetings did the team have to have? You know what? Nasty 1.0. I had about four or five, and every time I'd come out, you'd be making a bagel, giggling. Well, I do remember that was because, you know,

that was the start of social media, think back then right or the start of twitter or whatever um but i remember don was i think it was rich naren rich naren we had to write shotgun and just sort of you know he had his own personal escort to make sure like okay you watch everything you watch everything paul you know sends out and i think he met with Don and he said, you know, Paul, let's, we can't do that. Okay. Yep. Yep. And then about a week later, I saw you walking back in there and your head down. Okay. I apologize. We won't do that again. We won't send one out like that. Yeah. Four or five.

I remember Rich was on the, he was on the social media police for you. Well, cause when, when I originally stopped doing it, it was cousin Mark guy. He goes, buddy, he goes, you got to gotta after the kovalchuk one he said you gotta shut this thing down so everybody thought it was the organization i think rich went to donnie and donnie's like i don't even know what the fuck twitter is like what are you talking about well none of us knew we were trying to remember like what is that it's like a is he sending texts out i thought he was sending x out i don't know what the heck. You're like, not another Brett Favre dick pic. Oh, so I just said what? Yeah.

So it was, it was this, learned a lot about the start of social media with Biz. Well, thanks for funding the bottle service in Vegas during those years. It's much appreciated. The weekend trips. Yeah. The AHL deals were bringing me to where RA goes. What is it? Hedonism in Jamaica. jamaica ism to the all-inclusive is is uh so 2014 become the gm of the flames had you maybe been um in the running for other gm jobs after a few years as the assistant in

phoenix or was that your first go-round of having a legit chance and you got it in Calgary? No, I had interviewed a couple times. And then really in Calgary was, you know, I had a relationship with Brian Burke. I knew Burke a little bit going back. He'd brought me to camp to break in some equipment back in the day when I was playing. So I got my three days in camp when Berkey was, I think the assistant GM out there and I'd always stayed in touch with him.

And, you know, saw him a lot as you're working in the business and on the scouting trail. And, and when Brian came here, Brian came as the president of hockey ops year prior, and then the job opened up and at the end of our year, one year, he had phoned over to Donnie and and uh asked asked if I could interview and and went up here and and interviewed with with Brian and was fortunate enough to get the job and been here ever since

being from Penticton were you a Flames fan or were you a Canucks fan you know what I was from Penticton but I grew up I grew up in Vancouver so I was growing up I was from Penticton, but I grew up in Vancouver. So I was, growing up, I was a Canuck fan. But you know what? Even those days, I remember they had some great series against each other. Back, I think it was in 89, when the Flames won the Cup, the first series was against Vancouver. And we always joke, Pepp scored the goal and was he was he in the crease him and joel otto but um those were those were you know even back in the 80s there calgary had such great teams and and uh we're fortunate here there's a lot of the alumni

that stick around it's it's a strong alumni here um run, run by Jamie McCowan and a lot of the guys from the 89 team around here. And you get the chance to, to visit with them and, and connect with them. And, uh, you know, I joke with them. I always saw them got to play when I was, you know, when I was growing up. So they're all much older than me. I know when you got the job, Berkey made it clear that it's the GM's team to run, but you think it's changed a bit what maybe other teams or it's a lot more collaborative and maybe the GM isn't the final say like it used to be?

For sure. You need a strong staff. I mean, the stuff that we went through this summer is a perfect example. That wasn't just myself. I mean, you've got to have a strong staff to, you know, when you get into a situation where you got to move quick on things that, that have the information and have the knowledge. And, you know, I'm very fortunate here to have a really strong staff. We talked, you know,

Donnie Maloney is here with me. You know, we've got Chris Snow. You guys know, who's a real bright guy, Craig Conroy, Brad Paschal, Bob Murray is doing some scouting with us, you know, Derek McKinnon, Steve Plo, our scouting staff. So it's an experienced group. But I think the job is really big now. You know, it's a big business and you need to have depth and you need to have, you know, experience,

but you need to have, you know, smart, intelligent people. And I'm fortunate to have those. You talked about biz and his social media antics. Now you have a different guy that tends to go viral occasionally. That's the head coach with these amazing post-practice post game press conferences. And it's, it's full blown comedy without really trying to be funny. Are you, are you ever kind of like, Oh boy, what's he going to say after a tough loss? Are you more as interested as all the fans are in hearing what he says post

game? Yeah, I know he's the thing with Daryl is it's none of it's scripted. You know, none of it's scripted. You know, he, he just, he's just, he's, he's always going to be direct to truthful. And, you know, some days I'm like, okay, after if a game didn't go well, how's this going to come out? Sometimes though it's the wins, you know, when it, when, you know, and that's, that's, I think the, the really the brilliance of Daryl, you know, he, he doesn't want to, you,

you always are going to be a little bit on edge and keep everybody on edge and keep everybody dialed in so when you know when maybe you're going through a little turbulence he's a he'd make sure that you're you know that's the time to maybe not push as hard and then when things are going well he doesn't want to make sure he doesn't want you to think that our things are are comfortable and easy. But he's had some great ones in those post-game press conferences, and I think sometimes the media is a little bit nervous to ask him too many questions. There's people, there's like a, sorry, Biz,

there's people who can't stand some old-school type of hockey ways. And one thing I think is great that should never go away is what Sutter's into is that like never get too comfortable. I feel like that's, he never wants anyone to be that comfortable and that kind of breeds competition and success. It's interesting. You say that.

And for me, the best was saying that it'd be a quick eight days for whoever the wild card had to put Colorado and sure as shit Nashville gets swept. So he was dead. He was bang on with that one. Well, I think the misconception to guys with with daryl is he you know this guy's a brilliant hockey mind right he don't get don't don't fool yourself a lot of the things that he says there is all he knows exactly what he's saying um but in terms of studying the game in terms of his preparation

in terms of you know the amount of yeah just his preparation, in terms of, you know, the amount of, yeah, just even the amount of data that he goes through and, and, and, you know, not only analyzing match-ups, but analyzing player performance, team performance, you know, and he's got, he's got such a clear view of what it takes to have success at this league, both as an individual and as a team. And, you know, he demands that of his teams, but I think accountability and being demanding, I think those are good things.

And he is that of his team. He's fair and he's honest. When you've done well, he's going to tell you. When you haven't done well, he'll tell you that too. But I think that's what players want is honesty, and he's blunt about it. So I think he's one of the best coaches, you know, certainly one of the game's great coaches in the history, and I think he's a Hall of Fame coach, and we're lucky to have him.

Did you guys become aware that he was interested in coaching again? Because he's living fairly close to downtown Cal downtown calgary right so did he reach out was the it was a job his if he wanted it well i talked to him biz you know a few times over the years about um about coming in and you know at the time at the time that i hired him he was he was doing a consult he was consulting and working with Anaheim and you know consulting with the coaches down there and working with them and I and I've gone to him before and you know it just wasn't the right time for him um you know his farm here that he's he is about four hours three and a half, four hours from, from Calgary. And I just think he's, you know, that's, he's an Alberta guy,

and this is where he should be at. So, you know, when I went to him, what I guess it's a year and a half ago now, two years ago now that, you know, he was, he was really interested. He wanted a couple of days to think about it, wanted to talk to Wanda and, and his wife Wanda and, and made the decision to come. And, you know, as all these coaches are now, the amount of hours these guys put in, they're all in. Oh, it's fucking nuts. It's a demanding job.

He wanted to make sure that he was ready, you know, wanting to do that again because he's all in and certainly was and we're the benefactors for it because, like I said, I think he's done an unbelievable job with us. And rightly so was the coach of the year last year. Did he ever make you go to the farm and work a day to get the contract signed? A little different than that. I thought I was going to have to go out there.

I mean, but he's – like that farm – like he farms. Like in the – there's lots of times I get a hold of him in the summer and he's haying or he's, you know, he's got a lot of land up there in Viking. And he is, he's got a, he's got a big outfit there. So, but I haven't, I haven't gone up there yet, no. One of the most recent comments was about Kachuk. You were the guy that drafted him. You obviously signed him to that extension.

Was that one more shocking than the Johnny situation and him not wanting to return? And, you know, how long was the conversation between you and him on the way out? And I'm sure it was hard on him as well. Yeah, and, you know, a lot of those bits, as you can appreciate, I think a lot of that is supposed to and should stay private. I would say, like, I got a strong relationship with him.

You know, he's a kid you drafted. He's a terrific player. You know, and like I said, he got to a stage where he made that decision. Certainly, I would have, you know, at the time, we would like a stage where he made that decision. Certainly, I would have, at the time, we would like to not have him make that decision, but totally understood it. Him and I had a great conversation. He's a hell of a player.

And Florida got a real good player. We think we got real good players back. Hopefully, it works out for everybody. I always wonder, when guys are going into the season with one year left, like say we're looking at McKenzie Weger now, and there's certain guys who are open to discussion throughout the year. And then some players say, all right, well, if we don't get it done before the year, I don't want to talk.

If that's the case with guys, are you, are you still reaching out to the agent or are you just making sure you stay, you keep it out of the player's mind or does it actually just shut off completely for even you and the agent discussing deals? Well, everybody's a little bit different, Ryan. I think at the end of the day, you know, especially in today's landscape, it's difficult, right?

Because we've, we've had, we've had minimal cap growth and there's been such a squeeze in the cap and, and, you know, the top players are always going to get their money um i think in those cases you try hard to you know you get an understanding of what what everybody wants and i understand that the you know not only from the player standpoint but from the team standpoint and especially in canada i thought you know last year you know we we spoke with johnny's guy you know we we've all made a decision that we weren't going to speak, talk about it publicly during the year because it just can become a distraction. You know, the amount these guys are in front of the media,

you just don't need to be answering that question every day. It's like Groundhog Day. So we just, we're not going to talk about it. But, you know, you have a pretty good idea where both camps are usually. And, you know, if there's a way to bridge the gap or if you feel you've got you know something to that's going to get a deal done i know everybody says well the guy's got you know whatever player it is i'm not talking about any player specifically but guys got a player a year left go get him signed well the deal's got to work for both sides

right it's not just as easy okay well let's just get him signed. Well, the deal has got to work for both sides, right? It's not just as easy. Okay, well, let's just get them signed. So I think if, if you, if you, if you're sort of within striking distance and you, you know where the other side's at and you know, if that means you're going to go into the season a little bit and, and eventually get there, you'll continue. You'll always have conversations with the agent. You try to keep, you know, you keep it quiet and you, you don't want to get the player's mind, um,

you know, straying too far from just concentrating on playing and helping the team with. So, um, you know, there's, there's ways to manage those. And I think, I think everybody does a fairly good job of it. Um, but you, you know, you like to get business done as quickly as you can. Right. We've heard a couple stories the last couple years guys get traded they kind of maybe f you the gm or something like that have you ever had a similar experience you don't have to name anybody but guys get pissed

off that they get traded and uh i'm sure there's i'm sure they've when they walk out of my office they have many times but yeah i honestly i try to keep a pretty – like everybody's got a different style. I think you got to, you know, you just do what's natural for yourself. I've always had a real strong relationship with my players. You know, I try to talk to them a lot. The coach is the one that makes decisions on who plays and how much and everything else. But for everything else, you try to be there for them.

If there's issues at home or if there's areas of their game that you think you can help them with or, or being a sounding board, you know, getting to know about their family. So I've always tried to, and there's, you know, it's, it's tough. It's tough moving players when you have a relationship with them, but those are, you know, it's tough today's, you know, when you make cuts, you know, because you know how much a player puts into trying to make a team and all

the rest of it. And when you move a, you know, when you make cuts, you know, because you know how much a player puts into trying to make a team and all the rest of it. And when you move a guy, you know, I'm real conscious that you're not just, it's not fantasy hockey. You're moving a guy, you're out, you know, he's got a family. Most times he's got wife and kids and, you know, you turn in their life on the air, but that's, we've all signed up for this, but I think there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. You gotta, you know, and there's times you have to make those decisions. So I'm sure there's,

I'm sure there's more than enough players that have walked out of here and had a few choice words for me, but for the most part for the most part, we've had, you know, we've had strong relationships and guys maybe aren't happy, but you try to just be real honest and say, this is, you know, this is part of the business and, and, and, and try to get them to understand or at least just be honest. Sometimes they'll never understand, but here's what we're doing,

and it's part of what we all signed up for. How many hours a week do GMs work? Are you on 80 hours a week, you think? Imagine he's like four. I barely even do anything. I was like Lou Lamorello this summer. I wasn't doing nothing other than. You never shut it off.

I mean, you try, you know, the old, that's probably that, you know, it's hard. It's, it's, that's, that's not getting anybody. You know, we, we all signed up for it. We know there shouldn't be nobody feeling sorry for everybody in these jobs, but it's, it's hard to shut it off. Right. You got to be getting a couple of massages a week. week right you're kind of always thinking about it right and uh

you know that's that's just part of the game so you're yeah you're you're uh there's enough hours here and you try to get home and and uh like i said i've got one daughter now that's moved out uh so she's down in Austin, University of Texas. She's a big Flames fan, but she's a Longhorn now. And my youngest is at home still, but they remind me just to kind of, hey, hey, you're at home. Snap out of it. Be more present.

Be more present, yeah. Yeah. Do you think you get your motor from your old man? And for some of those who are listening, uh, Jim tree loving, uh, he founded Boston pizza or I think there was a couple of stores started the dragons then, which later became the shark tank. They basically ripped it off your old man and he, and he's done a ton of other stuff.

Yeah. He's, he was always, you know, yeah, he, that's a good way to put it. He was, he was always going you know, yeah, he, that's a good way to put it. He was, he was always going 100 miles an hour, still is, he's 81 years old. And, but yeah, that, that sort of the, the motor from it probably comes from him for sure. And, and, you know, that was us growing up. He was, you know, he was a cop, he was an RCMP police officer, a cop to start, and then got into the pizza business and did a really good job growing his business and is really successful. But it doesn't come by accident either. He put a lot of hard work into it and a lot of time, and that's like anything else.

What you guys do, you put a lot of time and that's like it's it like anything else what you guys do you put a lot of time and effort into what you do um and uh we all and we all love what we do so it it's not it doesn't feel like work but there are days like this summer there were some moments you're like okay this is uh this isn't uh what it was i didn't know it was going to be all this in a bag of nuts but it was good before Before we let you go, I got one more, and that's, it must have been a relief. You got the Mangiapane deal done under six million

cap it, and it was before arbitration. So I'm curious, as a GM, do you not want to go to arbitration just as much as the player doesn't want to because of how personal it gets and how the relationship can kind of be fucked up after? Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes that gets a little bit overblown. I think now it's part of the process, right?

And at the end of the day, players, I mean, that's part of the right they have, right? And so when they file, that's, you know, you have that right. Part of the process, you have to go through it. But I think if everybody's being honest, yeah, you'd like to avoid arbitration. If you can, you usually, and it's not just for, we've got no problem going. I say to players, we've got no problem going to the, to the, to, to the arbitrator.

You'd like to, you'd like to figure it out and negotiate it. I think sometimes that process is an inflationary process, quite frankly, the arbitration process. So you'd always like to try to have a negotiated settlement. But, you know, for young guys that haven't gone through that, it can be a little startling that, you know, at the end of the day, you know, their side's going to talk about how wonderful the player is and the team side is going to point out some of the misgivings but um you know you try to get

through it and you you know beforehand you talk about it's you know there's there's a business side to this game sometimes it's not perfect or fun um but for the most part you can get through it fairly easy but i think everybody would would agree if you've got a chance to negotiate a settlement you'd like to do it sometimes sometimes you got to go through it we lie to our fans we tell them it gets ruthless in there like your mama jokes like it's just like anything goes yeah yeah well there's been a couple stories like what does my penis size have to do with anything yeah it's it's not it's usually not too, too gory. Well, I don't know. R.A.'s got to have a couple more down there.

No, R.A.'s got a couple more. We can't let you go this quick. Yeah, kind of the other side of the coin. Not guys telling you to F off or whatever, but maybe when you're saying goodbye to a player, maybe it's the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. Maybe a guy like Giordano or Monaghan, where they've been with the team for so long,

where maybe it's a tough thing for both sides. Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of that. I mean, the Gio one was, was real difficult. Um, um, he's, he's a, he was a special player, special guy, you know, uh, you know, and a guy I leaned on a lot, you know, I, I would, would talk to him a lot about our team. Um, and, and, and it was a unique situation because it was the expansion draft. And, you know, so we looked at a bunch of different, you know,

things to try to prevent Gio from going. But as he knew and we talked a lot about it, it's a business too. We couldn't put ourselves in, you know, where Gio was at his career. You know, there was a limit to what we could do to protect them. And I knew, you know, as we, as we, as we sort of got to the end, I knew that Ronnie really valued Gio as he should as a player and a leader and, and everything that he was going to bring to Seattle. And, you know, that last call was a tough one, you know, Gio and I talked, you know,

a couple of times a day for a few weeks leading up to them making their decision. And finally, when, when Ronnie had called me and told me that Mark was their selection that, you know, and the finality was there, that was a tough call. So you do have those, Sean's another one, you know, you've had players, you know, just, they're all tough. Like I said I said they're all tough you know what players put into it but certainly players that you've had for a longer period of time um you get to know their families you get to know their you know you get to know them real well it's it's difficult so yeah those are those are those

aren't easy conversations I guess one other one second guessing yourself is that a part of the job that always stays there Or you just kind of make peace with that early in your career And let things fall where they do No I mean listen You know Brian Burke told me a long time ago He just slips a coin That's how he makes a decision

That's how you were doing it in Zona Yeah throw the dart where does it land But you know Burke he had great advice He said you know at the end of the day This job you're walking, you're walking the tight rope with no net and you have to, you have to, you know, you're going to make, you're going to make a lot of decisions. There are going to be a lot of tough ones. So there's,

there's certainly some things I think what you have to do, RAs you have to, you get all the information I said before, it's important to have really smart people and, and people that don't just think the way you think, you know, quite, quite to the contrary, you know, challenge you and you got to, you know, disagree and have those, those arguments and those, those, those debates. And ultimately you have to make the decision and, you know, you have to live with it. You always go back. I always go back and always look at your process of how you came to decision making and the process that you have.

So those are all things that you do, you know, all the time. You know, at the end of the year, sit back and look at how you came to a decision, you know, how you got to it, ways that you can prove your process. you know, how you, how you got to it, ways that you can prove your process. But, you know, ultimately when you sit in that chair, there becomes a time it's like getting up to the plate. Eventually you got to take the bat off the shoulder and take a swing and, and you can't be, you know, and, and, and the difficult part sometimes when you make a decision, it doesn't go well. You got to dig back in that box.

You just point the finger. You just point the finger. Just take another, or, or Just take another or do that. I actually got the chance to ask Stevie Y a question on TNT, and he alluded to finding a way to decompress by ripping the bong. What do you do to relax? Well, I said it used to be a little bit of golf, but I don't even get to do that anymore.

I know. Thanks, Kachuk. We get out usually in the summer we got a little place out in the lake so now getting out in the lake is is uh a little bit of time time to decompress but you know just getting away around my my girls um getting home got a couple of dogs dogs that go chase the ball. So anything just to kind of keep the mind a little fresh. But, you know, at the end of the day, like you guys, you're dealing with, you're watching your team every night

or you're watching somebody, you know, all the other games. So hopefully when it slows down in the summer, you get a little time away. Biz, before we let him go, I took out of this, he's working his balls off, making Calgary a better team, but mostly he was willing to go to Montreal and have a steak and wine with Uber. Kicking his feet on going to the Sutter farm to bail some hay.

He hasn't been up there yet. There's too much work there. That's real work. We're going to stay away from that. I go in there, Daryl, Daryl hand you a pair of gloves and get out. That's a lot of manual labor. See you in 10 hours, Brad.

You're wearing shit kickers at the, at the press conferences smelling like manure. Thank you so much though. Thank you so much for your time. I'm so happy for you. You deserve all the success. I mean, you haven't lost the fucking trade since you started. I'm sure you learned everything from Donnie and we wish you all the best. And I'm willing to remake the bet.

If you can tell me and sell me right now on the fact that you guys are going to beat the wheels off witness, stupid left ear and the Oilers this season. Well, I just, Hey, they got a hell of a team, but I appreciate the support.

I appreciate the support piss. So we welcome you on, on board here. We'll be in discussion. That's GM code for fuck them. We're going to fucking shit all over them. Bring it to the saddle dome, bitches. Big thanks once again to Brad Tree Living for joining us.

I want to let you know his interview is also brought to you by Skrill. Coming soon to the Boston Sportsbook, Skrill is a digital wallet perfect for gamblers. Skrill is for money movers and makers, allowing you to instantly deposit and withdraw your money. Sophisticated gamblers use Skrill to manage their bankroll, whether they are playing games like poker or betting on their favorite sports. It's one of the safest and most secure digital wallets, and once it's part of the Barstool Sportsbook,

you'll be able to deposit and withdraw instantly without limits. Skrill also lets you transfer money to another Skrill member and take advantage of some of the best money transfer rates around. Make sure you sign up at skrill.com slash Bostel to create your free account and complete the account verification by clicking follow the game after registering. So you can start using their digital wallet today. All right, boys, moving right along. We're going to head over to the Central Division,

and we're going to start off with the Stanley Cup champion, Colorado Avalanche, who finished last year with 119 points and beat Tampa Bay four games to two for the Cup. Their Cup odds are plus 450 this year, a little lower than 5-1. New faces they brought in, goalie Alexander Georgiev, yeah, speak much, Alexander Georgiev and Evan Rodriguez. They said bye to Nazem Khadri, Darcy Kemper, Andrej Burakovsky, and Jack Johnson. After finally reaching the promised land, locking up their core,

they're looking to repeat with no Khadri and a new goalie in Georgiev. But who's going to replace Khadri as the second center, you think? Comfort, Newhook, Rodriguez, or somebody else going to come out of the woodwork? Yeah. I think you're going to see Alex Newhook take a big step up. In talking to everyone who's played against this kid in college, scouted him, I mean, this could be a true game breaker.

And it's really tough right now because to start this season without Landis Kog and the question of not having cadre especially with the year he had that is going to be a really tough kind of thing for them to overcome but it doesn't really slow them down that much in my mind they're that good they're that deep and and even even with the ability to bring in new hook it's like you look at the defense their d is so good it's crazy though they lost the goalie as well so there's a lot of different things happening there but even with the landis cog injury to start the year and cadre being gone i don't think there's one fan uh media member pundit out there who doesn't think they have a realistic chance to

just go back to back and win this division with ease we don't need to overthink this one yeah if they don't repeat biz what would the reason be maybe i don't know maybe the only reason would be if they can't really replace that second line center and i think that i think the reason that they were so comfortable comfortable saying goodbye to cadre given with what the cap it was and where they were going to be jammed up or i guess they could just play like the othersers, 7 million over, was because of the performance that Comfort put on, not only in the second half of the season, but in playoffs. Like he was heavily relied upon, created a ton of energy,

and really played in all situations, maybe other than power play. So I see them very much as a contender. The only thing really holding them back would just be if, if Calgary and Edmonton are able to get over that hump and you know, you, you see, you see great teams like Tampa, they're able to replenish. So I see that the way this team, the way they work, the way that the top guys prepare and, and, and drive the bus. I don't see them taking a step back. Nate Dogg wants more than one cup.

He's hungry, and he's going to earn that fucking big bump in salary he got, although he's still got one more year at that nice number. So, yeah. Sorry, Biz, you mentioned that, you know, Colorado, I mean, sorry, Calgary, Edmonton, but it's like Minnesota and St. Louis are so good too. And when you asked them what could be the one thing if they don't win, you still got to remember how impossible one thing if they don't win, you still got to remember how impossible it seems to go back to back, right?

I mean, I know Tampa and the Penguins, but before that it was the Red Wings in the late 90s. It's like it's just so difficult. This team's a wagon. They're set to win another one, I'm sure. But just going back to back is such a grind. Yeah, and i was going to joke about the fact that they could probably throw merles in net and still get the job done uh but no he's losing weight oh okay um but what was the big reason for the back-to-back for tampa

basilevsky they just don't have that dominance in net so it will be it will be a lot more difficult for Colorado to repeat than I think the Tampa Burroughs uh quick question for you does Macau in the Norris again yeah you can't bet against him doing that I'm worried about maybe another D. Eric Johnson I hope he's still not hung over it seemed like he partied pretty hard this summer with the cup so that's my only worry of the whole team a little hung over in the start of the season here. All right, moving right along. The St. Louis Blues up next. They had 109 points last season.

They lost in the second round to the Avs, four games to two. The Blues are 25 to one to win the Stanley Cup. They brought in Noah Chari and Thomas Grease for the backup goaltender. They said bye to David Perron and Billyili Huso, their other goalie. The window's still open for the 19 champs, I'd say. They didn't really have to do much to this team, but really replaced Perron's offense, which we'll see what happens there. Obviously, they locked up Cairo and Thomas for the long haul there,

both over a point per game last year. Huge contributors. Biz, do they have what it takes to beat the Avs this year? I know it's sort of a round-around question, but what do you what do you think well i mean you just talked on the parody out west like there's there's a bunch of teams that could potentially knock colorado off but as far as st louis is concerned an analytic darling um it you know it's unfortunate that they had to get rid of huso um as far as trade over to detroit um i think that the playoff performance by Bennington solidified that he is going to be their guy moving forward.

Not saying they could have moved his salary over by any means, but you talk about a guy who needs to have a huge bounce back year, although he wasn't terrible last year and he's up for a contract, Tarasenko. And I think that he could potentially get another 40 goal season another guy who's up for contract Ryan O'Reilly so that's not a bad thing when you get when you get Russians playing in contract here that's a good thing right Merles you could be the first one to tell us that but as far as top to bottom an awesome team that's very well coached

a tough barn to play in no brainer that they're making playoffs and wouldn't surprise me if they made a run to the cup again i i got it's tough to add to that because it's pretty much spot on um i just think back nobody even came nearly as close as they did to beating Colorado as them. So it's like they have enough there to go on a run. Bennington is a big part of that team that's such an obvious statement by me, but you saw him find his form. And the only question being, the only thing you got to wonder as a fan is,

Russo was so good, and now with him in Detroit, right there, there isn't that other guy. I mean, Thomas Grice, I think is in there, but it's like the pressure's really on Binnington. He was, he was able to not be the starter for a little while and find the game with, I'm sure off ice stuff, practice video, because at the time, you know, he wasn't always starting them. And then now it's like pressures back on. There isn't that guy that can fill in. I mean, I know Grice is a solid backup goalie,

but, you know, Huso showed that he was a true starter, it seemed like, right? So there's a lot of pressure there on that tender. Coke, can, cock? Yeah, this team could either go on a cup run or get knocked out in the first round, depending on who they play. I feel like it's like a coin flip with them.

I got them in the playoffs, no doubt, though. If If Grace has even a little bit of blood flow in that, there's no way you can get a puck by him. He has that big of a cannon? Absolute wrench. Didn't know that. Good for him. Merles, what's the Blues' biggest weakness as a team? Blues' biggest weakness.

I would say losing Montgomery is a big loss for their forward unit, going to your Bruins and um I don't see many other weaknesses that besides yeah the backup goalie would be my only real concern yeah all right moving right along Minnesota Wild uh nice regular season for them 113 points they lost in the first round to the Blues four games to two they're 21-1 to win the Stanley Cup this year. They brought in Sam Steele and Phillip Gustafson for a goaltender. They said bye to Kevin Fiala, Jordy Benn,

Nick Delarriere, Nick Bugstad, and Dimitri Kulikov. You know, the Wild thought they were turning a franchise corner last season, and then the playoffs came, and they got bounced in the first round yet again. They also lost Kevin Fiala. His 85 points is going to be very tough to replace, but Matt Boldy should be able to get some of them.

They do need Marc-Andre Fleury to be better in the playoffs this year, provided they get there. But you got Spurgeon, Dumba, Brodine, Middleton, Goligoski, Merrill, all back on D, pretty solid D. Dumba is in the last year of his deal. You might hear his name in some trade rumors. And then, of course, you got Kaprizov, who presumably should get even better this year.

But if all else fails, Biz, they could just beat up the referees like that. Brandon Baddock did the other night. Did you see that shot I included? He was fighting our kid on Dallas Stars, Gerard Rosberg. He punched a frigging linesman right in the head. I mean, he missed a shot. It wasn't like he was aiming for him. Yeah, he popped him right in the head.

But anyways, Biz biz is this the year the wild finally get out of the first round so what's difficult and why they couldn't really add much in in free agency is they're now in cap hell for the next couple years and you talked about turning that corner as an organization i had such high hopes for them going into playoffs i think i even picked them to beat St. Louis in that first round. But given the strength of the Westman, I think that they're going to be potentially a wildcard team if they do get in.

I just think that everybody else who is relevant in that conference did their job in free agency and or had a loaded squad. So they, in my my opinion took a step back as far as keeping up with the rest of the pack uh it's gonna have to take you know a few homegrown talents to take that next step uh kaprizov's gonna have to play to his fine form and they're just gonna have to kind of play that physical bully hockey that they got from greenway the felinos and guys like that in the lineup. So I, I do have them making playoffs. And the reason I do is, is probably because I don't have another

team who's in cap hell that we're going to get to in this division in a little bit, but I don't, I don't see them making any type of significant noise come playoff time. Maybe, maybe a second round, but just, they they don't they just don't have the squad as you mentioned homegrown talent i just wanted to jump in here i think one guy i think everyone should keep an eye on is marco rossi the 2020 ninth overall pick the way the way it's going there i mean i think like you said they're in cap jail they need some help homegrown i think marco rossi can be you know the backstory on that kid g he got sick didn't he yeah dude he was the ninth pick in 2020 and he got covid and it fucking crushed him like i think

he ended up with a heart condition after just a really long boat but last year ripped it up in the ahl and apparently in campus looked great so it's one of those kaprizov comes over is a stud legit superstar matt boldy last year you saw him dude he's got a player that kid is he's only going to get better and now this year it could be rossi jumping in so that's a great call g wow i'm i'm getting a little horned up for the squad now but business tough i mean 85 points fiala they love i know and he was a stud in the second half of the year and a big, big reason for that playoff push.

So, yeah, they're going to have to get guys on entry-level deals making huge impacts if they are going to get to that second round. All right. How long have they never been to the second round, their franchise history? They have. Not recently. I could have clarified.

Yeah. Recent history, they certainly haven't been, but it's been a long time since they've been out of the first round. I should, I could have clarified recent history. They certainly haven't been, but it's been a long time since they've been out of the first round. I'm not the historian. Yeah. Merle's would, uh, would you, would you take on the Minnesota wild this year? Yeah, there I'll be on them a lot this year, especially at home. That building gets rock in it's in get Capri's off twirling around with it.

And, uh, I like watching that team a lot. I'm excited for them. Yeah. And as far as, you know, buying out Parise and Suda, it was, you know, pretty, it was a necessary move that Billy Guerin had to do. I mean, he had to bring a new culture and he had to bring a new locker room and he just like, could not leave those guys on the team. I mean, I kind of, I guess Lansing a boil is probably maybe a good comparison. It was like, I have no dog.

All right. I have no dog in the fight but you know we're going to shift over to dallas at some point completely different in a sense if you're saying we need to change the culture up where where there was maybe some problems internally as opposed maybe a couple guys making big dough who aren't having that same impact that they once were so um i don't know when we're moving over to d, but I keep kind of foreshadowing. For you, we'll do it right now. How about that?

Dallas stars, 98 points last year. They lost in the first round four games to three to the Calgary Flames in an absolute classic thanks to Jake Arden, just unbelievable goaltending. Dallas 47-1 to win the cup. They have a new coach in Pete DeBoer. They also brought in Mason Marchment and Colin Miller. They waved goodbye to John Klingberg and

you gotta give a little shout out to the Warthog. Alexander Radulov, back to Russia. Warthog, we highly knew ye. It's another team, Biz. I think they could either be a top three seed or chasing the wild card late in the season. It's a little bit of a coin flip. Jake Audinger and the unsigned Jason Robertson,

a huge pieces of the future of this team. Obviously still waiting to sign Robertson. On D, you got Heiskanen, Lindell, Suda, Miller, likely the top four with Klingberg now gone. Marchman should fill the Warthog role. Warthog didn't have a great season last year. Our buddy Kevin Weeks says he can't see a Robertson deal that comes in below

$8.4 million. Again, right now they get $6.3 million in cap space. If Hedobin goes to the AHL, that would give him another $3.3 million. But what kind of bump will Pete DeBoer provide for this team, Biz? Well, I mean, he's a very successful coach, has had success everywhere he's gone. I think he's taken three. Has he taken three teams of the cup finals

new jersey he did with jersey san jose uh he's two teams and oh okay so he wasn't with vegas uh when they when they entered the cup final that uh that was my bad there so yeah i think that he's great and i think that he's a player's coach and i think that if there's one guy who can fix things there, it's him. As far as the top-heavy scoring is a little bit of my concern, if they're going to make playoffs, I think that Sagan and Ben have to play to about 75% of what their cap hit is. And if they can get 60, 65 points out of these guys, if Sagan can get 25-30 goals and get back to where he was when he ended up signing that deal, and same with Ben, and then also provide a good two-way game,

that's the thing about this team. I don't think they score a ton, but they do play well defensively. Of course, Ottinger puts a Band-Aid on a lot of problems. Getting him at $4 million a't know i don't know how the fuck they did that given with what spencer knight's making uh but that that would be the one way that they can make playoffs if he stands on his head and has another val besna caliber season um they're back in i mean they lost klingberg not great defensively, but I mean, I don't know who else is going to pick up the ice. From New York, Lundquist, he's looked pretty good, I guess.

I guess he's paired with Heskinen for a little bit. Yeah. But he's not going to be Klingberg, like, offensively. He's not going to be throwing the pump fakes out? No, the ankle breaker, the and one defenseman from the NHL. No, the ankle breaker, the and one defenseman from the NHL. I assume they get this Robertson deal done before the season starts, and there's no way he should come in under $8 million. Was it Kevin Weeks, or maybe it was on 32 Thoughts,

they're saying they're looking at either like a four or a six-year term, potentially. And, I mean, Elliott's talking all these GMs, so if there's anyone who knows, it's him. And I mean, Elliot's talking all these GM. So if there's anyone who knows it's him, but it's look at the number of how much offense he provided their team. And when he was injured last year during that certain time, their offense dried up like a like a nun's cunt. The the the the owner's got to be who the I mean, is it is it lights or not? He's who's the guy that's always speaking out, ripping on fucking Sagan and Ben?

All right. Yeah. Gagliardi. Yeah. Yeah. Get glad he had the owner. I mean, right. Yeah.

I don't think he was the one I thought it was like Jim. No, no. He sent the president to say. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, well, imagine, though, being the owner, it's like. It must be so tough.

You don't have this young stud signed. He wants the money he pretty much deserves based on the two deals, especially in St. Louis with Thomas and Cairo. And then you got guys who you're like upset with because through injuries and getting older, they're not the player they once was. And they're making all this dough. It's just such a frustrating time to be that GM.

I guess silver lining being that they got Ottinger in at four million how long is that deal three years yeah so that's a nice that's a gift but i said it last week so i don't really have anything else to say have no clue could be a lottery team could be top three of the division do not have an idea what's going to happen i need to see the first 20 games same thing without robinson biz you said i mean i don't know man like this thing you're saying it should be done before the season we're like eight days away i i think the exact same thing happens as last year they're fighting for a wild card spot and i don't think they get in this year

dallas is making playoffs not not not not in that conference murals did the stars exceed last year get further than the first round no no chance i i don't even know if they'll make the playoffs unless uh you asked me about a norris trophy winner unless heskin and steps up and has a huge year because like you guys talked about Klingberg's points are gone and Ben and Sagan just keep going the wrong way. So I'm not too high on them. I'm a, I'm big on their unders. All right. That's what I'm big on. Yeah. Like we mentioned before,

Ben and Sagan at 19.35 million combined cap hit for the next three years. And then they still got two more years of Sagan's deal after that. So, yeah, we talked about the deals are essentially buyout proof. So, yeah, tough sledding ahead for Minnesota. But again, you know, Billy Guerin had to do what he had to do. So, okay, before we move it along here, we want to share with my pals over at Cross Country Mortgage. We're known for having an opinion here. And to be honest,

we usually spot on. Here's our hottest new take. It's not a bad time to buy a home. In fact, for some, it could be the perfect time. Look, with low to no money down or refi options that let you draw a line of credit with lower interest than a credit card, Cross Country Mortgage has all your bases covered. Cross Country Mort mortgage listens, understands, and communicates throughout the entire loan process. It provides more loan options tailored to your financial capabilities. The innovative technology focused on what's important to fulfill your loan needs. It has faster closing times than the competition, stable monthly payments, and low to no down payments. Access your equity to use for larger expenses,

from debt consolidation to home renovations. And who doesn't love some swag? Get a free barstool and cross-country mortgage sweatshirt when you sign up to refi or get pre-approval, while supplies last, of course. When you need an outfield assist, cross-country mortgage has more than enough arm strength. See if you qualify today.

Visit ccm.com slash barstool now. Cross-country mortgage, LLC, NMLS 3029. All loans subject to underwriting approval. www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. All right, moving right along. The Winnipeg Jets, 89 points last year, finished 11th in the conference. Excuse me, 65 to win the Cup this year. They have a new head coach in Rick Bonas.

Also brought in Sam Gagne and David Riddick, and then a goaltender. They said goodbye to Paul Stastny and Eric Comney. And again, this is another team. They were contended three years ago, missed the playoffs last year. Solid D, great top six, bona fide number one, but had a little controversy to start when

bonus came to town Blake Wheeler had the C yanked lots of talk about clubhouse dissension last year Legette's obviously looking for bonus to reboot the team culture which he's done that already team seems like it lost the swagger it had a couple years ago but the roster stayed largely intact the D Morrissey Schmidt Pion Dillon, pretty good top four. Whit, what does this team need to do differently this year to return back to the playoffs? I don't know. I loved their offseason last year.

I obviously had no idea of the dissension within the locker room, which where there's smoke, there's fire. You hear enough stuff and the Maurice quitting in the middle of the year. And now there's no captain there right now with, you know, Wheeler losing the sea. It's just been an odd, odd off season. I actually want to shout out probably a pretty amazing moment for the family of Dale Howarchuk and people who knew him.

The unveiling of his statue, incredible statue. Take a look online at these pictures and videos if you haven't. So that was some good news for Winnipeg in terms of like stuff's kind of been tough lately. But I got some hope for this team. I don't know what to expect. I don't think I'll have them getting in the playoffs. But

when it's Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kyle Connor, Shifley, Morrissey on the back end, Ehlers up front, and then Hellebuck. Who's to say Hellebuck doesn't have a crazy bounce back year? I mean, this guy's – Did you mention Kyle Conner?

Yeah, I did. He was the first name I said. So the roster actually looks like it's a playoff roster. There was just so many off-ice issues last year that got in the way. So if they did play real well, Bon Bonus is another player's coach, right? He's going to get these guys at least feeling better about themselves. I just don't know with, you know, the Wheeler situation, will that affect things?

I mean, he's a pro's pro. I would like to think that he shows up and wants to prove people wrong in terms of him losing the C. And I'm a little confused with this team as well but i don't think i'm gonna have them in but i won't be surprised at all if they were getting the playoffs if that makes any sense besides just riding the fence like i sometimes do on this show i'm going with like the dallas prediction that you guys had i think this could either be a tire fire sale or tires what do they say fire it's a fire sale i could see a fire sale going on

yeah yeah for for a complete rebuild or they can get that offense clicking again and get business style goaltending from hellebuck um you you talked about that marco rossi i i view uh um cole perfetti as a guy who could who could maybe fill in that role of like some young blood coming in and adding that offense. So I'm not sure if he's going to make the team at a camp or how his training camp's going, but pretty much agreed on all fronts of what Witt said. And we've been talking about it quite a bit as far as the locker room issues.

So hopefully they can resolve them, because the more Canadian teams in the mix, the better. But going back to what I said about Dallas, I think fighting for a wild card, but they fall up short. And for that reason, it's because I like another team that's coming up with sustained relevance, proven track record of sustained relevance. We'll get to that in a sec.

Biz Merles, I want to ask you, does a bonus get them back to where they were before? Or does this team need wholesale roster changes at some point? And I used to be the biggest Jets guy, but they've gotten me so confused. I lost my future on them last year. I picked them to win the cup. That's how much I loved them last year. The coach leaving in the middle of the season

and a captain stripped from them, I don't know. Shevel Dayoff's a great GM. They've got great scouts, but I'm not bullish on the Jets like I usually am. All right. All right. Biz, I'm going to guess which team did you want to talk about next? Was it your local dogs or somebody else? No, no.

I was actually mentioning the Predators. Okay, perfect. That's what I had tuned up. Last year, Nashville Predators had 97 points. They lost in the first round to the Avs. They got swept 32 to one to win the cup this year. They brought in Nino, Nino, Nita Ryder, Ryan McDonough, and Zach Zanford. They said bye to Nick Cousins, Luke, Luke Coonan, Phil Myers, and Matt Benning.

You know, Poyle's done a fantastic job with the Preds, keeping them competitive, shrewd drafting, great, great trades he's made. They just need to make sure. I think Saros has a solid number two behind him last year. David Ritter couldn't get the job done last year, so they had to overtax Saros. Of course, he was hurt come playoff time, so they brought in Kevin Lankanen from Chicago to hopefully fix that void.

It's largely the same team, though, that they're bringing back, and I would say the D's even going to be better. Bring it in Ryan McDonough, who, of course, came over from Tampa, didn't want to leave. He was a salary cap casualty. Still has a lot of game left, not to mention tremendous leadership there as well. So, Biz, what's keeping the Preds from being elite? I mean, just like going back to Poyle, I mean,

even just like a couple of the trades you mentioned where, you know, they get rid of Weber. Everybody was surprised, but maybe at the right time on somewhat of a decline, they end up getting PK. He has unreal seasons there.'s the other uh d they obviously picked up mcdonough and just like trading trading guys when the end is near and replenishing their their stock so goaltending check they got better on the back end one thing that stands out about them they're fucking big and i i don't think means the term to use but just a big

team that that plays with physicality and i like that and i think that they're going to have a great year i like that duchesne's finally found a home i don't know how many of you've seen the clip online of him on stage he's getting better year over year at the country music thing too um johansson had another great year last year coming back from from a down year the year before so i think that they're just solid up front i think tanner janeau has has proven to be a fucking beast uh and i just really like them i think they're making playoffs no no questions asked yeah i i disagree with you a little bit i think there's some questions there if they make playoffs and duchesne and j Johansson were sick last year,

but they got to do it again. You know what I mean? Like Forsberg, getting him signed was enormous, but I'm not really sold on this team all of a sudden being able to completely do what they did last year easily again. And Ari, you mentioned Saros. He loves playing. He doesn't mind playing a ton, but he got hurt at the end of last year, correct?

He didn't even get to play in the playoffs. So it's like when you rely that much on one guy, you're always one injury away from kind of hell breaking loose. And I think the team's good. The D's awesome. But I don't think at all. I don't think I'm personally saying they are definitely in the playoffs one bit. That division is so good.

And I just I think that they could get in. But I'm not like for sure of it. Merle's talked about Matt Duchesne playing the guitar. He's a pretty good strumming man. He has a pretty good voice as well. But did guitar guys get tooled on in the room, Merle? It's like you've been in so many locker rooms. The guy who pulls up the guitar.

Yeah, if you whip him out in the post-game parties. Those are the guys you stay away from because they wheel all the girls with the guitar playing. So one of my first roommates, Matt Hussey, always jammed on the guitar. And, you know, it is an easy, easy wheeling move after the bar as biz would know anybody ever play i used to have i used to use the guitar gimmick i'd have a stand with a guitar in the corner just so they'd think guitar hero i'd have the super nintendo guitar hero that game was sick i spent a lot of hours on that guitar hero jesus what was the one last song it was impossible

did uh anybody ever play anything other than the guitar like anybody anybody bust out some like weird instruments ever just piano i've seen i had some guys play the piano and i think that's the greatest thing ever because we could just be in like a hotel lobby or an airport or something and there'd be a piano around and they could come by and just be the biggest legends playing the songs. I'm with that. I love to play the piano. Yeah. I'm going to have my daughter play piano for sure.

Yeah. I'm all in on the piano. Merle's. I actually played the trumpet growing up and then I, I had to have my mom write a letter to the school. No, that's the, that's the,

the trombone. Oh yeah. The trumpets, the Mets guy guy the reliever yep so why would you why'd your mother have to write a letter to the school g you're leaving his hanging but oh it was so bad i hated i quit and it was like a requirement at our elementary school that you had to be in the band and i didn't want to be in the band so they let me like go do my homework while everyone else was in the band because i was so bad at school so yeah it was pretty tough

and then they put them in lacrosse you had to be in band in elementary school fourth and fifth grade you had to you had to play an instrument in the band how many kids are in your grade uh there's probably like I don't know 100 maybe they were all playing an instrument that's every yeah fourth and fifth grade every single one yeah unless you're like me and can't take tests and that's not to get out of it. To me, that is. That's like making a kid play soccer or like softball or something. We had band or choir.

You had to be in. Yep. That's that's either one. Choir was. Yeah. OK, well, that's different. If you don't want to get a trumpet, you can go sing. Oh, no, you're doing both in Burlington.

You did both. You had to do both. Well, I wanted to play when I was in the fourth grade. They'd come around and they would sell you the instrument to buy it rented. I wanted to play the saxophone when I was a kid, but my mother was like, no dice. She said, no. I don't know. It wasn't like we were that poor.

I think drums would be hell as a parent. I didn't even bother asking. I knew that wouldn't happen. I genuinely, I mean, I would have sucked because I'm not musically inclined either, but I would have loved to have tried to play the saxophone, but no dice. I got sunk on the sex.

All right. Parent will kill you. Biz. If you show up to a birthday party, what a set of drums for the kid. Not happening. Yeah. All right.

Chicago Blackhawks last year. Next. Arizona next. All right. Good podhawks last year. Next. Arizona next. All right. Good pod, guys. See you next Monday. Blackhawks 68 points last year. 14th in the conference.

They're 250 to one to win the Stanley Cup this year. They're bringing in a new head coach with Luke Richardson. Also, Max Domi, Andreas Antonesiu, Colin Blackwell, Jack Johnson, and Peter Mrazek. uh they're bringing in a new head coach with luke richardson uh also max domey andreas i'm gonna see you colin blackwell jack johnson and peter mrazek uh they said bye to alex to bring it kirby doc dylan strome and dominic kubelik looks like the hawks are sucking hard for badad after dumping to bring cat and doc uh but i you know guys you still can't count on players to tank only management can really be counted off for that so as much as the roster's falling off, guys are still playing for jobs. They're still going to give effort.

They got $7.5 million in cap room. They're going to have about $44 million after the season. Kane and Taves both making $10.5 million. That's 21 mil that's going to come off. But the big question, where is Pat Kane going to end up? Seems to be the million-dollar question. Our buddy Kevin Weeks was quoted erroneously online. Somebody said that he said Kane didn't want to go to Toronto

and he only wanted to go to Edmonton, New York, or the Capitals. I texted Weeks. He said, no, not true. That's a bunch of bullshit. So, Biz, where does Pat Kane end up? I said Toronto all along. What about Biz? Let's change it.

Sorry. When? When does he get dealt? It's going to have to be at the deadline because they're going to have to squeeze him in cap-wise. That's why they offered Sandin 1.4. I think he's getting dealt before Christmas. To who?

I've said Buffalo. Not a chance he's going there. No, I know. I would have liked to have seen it. I actually – I'm not even going to – I have such no clue. I mean, Edmonton would be amazing. I'm not going to say what I think because I do not even have an opinion on where he's going.

But he's going, and I'm guessing it's going to happen sooner than later so you can get him most of the season. And imagine the storyline when that guy goes, when he's not a Chicago Blackhawk anymore. That's how pathetic their team is this year, that the entire storyline is when the best player in your franchise's history is going to be leaving. I just, you look down the list of teams who are contenders,

like who even has remotely enough cap room. And I guess you would have to probably have a team that sustains a big injury up front for another. It'll be a three-way deal. I'm sure of, of retaining cap space. I don't, yeah. I don't even know if you can do that, but it sounds good to me. Yeah.

You get some space. You get some, I mean, I think, I think a lot of people would love to see the New York Rangers get him. I would say of all the teams that maybe make sense, they probably have the most cap room, no? I know that Fox's money comes on the books this season. Grinnell, you're our capologist. Can you look up how much room they have left?

Yeah, give me a sec. I mean, Buffalo more than any of the teams you mentioned have the room, but I just, I don't really see him wanting to go to a non cup contender at this point where he could just, if he wants to keep playing sign there as a free agent next year, when you know, they're going to get progressively better and better and better.

I could see Kane going back to Buffalo to finish his career. A hundred percent. I could see that. I just don't see it happening this year. Doesn't make any sense at all. Yeah, the Rangers only have one mil in cap space. That's enough. I mean, how much do... Well, Toronto's got nothing. They're right

up at the finish there. They might even be over by a little bit. How the hell is everyone saying to go to Edmonton? They still got to shed seven years there, didn't you, R.A.? Yeah, Edmonton still got to shed seven years didn't you all right yeah edmonton still has the seven and a half mil uh merles you have uh any suspicions kane's gonna have his hands full and i'm not i was gonna i was gonna say rangers rangers would be my guess if he wants to leave there he wants to be on new york he's a big shot yeah well that's the million dollar question in chicago obviously we'll be keeping an eye on

it wait wait i got i got an interesting team ra that i think could sweep in and that's the million-dollar question in Chicago. Obviously, we'll be keeping an eye on it. Wait, wait, I got an interesting team, RA, that I think could sweep in, and that's the Detroit Red Wings. And I say that because they're young. They need to add, like, a legitimate score for Dylan Larkin to play with. They have a ton of cap room. I just think it makes all the sense in the world, to be honest with you. Wow. And, you know, Stevie Wise is going to fucking pack the biggest ball,

sit down with him and convince him to come over. Couldn't agree more. The last of the bunch. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Arizona Coyotes 57 points last year, 16th in the conference. Stanley Cup this odds. I don't think I've ever seen odds

this number before. More or less 500 to one to win this Stanley Cup. Never seen him that big before. Let's see. New faces, Nick Bugstead, Zach Cassian, Patrick Nemeth, and Arizona State University. They said bye to Phil Kessel, Louis Erickson,

Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, and Anton Strahlman. And holy shit, man. And no offense to the guys on the roster, but when you look at it, the team almost makes a case for relegation like they do in soccer. You know, they're clearly not playing for the Cup this year or next year. Granted, another team that's trying to suck for Bedard. At least it'll be fun, though, in the college rink this year.

I know everyone's picking on it, but it should be some crazy atmosphere. Again, odds are the highest I've ever seen. But the Yotes, again, another team building for the future. They have 18 picks in the first three rounds of the next three drafts. They're over $20 million below the cap. And this one, this one from Elliot Friedman, Biz, raised some eyebrows. Quote, the Coyotes will factor Austin Matthews into their long-term cap plans. Leafs should be wary of the Coyotes,

especially in the cap situation they're currently in. Coyotes are going to go all out in pursuing Austin Matthews. Biz, you better not fucking say this is a good thing with your Leafs diehard fan to fuck off trying to play both sides. No, but I'm also going to agree with R.A. in a sense of no doubt they would offer him 20% of the cap. Dude, I bet you the owners would offer him 10% of the team if they could, if he would come back.

You think I'm fucking kidding, too. Can you even still do that, R.A.? No. Get a percentage of the team? No, Alan Eagleson ruined it for everybody. Oh, well, I don't know if that's true. I'm just going to blame it on him. If there was a possibility, Austin Matthews would be doing it.

I think he's going to stay in Toronto 100%. Going back to the coyotes overall. It's tank for Bedard, make home games relevant by trying to run teams out of the building and just acting like a complete boon squad. That's it. That's it. Those are your goals. I'm really hoping that Clayton Keller is able to get back to his playing ability that we saw last year after the broken femur, Great kid, loves the game. That is a very, very difficult injury to come back for, but if there's one guy who's got tons of commitment who will,

it's going to be him. Interested to see how Schmaltz performs as well, but it is going to be very difficult with the lack of NHL talent on the roster. I could probably name you less players on the roster than Witt did with the San Jose Sharks. I will be checking the game notes before I do my first broadcast, though. But overall, like I said, there's one goal here.

Get Bedard. And that's it. That's the one goal they have this year. We were talking about player props earlier on the Barstool Sportsbook, and I think one that's super interesting is you just mentioned him, Clayton Keller. the over under is 24 and a half goals i'm hammering that over i mean someone has to score goals for them this season i know they're not going to score

many but someone's got to score some goals yeah he'll be playing every single situation double shifting the entire season um it was fun when they picked up cassian too so they have a bit of a goon squad they got this big kid on d i'm drawing a blank on his name they picked up Cassian too. So they have a bit of a goon squad. They got this big kid on D, I'm drawing a blank on his name. They picked up Richie last year, who was with the Leafs, who great net front presence, big body, just tons of meat up front. And I'm hoping that they do run around and at least entertain that ASU crowd. If they could lose every game on the road, but then win half of their home games, it would be a perfect season.

And let's see if they get that arena and that was a tempe right yeah they still haven't voted on that yet so they they could be in arizona for three four years and then still not have an arena but whatever we'll get that we when we have to cross that bridge merles i want to ask you how hard is it to get motivated playing for a team where you know you basically know you're not even probably going to make the playoffs this year? Is it just personal motivation? How do you get fired up just individually? Have you seen the girls in Old Town? I've been on a lot of bad teams. You're playing for a day off from the coach for one reason,

but the main reason you're just trying to get your stats, get your contracts, and just play for your future. But I had a question for you, Biz, about Phoenix or Arizona, whatever you call us. Where are we standing on the Pink Whitney suite for the season? How's that looking? So I got a box for 12 games this year. That a boy, Biz.

So, yeah, I'm going to be having some friends stop by. So whenever you guys are in town, you guys come by, and I'll stock it with some Big Deal brews and a little Pink Whitney, and you guys can enjoy because it's affiliated with ASU. We couldn't do the pink Whitney box because of the alcohol situation, but there'll still be plenty of booze in the box. So I'm excited guys. It's going to be a great year. And listen, I love playing at the Gila river in Glendale.

When I was playing for the team, when we were making the playoffs, we had tons of fans in there. It was rowdy. As years have gone by, it's just, you know, not much energy in the building. Some nights it just feels a little bit stale, but sell out every single game this year. And I would imagine that people are going to be bringing the noise. And the play is you go to the game to pre-drink and then you go to Old Town after or you can go to Mill Avenue in Tempe so it's a win-win I'm really happy that it's going to be a bumping atmosphere and it would

just be nice if it was a couple more fans like a 10,000 seat arena would have been great but five well I guess we'll make it do. It'll be fun it'll be a fun atmosphere in there no doubt about that. Alright boys playoff predictions we need three from the Central, three from the Pacific, and two wild cards.

Merles, you're on the ball. Let's go to you first. Whoa. All right. So you want my three Pacific? I'm on Calgary, Vegas, Edmonton. Calgary, Vegas, Edmonton. Is that in your order of finishing one, two, three,

or just the three that are getting automatic? Order of finish for the regular season standings. You said you like Edmonton more than Calgary. Yeah, in the playoffs. In the playoff series. In the playoff series. But they'll get more points when they go head to head. Calgary, Vegas, Edmonton for the Pacific and the Central.

Central. I got Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis. And the Wild Cards, two Wild Cards. I have Nashville and Vancouver with L.A. just getting out of there. But I think you guys almost talked me into L.A. during this podcast. But I have that as my original thing. I'm going to go with my guy, L.A. Pedersen from Timmer I.K. Grinelli, let's do you next.

Three from the Central, three from the Pacific, and two Wildcats. I'll make it quick. In the Central, I have Colorado, Minnesota, and Nashville in that order. In the Pacific, I have the Oilers, the Flames, and Vegas in that order. For the Wildcard, I have Vancouver and Los Angeles. Biz, let's go to you next. Three Central, three Pacific, two wildcards. I got Abs, Blues, and I'm going to pick my third team as Nashville.

And then I'm going to go over to the Pacific here. I got Calgary on top. I got Edmonton right below them. And then I have Vegas. And then my two wildcard teams are going to be the Kings. And last but not least, I'm going to have to say the Minnesota wild to get that eighth seed. That's who I got.

I think, I think I'm locked in load. I think most people listening right now would say that, that, that would be their eight teams. If you had to get a fan vote, we'll have to do that in this central, the witch Doug in the central,

I got Colorado. I got Colorado. I got St. Louis. I got Minnesota. The same way that the Central went last year. In the Pacific, I got Edmonton. I got Calgary. And I got Vancouver. I just changed my mind on Canucks.

I don't know. I don't know what the hell is going on. I think something just clicked in me. And for my two wildcard teams, shit, I'm going between the Predators, the Jets, and the Kings. Wait, did you leave Vegas out? No, he has Vegas as his third team in the division. No, I don't.

Yeah, Vegas is definitely one of them. I'm sorry. I meant of the final wild card or whatever you want to call it So Vegas and then I got to pick Preds, Jets or Kings I'll go the Preds Vegas, the number one seed

is the wild card Okay I'm going to go in the central I'm going to go St. Louis, Colorado Minnesota for top three in the central I'm going to go in the central I'm going to go St. Louis, Colorado Minnesota for top three in the central I'm going to go Calgary, Edmonton, LA top three in the Pacific

and then I have Nashville and Winnipeg as the two wild cards so those are our selections so you got no Vegas in the you say no Vegas? No I do not have Vegas you're no Vegas well boys I know it was a long one, and it might have dragged out a little bit at the end there,

but that was a fun episode. It was great having Merle's on. I've had good luck on this show, giving my play the week early. I got to keep the street going. I need the video clip to put on my Twitter and in my blogs. Thursday night in Sweden, I have to go against my Timra team it's Shaleftia three-way minus 130 Barstool Sportsbook Shaleftia Shaleftioa I don't know how to say it exactly they are a complete wagon they're number one in the league. Hard, hard building to play in. Shalafdia.

Book it, Whit. Might want to spell that for the people at home, but... It's crazy spelling too. S-K something something something. Hey, Whit, I'll make you a promise. If Vancouver gets one of the top three seeds in that division, I'll get a Costanza painting with Boudreaux and I'll have barbecue sauce on his lips. And I'll put it in my new house that I'm getting a

renovation on. I'll get it fucking hand painted by some professional here and I'll hang it above my bed for six months for fuck's sakes. That's if they win top three in that division. They might get a wild card but you having them in the top three. I have them beating Vegas and LA. I don't know what's going on in my mind.

Alright everyone. Hope you enjoyed our preview, our Western going on in my mind. All right, everyone. Hope you enjoyed our preview, our Western Conference preview, the interview with Brad Tree Living. We're getting geared up. We got Pittsburgh next week. We got Big Deal brewing. We have, gee, what, six states we're announcing, right? Our first six states in America.

Fill the folks in. Starting Tuesday, and I think Biz would probably be better to take this over here, but starting Tuesday, we will be releasing the original six, the six first States that big deal brewing will be released in. I am. I am so excited that the can alone, like just looking at it, like you were at this fifth go or, or what's the, what's the thing you were at G what's the name of it? N A C S trade show convention.

How many people stopped by and just stared at the can you were at, G? What's the name of it? N-A-C-S Trade Show Convention. How many people stopped by and just stared at the can in their hands, just saying, this is marvelous. This is a piece of art. I mean, it was pretty cool because so many of these convenience store guys, like they go off taste, but they go off like what's going to catch someone's eye in the store. And so many guys would walk by us and be like, wow, that's a really sharp can you have there.

And it is. It's got that like vintage feel to it as well. I think we did an amazing job in the cans and the taste as well. Not to put you on the spot. Yeah, the man behind this can actually was jerking off on the highway, driving down the west side of the highway. I pulled over. I pulled over, you asshole.

I wasn't tugging it on the ride. I was. I lied. I was in cruise control. control oh pick six by the 49ers booyah wits got damn brand big money really before we send it off i'd like you to read what's on the back of the can though yes so it's the spitting chiclets crew is excited to announce big deal brewing its first and signature offering, the original, is a refreshing golden ale inspired by retired hockey player

Paul Bissonette's ideal beverage. Biz and the boys know that hockey fans have been waiting for a new splash in the beer game for a long time. And what better way to give them what they want than partner with Labatt USA,

the makers of the best-selling Canadian beer on a series of exciting new premium recipes. No BS, just refreshing, high-quality, drinkable beers starting with the original. Not a big deal? No. This is a big deal.

Ooh. What a read by you. Very impressive you can read out loud that well good job i was actually if you look at my hand i was shaking i was so nervous reading that you're in vegas yeah that's actually what it is uh but guys we're excited for everybody to try it and uh yeah it's been quite the ride a year in the making we we appreciate everybody at labatt and being very patient uh with with us trying to perfect this and we did and uh yeah i can't wait for all you all to try it and we'll be in pittsburgh next week once again we have the live show we're going to the home opener we have a watch party and hopefully we're going to the steelers buccaneers at the

artist formerly known as heinz field on sunday But we got another episode before that trip, correct? Right. But just let me know next week. We'll be out there. But yeah, we got another one. I can't wait. I can't wait to see you. It's Merle's.

Thanks for joining us so late. Love you guys. And boys, season previews, conference previews. We back, baby. We back. He's back. Have a good week, everybody. As always, we'd like to thank our terrific sponsors here on Spit and Chip, but so a huge

thanks to our friends at Pink Whitney and New Amsterdam Vodka. Big thank you to our friends at pink Whitney and new Amsterdam vodka. Big. Thank you to our friends over at game time, taking care of our ticket needs. Huge. Thanks to our friends over at Skrill. A big thanks to our friends over at Shopify.

Another big thank you to our longtime friends over at blue Nile and a huge thank you to our longtime friends over at cross country mortgage. Have a great week, everybody.