Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 427: Featuring Rod Brind'Amour + Nick Suzuki

Episode Date: February 7, 2023

On Episode 427 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Rod Brind'Amour and Nick Suzuki live from NHL All Star Weekend. Rod joined first ( 00:46:37 - 01:36:00) to discuss his playing career, his coaching career, and some NHL rules we want changed. But first, the guys open the show discussing the crazy weekend in Fort Lauderdale, the recent Bo Hornet contract, and tons more. The boys are then joined by Montreal Canadiens Captain Nick Suzuki (02:06:35 - 02:40:26) to discuss playing in Montreal, Knitting, the Habs future and tons more.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 427 of Spit and Chick. Let's present to you by Pink Whitney, from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka. You're hearing the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What's going on gang? The boys kicked off a crazy February down in South Florida last weekend. Skills competition, all-star game, biz, who knows where he ended up, but let's check in with the boys, see how they're feeling. Producer, Mikey Grinelli.

Kodak Black's Trap House. That's where I fucking ended up on Friday night, and we interviewed Rob Brindamore. Guys, I didn't have any sleep. I'm just going to come clean right off the gate here. All right, though, for being in Lauderdale all weekend at All-Star, that hello is a 12 out of 10, and you sound fine. What did you get yourself into off the hop here you got to tell us because you sound great you didn't really have

your your usual gong show style trip it was pretty much the opposite of the boston weekend we had here i was i think not only in bed but sleeping by midnight every night i'm old man i just can't go go like i used to without um you know, some Red Bulls, you might say. So I was in bed early. I was well-behaved for my standards this week. But I had a great time nonetheless. A great time. Applause from the group for that.

R.A. being the grown-up. You know you're a fucked-up cat when you get an applause for just, like, acting like a normal human. For being the most sober. Good job. I think Merle's might be lapping me. Hell, good job. I'll tell you who wasn't a normal civilian was 30-year-old Mike Grinnell. Happy birthday, pal.

Happy birthday. Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. 3-0 today. 3-0 today. Yeah, Beanpot Monday, 3-0. No better way to enter your 30s than to stay up all night, Saturday night, head to the airport at 6 a.m., think you're doing something good,

and then not get home till 10 p.m. So it was a tough, tough day of travel for me. But yeah, that's how I entered the 30s. Well, the boys got lauderdaled, as Witt would like to call it. Lickerdaled. Lickerdaled. Lickerdaled, excuse me. All of us have a story. Your travel situation, Witt, your phone got held hostage at some point. You had a tough morning, a Sunday morning waking up at what? I've had a tough, tough week. And for a guy who doesn't like to complain, you know, it's just about moving forward. Like I might do some complaining this week.

But I'll go to Grinnelly quickly. Grinnelly released a video about how much JetBlue was hammering them around. And gee, let me tell you, when they bring you on the plane, make you sit on the tarmac, and then they don't take off for hours and then tell you the plane's broken and won't let you get off, that's horrible. I felt brutal for you. No joke. You were the biggest help of all time to your boy, Witty, on Friday nights night just an absolute legend and a great friend but you posted the video of you on the plane with the child screaming hell on earth and i just mentioned to you like for everyone out there who doesn't have kids when a kid is crying on a plane it's a kick in the dick for everyone i i could not understand more what you're talking about but there is no person in

the world who feels worse than the parents of that kid because you are helpless you're talking about, but there is no person in the world who feels worse than the parents of that kid because you are helpless. You're absolutely in one and there's nothing you can do to get a kid to stop crying. So I actually have had times when our kids were screaming, crying on a plane and I was just so on edge and freaking out that I was like, please somebody say something to me. I want to kill someone right now. I probably would have got dummied if something had ever gone down, but I know you were pissed, but you just got to feel someone right now. I probably would have got dummied if something had ever gone down. But I know you were pissed. But you just got to feel for the parents.

And I saw some people on Twitter like, don't bring your kids on plane. Fuck off, buddy. I'm going on vacation. I really don't care in the end if you're struggling to get on the plane. What do you mean? You don't fly them underneath? Oh, no. Yeah. Sometimes they go with the dogs in cages.

Those are the only misbehaved kids, though. You put a muzzle on them, too. In that case, I'm definitely not having kids. Oh, God, no. I knew that to begin with. But, gee, I did feel real bad for you. That's a kick in the dick. Yeah, it was tough, too, because they.

So you know how I am. Right when I get on the airplane, I fall asleep. So right when we get on, I fall asleep and I wake up and we still haven't taken off. And it's like an hour and a half later. And I'm like, what the fuck's going on? And the lady next to me is like, oh, they said the plane is unsafe to fly. They haven't told us anything else. Well, then three hours go by and we still haven't heard anything else.

And the worst part is, is I have a perfect direct sight at all like the stewardess, just crushing pretzels. They're laughing, telling stories. They're drinking water, just having a telling stories. They're drinking water. Just having a grand old time. I have no water. I have no snacks. My throat's parched.

I was dying. And these people, they're having a grand old time up front. I wanted to kill myself. It was terrible. It was horrible. Mocking you, like sticking their head out, being like, oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

They're like, want to cheese it? Oh. And they knew. And they knew I didn't eat a single thing all weekend. I go on these chiclets trips. I like my Adderall. I don't eat. And they were taunting me. Gee, for a guy who travels as much as you do,

how do you not have noise-busted headphones for such situations? Because I don't travel without a man. I don't want to get into this, because this might lead to a way darker, deeper conspiracy, but I'm fully off of Bluetooth headphones. I was watching this video on TikTok one night

at 3 a.m. It can't be good for your head. It burns your brain, so I only do plug-in headphones now. Cordell, you eat trash and take Adderall all the time. I'm pretty sure that's worse than a Bluetooth headphone in your eardrum.

Well, exactly. So it's like, if I got two strikes against me, like, why have three, you know? Fair. Jesus. What a horrible reason for not doing the noise cancelers.

Yeah, I guess. It's just... I'm just a pathetic human as we've learned. Well, now that you're 30, I'm sure you'll grow up a little bit. Hey, I mean, that's one way to go out in style, though.

What a weekend, R.A. Whit, do you want to go into your shit show with the house? Yeah, so I'll take you through quickly. So, granted, I left Tuesday and got back Saturday. I'm then leaving Tuesday. I'm leaving tomorrow for Scott until I get back Saturday. So, I mean, when you're gone eight nights out of a possible, I don't know what, 12 and you got two young kids, you're kind of in one. Well, not to mention we're redoing the

basement. My friend, Chris Poli is doing an amazing job and we had to get everything waterproof. Can't have any more water in the basement. Once you got a putting green and an area for my kids to play hockey and a hot tub, we just had to make sure it was all good. I was told a couple months back, doesn't it feel great? You know, there'll never be water in here again by the guy. Yeah, it feels awesome. Well, left Tuesday, actually crashed my car into a pole, parking my car at the airport Tuesday after a road red incident getting on the highway. So that was a little disaster in terms of getting to the airport.

Well, then I get a call that we got water in the basement. So the old guarantee and aren't you happy that you'll never have water in your basement again? That was false. That was a phantom call. So there's water in the basement. So now the basement can't continue until we figure out that there'll never be water in there again. Who knows if that'll ever happen? Wednesday, I get the call from my wifey.

Yeah, so the heat's off in our house. The heat broke. In about two days, it's going to be minus 10 degrees in Boston. Now, I'm in Florida. Now, for any married guy out there, whether you're on a work trip, buddy trip, doesn't matter. If your wife's in minus 10 and you're at Fort Lickerdale, you're in trouble. It's just how it goes. That's marriage, baby.

And so I said, holy shit. So, all right, I'm going to go to my mom's for a few nights. That's still not fixed. So my house is 52 right now. I don't mind it, but I like that cold weather. So all that's going on, and I'm down in Liquordale. And Friday night, we can get into that later. I don't know.

I got my phone basically stolen by some scumbag Uber. Not to mention that so i get home saturday on the way home i get a text from her let me read this text hey you may want to mix in a few waters on the way home i'm leaving tomorrow morning to get stuff done i don't know when i'm gonna be home you got the kids i was like oh no you know like a sunday with the kids you're in one and sure sure she left at 10 a.m she got back at about 7 30 p.m she wasn't bullshitting me yeah well she gets home she gets home now we're we're at uh her parents house i said listen i'm, I'm going to take Ryder home. I don't mind. The house was like 58. I could sleep in that. Ryder will sleep in bed with me.

I can load him up with a sweatshirt and stuff. I got to go to the city early. I'll take him to school. No problem. So we get home at eight o'clock. I was so excited. I was literally putting him into bed, getting next to him into bed, and I was going to sleep i'm done liquor dailed dude i opened the garage door there was gallons and gallons of water coming through the ceiling ruining everything my pink whitney scooter all this stuff completely drenched i'm stepping in water i'm like oh no our bedrooms above this room i ran upstairs the ceiling to our bedroom because the fucking heat broke in the house a pipe burst the ceiling was busted open with water pouring down like it was an amazon rain rainforest what are those things waterfall riders like this oh no dad what's going

on i go i don't know i don't know i'm calling my wife she's not answering dude everything's ruined it's done so the heat the house has no heat i don't have a bedroom or a garage and water's down in the new basement that can't get finished yet so i am in one in all terms i had then i took him back to the in-laws then i came back then i had to get the dog it was just i didn't go to sleep till midnight. I'm gassed right now, boys. And I don't have any of those artificial energy supplements that Grinnelli likes to chew on. I'm going just full throttle right now.

Wow. All natural with a shit bag house. My house is a joke. I should have bought this house, tore it down, and built a new one. I'm just like, whatever. I'm fucking done with it. Insurance will cover it, but built a new one. I'm just like, whatever. I'm fucking done with it. Insurance will cover it, but I don't know where I'm going to be sleeping. But here's the thing, boys.

I'm off to Scottsdale. Good luck, honey. Good luck figuring it out this week. Jesus Christ. You might have to do another honeymoon. Another honeymoon trip. You might be spending another month in Jamaica on a vacation afterwards. If I wasn't turning 40 in like a week, I'd probably be just even more shit.

But you can't really get that mad at me. 40 is a big birthday. Well, selfishly, the Wi-Fi and lighting is working, so here we are. And I'm sorry. Hey, should we just go right into the Uber story from here? I mean, Friday overall for me specifically was a shit show i didn't end up sleeping on friday at all right into saturday into the rob brindamore interview and then we had to go to go to a meet and greet at was it bows yes yeah that was a cool bar oh that was a great

time the fans were awesome i i mean could you tell i hadn't slept oh so so so i So the Brindamore interviews at 10 a.m., I left American Social, a bar that we went to, I don't know, like 1.15 maybe? Because granted, we had had a sandbagger Friday, guys. And we could tell you right now, David Poshnok and Kevin Fiala, nice enough to join us. I'm sorry, that was Thursday, right? Thursday, yeah, Thursday.

So we were all excited. We were all excited that we'd got so much stuff done. And then so Friday night, all right, let's have a time. Well, I'd lost my phone. I can get into that a little bit. And I walked out of American Social. Now, I had been drinking Red Bull vodka, shots of tequila from Scumbag Grinnelli, high noons, espresso martinis. My stomach isn't exactly prepared to handle all that.

I walked out of American Social and on the walk home while walking, puked like seven times. Just an absolute disgrace. I said it's a childish behavior by a soon-to-be 40-year-old father of two. It's a fucking joke. But either way, I still got my seven hours in. So I woke up around 8.15 or maybe a little earlier. I texted i texted biz hey let's grab breakfast across the street before brendamore biz walks in looks at me he goes i haven't slept one minute i said you actually looked incredible if i didn't sleep for one minute dude i'd be looking like ra you looked phenomenal you were you you were you were like you i was like how is this guy even functioning right now? It was the liquid glazed tan from the golf course. That's what it was.

The tan saved me. The tan looked great on you. I'll tell you what. I spent every single ounce of energy in my body to stay alive during that interview and nod my head and try to act normal. But the funniest part about it is when he walked in, he goes, I'm surprised you guys have slept. And I go, I don't know, how did he word it? He walked in and he goes, oh, boys, you guys been to sleep yet?

And he totally hadn't even really seen us. He was just joking. I go, no, Biz hasn't slept one minute. How'd you know? It was unbelievable. And so when the interview drops, folks, great interview, Rod Brindamore, awesome. I think everyone will really enjoy it.

Biz was in the room. He just couldn't speak. No. Did he say one thing? I played a fourth line role. I played a fourth line role. I got my possession. I dumped it in, played it safe, went and changed.

I played three shifts, just like my entire career, guys. But, hey, when you're banged up, you just stay out of the way, and you simplify your game. Right, R.A.? Yeah, man, you ground that out. I didn't think you looked that bad at all. I mean, obviously, you just stay out of the way, and you simplify your game. Right, R.A.? Yeah, man, you ground it out. I didn't think you looked that bad at all. I mean, obviously you had a few cocktails, but I didn't think you were no worse for the way.

You chimed in enough that it wasn't like you were a total fucking mutant. No, he didn't. I thought he did a couple times. I appreciate it. No, I think he asked one question, which actually was a great question that Bryn DeMore was like, I can't answer that. Yeah.

We also interviewed our montreal captain nick suzuki that's going to be coming on in a little bit then brinda moore after him uh last i'm sorry vegas gold knight chandler stevenson and buffalo saber defenseman rasmus dalene he was awesome man had great energy real you can tell you got a real good personality had a good chat with him going to be coming later down the line uh what else was going on boys el camino we got to talk about Whit losing the phone Friday night. Okay. We got to get into it.

Well, Uber is just full of complete dirtbags. And there's some wonderful people that drive Ubers. I've met some amazing people, but some of them are just downright dirty scoundrels. And when you – so let me say this. There is no worse setup to get into Arena than the Florida Panthers. I mean, I'm talking foolish, ridiculous stuff to try to just get there. There's about 15 different hills you can walk up to. No, they drop us off about a mile from the entrance.

Then you got to walk in front of the building. We could sit and hop in the fence, but we couldn't. So it was about a mile walk from where we got dropped off. I get up to the front where uh you know you got to put your things through the metal detector i don't have my phone i said oh my god i need this phone i'm traveling home tomorrow well granelli ordered the uber so gee you can't go in either because you're you have the uber app well uber got rid of the ability to call the driver i don't know if they had people like getting to beefs or whatnot i guess I kind of understand it. So you got to go through the

Uber robot. It was like a robot. And so they're asking us the same questions on a chat. I'm just like, please give us the guy's number. Please give us the guy's number. About an hour and a half goes by. We've now walked back to the shitbag mall they have across the street

from the terrible Panthers arena. And we found, what were we at? I don't know. We were sitting at a yard house. A yard house, okay? Now, I'm watching the skills competition. What a skills competition. They shouldn't change a thing.

So, G and I are now in contact with this guy because the Uber robot finally was like, can we share your number with the guy? Well, we remembered on the ride into the arena, he didn't speak a word of English. So I said, oh, fuck, dude, even if this guy calls, he can't speak English. Well, what does Witty do? I use my brain immediately. And I said to the woman next to me, do you speak Spanish? No, you start running around the room in there and you're like, who speaks Spanish? Who speaks spanish okay and finally some lady came over and was like what's going on sir i speak spanish i can help i guess i didn't word that properly this woman was an angel sent from heaven to help me i'm no i'm not kidding you one of the

nicest most kind-hearted people she's working a double at the yard house. All she's thinking about is helping me. She's like, I'll help you, sir. I'll help you. So she's back and forth on the phone with this guy. And all of a sudden, oh, I'm back in Miami already. I'm back in Miami. She's telling me what he's saying. I'm like, how is he back in Miami already?

It's like an hour and a half from here and whatever. So he's like, oh, well, I need money to come back. Which, like, I need money to come back. Which like, I don't know. Wait, wait, wait. Meanwhile, we're getting screenshots sent to us from Murley, from all people

who are texting me saying, if your friend wants his phone back, it's going to be $1,000 in Spanish, not even in English. Yes.

So now, I don't know. Technically, that's straight up extortion, brother. That's not allowed. Now, if he were to say say like I yeah I want some money to come back like I don't know if that's illegal like does he technically have to come back with my phone because I left it there I don't know he could just be like oh it's not in the car I don't know like and he shut the phone he shut my

phone off so we couldn't track it but by a find my iPhone. So he finally agrees to come back for $200. Now, I'm going through the girl the whole time. So finally he gets back. Now, this is 10 o'clock. The skills have ended. Me and Grinnelli had a great conversation. That's when you were giving me tequila shots and stuff. I was so mad.

So he comes back. He comes back finally. She walked me outside. I gave her $100. She wouldn't even take it. She was so nice. I shoved it in her waitress thing and i said listen thank you so much for the biggest help i appreciate it's no problem she said don't give this guy two hundred dollars she goes you shouldn't even give him anything i was like oh whatever i'll give him

a hundred bucks then so i go over the guy who drove us is sitting in the passenger seat like this smiling with my phone there's another guy driving and they're both like laughing i go can i have my phone he goes 200 bucks i give him 100 the guy driving speaks english he goes no man you said 200 i go give me my fucking phone back like a tough guy like i would do something he goes no 200 so i go fine i got a 50 gave him 50 more and he still said no $200 and then the guy with my phone goes no no no no no no no mas no mas and handed it to me so I finally got it back but just the whole thing I didn't get to go into the skills I missed a barn burner too what a skills event but it was just about the like the whole like bracket in terms of all that for $150 like to

oh my goodness it sounded like it sounded like you were describing the movie man on fire with the drop off like i thought he was gonna pull up with rider in the back seat with a i will give you his wrist taped up for your life her life you're you're like ready to sacrifice grinnell to get your fucking i chucked him in the back i'm like you can sell him for big money which a which the the the the cherry on top of it all you didn't even talk about the fact that the night before you had dropped a water bottle on your brand new macbook and and then now that's kaput yeah yeah i dropped the water on my so fort Fort Lauderdale put your ball bag in an absolute vice.

My computer was broken. My house is falling apart. I had no phone and my wife hates me. Have a week. Jesus. Fucking Tim Jackman Pato over here. Florida playing the role. He got Tim Jackman.

Exactly. But without that wonderful waitress, Adriana, I mean, I can't thank her enough. Just a great person looking to help out others and then not even wanting to accept the money i was offering thank you without her i do not have my phone back maybe people don't care about this story it was kind of i had to be there but in the end like it's a night i'll never forget yeah and guys overall an incredible weekend we'll get into the our thoughts on the uh the skills comp and the game itself but just like getting

down there to see a bunch of Chicklets fans, obviously a ton of hockey fans. We mentioned the meet and greet. We got a bunch of great interviews. And this fucking sandbagger we're going to have coming out with Pasta and Fiala guys. This is the only thing I'm going to give away. We agreed to do group birdie juice,

and there ended up being four birdies in the first, what, six holes? So we just had a liquid glaze on for the entire time well i think one of pasta's lines like now you're gonna get to see the real pasta and and you got to see the real pasta so a couple young guns i never really spent any time with fiala what a fucking not only a man missile but what what a guy. What a guy. I loved it. I loved it. Pasta is just hilarious.

And Fiala. Man, we need to take some strokes away early on. I'll mention that. But I think March 15th is the date, so be excited. I think it will be one of our more enjoyable ones in terms of viewing and just laughing at two studs in the league right now. Guys and girls, before we go any further, we just need to talk about our presenting sponsor, the wonderful drink known as Pink Whitney.

Thank you so much to New Amsterdam. I've said it forever. I'll say it for the rest of my life. Without them, who knows where this podcast is. And now because of them, Pink Whitney is everywhere. When I say everywhere, many bars, if not every bar you go into, they have the option for Pink Whitney. We were just down in Fort Lauderdale.

It was flowing throughout the entire city. We had the nips going on the golf course. No better drink on the golf course than Pink Whitney. We loved having it, and now we're going off to Scottsdale, where it also just crushes at the Barstool Bar. So thank you so much to everyone who drinks it. Give it a try if you've never had it, whether

you want to mix it with some soda water, whether you want to drink it on the rocks,, whether you want to drink it on the rocks, or whether you want to shoot it, like after we make big-time birdies. It's the play all the time, no matter the weather, no matter the land. Drink Pink Whitney and shout out to New Amsterdam Vodka. Biz, before we get to all the festivities last weekend, you called on another team on TNT. You pissed off yet another fan base, the Islanders.

Gee, why don't you roll the clip? I would love to see the Buffalo Sabres in playoffs. They're way more exciting to watch than the Islanders. The Islanders are the most boring team in the NHL. I do not want them making playoffs. I don't care if all of Long Island hates my guts. They are a snooze fest. Snooze fest. I gotta go

back there. Come on. That's Liam's team biz. You did not hold back? We've been talking about that on the podcast for three years. I think it's kind of old news. I guess you say it on TNT and you rile people up. And then on top of that, Lou sends one of his goons at me. Lou's a full-fledged mafia guy.

He sends Butch Goring, 73-year-old Butch Goring, to come do his dirty work. So now I got to fucking go a senior citizen in a rough and rowdy? Now I got to go a senior citizen in the rough and rowdy now i gotta go a senior citizen and the rough and rowdy butch goring butch has more cups than you have like games played like you're he'll shove you in the locker put his hockey db mugshot up on this fucking clip right here if you're watching the youtube version what a fucking beauty i'll tell you what i offered him a chance to come on the pod. I said, how could you watch a full 60 minutes of Islander hockey without consuming any Red Bulls or any of the stuff that Grinnelli's consuming?

Listen, this trade, though, are we going to get into the Islanders talk now then? Yeah, we'll get a little hold of that talk while we do that. Because the trade happened, and then all of a sudden, man, Lou's kind of turning into a bit of a cartoon character where he's like Jerry Jones, where he's been dropping some heat. Like, they asked him about the contract at Bo Horvat's side. They said, what didn't you like about it? He said what?

He said term and money? No, I think they said too much money. I think they said, what is it? What are you paying him? And he's like, ah, it's too long, and it's for too much money. I said, holy shit, imagine signing that deal and then your GM immediately dogs the term and the amount. I mean, fuck me, man.

If that guy doesn't score, Lou's going to put a hit out on him. Well, hey, let's call a spade a spade. Does everyone agree that this is Lou's last year? No. I don't think so. No chance. No. Oh.

No, I don't think so. I thought, I it i mean he's gotta hang it up at some point you you think he's gonna see this picasso through all these uh older guys he's got signed to contracts this is a boys this is a huge hedge man is this like a biz is this like a biz inside source thing that you heard like that like you know that you're not telling us because i haven't heard this or seen this anywhere and i heard it the trap house friday at 6 a.m with kodak i'll tell you though like what's funny is i heard it i've kind of been i've been bullish on the islanders i was with lou there he told me that's right it's all coming together oh shit yeah lou is the guy who wouldn't let you go to bed. So we were fucking rolling dice, and he goes, how about that move? He's like, fucking pulled one out of my ass, didn't I, busy dog?

What were you going to say, Rick? I think the Islanders are going to get in. You do? Just because before the season, I said they were going to get in. So I'm going to stick to it because they got a goal score. But what's odd to me is if you talk to fans like how could an islanders fan not agree that they're boring they score maybe two goals a game throughout this year and that's if they're lucky they play a slow down system because they can't score so they have to try to give up

no goals they have this wonderful goal use definitely in the vesna race but the team is boring as shit to watch i don't really understand how a fan base and butchie goring would take offense to a a statement of fact by you and keep in mind there was 11 games in a row before they ended up winning those those two games they won 2-1 and i don't want to say one nothing or maybe two nothing so they still hadn't scored more than two goals. But that 11-game stretch, they hadn't scored a fucking goal in the third period, man. And every time I've turned them on, it's like watching paint dry. And no doubt in my mind that Bo Horvat's the type of guy who can really spark a lineup.

And obviously he's having a career year and just all of a sudden make the guys on his wing a little bit better but holy fuck man how could you possibly take any offense to that in the way that they they play and some people are saying like no that's the way they played under trots it's like they were probably scoring more goals per game on average than they are right now so stop talking about how boring at least they were winning when trots was fucking coaching when you're winning i guess when you're winning the 2-1 games, it ain't that boring. At least they were mucking it up. But holy shit, they're not winning much. They can't win back-to-back games. They can't fucking score in the third period.

And they can't win a game with scoring more than two goals. So I'm sorry if the whole fucking fan base wants to be offended. But finally, I guess I said it on national television for the first time. I guess they probably all blocked the spit and chiclets account by now, so they haven't been seeing these clips come up where we've been seeing it every fucking month since the last two and a half years. So I don't know, R.A., you tell me, buddy. Are they boring to watch, or do you like that old-school style

where they have to rely on goaltending and they just mucking up all night? I mean, it's not my preference to watch it, but I will say it's the type of style of play you're going to have in the playoffs. So they play a playoff style during the regular season. And with the goaltending they have, man, if they can't get in the playoffs, they can make some noise just based on the goaltending and the system they have. Just to give the numbers on Horvath, he ended up signing an eight-year extension worth $68 million.

It's an $8.5 million average annual value. So he's going to have him there for at least eight years if he wants. He's got a no trade for the first four and then a modified no trade clause for the final four. He's got 54 points, 49 games so far. He'll be 36 when the deal ends. We'll see how it ages. But I don't know. I did lose quote.

All I can tell you, it's too long and it's too much money. You want the truth? But he was talking about the setup in general, not specifically about Bo. Says the guy who offered a 24-year deal to Ilya Kovalchuk into his 60s. This guy tried to put on a rubber strap on and fuck the CBA right in the goddamn arsehole. And then he's talking about term and money. Well, he's got to do it at this point. No, what's crazy is Horvat is having a career year unlike any other season he's ever even sniffed.

Last year was, I think, the first year he scored 30. Consistent 20-goal guy. Then he had 27 in 18-19. Last year he got 31. 52 points, though. Dude, I'm very happy for him. That's unbelievable. But eight and a half a year and the most points he's ever had is 61 points that that's what timing is folks you got

to do it at the right time bet on himself i believe he was offered a contract by vancouver and the contract came in under jt millers and he's like well i'm the captain here and like you know i think that you know i'm just as good as a player and that's what isn't that around what JT Miller got or did he end up getting he got seven and a half I think oh JT Miller did yeah okay so but he but he obviously got the term right he got the full eight years wow so I guess like yeah but yeah I still like his game and I still think he has a well-rounded game where, yeah, maybe it's a slight overpayment, but you also intact the leadership,

and then now he's going to be surrounded by, I guess you could say, maybe not more talented players, but overall good, solid players. No? JT Miller had an 8-mil cap hit. 8-mil? Yeah, it was 8-mil. So obviously he kind of took offense to that

and gambled on himself and won. Yeah, so that probably sets the market for Larkin. had a eight mil cap hit just uh eight mil yeah so obviously he kind of took offense to that and gambled on himself and won yeah i so that probably sets the market for larkin now well that's why larkin now is like all right if he's getting eight and a half i mean what am i gonna get or what can i get he won't get that from detroit we've talked about larkin enough i actually get to play golf with larkin what a great guy uh keith yandel took myself, Kevin Hayes, Mark Stahl, Larkin, Anthony Melch, kid from around here, buddies with Kevin Hayes, and a guy, Matty Williams, who works for CAA, to the Grove. It was a hell of a day.

Larkin hates biz's guts. No, he doesn't. He came up on Friday night, and I said, listen, I talked to Stevie. Final offer, eight and a half. We'll match with Horvath. And he took it. He shook my fucking hand in the bar. What's the bar called again? I said, listen, I talked to Stevie. Final offer, eight and a half. We'll match with Horvat guy. And he took it. He shook my fucking hand in the bar.

What's the bar called again? American Social. American Social. There you go, Detroit fans. I locked it in for you. Eight times 8.5. Back to you, Whit. No, I mean, I think that Horvat's going to make a huge difference on the Islanders.

And he pretty much has to. I mean, if he doesn't go there and start scoring, it's like what – if he doesn't score there, they're so fucked. This is kind of their last – like what else are they going to do? It's their only option was to bring someone in. That's why I said when they traded him, I respected Lou. He went out and kind of walked the walk or talked the talk, then walked the walk in terms of making something happen. So we'll see if he can continue this torrid pace.

I think he's playing with Barzal and Josh Bailey. He's on the number one power play. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him keep scoring, but he better. That's why I thought it was his last year because all of a sudden he felt this obligation to make this big move where I felt like it was a bit of a panic move where he's like, I can't let this be my Islanders legacy. so he's got to try to somehow make playoffs and leverage a lot of the future

like if they don't make fucking playoffs this year after giving away what they got I don't know man that's fucking that's yeah they're in trouble so you're convinced they're making playoffs I'm not convinced but I think they still can. RAU? I think they are. I think they do. They're 10th in the East, 55 points. They're two back at Pittsburgh. They have played three more games, but yeah, I think it's like a huge addition to put this guy in the lineup. It has a nice ripple effect in the lineup. The goaltending's been

ideal for them. I do think the Islanders get in. It's just crazy. There's six teams locked in, in my mind, right? The three in the Atlantic and the three in the Metro aren't going anywhere. And shout out Rangers-Devils first round, which I believe will happen. What a goddamn series that'll be. So then it's Pittsburgh-Washington-Buffalo Islanders, right? I mean, it's like in Florida, no chance.

You can't even get into their rink. But if the Islanders get in in what's wild is i think that means washington or pitt doesn't so that would be a story in itself i think they'll come humming out of the all-star break here because they got philly i want to say they got ottawa montreal they got some bottom feeders and then they i think they in the sixth game they play the bruins so i think they could go win like four the next five So they could definitely get off to a hot start. I'm not the gambling guy. I know EBR takes care of that or URA. But if I was a betting man, I would be betting hard on the Islanders coming out of the All-Star break.

I mean, they're going to beat Philly. They got to. Who do they got the next four after that, Grinnell? You can read them off before we end up moving on here. Yeah, I know they were like 35-1 at the beginning of the year, so I heard. Oh, you got a future on them? No way. Yeah, no, I know that's like the annual joke.

I actually tallied them up the other day to see who I got to root for. I only got six teams still alive right now. That's a little lower than usual. Boston, Washington, the Islanders, the Kings. Oh, it's not that. I mean, they got Philly, and then they got – that's at Philly. Then they go home back-to-back Seattle the next night. Then they got a day off.

Then they got Van at home. So Horvat's going to play his ex-teammates in his third game. Day off at Montreal. Two days off Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Boston, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, L.A., Winnipeg Mini. So it's not exactly that easy, Busy. Yeah, I guess, yeah. I saw Seattle there. That's probably the toughest one in thatpeg, many. So it's not exactly that easy, Busy. Yeah, I guess, yeah. I saw Seattle there.

That's probably the toughest one in that quick mix, though. And then Ottawa, Montreal, guaranteed wins. You got to win those if you got to fucking start mixing in a playoff position. So those are just those must wins where you might as well hammer them if you believe in them. True. I'll just, what's the emotional hedge, as they call it? I got them beating a puck line money line tonight against the flyers i've already made the bet

so i'll be hate i'll be hate betting them all day long all right all right well uh shift from bo horvath to the weekend because it was pretty crazy he was elected to the all-star game as a vancouver canuck but obviously he is no longer with the team so he still played for the pacific with the western jersey but they had the for the Pacific with the Western Jersey, but they had the Islanders patch on the shoulder. Did you guys happen to notice that? Pretty unique situation, right? He's never played for them, but he can still be a Canuck.

So they let him play in the same division with the Islanders Jersey too. We had the Gortons Fishermen before he even played a game for them. But anyways, dialing it back, we made our annual trip to the All-Star game. It was nice to get out of the Northeast. It's cold as balls up here. Like you guys said, Florida, I mean, annual trip to the All-Star Game. It was nice to get out of the Northeast. It's cold as balls up here. Like you guys said, Florida. I mean, a lot of the buzzing all weekend. Everywhere you went, restaurants packed,

like disco music coming out all over the place. What I was surprised with, too, was how many NHL alumni were down there. Every time you turned around, it was like, you know, Ray Whitney might be here. There's another Hall of Famer around the corner. It seemed like a shitload of dudes came down just to get out of wherever they were.

Well, yeah. I mean, it's fucking Florida. They all get invited down. I believe Thursday night there was a wild cruise with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Chelios, I believe. I think there was about 100 alumni on there. And so I'm assuming that was a great time. I think that, like, if you can get more alumni involved

and maybe pay these guys a little bit of money, come down. There was a big time. I think that if you can get more alumni involved and maybe pay these guys a little bit of money, come down. There was a big game. I think the Florida Panthers alumni Wednesday night played against the NHL alumni. So we saw Chris Chelios, who's obviously working for ESPN. Grinelli and I did. Paul Coffey was picking him up. I'm like, that's a pretty sick guy.

That Uber driver won't steal your fucking phone. But yeah, it's just an awesome place to have the All-Star Game. Now, unfortunately, the rink's in the middle of nowhere, about 45 minutes from Lauderdale. I used to say, like, the Coyotes, if it wasn't in Glendale and if it was in Scottsdale, it'd be unbelievable. I think it's even more of a case of having,

if the rink was ever in Lauderdale as opposed to Sunrise, it would be sold out to the max every single game. But still, an awesome place for the All-Star game because nobody's going to pass up a chance to get down south. Probably the reason why the lower bowl wasn't really filled up for part of the skills competition because everybody who got dropped off had to do that 20-minute walk from the Uber.

So everybody missed the first 20 minutes of it. Are we going to get into the skills? Yeah, might as well jump into that first. I didn't see one play. It was way too quiet in there, like you said, Biz. Hardly any seats in the lower bowl were taken. But I thought this might have been the first year the games were actually better than the skills competition. But what was cool, though, all the guys out there, they had their reverse retros on.

So that was pretty cool seeing every guy out there with this year's reverse retro jersey on. But, yeah, it was just they got to shake it up. I don't know what they can do going forward, like the stuff on the pitch and putt thing and then knocking the guys in the water. It was, all right, obviously a local tie to it. But I don't know how much longer they're going to keep doing this format biz with, like, the tournament. I said do it like medieval times dinner and tournament.

And you got to get these little games going. Like, get away from, like, what they have, the goalies shooting it all the way down, like, to the other end. I I mean that doesn't really translate well to television more like goals and like one you know three on two at one end when the defensive team finally gets the puck they shoot it down the other team and which activates like that team's offense you know what I'm saying like oh like the old drill we used to do yeah like small area games and all of a sudden maybe it like elevates you on the power level on the you know and through the crowd you know there's four different color shirts you wear

when you when you walk in so like you're you got a route for your team and maybe those sections win prizes and get somebody like i mean pk host of this one get pk hosting it again do it this like crazy hunger games medieval time style that That's not bad, I guess. And everybody's got to take shrooms before they come in. There's three events that are good. With the 3D goggles on. There's three events that are good. Fastest skater's great, accuracy shooting's great, and hardest shot's great.

Those are the three kind of money makers that I think everyone enjoys, right? It's great seeing how fast guys move. McDavid going out there and going for it for four and eight seconds, even though I think Brock Nelson ended up winning it. That's cool. And then the hardest shot by Pedersen, that's always fun. After that, it is like we're dogging it or I was dogging it, but I'm also willing to say I don't know what to do.

In terms of shrooms and then doing mini games, that's business world. We're all living in it. But I don't know. In terms of the game, Grinelli had a nice idea of somehow making it country versus country. I pitched that idea last year, and I was telling everyone down there this year about it. It's a three-on-three tournament. You bring the six or seven best guys from each country.

You've got to promote the nationalism aspect of it because people are going to this game now, and you're not rooting for anyone, right? You root for your guy that's there. I root for Pasternak. He's the Bruins guy, but I'm not going to root for the Atlantic Division. But I'll tell you what. If the U.S. was in there, imagine like a U.S.-Russia game or a Sweden-Finland game.

I'm 1,000% going to root for that. I would be going crazy for that. So I think they need to find a way to just ditch the divisions, bring in the nationalism aspect where each guy can represent his country, and I think you do it like that. I don't know the number off my head. How many Canadians got invited to this year's all-star team though so what if there's like too many good Canadian players where now what you're only going to bring seven of them to the all-star

but that but that's like the Olympics every year it's like the Olympics could do the Canada could have three teams in the Olympics every year but they don't you know what I mean every four years yeah every four years but yeah Canada could have four teams in it every four years. Yeah, every four years. But yeah, Canada could have four teams in it every four years. You know what I mean? Okay. To brand it better than what it is now, I mean, I wouldn't argue not trying that. It's just I'd rather they do the World Cup of Hockey and keep that country oriented. And they should be doing that every year.

That's probably what they're looking at. Yeah. So anyway. Now, here's the thing. Toronto got announced as the host of next year's All-Star Game. They'll do it proper. And they have to, right? I mean, I think even the league probably knows this year,

certainly the skills was kind of a dud and people were all over it. So going to Toronto and that market, they're going to have to try to get original and think of different ideas to really get this thing popping. Because if you thought the crowd wasn't filled like in in in florida i mean sometimes the crowd isn't even filled at the beginning of periods for leafs game yeah so i don't really know beaver's already announced that he's going to be there and he's like probably oh really so yeah that'll be that place will be packed okay okay and uh excuse me as for the games on saturday the Central beat the Pacific 6-4, Atlantic beat the Metro 10-6,

and then on the final, Atlantic beat Central 7-5. Did you have the over on that game by any chance, Whit? Six goals in the last 137 of the game to go over. Unbelievable, yeah. I think it was like 10.5, depending on where you got in. You can bet the All-Star game? Yeah, you could bet all three of them the other day. Yeah, 12 goals in the last one.

Like I said, over under was 10.5. The Atlantic splits a million-dollar purse. How much do you think they each take out of that? Do they just give it to the locker room guys? A lot of the time they give it to the locker room trainers. They just divvy it up and give it to those guys. Depends who the captain is sometimes. Some of these young guys might not know and just be like,

oh, sweet, and the check comes to their place. I don't know. I'd imagine they ain't coming in with a bag of money like the KHL, unless Gary's doing things a little bit differently now. And a gun. Yeah, Matthew Kachuk won the MVP, had tons of family there. His old man, grandparents, was pretty cool to see. He had four goals, three assists on the day.

Played in a line with his brother in Bakov. Pretty good stuff. There were a lot of fun lines. I don't know if you guys saw much of the game, but I thought it was way better on TV, which is usually the day. He played in a line with his brother in Bakov. Pretty good stuff. There were a lot of fun lines. I don't know if you guys saw much of the game, but I thought it was way better on TV, which is usually the opposite, but it was fun to watch, man. There were some real good highlights. The goalies were trying their asses off. Did you think the

final game was at least competitive? Yeah, I think so. I thought it was cool to see Ovi and Sid going together. I know everyone really enjoyed that. Just two legends. And if you check out Chicklets, I mean, it's all over the place, but there's pictures of Brady and Matthew Kachuk flanking Sid.

It must have been his rookie year. They're just these little kids. And then same with Ovi, and then they got the exact same picture this year. It's just wild to see how much the Kachuks have grown and how long Ovi and Sid have been dominating at this level and playing in the NHL. So really cool to see those guys getting together.

I think Adam Fox got to be playing with them. So the game, yeah, it was definitely better than the skills. And it was also cool. I think Kachuk got his hat trick goal and they showed Big Walt in the crowd who gave like a big fist bump. He seemed really fired up. So awesome. I mean, seeing your two kids like playing together in the All-Star game, are you kidding

me? It's unbelievable. So it was really cool to just see these legends of the game getting together and then also seeing some high-level skills. So the game didn't disappoint. I don't think it was just the night before that was the bummer. I bumped into Walt. I told him he was in the All-Star in 1996.

It was the same version of the jersey they wore this year. So his two sons had the same type of jersey he wore back in the day, which is pretty cool. All these years later, basically have the same jersey that they wore this year. So his two sons had the same type of jersey he wore back on the day, which is pretty cool. All these years later, basically have the same jersey that they dusted off. He's the sixth player to win the MVP on home ice as well. Horvat, I mentioned earlier, him and Pedersen, you see they got together for a goal and they fucking challenged the goal in the fucking all-star game and they took it down off the board.

So then they ended up getting back together. How fitting. They scored a goal after that. It was pretty cool. But if you're going to talk about gambling, it's like you kind of have to do that. I know it sounds

a little ridiculous, but when the league is open and advertising MGM with McDavid and Gretzky, it's like you have to play by the rules. I'm not arguing with you. What am I fucking?

No, no. I just thought it was fitting. Is my name Skip? I just thought it was fitting given how we've been bitching about all these goal reversals and even the fact that you're able to challenge. I think they should rid with them as well as the TV timeouts. I'm willing to settle on one TV timeout. And we're going to get to much of this conversation later

because it's Gary Bettman's 30th anniversary as commissioner of the league. And we're going to go over maybe some of his blunders things that he's done well for the league and I'm really interested to get your guys thoughts on all that absolutely but getting that in a little bit uh there were only six defensemen did you notice that of the four teams they had uh Jones, Morrissey, McCard, Darlene, Fox, and Carlson and then there was a TV timeout delay there's the fucking mascots and their furry buddies. They shot the confetti. It got all over the ice.

They had to actually take like a five-minute timeout to wipe all that shit off. I didn't even know if you noticed it in the arena because it was so quiet during the games. I caught it on TV, though. Fucking gritty in the middle of it once again. All right. Just to, I don't know if you're going to move on

from the All-Star game here, but we will have a vlog coming out recapping our whole All-Star game event experience. The whole weekend, that's going to be on the Chicklets YouTube page next Wednesday, not this upcoming Wednesday. Next Wednesday. Yeah, G, I think that about wraps it up for the All-Star game. We could probably move on right about now

and probably send it over to Rod Brindamore, Carolina Hurricanes head coach. We sat down with him for about 45 minutes the other day, talked about his career on the ice and behind the bench. It's good shit. So going to send it over to hot rod right now this interview is brought to you by game time game time is the exclusive ticketing partner of bastu sports they crack the code on how to score deals on last minute tickets and right now game time has a special offer for the big game all users not just first time users can get 100 off their big game. All users, not just first-time users, can get $100 off their big game ticket purchase

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We're happy to welcome our next guest to the show. During a 20-year NHL career totaling nearly 1,300 games with St. Louis, Philly, and Carolina, he won two Selkie trophies and the 2006 Stanley Cup. He's now currently in his fifth season coaching the Hurricanes, where he's won a Jack Adams trophy, and he'll be coaching the Metropolitan Division here at All-Star Weekend in Florida. It's a pleasure to welcome to the Spittin' Chicklets podcast, Rod Brindamore.

All right, you read that pretty well. Yeah, the second time. My pleasure, pal. Is it not over 1,400 games? I thought it was close to 1,500 already. You said almost 1,300. It depends how you look at it. Regular season.

I know the number total is 1,637 playoffs because that's my code on my computer. Oh, fuck. Somebody's going to be hot hacking in your iCloud now. That's it. Yep, I screwed up the math. It's over 1,300. Yeah, checkmate on me. Dash one.

Dash one. Turnover. That's okay. Not to start Rod the Bod. No, no. He's going to cut me. How's the week? How am I going anyway so far?

Enjoying it? I've had, I probably had the best because I just showed up here last, late, late last night. Really? Because my, I got, I got a young son. I got an 11-year-old, plays hockey. So I was in Dallas a lot yesterday. They have a tournament there.

So I coached two games, got on a plane during the skills thing watched it on the airplane like and then flew here so they were nice enough to leave to let me miss that so i could be with my son so that was actually i give them kudos for that you know not that i need to be here at all really but they let me you are you as intense as much are you as intense with your kid as you are with your hear my voice? Yeah, it's worse because I'm just, you know, it's great because I coach the big boys and then I get to coach the little guys, but it's hard to switch it, right? So I'm just going, what are you doing? Get out on the porch.

You know, like I'm screaming at the 11-year-olds. Wait a minute. Not the flyer for playing. So anyway, it's fun though. So we like to start off a guy's career. You've been known as a Mr. Intensity guy. The stories of locking the gym at Michigan State. Is that something that was innate in you from watching your parents growing up?

Like, how did you get that drive at such a young age? Well, it's exactly what you just said. So at 12 years old, my dad was a pipe fitter. You know, like, I mean, 6 a.m., put the overalls on. Just grinding. And you see that as a kid every day i don't know what and then i mean just to get by you know put food on the table and i remember it was him or so he said look if you want i want to play nantel like everybody right i mean everyone we're playing hockey i grew up in canada he said you want to get to here you got to do more

than the buddy sitting beside you the neighbor across the street you're going to the practice with he is you're doing this but how are you getting many better so he buys me the cheap plastic you know wide l weights you remember those things that had the sand in them yeah yeah yeah well you anyway maybe a little before my time okay well yeah you probably had the real stuff but i had i mean so and he's like so 6 a.m he cranks his car up that was my wake up so i go downstairs and i don't know what I'm doing, but I'm 12 years old. I'm starting to play with this stuff. 20 minutes before school, 20 minutes after school.

That was, so just, and then it was just every day. I'm like, okay, how do you get better? Like, am I getting better than the next guy? Well, I got to do, I know what he's doing. I got to do a little more. Wow. So that's just kind of kept with me my whole life. My whole, certainly through my career. And I don't know if little more. Wow. So that's just kind of kept with me my whole life, certainly through my career.

And I don't know if it helped, hurt. I don't know, but it got me through it anyway. Oh, I think it helped. No alarms, 6 a.m. every day you're up. Yeah, well, that's a curse too now, right? Yeah. They're not like you guys. If I go to bed at 2, I'm up at 6.

You know, I can't be – I don't get this. So the road kind of must crush you on the NHL trail. Well, it is totally. When you get home at like 2 in the morning, it's – no, but, you know, it is what it is. You find time to sleep. So did you – like you were training yourself then at 12. You didn't really know what you were doing.

Did you always train yourself? Yeah. So now, I mean, these guys, like they don't know how good they got it. We pay big money for trainers. Big money for trainers, but we've got the best strength coach in the league. And he sits there all summer. Like, he's there all day. And he just, these guys, you know, if they want to come in.

I'm like, this is unreal. You know, we had to find a gym, you know, and then get in there, find some ice time. Now they got ice set for these guys whenever you need it. Most of the guys stay in town then to train? We have a few because we're getting older now. So guys, like the school starts, right, for their kids. So they come back.

We have a couple full-time guys that live there. But we just have – our owner came in. We got a new owner. He's phenomenal because he's taking care of the players. And new facility, you know, I mean, so it's state-of-the-art. So guys like to be there. And obviously we got good people working, and it's taken off, as you can tell. Yeah, that's awesome.

How did you end up at Michigan State as opposed to playing at Junior's? A lot of Canadian kids were still at home. So I went to Notre Dame, which is in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, which is the middle of nowhere, which was, at the time was at the time the best prep school for kids to play hockey. I mean, just all you did was school, workout, play hockey, and they had great coaching. Barry McKenzie is one of the best coaches that's ever been around. He's long since retired, but over 150 NHL players have gone through this.

Go take a look at it. It's like Shattuck for the L guys. It's Shattuck 100%, but it's higher. It's better because you went there. Well, if you know, if you just look at what's turned out. I mean, it's amazing. People, I'm telling you, you got to do the math and go look. He's just, it was a great coach.

Anyway, so I'm going through that. And everyone at Notre Dame, it's about going to college. So, all right. I mean, that's what I'm doing. And, listen, the college game for me is phenomenal. It's the best avenue for kids that aren't Sidney Crosby. I agree. Right?

If you're Sidney Crosby, you're going to go junior hockey because you're going to play as an 18-year-old in the NHL. But if you're not, it gives you four more years to develop your game maybe figure it out if not come on you're knocking schooling out but you're having the time of your life and you spent one year there i spent one year there but no listen i went back for four summers and went to school to classes but all my buddies were there as freshmen right so we named jim cummins and jason woolley mazotti like these are my guys that when I was there, you know, and we're still great friends.

I mean, you know. Ron Mason was there. Ron Mason, great coach. Newell Brown, who's still coaching the NHL. His assistant was there at Phenomenal. He was the recruiter. Newell's a great guy. Great guy.

So it's like, anyway, it's the best avenue. My son, my oldest son, plays college hockey at Quinnipiac right now. Oh, they've got a hell of a team. They're doing good. They won't beat Harvard last night. I mean, he's fourth year now. He's senior. But it's a great avenue for kids.

I mean, he's just figuring it out now. And if he was a junior, he's out of hockey. Yeah, exactly. He's 23 now, but I think he's got a chance now because he's figured it out. He's in the gym all the time like all of a sudden you get a lot stronger in college that is the one and the game in college now all the guys are older so you got even though your top kids are coming in north dakota's unless they're 18 they're playing against 23 year olds over at the other places

the game has gotten so much better it's almost older than the american league now it's becoming a minor league i'm telling you and then you can get a lot of good kids out of college that at 18 no one knew where they were and they give them gives them a second life well you had that you know that amazing freshman year you know i think 60 points and and you turned pro right after the season you went to the playoffs score to go on your first shot your first ever playoff game right opportunity so you're getting oh wow it's a tap in right a rebound. But I scored my first two shots. So the next, listen, the next series, that was, we were playing Minnesota, Mike Madonna. We just, we both signed at the same time.

We come in and he didn't play, I don't even know if he played that series, but he was there. Because I remember we were sitting out the first four games of the series in Minnesota. We both signed. We're standing in the stands together, sitting there. So anyway, I get in the last game in game five, and I score my first shot. Okay, good. So now we go to play Chicago, second round.

How great was that old building? I start the game. It starts me. Seven seconds into the game, boom, it's in the net. I score. So now they think I'm like, they think, oh, this kid is it. It was just luck, right? It's just, but now I'm in.

And actually, the next game, it didn't have review back then. My third shot went in, too. It was under the bar and out, and, you know, no review back then. So I should have had three for three, you know, and then it went downhill after that. But, you know, anyway, I was in. You know what I mean? Now, next year, I come to training camp.

I'm still, I'm 19. But this guy, oh, he knows how to play. And they put me with adam oats right as a rookie are you kidding so i mean what a way to get there but if i don't score i don't just look like i know what i'm doing i wonder what happens you know yeah so it's just everyone you get that opportunity you gotta well as a coach now you call up a kid from the minors he scores for a shift you're like go back out there yeah there, right? Well, exactly. Make a good impression. So your first two years were with St. Louis.

Now those were the two years Brett Halskowitz, 72, then 86. He must have really been feeling himself back in those days, huh? So that was the good hockey, right? Not being good hockey. It was like the good times. I mean, old school. I mean, Brett Halskowitz ran the show. It's amazing.

We all have no Brett Halskowitz stories. I mean, the guy was phenomenal, but hard to play with. Like, if you weren't – I mean, he'd look down at you and be like – Especially as a rookie. Oh, my God. I had to play with him. I used to just wire passes across the ice. Listen, my second year, okay, after playing with Adam Oates my first year,

I had a great year. They put me at center and started me with Brett Hall on my wing for about five games I lasted, maybe. And Holy would come off the bench and he I'd be sitting right beside him and he'd look back at Sutter's I could get this guy off my line you know and I'm just sitting there I'm like oh I'm trying my you know hardest here but I just can't do it and then after the game he'd pat you on the back and take you out and you know he's the best guy but man it was just so stressful you called me a piece of shit an hour ago yeah oh totally but he was the greatest guy you know

him i mean he's off the edge it was fun but it was really hard to play with so they put him back with adam oats and the rest was history right like i mean how oats he could handle him wow and then so i was reading that they they lost scott stevens because of the compensation with like the brennan chan and then they had to get a defenseman, and so you got moved. But you must have been shocked, right? So this is crazy hockey back then. This would never go on today. So they make an offer sheet for Brennan Shanahan.

They offer myself and Curtis Joseph as compensation. Okay? Pretty good, I think. It would have worked probably pretty good for them. But the arbitrator says, no, that's not enough. They give him Scott Stevens. So myself and Curtis are sitting here. We're at a golf tournament.

Listen to this. The charity golf tournament for the St. Louis Blues. This is back in the day. They want me to do an interview that I got traded and one that the arbitrator didn't. So I'm doing a before and after. So I got to do, oh, I hate that I got moved. And then I'm real happy to be here.

And they're going to put one on when the decision comes up. Yeah, it was unbelievable. Imagine that hitting Twitter now. No, I'm telling you. But now I'm a sitting duck, right? They're supposed to move. They thought for sure that was going to happen. And then that's what precipitated me getting traded to Philadelphia.

And you spent a good chunk of time in Philadelphia. You played with Linda Ross, the whole Legion of Doom line. What was that? Yeah, the 97 finals. You guys rolled all the way to the finals. Then Detroit just kind of had their way with you. Look at Detroit. So we're a young team in Philadelphia. I mean, myself, I'm still pretty young

at the time, 26. Lindros, 22, maybe three. You know, we had LeClaire. We were Desjardinsin we're just coming along yeah we're just getting going and we blow through the playoffs like it's your job i mean i don't i i never had an easier three rounds just okay and then you hit detroit and it was like oh we didn't know what hit us and so we lose in what four or five i don't know what it was it was it was quick the mistake the flyers made then was, we got to get a bunch of new players.

Mm-mm. Let us figure it out. Yeah. You know, we're hungry as a group, but now we flip in a whole bunch of new guys. It doesn't work. Crazy. So they kind of, not panicked, but, like, got to the cup final and didn't think it was enough. I remember talking to John LeClaire, and he was telling me about that run.

Like, their line, at least, guys would try to play him physical and then it was lidstrom murphy and the whole detroit team it was just stick work it wasn't even physicality it was it was we got schooled and you knew it i mean you knew when you're out there man what like we're wanting a brick wall here and we're trying we're doing everything we can i mean i think we we fired our coach after that series. Right? Think about that. We got all the way through because we looked so bad.

But it had nothing to do with coaching. I mean, they were better. And we had good players. I know, in my heart, I feel if we would have kept that group together. We would have got one. We would have figured. Because, you know, now you know, okay, wait a minute, there's another level to get to.

And you know what it is. You got to do it together. Now you bring in a couple of new guys. They didn't know what we just went through. They didn't know how hard we had to work and what, you we ran into and then it just kind of went sideways there and you saw i mean we won't go to carolina yet but in that instance you lost in 02 you figured it out and three years later right so it's kind of you're right right i mean detroit in 02 was even the same i mean we're back then that one now we're we're the little engine. We got a $38 million payroll.

They got a $75 million payroll. There was no chance. That's what it was. That was the difference. Yeah. And they all had four lines and all Hall of Fame. I mean, we won the first game, and then we actually had game three in the bag. It was that game three.

And, you know, they score the minute to go or whatever, and then it goes forever in overtime. I mean, I could flip it if we get maybe, but they're probably still going out, you know. So back to Philly, I mean, they're going through it right now, obviously, but that fan base, they just love guys who grind, that work their balls off. So, I mean, you must have loved it.

You fit right in. They loved you. Listen, when they traded me, it was one of the worst days of my life. No way. Worst day of my life. I was crushed. And it took me a couple years to get over it because I was like, I'm doing everything.

I'm a flyer, right? I mean, I live there. I take all the young guys. I'm training. I'm showing how we do this. You know what I mean? You felt they gave up on you? No, it's just, you know.

I want to be here the rest of my career. And I just thought I was going to be. Why would you trade me? I'm doing everything you need me to do. And the kiss of death. I mean, I could probably tell the story now because it's 20 years ago or 30 years ago or whatever. But I had broken my foot, okay, and I'm out for, I don't know know half the year first time i've i played almost 500

games in a row and then in a pre-season game that i shouldn't have been playing in it was back in when we used to play three and three and they didn't have rules so they made me play the third one and i'm in new jersey and take one off the foot and so anyway long story short but anyway i get i get uh called into the office in november and i'm, I get called into the office in November. And I'm like, I've never been called into the office. And you're not even playing. Not even playing. And I'm like, this is weird.

So I go in there. Homer's there. And Clark, he's not in yet. But Homer's the assistant GM. What do you think of Keith Primo? No way. So I played with Prims in the Olympics. In the World Cup, sorry.

And so I go, great guy i love him why he goes well he's holding out in carolina and we got a you know they want to make a deal what do you think and i go well you are you talking about me he goes no no no we would never trade you he goes and he names off the players that they were trying to get right lindros you know what i mean it was a whole cast of the other guys. I go, I would never do that deal. I go, Lindros is too good. You know, you can't get rid of him. So I go, and as I'm leaving, I go, Homer.

I go, he goes, no, man, Clarkie thinks too much of you, and the deal is off. We won't make the deal or whatever. So I walk out, I go home I go home I go pack my you know I go you knew well I've been there eight years

and they've never once I mean rumors all every year about me getting traded because I was just you know I was a good player and you know it's just how it goes

and now it's the first time he's called me into San Mario Trade I said pack my shit so I got healthy I played three games

and I was the guy shipped to oh so when he called when Clarkie called and told you, were you... I mean, you said you were devastated. Did you almost say anything back to him, or was it just... I don't even think he called me. I was in Pittsburgh.

We're playing the Penguins, and I get the call. You know, the call in the afternoon in the hotels that you know is the bullshit because you got do not disturbs on, and then, okay, where am I going? And it was Paul Maurice. Okay. He got a 230 flight. And I had a one-game, one-night overnight bag, right, because I'm going back to Philly.

He goes, well, fly in, you play the game, and you go home. Back to Philly, get your shit, and come back. So we go there, play the game, and there's snowstorm of the century in North Carolina. Shut down the city for two weeks. I had one bag. I had no clothes. And I'm stuck in a hotel.

They canceled games. It was like three teams stuck in Raleigh for like a week. It was just a nightmare. And this is my introduction to Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm like, this is brutal. And there's 8,000 fans in the game. Oh, my God. And I never realized, because I played Philadelphia.

It was packed. It was packed. It's awesome, the environment. I never realized what that does to you. So I get in, and I'm like, are we in practice? Is this a practice? I'm like, you know what practice is? How do I get fired up?

I'm like, holy shit. Like, oh, this is weird. You know, it's just, and that's how it kind of started and i'm like oh boy but the one thing i didn't notice immediately how great the people were down there phenomenal so i i'm dragging on here but no no i get there stuck for two weeks or it was a week in the hotel there's no food um what am i gonna do so i go to the grocery store i walk there in a suit it's snowing i got no overcoat the people were lined up outside to get into the get bread and get they see me coming who's this guy they didn't know i was no one had a clue about hockey and because i i'm not dressed right you

know they were like this guy can't wait outside push me into the front of the line go in and go get some food would that happen that wouldn't happen to philadelphia you'd be back in line but they would have thrown a snowball up your forehead you know even if they knew you who you were you know but anyway so i was like this is interesting damn i've been there 23 years now yeah like this guy's had the same student for six days we better get him in the store everybody i want to go back to lindros for a second have you ever played with a guy who was that dominant when you played with Lindros ever since? No. It was ridiculous. Yeah. Just such a strong – I mean, he could shoot a puck with one hand. You know, he'd come down the wing and just boom.

And you'd be like, damn, that's like – I don't even know if I can shoot it with two hands that hard. He could run you over. He could fight you. He could dangle you. He could pass it. You know, phenomenal player, right? It's too bad he had the injuries because know, the injuries because, you know, his career would have been so much better.

The conkeys? Yeah. Like when he was going through that, like what was it like at the locker room? Was it kind of a – Well, it was funny. I had probably – I had moved on because right when he got the bad ones there at the end – That was like 2000, right?

Yeah, I got traded in January 2000, and then that was the playoff year that he got the bad ones there at the end. That was like 2000, right? Yeah, I got traded in January 2000, and then that was the playoff year that he got. And then it's kind of – so I didn't really – I didn't get any of it when I was with him. I had a good, I think, seven years with him. Man, nothing but good things to say. He competed his ass off. I mean, we were coming.

I told you, we made some sideways moves. And they tried to do the right thing. I just think had they just stuck with that group, it would have been better. Because he was legit one of the best players ever, boy. Was Bob Clark back? Was he coming down and giving it to guys sometimes? Because I felt like he was really involved. Clark was awesome.

I love Clark. No, you know what? He was probably back then maybe 50 or 45 as a GM. He'd come down one day full gear, comes out, let's go, face-offs, starts teaching us the tricks of the trade, doing little things. I'm like, damn, this is good. And he was always there to help you, but he actually wasn't. He never got in your stuff, you know what I mean?

But little things he'd see, come down. But I'll never forget that. There he is, the GM coming down full gear. Come here. he never got in your stuff you know what i mean just but little things he'd see come down but i'll never forget that there he is the gm coming down full gear come here i'm gonna show you so like the legendary story is going back to michigan state of you getting locked out of the weight room like when you got pro or coaches also like rod you gotta just relax a little bit you got maybe maybe you're working on a little too much yeah brian sutter in st louis right away it was like what was your post game well back then they didn't have gyms so i get to st louis and there's not even a there's not even a gym there's like a there's nothing i mean there's like a little one of those pull down

machines that's like rusted out monarch and a monarch that's the ribbons busted on it you know i'm like what are we doing here so we went to a local gym at like myself there was like a couple hardcore guys that were into it and i think gino cavallini showed me like here we can go to this gym so after practice we'd be like shower up and then go over to the gym i mean we were this is you imagine guys doing that today oh they wouldn't imagine holly doing it well holly didn't do that but i mean there was a few of us you know but uh it was just so different you know i don't remember your question now no i was talking about coaches or you how much you worked out and coaches may be saying it's too much as he calls

me and goes i don't know he was hardcore brian sutter but i think it was great coach to have as a young kid because i think this is how the nhl is like you're not allowed to smile in pre-game pre-game skate like i'm what are you cracking a smile for you know okay game's at seven i mean you know and holly's out there laughing his ass off what if you know like but like you know if you screw up no exactly but it was like you can't screw up so he calls me in i'll never forget this in his office he's like i can end your career i'm like what i can put you in the minors right now leave you down there you got to do it this way he wanted me he had a vision of me being more like cam neely and i'm like i'm i'm i i think i can do it a little differently you know like i mean he's fucking cam neely like you know what i mean like

i don't really want to be doing that you know i got a little different i want to play center i'm you know i know i'm big but it's just you got to have it really want to be doing that. You know, I got a little different. I want to play center. You know, I know I'm big, but it's just you got to have it up here to be like that. Yeah, exactly. And that's just I don't think you put that into somebody, you know. So, I mean, I can handle myself. If you grab me, I know what I'm doing, but I'm not really. That's not my thing. So he was like, no, you're going to be like.

And one mistake I probably made was one of my first games, too, in the playoffs. I fought, I think, McGill and did all right. You know what I mean? So he's like, oh, yeah. And then my first fight was actually against Mike Madonna. So he fight. He wants to fight me. You got to look this one up.

And I two punched and broke his nose into that. And so now they think this guy's the killer. But I'm like, no, most of them probably thought I was just going to hold on to him. You thought he was a college guy. You know, yeah. So anyway, that part of it, it was just, I'm like, now every day I'm like, I come to the rink, it's all business. Yeah.

You know, which was, I'm glad I moved on. And then I went to Philly and Homer was there. It's the same thing at the start. Like, Paul Homer is like, you want to see a guy that can rip your head off. Like, you know. So I'm like, okay,er is like you want to see a guy that can rip your head off like you know so i'm like okay this is nhl and then it you know i realized as coaches came away right you're allowed to have fun here but it was great to start that way like boom business you know well it's like i mean back then when you were playing there was no guys shooting the shit before a face-off now

it's all the time it must still drive you nuts once in a while yeah this calls them tummy sticks guys in warm-up hey what's up buddy yeah save it for after the game yeah i'm with you on that but i've lightened up big time because you have to these guys now they don't know any other way it's not really fair to go you know what i mean if you're brought up but what did you say tummy tell me do you ever go home and say uh maybe i was a little too hard on that guy no because now i'm i'm i get where they're coming from. I don't think I'm too hard. I'm not anything like those coaches I just mentioned.

I mean, that's just not my style. But I get, listen, we brought them up this way, the kids now. You've got to understand that. You do something like that now, and they look at you like, what are you doing? You have no chance. You've got no chance. Yelling and screaming, it doesn't work anymore. No, I. You got no chance. Yeah, yelling and screaming.

It doesn't work anymore. No, I mean, I still yell and scream, but it's how you say it and when you do it, I think, you know. I want to go actually back to the 06 Cup. Now, you guys had a 3-1 series lead. We always say on the show, one of the best Stanley Cups ever versus Edmonton. Now, you guys almost blew a 3-1 lead before third period of Game 7.

Did you give a big speech to the locker room? After Game 6, we got pounded in Edmonton. That was the worst game. It was like 5-1 lead before third period of game seven did you give a big speech to the locker room after game six we got pounded in edmonton that was the worst game was like 5-1 which was the best thing to happen we lost game five in overtime basani so we're like in the locker room i mean we're winning the cup here we're on a power play going into overtime game five to win the stanley cup been waiting this my whole life my like this is we go. How are we going to put this away? And boom, we get up on short-handed. And now I've got to get on a plane and go to Edmonton for game six. I am losing my shit.

Like, I can't believe that this just happened. And so we get pounded in game six. Not even close. Best thing that happened because we weren't in the game. So now you can flush it. That game five sat with us through game six. We're like had the cup man we had the cup i can't believe you know so now that game was just okay easy to forget and now it's it was like a weight came off on my shoulders i'll never forget it going into game seven because i know it's over this is it there's

no i don't have a game eight i don't have this this is it and and we just we played a good game and you know we were the better team i really felt that we uh we had andre juan the podcast and i think they lost a very important playoff game and he lost in calgary and then they ended up gearing down the plane to break the ice and ended up going down his ass cheeks were hanging out like through the aisle was there anyone in the in the room who really loosened things up? Well, Witt was our guy, Ray Witt. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, he's the best. I mean, he's one of the most underrated hockey players

that ever played a game, just so you know. I'll put that out there. I'll put him up with anyone. Make plays, see vision, but also really good dude, like funny. So he was our guy that would lighten the mood all the time. I can't really tell you the things he would do, but there was some inappropriate things that went on um to lighten the mood for sure that team because i played with mark recce that year you guys picked him up i mean what a

big addition then there was doug wade it was like so many veterans on that club to help to help you right with the leadership we were an old team like it and i i you knew i mean i can look back now we knew we were gonna win but when you go down the list like guys and you're looking around like i sat with glenn wesley on the plane for ever for years and he'd never won he's been i mean he went through some bad injuries right we he grinded it out and i'm looking brett had a kid sitting there you know and you just mentioned rex had won but but weight right? Dougie's not won nothing, you know. And I got – you know, we got some young guys coming up. Eric Cole's sitting there.

He got hurt. But he wanted to come back. Well, he wasn't. See, we had Gerber. Martin Gerber came in a whole year. He was the best goaltending of the year I've seen or been around in my time as far as what he did. And then when the playoffs came, he had a little hiccup,

and he got yanked in the Montreal series. They put Cam in, and Cam won the series. And then Cam went for a little hiccup. They put Martin Gerber back in for a game in the Buffalo series. People forget this. And then he got a shutout in Buffalo. And then he played the next game, and it wasn't so good, so they went back to Cam.

And then Cam played the rest of the Buffalo series and Edmonton so but gerber was actually our goalie all year cam just kind of came in and but young kid and he didn't have any fear but we had all these old guys mixed in with these younger guys and it was just a perfect mix and you just you kind of knew like like wit was an older guy at the time not super old but been around been around. You just, we're not going to lose. Like, this is our last chance. Like, we're putting it all out here. And, you know, obviously you say that now because it worked out. But that's how it felt.

It's just amazing to, because we were at a game this year. You guys pounded Edmonton in Carolina. The atmosphere, we talked about it on the pod. It's back. And you were mentioning you were there. There's nobody there. And then all of a sudden, game seven, you're lifting the cup. And it's turned into one of the best atmospheres in the NHL.

It is. I mean, I know I'm biased, but I did say it was brutal when I got there. Yeah. The atmosphere there, and this whole year we've had unbelievable crowds. I don't know if we've had cellos every year, but I don't see any empty seats. But they don't sit on their hands. Like, they enjoy the game, and it's loud. It's a party.

It is awesome. So it's a great environment, and it's a great story. I mean, we're rooted now. It's 25 years of whatever been there. It's not a new thing anymore. These kids have grown up with the Carolina Hurricanes, and it's a small town. It's a small market.

But, I mean, the fact that we're supported this well and the atmosphere is awesome. I think it's a great entertainment value when you come watch us there, and they appreciate that. I mean, we have a good team. We try to play a style that's fun to watch. And the fans and the players have kind of got us a little unique thing going. And I know the search thing, the people like it. It's not going to matter to me what you think because the fans like it and when they first told you it was going

down were you like what no no see this is i'll set the spread straight here i came up with to justin williams in the summer i said willie we got to do we my first year coach i said willie we got to do something here for the people and i i'm just going to give you a little idea here or something when i they're in the lockout back and whenever the hell that was i went over to switzerland and when when gary cut the season off i got on a plane went over play for a month in uh cloten and i go they did this thing after the game and i thought it was hilarious right they they get together i don't know what's going on, and they rant. After they jump into the stands, and the crowd's all going bananas. This is hilarious.

He goes, oh, all right. Boom. Then he got the guys together, and they took this thing and did it, and that year was phenomenal. So it was – I'm all for it because it's not about – the whole idea of it was the cameras are off. The game's over. No one thought, okay, the cameras are going to keep rolling and make it a big deal and they didn't by the way this it only became a story halfway through the year but it had been

going on the whole time do you know what i mean i love how it was your idea though but then one game you probably looked and saw them bowling martin nook down the middle and you're like what is this no it's fun it's good they were having fun listen we've had holyfield came into our room and then he goes man he didn't know anything about hockey and did a little speech for us and then he's like i'll go out there and you know they just having a good time i just think it's pretty cool and i mean now this year they've kind of toned it down and they just you know run into the glass or whatever i don't even really know because i don't really watch what's going on after but the fans fans still stick around and, you know, it's for them. It's not for anyone else.

Back to that cup. I mean, I think it's like when I think of it, it's you and Chara in terms of when you're lifting it. It's two of the most emotional, coolest celebrations of lifting. And I mean, I can't imagine what went through your head and what you went through to get there right at that moment. Well, you know, listen, as a kid, that's all I dreamt. I didn't dream about making a Hall of Fame. I didn't dream about, you know, anything. That's what I dreamt about.

Like, literally, every day I was like, I want to hoist that thing. And I want to be the first guy to hoist it. You know what I mean? Like, I want it. And to actually be going, holy shit, this is going to happen. You know what I mean? I, I want it, like, and to actually be going, holy shit, this is going to happen. You know what I mean? I can't, I still got goosebumps thinking about it. Like, I'm like, and I, everyone kind of gives me grief.

Oh, you took it from Gary. I go, I couldn't hear what was going on. You know what I mean? It was so loud in there. And I just saw him kind of, I'm like, this is my, I mean, you know, like, I've been waiting forever. You know, and it's still one of the, it is the greatest day of my life. I mean, just being real. I mean, that's, you can't beat that.

I wish everybody could experience that because it was you lived your dream it's it just sit there all your days training everything you were thinking about was like for here and it and it paid off right so not everybody gets that oh no none of us did except for our raise lifted it like six times um as a captain and a leader were you a guy were you calling guys out when they needed to be called out? Were you more quiet? Like, how did that go about? Yeah, I was, I never, I was not a rah-rah guy,

and I kind of always tried to pick my spots. You know, I remember watching, I mean, you take everything, I remember I played for a long time before I got to Carolina, and I was a 35-year-old captain, first time. So I'd seen, you know, some guys that were good, and some guys that weren't, and I hated the ones that were always. So I'd seen, you know, some guys that were good and some guys that weren't. And I hated the ones that were always like every game, you know, saying something. And they're not following, like, you know what I mean?

Like, do your job first. And then you can worry about your job. So I was always make sure I'm taking care of my job. And then guys hopefully will see I'm doing my job and you'll just do your job. Now, if I got to go and call it a young guy, sure. But I try to do it usually on the side, you know, like a grab and they're not good enough, you know, or whatever. I didn't make a point in front of everybody.

That's just not my thing. And I thought always as a captain you had to save your time when, like, let's get our shit together. You know, you can't go to that every game. So it was like, this is the time now. You got to wait. So after game six, loss in Edmonton, shut the doors. You know, I'll never forget,

Lavi started coming out of the coach's office. And I made eye contact. We just looked at each other. Called him off? Well, he knew. He ran the other way? He just said, okay. He turned and went back in.

I was standing. You know, he knew, man. That's what made him good. He didn't need to come in turned and went back in. I was standing. He knew, man. That's what made him good. He didn't need to come in there and this is about us. He knows. And so we had a little powwow and said, shit, we're going for game seven. Give us a shit. We're going home.

Let's just do it there. I mean, you know, simple stuff. But that's what made him a good coach. And he is a good coach. Lavi gets it. Speaking of coaching, when did you decide that that's what you wanted to get into like i didn't no man i did this this travel thing i did this for 2021 years i was like i want to get in management so my first year done they put me as

the development guy in charlotte best job ever i could drive two hours go down and play with the young kids and help them out on my schedule i'm coaching my son yeah this is great but i'm like you know it's not quite i'm not doing really anything i'm trying to help the young guys out but they're in the minors two or three of them are gonna play maybe you know the guys up top are the guys that are the guys so like what else can I do? And Paul Maurice goes, can you come coach, come help coach? I said, I want to coach my son and be with him. He goes, okay, well, just come to the home games and the home practices.

That's nice. It's the best gig ever. I should have just stayed with that one because I'm like, this is awesome. I get to the games. I'm on the ice with the team when I can. And the rest of the time I'm with my son. We're doing our thing, and I'm having the best time ever but you're not really impacting anything you know like if you're not there with your foot on something like what are you really

doing like i was kind of helping but not really so then it got to then jimmy rutherford goes you i want you to coach when kirk came in more full-time kirk muller came in and i'm like so i picked five or six weekends to go with my son and i missed the team you know so it was gradually starting to go and then they put me in full time and i said i'm going to do this i'm going to let's just go if i can try to do it so i have seven years i was assistant coach and went through bill peters i went through you know that's how long you're assistant there yeah but, but I learned. See, to me, that was my education. Bill Peters was a smart guy, hockey guy, like really smart guy.

So I learned a lot from him. Now I learn a lot what not to do too. So there's the good and the bad, and I felt like, okay. And then I finally said to Ronnie, one time, when Francis was a GM, I said, look, this is going nowhere now. I'm an assistant here. Like, I got to put me in Charlotte. I'll be the head coach down there now I'm an assistant here like I gotta put me in Charlotte I'll be the head coach down there I'm gonna either do this or not do this I can't keep

this this is not good enough and he's like well we had we think he had old Samuelson there at the time his buddy you know and they're not gonna get rid of him so I was like just kind of pissing in the wind a little bit and then just by fluke our new owner comes in and he doesn't know me from adam he doesn't have a clue of how you can do this i've been there seven years and we've been losing so how good can you be that's what he and that's what i would think too if i just walked into a new environment and don't know anything about hockey and we're losing for 10 years straight and you're part of that but assistant coach you know how much are you really doing you know and and so he i don't know what made him all right here gave me the keys but he was like and it's work here you go and so far it's been great so throughout those um i guess the later part of

the seven years as the assistant when you wanted to be a head coach did you ever interview for any job no no not head no one would give me one so no one i and i won't say the team because but they haven't done too well but they're starting to do a little better but anyway and two college jobs though so i called so i i can we can say this doesn't matter but i called michigan states i've been there and a buddy of mine the job opened up and i'm like all right i thought it was a slam dunk i thought i played in nhl for ever i've been an assistant coach here now for seven years you know michigan state's been going downhill put my name in the hat i'll see if they give it to me i'll take it kind of thing

they won't call me back and i'm like really and then well and the guys well i didn't finish my degree so you don't have a degree we're not it's a non-starter i go yeah but i'll even take classes to finish it just you know cardinal's doing that in wisconsin i mean you know yeah whatever but like and they wouldn't do it and then i called another place and the athletic director just said we don't we don't want to deal with it you know we already have another guy and i said okay so i said all right i guess i'm out of this and then tom took over and gave me the job so it was probably a blessing that i didn't get those jobs but you know it's interesting i literally thought they're gonna hire me i mean that's crazy you mentioned now you'll learn what and what not to from bill peters what are some other coaches you maybe pulled stuff well i was, I was on staff with Paul Murray.

The guy's the smartest guy going. He knows what he's doing. Obviously, he's still coaching for how many years? 100 years, right? So he knows what he's doing. And then I said Kirk Mahler and John McClain, that was that staff, and they're still going to their assistants now. But it's like you're pulling for everything.

And then as a player, you've got coached. I just mentioned LaViolette, I mentioned all these guys that you take stuff from all of them. And then at the end of the day, you hope you know what you're doing, you just trust what you do, and, you know, you go at it. As a coach, are you a guy who almost likes when a guy, not fights back, but speaks his opinion back to you? Yeah, like you want to be honest.

We have honest discussions. We have to because I'm going to get into your face about stuff that i feel is wrong to help you you got to know that i'm just trying to help you i mean this is i got no stake in the game other than i'm trying to make you better to make us win i mean i'm not going to get on you just to get on you so i'm hard on the top guys i push them and i think they appreciate that i think i mean you know i think that's the way you have to be i mean that's just honest. I'm just trying to – I try to be honest with them. I mean, you can't – there's a point where you probably can't be

as honest as you want to be, you know, but I do try to say it how I see it. That first year you took over, unbelievable season. You go to the Eastern Conference Finals. Like, did you see that as the year began or were you kind of just learning as you go and almost shocked at the success came in and i said we have i have a great video coach chris how fine this guy he's been around for all these guys they matter more than people think too by 100 this guy is as smart as a whip and i said huff this is what i envision this is what i want to do you know and and we kind of sat in the whole summer, and we just put clips together and stuff.

And I'm like, okay, we want to play this way. It's actually a little radical on how we're going to do some things. When we started, I'll never forget it. First game, preseason game down in Tampa. And I got a minor league lineup, and they're dressing their guys, which is good because those guys don't want to play. So it's okay. Everyone's like, well, man, you're gonna get pumped i remember no you watch because

and we put in a system and we win 5-1 in a preseason game they don't care but it mattered to us because i'm like okay i think we're on to something and then bill we i don't think we lost the game in preseason and if i had gone the other way i'd have been like oh this is terrible we're gonna get pumped now we start that season the first half season we we were 500 but we were dominating so i i'm like i don't care about the scores i'm watching the game we're the better team that night we're the better team that night we're the better team that night and i'm like even though we didn't win because we couldn't score we were but i'm like it's this is the way to do this and thankfully our owner who i was a little worried was going to be like,

you know, he's like – because he's also an analytic guy, and the analytics were off the charts that we were doing things right. He's like, just stick with it. And then all of a sudden, in the second half of the year, we didn't lose a game. You know, it was just like it all just came together. So I guess at the end of the day day that beginning part was just a validation i think we're on to something and when you say radical what was it in terms of i can't tell you that

oh shit no i gotta watch the tape you just look how teams play now i think they've they've adopted kind of way more aggressive style yeah like it's just fly around let me just it's there's little details on everything but i think it's just that mindset of, listen, let's just be aggressive. Let's go. I mean, you're going to give up some chances here or there, but I'd rather lose a game that way than sitting back. When Brent Burns came in, you talked to him this summer. What a great addition.

Couldn't be better. I always say I wish we had him 10 years ago because he'd be a lifer. You don't get rid of a guy like that. Like, no, we got him at the back end, but I'm happy to have him for one, two, three, four, five, how many years he wants to keep playing. Such a good dude. He was in Dallas. I talked about my son. His son plays with my son on the team.

So we were down in Dallas yesterday watching our kids play. He's in the stands and I'm on the bench. But he is what he is, you know, a little quirky on things, but takes care of himself. He's 37 now. I think he can play a long, long time because he has dialed in on what I do and how hard I work and the most refreshing thing about this guy, he's done everything except win which i love that because

he wants to win but he's he wants to get better he's 37 he's done everything and he's like every day how do i get better oh man i messed up here what do i got to do different because you know he's different system he's doing it differently he he's like a kid trying to get better all the time and that says a lot about the guy during the nhl events like there's certain topics he'd always come up like the shootout the playoff format would you like to see the playoff format go back to one to eight or even one through 16 or are you content what it is right now yeah it's probably what are we there's a little more i don't know the right words to use on that i mean sometimes you're getting some of the better teams get knocked

out right away maybe but everybody's good now. Honestly, 1 through 16, that matchup's not a slam dunk like back in the day when I was a kid. I don't know why it was, but it was like a slam dunk when they did it like that. I don't think you expand the playoff. I don't think you can add more teams. I think that's going to water it down a little. The regular season should matter, and it really almost doesn't like you got teams that are you know strong that's hard to be good for 82 games and you what do you what do you really get out of it yeah those two three matchups you know you're

losing you get a game seven at home yeah okay thanks for 82 games six months of doing it right like it's really not that much bonus yeah i saw crosby yesterday said he wishes they went back to one through eight it's not necessarily fair it is tough to see good teams out that early but the east is just it's unbelievable this year it's so hard in our division it's hard like i don't know every game honestly there's no easy games and do you talk about the trades like are you guys gonna try to make a move here? Well, yeah, I think so. I mean, we've got a lot of cap space because we got injuries. It sucks because we had the move done.

Pats ready. It felt so bad. Pats ready was the man. Think about this. We played with him all year without him, and now here he comes. And he had three goals already, didn't he? Yeah, three goals, and he hadn't even got going. He was still rusty as heck, and I'm like, this is it. They're going to put us all over the edge. And then, you't he? Yeah, three goals. And he hadn't even got going. He was still rusty as heck.

And I'm like, this is it. They're going to put us all over the edge. And then, you know, I hate it for him. I mean, he's such a good guy. He was working so hard. And it was the perfect fit. Exactly what we needed, you know. But you got to move on.

I mean, that's life. Yeah, he was a guy in a seven-game series. You know he's getting three or four. Right. At the right times and in the right situations. You know, all the things that you, you know, you got a little leak on your boat. He was the series, you know he's getting three or four. Right, at the right times and in the right situations. You know, all the things that you got a little leak on your boat, he was the plug, you know. So hopefully we find something.

You're here coaching the Metro team for the All-Star game. What are you going to tell the team before the game? I know they're all having fun out there. I can't tell you that. No, honestly, listen, they're there to have fun. I usually give a little, like, what do we want to do here, boys? I mean, I got no skin in this. It's not going on my record, you know?

Like, I mean, you want to play? You're here for, what, an hour? You can mail it in. That's fine by me. You want to work a little harder? You might actually have fun. That's what I think. I mean, if you really

boil it down you put you same amount of time how many all-star games you playing i only played one turned down one but not even allowed to do that now i don't know but they back then it was like you know they call the team you're the guy do you want to do it no i'm going skiing with my kids because that's what i plan to do so no problem so yeah i didn't i mean but it was great it was in philadelphia so i was like 21 and the game was in philadelphia you want to see a great moment this is a hockey's about memories right creating memories your whole career whatever i'm 21 gretzky lemieux all these guys are in i'm the only flyer in the event so they get their ovations it's loud as hell i'm guess who gets the loudest ovation coming out this clown right here and i'd

only been there for three months my first year there they didn't matter it didn't matter that's we talked about the flyer fans i was wearing a flyer jersey that kid whoever it is like they're making sure everybody knows he's our guy you know know what I mean? It was amazing. Longest ovation of the night, this guy. Like, come on. I mean, that's pretty special. That's unreal. Morning, Matt, is not my specialty. I just want to make up for my early error.

You had 1,295 total points in 1,643 games played. So you're picking up points. Yeah, I added the points up. Yeah, I screwed up. Well, that's playoffs too. Yeah, including playoffs. No, listen, I was all right. I'll give you props, man.

That's all, yeah. Actually, you mentioned you play to win Stanley Cups, but you're a name that's always brought up. Is he going to get into the Hall of Fame? Do you even think about it? I don't, except honestly. I know you say people bring it up to you. Because, no offense to any of the guys that got in there,

if you just took my bio and you stuck it next to the because no offense to any of the guys that got in there if you just took my bio and you stuck it next to the guys that have gone in like wait a minute he's got more goals he's got more assists he's got a stanley cup more games he's done this he's done that like then you stick the picture there go no he's not we're not all the time i'm like okay then just stop talking about because every freaking year it gets brought up and i gotta do interviews about it it's like if i get in, then they stop talking about it. Or just say he's not going in. You know what I mean?

Because it's constant. It's just like, hey, it'd be great if it happens. And I said this last summer when I didn't get in. I'd like it to be sooner than later because the people that helped me get in there, your parents, the people that matter, then they're, I don't know how much longer they got. My dad's health. Those are the people that got helped me get in there your parents the people that matter then they're i don't know how much longer they got my dad's you know health is you know those are people you want to thank yeah it'll be like got you to do what you're doing and if they're not around and like people you want to be able to thank right yeah so hopefully if it happens sooner than later if it doesn't yeah yeah it is i just won last one we got the stadium series coming up in a couple

weeks as raleigh all fight up for that big outdoor game oh it's i mean i hope the weather's great right because golly it is such a cool i think where they got it like we have a great arena or football stadium that's right across from the rink and the sites are gonna be good apparently it's one of the better ones i guess they say the way it's set up and the crowd will be great like the people are jacked about it and it's just a novelty i don't know if you guys have been to these games i've never been to one right so it's i love doing the thing everything one time right like just checking off the list so for me it'll be cool just to sit back and kind of watch these guys i think for the players it'll be exciting their families like you just already tell like they're kind of this will

just be cool and then move on from it but i think i'm excited for the town they you know we're supposed to have it and then covid hit and like let's let's give these people something they deserve they deserve a game like this well we can't thank you enough unbelievable career great coach so good luck the rest of the way appreciate you guys having me on thanks for doing your homework you know i mean i was actually surprised i thought this would just be you be a half-assed gong show, but you did your jobs, man. Appreciate it. That's why I kept my mouth shut. It would have been. That's why I kept my mouth shut.

Perfect. Biz knew he couldn't ask you. Thanks again. You got it. Huge thanks to Rod Brindamore for sitting down with us the other day. Awesome dude. We had an awesome chat with you. Hopefully everybody liked it out there. Moving right along, Biz, your boss, Gary Bettman, the 30 years as

commissioner of the NHL, longest anybody's been running the league. I mean, come on, man. At the end of the day, he's your daddy, Biz. He's your daddy. He is? You think a little bit? Well, I guess you do call him King Jung Bettman, so I'll say no. Keep going. A lot of people talking about his tenure,

what he's done right, what he's done wrong. Has he been good has he been good bad for the league i mean personally i think he's been outstanding revenues have never been outstanding very good i'd say overall i'm with you all right anybody who could set up a hockey league where i could get 500k guaranteed he's a fucking genius so i will slob that knob till the end of time. Kim Jong, Bettman, baby! Put fucking boards on the ads. Put fuck, or boards on the ads. Ads on the boards. Put fucking ads on my fucking forehead. Great job, Gary Bettman.

Happy 30th. Why aren't you a big fan? I didn't even say I wasn't a big fan. I think that it's just a little ridiculous to stay outstanding. I mean, I think overall he's done a good job but i also think we're looking at a commissioner who's been in charge for three different lockouts or strikes i believe um which is more than major league baseball nfl and the nba combined in that time so when you you're maybe the fourth biggest sport

in the United States, some say the fifth or sixth, and you have that much time missed to issues involved with CBA and what owners want and Bettman's the guy in charge, it's hard for me to say it's been outstanding. When you talk about the revenues going up,

which it certainly has, every single league's revenues have gone up. I mean, that's just what happens over the course of 30 years. That's not anything that you could look at and be like oh my god oh my god look at the revenues are up from 30 years ago no shit dude my boiler broke after 30 years too i mean like you got to understand over time the revenues are going to go up um i i think he did a great job post covid in terms of getting the league back up. They were able to get the Stanley Cup final played. They were able the next year to have a different type

of season that played out with the Canadian division. That was really good work. I also look at the fact that we don't have a best on best internationally right now. It's hard to say he's not somewhat involved in that. So there's positives and negatives. He was able to get the league away from, in quotations, the violence of the early 90s and prior to that and make the game definitely safer, which is a good thing. At the same time, the game probably isn't as entertaining, some people will say. You will not see a crowd get as fired up as they do for a fight when anything else happens. That's just what happens. Now, I think that the planned fights,

even though there's a lot of guys not playing anymore because of that, is a good thing that those are gone. But an aspect of emotional play and passion has kind of been taken away from the game in the regular season, I'll say. So the game's as fast and as skilled as it's ever been, and he's been at the helm for such a long time. There's some great things, but if you look at the entire big picture, saying outstanding to me is crazy.

No, no, that's a very fair assessment and a lot of great points, Witt. So I guess you could go into the lockout situation, and I think that part of the narrative is, and I think that part of the narrative and narrative is and I think that you might agree with it where he kind of like the top eight teams control most of the league and he kind of meets with those guys and they decide on what goes on and he basically protects those guys I think that the hard cap has been something that he's really stuck by where outspoken agents like Alan Walsh might be able to put up a better point as to you know why that hurts the league in the long run why the players get stiffed out of it I think he recently

posted something about like salaries compared to the other three major sports now mind you I would probably compare them most to what is it baseball and basketball I don't think it's fair to put up against football because that is just an absolute juggernaut whereas like yes NBA players do make I think the top players make 44 to closer to 50 million whereas in the NHL the top earned earning player is making 12 yes there is also double the amount of revenue and half the amount of players. So from that perspective, it's pretty close as well as with baseball, but baseball does have a little bit of a different dynamic, which you could just say the, I think the,

the TV right deals that they have that put a lot of money in their pocket. The what's the other thing where the, the top end teams kind of pay down to the lower end revenue sharing. There's, there's revenue sharing did i already say double the amount of games as well yeah so there's other things i know obviously bigger rosters as well but i think from from what the players are being guaranteed to get paid and from the way that it has grown in comparison to those other sports where maybe

in a sense playing you know fourth fiddle in in the states especially from from uh from a game perspective so i think he's kept up with pace um agree completely with the best on best i think that that he definitely has fumbled the ball i've been adamant for the past like probably three four years on here about saying fuck off don't don't give it the olympics i don't really care about the olympics i know maybe the players might but the fact that that's one of the highest grossing if not one of the most grossing sports at the winter olympics where you could set up that infrastructure yourself and also control where it is where at least to start probably keep it north america whereas like sometimes it's being played in china It's like how many people are staying up for those games,

especially from an American perspective, is you're just losing that natural viewership. I think that the blockbuster trades or lack thereof are a result to that hard cap situation, which I think from a newsworthy perspective and garnering, getting more better players playing against better players and loading up come playoff time, I think from a newsworthy perspective and garnering, you know, getting more better players playing against better players and loading up come playoff time, I think that hurts us. I'd rather see it as a soft cap.

But other than that, man, just to control everything and for it to go the way that it's gone, I mean, it's really hard to nitpick overall. Some people are talking now about the TV viewership, but I think through all viewing platforms via streaming and through cable, viewership is up. R.A., I'll throw this one over to you. This is something. Hold on.

But before you go over to R.A. and he can go over the numbers in terms of viewership being down 22% and all that. Correct. The other thing that is an issue is the rules of hockey and how clueless people are and i'm not saying people are clueless how how confused we all are in terms of like dude we're talking about goal or no goal right this is still an enormous issue we got the offside reviews people can't i don't like the offside reviews either but i don't think you're ever gonna through through means of contact when it comes down to decision making i don't think you're ever gonna through through means of contact when it comes down to decision making i don't think that that's ever going to change that's just human error and going

over and over it and and having human opinion in that room who are making a decision i get that sometimes they're going to get it wrong but what are you going to do incorporate robots to make the call i don't well fuck they're taking over everything. You might as well. We got the fucking balloon up in the air. I don't know what the hell is going on with that. You guys heard about the Chinese balloon that's spying on us? Yeah, we gunned that fucker down about 20 days too late.

We waited until it got all the way. We let it get all the way across the country and then we got it. You know what I mean? So it was good timing. Yeah. What the fuck's going on, Navy? Wake up.

Would the skills competition put you to sleep? Wake up. So I don't think that that's ever going to leave. I think the offside review has just slowed it down to a whole other level. I don't want as many TV timeouts. I want shorter bursts. What's the main complaint about baseball right now? Attention span and how slow it is put the

fucking shot clock on these pitchers i mean all they're doing is so sticky tack on the ball during that time anyway they're getting bored so so we this will lead into the the viewership thing but like this new deal was done with espn and and and a lot of people said oh my god we're back on espn this is great i remember merle said right at the time he goes this is fucking brutal deal was done with ESPN and and and a lot of people said oh my god we're back on ESPN this is great I remember Merle said right at the time he goes this is fucking brutal he goes it's going to be on ESPN plus it's a streaming thing and now already you can go into what we were talking about after the Brindamore uh interview in terms of why viewership is down 22 percent from last year like that that that's crazy to me And it's because of the streaming,

the games are never on fucking ESPN, dude. Yeah. I got to go online. How many hockey fans don't even know how to do that? I think in the United States, it's, I live in Arizona and there's not a lot of games that are blacked out.

So when I go on that app, like I have access to seven, eight different games at a time sometimes, most of which that are on the schedule that night. R.A., I think what you're going to be talking about is the blackout situation, how many different streaming services and maybe even cable that you have to pay for in order to access to watch your team play. So I'll hand it over to you. You seem to know more about it.

Yeah, Bettman cited the games being on ESPN Plus as a reason that the numbers are down. He said seem to know more about it yeah betman cited the games being on espn plus as a reason that the numbers are down he said they're not worried about it quote our ratings are fine let's not get too carried away with ratings because viewership overall is up nationally now if viewership's up how ratings down i think it's because everything is so split up and spread out now it is you got you know one game streaming on this network you got one game that can be seen on this home market but but not one state over. It is a total clusterfuck. And like I was saying to you two the other day,

so many older fans are getting screwed. Guys like my old man, if I didn't get him the internet, he wouldn't be able to see any of these games. But there are a lot of fans that aren't going to get the internet. They've got flip phones. They're not going to sign up for new technology. And those are the people that are really getting screwed that would like to watch games.

So when you limit it to just the internet, a lot of people aren't going to be able to see that shit. So basically saying more people are watching, but the numbers for those particular outlets are going down. They need to fix the streaming issue too, man. Like the blackout rules, people in Montana, Idaho, they're hundreds of miles from teams and they're getting blacked out from two, three different teams.

That's where they're shooting themselves in the foot. I don't know how they fix that because everybody has all these contracts that fucking go head to head with this one. It does get very boring and confusing, but for his tenure business, to go back to your question there, I think he's been good with

the relocation stuff minus Arizona. That's a black eye for them committing to that the way they have. The concussion stuff, denying that shit, that's the bad stuff, but I don't know, man. The labor stuff, he does the bidding for the owners. They had three labor stoppages, but that's not Cary Bettman's fault. You know, the owners have way

more leverage in that league than they do in other leagues, it seems like, and they push the players around. So I don't really blame the labor shit on Bettman. The lottery system, I think, has worked. They've opened the game up. The COVID stuff, I thought he navigated very well. I mean, he was able to pull off two Stanley Cups during, you know, the whole fucking game up. The COVID stuff, I thought he navigated very well. I mean, he was able to pull off two Stanley Cups during, you know, the whole fucking worldwide pandemic.

The Olympic stuff, I know we haven't had him lately, but that came under his time. Yeah, I think he's done a good job. I think his positives very much outweigh his negatives in his tenure here. I would give him a grade of an A-. An A-. What would you think the biggest stain is? Not a best on best are you and denying the concussions denying the the the relation to cte and stuff like that which

is probably all related to like lawsuits and things like that if you admit to it who knows what you end up dealing with in terms of players suing and things like that. But, I mean, are we really going to sit here and say that concussions have no – like there's no effect of CTE from concussions? I mean, is that not completely false? I mean, I've seen fine. Yeah, that's why I said that's not – Yeah, you're doing good. All right, the question I had is for the report to come out

and say viewership's down 22%, how is it possible that he's saying the viewership's up? I don't understand the crisscross there. Well, because the ratings are typically done maybe with monitors on TVs. I think they can guess at streaming. So basically they're taking numbers from one maybe particular area, whether it's TNT or ESPN, saying, oh, these numbers are down. But all the people that are streaming on ESPN+,

those numbers are up, so there might be more people watching. It depends. Honestly, when they cite ratings, there's usually an asterisk on there to tell you who's citing it because there's Nielsen, which has been around forever, Arbitron, and plus streaming. That's the new one. So you've got to really see who's providing the numbers

and what exactly the numbers are for because it does get confusing who they're representing. But it does seem like more people are watching, but there's more headaches trying to find the games. They do need to fix that because every game people are tagging me, and it is bullshit. They're paying whatever.

They're paying cable bills, cable fees, sign up for one channel, and they can't even watch their favorite team. But like I said, on the whole, man, I don't have any major real issues on it so uh 30 anniversary man that's a that's a long time i think i think how much longer do you think he's been i think he's been commissioner longer than anyone else ever has been right oh as far as nhl yeah yes yeah he's the first actual commissioner they used to have a i don't know what the difference was between president and commissioner, but he's the actual first one to have that title. What was another topic?

I feel like this one comes up all the time. They ask Crosby about doing the playoff stuff. This is another one Bettman talked about. Sid said they prefer one through eight like I think a lot of people do, but Bettman was saying it's not as easy to just say, oh, we're going to do it now because then they have to recalibrate all the schedule for everybody. They've got to balance it all out.

Basically, it doesn't sound like they're going to go back to one to eight anytime soon. So we're going to continue to see, you know, top teams in the league get knocked out, you know, second round, third round, whatever. So it just makes it it makes it in a sense of like this. This regular season is so important and so long and such a grind. And then you don't necessarily get rewarded, right? So it is a tad unfair. Now, they're talking about the adding two games to create even more rivalries, which, I mean, two extra games? Is that really going to create these new or different

or expand these rivalries? I don't know, but it's not fair to see Toronto and Tampa play each other this year. It's just not. And I understand that that's how it works and it's kind of like oh woe is me play better get that number one seed but those fan bases don't deserve to get knocked out first round and that's me saying about the Maple Leafs yeah he said it involves a whole host of other issues that have to be addressed and well

he didn't get specific about it so I don't know if that was just his lawyer answer logistics answer but yeah it doesn't seem like it's around the bend anytime soon uh regarding the sale of the senators they got about 15 or more parties involved with the application process uh they basically have to pay the nhl a fee to look at all the numbers behind the scenes decide if they want to make a formal bid uh he said though whoever buys them they're going to keep them in ottawa and there's still possibility for a new arena there, which kind of ties back to what we were just saying about Florida, man. When your arena is that far away, it's such a deterrent, I think, for a lot of people to not want to travel, you know, 40 minutes. It is seriously, like, this is no.

All right, so Arizona ended up getting the land for free, I believe, in Glendale or a crazy bargain instead of Scottsdale. And I don't know this for a fact, but I think it's pretty obvious that there was definitely a deal, a better deal financially to have the arena in Sunrise as opposed to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. And it goes hand in hand with my fucking stupid, terrible house I have. When you have to do something, you're better off spending the money at the time

to make sure it's going to be good in the long haul. Correct? So it's like, don't try to patch it together like I have because I'm an idiot. Just do it right when you do the job. And if you end up not doing that, you get crushed. You end up paying more along the lines of over the years, things going wrong. Well, they cheaped out on Arizona and they cheaped out on Florida. And now you got these two fucking horrible wall i guess not anymore in arizona but florida you're stuck with this building in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around it besides a guardian angel that works at the yard house and and you're stuck with this horrible i mean i'm not gonna say horrible fan base there's some great honest uh loyal florida panthers fans but nobody wants to go to games out there.

It's a pain in the ass to get to. It only works for football, where there's eight games a year. Eight games a year. And there's a huge, huge parking lot, and they can tailgate all day long. That's the only time it's going to work if you want to put a field or any type of venue

30 to 45 minutes out of town. I mean, what the Patriots do it too, right? Yep. Yeah, down the Patriots do it too, right? Yep. Yeah, football works. Football also owns about two days of the week, so it's just a totally different story. A couple of signings while we were gone as well. The Capitals made two of them.

They locked up Dylan Strom with a five-year $25 million extension that will keep him in D.C. through 28. He's got 37 points in 52 games this year. 25-year-old forward. Would have been RFA this summer. And Sonny Milano was also extended. Three-year, $5.7 million deal. Comes out to 1.9 AAV.

He would have been unrestricted this summer, but he got himself a nice little raise from $750K this year and a little bit of stability. He's got 22 points in 40 games as well. Well, I mean, he went, where'd he go on a tryout? He went to Calgary. Calgary. So, I mean, to go on a PTO, man, you don't know what,

you could end up in Russia like I did or the AHL like Biz. He ends up getting a three-year deal. He's playing well there. So, good for both those guys. And some security for Sonny Milano as well as Dylan Stroman. I'll get to him in a second. But, you know, that's a bit of a bargain and not a high risk for a guy who could really pop off offensively.

I think there's some major upside, just like there was Dylan Stroman. I mean, he was third overall draft pick by the Coyotes. I don't think he ever really got an opportunity here. I think he was still growing into his body. He ends up going over to Chicago. A lot more offensive minded there but maybe his defensive game lacked a little bit and then i think that with backstrom being out and him getting those reps and having just he must have had a great off season he came in fucking

hot out of the gate he's been wonderful with the capitals and to fucking get a five-year deal 25 sheets talk about security man i'm so happy for the guy. And fuck, man, that's another team look out now that they're healthy. And I would imagine that he's what, going to be their third line center and he can provide some offensive upside. Maybe he's our second line center with that group, but nonetheless, man, fucking congratulations to both those guys. All right, moving along here. Biz, I want to ask, is there a team currently in a playoff spot that won't be at season's end oh i'd have to re-look at the the western conference but that buddy there's a team that's probably leading their division right now that there's a chance

they're not in it because it's so tight um currently currently in the east if i had to pick a team and and where you talked about the lack of their health, I'm a little bit concerned about the Penguins, although confident that they will make it. So that would probably have to be my pick in the East. You think the Penguins are more likely to miss than the Caps? Yeah. Yeah.

I'm more confident. Yeah, now that they're fully healthy, for sure. And then in the West? I got my West pick. I'll let you go on West and see if I agree with you. Vegas. You think they're going to miss now? Okay.

If I had to pick a team, man. I guess we should get to the news too. Stone, second back. Poor Mark Stone. That fucking sucks, dude. Back surgery is something I'm very lucky I've never had to deal with. But talking to people who have, it is horrible. I mean, anyone who's ever had a back issue, it's like you can't even breathe without feeling pain.

And this is his second one, I believe, on the same issue. I hope I'm getting that correct. But his second month, maybe it's not the same issue, but what? Within nine months, he's now had two back surgeries? Fuck, dude. So he's not going to be back till the playoffs. Eichel's struggling right now. Thompson's cooled off.

And this team, they can't win. So from leading their division and looking great, I think it was a six or seven point lead over L.A. who was second in the Pacific. All of a sudden, they're now just dropping like a frigging anchor. And the two wildcard teams, Edmonton and Colorado, they're not going anywhere. They'll both be in the top three of their division by the end of the season.

So you look at how Vegas is going, unless they can switch things around. But Mark Stone is such a big loss. It's like, how do you replace a guy that's so good at both ends of the ice? I'd have to piggyback that. I don't think there's a better pick, especially with the Mark Stone is such a big loss. It's like, how do you replace a guy that's so good at both ends of the ice? I'd have to piggyback that. I don't think there's a better pick, especially with the Mark Stone news. And, yeah, it's – And, dude, if they miss the playoffs, holy shit. Last year you missed the playoffs.

Shit happens. Good teams miss the playoffs, you know, once in a while. It's not that shocking. But when you do it two years in a row and you make all these big moves it's like that's when you start panicking like what what is the actual issue here I don't know if guys all of a sudden are tuning out Cassidy which seems to happen relatively quickly I just that team is such a bizarre like the whole organization is so bizarre the way things have gone down we've talked about over and over for three years now,

and you see this team come out gangbusters to start the season, and then to go on the run they've been on these last eight games. There's something there that's an enormous issue. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but not having your captain and your best player, well, I mean, one of your two best players in the lineup. It's like, I don't know how they recover from that. Yeah, he got successful back surgery Tuesday, January 31st. The team said he will be out of the lineup

and definitely expected to make a full recovery, but obviously doesn't help him this year. Also, too, I think their fans, excuse me, might get spoiled early with that. First year, they think every year is going to be that way, but that's not how it works in the NHL, and they didn't make the playoffs last year in danger, possibly, of not making them this year. So don't know you think you think that

probably happened a little bit biz they think it's going to be every year that you get that that first time out of the gate oh yeah i think it's created some psycho fans in that in that area for sure uh going back to stone too and like listen i'm not a fucking doctor but i you know his stride is his his stride tends to be a little bit on the choppier side and that's how I tended to skate I didn't have a very fluid stride and I think that just over time there that just becomes a lot of wear and tear with also trying to keep up out there with all these fast new players so talk about a guy who's got a lot of hard miles on him as far as like his stride and just how hard he plays.

And, you know, the fact that he's at the very defensive forward where he's playing up and down the ice constantly. He's a shot blocker. He does it all. Man, I talk about it all the time more than I talk about those DHM detox and give them away at weddings. Like how many times have I pulled my L5 S1 as a result of that short, choppy stride? I don't know what part of his back he's getting surgery on. There was an opportunity for me to get surgery on that L5 S1. I declined because when I'm told, once you have the first one, it's just a domino effect where they keep

going, keep going. It's always you telling the airline stories, Whit. I was sitting next to a guy when we were on the way down to our Pink Whitney commercial, and I just got chat with him he was going to a golf tournament and i said oh like you know enjoy it have fun he goes oh i better he goes i'm out for the next nine months with back surgery after like this round and i'm like oh no that sucks and he's like yeah this is going to be like my 12th one and i was like 12th and for a guy who retired early and all he wants to do is golf i I just felt the pain like rolling up his tongue when he told me that. Well, they say it's like any part of your body, it's like go to every single length to not get surgery, any type of rehab possible before you get surgery,

your back being number one. I mean, it's just never going to be – you get surgery on your body for the most part. I mean, there's obviously minor issues that can end up being better i mean tommy john surgery is incredible it's changed people's live pictures in terms of like you almost come back stronger but most surgeries it's never quite right again you're back being number one in terms of you might feel better again but you're never going to be what you were before and to see a high level athlete going through it like stone is it just makes me feel so bad for him i played with another guy martin hansel he was going through the back issues all another big

guy who wasn't the best skater right yeah just it's just hard on the body man what is there a current team out of the playoffs right now you think that will get in by the season's end yeah i said the islanders um maybe a little bit of a reach for me. But then in the West, I will go with Calgary. They're actually probably the only team who has a chance. Nashville is just like the definition of mediocrity. I don't see them getting in, even though Saros is probably – fuck, man, Allmark's just lighting it up. But Saros might be the guy for the Vesna right now, him, Sorokin, and Allmark.

So maybe that gives them a somewhat like fighter's chance. Allmark's just lighting it up, but Saros might be the guy for the Vesna right now, him, Sorokin, and Allmark. So maybe that gives them a somewhat fighter's chance, but I think Calgary comes out hot and ends up getting in. What about you, Biz Nasty? I'm not going to sell Calgary. Well, yeah, you put on them. If you're asking who I think has the best chance, I actually think the Islanders on the outside looking in have the best chance.

I just don't think they will make playoffs. And that's more of a hope than actual facts because front to bottom, their fucking lineup looks good. And now all of a sudden if they get hot offensively, look out. Because they got the goaltending. That pellet is back in the lineup now. So if they catch some steam, and as you said already, if they make playoffs, that's chipping a chair for the Islanders. I could see them going to the Eastern Conference Finals like that

because that's just a playoff-style team. So I know I'm contradicting myself and saying I don't think they will, but out of every team outside looking in, I think they're the biggest threat. You can't, like, pick them after Butch Goring dropped his nuts on your face on Twitter. So I understand. But I've said a few times on the pod, they're not making playoffs. He asked me, is there one that's outside looking in

who I could see making playoffs? Yes, the New York Islanders. I mean, Calgary Flames, they just haven't had their mojo all year. Huberdeau was banged up early. I don't know if that injury is still lingering. There's been a big enough sample size of Huberdeau was banged up early. I don't know if that injury is still lingering. There's been a big enough sample size of Huberdeau there to see things aren't necessarily clicking, at least so far this year. So based on what I saw in his offensive capabilities in Florida, my guess would be that he's injured of some sort and trying to play through it because there's no other explanation

for me as to why he's not putting up the numbers like he was um could it be not adapting to Sutter's system um my understanding is that there's a divide maybe in the locker room as to the the players that had success under Sutter's system especially last year who truly believe in him and maybe some some guys who have kind of given up or maybe not given him a chance based on the antics that they're seeing. Like, I don't know if we talked about it already, the rookie who they asked about in the lineup. Yeah, we talked about that a few weeks ago. Yeah, just like little examples, like the Huberto, where was he?

And my understanding at that time, Huberto had gone down the tunnel to get treatment on the table for this injury he had early on. And a new guy coming to your team and a guy who's accomplished what he's accomplished maybe show a little bit of respect and i think that he viewed that as disrespectful but i don't think that he's also coming off of his ways and his guard because sutter's gonna beat the sutter's drum he did it in la he he's done it wherever he's gone. He had success in LA doing it, though, right? To the point where even when the players were, like,

mutinying against him, they were like, let's win to fuck over this guy. But it's just like, well, he still gets the credit for it. So I just, I'm not seeing this team buying in at any point. I'm not seeing any change. A big component to that, and i know that the backup goalie is at vladar yeah we used to be with the bees he's kind of taken over as the number one as far as now there's no way they get anywhere if markstrom doesn't get back to where he was last

year and that's just plain and simple something's not clicking right now and i just don't believe enough in it for them to to figure out their ways in this short period of time. You just got to think tree living, as crazy as it sounds, is just really hoping Huberto is injured because the $10 million doesn't even start until next year, and that's eight years of 10 or 10 1⁄2, whatever it was. So it's pretty scary to bring a guy over and sign him to that and see the production be at these unbelievably record-setting numbers in terms of a winger the year prior and the few years prior

and all of a sudden to have this. So I would lean towards your opinion, Biz, that he's probably battling something. You don't just drop off that quick like this. Well, one team that will not be going to the playoffs this year, the Montreal Canadiens, they do have a nice little future set up for them, but we were lucky to get Captain Nick Suzuki the other day, have a nice little chat with him in Fort Lauderdale,

so we're going to send it over to him right now. This interview is brought to you by Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is bringing big back with the big New Yorker. It's bigger and cheesier with six extra large foldable slices. It's huge. We were down at Fort Lauderdale last week looking for a snack. Me and G hit a Pizza Hut three or four times. This stuff is unreal.

And you can go big so you can go bigger with the biggest, boldest pizza in the game right now. The Big New Yorker is back and better than ever after nearly 25 years. Probably the only guy on the show old enough to have it way back in the day. I'm so glad it's back. Good stuff. Nice cheesy thickness. The dough is unreal the sauce is great and only for a limited time so you got to go big before it goes away also pizza

will be sponsoring the battle of the badge between nypd and fdny on the ice on long island april 15th gee you fight up for that how many slices you're going to walk back that day all right i've said it once and i've said it again, and I'll say it again. Pizza is my favorite food. So the fact that Pizza Hut is not only coming to Chiclets, but they're coming in on the Battle of the Badge, which is a great cause, just makes my heart warm. Like you said, it's bigger.

It's cheesier. Everyone knows me. Everyone knows I love a little cheese. So go to PizzaHut.com, order the Big New Yorker today. It doesn't get any better than that. Well said, buddy. Well said. Once again, PizzaHut.com, order the Big New Yorker today. All right, it's time to bring on our next guest, the 13th overall pick of the 2017 draft. This center is currently in his fourth NHL season, and he'll be playing in his second All-Star game this weekend here in sunny Florida.

And prior to this season, he was named the 31st captain in Montreal Canadiens history, as Biz said, the youngest ever. It's a pleasure to welcome to the Spittin' Chicklets podcast Nick Suzuki. Congrats on the All-Star gig, brother. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me. I think the first time we all met was last year at the All-Star game in Vegas.

Yeah, where were we? I don't know great dinner spot i'm forgetting the name of the top of that trip catch yes that trip's kind of like i've tried to erase that one from memory but second all-star for you that's unreal i can't believe it's your fourth year in the league it's like what the where the hell does the time go right yeah that's pretty much how i feel um kind of a veteran on my team right now, but yeah, it's fourth year. It's pretty crazy. I feel like the season, right, it's been a little bit of a struggle, but I think people kind of figured that going in, but close group of guys. Is it a fun locker room to be a part of?

Yeah, super fun. We have a great group, really close, like I said. A lot of younger guys bringing a ton of energy and new life, so it's always fun to go to the rink are you trying to force the other guys on the team to learn french because i've read that as the captain you were trying to uh to get the vocals and do you speak french he's trying to learn a little bit yeah wow c'est quoi ton ta favorite couleur uh rouge blue blonde rouge okay that's a good good answer for the month You just asked him favorite color? Favorite color. That's big. That's deep right there. How do you say favorite in French?

Even I'm... Favreur. Favreur. Favreur. Favreur. Favreur. Favreur. Favreur.

Favreur. Favreur. Favreur. Yeah. See, even I'm a little bit rusty on my French. We have to take it in Ontario, so... That's cool. Who are you learning from?

How are you learning? A few guys on the team, obviously, and then Babbel. You're a Babbel guy, huh? Big help. Just trying to learn little sentences around the city helps out. So ideally at some point maybe do a press conference with all the French media and stuff, just doing it that way. I mean, if I could do that, I'd be pretty impressed.

That means you crushed it. Yeah. I mentioned the captaincy in the intro. Were you surprised when the team approached you with it at first? Were you kind of expecting it? What was your reaction on that? Yeah, I think it was between a couple of us. Marty came up to me before the draft last year and said,

I think we want to name you, but I want you to take the time and think about it and just go over it in your head and come back to me later. So, yeah, I took the time and think about it and just go over it in your head and come back to me later so uh yeah I took the time through the summer and uh it was pretty much a no-brainer for me uh near the end of the summer. Did you have to like consult with anyone like talking about the captaincy given the fact that you were given time to think about it? Yeah I talked to uh Shea Weber uh was a big influence on me in my first few years there in Montreal and I mean he's uh was a great captain for me and all the other guys and just to lean on him and give get advice from him has been a bit big a big been a big help for me. So being such a young captain are there guys on your team that

you're leaning on this year like Josh Anderson guys like that to kind of help you transition to being the leader? Yeah we got a lot of great older guys um david savard big one um joel edmondson brendan gallagher's around even though he's hurt but just guys that i get to talk to and learn off of still uh they're support me 100 and that's what you want when you're a younger captain yeah i think one player it's been a huge name in montreal this year abba jack guy aka wi-fi would tell me what he's meant to the lineup as far as, you know, not to say protecting a guy like you, but kind of protecting a guy like you. No, he's his bodyguard. That's exactly why he's there. Don't touch Suzuki.

Yeah, he's been awesome. Just a big surprise for pretty much the whole NHL. And he's earned his right to be there with his play. And just a guy that, you know, what he's going to bring to the lineup. And Chris Weidman always says, I'm not going to do anything, but my partner will beat you up. Credit where it's due. Who gave him that nickname? Yeah, Chris Weidman actually gave him Wi-Fi.

I don't know if he likes it that much, but, I mean, it's blown up a lot. Oh, it's a lot worse. It's not going anywhere. A lot worse than that. He's, like, better offensively with the puck than I thought, too. much but i mean it's blown up a lot oh it's not going anywhere a lot worse than that he's like better offensively with the puck than i thought too yeah he's got sneaky skill which is pretty impressive and uh actually he was a smaller guy growing up so i think he played a skilled game and oh really all of a sudden he got huge so um yeah he got he still got his little man skill a big

body i played uh golf with mark staller, and somehow Wi-Fi came up. And I think we were talking about how the league's different, like some lack of toughness. And he's like, oh, that Wi-Fi guy had me in the corner. He's holding me, or I was holding him. And he said, you have three seconds to let go. And Stoll's like, okay, Jesus Christ. Is he a psycho like that off the ice too?

Oh, he's a great guy. He loves to have fun. But when he's on the ice too oh he's a great guy um he loves to have fun but when it's when he's on the ice he turns into a different guy but yeah he's a beauty off the ice you know you you came to Montreal you were traded before you'd ever played in the NHL so what was that like I mean it's got to be surprising and kind of shocking to be a first round pick and all of a sudden you're moved like how did you find out how it all go down yeah it was this big shock for me uh just finished a rookie camp game and uh gm called me into his office and i i thought i was either playing really bad or i was

getting traded so um yeah i thought when i got drafted all of us thought we're just gonna build the vegas team together and now most of us are gone out of that draft so um just a change like that but i was really excited to get to Montreal and have an opportunity to try to make the team pretty early and I don't know if I would have had that in Vegas. It's a dial back early in the career I was reading I started interviewing your dad you used to cry when he beat you at Chequers back in the day so you like had this competitiveness since you were a little kid I guess huh? Yeah I think he always tried to try to beat me so yeah I built that competitive drive up and I hate losing in anything.

Was that how you got in the game, your dad? Yeah, my dad was a big hockey fan growing up, played a little bit, but nothing too high. But he got me and my brother on skates pretty early, and just we loved the game, both of us, and now we're both pretty good hockey players. Yeah, it's insane how two brothers make it i was reading uh that you like went to a high school that was specific to the arts like what like what what brought you into that were you like a big painter like artist

like how did you get into that yeah i was elementary school it was not my choice but it was finger painting yeah yeah i actually did painting. Were you a good painter? I was an average painter, pretty good knitter. Actually? Yeah. No, I'm not even kidding. I was pretty good at knitting and doing that stuff, but it just kind of was a different school.

It was a private school in London, just more focused on the arts and kind of like less technology. Okay. Like what other things besides knitting and finger painting were you doing let's see crochet i don't know i think it's the same as knitting isn't it close yeah i remember like just we always had drawing and painting everything was based off like an art form so i was no like we didn't have tvs or like smart boards or anything but i would hear about it from my friends and i left in grade seven to go to hockey school so that was a big change is that what you

get for the guys on the team do you like knit them stuff for like christmas birthday i guess i remember making socks one year in school so maybe yeah mcdavid's still wearing them yeah exactly i'll make some for Cole. I want to keep going on this crazy school that you went to. Like, what brought you there? Your parents sent you there? Yeah, my parents, my dad's coworkers, kids went there. So they checked it out, thought it would be good for me and my brother.

And I was there until grade seven. So it's kind of a big part of my childhood for sure. Not a lot of athletes were going to that school but I was kind of me and my brother were the only hockey players pretty much there were you one of those kids obsessed with the game from the time you can remember like shooting pucks all that always trying to get better like watching NHL games at a young age yeah ever since I can remember I was watching games and playing mini sticks, river hockey, through my brother in that, of course. Older brother always got to shoot, but yeah, I was just pretty obsessed with hockey since a really, really young age.

And soccer as well. You played pretty high competitive soccer until what, the age of about 14? Yeah, I played soccer every single summer until, yeah, 14, just try to focus on hockey. But I knew with soccer, I hated going to practice, but I just liked playing the games. So I knew that, and I was kind of getting out of it. Do you think that transitioned well into, like, your vision on the ice?

Because that's probably one of the things you're most known for is, like, maybe slowing the play down and just the way that you're able to, like, you know, see and scan everything. Yeah, yeah, soccer's great for that. Finding holes, area passes. Conditioning was probably a big one. I played center mid, so I was running around everywhere and had to be all over the place.

So, yeah, it's a great sport. I know you said your dad never pressured you. Do you think that's probably a reason why you go out as far as you have because you didn't have one of these crazy hockey dads all over your shoulder all the time? Yeah, my dad kind of transitioned out of it. When we were younger, he was kind of a crazy hockey parent, but he felt like he was being an idiot,

and so he kind of dialed it back. Oh, shit, because he was yelling at the refs like my old man? I don't know, but he remembers being kind of crazy about it, and then all of a sudden he's like, I can't be doing this anymore, and kind of dialed it back on us. Yeah yeah i think i just kept me and my brother hungry and uh we never got ripped in the car like a lot of other stories so uh yeah he just always said good game and uh left it at that looking back my dad was just like he just wanted effort and then the days i was dogging it and i knew i was talking like, oh my God, this is an hour ride home.

My dad was just getting banged up with all the other parents, and no matter how I played, I'd be dashed forward and say, hey, great game. I'm like, did you even fucking watch the game? He's in the bathroom with Yolanda. You're like, dad, you weren't even watching.

Go ahead, Ari. I don't even know why I said it. Yeah, I don't even know how to follow that one. Now, going into the draft, obviously you had a dynamite junior career. Do you have any expectations heading into it where you went or did you just say, hey, fuck it, let the chips fall where they may? Actually, I had a great combine interview with Vegas.

So I had a good feeling about them. And, yeah, I didn't really know what area I was going to go. Just try to – my goal was to be in the first round at the start of the year. And luckily I was picked there. But, yeah, no really high expectations. How many teams interviewed you, and do you have any, like, Terry Ryan-type stories where you were getting grilled by one of the GMs? I think I had 28 out of 31.

Oh, my God, that's ridiculous. Yeah, the combine was a long week for me. It was a hard week. Do you remember the three teams that didn't? No. You're like, what the hell did I do against these guys? They must have not liked me. I was off the board.

When you say it was a great interview, more so that you crushed it and you felt real confident, or were you kind of vibing with Vegas' front office? Yeah, vibing with them. George McPhee seemed to have a good connection, and I think my answers did well for what they were looking for. Yeah, vibing with them. George McPhee seemed to – we had a good connection, and I think my answers did well for what they were looking for. They had three first-round picks, so they had a good opportunity to get me.

He's a pretty intimidating guy, McPhee, too. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he's been around, but he was great. I mean, he's the one that traded me, but the conversation that we had at the trade went really well. He just said it's part of hockey and had to make a deal for the NHL team. So, I mean, can't really do it. And you could have gone a lot worse places.

Going to Montreal must have been pretty cool. But going back, you said you grew up in London? Yeah. So, the GTHL, right? It seems such a madhouse, and obviously there's so many players. Was it almost a little better for you in London, where it's not such a mad rush in the youth hockey scene, where you're still coming down playing all those teams, right? Did you have a lot of good kids your age in London?

Yeah, our London team was really good. I think we won five of the seven years in minor hockey. No way. So we always had good players. Must have loved beating the Toronto teams, too. Well, the London Knights were funding it. He was making 100 Gs when he was 12. Did you dream of playing for London?

Because you were probably going to the games growing up, right? Yeah, I went to a ton of games. I always watched them on Fridays and stuff. So, yeah, it would have been cool. But I kind of like not playing in London, going and moving away to a billet family and trying to make the NHL. Do you still go back to London in the summers? Yeah.

Last summer was my first summer away from London, but every single summer other than that one, I've been going back and training there. Where did you spend last summer? I was in Montreal all summer, so I got to train and skate with a bunch of guys uh from around there well i was gonna ask you about spending your summers in london like did you get involved in that infamous skate that they have going there there's like dowdy's there

yeah is derzy there as well uh there's not but uh perry must be right there's tons of guys pairs dowdy couture horvat cairo. Yeah, we got a bunch of guys. So you just wanted to stay around Montreal this summer, like just to be like working out with more of the guys in the team, staying around the facilities and stuff? Yeah, so I bought a house last spring, so just kind of renovating that right now. And I just wanted to stay close and be around that.

And, yeah, trained with a few of the guys on the team and i got to participate in like a three-on-three league and in montreal so just to meet more guys around what's it like going through a renovation being captain of the montreal canadians because witt's going through one right now i'm going through one right now it seems like it's hell most yeah it's tough yeah it's a long process for sure uh but i mean my credit around the city probably helps out a little bit first world problems well it didn't help mcdavid fucking edmund did he was still bitching about his yeah exactly well the guy at least you know at least the super's like all right this is the captain of the canadians we gotta go fix his uh if you

want this plumbing issue to go away i'm gonna need some front row seats now i'm gonna need it i'm gonna need my kid to sing the i'm gonna need it i'm gonna need my kid to sing the anthem my wife needs a pair of socks too i hosted our uh contractor team and design team so i think it might have pushed them a little bit big time they had fun at the game that's awesome you had a great rookie yeah you made the all-rookie team but the next year you guys went to the stanley cup final like dom duchamp took all the football julian what like what changed with that coaching change that was able to propel you guys to go all the way to the Stanley Cup final at that time yeah I think we just had a team that was kind of underperforming and it was a weird year overall

but I think with Dom coming in just kind of gave our team a little more energy added some veteran guys and once we made the playoffs it just kind of clicked and we were playing some of our best hockey of the season just kind of kept ramping up and the city was had a different buzz to it so just going to every game was a different feeling did you have to pinch yourself at all during that i mean you know no one was expecting you guys to get that far then here it is the march all canadians back and you beat vegas too like yeah cool for you yeah that felt pretty good but yeah when we went to uh vegas for the first time it was a sold out building and we were

playing in front of nobody you didn't have any fans that whole run we had nobody and all of a sudden vegas it's the loudest building we've played in in years so it was such a change for us so much better though having the fans back that must have been outstanding that that run was crazy though like it's just crazy to see kind of what's happened since i mean it's probably been a little difficult for you even though you're playing a ton you're an all-star like you just want to be on a winning team but are you guys starting to see at least like the foundations in place to to change this thing around over the next few years yeah for sure um once marty came in uh just a different style of play brought a lot of good young talent in um i think our future is one of the brightest in in the nhl and

it's really fun to be a part of that but i know the struggles have been tough mentally just to go through that but i think we just have to look to the future and kind of grind it out like some of the other teams have done and i mean, you can see Colorado finished dead last, and now they're one of the best teams in the league. So it's kind of the process that every team goes through if you want to build something. Well, that clip ended up going viral of St. Louis working with Caulfield, and then he scored that exact situation in the game.

Is there a lot of one-on-one stuff, a lot of video work, a lot of meetings with with with st louis specifically yeah i don't know if you guys know him at all but he's probably one of the smartest hockey guys i've been around um just the way he sees things is is just different than every other coach i've i've been around and uh he's been in everyone's shoes um from fourth line to first line so i think he has great examples to every single player down the lineup and he has when he shows cole that cole pulls it off and um yeah he's just he's a special guy and uh everyone loves playing for him is there like a specific

example like that you had with him in that regard you said he just sees things differently where is this like a day-to-day thing where he's pulling you in and showing you something you're like how the fuck did you see that yeah he tries to leave me alone a little bit to to figure it out but whenever he sees something he'll pull me aside or on the bench i mean we talk about the power play a lot with him um but yeah he helps me on at five on five um a ton and just little video clips that he'll pull me aside and look at. Did you feel an added pressure when you were given the captaincy or given that amount of time that you had to think about it? Have you just been even keel and exactly the way you were before you got it? Yeah, I tried not to put any more pressure on myself.

Obviously, it comes with a bit more expectation in media and just being a good leader of the team. I think I've been doing a pretty good job of it. Just trying to be myself is the most important thing. That's what a bunch of guys told me to do, so I'm just trying to stick to that. Even in interviews, are you afraid of slipping up because all of a sudden you're dealing with the French media in Montreal?

Because I feel like they try to stir it up quite a bit. I mean, you're basically like the New York Yankees in Canada. Yeah. I mean, you don't want to say things that can be taken controversial. But, I mean, they do a pretty good job of helping us with the media and giving us pointers. If you say something, maybe you shouldn't say that our media team does a good job of trying to keep it down. Code red, code red.

So, yeah, we have a good team to help us through all that. When Marty first comes in that first day, obviously he has limited coaching ability. I'm sorry, limited coaching history. Shot at Marty right now. He did come from peewee hockey. I fucked up my words. But he comes in

not much of a coach in history but is that even relevant with a guy like him because of his history you just like automatically pay attention to the guy? Yeah I mean

it made no difference to us. Once he walked in the room everyone knew who he was and just what a career he had and everyone had respect for him right away so yeah it didn't really matter that he came from peewee

but I mean he might be one of the best coaches in the nhl already so uh gordon bombay and any examples of him coming in just like flipping out on you guys at all this year is he pretty level-headed i mean i feel like he's a positive energy guy but at some point has there been some games he's lost his mind the quick wick he's super positive uh some sometimes he thinks he's too positive but that's better than too negative yeah for sure um but yeah he doesn't really flipped out that much some some games where we have bad period he'll come in and try to fire the boys up but um other than that he hasn't had a big show yet and and for you personally are you somebody who's watching all your your shifts from the night before you Are you big into, like, watching the games you've played to learn,

or are you kind of just moving forward to the next game? Yeah, I watch a lot after each game, so I'm a pretty big student of the game like that. Yeah. I just want to try to keep getting better and try to watch other guys around the league too. And, yeah, I was going to say, are you watching on your off nights? Some guys don't even watch hockey, do you watch another nhl games a lot yeah uh whenever a bit of biz is on tv and try to catch it but hopefully he says something that ends up causing the controversy you guys must just fucking roll your eyes at some of the shit

i say then too right i like it okay it makes the tv fun did you like when i said that the islanders were a snooze fest yeah there you go played them it was two one so there you go shocker well yeah they can't score more than two so uh what you take with ipads on the bench i know that that's what a big talk this season oh ipads yeah yeah i'm a big ipad guy on the bench but marty won't let us use it until tv timeouts he blocks them okay that's that's like puts a timer on torts you can only block them but he doesn't want guys he wants guys focusing on the game i've gotten in trouble a couple times with them already for trying to use it not on a tv timeout but yeah guys are good at it though what's the what's the story behind uh it's caulfield and in uh devorah they have these

louis vuitton bucket hats yeah it doesn't seem much like christian devorah to wear a these Louis Vuitton bucket hats yeah doesn't seem much like Christian Dvorak to wear a Louis Vuitton bucket hat no Cole's really opened them up this year which is good to see uh Devo is a really funny guy and no one really gets to see it but Cole kind of brought that out of them but I don't know they've found these LV bucket hats somewhere and bought them and now they wear them on every after every time we went on the road they're always on the plane with them why what were they calling caulfield again the big cock you told us he's got a hawk does he have a well i don't think we can ask him is that when you guys were golfing that's when we were golfing that's what he said his nickname was but i mean remember he wouldn't say we're like what is he's like cock the webby webby gave said he was the cock that was his name

that's that's what that was weber's final touches on the organization. I was the thimble. I was the light switch, yeah. What were you, R.A.? Button on a fur coat? Yeah, I don't think I have a nickname about my peck. I don't think I have that. It could be a good or bad thing.

I'll take nothing. I'd rather have no nickname than a bad nickname. Is he the jester in the room, Caulfield? Oh, yeah. I mean, i don't know how much i like how he has that much energy every single day he just comes in dancing and singing and yelling everywhere and even his first year in the league right off the hop he was the guy talking the most in the room he was a bit shy at first but i mean the guys opened him up pretty

quick and he got comfortable and it was just his personality takes over every time um i remember like when i played in anaheim niedermeyer was the captain but getzlaff he was he was obviously a leader and like i was struggling most of the time but he would take me to the side and like talk to me like last year caulfield i know you're young but he was struggling right before marty came in do you ever talk to him like try to kind of like see how he's doing or are you kind of staying away from guys in terms of their own game no yeah we're really close so uh we talked about it a lot and just trying to help him through it and i mean yeah we were playing together and then he kind of just kept going down the lineup and it was kind of a dark time and he's never not scored i know so much it was hard and then when he got sent down toal, it was a pretty dark day and just felt bad for him.

I mean, he had a ton of expectations to win rookie of the year and stuff. So, yeah, but once he came back and Marty came in as a new kid and he's been playing unreal ever since. I mean, kind of the storyline was that maybe Ducharme's system put a bit of a stranglehold on the offense. Did you guys feel that was the case, or was it just a slump that you guys went through where he was collateral damage? Yeah, I think he was definitely collateral damage.

I mean, we lost Pricey and Webby and Corey Perry in one summer, so it was a bunch of great leaders and players. I mean, they played big minutes, and obviously Pricey was the best goalie in the league. So just losing that, and then we had a ton of injuries and a long playoff run. It was just a perfect storm that we've been saying. What did you learn from the worm in your time playing with him? He's just an interesting guy.

I love Pairs. I love how dialed in he is with his pregame. Oh, yeah. It's just every minute he knows what to do. He's got a Paul Correa-style stretch routine. He's all dialed in. is with his pregame. Oh, yeah. It's just every minute he knows what to do. He's got a Paul Correa style stretch routine. He's all dialed in. Coffee. Yeah, he's the best.

Yeah. I mean, he would like say, got to be moving at like this exact same time. So like everyone just waits for it. And like, you know where he's going to be every single point. So, I mean, he was awesome. Like one of the best guys.

Are you superstitious like that pregame? You have the same thing all the time it's more of a routine like that doesn't really affect me but yeah i got stuff that i do pretty much every game what's the what's the gotta be moving what's the what's the backstory on that i don't know he was just he was just sit there like when he first got him he would just sit there and then all of a sudden he'd stand up and walk out of the room, and middle of the way he's like, got to be moving. No one knows what it's from, so I don't know. He's talking to himself to get the legs going.

Yeah, I don't know where that came from, but it's just something we say now. You and Cole had pretty good chemistry right away. Is that something that's just inherent, like you don't even have to talk to each other? Like the first time you guys were out, did you kind of know where each other was going to be? Yeah, right away when I met that's just like inherent like you don't even have to talk to each other like the first time he's around you like kind of know where each other are going to be yeah right right away when i met him we clicked pretty well um he's the same age as my brother so he's kind of a little brother to me and uh our personalities are uh work well together he's more of the loud guy and i'm more of the quiet guy so we kind of balance each other out but uh yeah playing with him has been a ton of fun.

I know where he's going to be, and he's usually putting the puck in the net when I pass it to him, so it's a good pairing for sure. Have you ever done any acting, given that you were at that art school? Was that part of the gig? We had some drama, yeah. Not much acting, but little commercials here and there, yeah.

What do you call it when they throw things at you already? Improv? Improv. Improv. No, I'd be terrible at that. Okay. I'd be terrible. What about TV shows? What do you do with your spare time to keep entertained?

Yeah, TV shows. Netflix is a big one. I watch YouTube a lot more than Netflix probably, though. Like the content creators on YouTube? Yeah, like golf stuff um i watch good good a lot i don't know if you know who that is didn't they have some drama and break up some drama yeah do you know that do you follow the drama then yeah actually yeah okay explain it to us yeah they had two guys leave the group the kid grant left right yeah grant left

micah left i don't know i took an interest these guys a while ago. I've been following them for a while and these two guys left. No really big reason. I don't know. Two of these guys signed with TaylorMade and the other guys signed with Callaway. It's a little battle right now. It's pretty fun. Do you watch the Sandbaggers?

Yeah. Would you ever compete in a Sandbagger? Would I? Yeah, probably. Well, Caulfield's already been taken. We smoked him and Zegers. He's brutal. Who would be your partner? Buddy, they brought their dads out, and then they each four-putted the green. Yeah, exactly.

It was ugly. Well, Zegers said he was like a three, and I don't know. Maybe he's a three some days, but that day he certainly wasn't. I think Cole was getting a lot of strokes. Eight. Cole has a money swing, and he loves golf. I bet you he ends up being really good, but he was hitting muffins. I knew we were going to take him down when they wore matching outfits.

I went to Michigan and golf with Cole this summer. He was playing pretty well. Yes. He can hit his drive far. Really? Yeah. Oh, that day was a power outage. Power outage.

So who would you pick if you ended up competing against us? Do I need a good teammate? Well, I i mean getting strokes isn't a bad thing it's worked out for us right wit yeah exactly this is an absolute stroke monster how many strokes you get now i get uh down to 14 i think the next one i might go down to 13 we'll see we'll see what what type of course and where we're playing we got some good golfers. I mean, kind of out of left field. Ryan Poehling is a sick golfer. Is he? Yeah, sick golfer. Okay, all right.

I'd love to go. Is it bad I don't know who that is? Ryan Poehling is now on Penguins. He's with me. Okay. Yeah. No, he's a player. Anyone who's not a fourth line plug?

Vince just wants the name. Who else? That's a USA hockey guy. I mean, yeah. Josh Anderson. The wet nose Josh. Yup. Yeah, he'd be a good one.

All right, there it is. Ben just mentioned TV shows. Any movies? You a big movie guy on the road or just in general? Not a huge movie guy. He's more of stealing teammates' money playing cards. Because I heard you're the best card player. Card shark, yeah.

What's the team game on the plane? We play 13 up, like 13 down. It was only Hold'em when I played. Well, I guess some was Schnarps, but I don't know 13 up, 13 down. Schnarps is okay. But yeah, 13 is like, I don't know, it's the same as seven up, seven down. But we play the whole deck. So four guys, the whole deck's out.

Dvorak's good. Big money on the plane or does it keep it late? Our table's bigger, but Gallagher's a little cheap. Okay, so Gallagher's at the kid table? Yeah, Gallagher's at the kid table with Evans. But Josh is pretty good. we need to we need to combine tables I think yeah they don't want the big action is Gallagher a Jim Hardo during the season I know he's pretty intense in the offseason with his training yeah because his dad's his

trainer yes is he really yeah his dad takes it very seriously good trainer Gally always comes in in really good shape but i don't know in the during the season he he's usually a little banged up so he doesn't get to work out that much we got about 30 games left in the season i mean playoffs probably unlikely does the coach even bring that up at this point or is it just like working towards some next year like what's the what's the goal from harold and the season for the can? Yeah, our goal all season is just to build the culture, build the team atmosphere, and I think we've been doing a really good job of that.

I mean, we got 12 regulars out of the lineup probably right now. So we've called up a bunch of guys from LaValle. They've been doing a great job and just trying to keep from our team to the AHL team just like the same culture and same style of play. And I think that's what our good teams are doing now. And we're just trying to emulate that. And I guess Amadi's a huge part of that.

Yeah, he sets the tone every single day. Practice is always fun. We're competing hard. But at the same time, we know we're just trying to get better. And it's a great day to come to the rink every day. Are you in, like, constant contact with Kent Hughes? You ever meeting with him as the GM, or is he kind of just letting you guys play?

Yeah, he's around a lot, same with Gortz, so we get to see them on a regular basis. But, yeah, he just kind of lets us play, and he's going to do his job, and he just wants us to do the best we can and see where that takes us. For you personally, is there some certain aspect of your game you want to get better? I know every summer you're looking to get better overall, but is there something that's a part of your game you want to really focus on improving?

Yeah. Like you said, a lot of different areas, just defensivelyly face-offs yeah as a center it's so important i've been below 50 so far in my career but just trying to work with the lines and better know what other guys are doing i mean you pretty much take the same take face-offs against the same guys all the time yeah so but there's so many good guys and just to get better in that area is a big one who's the hardest player for you to play against like in your career so far like a guy you're like oh it's i'm in one tonight every night i mean yeah i get to play against the best guys every night but um who i mean it's always fun going up against like the leafs and just all the talent they have. Sid and Barkov.

Barkov gave us a run the last game we were in Florida. So, yeah, there's so many guys that I love competing against them and seeing what I can do against them. You mentioned that you're going to eat tonight with the Molson family. Do you beat the pot? Do you beat the credit card up when you go to eat with them? Sherf and turf? Yeah, I don't know

what i'm gonna get tonight but i mean he pays my check so maybe i should will you offer to pay maybe will you put out the credit card first to see the reaction you get oh i mean i'd pay for dinner okay yeah he's bringing his kids so uh that was a good time what's the biggest distraction about playing in montreal probably social media but i try to stay off it but really yeah don't check the mentions yeah try not to but it's impossible sometimes you you got to but are you are you single in that city no i got a girlfriend okay that's probably a good thing okay we'll drop that there's not much going on in the city so social media for for a lot of varieties there's no good places to go that's what i heard yeah well i mean i don't have anything else no man we appreciate you coming in it's it's an exciting time oh i just wanted to

ask there's a bummer about slavkovsky going down but what have you seen in his game you think he's going to be a beast in a few years oh yeah i mean you can see the size he is at 18 and uh just the strength that he has and if he hasn't played much of the north american game so i think just for him to keep getting better is going to be important for us and yeah you can see the talent every single day and i think he was putting it together and then obviously got hurt so he seems like kind of a goofball off the ice like oh yeah he's a big goofball yeah all our young guys are great uh they're always they're always hanging out and keeping each other company so they got we got a good group of really really good young guys

that's awesome well we appreciate your time man i mean already uh two all-star games it's only your fourth year captain so congrats on all the success and we appreciate you joining the show yeah thank you. Appreciate it. Big thanks to Nick for coming by our hotel room the other day for a nice chat. Enjoyed chat one for a little bit. Biz, how good is this kid going to be when his career peak comes? What do you see him as, like an 80-point guy, 100-point guy?

He's a bar goon. He's a student of the game, and he's going to knit us a pair of socks. So I'm pretty pumped. This guy could do it all gonna knit us a pair of socks so i'm pretty pumped this guy could do it all it was a great conversation so thank you to nick suzuki and uh a little tame though you know we're gonna probably get some get him on again down down the road and maybe get some more stories out of him but uh he's gotta he's gotta become a seasoned bet before that happens a young captain in montreal you know he's's going to be a little careful, right? Yes.

You don't want to say something that the media can run with. Oh, yeah. Fucking sneeze and they run with it there. Plus, Twitter will tell us what the difference between crocheting and knitting, whatever that is, is. Did you find out yet? No. I thought you would have been all over that. No, I didn't.

Maybe obviously the technique has something to do with it, but I mean, knitting's knitting, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, guys, before we move on, I just wanted to mention Julia's Hope Cup. A friend of mine, Paul Turner, his daughter passed away years ago from a brain tumor, an extremely sad story. And she was into philanthropy,

and in her honor, he created Julia's Hope Cup, and it's a Canadian pawn hockey and carnival. It's taking place Saturday, February 18th, so a few weeks here and that'll be going on. And let me just read this quickly, it'll give you a little bit more detail. We are pleased to announce that the 12th annual Julia's Hope Cup will be returning to our traditional annual pond hockey tournament and carnival on Saturday, February 18th at Chippewa Park Pond in Welland, Ontario. And all proceeds for this, the silent auction, as I remembered, or as I mentioned, excuse me, it's raising funds for the Hope Center in Welland, Ontario. So a great cause. And I hope everybody who goes has a great time. And thank you to Paul Turner

for mentioning it to me. And I'm glad I got to announce it on the pod. So any other information, as I said, go to juliushopecup.ca, and you'll find out all the details and money that you can donate as well. So thank you. How about this crazy story from the SPHL, the Southern Professional Hockey League? Thanks to Atrori Del Baco for the tip. The team there, Vermillion County of the SPHL, no-showed for their home game versus Quad City.

What was nuts, Quad City come out, did the warm-ups. They lined up for an actual face-off. The five guys on the ice, no opposition, just the referees and officials. So this was from Dave Eminian. I think you pronounce it from the Peoria Journal Star. Drama in Vermillion County. The Quad City Storm bust to Danville for their 4 p.m. game with VC. Only the QC team took the ice for warm-ups.

Pre-game skate ended 10 minutes ago. There's no sign of a home team. Pucks scheduled to drop in five minutes. The team did not show, but we got to give full props to the Quad City team. The opposition that didn't show, Vermillion County, they were supposed to meet the fans after the game and have a skate around the rink with them well the quad city team ended up staying in with the fans were supposed to be there to boo them so that's a hell of a gesture man you go all the way to travel their team doesn't show up you know they did the right thing they went out and hung out with the fans took a few

laps like that sounds like the paychecks not hitting the account for at least maybe one, maybe two paychecks. So guys are probably like, hey, that's all that sounds like to me. Why would you not show up for a fucking home game? It doesn't say anything else as to why they didn't show up? Let's see. The drama in Danville. The host never showed up for game. It's a forfeit win for QC.

Most bizarre thing I've seen in 40 years. No, I understand that. But did the team fold? Nothing? No other news? They just didn't show? They sunk the away team? How long was the bus ride?

I don't know the distance from Danville to wherever the other team is. But I went to their website because I try to buy tickets while I went through the process. They were still selling tickets on the website. You're scalping tickets already? I got to that. To the point where you hit the button here to buy tickets. They haven't folded. I know they wrote it here to buy tickets. So they haven't folded. I know they wrote it on Wikipedia.

They folded, but they hadn't folded. So either way, kind of a wild story to see a team show up at the faceoff circle. No opposition. But again, we want to give a salute to the Quad City Storm for taking care of the fans that did show up. I love skating with some opposing fans. He could have been balls deep with a boosty on the bench. Oh, and the SB, I bet you they're all rockets, too. I know you came here to see me fight.

I'll show you something else. Yeah, Margaret, you want a piece of me? You ever seen a covered wagon from Welland? Oh, yeah, baby. Come over here, I'll show you. I saw a fucking clip on saw a clip on the internet on twitter the other day it passed by some girl did a fucking shot out of a guy's foreskin at the bar no that's what the kids are doing now it's fucking these kids are what kind of accounts are

you following on twitter here no buddy it's just fucking it was a random fucking twitter right at boom right there girl forsyth shot down the hatchet god they're calling it the calamari cocktail that's what they're calling it g hey don't look don't laugh at me and ask what i'm following dude this is all these fucked up kids that are your age that are going to get taken over by robots one day so you fucking you guys are all all hey going back to the balloon thing what do you make of this stuff? And what do you make of another thing that keeps popping up as far as like, oh, yeah, like the Chinese people like basically owning TikTok and having all this information from Americans. Hundreds of millions of Americans on this app that is controlled by China.

Let's go to you first. We've discussed what the TikTok inok in chinese in china shows kids right math equations we've been through like you want to be a doctor you want to be a scientist that's what they look up to here we get to have our kids watching tiktoks of shots out of biz's extra force extra skin on his hog so like the fact that you know if if you what were they doing at one point cooking chicken in like bleach or something like wasn't that a tiktok trend not sure was it nikel drinking yeah putting actually come to think of it i didn't i didn't even actually see that on twitter that was actually that's what are you that's what are

you crushing so actually that was me at Kodak Black's After Hours. I just fucking actually just crossed my mind. That wasn't on Twitter. You started washing the dishes with your mouth? I saw this on fucking Twitter, and I'm not following all these crazy accounts. I follow like Brazzers, the worst account that I follow as far as like maybe like off-sideness,

but they followed me, so I followed them back. Brazzers is a good account. That's nothing wrong with little Brazzers. They gave me a free they followed me, so I followed them back. Brazzers are going to count. There's nothing wrong with little Brazzers. They gave me a free password via DM, so I was like, fucking right. It's follow all day long. Share it with the boys. We were talking about the balloon thing, so what do you make of all this, R.A.? Are you okay with China stealing our information?

I don't think they were obviously trying to be sneaky with whatever they were even doing, if it was even them. I didn't follow the story much over the weekend. But at this point, dude, I assume all these companies have all my fucking information already. Like, I'll say cream spinach into my phone, right? And two hours later, there'll be a fucking ad for cream spinach on there. Whatever.

I mean, it is what it is. We use these things. Nobody reads the fine print. They probably have all our info, whether it's the Chinese, Americans. I don't really give a fuck. I mean, I i don't know i get nothing to hide at this stage yeah we're in we're in one we're in one not me i'm not on tiktok i'm sitting in mine yeah i tried i just couldn't get couldn't figure it out i'm the old i i downloaded about two three years ago and

then for four hours straight didn't move my couch just going up up up and i said nope that is bad news bears deleted it on the spot i love it i rip a talk a day every day gotta get one in gotta post i rip a talk a day that's the perfect i want to saw my cock off after hearing that one you know how's it not before doing a shot out of it rip someone's got to do it. Nakulor doing a shot out of it. Someone's got to do it. Ripped to talk. You're up, R.A. Conor Bedard failed to record a point for the first time in 35 WHL games. He had 44 goals and 44 assists with 90 total points over that run. That's 88 points, isn't it?

44 and 44? I said 46. Oh, I'm sorry, buddy. That's okay, buddy. But obviously we've talked about this kid pretty much every week. We know what he's all about. Can't wait to see where he ends up. We already mentioned earlier, boys, we are on the road this week.

We're all heading to Scottsdale, well, today, Tuesday, I believe, with the rest of the Barstool contingent. You guys are playing in the mini golf tournament, correct? Yes, that's Wednesday at 3 o'clock Eastern. You can watch that on the Barstool YouTube. Also, I think every single brand that has somebody playing, so Spittin' Chicklets will be live streaming me and Biz the entire time. 4Play will be live streaming Riggs and Frankie.

We're in a group with me, Biz, the self-proclaimed greatest mini-golf player in the country, I think, Kirk Manahan, or maybe he said he was a top-ten player in the country. So we'll see if he can live up to his hype. And then Riggs, right? Riggs sucks at golf, but he can putt. I'll give him credit. The guy can putt. So Biz and I are in one. I believe there's 16 players and the top eight move on to the final round. There's two rounds. So that'll be a pretty fun thing. I know Hank Lockwood is the guy who's kind of spearheaded this entire effort, so you can watch it live. That'll be a lot of fun. And then Thursday we're doing trivia.

Our squad, who's I think we're a top-five team. I don't know how, but we're a top-five team. RA's a beast. Biz is a lot better than people think. I am bad at trivia, man. I can be honest. I stink at trivia. But once in a while I can come through in the clutch.

So in live pressure in front of fans, maybe we pull out a couple victories and take that title down. We're also getting another sandbag, or we're not willing to say who that's going to be with, but it's a very exciting one. Definitely an original one in terms of who we're playing against, a little different than our prior 16. And I think after that, we'll hopefully get a couple interviews and maybe hopefully get over to the waste management at one point I've never been to that event I'd love to so I'm looking forward to that yeah it's going to be a great Super Bowl week with the Barstool crew for sure and you can you can watch the biz and wit feed for the mini golf that'll be live streaming on

the spit and chiclets Instagram so all those live feeds will be on the brand's Instagram accounts and we're also doing a little party Wednesday night at the Barstool Sports Bar in Scottsdale, so you can meet us there as well. And that's going to be a little bit of a big deal brewing event, is it not? Absolutely. The big deals will be flowing there. So I know a lot of you have messaged me. It's been hard to find the Scottsdale area,

but recently they updated the Find Me app. So, Grinnell, you can give more of the details as to what the exact Find Me app or where you can find it, but I believe there's 50 locations now in the greater Phoenix, Scottsdale area that carry Big Deal Brew. And if you haven't tried it yet, it's a free sampling. Yeah, free sampling. come on over to the barstool sportsbook bar oh my god it's the barstool sports bar not sportsbook bar but you can gamble in arizona and come over there and sample it on wednesday night uh also the trivia is at 9 30

eastern time that'll be live on youtube or you just go to barstool sports they can direct you in the right place check that out i think i I think we got a pretty good shot at winning. I know who we're playing. We're not going to mention that yet. We're not allowed to mention it? I think they want to kind of keep it under wraps. I don't want to then have to edit it. We look like we just all got indicted in these pictures of us,

especially me and Biz, totally fucking mug shots. Oh, I look like I'm 86 years old. You're talking about the graphic they post of us? The same one every time? I think it's'm 86 years old. You're talking about the graphic they post of us? The same one every time? I think it's pissy, yeah. It's funny. At some point I say, like, I'm always like, man, that's such a bad picture of me, Grinnell.

Oh, memes, what the fuck? That picture of me is terrible. It's like, I think I gotta just look in the mirror. Like, when every picture is bad of yourself, like, maybe it's just your face. I like this one. I hate the one of me. I look like Jabba the Hutt with no fucking neck. neck i was like oh man we gotta we gotta gas that one uh we also have a pink whitney bottle signing wednesday night five to seven at total wine on 1607 east camelback road in phoenix so that's 1670 east camelback road in scottsdale arizona all right not 1607 just to

give you i have dyslexia uh a pink whitneyia. A Pink Whitney signing is always a lot of fun. You get to sign bottles, you get to sign different pictures, and we appreciate everyone who drinks that. So thanks for coming out to that. That'll be a good one. And, of course, the big game is Sunday with Philadelphia. Philadelphia is minus 1.5 with a 50.5 total. You like anybody leaning any way here?

What do you got going on? Yeah, I'm leaning towards the Eagles. I don't know like this game isn't really it doesn't have me too fired up hopefully it's a good game that's all i root for when the patriots aren't in i just want to be entertained the entire time but that eagles team's nice i know it's kind of crazy to bet against mahomes he's so good probably so much better than than jalen hurts but that eagles team their defense i don't know I think I think I feel like it's their year what about you biz any I got the Eagles I don't know fuck all about football but I feel like everyone's been doubting the Eagles every game I feel like everyone

thinks like oh this will be the game that they lose but no you mentioned that defense I think that Hurts has been buzzing yeah I know he light up the light up the Giants and they had a great defense all year? So I'm taking the Eagles. I think it's going to be entertaining because their fans are scumbags and very aggressive and so are Chiefs fans.

Those are two hardcore, riled up fan bases. Would you go to the game if you had a free ticket? No. I think football is 10 times better on television. Goes back to the TV timeouts,

the slowing down of the action. Now there's more and more review, so I want to see the angles over and over again on television. So, no, I want to sit on my couch and watch the game. I'm not interested. If somebody gave me tickets, I'd go. But nowadays, to go to a Super Bowl event, you're talking $1,500 to get in the door, no?

Unless I'm like you and I sneak in. No, I've been to one Super Bowl. I paid fucking two grand for my ticket. No, thanks. Yeah, it was an all-timer, though. A couple other notes here. FDNY versus NYPD Hockey is on April 15th. Gee, how's that running along so far?

It's coming along. We've got the documentary coming as well. You can donate to all the money we're raising at barstoolsports.com slash hockeyheroes. It's going to be an absolute blast. As each day goes by, we have more and more and more special guests, different cool things that we're working on for the game. So we're super excited for that.

Yeah, I can't wait for that. It should be good stuff coming. I've got to send the RIP out to Melinda Dillon. You guys know her as Suzanne Hanrahan from Slapshot. Also, she was the mother in Christmas Story, and she was in a couple other famous movies. But, yeah, epic movies. I mean, she was in probably one of the best sports movies ever,

one of the best Christmas movies ever, and one of the best science fiction movies ever, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. You a fan of her work? You familiar with it or what? Yeah, great perky breasts in the one scene. I hate to be – I didn't even want to be the one to bring it up now, but oh, my God.

Well, just think of that scene. The ski slopes. Yeah, just like they went up a little bit. They were just very nice and, you know, rest in peace. What? All right. I just was expecting it to go that way. But I suppose your main scene is with Paul Newman.

I think everybody was thinking it and Witt said it. Yeah. Just especially from the scene in Slapshot. I was a young kid the first time I saw that. Listen, that's something that gets ingrained in your mind. Absolutely. It stays in your memory. What else, boys?

You guys all off tomorrow? It would be today, Tuesday. You guys all geared up and ready to rock and roll? This is a quick turnaround. I'm about the opposite all geared up and ready to rock and roll. This is a quick turnaround. I'm about the opposite of geared up and ready to rock and roll, but when you have no water, no heat, it's probably good to go to a hotel.

So, Biz, you've got the renovations going on. So, are you still staying there? Are you staying somewhere else? How's that all working out? No, no. I rented an apartment for the full year already. So, if you want to all working out? No, no. I rented an apartment for the full year, R.A. So if you want to go check out my reno, you're more than welcome to stop by. I can show all you guys where I'm going to be living probably in about

nine months. Great setup. I'm going to have the sauna, as I mentioned, with Witt getting his cold tub. The cold heat, the combo, I'm going to be setting up that at my home gym. The contrast. That's the word I was looking for. All right. If Biz is like, hey, want to come over and see my reno,

like see the property? I'd be like, yeah. We'd be banging nails in within 10 minutes of being there. 100%. Hey, let's just get this done quick. Like four hours later, I'm begging him for a sandwich. I'll put you motherfuckers to work. I know you will.

I know you will, baby. I'll be having Grinelli up there doing the roofing. I was only asking in case I end up with a Super Bowl ticket, Paul. I want to crash in your couch if that's all right. If you want to sleep on an air mattress in a house that doesn't even have the drywall up yet, feel free, buddy. That wouldn't be the first time. All right, boys.

Fun episode. Great interviews. And check in next week. Have a fantastic week, all. Sounds good. Love you guys. Peace. check in next week have a fantastic week all sounds good love you guys peace