Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 43: Featuring Martin St. Louis

Episode Date: September 8, 2017

For Episode 43, the fellas are pleased to bring you an interview with 2004 Stanley Cup and Hart Trophy winner Martin St. Louis. The longtime Lightning RW and former Ranger talked about his adjustment to a non-NHL lifestyle, what kept him going after going unclaimed in an expansion draft, his favorite career moment, the best opponents he faced, playing with Tim Thomas at UVM, his favorite goal vs. his most important goal, Game 7 of the 2011 ECF, the current NHL, whether he thinks about his Hall of Fame chances, and much more. This was one we were honored to do because of Marty's status in the game.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

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We have a very special guest today. We're down here in Stanford, Connecticut to interview, well I think a future Hall of Famer, Marty St. Louis. Marty, welcome to the show. Well, thanks for having me guys. Great to be here. So you've been retired for what, two, four years now, did you say? Yeah, this year we'll be going through the third season out of hockey, so about 26 months. How was it dealing with, I guess, withdrawals, your first season you didn't play? What was it like not getting into that routine again? Was it a lot of adjusting?

You know, to be honest, with my three boys, so at the time when I retired, I had a 12, a 10, and a 7-year-old boys, which now it's 14, 12, 9. But they all play hockey, and I started coaching their teams. So I was on the ice every night. I usually run about six practices a week, and I travel a lot on the weekends. I try to spread myself with the boys, but it's been a little harder to see some of my younger boys game because I usually piggyback the oldest two, so me and my wife divide and conquer. So in terms of missing the game, I have not missed a game. You know, of course, I missed the locker room and the boys. I think that's kind of changed with some of my assistant coaches and some of the parents, you know,

whether we go to tournaments and, you know, have dinner, a few drinks in the hotel bar. And so which is kind of nice because when I was a player, we there was this rule that we weren't allowed to have any drinks in our own hotel bars, so we had to go grab dinner somewhere else. And if you want to spend some time relaxing, we couldn't do it at the hotel. So now it's great to be able to do that at my own hotel, which is one of the pluses as a retired athlete, actually get to hang out in your own hotel.

But the competition I don't miss because I get it through coaching with the boys. So for me, I jumped right into hockey as soon as I retired. So I don't miss playing. I think I gave everything I had, and I think it was just time to do something else. I was coaching something that you might have an eye on in the future when the boys are a little older after they finish know finish school and is that something you have aspirations to maybe coach and you know either professionally at some point? Yeah I mean it's definitely something in the back of my mind that I could see myself doing. I think I like to be in the trenches.

I feel that you know I can help guys get better. I think the thing about me is I feel that, you know, I can help guys get better. I think the thing about me is I feel like what helps me coach, even at the youth hockey level, you know, you have every kid at a different level, you know, and of course you're coaching a team, but you're coaching an individual as well. You know, you have your top guys, you have your middle guy, and you have your bottom end guy. And I feel me personally, you know, maybe not at the youth level,

but at a professional level, I filled all those roles. I was an American League guy. I was a call-up. I was a fault line guy. I was a scratch guy. I kind of worked my way through it. So I feel like I understand the way everyone you know, everyone feels throughout the lineup. And you were a hot trophy winner too.

Don't be too modest here. Well, thank you, yes. So I feel like I understand how they feel what they're going through, even if they're younger kids. Like, you know, I'm coaching Bantams right now, second-year Bantams, where, you know, situational plays, power play, PK, you know, they get to an age where they got to earn that time. You're still developing the kid, but you're, you know, they got to earn their ice time a little

bit at that age. So I understand how, you know, the kid who doesn't kill penalty, the kid who doesn't play at the end of a game when we need a goal or down a goal. I mean, I was that guy. So I make sure that those kids feel part of it. And, of it and what it is today might not be tomorrow. Right, right. And they got to work to get where they want to be, and I always tell them, force me to play you more. Obviously with the younger guys, the 12, the Peewees, and the Mites that I'm with, we pretty much roll the lines.

They're not quite there yet, but you can tell that some kids are ahead of other kids. And you're trying to push. For me, I try to pull from the top and push from the bottom and try to help the kids that are not at the top to keep catching up to the middle of the pack. And eventually, hopefully, you know, they keep improving and they feel good about themselves. Okay.

Now, like you mentioned, you experienced so many different levels as a player, being scratched and being sent down. Now, just correct me if I'm wrong, you were exposed in the expansion draft by Calgary and nobody selected you. Yeah. No. Yeah, it's what happened is in 2000, I believe, yeah, 2000. So I had played my first full year in Calgary pretty much. I think I played 60 games

that year. And Brian Sutter was the coach and Al Coase was the GM. And everybody got fired at the end of the season. And I ended up just not having anybody pulling for me. And I was a third fault line guy at the time that was not very big. And I didn't have stats to back up my size, I guess. So they didn't resign me. And I had to go through the expansion draft. And I really thought I was going to get picked up, and I ended up not getting picked up.

And it was probably a blessing in the sky because I hooked on with Tampa and found myself there. Did you have a lot of moments of self-doubt? What kept you going? Did you always have a belief in yourself? Or when something like that happens, all right, there's an expansion draft, and no one grabbed you. Like you said, nobody at Calgary was advocating for you.

But was it a struggle to kind of keep your focus and keeping your goal right there? No, I mean, the focus part was never tough for me. I was always a driven person. I think the setbacks are a chance. I mean, I was still a young guy. I was, I think, 24 at the time. I think the setbacks gives you a chance to grow, you know, like you you can take your net and go home and which you'll get no growth out of that. Or you can strap on your boots and go to work and and keep fighting to where you want to be, you know.

So, you know, and I, you know, again, you know, I'm in the heart of youth hockey right now. And, you know, as parents, we all love our kids and everything, and it's almost as if we don't want them to struggle a little bit, you know. So for me, when I look back at myself and, you know, even as a youth player at Pee Wee, I was cut my first year at Pee Wee from the top team because I was too small, and it probably made me a better player, you know, because I about it and I went did something about it and the next year I made the the top team and so the setbacks it gives a chance for the kids the individual to to grow from it right and and they're they're more ready for what's in front of them if they keep fighting instead of, you know, pointing fingers or, you know, nobody was going to help me at that point but myself.

Right, right. So for me, I look back at it, there were tough times, but it made me who I became and who I am today. Right. Are there any coaches in particular that you remember kind of, you know, really not cut you down but, you know, really didn't give you a shot because you were too small or said something to you along the lines of, you know, you're too small, you're never going to make it, that really sticks with you?

Well, there was more probably. It wasn't coaches. It was mostly players I played against on the ice uh you know yeah a lot a lot of jokes and i remember it's funny because when i in vermont i played obviously and um there was an attendant in the penalty box and that would make sure that no shenanigans would go on and uh and so not that he needed to worry about me starting any shenanigans. Also, I know three-time Lady Bings trophy. So, but one of my favorite memories about that is, you know,

I was in a penalty box. I got a match penalty. I was frustrated, and I'm in the box with this guy, and literally, like, there was no window in between that's why that guy's there and um he's like you're going nowhere you're too small uh the yada yada and i'm like i tell you what i said when you graduate i said make sure you get espn espn 2 okay because you'll be watching me i'll sign a stick for you buddy that's what i told her and i you know it's not like i just

i don't know why i said that i mean i guess it was uh uh a little confident maybe but uh you know i uh you know you'd have guys that would be on the ice that were draft picks and you know they never accomplish anything so my my chirp back to them sometime you said you're just a waste of a draft pick nice nice so that's all that was my ammo was going back but uh uh you know i think it's not uh it's not how you come in to me it's uh you know is is is is how you leave you know and and so i was uh um you know i think uh i'm i feel pretty good about how I came out of it. On the other side of that, is there one coach or GM that you hold a particular fondness for who perhaps believed in you and, you know, other front office types weren't or someone who really stuck with you, you know, that you look back fondly and say,

hey, without so-and-so, my career would have been different? You know what? I have two. There's two sets of people that helped me. One is Calgary. It was Nick Polano in out coast. Nick Polano was the assistant GM in Calgary, and he came in and watched me play. I was with the Cleveland Lumberjack in the IHL on an independent contract my first year out of college.

So I ended up going to the all-star game the next day Calgary signs me through Nick Polano's requests and Al Coates agreeing to it and uh you know then the following year I was my first camp with Calgary and make the team out of camp Brian Sutter is the coach you know at the time it's a big boy it's a big boy league oh yeah you know it's the era it's lindros era and scotty stevens yeah so uh you know the fact that brian sutter you know felt like i could contribute and you know with the size i had you know they they allowed me to to to reach my dream they gave me that nhl experience which i will forever be grateful. And the other side of that too is, you know, Rick Dudley brings me to Tampa, you know, with Jay Feaster, and Torts ends up taking over about four months into my first year. And, you know, those two guys really helped me become who I thought I could be.

I think you need at some point, you need somebody that's going to help you and believe in you. And for me, who wasn't a high profile coming out, I needed that. I needed to get a little push and get some. Now, is that from both the GM and Tortorella and Dudley or the combination of the two? I think it's a combination of it all. I think when Torts took over, you know, Torts is an individual where he makes a lot of the decision. He doesn't let people make decisions

for him and i feel like torts uh really took me in his corner um so what was it like you know torts is a guy whose kind of reputation precedes him a little bit uh he's obviously doing doing well in columbus right now what was it like playing playing Torz? Obviously, you had some success, but as a player, what was it like? You know, Torz was very demanding, but to me, he was fair. And it's almost like a tough dad, you know, where at the moment, as you're growing as a player you know there's definitely sometimes you don't like him you know but when you've grown and it's all said and done you appreciate the things that he did right and uh that's kind of the the way i saw it you know and when you're in the trenches with him you don don't have that perspective. Right, right. But, you know, torts was hard.

But to me, fair, you know. And I think, you know, his resume speaks for itself. And it was the right combination at the time, and I feel it was a big reason why we were able to win the cup in 2004. He's known to give his players a lot of off days isn't he I mean yeah give his players like the most off days in the NHL this year I mean why you say fair no I say fair into you know into expectation you know I think there's different expect like he's coaching a team but i think he's he's you coach an individual as well so i think the expectation on everybody is different but it's fair and so he might be harder on some of his top guys because the expectations on them are

are different than you know the middle to bottom tier and And so there's definitely times that, you know. How does that sit with players, though? Yeah, listen, Torts wasn't afraid of roughing any feathers to keep, you know, pushing the team to where it needed to be. And I think you need that. I mean, Torts didn't mind confrontation. And I think you grow from confrontation because then you have communication.

You know where you stand and it's not you're not just uh you know you're you're you're not just blind about what and how where the path is and where we're going so uh you know for me there was a lot of direction with torts and you know we we knew when we were out of line but at the same time when when we were going good he was the first guy in there to congratulate. Yeah, absolutely. So that's why I felt he was fair because he was fine on both sides. You know you stood with him. Yeah, exactly.

Like you mentioned, obviously, you won the cup with him in 2004. You also won the gold with Canada at Sochi in 2014. Which one of those would you consider a career pinnacle? I know that's probably a tough question. To me, they both hold a great place in my heart, no doubt. You know, the Cup, it's such a long journey. And forget just the two-month playoff. You talk about the regular season.

You talk about the year before, too. It's kind of like the building leading up to it that, to me, it means maybe a little more than a gold medal without downplaying the gold medal because I think to win a gold medal, have the opportunity to win a gold medal is unbelievable, and I'm forever grateful for that opportunity. But it's such a short tournament, two weeks. You come in with guys that you're not as close to as you would be on a cup team.

Right. But to have both is is uh pretty pretty cool i was gonna say now you guys got to celebrate the stanley cup together on the way here i didn't know this let me neither drinking beers after you won the stanley cup explain uh yeah well he he didn't he doesn't remember and i barely remember that night yeah it was it was 2004 after the Tampa Bay had won it. I, by quirk of fate, ended up at the game. I went to Boston, my job in Boston, at 8 o'clock in the morning. And nine hours later, I was in Tampa Bay with a ticket in my hand to go to Game 7 of the Cup.

Me and Marty actually coincidentally have a mutual friend that we talked about today. And he was in the locker room, and I knew he was in there. So I was calling his phone over and over and over and leaving messages, and I had actually left the building to go have beers across the street. I still to this day don't know how I got back into the St. Pete Times Forum, whatever the hell they call it now. They let me back in the building, and I found my way to the big room

where they were celebrating with the cup, and I didn't have a camera with me, and I remember I got home, and I was so pissed. I'm like, I can't believe I didn't have a camera. I was with the Stanley Cup. I was hanging out with, because I remember at one point it was me, you, Phil, and Brad Richards. And it was like, you guys just won the cup. And I'm like, what the hell am I doing? Like, I shouldn't even be here.

You were at work that morning. Yeah, I was at work in Boston that morning. And then, you know, 15 hours later, I'm drinking with the hot trophy winner and the Conn Smythe trophy winner. But I had no photo evidence. Hot trophy winner and the Conn Smythe trophy winner. But I had no photo evidence. And then two weeks later, Phil, our friend, sends this picture randomly that, you know, you with all the boys holding your beer can and then about half of my face in the back of it. And I was just so psyched that it was evidence that I had actually shown up there.

So, yeah, we actually did have a prior meeting before this. Do you remember anything about him being in the locker room? Not at all. So our mutual friends, Phil Eberle, who I played with in college, and he texted me last night because I guess he heard that I was coming on, and I had no recollection of the picture that he showed me or yourself as well.

Yeah, you won a cup that night. I certainly am not taking it personally by any stretch whatsoever, but yeah, it was a pretty fun night. Just going a couple more career points. I just wanted to bounce off. We just talked about your high points of your career. Conversely, what's at the opposite end of that spectrum?

Was it the 2014 Rangers run or was it 96 Frozen Four with UVM, which to our listeners, Vermont at the time was probably a smaller program than it is today. You guys went on a hell of a run, got to what wasn't even called the Frozen Four back in 1996. And I believe it was Puck was batted. It was a hand.

Yeah, it was off a hand pass. Off a hand went into the thing. It's something that I think it was actually that goal spurred video. Yeah, video review. Yeah. Yeah. So actually, so actually yeah you can i mean so which which one of those i got taking you a pain but which they're both the the they both hurt of course but to me you know if you're you can't just be focused on result right i think the the process itself was quite an experience on both ends. Obviously, my junior year to help get in Vermont to the Final Four was an accomplishment. And the whole journey of it, I will forever remember.

It would be nice if we'd have won, but we didn't. And same thing for the Rangers. I mean, the whole experience coming from Tampa and, you know, being traded to New York at the deadline and going all the way to the Stanley Cup final. You know, at a time where I had gone through personal tough moments with my mom passing away through the playoffs. You know, so you think about the whole experience, being down 3-1 to Pitt, coming back. And we beat Philly in seven. We beat Pitt in seven, coming back 3-1. Then having a chance to play in Montreal where my mom's funeral was going to be and all my teammates were there.

So there was a lot that year. I mean, of course we didn't win, but that year, I'll remember that year forever. You got the game winner too, didn't you? I scored game four at MSG in overtime, and that was one of my favorite moments in my career. Actually, it's funny. I had written down, I was going to ask, was your favorite goal 0-4 game six Stanley Cup finals with 33 seconds in overtime?

Yeah, for sure. To me, it's probably my favorite goal just because of how it happened and the situation and my mom passing. There's so much emotion during that playoff run. I couldn't imagine. There's so much emotion during that playoff run. I couldn't imagine. But to me, the most important goal I scored was game six in Calgary. And that one was off a rebound, and it was kind of a broken play.

You know, where in New York, it was me and the goalie, and, you know, mano y mano, let's go. So it's a little – so in terms of – that's probably why it was my favorite goal to score, but not as important of a goal as game six in Calgary. Great answer. I just want to talk about game seven of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, Tampa Bay-Boston. I know, other than the result,

was that one of the most perfect hockey games you've ever played in as far as both sides? It just seemed like I don't think there was a penalty all game. And other than the goal, it just seemed like neither team made a mistake in that game. Yeah, well, the mistakes we made for Tampa was we didn't take any penalty. We should have taken penalties. Because I feel if we take a couple penalties, they'll even it out. We'll get a couple power plays.

Our power play was running high 20s. Boston was running in low 10s. I don't know if they were 10%. I don't think they were. So, you know, I look back on it and I said, we should have taken penalties. I think penalties was an advantage to us. We had a much better power play. So, you know, but, yeah, I mean, there was a hard-fought series.

You know, but yeah, I mean, there was a there was a, you know, hard fought series. And it was again, you know, you talk about, you know, if you focus on the result. Yeah, it's disappointing, but it's a it's a group, you know, it was Guy Boucher's first year, Stevie Eisenman's first year. Mr. Vinnick, who's unbelievable owner to get out of the gate like that and go all the way to conference final. One goal away from Stanley Cup final. you know, we became a close group. I have a dear friend from that team to this day. And so, you know, besides the results, I wouldn't change a thing. Now, what was the – I mean, I was at that game, that game seven.

I'm sure you were too. That place was rocking. It was so loud. Now, what is the loudest, you know, playoff environment you've ever played in? The loudest arena that you just hated going to? On the road? Yeah. Or even in Tampa because I've recently heard that Tampa, they love hockey down there.

Yeah, Tampa, I mean, I saw both sides of the mountain in Tampa, obviously, early on. Not as many fans winning a cup and just being a very solid crowd, very loud. And then to kind of like going back down and back up when Mr. Vinnick, when Mr. Vinnick has done the atmosphere there. You watch a game in Tampa. It's such a great night outside, parties inside. What a great building to watch a game. It's like when we went to Nashville.

Yeah, probably very similar to that. And so, you know, I loved playing in Tampa. The home crowd was awesome. And it's even better now, I feel, with obviously, like I said, what Mr. Vinnick has done. But, you know, on the road, it was tough to compare the Montreal crowd. Yeah, yeah. But as players, it never feels hostile.

We love when it's loud. Gets you jacked up, I'd imagine. Yeah, for us, going on the road and you don't have last change, that's about the only thing. And, you know, centers used to not be able to drop their stick, have to drop their stick first. Besides that, like, you know, it was, you know, we wanted that hostile environment or the noise.

Get you more revved up for the game. Absolutely, yeah. Now, Tampa Bay, you know, sometimes they have a tendency to get lumped in with Florida as far as, you know, the crowd stuff. But I always defend Tampa. Like you said, it's a great experience. I was down there this past season for a game.

As a franchise, they're on really firm ground. Obviously, they've got Stevie, you've got Wiseman doing tremendous work there. Now, as a guy who had a big pot and building a legacy down there, do you take pride in that, that you can look and say, hey, man, that franchise is on good footing, and I had a pot in that. Yeah, I mean, it's always nice to leave somewhere in a better place than when you arrived, and that's what I felt. I felt that, and I was part of that.

There was a lot of other great players that helped make that happen. I think our 0-4 cup helped solidify, backbone that. And I think what Mr. Vinnick and Steve Eisenman have done solidified that. And so, yeah, it's always nice, like I said, to leave something in a better place than when you arrived. Good. Now, just a couple of other questions from your career. Who's the best forward that you played against in your career in the NHL? Best forward I

played against? Sidney Crosby. Okay. Best defenseman you played against? Ryan Whitney. He was good. He was definitely underrated. He was good. Toughest one to play against? There's a lot.

I mean, you've been an arrow on a lot of great defense. You know what? To me, I didn't see him much at the time because I was in the East, but Shea Weber was tough. He was just real solid, and he could, you know, you'd go there to block a shot, and you knew it was going to hurt. And, you know, in the corners, he was going to hit you. You know, Chara was a big guy, but for me, Chara, he was almost too big.

Yeah. You know, where I would be too low for him. Like you almost had the height advantage. A little bit, I think, you know. You're only catching the wrath of his, like, you know, little chops. Yeah, I was below that I was below his hands yeah

so but no I had we had battles with Cher yeah you guys it was always funny watching you

yeah I know I know it was great but disparity I mean made for good pictures I mean I could I mean yeah

I mean he was definitely an intimidating guy to play against but I couldn't let him know that I was a little intimidated because then I knew he had me. But it's funny because his elbows were always around my head.

So he didn't do it on purpose, but he would squeeze my head sometimes. A little goody-how action. And not on purpose, but I would make sure I catch him low. And he complained with his accent, Marty, you're going for my knees. I'm like, that's right. He says, you go for my head, I go for your knees. So you did it.

Nice, good stuff. Well, just a couple more here. Best goalie you played against? Against? Again, a lot of good ones in that era. Brodeur? Yeah, Marty was definitely one. I mean, in terms of resume and respect, of course, Marty is definitely up there.

You know, I just found a way to, without tooting my horn, I found a way to score on Marty. And we played him a couple times in the playoffs, and I think I became more confident. I got a chance to play with him in 2004. I wasn't as intimidated in the World Cup. But in terms of just scoring goal on somebody, to me, early in my career,

the guy that just stood in there, Dominic Aschek. Oh, yeah. You know? Phenomenal. You just didn't predict what he was going to do. And it was just so hard to figure him out. Yeah. I mean, you can't even call it a style.

He just did. I used to call him a street hockey guy. Kind of like Tim Thomas, your former teammate. Well, that's, yeah. So Timmy was tough, you know, and I had him in college for four years. So that was, you know, he was tough. I mean, he did not want to get scored in practice. I mean, we, I mean, there's one time,

and he's going to hate me saying this story, but like, you know, we'd score on Timmy in practice and we'd celebrate a little bit, you know, get him going. One time he just takes his blocker off and he grabs the puck out and then just throws it as hard as he can and he hits the old scoreboard up top that all light bulbs.

So now all the light bulbs are on the ice and we have to stop practice. That was great. Have you talked to him at all since he's retired? I know he hasn't been seen much in Boston or the Boston media. I don't know if former teammates kept in touch with him at all. I haven't talked to him at all since he's retired? I know he hasn't been seen much in Boston or the Boston media. I don't know if former teammates kept in touch with him at all. Yeah, no, I haven't talked to him in a couple years.

When I was still playing, we would text him in there. And, you know, once you go into family life, you're so busy all day. You don't have that 30-, 40-minute bus ride or that plane, the time in the hotel to just keep up with everyone. What was he like in college? Timmy? Up at UVM, I can picture him getting a little spacey up there.

Timmy was a great teammate. Yeah. Yeah, unbelievable. And he was a backbone of our success. Bruins, too, though. Yeah, really, really, really good guy. and he was a backbone of our success. Bruins too, though. Yeah, really, really, really good guy. And, you know, we had fun together.

But, you know, when it was time to play, Timmy just turned on the switch and let's go to work. He was a competitor, probably the biggest competitor ever. Whatever we did, whatever we played, a sport that none of us really knew how to play, you know, for team building, whether it was water polo in the pool or basketball, which none of us were really good.

Timmy would compete. You mentioned he was a good teammate. Who was the best teammate you had in your NHL career? I know it's tough to probably pick one. You had so many, but maybe someone you kind of maybe looked up to, maybe served a little bit of a mentor maybe? I was fortunate to come across some really quality individuals. You know, I mean, I, you know, learned a lot how to be a pro, manage people from a Dave Anderchuk, Tim Taylor guys in Tampa, you know,

and I had great friends, you know, and Brad Richards, Vinny LeCavalier, Freddie Modine was my roommate. Those guys, we were a close bunch, you know. And then I fast-forward to the Stamkos era, and I became really close to Stammer and, you know, the Ryan Malone, the Teddy Purcell, and the Mike Smiths. I feel like I had, like, two waves of really close groups, you know, and I think the success brings the group Smiths. I feel like I had like two waves of really close groups, you know, and I think the success brings the group close together. So that second wave is that 2011 conference final loss. Right, right.

But, you know, I say I'm probably really close now to Brad Richards. Obviously we played together in New York as well. He lives in the area now. But all those guys that I say, they're really close friends of mine. Nice. Now, talking about the modern day, you do watch a lot of – I know you're obviously busy with coaching with the boys, but you get to watch a lot of the current NHL?

Yeah, I do, absolutely. I come home usually to catch the second half of the Eastern time zone game. Right, right, yeah. But, yeah, I like to watch and see how the boys play. I have a lot of friends that are still playing. I have some coaches that coach me that are still coaching. So, yeah, I'm a hockey fan. Would you say this is the greatest collection of talent the league has ever seen at one time? I know there's a lot of recency bias, and current media tends to do that,

but I don't know if I've ever seen as a fan of the league for 40-something years. I don't think I've ever seen this much talent in the league. Great time to be a hockey fan. Definitely. I mean, you know, everybody that comes in is skilled and can fly. And I think

it's just as evolved like that with all the technology around. And as a kid, when somebody in Russia did something, we didn't see it. Now it's on the internet. Now it's on the Internet. Exactly.

Once it's on the Internet, everybody sees it. It's like the Internet is pushing everybody to new levels. It's such a deep talent pool that the NHL has right now, and it's so competitive. So it's definitely it's definitely nice to see so who do you root for we were talking about it on the way down and we weren't sure I mean you were with the Lightning obviously for so long obviously I feel you probably have some sort of you know feelings towards them but you know you're from Montreal

do you or you're from Quebec do you have the you know ties to them I really don't you know my dad still does uh he's a fan yeah oh yeah I I I care how they Montreal does I pull from them from a distance but to me it's you know Tampa and New York you know I I watch those two teams play and I root for them because I I've gone a distance with, you know. Eastern Conference Finals, they're playing each other. You've got to pick one. I know. I mean, I played in that.

Yeah, you did. That was tough. We lost in seven. We lost in seven against them in 15. And, yeah, that was very tough that was tough yeah tough story for me what uh what do you think of the decision to not send the NHL players to the to the Olympics the next two Olympics yeah I don't know I mean it's tough I don't know all the the ins and outs and the information in terms of why they're making that decision, but just to me, just where the Olympics are,

the time zone and everything, I mean, I can see both sides of the coin. Right, right. So I'd rather not corner myself into something. I get you there. Like I said, we don't want to try to trap you. I know a lot of the younger guys we talked to this summer. I'll say that the guys enjoy going to the Olympics, you know.

Yeah. But I don't know if I would enjoy having to go, what is it, 18 hour? Yeah, halfway across the world. Yeah. But I think once you're there, maybe it's different. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of factors too as far as, you know, it's understandable, you know, owners

don't want to shut down their business for two weeks. But, you know, there's the other thing. It's like, well, if you shut it down, you might end up getting millions of customers 10 years, 15 years down the line. So there's kind of a, you know, like you said, two sides of the coin. But we don't want to paint you in any corners here. Do you think there's still a stigma when it comes to undersized guys in the league? Like you look at a guy like Johnny Gaudrereau who is a clear talent uh you know but he didn't go until i think the third or fourth round in the draft so teams passed on a multiple times so do you think it's going away or it's

just something i think it's it's faded away yeah you know i think at the i think they're actually like taking the best hockey players okay and not so much size but if you have even kind of guys you're gonna take the size you know right so uh you know smaller guys you gotta force them to take you over the big guys you know yeah growing up a lot of kids that were the smallest on their hockey team, they idolized you. I mean, every kid that was the smallest on his team, you'd always catch them. And my friends would always make fun of me for saying, you know, always rooting for you kind of on the side. And they'd say, you just like him because you're small.

Did you always catch, like, your fans being smaller groups of people or, you know, fans? Did they ever come up to you and just be like, you know, thank you, I'm a small guy, and you kind of inspire me? Yeah, no, I definitely had that. I think it's very flattering when you hear that as an athlete. I mean, I've looked up to other small players, you know. When I was young, I could see the Theo Fleury playing, the Cliff Ronnings, and they were exceptions, and I always felt like, well, there is exception. There was light at the end of the tunnel I mean why could I be one you know and then you know fire inspired athletes around the way that's awesome and then that that's just a wheel

that keeps on turning you know and it's that's that's the beauty of sport is you know you you look at a kid that he was inspired by me and then one day he's inspiring somebody else and that's that's that's awesome kind of paying it forward yeah absolutely um now obviously you mentioned you know from undrafted to mvp to stanley cup winner um it's it sounds like the makings of a of a disney movie in some regards has there ever been any plans to has anyone ever approached you about making a movie about your life story from being an undersized undrafted guy to you know being the best player in the league if not can we get the rights no no nothing yet i mean i've uh i've uh i've gone back and forth and trying to write a book and um you know and not so much about you know look I'm great, this is what I did.

It's more like the angle of perseverance and overcoming obstacles, which everybody goes through in life no matter what, forget sport. So I'm still contemplating with that, and I want to make sure that if I write one it's it's it's uh uh it's thought through and it's got the right message not so much all the great things I did right right now our co-host Ryan Whitney who you played against a little bit he had prior commitments with the NHL network obviously couldn't make it today he sent along a couple quick questions uh this is one he asked all our guests what was your. What was your favorite part of

the NHL that you're going to miss? Like, Ryan always mentions the food on the airplanes. No, for me, it's the locker room. It's the plane ride. It's just the boys. You know, like just breaking each other's chops all the time.

Competing together, the ups and downs, and helping each other out chops all the time and competing together, the ups and downs and helping each other out. And, you know, that I miss. There's no doubt. And I love coaching the youth hockey and seeing the camaraderie with the kids amongst themselves and really feel like they're playing for each other. And I know it's at a young age. and really feel like they're playing for each other.

And I know it's at a young age. I feel like team sport just, you know, it just prepares you for life where you have to work with people around you. You're not going to like everyone. You know, everybody's different. But you're going to learn to work with people around you that probably don't think the same thing that you do. And you learn, the more time you spend with them you realize i actually i respect these views and i like that guy now right right you know so for me

the whole like i always love being on a team you know and then and the nhl allow me to to be a kid for a long time huh you know that's a great way to put it yeah and uh he actually said he needs one andre wa story who ryan always says he's the funniest guy he's ever played but he goes tell him we need one andre wa story andre yeah he is he is the funniest uh teammate i played with no doubt and uh andre had to be so tired when he went to bed because all day he just tried to make everybody laugh. So he kept on trying to one-up himself. And, you know, 2004, we're playing Philly in the conference final. We're up 3-2 in the series.

We go into Philly on the road to close it out. We are up a goal late. They pulled a goalie. They scored. And then they scored again in double overtime I think so we were so close to go to the Stanley Cup final and now it's we feel so far and the mood on the plane is terrible and Vinny sits in front of me and I keep tapping on his shoulder Vinny you gotta do I mean uh sorry not Vinny Andre I said Andre you gotta do something you

gotta do something this is dead in here come on do. I said, Andre, you got to do something. You got to do something. This is dead in here. Come on, do something. What do you want me to do? I don't know. Just do something. So he ended up serving dinner with just an apron on. On the plane? On the plane. And he served everybody, the coaches too.

And he was so worried about torts, you know. And torts loved it, you and uh and i mean he served everyone yeah and he and he yeah not just like one or two guys served everybody so this is like you know an hour 45 minutes at least and uh we ended up obviously beating philly the next game but uh you know andre was like the perfect tension breaker yeah yeah and that's what we needed all right marty now we're gonna roll into our listener segment we uh listeners they send in questions and normally they don't know who the guest is but we you know we knew we were coming down here we were gonna have you so we did tease that we were gonna have you on so that hopefully

specifically did get to you so first question and all right hamilton was brought to you by zip recruiter Are you hiring? Do you know where to post your job to find the best candidates? Well, Barstool Sports thrives as a company because of the great hardworking employees. Something not all companies are lucky enough to say about themselves. Finding hardworking, talented people can be tough nowadays. Not with ZipRecruiter though. With ZipRecruiter, you can post your jobs to 100 plus job sites with just one click. Then their powerful technology

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All right, Mike. So we got a ton of questions about this one particular topic. So Mikey Reese asks, why was the yellow twig a staple in your game? All right, Hamilton. You know what? They came out in 0-2, I believe. Oh, yeah, the synergy grit.

Yeah, I think in 0-2. And that's kind of when I started climbing the ranks a little bit. And I went to the 0-3 All-Star game with it. I think I scored. I ended up scoring 30 that year. And at that point, I just wasn't going to change anything. We got one right here. This is the Warrior version of the yellow stick.

And, yeah, I love it. To me, honestly, so when I first started playing with yellow, there was a lot of yellow sticks around. Oh, yeah. But then they faded away. And at the time, told easton i'm like not a chance i want to keep it i ended up like switching to warrior because easton we're done with making yellow sticks yeah and uh but i felt like my when i was the only yellow guy

playing with it i felt like my teammates knew where i was yeah yeah you know this jumps out yeah you go and you go yeah you go in into battle in the corner. You see this. Oh, that's Marty. That's Marty. Get him the puck, yeah. So I need a little advantage. I was always trying to have a little advantage. Yeah, that's a great call.

What do we got next, Mikey? All right, so the next one we got here is what will you remember more, your first NHL game or your last NHL game? All right, Hamilton. Corey Schreiber asked it. Yeah, my last one. I played my last one in Tampa. Oh, that's right, too.

Yeah, yeah. A little symmetry to that, huh? Yeah. What do we got? All right, so one quote you remember. Taylor Andrew asked, one quote you remember from scouts or coaches about your height that fired you up the most? All right, Hamilton. One quote.

Well, we know what the UVM opponent said in the penalty box. Yeah, I know. I don't think any coaches ever disrespect me, you know, vocally about my size. They would euphemize it, basically. Do coaches chirp often from the bench? You hear stories every once in a while of people skating by and coaches chirping at you. Is that something that happens often? Not really.

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See plated. com slash hockey for details that's play to dot com slash hockey okay uh do one more yeah one more uh so tyler uh asked uh best part of raising a family while being an nhl star uh you know i think the best part for me is obviously having three boys and, um, they were able to come and watch me work, go to work and actually be pretty cool thing to watch. Uh, you know, my, my oldest was actually on the ice when we won the cup, he was one. Uh, but they, they still saw me, uh, still saw me at a pretty good time in my career, being able to play in my late 30s

and actually still being a factor in the league at that time. So for them to be able to be involved with that and going to the rinksinks skating after practice or before practice just in the locker room after we win right and being with being with with athletes and you know high-fiving everybody after the game and it's great memories for the kids as well one of my favorite memory with the boys is uh with with gibouchet when we won the kids were allowed to come in the dressing room. So you would have like 12 kids in there, and he would give his post-game speech.

No kidding, huh? Yeah. Wow. I thought it was unbelievable. Yeah, that's different. He seemed like he did things a lot different than a lot of his brethren. And that was unbelievable. So I got one more personal question.

This isn't even an All Right Hamilton. The video of you before the game pumping them up, doing the, you know what I'm talking about, the patting on the leg. Tell me about that. Where did that come from? Why did you do it? You know, I had seen Teddy Purcell in Tampa, who was, Teddy's a lot of, he's a life of the room a lot of the time. He's not afraid to make fun of himself.

Locker room guy. Yeah. And one time he did that, and the boys loved it. So when I came to New York, New York hadn't seen that. So I can't say this was an original of me but I you know I thought you know let's do this you know and the boys love it you know because it's it's you stand up and your vocal and all that's those are aren't always a comfortable situations right

right but you do it for the better of the group. Anything to get the boys going. Yeah, and I've been around great leaders, and leading sometimes is not the most comfortable thing. Right, right. But the good ones don't mind getting uncomfortable, so it was a lot of fun. I got one final question for you. Next year is three years since you've been retired.

Will you be Hall of Fame eligible? Is that something you even think about, or are you just going to take that when it comes? Yeah, I think respecting the process, respecting the game, you know, you just got to take when it comes. It's not a race to get to it. It's hoping you get it. And at the end of the day, it won't change a thing how I view what I did.

Right. You know, it's in the hands of other people if they think I did was worthy enough to belong in there. You know, I look at like a Dave Enderchuk who's going to get inducted this year. Right. Who's waiting a long time. A long time. This is a 600-goal guy. Yeah.

You know, to me, when he walked in the dressing room in Tampa in 01 or 02, he was a Hall of Famer then. Right. To me. Yeah. You know? Yeah. dressing room in Tampa in 01 or 02. He was a Hall of Famer then to me.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. So I think you let the process happen. And, you know, I don't – like, for Dave, to me, I see him as a Hall of Famer. So, you know, I'm glad he finally gets in. Right, right. You know?

So we'll see. We'll see what happens. All right. Well, I think that probably should wrap it up. Mike, we can't thank you enough for your generosity and time and having us down here. Thanks for having me. Thanks a Mike. We're very happy to do it. I think our fans are

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