Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 434: Featuring Dave King

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

On episode 434 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Dave King. Kinger joined (01:08:43 - 02:11:06) to discuss his coaching career, coaching Biz, coaching in Russia, and tons more. But first, the guys open the show talking about their weekends and the upcoming events. Are the LA Kings a tough matchup for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers? The boys broke it all down. The fellas also discuss the future of the Capitals, the Frozen Four, Pasta getting 50 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 434 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney. From our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What's going on everybody? Only got about a week and a half left in the season. Playoffs are coming. We don't know who's playing who. We're going to get to that in a little bit. But let's say hi to the boys first. Paul Biznasty, Bissonet. What's going on, buddy?

We got to let everybody know, no notes for R.A. today. He's got to do it the old school way because his printer broke, but a great start out of the gate, buddy. Love it, love it. Thanks, buddy. As far as I'm concerned, it was a great weekend. I got to see the Coyotes play the Colorado Avalanche. We're going to get to Clayton Keller later, but it was a very, very, game with uh mckinnon here um i got to see the barstool chicago guys on saturday they were in

town i actually got him some tickets to that game on sunday but uh we did a snake draft we did bachelor party snake draft oh unreal unreal topic no that's my second one the first time i was a little confused to the rules and how it's all played. Although I still might have actually came out on top as the number one guy because the fans rank, right? Who wins the snake draft? Yes. But it was a great one, great topic. And then we had worst guy on the trip was one of them.

Location, like where to go. Activity. Song, song of the trip. And I think there was one other topic that I'm forgetting, but you guys can go check that out with the bar. Who was your worst guy on the trip? So I said that predictable would have been the emotional drunk, but I ended up picking the guy who ends up meeting a girl first night and then all of a sudden it turns into his like his wedding weekend that's a good one you're altering your you know the the plans based on this guy meeting this rando from another they they push back on it saying that well what if they're part of another bachelorette party and then all of a sudden the other guys have other girls around because you don't want them around the whole weekend though no one night see you later see you later those guys are all square wheels so they would if they got one

early they'd have to really just hold on like imagine white socks dave he meets a girl to find they like some he's like oh my god don't leave me headlocking her around the city yeah there was some uh there there was there were some great answers but i get where you're coming from so it was it was a little bit different because they do them differently where I've been on trips where maybe guys don't have the type of NHL dough, but I've also got to experience the trips where I would say collectively between the 20 to 25 guys, which mind you, in Vegas, we went to one where they had that many guys, too many guys for a bachelor party. But I would say the overall budget came in at between like 125 to 150k total uh one of the kids fathers is a billy goat and i don't think he's shy to spend it and i listen if you're gonna do if you're gonna get the the the three liter uh three litter three liter bottle of champagne coming out with the sparklers and and they got like the transformer

car with the girl with the biggest rockets in the club bringing it out with her tube top pushed up i want hey get your own fucking card i want to feed feed everybody with vodka red bull and all the mix get some beers maybe maybe a tequila in there some some guys like the the whiskey or rye no worries but when you get into the champagne bullshit fuck off right am i am i wrong here big time that's a granelli move oh yeah with the blues after they beat his team for the cup that's the only time it's acceptable i guess i will say a horrible a horrible bachelor party person for me and girls are big on the bachelor if they go out dinner. Don't ever try getting a sit-down dinner with all your boys on a bachelor party. Oh, really?

Don't do it. I like one sit-down dinner, and you get a private room. Maybe if it's eight guys. Above that, it's a waste of time. You go to the bar. You get the high tops. You get the meals. It's not a buzzkill, a a big ass dinner with possible bad service and then maybe

it's just you never i don't think any of my my close friends none of us have ever done a legitimate dinner away with each other never once i gotta i gotta push back on that i always think it's nice to have one pot because you get the steak and the lobster and you end up having to pay what everyone else is paying for their salads i get my own surfing turf i eat it in the i eat it in the bathroom in one of the stalls the hell is the fucking surfing turf instead of having a guy in the bathroom you just give him a lobster tail you're like yeah a couple shrimp cocktails hey don't tell any of the boys here hey give me a couple pieces of gum too this lobster's a little stinky um but uh i don't want to ruin too much of it but uh what was it so activity i ended up saying so another

actually before i get into the activity i picked i like the idea and my buddies have done this especially when you have the large groups you don't plan too much but the few things that you do have planned you just get a pot going before you end up going on the trip. And if a guy's too hung over to show up or five guys end up missing out, all the plan, the big plan isn't altered based on those five guys not stepping up. It's like, no, we're going to this day club at this time. You show up. That's part of what the group has planned for the thing. I don't listen. I'm not saying over plan the thing where you have an itinerary where you got to stick to it the whole time. And another thing that they were basing a lot

of their stuff on is these guys are gamblers. Like they just like, oh, on the horse track, oh, the slot machines. I want to go on the crap where I don't really care too much about the gambling where I, I enjoy more, like I would rather go to a strip club with the boys for three, four hours to hang out and have some laughs and, you know, see one guy blow about, you know, 1500 in the back like Morant did from the, who was he playing for, the Grizzlies?

Did we ever talk about that video and that picture that came out of the whole floor covered in money? I think we did. I think I called him an idiot. So, and then as far as activity, RA, you could chime in too. I bet you ra has doubled up on bachelor parties more so than proms i'm sure you've seen your fair share but i picked the first morning is always when your bucket's the tightest because everybody lands on the friday and you know they're going pedal to the metal and they overdo it and they overshoot their load where you're

hurting where you got to have a hotel that has a spa and hopefully it's got a cold tub, a steam room and a sauna. I'm not talking, I'm not talking a workout here. I'm talking about everybody ends up meeting down there. You can go through the night, all the craziness that happened and you can sweat out all the poison. And I don't know how many guys on the trip are doing wolf, but obviously the steam room helps out a lot for that. Clear the passages. All right. You got to be a huge steam room guy. Yeah, at the hotel. But going back to like making plans, I think it's good to make like plans at a steakhouse or whatever, but you're never going to get 100% like attendance there.

Like some guys are pulling an all-nighter. Some guys are still at the track or wherever. But I think it's good to at least make an effort to try to get everybody at one dinner while you're there. If you get everybody, it's a good time, man. Get a good steak in. But yeah, I haven't done a bachelor party in ages, man. I i mean i'm at that age where all my friends are 50 years old exactly exactly i did them all now it's like my friend's kids are getting married so i don't know if they're gonna invite me to their yeah i didn't

stop you from prom i was gonna be hanging out with 22 year olds on a bachelor party my buddy said a picture of his kid he had his prom like a week ago he said the picture his pimp his son in his prom day he's like oh one of the girls was almost called you looking for a date i was like i'm getting sued for that too people act like i raised the prom e-bug somebody gets a little food poisoning r.a gets the nod oh shit man yeah it was pretty funny getting a reaction on that shit so check that out out. There was a lot of good answers. I mean, they had the song. I forget, like I said, the one topic. I mentioned the four.

And the only other thing I had written down was I actually chatted with my old skating coach, Nancy Gruel. I've mentioned her on the podcast before. She was a little nutty. I mean, maybe more normal for those days. And I don't think she could probably get away With some of the stuff While she was like screaming at kids and stuff Aw dude she used to cut her blade in half She used to have this little blade

Because she was a power skating coach And most of the times we didn't have pucks out there Yeah the stick blade And if you were going too slow she'd be whacking you in the ass Like get going get going She was just the lady in the area who everybody respected the most Especially that she put so much effort Into developing all these players And even before me right going get going she was just the lady in the area who everybody respected the most especially that she put so much effort into developing all these players and even before me right so we'd heard

about her i went to her and uh and i ended up getting tossed off the ice because i was talking to another kid in line he asked me a question i was talking to him and i you know my dad had just finally gotten to the rink and i know i came out and he's like what are you doing and i was like she kicked me off the ice. I got busted talking. And then, but later on, like obviously through developing with her, I ended up getting like private lessons and stuff. And she, I owe her a lot of my career.

She taught me how to skate. So I ended up having a conversation with her this weekend and she, uh, she dropped this new website. I got to give her a little plug here. Does she still do this? Is she still skating? She's still going and the private lessons have taken off because all these all these kids you think that you're saying that

she taught you how to skate's gonna help or hurt her brand i was an excellent backwards skater i was probably backwards backwards you were it was actually amazing i remember watching you in camp before we knew each other you went up And you did an unreal pivot To go backwards As the forward Was gaining momentum I was like holy shit But then forwards It was a little different

Well I know But I was focusing on I was spending about 70% of the session On backwards skating Because I was a defenseman Opening up those hips Like Shakira

I looked like I looked like It was like Two different humans When you transferred To skating forward They're like He pivoted forward He had a stroke Hey imagine I looked like, I looked like Kale McCart when I was a kid coming up. It was like two different humans when you transferred to skating forward. They're like, he pivoted, he pivoted forward, he had a

stroke. Hey, imagine me on the forecheck skating backwards. Just put my ass in the guys. I probably would have been, been more efficient. Here, I'll pull it up later. I'll mention it at the end of

the pod. I can't find the website here, but I got to give her a shout out. She helped out a lot. And, and I tell, hey, you got to, if you got if you're a kid talking on the ice and she's trying to teach i don't blame her for kicking me off the ice it

taught me a valuable lesson and and don't waste she's like don't waste my fucking time beat it beat it don't waste my motherfucking time the wit dog ryan whitney what did you do all weekend pal uh not much actually had a great saturday uh my brother-in-law steve brought his daughter maya and i brought rider we had tickets from our father-in-law Steve brought his daughter Maya and I brought Ryder. We had tickets from our father-in-law, my wife's dad, who has, I think he has 15 games a year, 12 to 15 games a year. Behind the net, the Bruins shoot twice, just to the left, front row. And I used to dog front row seats. Now, front row along the sides of the ice is hard because you totally can't see an entire corner of the arena.

But when you're behind the net, so it's the first two seats against the glass and the two seats behind that. So he gave us the tickets. He couldn't go. Just in unreal time. It was, I mean, we'll get into the game later, but a crazy playoff type atmosphere.

Unreal game, right off the hop, we saw a fight with Maroon, but a crazy playoff-type atmosphere. Unreal game. Right off the hop, we saw a fight with Maroon. I actually told my brother, I'm like, oh, C14 during the anthem. He's my buddy. I was like, I can't believe he's starting. No offense, Patty. But all of a sudden, right in the mix, boom, he's giving it to Hathaway, and we had a couple fights right off the bat. So it was an awesome day, a great game.

It's funny, like walking around the garden, like a decent amount of people are like, what, chicklets? And my son is now, he turned five November 28th. So he's kind of like, how do they know you? I'm like, oh, you'll find out, bud. You'll find out. I've said a couple things you may not be too proud of

when you end up listening to this stuff someday, but you'll find out. So it was very friendly. Got to take a bunch of pictures with people, a lot of fun. And the most special thing was I had talked to McAvoy about a month prior, and I mentioned I was going to the game. He actually wrote me after I said he's the second best defenseman in the NHL. He said, thanks for the kind words. When I said, Hey, it's a fact, buddy. Don't you, you don't have to thank me. Us be you guys. We stick together. But I said, actually, I'm coming to the game with my son and I don't know, maybe he could meet you after like, he's, he's not necessarily like, he's not, he doesn't, I don't think he necessarily appreciated what we did.

He loved it and had like the best time, but I don't think it registered kind of how special it was. Whereas my, my niece, Maya, who doesn't even play hockey she was just like this is unbelievable so after the game so McAvoy ended up leaving me ticket uh like passes after but it was kind of a mess like I didn't know where to go um a couple people weren't that helpful and I ended up being told to go over here while I was sent to where the lightning family and friends were waiting so good thing I mean I got to see Patty Maroon I got to see Perry I was sent to where the lightning family and friends were waiting. So good thing, I mean, I got to see Patty Maroon. I got to see Perry. I was shooting the shit with them. And then Ryder's sitting there. He's like, are we going to meet the Bruins? And I was like, oh, I don't know. I'm like, this is going to be a meltdown when I have to tell him we got to leave.

Well, this unreal guy from the Bull Gang, and I didn't get his name, but he had seen me go over near the Bruins bench and kind of ask where to go. and a couple guys were like, I don't know. Well, he went down to the locker room, and he said, hey, he grabbed Grizzlik and McAvoy, and he said, hey, there's a guy looking for you. He then came up to me. He's like, hey, I told those guys where you are and to come get you, so they'll come up and get you. I said, thank you so much, sir. Like, just a huge help. So McAvoy gives us a holler, and he's right at the end of the bench where they go into the locker room. I'm like, Ryder, here we go, buddy.

So we go down underneath. Now, even for me, it was cool. It's like just a flashback, right? We're walking off the bench. I'm like, Ryder, this is where they walk back to the locker room. This is where they walk out to the ice. They're all fired up. So he was definitely like, he was so excited.

And then, boom, we see Hedman's talking Allmark so Swedish buddies and it was funny because uh Hedman scored he tied it up 1-1 and from our seaters at the other end it looked like just an absolute rocket top right it was but once I kind of looked at the replay and checked on my phone McAvoy had deflected it and then Allmark actually got a slight piece of it with his glove but it didn't look like that in real time it looked like it was just a snipe so I said hey Mac did that hit your stick and Hedman's like whoa he's like yeah it hit my stick then Allmark's like it hit my glove too he's like no no no no no Hedman's like that was a fucking rocket top shelf

so I got to start a little beef postgame between those guys. So then McAvoy, and now granted, they're getting on the plane right to Carolina after, so a little bit of a rush, but he brings us in the room. And the room's great. It's got this crazy cool Bruins emblem on the ceiling, just an awesome, and boom, all of a sudden, Marshawn comes out.

My little guy loves McAvoy. Pipasta's his favorite, and Marshawn. I keep telling him about Bergeron, but he doesn't get it. I'm like, this is who you want to be like. But he's already a lazy, lazy bastard when he plays hockey. He's just always just looking for his cookies. When he loses the puck, he doesn't skate. So he doesn't have that

Bergeron in him. But Marchand comes out so friendly. Like, I got to chat with him quick, but he's like leaning down. You know, it's just like I kind of, I guess, took for granted when I played. And I was a nobody. But still, when you meet kids who are a fan of the team, I almost took for granted like how much it means to them. And I guess seeing my son getting treated by these players like gold, like I was like, this is so cool. You understand what it means.

And so Marshawn's great and then he's talking to mcavoy getting all these pictures and then the stud pasta comes bombing out he's got a blue suit on like a bright like light blue suit on he's got a white top hat with a light blue trim and then white kicks with a little blue trim on also just looked amazing just like a very good looking skinny blueberry with like some white in it and and he's like hey buddy what's going on well what does he do he grabs a marker he signs his jersey he goes to the back grabs two game use sticks gives him a stick gives my niece a stick Ryder's taking slap shots in the locker room with it Halsey came out

I got to catch up with Halsey I'm like Ryder Ryder, I lived with this guy. He's like, what? Like it was a pointless conversation. We're getting to see him. I haven't really seen him or talked to him. So it was one of those days that was super special as a dad to see your son get to appreciate and kind of see like what I did. Granted at a way, way lower level, but still, it was just cool to kind of see him so excited and see my niece excited. So it was a great day. They got the win. We hammered him in regulation.

Hammered him. I hammered him first goal. I hammered him in regulation. I won just so much money, so that was great. What else? So it seemed like Tampa off the hop tried a little bit of intimidation, but Boston obviously is like, hey, we can play that game too. Yeah, I think there was definitely meaning to Maroon and that line starting.

I think part of it's probably Maroon, like let's get this team going. It's a scary time for Lightning fans. There's just something that's off. They've dropped, what, 11 of the last 16? Four in a row, 11 of 16. They played good, though. I mean, dude, they were down shorthanded three times in the first eight minutes. They ended up getting kind of a lucky one.

They killed a five on three, and then they tied it up, but just the Bruins ended up grinding away, and it was ironic. The top lines both played well but canceled each other out, and then Hathaway gets that goal to go 2-1, and it's kind of like the depth that's showing. I saw Foligno too. Those guys should be ready for playoffs if all things go well, but the Bruins just, they're a better team.

I mean, they're better than everyone, I think, but the Lightning, it's scary, and I'm not picking the, I haven't decided. I don't think I'm picking the Leafs. I said I'd never pick against the Lightning. But if the Leafs can't beat them this year, I actually think they should move the team. This is it. I think you

have to do something. If they don't win this year, this is it. Go to Hamilton, go down the road, and just get out of Toronto because you'll never do shit. They're going to be playing at Copse Coliseum from now on. They're going to move the junior team up to Rogers Center. Before we go any further, you know what I'm here for. And that's to bring up my love and passion, New Amsterdam Vodka's own Pink Whitney. It's got my name on it. It's incredible. The feedback, the amount of people that drink it,

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Pink Whitney. Maybe not me when I'm pink from in the sun, but they love the drink. So thank you to New Amsterdam. Back to the podcast. But I think it opens up a different conversation too because when we had Koop on the TNT broadcast, he was adamant about, no, I'm not into this load management, wrestling players, they're going to power through it, where you see Boston, they end up going to Carolina the next day, RA, and they don't end up sending who? Bergeron and Marchand?

And Lindholm. And Lindholm, yeah. and Lindholm yeah and Lindholm they did say that there were things going on with them but it did seem like it was more just maintenance and rest and load management yeah and I think that there'll be a game in the future when you see three or four other um of a of their elite players sitting out and and and maybe it's because I said that's probably what they should do you know know, that's the pull. Maybe trickle-taz Montgomery. Oh, Witt's in it. Okay.

I also couldn't believe, kind of up close and personal, like I know we said when they got Orlov, but the Orlov, Lindholm, McAvoy, always on the ice is crazy. And I also didn't understand how good Orlov was. Very dynamic, up close and personal, watching him in terms of quickness, head fakes, like offensively way better than I gave him credit for. His numbers this year in Washington weren't that special.

But those three guys on D, it's crazy to have the ability to have one of those guys on the ice all 60 minutes. Yeah, big time. Whit, being that close, obviously you played in the league, but being that close, even you amazed at the speed and the accuracy

and just how fucking good those guys are when they're right in front of you like that. I said, my brother-in-law, it was kind of funny. He's not much of a hockey fan, so I'm explaining a lot to him. I'm explaining why there's a five on three, all these different things, which I like doing. I like explaining the game. I could do a decent job at it, I guess. But he said to me can you believe

you played in this league i said i didn't play in this league i didn't play in this league buddy same here but i watched the other night i was in the nhl i think 10 years ago was my final year it this wasn't the same league like this is not a not what i played in. My league was slower. My league was drunker. My league was lazier. And my league was more maybe skinny fat like me. These guys are all shredded. They're all fast. So the fact of the matter is sitting that close, you appreciate compared to watching on TV how quickly things are moving and being like watching the bruins power play or any power play that close i mean this puck is ding ding ding ding like i i'm having trouble fall let alone somebody who's never played so yeah the pace of the game is a tracker

back on the puck i've seen that they're doing the new tracker for you i know are they doing that on a ton of broadcasts i think think it's just every now and then. I haven't seen it too much, but every once in a while when it is done, somebody tweets about it, and it's like a special game. They did that cartoon game not too long ago, too. Did we end up talking about that? No, I don't think we did. I saw that quick.

And then Patrick Kane scored, and then the little guy's sliding out to center ice, doing the heartbreaker and shit. So, I don't know, it's pretty fun. I think that's pretty much it that I had to ask you about that game. R.A., did you end up attending that one, or did you just watch it on TV? I just watched it on TV, but I was hanging out with the coach the night before. Cooper's in town. I hit him up.

We ended up going over the water tab and across the street, had a little bite to eat, me, him, and Jimmy V's he's dead had a couple cold ones caught up with him and he was looking for somewhere to go and i says hey i says we go somewhere it's nice and quiet little private so i brought i brought coop and a couple of coaches down on my members bar at the nights of columbus nice setup there's like cheap domestics three tvs they loved it man coop had an absolute ball down there so uh nice to catch up with my buddy and and i i didn't end up going the game i was probably too hungover anyways but uh how many pickled eggs did he eat no yeah no no pickled eggs down there just a whole bunch of candy but no it was good good to see him he's he's such a character he's got such swagger to him man he's just got like that sort of aura about him so

what do you guys talk about the history of the game do you pick his brain on hockey a lot or do you get away from hockey? Anything, dude. That's what's funny. There's never a loss for conversation with us. There's no awkward silence. I give him TV recommendations all the time. We'll talk about that stuff.

It could be hockey. We could just talk about anything. He's a very inquisitive guy. He likes to ask questions. So yeah, there's no awkward silences, man. We just talk about whatever. Did you ask him about load management? Yeah, you know what?

It did come up. Didn't sound like he was a big fan of it. I don't know if we're going to see Tampa doing it unless the, you know, the sports science nerd somehow overrule him. But yeah, we actually did talk about it. I forgot one thing. I wrote it down. A guy, two guys came up to me. Their girlfriends were behind them, but as they approached, the girlfriends kind of stopped.

I was like, what's going on here and this guy goes fuck ra i'm like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa i go what's the issue he said we are u.s custom and border protection we are not tsa apparently you're calling all these guys that took your drugs that time tsa they are not tsa and they're pissed off about it i'm telling you non-stop they told me 10 times the guy was crippled he gave me this coin actually this u.s custom and border protection coin but he was adamant that ra's been calling them tsa and it's a big time insult to be calling these guys TSA is what he's saying. Wow. That's why you're getting stopped every time. You need the smuggle coin. I dispute that. I mean, I clearly know the difference. I travel enough. I know

one thing on the show, I realize people kind of hear what they want to hear and they might, you know, what's the word? Conflate different things together. But I 100% know customs from TSA. I wouldn't, you know, TSA is the people, you know, every rule is different every year. You go to laptop, this one, no sneakers, this one. I definitely know the difference. I think maybe he should listen again. I clearly, the last thing I want to do is sell fucking people at customs. I said, I'm pretty sure he knows the difference

unless he was on a lot of edibles while there and maybe was a little confused. But I actually said to him, buddy, you got to calm down. He said, I love the show. I love the show. I just can't have him calling me TSA. It was very like, it was almost like there was maybe some underlying issues in his life that he was taking out on you.

You think if the one thing at a game a guy comes and talks to you about is RA and his TSA searches? Seriously. I mean, that is a little wacky. I thought Witt was going to be the guy on camera one of these days choking out a grandma for touching her carry-on, but it's going to be R.A. getting in an airport scrap. Yeah, no shit. I already got one fucking strike against me, but let's go to our producer, last but not

least, Mikey Grinelli. What's going on with you? We were down in New York last week. You mean Mikey Goggins? Mikey Goggins. Yeah, I did hit the gym again, 6 a.m. this morning. Slow weekend. Fucking right, buddy.

I'm on my health crime, boys. Slow weekend after the big deal. You still bench in the bar?, 6 a.m. this morning. Slow weekend. Fucking rights, buddy. I'm on my health crime, boys. Slow weekend after the big deal. You still bench in the bar? Basically, yeah. Basically. After the big deal brewing bar crawl, though, and I have to thank R.A. because right as the night was getting started, R.A. is just buried in his phone. I look at him.

I'm like, hey, what's going on? Are you okay? And he just looks at me like dead pans to me. He's like, Mike, I love the board tonight. And I'm like, oh, okay. And he's like's like mike i love the board tonight and i'm like oh okay and he's like he's on fire i love the board tonight i've i've never seen him with such conviction say that he loves the board so much that night rifles off four picks on the spot every single one of them hit you add in merle's texany college picks all weekend in the game notes parlay i had a fantastic healthy weekend

winning money on the barstool sportsbook so all right we gotta talk about this hot streak you've been on you've been texting the group chat you don't really you don't really gloat too much about it i think uh merles is more of a throwing out the flame emojis like what are you what are you up in the last couple weeks can you say can you say on here i prefer not to for various reasons uh and i you don't remember i prefer not to for various reasons uh and you remember i took some time off earlier in the season because i got fucking croaked i had to take a little time out but i've had honestly the stuff i was sending over to the group text literally that was the best week i ever had in 45 years of uh gambling um it was crazy like the

montreal pick i gave out that night plus 320 i love montreal that night to give out that kind of pick and have everyone follow, it's awesome. It gives you a fat head. You get excited about it. But, yeah, I had a really good two-month stretch where, again, I don't trust certain entities out there. I don't want to say any numbers because I'm fucking scared of that stuff. But, yeah, definitely the best two-month stretch I've had

since I started doing this stuff. Let's just say R.A. could go buy an SUV if he wanted with all his winnings. R.A.'s going to hit the five-star on Grand Theft Auto. He's got TSA after him. He's got the IRS. Seriously. I thought I got fucking cop buddies around here. He gets his drugs and his cash taken by U.S. Custom Border Protection

and then calls him TSA to their face and gets arrested. Triple crown. Oh, shit. Yeah, you're the new Pablo Escobar. How are you? So, anyways, last week, me me and g we hit up uh let's see the canuck awesome bow we talked about before the hockey bar down manhattan bardo and sucker punch and you boys you guys hitting the road too uh g where you guys off to next week who's up for

us what is right yeah so next wednesday we we will be at fine wine in good spirit starting at 4 p.m and the address to that is 330 east waterfront Drive in Homestead, Pennsylvania. And then on Thursday, Biz and I will be in Chicago at Barstool River North from 6 to 8 p.m. And that is at 14 West Hubbard Street. And then Friday, we will be at, from 4 to 6 p.m., we will be at Festival Foods in DeParis, Wisconsin. And the address to that is 1001 Main Ave. And that's from 4 to 6 p.m.

Love it. It's going to be a great weekend. And then I fly back into Atlanta because we have a Sunday broadcast and Wayne's going to be on it. So I get to grab dinner with Wayne on Saturday night. Wayne's back, baby. He's revving up for playoffs. Let's go, baby. He's revving up for playoffs. Let's go, baby.

So for playoffs, you guys just, how does it work? It's not just Wednesday nights anymore. Is it in the first round? How does it work for first? No, no, no, no. We basically got most of the games. Sometimes we'll have like a two or three day break and maybe ESPN will have the broadcast.

I think ESPN this year have the first and or first and second day, and then all of a sudden it's off and running, and then we get going and we're on most nights. There's so many games to cover. Did you rent that house again in 8 Mile? Yeah. No, no, no. The trap house is not going to be rented.

I'll be at the hotel the entire time. Nice. Yeah, I'll be grinding through that. So going back to a couple of things with you kind of scoff at my activity with the bachelor party draft. Well, did you laugh because I said the sauna steam room, cold pub situation? Like, are you like, fuck off with that? I wasn't laughing. I wasn't laughing at you at all. I was, I, I guess from your reactions, we're the weird ones, but my group of friends here at home, I've talked about them a lot. We've never done one thing on a bachelor party.

We go to the, we go, besides, what's the place in New York I love? The track, all right, that we met. West Garden? Saratoga. No, Saratoga. Saratoga. Saratoga is amazing. That's one thing where all day you're drinking and you're gambling on the ponies okay none of us golfed until like somewhat recently so I'm talking years

ago bachelor party land we would go go out wake up go to a bar drink go out that night wake up go to a bar so in terms of like the activities, there was no activities. It was just us hanging around, getting banged up. There was no like, oh, let's go to a gun range or, oh, let's go bowling. Like, no, we just kind of drank. So I understand maybe we're the different ones, but there was no itineraries. There was nothing. I mean, one bachelor party in Charlestonon we went to the saint bars it was called republic i don't even know if it's still there on king street is it king street charles we went every night we went three nights in a row i mean so maybe we're the losers but i

was more scoffing at you saying like oh you need an activity because they're just there was none okay fair enough and then the last thing i was going to say was, I'm surprised Pasol even showed his face in public and even dressing up the way he is after getting dummied by us in the sandbagger. We just have to revisit that. Hey, honestly, he was signing my kid's jersey and giving him a stick, so I didn't say anything. But to my brother-in-law, I go, we fucking dummied that guy. We dummied him.

Seven in a row, buddy. We're on fire. We're on fire. Probably not necessarily fair that he was only getting 14 shots, but he ended up being pretty clutch. So, no, I take that back. That lip out on 16 was everything for us. Yep.

Fiala lipping out. So, I don't know how many of you folks have watched it. We're up to 400,000 on the Spittin' Chicklets YouTube channel. Sandbagger, baby. Go check it out if you haven't we're sorry if we spoiled it but it's been a few weeks you you snooze you lose all right folks before we continue i need to talk to you about our ticket sponsor the best in the business game time this is an exclusive ticketing partner of barstool sports it's created by fans

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Game time, the best, easiest way to get into any event or game you ever want to be a part of. Check it out now. Everybody, we talked about the Chicklets group text, us four, we do the show stuff. We also have the Big Chicklets group text. You're the one who named that, right? Big Chicklets?

I just wrote Big Chicklets because more people, bigger, and I need to have names of group chats or I can never find them. No, absolutely. It's the Game Notes guys in Posh. And, Biz, you were all over the LA Kings, 8-0-2 their last 10. You kind of pumped me to the tires. And the Whitdog said he wasn't too impressed with them. I was shocked. I was shocked.

Because he loves the Kings, and they're a great team. They're 10-0-2 in their last 12. Let's just pump the brakes. 10-0-12 in their last— Hey, the L.A. Kings are a very good team. But you talk about them so much, you would think that they're breaking records this season. You would think that they've had all this success in the past few years. The Oilers beat them last year. The Oilers are better this year than last year. I think the Kings are better this year than last year, but you're acting like I should be petrified. You're

acting like the Oilers are going to be playing the Bruins in the first round. The Oilers match up great against the Kings, bud. Great. I think if you could combine the Kings' top five leading scorers, I don't even know if that would equal our top two. Okay, so if that's where the argument's going to be based, the reason it doesn't scare me is because if you look at two of the best defensive forwards in all of the NHL, you have Jose Kopitar and Deneau, and they're there. And they know how to shut down those types of players like that. And on top of that, Deneau's contributing.

And if they can X those players out, I look at forward depth, 10 forwards with 10 or more goals, five of which with 18 or more. They got guys who can fucking snap it around. What was the first thing you said? 10 forwards with what? 10 or more goals. got guys who can fucking snap it around. What was the first thing you said? 10 forwards with what? 10 or more goals. Okay. Okay.

Pretty nice. That's insane depth, right? So, and I just, I was shocked to see the fact that you're not scared about it, where all of a sudden, the Oilers probably are not going to get home ice advantage. And because of that, now they're going to either have to play, if LA doesn't win the division, they have to play have to play if la doesn't win the division they have to play la and or if la does win the division they got to play the vegas gold knights those two

right there not necessarily easy first round matchups i was just shocked where you say i'm not really scared where it's like well they they address the two needs that they needed they added a defenseman and then they got corpus allo where ra you sent over the stat to the group text what is he 401 since he's gotten there 929 save percentage with a 1.77 goals against average but all they needed to do is was address goaltending so right now if if you're asking me it's a coin flip and you when you said okay okay i'll agree with coin flip and when you said I'm not scared. Okay I'll agree with coin flip but you're making it sound like oh Oilers are fucked dude. I think you wrote horrible

horrible matchup for the Oilers I said it's a horrendous first round matchup for the Oilers especially the way that the LA Kings are playing and you're like they don't scare me. But the Oilers are buzzing as well and you talk about the Kings addressing needs. Yes did the Oilers not address needs?

They did. They got this defenseman at home. He looks like fucking Nick Lidstrom since he went over there. He's a Swedish. He might be the new Nick Lidstrom. That's what's happened since he got to Edmonton. But he's physical. And obviously, I joke around a little bit.

But, Biz, I'm looking here. All right, yeah, The Kings have five more points than the Oilers with nine games remaining. So that's going to be tough. That's going to be a tough team to catch to get home ice. Whereas last year they did have home ice and they were able to win game seven after winning game six in the road because they were down 3-2 to the Kings. Regulation wins. Oilers have four more. Okay. That's a legit thing. So at least if somehow we get the tie breaker, we get that. Plus 40 goal differential, plus 22 in LA. All right. We got two, maybe two of the three best players in the league. I don't think you have a top 50 player in the league.

Okay. We have a dynamic, amazing power play. Ironically enough the king's power play is very good as well but if you're trying to say that it's this horrendous horrible matchup the only team i'll say is a horrendous horrible matchup for the oilers is the avalanche and they're a horrendous horrible matchup for every team in the league so i'm not saying that like oh my god the oilers are gonna sweep them or oh this is no problem i think it'll be a six i think the way you talk about them sounds like a team that should have won the division and given themselves an easier first round matchup to now where they have a coin flip. So it's not a good situation for the Oilers. And I would be a little bit worried about it.

You got a hot goaltender. You're six and three in shootouts this year. We're 0-4. I mean, there's no shootouts in the playoffs, bitch. 0-4. I mean, there's no shootouts in the playoffs, bitch. So what I'm saying is there is no matchup out there that is

terrifying for the Oilers in the West besides the Avalanche. And even then, we'll see the Avalanche's health. If you either drew Winnipeg, Calgary, or Seattle, I would say, well, no, Oilers are going to win that gentleman's sweep in five.

Right? But now that they have either... The Oilers would beat the Wild in five games. I know they can't play first round. Sure, we're not talking about that. Alright. Just saying. I was just surprised to see that in the group text. Let's go to R.A. R.A., would you be worried if you're the Oilers playing against the L.A. Kings in the first round? Yeah.

Especially if you don't have home ice advantage. Yeah, I don't think the home ice is as big a deal as the goaltending. You know, I mean, Skinner's having a decent year. I don't know if they're going to probably even use Campbell at all. But regardless of who they throw out there, I think Corpozalo is a pretty good advantage for LA. And, you know, a goaltender is always huge. I always go to that.

So, yeah, LA would definitely be favored. I definitely would give them the edge in the series. But are you guys going to make a wager this year? Eddie, no more haircut wages, but what do you – I can't fuck around with my hair. It's already fallen out. When that matchup happens, we'll see what the line is, but I would imagine we would go in even money

even if LA does get home ice advantage because you're that confident. I think it'll be pretty close. I think it'll be pretty close to even money when they play. Even money if it ends up being LA Edmonton? Yeah, I'll bet you anything you want. I do still have the Pink Whitney earring from last year if you guys want to make a little earring bet. Hey, Grinnelly, shut the fuck up. We're going to keep it financial this time.

I'm not fucking giving up my body parts anymore or my hairline. I'm ugly enough. I can't fuck around with getting uglier. I can't do it. Won't do it. I would be interested to hear what majority of Oilers fans have to say about their first round matchup and if they are worried about the Kings. Would you be more worried about the Kings or the Vegas Golden Knights? Just a quick answer. I'd probably rather play the Golden Knights. With no stone because I don't think there's any sign of him coming back.

That's with no stone. That's another 200-foot player. You can't run and gun the Oilers, whereas Vegas would probably try. The Kings won't. I'm kind of like contradicting myself a little bit here. Yeah, thank you. I'm not at all saying that the Kings would be an easy win. I'm more responding to you saying, oh, basically you were saying, like, they're fucked.

They're just fucked against the Kings. I just said it's a horrendous, based on the outlook of coming into the season, and I thought that they were going to run away with that division, that now all of a sudden they got to play a coin flip in the first round rather than playing Seattle, Winnipeg, or Calgary.

I don't think that that's a good situation for the Edmonton Oilers, especially of how much they rely on McDavid and Dreisaitl and how much they've had to play and contribute in order to get themselves in the position they are now. With Kane being out, I understand they have other guys in the lineup, but it's going to be a coin toss, and I think that we can leave it at that. All right, we got more hockey to talk about.

I think Connor is kind of another guy we're going to lead right into, right? Yeah, we'll get there in a second. The other thing too, Biz, L.A. Kings are my third highest potential payout for any Stanley Cup winners. Okay, you have 27 futures. We've been over this a million times. 35-20. Speaking of Kings, I guessed a little bit later, Dave

King, a longtime Team Canada coach. He also coached the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets. A great interview. We got to come in a little bit later. But yeah, Biz, I mentioned the regular season winding down. Only a week and a half left. Teams to get the last eight, ten games in. We still have some drama left. We don't know who the wild card team is going to be in the East.

We don't know who's going to be playing who in the West. TNT Wednesday, two great games. We had Pittsburgh visiting Colorado. Arizona was at Edmonton. And you and Jens in the studio together, man. That was like front row at the Apollo Theater on a Saturday night with you two you guys were hilarious yeah it was good it was great having him in that seat you know it's uh it's a long time coming I'm happy for him and fuck what a quick rise for Jens doing sports a little bit and then boom right over to TNT so

it was easy to snap it around with him uh he brought up some uh some funny stories from the past and I hope I get a few more reps with that guy in that seat. And like you said, the stars were on display. We had Crosby with the Penguins. We had them against his tummy stick buddy, McKinnon. And in the late game, we had Connor McDavid against my Arizona Coyotes. So there was – and Clayton Keller. You could put him in that fucking conversation with those guys

with what he's doing this year, especially after what he dealt with with injury. But going back to that first game, that fucking backhand by Sid, I think they clocked it at 67 miles an hour when he walked Gerrard. He's carried the Pittsburgh Penguins into a playoff position, and more than likely they are going to make playoffs because they have a pretty good schedule to run out here against non-playoff teams. But just the season this guy's having at 35 years old it's fucking nuts wit his backhand is something that people don't even understand because it's

kind of one of those things that on tv now on tv that goal in particular stands out because it's like a backhand slap shot rocket where the post connects to the crossbar. One of the most beautiful backhand goals I've ever seen. But I think unless you sit down close to the game or see in person, him on his backhand is something that is just wild because he

has the straight blade for the most part. When he came into the league, it was even straighter than it is now. Like pretty much, Biz, would you not say it was almost straight? Like shocking when people would look at it. He would use the two piece and he would have the blades and he would look at them. We've talked about before out of a box of about a hundred, he keep 10 and there was just a slight bend, but yeah, nothing much there. It was basically a straight blade. And I think part of it, I think he mentioned when he was young, his dad was like, no,

you got to be good on your back end. And to be able to do things on your backhand is such an underrated skill because when you try to take an angle away from some guy, if you're that confident on your backhand, you're able to make plays that you wouldn't be able to make. Say you're a defenseman that's great on your backhand, lefty defenseman coming up the offside, you're getting pinched off. Will most guys get to chip it off the glass and out? If you're confident enough, you can snap a backhander through a guy's triangle,

send a guy in on a three on two, two on one. It's little things like that. And he's always been the best. And he actually has a backhand slap shot. He takes it back a little bit and he just rips at it. He's figured out exactly the angle it needs to be hit at. And to do that at full speed after working whoever defense, was it Gerrard's triangle? I think it was Sam Gerrard. Works his triangle and then gives the goalie no chance to set up. So that was one of the best goals I've ever seen him score in an enormous game where they were huge underdogs

going on the road to a juggernaut team. They get a must-needed win backed by one of the goals of the year. So you said it best, Biz. I mean, he, and then the fact that Geno wins the next game or two games later, they lost to Dallas in between against Washington on maybe one of the worst turnovers I've ever seen by Mantha. Did you, I don't even think he knew Malkin was there. He's just like, there was no even try for a movie to poke check them. But the Pittsburgh Penguins big dogs are just carrying them into the playoffs. Not to mention the Panthers, the biggest choke artists in the league. But Brovsky's horrible. Like I said,

when you were pumping their tires two weeks ago, they stink again. So I think it's going to be Islanders-Pittsburgh. Greatest backhand ever, I think, in NHL history, Sidney Crosby. On the broadcast, I want to say Yance texted Wayne, and he said Dave Keon was also another guy who had a vicious backhand. And you talk about, Yance actually brought up another point on the broadcast where when he had Quinville in Florida, if you were a defenseman or basically anyone probably other than Barkov, if you made a backhand play, he would blow it down and restart the drill. He did not like players going to their

backhand. And a lot of coaches, they frown upon it because obviously there's going to be less sauce on the pass. And a lot of time they get picked off because of how slow they're going. So, but for a guy like him, you talk about how important it is where if you're a centerman, especially, and you don't have a good backhand, a lot of the time, especially with guys who have the banana hook curves, if you're breaking out a certain way and you get that pass from the defenseman, it'll hit off your stick and then you'll bobble it. So smart coaches will see centermen that do struggle taking passes on breakouts out of their backhand. And in fact, they'll adjust their forecheck to where they force them out on the backhand side.

So it could be, it could hurt you in the long run, especially if you have an in-tune coach who's aware of that, where it's like, Hey boys, anytime those centermen on the ice, they really struggle on one side of the ice. Make sure you put it on that corner in that corner and make sure it's trying to come up that side where they're going to be their their percentage goes down based on execution rate where you're talking about crosby when he's coming low and slow as a center you could fucking gun passes at him on his back hand and he ain't fucking batting an eye well that's one of the things about the the current and the positives outweigh the negatives no doubt no doubt but with the curves guys have now your backhand becomes pretty useless.

That's why Crosby, with the straight blade, you just have so much more space in the blade to accept the pass. Now, a winger, a goal-scoring winger with a big hook on his stick, he's not even worried about his backhand that often. But it's one of those things that if you're able to pass it well on your backhand, it just opens up different avenues while you're on the ice for you. And it's an underrated skill.

It really is. And mind you, I on the ice for you. And it's an underrated skill. It really is. And mind you, I think the NHLPA will get in later, voted Leon Dreitzel as the best passer in the NHL. Boy, he's got a bubble hockey stick. Of course he's the best fucking passer. And look at him. He's got the long-ass bubble hockey winger blade. And he threw one of the nicest backhand passes I've ever seen to McDavid

when he ended up missing the first overtime breakaway and scored right after that so spinorama how much fucking juice he had on that spinorama and then and then mcdavid missed it slashes the board almost breaks the stick and then here comes leon on the forecheck digs it out gives him another breakaway right afterward but ra even going to the banana hook and why it's hard because even if you if you adjust your wrist for the angle to accept the past the the amount of blade you have to work with is so low because of that banana hook where once you have a flat blade and you see other centermen in the league who do have flat blades uh o'reilly's another guy

who stands out where the only thing he has is on the end he's got that little button hook ex-ante gear whatever you want to fucking call it but I think that I think that more centermen coming up should should concern themselves how to how to play with a straighter blade for that purpose alone so before we go any further I'm here to talk to you guys about better help our show is brought to you byHelp. Getting to know yourself can be a lifelong process, especially because we're always growing and changing. You're one person five years ago, all of a sudden you look back, you can't even imagine that was you. And with those changes, I think a lot of different thoughts, a lot of different ideas, a lot of different feelings about yourself and other people you're close with come into play. Therapy is all about deepening your self-awareness and understanding.

Because sometimes we don't know what we want or why we react the way we do until we talk things true. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online. It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. You just have to fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists anytime for no additional cost. Sometimes if you're not necessarily vibing with somebody that you're talking to about some probably meaningful, deep things in your lives that have kind of shaped who you are, and maybe

you're not feeling like you want to be with the same one. No additional cost. You find a new therapist. All of a sudden, that next person may be the one that really helps you kind of feel better about yourself moving forward. Discover your potential with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash chicklets today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash chicklets. Can I ask you guys a question? I mean, you guys practice with Crosby. Would you guys ever see him do any drills or anything off the ice in particular to like get the best backhand in the NHL? No, it was more drills on the ice. And there was plenty of video that was coming out. Do you remember the point in time where he went

down with a concussion? And then there was a long period of time where he was practicing and still developing all his skills and doing those small area drills go i mean i'm sure they're what i've seen him do i've seen him sit in the slot g and have somebody pass it to him from the corner or next to the net takes it on his forehand brings to his backhand and and i'm talking backhand slap shot he brings it over quick like he's getting like 15 20 in a row brings to his backhand and just whacks at it. I don't know how he's getting the puck in the air like he did on that goal, considering it's a legit slap shot. But I also was laughing as we're talking about this,

about big hooks and the positives outweighing the negatives for goal scores. The pasta stick he gave to Ryder. I don't know if you could see. Look at that tape job. It's a banana hook. I don't know if you could see look at that tape job it's a banana hook i don't know if you could see but it's absolutely it looks like a blind man tape it looks like r.a. takes a stick on shrooms it looks like that who's the uh the the big black dude with his hammer hanging out he always that's what i call r.i.p r.i..P. That's what I called Leon on the TNT broadcast.

I asked him if he nicknamed his blade Barry, and I don't think he got the joke. I wouldn't even have gotten that one. He was like, no, it's a burger flipper. We call it the burger flipper. Hey, speaking of the TNT broadcast and that game and then getting to see the Oilers after, I loved seeing Connor. He was messing with you a little bit. He was a little more loose and open.

He just scored the OT winner, and it was nice to see him chirp you a little bit. He was a little more loose and open. He just scored the OT winner, and it was nice to see him chirp you a little bit. I think the hatred of you saying he wasn't going to get 40 goals has finally gone away. No, I knew that he was going to get 40. He was on this crazy pace. I said, was there a different mindset coming into the year? And he's like, well, shut the fuck up, you loser. I got a game to play. And he pitch and tossed me.

But yes, getting him postgame is much better than before the game because there's a lot of pressure on this guy. He's got to carry the whole fucking team, him and Leon. The other guys. Oh, yeah, Nuts sucks. No, I'm just poking fun. But yeah, I was going to ask him a different question, but he had that thing on the front of his shirt.

Can we just roll the interview? Connor, what's going on with that shirt there? Like, what's up with it? What are those two little things there on the front of his shirt. Can we just roll the interview? Connor, what's going on with that shirt there? Like, what's up with it? What are those two little things there on the front of them? Up top by your collarbones. What is that? Yeah, they're supposed to protect the collarbone. This was a shirt that was made for me my first year

coming off a broken collarbone. So I'm not sure what they do, but, you know, we just got to go with what works. Oh, I thought maybe like magnets or something. That was like the secret behind all your juice you got out there buzzing up and down the ice. I was going to make a comeback. I don't get my hands on one of those. They don't make magnets big enough for that.

Yeah, yeah. No, I think you're right where you're supposed to be there. We totally agree. What does that mean? Oh, I think we all know. No, I just mean you're doing a great job. It's funny. So I saw that biz and I was reminded immediately of the ones Crosby has on his shoulder.

For his AC joints. He does. But I forgot that Connor in his first year, he fucked up this collarbone. So that helps maybe with the shoulder pads and the pressure that it comes. So it kind of spreads out the pressure when he gets hit from the front. But yeah, a great exchange. And I joked about when he ended my career when we had that game, or my NHL career, when we had that exhibition game in Vernon.

And then he reminded me of when he was 14 and he showed up to that BioSteel camp. BioSteel, you know, they're the official sports drink of the NHL now. It's no longer Gatorade or Gato as Jack Hughes likes to call it. And he probably lost him a few bucks when he mentioned that one. But they used to throw these camps to get ready for the season. So you would go one day- They don't do it anymore? No, they still do them. They still do them. Obviously at some point I stopped getting invited because I was a plug and guys like that were probably like, hey, can we just like not invite this loser? That was around the time where you start hearing about these unreal kids coming up and McDavid, probably when he was about 13, his name was cut, you know,

on the TSN, on Sportsnet, you would start hearing about him. And then for the scrimmage games, which they do every Thursday at the end of camp, we found out, hey, McDavid's coming out, McDavid's coming out. Well,avid's coming out well everything is advertised this kid was probably ready to play in the hl as a as a 14 year old and his balls hadn't been dropped yet and he's just buzzing out there and he tries to take me wide and i go over and i fucking pin him against the wall but there's no contact but i was like fuck that i ain't letting this 14 year old roast me and then they ended up giving him a fucking penalty shot and he buried on me i was fuming i was fuming because we used to you know these games were pretty competitive you were

hanging on by a threat in the nhl i don't blame you you can't be getting walked by a mite that's so so he actually has a great memory and reminded me of that i said fair enough fair enough but i know people rag on him for not having to show more personality. He's got a personality. He's the guy in the locker room who's dropping the subtle chirps. He's just got so much focus on trying to play the game and break all these records, in which he did on that night hit the 60 mark with that OT winner. So he's the best.

Even Gretzky would say he's the GOAT, the way that he's playing right now. He just keeps elevating his game, and it was a pleasure to get to talk to him and get to watch him play. I think you'll see a lot more of that personality once he gets a cup. I think once the cup comes, you're going to see who the real Colerick Davis is.

Which I kind of respect. I mean, as a broadcaster, in quotes, I want him to, you know, show more, but I also understand, like, these people that are driven the way he's driven, these elite level top end athletes, a lot of them, nothing matters until that championship comes. So if it's going to be that way, I respect it. And I do agree with you that once you find they're able to kind of exhale a little bit and not worry about, oh, my God, like, what if this all ends

and I don't have one, you'd probably see a different side. He did a commercial in Canada with the body break folk, Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod. He does all these funny commercials. He's got personality, and you're going to see it when he finally gets his cup. Not this year if they meet the Kings, though. Either one of you guys ever seen a player have two breakaways

in overtime in succession within like seven or eight seconds like that? That was fucking crazy. I've never seen nothing like that before. I actually did, but it was a pond hockey game, 1996 in Norwell. It was overtime though, but I did get two breakaways. Yeah, Foley lost an edge, so he bailed. So you had the whole sheet to yourself to go down and buzz.

I like how he said after business i'm just lucky the stick didn't break because he whacked it a couple of times really hard we saw see how easy these sticks break sometimes so he was lucky it didn't break also first guy to score his 60th in overtime fastest to 60 since mario back in 96 uh the 22nd player with 60 the fourth among the active players after ovi, Stamkos, and Matthews. 60 goals scored in consecutive seasons for the fourth time in league history. So, you know, like I said, every week we got to stroke off of this kid because he earns it, he deserves it, and he's a special treat. I want to go back to Ekholm for a second.

Has he been the most impactful deadline addition by any team? I think Orlov's in that discussion. I think Corposalo's in that discussion. I think Ekholm's right there. I'm not ready to say he's been the difference in terms of the offense has been a little bit underrated for him forever, I think. And I totally understand it. I mean, it's Yossi there. It's been a bunch of offensive defensemen in Nashville where you're kind of taking a backseat a little bit. Whereas, I mean, you saw the goal he scored. Was it that TNT game? The snipe? He took a full slap shot from about four feet away. don't know what i don't know who they were playing against he's got more offense than people think he's just he's just exactly what they needed uh bouchard's looked good but there's been a bunch of guys who've made big

impacts i thought it was funny that he scored on the exact same move and he's he's created his own celebration that knee drop and then that fucking windmill with his arm it gets me going every time are you talking about mcdavid i'm sorry i'm going back to mcdavid yes of course oh what's crazy so mcdavid has 10 he needs 10 goals in the final nine games to get 70 the crazy thing is though i think he's pretty much locked up to get six more goals which would be 66 now that i said that there's no chance it'll happen but that would be more goals in one season than alexander ovechkin's even ever scored i think his high 65 so how it's that different mindset i mean it's like this guy with this speed and this playmaking ability also ends up a season with more goals

than ovi ever had that's when you kind of shake your head like yeah we are watching a true generational talent just hitting his prime he his prime. I believe this year is the first year of his prime. And the way that these guys take care of themselves, imagine another 10-year rip of what he's doing right now. If he's moving around in 10 years like he is now, I'm finding whatever doctor he's seeing, and I'm going to try to anti-age myself. Biz, another guy who got some well-deserved national exposure in that game, Clayton Keller. I know we talked about him last week, but we got to talk about him again.

He's got 80 points. It's the second most in Coyotes history. He just passed J.I. Andona after he passed the Wizards before that. He has eight games to get seven points to set a new Coyotes record. Again, it's just the Coyotes. It's not that whole franchise just since they've been in the desert. Bigwald has the record. He had 86 points back in 97. That was the- The first year they were in existence.

Yep. That was his first, yeah. He was first American to lead the NHL in goals, Big Walt, that year. So let's go to you, Bizzo. Obviously, what's this kid doing that he wasn't doing years previous? Because he's got more points, more goals than he had any year prior to this. So against the Abs, he scored his 36th hit that 80 point mark as you just mentioned took over sole sole leader as the the longest point streak in arizona coyotes history uh donor ronick we're at 11 games so he's at 12 games right now and actually you guys know we record on monday afternoons i have to go work the coyotesotes game tonight against the Oilers. So I'm excited to watch McDavid live at the mullet.

So he can keep extending that, but just going back to when he first started an unbelievable kid, by the way, like he is just like quiet, respectful, just the prototypical guy you want leading your organization. And I would say that this would have been the scouting report. He was undersized, probably a half a step behind, didn't really have a lot of mustard on his shot. He would get bumped off of pucks a lot and out-muscled, but with the work ethic and the dedication to the game, and that's just not in the gym. It's also watching all the clips and and understanding

where the the the spots on the ice that he can help exploit how he can run the power play um also if if you if you ask him he he idolized Patrick Kane and I think you see a lot of that game transfer over to what he's doing now he even chews on his mouth guard the same way and continued to, like to continue to elevate his play year over year. He did have a little bit of a setback after his first year when he was actually a second runner up for the Calder. I think Barzell ended up winning it that year, but continue to come in with that positive mindset and put that work in. Well, he gained that half a step and even surpassed it where he, he's fucking fast player he doesn't get knocked off of pucks anymore but he's got 36 goals now he worked on that shot now he has a top tier nhl shot he's running the power play it's nice

that they've also surrounded him with some competent line mates uh barrett hayden's have a heck of a breakout year and him and Schmaltzy have unreal chemistry. I'm glad that they didn't get rid of him at the deadline, but just going back to this full calendar year specifically at the end of last year and how good of a season he had. And after he added all those things to his bag that I just mentioned after working on him, he broke his femur guys like that in some cases can be a career ending injury. And it was devastating. I was, I was so gutted for him. I believe we were on a TNT broadcast when, when it happened.

And I ended up, we had to talk about it live on air. And I'm like, I feel so gutted for all the work that this kid's in to get to this place. And now he has to go through a full summer to recover from, that's the biggest, biggest bone in your body. Right. That's like snapping your, snapping the bone in your quad, folks, for those of you who haven't played Operation at home. So he had a full summer to do that, and even when he came to training camp,

you could see that he regressed a little bit to where he'd lost that half a step. No, showed up every day. He put that fucking work in, battled through every bit of adversity that he had to to get to where he is right now, 80 points on the season, guys guys he's got more points than Matthews right now for fuck's sakes so I think that based on the perseverance he's had in the last calendar year and I know that there's other stories out there like for instance Letang had a

stroke like there's some things that are a little bit more serious than breaking a bone or an injury but I think that he should be a strong consideration for the Masterton Trophy. And that's what most exemplifies the perseverance of a hockey player and what he had to deal with in order to get to where he is right now. So I'm so proud of him. I'm so proud he's an Arizona Coyote. And I think that he's got an even brighter future. And I don't think that the ceiling has been met. I think he's going to keep climbing. So shout out to Clayton Keller getting the respect he deserves. And since February 1st, there's one guy in the league who's got more points than him. Can you guys name him?

Can't. I'm not David. One guy since February 1st. I saw him play at BU. He lit up his freshman year. He turned pro. Great rookie season. And then, like you mentioned, some step backs.

I actually think he would say openly, there's a woman that works around here, Ellen Spacuzza. She's an ART body work person. He flies her out there once a month, or if he's coming east, she flies out. I think she does a lot for him, stays with him, really works on him. She said his work ethic is unmatched. Insane. She works with Jack Eichel too, so she's mentioned how great of a kid he is uh also as the golf guy i gotta mention i think it would be very close him and joe pavelski as the top golfer in the nhl oh yeah a true stick this kid and um i'm

happy for him you know bu everything's coming up bu you got mcavoy you got keller you got them in the in the frozen four so so i just i just couldn't believe that it ended up being his femur. I didn't know that right at the time. And to hear that, like you said, I saw Taylor Ferdinand break his femur in Minnesota, a horrifying injury. And it's something that for him to be able to come back and look this good, all credit goes to him.

And going back, I know I mentioned Matthews. I didn't realize Matthews actually suffered a broken femur before he was drafted. So because they're so close, he was able to talk to him and learn a lot of the stuff about how he was able to recover and what were the best things, what were things he should maybe avoid. So it's always good having a buddy like that. So like you said, all the little stuff away from the rink that you're doing in order to, he has a personal

chef. So he's reinvesting into himself away from the rink as well. So I know I had that stat up, I talked about. So this is Colin Harmon. He's a local reporter. Clayton Keller is six points shy of Keith Kachuk's Coyote single season record for 86 points with eight games to go. Riding a Yotes record 12 game point streak. How about this? Most points in the NHL since February 1st. Connor McDavid with 47 points. Clayton Keller's tied for second. I want to say McKinnon is also tied with that with 39 points, 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points. Just highly impressive for a player whose team is out of it. Does it suck that we're not going to be getting Conor Bedard more than likely because of how hard this Coyotes team's played?

20 wins, I want to say, at home at the Mullet Arena already. But, hey, you got to learn how to win at some point, so shout out to Clayton Keller and the rest of the Desert Dogs. Ow, ow, ow! About to upset your Edmonton Oilers tonight. Bitch. We also want to say. About to upset your Edmonton Oilers tonight. Bitch. We also want to say congrats to Josh Doan. He got his first professional goal with the Tucson Roadrunners last week.

Congrats to Josh. And I think I'm getting a signal from G. He wants to send it over to Dave King right now, one of your other coaches in Arizona. So we'll stick with the Coyotes team and going to send it over to Dave King right now. Enjoy it. And Dave King, for folks who don't know,

the first Canadian coach ever to coach in Russia before the KHL was the Russia Super League. So we get into some great stories. We really enjoyed chatting with him. So we appreciate that. On to Dave King. This interview is brought to you by Chevy. Chevrolet is a trusted company that has been innovating for the last 100 years. Up to now, most electric vehicles have either been too expensive, too small, and too limited in capabilities for most people. Chevrolet is committed to making EVs available for all Americans. There's a growing network of public charging stations, they have over 1,900 certified Chevy EV dealerships, and Chevy has convenient ways to research and shop EVs online.

Chevy, EVs for everyone, everywhere. Now, let's go on to the interview. Okay, we're very pleased to welcome our next guest. This man was a staple with Team Canada for nearly a decade, coaching his countrymen at the 84, 88, and 92 Olympics in Albertville, France, where he won a silver medal. He then coached the Calgary Flames for three seasons, was a Montreal assistant for two before becoming the first coach ever in Columbus Blue Jackets history. He also coached in Germany and Sweden and was the first Canadian to coach in the Russian Super League. Thank you so much for

joining us on the Spitting Chickens podcast. Dave King. How are you doing, Dave? I'm doing great, guys, and it's nice to be on your podcast. Well, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to have you. So you actually used to coach this animal on the screen with us here, Biz. Oh, God. Loose pucks and ice bags. I can't believe I didn't remember. Thank God our producer reminded me that's all that would come out of your mouth post-game. Loose pucks and ice bag, boys. Well, you know, I wrote a book, too, called Loose Pucks and Ice Bags, where I talk. It's a book too called loose pucks and ice bags where i uh i talk it's a book about hockey uh beast and uh that was it's a simple statement but i always believed that that was a really important thing was uh you know in the course of the game if you get to more loose pucks

than the other team's pretty good chance you're going to control the game and then of course after the game if you're laying the ice bags on you play pretty well well. And by the way, Beast, I did enjoy working with you. You were unbelievable. Boy, did I punish you sometimes with hard work. Oh, buddy. You never complained and you just tried to get better. And I had a lot of respect for that, I'll tell you, kid. Kanger, I was telling these guys before you hopped on,

I'm so grateful that I got to have you as an assistant coach. You came to the rink every day with a pep in your step. You cared so much about the players. You taught me so much. And yeah, every day after practice, because I was a healthy scratch most of the time, you would grab me for 30, sometimes 45, even sometimes, I don't know if you were grumpy, but an hour and I'd be doing crossover, crossover, crossover, knee drop, crossover, crossover, crossover, knee drop. And then this guy, and you would even have me do the bull in the ring, but it made me a better player. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything you ever did for me as a player, Kinger. Beast, it was easy to work with you. I always loved your enthusiasm.

You could tell you were thrilled to be in the NHL. The one challenge you had, the one challenge I had with you, and I always felt was difficult for you, was you played major junior as a defenseman, and you come up to the NHL as a forward. And it just looked like sometimes, I mean, when you went on the ice, the pace of our game was higher, the physicality was higher, the intensity in the crowd and on the bench was higher. So you made an impact on our game. But I always got the impression you weren't sure about yourself. When you got the puck, you wanted to make sure you didn't make a mistake. And you can ask Ryan about that. You can't play this game if you're worried about making a mistake.

Well, that's because I would beat the thing into a square when I got it. So it was like a hot potato. But I'm trying to make some great plays, though, Beast. I saw you make some really good plays and i'll tell you one thing our team was better when you were in the lineup and uh for a guy who didn't get big minutes you you were always there you're always ready always ready to dig in i'm gonna have to send you a video after this is you didn't leave you let the league in that one category dump ins per shift.

Kanger, don't laugh. Don't get this guy going. I always wondered if you got to break away, Ryan, if he would shoot it in and go and get it, you know. He just tried to run a guy through the wall. Kanger, another reason that you always had a pep in your step, you would, every morning you wake up and you run what, five miles is it? Yeah. I'm a runner. I've run now for 35 years and haven't really missed a day. So I just keep going and I enjoy it. In fact, I got to tell you a story. When I coached in Magnitogorsk, that was 2005, 2006. It was called the Super League. So I went over there and I had coached the national team for 10 years. So I knew the Russians

were always elite in terms of fitness. And I can remember the second day of training camp, they had a 10-kilometer run where you had to finish in a certain time. And it was very important for the organization to see the guys dig in and do this. So I thought, I'll jump in and I'll run with the guys. So three people finished under the time that was required. And I was one of those three people. It's not good for me, but I think myself now, three of us got this done. One's 52 or 53 years old. What kind of fitness do we have on this team? So right away, I'm thinking, boy, it's going to be a tough season. But it wasn't because we had guys like Malkin and Kuhlman,

good players. Yaskavich, Korolev, some veteran guys. We had a good team. Was Malkin one of the guys that finished under the time? Yeah, he did. Malkin, he's a good athlete, I'll tell you one thing. And he's a super guy, as Ryan would know. He played with him in Pittsburgh. But yeah, Malkin, myself, and I forget who the other guy was,

but only three of us. And I tell you, they're doing the fitness tests, and they've got the calipers out for the fat i thought they were using uh you know those whaling shears these guys had fat folds that were like two or three inches i i was surprised but i didn't realize korolev come up said don't worry everything's okay and i said what do you mean he said well we got it's july 6th we don't play till until September the 8th or 9th. Ryan knows this as well. And he said, we got 19 preseason games.

I said, okay, yeah, right. So that's the, in those days, the Russian Super League, and even now in the KHL, it's not quite as great, but that's the way it was in that league for sure. It's kind of like back in the 60s where guys went to NHL camp to get in shape. I just think it's kind of stayed that way over in Russia a little bit. Yeah, Ryan, I think you're correct. But when you were in Sochi, you must have had guys come to camp in pretty decent shape. Like when I was in Yaroslavl, that's 10 years later, guys came to camp in pretty good

shape. I was kind of impressed that over that eight or nine or 10 years, since it was the Super League to the KHL, it had come a long way. And the reason is obviously a lot of players went back, Russian players went back and then to the KHL, got into coaching and they took with them all their NHL habits, which are, you know, guys in the NHL are amazingly fit and everybody comes to camp. There's really a training camp almost now is just to play a couple of games and get ready to go. King, were you taking vitamins or any of the Russian gas in order to get under that 10K time?

We had a fitness coach. And like we went to play a tournament in Germany, he couldn't come with us. I said, where is this guy? Why can't he come? We can't get a passport because he broke some rules when he was working with the Russian track and field athletes. So every morning guys had to take these supplements

and it was so funny to watch the guys because they take these supplements, he'd hand out the pills, they put them in their mouth. As soon as he walked down a little further, they spit them out and Igor Korolev had a great big jar in his locker with all the supplements he was supposed to have taken. Never did. So we called him Dr. Death because I didn't know. I couldn't go in there. I wasn't allowed in the fitness room. I wasn't allowed in the medical room.

Geez, I don't know what was going on. They were saving those pills for postseason Dubai trip. They were saving those pills for post-season Dubai trip. Just waiting. Dubai didn't even exist back then. Oh, gosh, yeah. It just shot up like a cannon. Okay, so one of the times, I think you had a 15-year straight of running every single morning, and then you got that stress fracture in your foot.

And then I was talking to tip earlier today, but there you were out there with the, with the one leg running and then the other one on the cart thing, and you wouldn't miss a day. That's well, actually, you know, I,

for about five weeks, I had to use that cart and that was my form of running. But rather than going 30 minutes, I'd go 60 minutes because I only was using one leg. That's how my mind works. It's strange. You know, Getting back to coaching, I started as a head coach right away. When I was about 28 beast, I was in major junior coaching. So I never had a chance to be an assistant coach. So when I got a chance at the end of my career to work with you guys, with Phoenix as an assistant coach, a little bit in Montreal as an assistant coach, I realized,

you know, gosh, it's a great role because you get a chance to establish a real nice personal relationship with the players. You spend more time in the locker room. You spend more time just kind of chit-chatting with the players. When're a head coach you've got so much on your plate that sometimes you forget what's really important which is the relationships because i don't know that's how you win i mean the sophisticated games very sophisticated now we got consultants we've got analytics which i think are very good we've got interactive video computer systems all those things but still play relationships drive the whole thing seriously guys want to play for you you got a good chance to be successful dave normally the way we do things here is we basically go through your entire career and we start from

the beginning it says you were it says you were born in north i know it's a long one so i hope you got a couple hours here uh you were born in north battleford is that correct yes i was north battleford saskatchewan we drove through there uh during our pink whitney tour and i stopped and and i said what goes on here when we were getting gas and the guy goes crime and i had a good chuckle but what is that was that the case was it a rough place to grow up yeah it's you know it's right in the heart of a whole bunch of reserved First Nations, and there's always been issues and problems with that. And so it's got a reputation as being a place with a lot of those kind of problems, and it hasn't lost that reputation. So, yeah, it's a place where you grow up, and you grow up looking after yourself.

Did you love hockey from the beginning? I was always a hockey fanatic. I can remember going to watch my uncle play for the old Battleford Millers, they were called, and he was a goalie. God, I'd go to those games and I thought I was watching the NHL. They were big guys and they were so fast. I was about five, six years old. And so I grew up loving the game. And I think that's one of the most important things is you have to love what you do. And I've always loved hockey. What league would that have been then? Oh, that was called-

Was that senior hockey maybe? Or was that like a- Yeah, that was the senior hockey. I think it was called the Highway Six League. You can believe it. The Highway Six League. And my uncle played. And I used to think those guys were stars. I mean, I admired those guys so much. And you look back now and it was just senior men's hockey. But for a little guy going to the rink, man, you thought it was the best. Dave, when did that coaching first come up on your radar? Well, I was a, I was a teacher and I coached, uh, you know, football, basketball, wrestling, all those things in high school. And then, uh, my wife and I decided we would go into, and I include my wife because she makes a lot of those choices, you know, we decided to go into coaching full time. So I left the comfort of teaching to go

into the high risk coaching, you know, so I always, my wife and I always chose adventure over comfort because when you go into coaching, it's, you know, sometimes it doesn't last long in one place you have to move. So, But I was always a coach in high school. I got into college coaching, major, junior. And, yeah, I was just able to move up. And I've always enjoyed myself. I don't think I've ever worked. I think I've always had more fun than I've ever had.

I don't ever consider coaching work. I really never have. That's the trick to life, I think. Do something that feels like you're not working for your whole life and you're collecting paychecks for all these years. Yeah, that's pretty good. And I'll tell you, Ryan, that was the great thing about the KHL and then coaching in Russia.

Those paychecks were pretty sweet. That's why you went over there. That's why I went over there. I really was fascinated with Russian hockey because 10 years in the national team to kind of grow up coaching against those Russians. So I wanted to see a firsthand beast, but I'll tell you, it's a good paycheck. How did you get your first opportunity in pro to coach? How did that all come about? Did you put in a resume or just pop out of nowhere?

No, in my 10 years with the national team, I think I had five or six opportunities to leave the national team, Olympic team, during that time to go with NHL teams. Never did. I just stayed with it because in Canada, we had a full-time national team. About 95% of our games were played against European competition. I was enjoying myself. I was enjoying working with young athletes. And so, no, I just, you know, when I finished in 92, we won the silver medal. We had, I had Toronto and Calgary approached me and I decided to go with the flames and I did. And so that's where I started my pro career. So for people who don't know, because I'm almost a little confused also, you had 10 years as the Canadian national team coach. Now, if it wasn't an Olympic year, it would be obviously the world championship team. This was, this was amateurs, correct? Yeah. And Brian, we had a full-time standing national team in Calgary. We played about a 62 or 63 game schedule. 95% would be in Europe. We went on tours in Russia, Czech, all those countries, played in the major tournaments.

So I did that for nine or 10 years with a full-time national team, like Father Bauer had way back in the 60s. It was the same concept because in that era, NHL players couldn't play at the Olympic Games. So we had to develop our own players. So we had a young team, like 22, 23, 24 years old. And that's what we did. The Americans never had that. They would have a team in the Olympic year, Ryan, as you probably know, for that six months. But we had nine or 10 years of full-time national teams. The players changed every year, but I loved it. So would it be guys who had played junior and then hadn't signed pro yet? Who were the 21 to 24-year-old guys that you were getting for that roster?

Well, a lot of them were ex-Canadians, obviously all Canadians, ex-college players, ex-major junior players, guys that played in the American Hockey League and never got their shot in the NHL. So it was some guys moving up and some guys trying to reclaim their career, you know, but they all were very motivated guys. And, you know, we worked real hard. We had a challenging schedule because we played the Russians about almost 30 times out of that 60, some games were against Russian teams. And I can tell you that

without goaltending, we had Eddie Belfer for a year. We had Sean Burt for a couple of years, Andy Moog. Without goaltending, we were going to have a tough time, but, uh, we hung in there. So you mentioned you never got the chance to be an assistant. So was there anyone that you were kind of leaning on, maybe calling or kind of learning coaching from, or was this totally kind of go, you know, winging it as you went along? No, I was a guy that's, I really enjoyed watching hockey video and you can learn so much just watching the game. And I also had a chance to coach, you know, in the Canada West University Conference. We had a couple of guys, one named George Kingston and one named Claire Drake that are amazing coaches. Like

they're like, who's the basketball coach? John Wooden. They're the John Wooden of hockey in Canada. So I learned a lot from those guys. We were in the same conference and they were in their 50s and I was in my 30s. And so I learned a lot and the players put up with a lot because it's a process. I look back sometimes like, Jesus, what was I doing? But hey, that's coaching. You just try to get better like a player tries to get better. Same with the coach. You work at it. Well, as much as Tip loved you, he said that you were a pretty hardcore coach. He said that like two months before the tournaments, you would have them doing two-a-days where rest was not exactly a weapon to you or you were the opposite.

So are those the types of things that you're talking about? Maybe having learned being an assistant or maybe even like a player through a certain level where you wouldn't have been as hard yeah i think i think that uh you know i had so much we were over our head in terms of our competition so we were always well prepared and very fit you know and that just goes back to uh and i coached you know like tipper played for me uh and a couple a couple of of Olympic Games, 84 and again in 92. So, yeah, we just had to be that way. And I learned a lot. I was always a student of the game.

You know, I always write things down. I'd have a little pad of paper by my night table. I'd wake up sometimes and, geez, I'd have a dream about something, write it down. And, you know, some other guys are doing other things. Here I am thinking hockey. I thought hockey probably too much. Yeah. Well, Tip was the one who said he had to approach you one time and be like, Kinger, we love you, man. But you got to ease off the boys right now. Yeah. I had just no question. I think I, like I said, I wish early in my career,

I wish I could have had a few years as an assistant coach because I learned so much from with you guys in Phoenix and with Montreal, being an assistant coach because I learned so much from with you guys in Phoenix and with Montreal. Being an assistant coach was so much more fun than being a head coach. And I think I really came up with a conclusion that, you know, if you look at the best coaches right now in the NHL, you know, John Cooper, Gerard Gallant, Todd McClellan, guys like that, they're all smart hockey coaches. They understand the game beast, but I'll tell you, they're good with people. And I just felt that I wish I would have had that experience. So I would have realized that's more important than I thought it was. I didn't even sometimes

think about that. I just thought about, we got to be in shape. We got to be tactically smart, da-da-da-da-da, all that stuff, stupidity. Dave, the 84 Olympics, they were in Sarajevo, what was then known as Yugoslavia. It was still a communist country then. Were guys kind of apprehensive about going to that part of the world, you know, given like the geopolitical climate at the time? Well, the climate was not good there. There's for sure, there was some, you know, I mean, after the Olympics, there was ethnic cleansing going on in there. And I can remember there was always tension going in. Everybody knew that the people in that country were divided. And, of course, when the Olympics were over a couple of years later,

like the ice arena where all the games were played was used as a morgue to keep people. They couldn't bury people in the wintertime, and there were snipers on the streets, so they stored them in the rink. So, yeah, you did learn that it was a tough situation Sarajevo but a great experience I'm curious because your coach would say from 84 to 93 with the national team and you're playing Russia all these games and yep and this is at a time when even into the 90s that the NHL was like they wanted big guys they wanted wanted physicality, there was fighting. And you probably saw like the amount of skill and how different the game could be. I'm guessing early on you realize like, wow,

I don't think the NHL is quite caught on to how different the game could be played because of how we're seeing it in Russia and things like that. Yeah, Ryan, I think you're right on there. I think for a long time, you know, I think in the 80s, some coaches in the NHL started to adopt some of the European and Russian ideas, power plays, PK, a lot of that came from Russia, Czech Republic, you know. So yeah, I think for a long time, the NHL teams, I don't think they were very stuck in tradition. This is the way the game should be played. But then they became more open to some of the ideas in Europe. And there's so many great players over there.

You saw what the World Hockey Association did. They brought in lots of European players that made that league better than it probably should have been. So, yeah, you know, the game at one time, it's interesting because at one time we played a very divergent style. We had our style and the Russians and the Czechs, the Swedes had their style. Yeah. But over the years, people have stolen ideas from each other. And now they're very much convergent. Like if you watch a KHL game now, it's not much different than an NHL game.

It's played on a larger ice surface, maybe a little less contact, but it's tactically very similar. So it's not easy, not hard now for a player to come from Russia into the NHL and adapt. Because as I said before, so many Russian Czech players have gone back into coaching that they've taken a lot of the NHL game and imposed it into their game. And this hybrid game we now have is pretty good. Hasn't Fedorov been like pulling goalies when it's three-on-three overtime, when they gain possession and stuff? So just some, you're seeing some crazy, crazy stuff even still evolving. Yeah, oh yeah.

I mean, there's a lot of great coaches over there. And a lot of these players have gone back. Fedorov's gone back and coaching and his team's right now playing locomotive in the semifinals. And it's really good to watch good ideas permeate from various leagues. And that's one of the things about the NHL is it's not now the coaches are very progressive. I think, you know, in 1999, 2000, when Bettman brought in, you know, no red line, made the end zones larger, zero tolerance came in, all those things came in. There was the intended consequences were to make the game better and have a skill. The skilled players make more of a difference beast.

Now, what's what's happened is probably the unintended consequences are guys like yourself, tough guys. There's very few of those left in the game now. You know, I had guys like Paul Cruz, Craig Berube, Ronnie Stern with me in Calgary. Oh, geez, beautiful guys. Just tough as nails. Not real skilled guys, but just competed like hell. Well, now the game, the hard-nosed fourth line guy that was a hitter and a fighter, you can't find him in the game anymore. Dinosaurs were extinct. There were some intended consequences which did occur.

The skilled small player can play more and play better now, then it did take out a an element of our game which was pretty exciting that's when berube had the mullet coming out of his helmet is that why you said he looked beautiful really oh i gotta google it a maniac he looked like a maniac out there so um going back to the the russian uh like playing against russia at like the canadian national program it had been 15 years since the summit series until you guys finally beat them again in 87 at international competition. Like the Russians hadn't lost a game in Russia for 15 or 16 years, I guess it was.

And we were at the as Vestia cup in December, which is all the national teams from the five major countries. And we beat the Russians 3-2. Sean Burke made about 60 saves. And I got to be honest. What do you mean? You out-coached him. Yeah, I out-coached him.

Right. But on that day, we did come through and we did win. And it was a big win, I think, for a lot of us. That was kind of a highlight of that year. Dave, when you first took over at Calgary, did the guys kind of test you as veterans because they knew it was your first time coaching as a head coach in the NHL? Yeah, I think, you know, I hadn't really hadn't coached in North American hockey for 10 years. I'd coached the national team, which is really international game.

So and they had a good, we had a good team in Calgary. We had, you know, we had Al McInnes, Gary Suter on defense. We had uh al mckinnis gary suiter on defense we had joe newendike gary roberts theo up front yeah and they always would test you a little bit but i found uh all the guys really uh good to work with i mean a guy like theo is a harder guy to work with because he goes in there uh causes a stir in the corner somebody's got to go there and erase what he started. So it made it interesting. But, you know, I can tell you, players test you. And we test our players too.

And so I think it's fair that they do test us a little bit. And we have to be able to deal with some of that. You know what I found now, too, guys? Players are so smart. And they're so, like you guys understand the game. I think sometimes as coaches, we don't give the players enough credit for understanding the game. Like God, I think we spend too much time on tactics and video sometimes because to me, players now, you've gone through major junior or college hockey where you get great coaching. So by the time guys get to the

NHL, they're pretty solid. They're pretty solid players. I do feel though, like at the NHL level, and I'm guessing it's changed. It was almost like the coaching kind of stopped because it was just all about getting wins, right? AHL, it's a lot of like one-on-one work with guys, but NHL sometimes it was almost like, I think they could have coached guys a little bit more as opposed to just trying to get Ws. Now, at the same time, they're under contract. They have to win or they're gone. So I understand it, but I do wonder if that's getting better because from the things I hear, it is. Yeah, Ryan, I think you're right on there. I think every team's now got skilled coaches. We have a lot larger coaching staffs than ever before five six guys on the coaching staff in the nhl so everybody gets special attention and i think that they've realized yeah you got to get wins so your overall team play has got to be solid but you got

to have room for improvement too because we're taking some real young 19 20 year old kids into the nhl who aren't fully developed yet in terms of their skill and understanding. So you got to work with those kids. You got to find the time. So there's coaches now and every staff dedicated to that. So I think it's a better situation for a young player to step in at a young age and play now than it was when you guys were playing. When you were at the national program, did you guys have a goalie coach specifically? Yeah, we did. We had a fellow out at Calgary named Dale Henwood. And Dale worked with, like we had Sean Burke, we had Eddie Belfour, we had Andy Moog, we had some great goalies. And Dale worked with those guys. And

he was really good because I think not only did he work on their skill, but he worked on upstairs, he worked on the understanding the game. I think a lot of times, Beast, when people look at goalies, they look at their physical ability and make saves and stuff. But there's one word that always comes up, and that's anticipation. Sometimes they make saves they shouldn't make. It's because they can read the game. And Dale Henney was a guy that always worked a lot with the goalies

on reading the game reading the situation you know and uh yeah he develops really good goalies and it's no surprise Sean Burke's now doing it at the NHL level like I mean look how many goalies he's touched but the reason I asked you because then you ended up going off to the Calgary Flames and I feel like during that era all of a sudden there was no goalie coaches in the NHL. Yeah, there wasn't for a long time. When I first started in Calgary, Glenn Hull would come in with us a little bit, once in a while. But Glenn would just sit down and talk with the goalies. He didn't want to go on the ice.

And most teams didn't have goalie coaches. And as I said earlier, the game's now so much, it's so sophisticated. The amount of work put into preparation. much, it's so sophisticated. The amount of work put into preparation. Now a head coach, one of the biggest challenges for a head coach is to control and live with all your staff you have around you. You've got consultants, you've got oodles, assistant coaches, everybody wants to have their imprint on the team. And it makes the job of a head coach become much more difficult, I think, now than ever before. Dave, I mentioned in the intro you were the first coach in Columbus history. Obviously, you're not going to be a contender right away. What kind of directive did the front office give you your first couple of years coaching that team?

Win. Doug McLean was our GM. Doug was a guy that really wanted to fast track and try to be competitive early. And our first year was good. We finished 73 points, I think, and we were at that point, I think, the second best expansion record ever. But, you know, now the rules for expansion teams are so good. I think what we've done to allow expansion teams to be competitive almost right away is really good because Columbus didn't make the playoffs for 10 years. They battled and battled and they had a great bunch of guys. We had a wonderful bunch of guys, but we were overshadowed by some really good teams with

just a lot more talent. It doesn't matter how fit we were and how well we played together, it was always a struggle to win. So I like what they've done. I think the NHL's finally got smart. They think global. The whole league's got to be healthy. You can't have a couple of teams that just can't compete. And so now these expansion teams step in, and they're really instantly pretty good.

Also, not to mention, the guys are porking up $650 million. The next one will probably be a billion. If you're an owner and you're paying that, it's like you've got to give us a shot here. Yeah, here are my four fine scraps. I think that's a really good point. You're paying so much, you've got to get a chance to compete right away. And that didn't happen in Columbus or even in Nashville.

Did you put your name in for that? Did Doug McLean get in touch with you? What was the hiring process like? Because it must have been so exciting, right? First head, just to be the first head coach of this team. I mean, were you surprised when you got the job or were you kind of looking forward to that? No, I was the assistant coach at that time in Montreal. And when, and as I said, those days, the expansion teams, it was a struggle. So I think they wanted somebody that had NHL experience, but also had

development experience with young players. And so, you know, they approached me and I kind of thought it made sense to me that I, you know, I've had NHL experience with Calgary, now with Montreal as a head coach plus an assistant coach. And I might be the right guy to help, you know, help some of these young players and have more patience maybe than somebody else who comes from a different background. So, yeah, it was good. I really enjoyed it. Expansion teams are lots of fun because the guys just give it to you every night.

I just think that's wonderful. Wasn't Lyle Odeline the captain, the first-ever captain there? Lyle was our captain. Boy, he was a good guy. We had Sam Anderson, Stevie Hines from, I think he played at Boston University. I think he played BC. He played BC and then for the Bruins. So, yeah, you know, we had some great people.

And then we had players that were getting their first shot at it, haven't played very much, and they had lots to prove. So when you're an expansion team uh that's your ace in the hole is that everybody's got something to prove i think it's pretty cool that i know i don't think it was the first year but the next two ray whitney was there right and just one of the most all-time underrated hockey players i think to ever play but he had some great years for you you must have seen up close and personal how special a player he was yeah i when i had him in columbus i realized this was a good player and then when i got to coach him uh with the coyotes with uh with the beast um in my book

i talk about one of the my book loose bucks and ice bags i talk about whip one of the un he's you know people don't think about him as a potential hall of famer look at his stats biz does this guy was such a smart player like you know he understood that he had a replay camera in his in his head he he could replay a shift for you and he would a beast he really understood the game he's a hockey genius yeah really good on the power play beast he could just i understood it all so it was wonderful to have a guy like that and there's a you know ray was a guy who I got a real appreciation for to be a, he's a really good hockey player and a really good man.

Especially to play during the era he did being undersized, was always in the gym before practice. He would put in a, you know, 20, 30 minute hard bike ride. He was, and you know, he's got his name in the, in the mix on a few of these GM jobs. I think he would make an excellent gm he's been around the game since he was he was a young kid and because his father was a was he the trainer for the edmonton runners so he was hanging around he was their third goalie oh yeah that's right he'd be the practice goalie yeah yeah amazing i wanted to ask about uh kristoff oliwa I understand he had a trade at Pittsburgh that

might have been a few bumps in the road there. Yeah, he was a real loose cannon. He was a big guy. He was a tough guy. He got confused sometimes because he was a tough guy and he thought he could be a real good player. And I think sometimes you have to know what you are you got to bring what you're supposed to bring and uh Christoph was a good guy uh off the ice he was a interesting guy um but uh certainly he certainly tried to play hard for us but we did have some bumps in the road with him for sure geez you got a PR coach to answer that one for you, Kinger? Yeah, pretty good, eh? What was Olawa doing that was that crazy? Guy's nuts. He's just a guy who at night you kind of sometimes

you don't want to know where some guys are, you know, and he was one of those guys, you know. But I'll tell you, I was able in my career to coach some guys that were, I would call them politely rogues, you know. They didn't always obey the team rules or the commandments of your team. But when it came to play, they really played. And I was lucky in Montreal to coach Shane Corson.

And he was a guy that everybody talked about. But I'll tell you one thing. He always played well and he always played hard. And I can remember watching video of him trying to think, okay, he must have screwed up somewhere tonight. I've got to bring him in and give him a little shot here. I couldn't. He just played the game so damn smart,

and he just proved that a guilty conscience can be a great motivator. We had the chance to interview him him and just what a great guy awesome storyteller and the whole sense i got was he knew if i'm gonna go out and have a good time i better show up and it from that sounds of it he always did hey guys if he writes a book buy it okay oh my god he was amazing oh we had him on he's probably toby easily top 10 guests telling insane stories about fist fighting on the side of the road. So you could spot him for sure, Kinger. Any other wild stories you can remember looking back that you had to deal with as a head coach?

I'm sure you've seen some wild, especially those days too. These guys were out of control. Yeah, there was, you know, yeah, I don't want to incriminate anybody, but I can remember, I could tell you a story from like russia yeah we had team rules i mean they're you know guys just can't be out doing their thing very strict over there kinger very strict yeah that all plays they don't fuck around no no they work like hell uh you know you know that ryan you must have been you must have been must have been an eye opener because before training camp big time yeah He missed training camp. Big time.

Yeah, I missed training camp. But then we still would have the international breaks and we'd be skating two days mid-season. I'm like, what's going on? The thing is, when you get the night out, when they give you the night out, the guys go for 24 hours. That's what happens. They go hard, yeah. They don't stop. I remember in Yaroslavl, we had our backup goalie.

He was a rogue. I knew it, too. But I'm out for an was a rogue. I knew it too. But I'm out for an early morning run. It's about 5.30 or 6. It's really early because I get up early. And I can see I'm in this park and I'm on this path. I can see somebody in the distance weaving across this path. I thought, geez, wow, this guy looks like he's had way too many.

And I'm running along. We get closer. I realize, geez, I think I might know this guy. And I keep getting a little closer. I can see this Yaroslav across the front of his jacket, thinking, God, that looks like maybe it's my backup goalie. So I go streaming by this guy. And just as we were going to pass, I said, hey, how are you doing? Good morning. See you at practice. And we crossed like two trains in the night. Well, I get to practice in the rink and there's a knock on my door. and this is this guy coming in, begging me not to tell anybody what he had done.

And so, you know, you don't, because guys do have to run once in a while. I mean, that's the way it is. Biz, if you're over there, if you got caught drinking or out on a night you weren't supposed to be, you're losing, like, big-time money, like a month's paycheck and shit.

It's crazy. Very strict. You know what I found out too? Guys didn't want days off because if you gave them days off, the expectations for the next game were too high. That's unbelievable. No, I don't want a day off. Jesus, no way.

You want 100 bucks? No, no. No, no, no. You're probably loving that. Holy holy god can't do that so you know so so you mentioned um you know just just kind of where you weren't even in the medical room and you weren't dealing with stuff like that so when you first signed over there and i you had been in germany prior we'll get into that but in terms of russia like how i know you were comfortable with the system and coaching against russians but how did the owner get in touch with you what was the pressure like I mean

that's a big time team over there Malkin was there like how was the whole uh kind of thing went down in terms of getting there well you know I was at the at the world championships and uh I get this call with these couple of Russians, this Russian agent that this team, Magnitogorsk, would like to meet with me. So I go to breakfast with these guys, and there's about four or five. They all look like mafia guys to me. I'm thinking, holy jeez. They were. This looks like, God, they just got that look, you know, and the guy's got a little briefcase, and I think it's almost got like it's handcuffed to his wrist.

I'm thinking, gee, what is this? So we meet, and they explain they want me to come to Magnitogorsk, and I'm thinking, where in the hell is Magnitogorsk? I'd never heard of it. But I was right away immediately really infatuated with the idea that, hey, I've coached against these Russians. I wouldn't mind finding out how they do this. What do they do differently?

And it was a time where, know i uh as i said i always liked adventure more than comfort and so i thought let's let's try that so um decided i would try it um and i have absolutely no regrets it was an unbelievable experience every day something interesting happened either on the ice or off the ice or whatever it just made it absolutely fascinating i can remember once running behind the rink. I used to run with these dogs because I used to feed the dogs all the time, stray dogs. I'd have about 14 or 15 stray dogs behind me

running through this bunch of hills and garbage and stuff. And I come around this corner, I can see a guy, a lean-to a little plastic lean-to and two feet sticking out the bottom of this thing I thought the hell is this so I stop and I look under the lean-to there's a guy sleeping there it's minus 40 this guy's got all this stuff around him and he's got just a little plastic tent like a little lean-to and that's where he so those are the kind of adventures that are so interesting. One time I'm running behind the rink

early in the morning and I'm running along, I can see something hanging from a tree. I thought, what the hell is that? And it's a sheep. Somebody had killed a sheep and strung him up to this tree. And I'm thinking, where am I?

What planet am I on? And is this really happening? So Brian, you were there as well. It's just every day is great. It's unbelievable. The other team who was playing, you guys must've had a gold drought. That's what they did sometimes. That was pregame meal for Severstal. I thought it was maybe the ex-coach of Magnitogorsk. Sending a message for sure.

Oh my God. That I win that next game what was the reaction like when you first saw evgeny malkin i mean to me one of the greatest players in the last 15 years and what's funny is um the year before he came when you were coaching him uh we had a game in pittsburgh says february march we were a bad team and they put on uh like a big on the big screen they put on coming soon. They said coming September, whatever, next year or this year. And they started showing his highlights, and it was, like, great music, and the fans were going nuts.

It was actually pretty cool. It was just to get the fans excited, but you got to see it firsthand. It must have been incredible. Yeah, he's a big guy. You know, he's 6'4",. He's six foot four and he's 200 pounds. This guy could evaporate with the puck one-on-one. You'd see him and he'd be gone. And he could beat people one-on-one. Wasn't afraid to challenge guys one-on-one. I loved his optimistic mindset. He always played the game thinking he could get it done. And he did most of the time. He was terrific. And, you know, I can remember the first year he, in Magnitogorsk, he led the league in scoring. And we only lost

about five or six games that year. We lost in the semifinals, but we only lost five or six league games that year. And I don't know, Ryan, I think he decided half those wins, he made the decisive play, whether it be a goal or an wins, he made the decisive play, whether it be a goal or an assist, to bring the game into our favor. The only problem we had that year, and probably the reason we didn't win the championship, was he played with the Russian senior national team. He played with the Russian national junior team. He played about 90 to 100 games before the playoffs.

This guy was absolutely exhausted when the playoffs started. But Malk was a great kid. And I can remember my second year there going to film. We had a meeting with him during training camp because you could see he was not happy. You could see he really wanted to go to Pittsburgh for sure. Okay. So we got on the phone with Mario Lemieux, and we were talking about it, and they explained that they would like to have him come over.

And so I remember saying to him, you know, you should do what you have to do. I mean, you're with us, and he signed a contract, and his parents were given a new place at the lake, a cabin at the lake, and all this stuff. So, you know, he had lots of things. I said, you should do what you want to do because you're a young guy, and you're ready. You're ready to play in the NHL if you want to go. So we had a couple of weeks later, we go to

Finland and we land at the airport and we get ready to unpack the plane and load the bus. And we're on the bus and there's counting heads and there's one guy missing, small guy. What happened was somebody from the Russians had a Finnish agent meet him coming through security. We weren't paying attention and he was gone. He was gone with this guy. And that was the last time we saw him in a Magneto-Gorsh uniform was that he was gone.

He made his decision that he should go and i think it was the right decision to do it um but i think and with the organization because i wasn't firm on him you know sticking it out and i was pissed at you making the right oh wow in the end that cost me my job yeah so my follow-up question was just going to be, was there anything as a head coach there that they asked you to do that you didn't feel comfortable with? Like it kind of goes back to like, obviously you're telling Malcolm, go do what you want. And they probably didn't want you saying that. Were there any other things that would made you very uncomfortable because of the cultural differences? Not so much, Beast. You know, that particular issue though with Malk,

he was ready. Like he had won the scoring race as a 19-year-old or 18-year-old, I guess it was. He was ready to play in the NHL. I just felt that he looked so unhappy during training camp. You could just see because he's a guy with, you know him, Ryan. He's got lots of energy. He's got a smile. When he's on the ice, he's so happy. He's a good guy, and he wasn't.

I said, you're a young guy. You want to develop. You've got to do what you've got to do. And I don't know if my translator eventually tipped off the organization, but somehow I got caught in the crossfire, and that was it. He's also seeing Ovechkin light it up, and they're drafted together. It's even tougher. But my question

for you is, so when I was over there, I remember playing against you guys, you had a great team that year in Yaroslav, awesome arena to play in but we had, Butsaev was our coach, and we had the assistant spoke English and so he translated everything he said to us, and I could tell

at times it would be super frustrating for Butsaev because he just couldn't get through what he wanted to say he didn't know how the guy was saying it in english but for but that was just four of us for you that was the entire opposite so it must have been tough at times or you didn't even know if the translator's giving the exact message to guys right yeah it's always a challenge i was lucky in magnetagorsk i had uh igor korolev well he'd been in San Jose, right? Absolutely, in the plane crash, and an unbelievable guy. And he was my translator on ice.

I had an off-ice translator, but my on-ice translator, and for the video sessions, was Igor. And he was terrific. And then in Yaroslavl, I had Dmitry Iskevich, and he was another great guy. And I think he'd be a great coach in the NHL. And Dmitry was an excellent translator. So, Ryan, I didn't ever feel like on ice.

I always felt I was getting great translation. Off ice, I wasn't sure because sometimes in our meetings with the organization, I got some quizzical looks from people, and sometimes I think they thought. Oh, man. Yeah, but it was a great adventure. Quizzical? Is that the word, quizzical quizzical you got a big vocab peter holy shit this is gonna start using that one non-stop now this isn't good that'll be my new word of the month i've just expanded my word count to 15 words congratulations to me uh hey so uh we keep hearing sometimes about the cash bonuses was that a thing in the

super league when you were there and were coaches allowed to get the cash bonuses. Was that a thing in the Super League when you were there and were coaches allowed to get the cash bonuses for wins? Yeah, we were. And those cash bonuses were phenomenal. Big time. We got $1,500 US dollars for a win. And we lost six games, five or six games that year. Four games.

I'm sorry, I just said four games that year. Our bonuses were, it was big time. And it's great, but I'll tell you, when somebody ever screws up, it's not a good deal for that guy because everybody else- I know. Oh, no. That's why Malkin was so popular with everybody because he was the guy making the plays that gave everybody else 1,500 bucks that night. And so it was great. And those were just amazing. It made a real difference to your team. And in Yaroslavl, we didn't have them.

In Magnitogorsk, we had those bonuses. And God, they were great. Kinger, where would you put the money? Would you have to put it in duffel bags? And just where were you stashing this stuff? In the mattress? Oh, the old Swiss bank account. You know, I mean, what I did,

I set up a banking network with a Russian bank to a Swiss bank, and that's where the cash went. But it's interesting, because the year before I went to Magnitogorsk, the third string goalie, it was payday. He had got paid, and he was in the apartment he lived in, came down the elevator, stepped out, and a guy shot him right there two or three times and knew it was payday. Robbed him of the money that he was going to the bank with because they got paid in cash if the players wanted. And so it was a wild west at times.

But financially, it's a great place to coach. Jeez. Crazy shit. Yeah, it's exciting stuff. Every day is an adventure. Guy goes from playing rebound to getting murked. Yeah. So you were in Germany before that,

and now you're seeing, obviously, Dreitzel, you're seeing Sider in Detroit. It's getting better and better. Could you see that German hockey was kind of turning a corner when you were there in terms of developing players and some crazy young talent? Yeah, you could see, Ryan, while I was in Mannheim, you could see there were some amazing, amazing young German players

coming up and getting really high-quality coaches. And a lot of the German hockey organizations, you'd have to develop your own talent there. It's too expensive to try to buy somebody else's players. So they had good coaches working with these guys. And boy, I can remember Dreisaitl, for example, a terrific hockey player. And you could tell right away that some of these kids are going to be really good. And German hockey has come a long way. And it has a long track record with North American coaches and North American players, because I would say most German teams, probably at least a third or even a half with some, half your roster are North American players. So they're producing some great, great players. We had a couple of guys on who played in Germany, though. They said, hands down, the worst officiating would you agree oh by far the worst officiating i mean it's unbelievable

you wonder sometimes that they weren't getting paid by one of the clubs because it was it's so affected by the fans i mean fans make a little bit of noise and up went the arm and it was that was really frustrating i found in russia that was never a problem the russian referees for the most part other than in the playoffs i think for the most part russian refereeing was pretty good But the Germans, I think they were on the take half of them because they were some bad, bad refereeing at times. Terrible. Way behind the game. So like Montreal on a Saturday night, basically? Oh, hooray. Bruce Bruins fan. Oh, yeah. Good one.

Did you ever get to experience an Oktoberfest while you were over there, Dave? Yeah, I did. Yeah, those are great. And the Germans, they have what's called the Cabina Fest. It's kind of a neat concept. Every week, a different group of players have to provide the meal in the dressing room. And you have a few pints of beer, obviously. And guys get very creative. Some might be Turkish dishes, or it might be one day Chinese food, or it could be pizza. And they have these cabina fests every week, one day. Usually, it's on your Wednesday. After practice, you have a cabina fest where the guys have a few beers. They all stay in the dressing room, eat their lunch together. And they did a lot of things that I thought were very good for team building. Like if you won a game, you did a thing called the worm. And all the players would get on their

hands and knees on the ice. The fans would all be standing and be chanting. And the guys would get on their hands and knees and link up together, look like a worm. And they'd crawl around the ice, you know, doing what was called the worm. and the fans would eat it up, you know. I mean, the rapport in the German league, players to spectators, is very high and very close, and it's different altogether. Like, the fans, they really think they're important, and they are entitled to this kind of stuff. And so the worm and those kind of things were great things in German hockey.

They made a movie about it, The Human Centipede. I don't know if you guys saw it. All right, you're a big movie guy. That's it. That's it. You got to experience coaching an 18-year-old Eric Lindros. And we always ask everyone who got to play with him in the Lindros heyday, it must have been crazy, just the man-child he was.

Oh, God. I remember the first time he had joined us, and we had to get him a uniform and stuff, and we couldn't get gloves to fit him. His gloves, they had to cut up the side of the glove with the scissors because he couldn't get his hands in those. You know how gloves got so small and tiny? And he couldn't get his hands in the gloves.

So, yeah, Eric was a man child he was a big strong guy um i always felt that uh you know there was so much attention on him that uh and he was a very uh quiet guy and a really uh deep thinker and a really good person i think he was misunderstood by a lot of people. His mom was very aggressive for him, and she was the one who stirred a few things up at times that got him some notoriety. But Eric was a real good guy and a terrific player. Boy, could he make a difference. I mean, in 92, he won the silver medal, and he made a difference.

He's a big, imposing guy. When he hit people, I mean, they stopped right there. It was over. Dave, do you keep tabs on the league currently? Do you watch every night, or do you kind of get away from it a little bit now that you're sort of retired? I find regular season hockey, I do watch it for sure. I'm a playoff guy because in the playoffs, everything changes.

You know, like it's a really interesting game. It's a game of obviously decisions and choices. Decisions are made with your head, making the right play at the right time, the right decision. That's important. The choice sometimes though, they're made with your heart. So decisions are made with your head. Choices are made with your heart. Should I block that shot? Can I back check just a step or two harder? That's a choice and get that. Will I take the hit on that loose puck race to get to that puck and control it?

So you have decisions and choices. And in the playoffs, obviously, you got to make good decisions. But if you can make also lots of the hard choices to pay the price, that's how you win. And so that's my belief in loose pucks and ice bags. That's where it kind of comes from. So I think the playoffs, it's a whole new game because you've got to play a team seven times possibly, and there's no surprises after a couple of games. And there's so much advanced scouting now, so much, as I said, it's so sophisticated. It really comes down to those intangibles inside

that sometimes make a big difference. And it's not so much the good decisions are always being made. The hard choices, that's what makes the difference many nights. It's the guys doing things that are quite amazing. When I watched Tampa Bay last year, like I couldn't believe they got as far as they got. And John did a great job with that team in terms of their

decisions, but he also got those guys and that usually comes from within your team. As a coach, we don't teach guys to have to block shots. It comes with your team. It's part of being part of the team. You're playing for each other. And so those choices to block shots, do those little things, that's what makes the difference. So the playoffs I love because it's really different hockey. It's so intense that it's amazing to watch. And that's when you really get a profound respect for players, how tough they really are because it's hard work.

It's pay the price. Based on your answer, are you saying that you maybe don't watch it as much anymore because you think that a regular season lacks the intensity more so than it used to like even when you originally when you first stopped coaching like those first couple years after were you still paying attention more because you felt like it had more of that heart and regular season well no i actually i've always felt even when i was coaching i just and i would get into the playoffs, I'd say, holy God, this is a different game.

You know, because in the regular season, you never see a team, sometimes you get the odd occasional back-to-back against the same team, but hardly ever. So, you know, a seven-game series comes down to, you know, which team will do the things that you have to, there's, there's commonly reoccurring plays in every shift of every game. You got to make those plays. They make the difference. And, uh, boy, playoffs is just, uh, the details of the game, the way the guys compete. I just love that. I think fans get, uh, I mean, the playoffs are just

a different game. They're more intense. And there's a high price to pay to be successful in the playoffs. And it's great to watch. Nowadays, it seems as coaching's developed and players are maybe, I'm using quotations, a little softer, it seems as coaches are kind of a little bit more involved with guys' personal lives where they're asking, hey, how are you doing off the ice? What's going on with your family? Little things that may help a player reach a higher level.

Was that, that probably wasn't the case when you were coaching, right? Like back in the day, I mean, or were you kind of open and talking to guys about their off ice lives? No, I think you're right on there. I think when I started coaching the Calvary Flames, it was, business of winning. And so you always told yourself, I haven't got time for that chit chat with that guy. I got to go watch some video, got to do this, got to do that. You had a small staff. And I don't think we really respected how much relationships make a difference. There's an expression I like about coaching, you know, and it's a simple expression, but it tells it all.

Hard to please, but easy to play for. Hard to please, but easy to play for. The best coaches, that's what they do. They are hard to play for because they want effort. They want execution. They want the details done right. But they got a human side too. They like to talk to you. They got time for you. And I think that's really important. Today, as a head coach,

I think we should be more like the football coaches, like Pete Carroll in Seattle. Yeah. You got lots of time for the players. Your assistant coaches do all the tactical, technical stuff, and you got time for people. I think more coaches got to recognize that and find time for the players to get to know them better and to make sure they understand you care about them a little bit more than just being players. They're people first. So I think, you know, that's something I think I was too businesslike a beast when I first started, you know. To me, the game was decided by tactics, technique, all that stuff, effort for

sure. But I didn't spend enough time in the locker room with the guys. And I wish I had, because when I got to be an assistant coach, I realized, God, is that ever fun? Like being able to work with you guys and go in the locker room and sit down beside a guy and joke a little bit, have some fun on the ice and stuff. I really cherish that, and I wish I'd had a chance early in my career to be an assistant coach and learn those things because relationships are what makes the difference. I really believe that. If you look at tactical, technical preparation,

I don't think anybody does a much better job than anybody else. It's an even playing field. It's if the team will play for you and play for each other that's how you win oh my god well said king i got oh i got to experience that uh crazy story though when you first ended up in arizona so this is the way that uh tip explained it to me so tip had been let go or there was he fired by dallas or was it more of like a mutual decision i think it was a mutual decision yeah right so the league had had stepped in because Don Maloney was here at the time as GM and they wanted tip.

So the, but the league owned the team and it was going through all the bankruptcy stuff. So it actually took him longer to sign, but he said he had two conditions. His contract would be guaranteed even if the team went bankrupt and that you could be his assistant coach. erupt and that you could be his assistant coach so you and alfie were there at camp before before tip had signed and you had that exhibition game where they did it in everett and then you ended up having a heart attack right before the game didn't you i didn't have a heart attack but uh geez i should have had a few of those actually some of the games were in that pre-season but anyway i thought you had you ended up in the hospital.

Yeah, I had to go to the hospital because all of a sudden I passed out. But you know, you forget. I got to tell you that. When I took the job with the Coyotes that year, I was in Italy. I was down in the south of Italy, beautiful, in the sun with my wife. It was terrific. The phone rings. It's Don Maloney.

He's just hired Dave Tippett. But Dave can't be here. Can I come back and help so I flew right back I had jet lag and I was dead beat and I we coached for three or four days made this trip I just in the locker room lights out I haven't done it since but I did it then maybe I got the story wrong because I hadn't been there yet and then I you know I'd met you and you were skating me all the time. That guy's a trooper. You didn't even miss a couple of days. You were right back at it.

Some of the guys thought you had a jammer because that's the way it was explained to me. Yeah. No, no. Probably they did because I probably looked purple or something. Just passed out. Too much overworking. Kinger, we thank you. I don't know, Ari, did you do anything else for them?

I do go on Columbus. Would you consider that place sort of a hidden gem? Seems like a lot of players who play there stay there, but it still maybe has trouble drawing guys there a little bit. Columbus is a great city. It's a great franchise. They were one of the first teams ever to have their own main arena plus a practice arena.

And it's a great spot. I think it's going to be a great franchise. But, boy, their evolution has not been smooth. They had a few years where they got competitive there, but now they're back in a situation where they're struggling again. So I think winning takes care of a lot of those ills. And if they can ever achieve that consistency, I think it's a good place for a player to play.

It's good. Family city, it's terrific. Kinger, that was incredible. We appreciate all your stories. You're sharp as a whip, man. Oh, yeah. I haven't lost a thing. Jeez, I just should.

I'm telling you, I can still play. Well, you thought you lost five games, and man, you need to go. Your wife had to remind you four. Other than that, you were. Thanks, Ryan. That's what she's for, though. I thank you so much and uh uh that's

my book i'm gonna show it to you what my last loose box and ice bags and it's a it's a really a good book i i just i wanted to give something back to the game i wanted to give something back to coaches i want to help them do a better job on you know not make the mistakes that i made and i made lots of them so anyway it's it's out there for coaches i hope they enjoy it coaches. I want to help them do a better job on, you know, not make the mistakes that I made, and I made lots of them. So anyway, it's out there for coaches. I hope they enjoy it. And you have one about your KHL or, excuse me, Super League experience. My wife just introduced me. The King of Russia.

There you go. The King of Russia. The King of Russia. That was 2005, 2006 in Magnitogorsk. And it's just, it's more of a story about the day-to-day stuff, not just hockey. So many things happened over there. God, it was great. Kinger, I got to ask you on the way out. People love the KHL Super League stories.

Is there one more you got in there in your bag that you forgot to tell about your experience in Russia? Any other story come to mind? Yeah, I can tell you. Here we are. We're in Moscow. experience in Russia? Any other story come to mind? Yeah, I can tell you why, you know, we were in, here we are, we're in Moscow, we're playing against Moscow Dynamo. And we got up and we got about an hour, when the game's going to be over, we got about an hour bus ride from the Moscow Dynamo rink to the airport, Domodedovo airport to fly back to Magnitogorsk. So I said to the team doctor, cause, and we had had a bit of

an out all year. He just wasn't on top of his game. I said, look, I want you to make sure we have some food on the bus. We'll get fed on the plane for sure, but some food on the bus, because that's an hour right after the game. The guy should have some nourishment. So he's the doc says, yep, no problem. So he orders, he doesn't ask me, he orders McDonald's. Okay. They pick the food up after the first period and put it on the bus. So our so-called post-game meal that was going to go to the airport sat on the bus for an hour and a half and it was frozen when we got on. So like those little things, that made it interesting. You know, that made it to me fascinating that our cultures are so different. Our ways of doing things are different.

He didn't want to screw up, so he ordered it after, and he had the first period, picked it up, and it was just awful. That's so Dr. Death of him. That's it. Well, we appreciate you, Kinger. You're a beauty. Thank you for everything you ever did for me, and we appreciate your time. welcome, guys. Thanks so much. And you've got a great show and keep going. This interview is brought to you by Chevy. Chevrolet is a trusted company that has

been innovating for the last 100 years. Up to now, most electric vehicles have been either too expensive, too small, and or too limited in capabilities for most people. But Chevrolet is committed to making EVs available for all Americans. They have over 1,900 certified Chevy EV dealerships. You hear that? 1,900 locations. Because Chevy, EVs for everyone, everywhere. Man, we want to say big thanks to Dave King for jumping on us. What a great guy, Biz. You could tell how much the guys in the room probably liked him. He really liked coaching you.

He had a lot of good stuff to say about you, huh, back in the day, Paul? It was insane how much energy he would bring to the rink. And I'm not knocking on his age, but you think maybe a guy would start slowing down. But, I mean, it's every more reason, everybody listening, go for a run in the morning. But I mean, it's every more reason, everybody listening, go for a run in the morning. Just get that little, get the oxygen to your brain and show up to work with a smile on your face and ready to work. And he helped me with my game. I owe him a lot, man.

He was such a pleasure to be around, a pleasure to work with. Yes, did the bag skates get to be a little bit much, but I was basically training like one of those Russian Super League guys. Did he think your nickname was Beast? Herossover, crossover, crossover, knee drop. He would call me, yeah, hey Beast, hey Beast, come on down here, let's go work on some stuff, Beast. I was like, fucking right, man. Definitely appropriate. You are definitely a beast. We meant to mention,

David Postenach, he scored 50 goals for the first time in his career versus Carolina the other day. They had the old Wailers jerseys on. A lot of people were kind of whining online about it. Why were people whining about that? I don't know. I get it. I think it's cool.

I do too. Because they left. They were the Hartford Whalers. It's a great jersey. One of the top, like, third jerseys you could ever have. So I don't know if Hurricanes fans are upset or old Whalers fans, but as long as that jersey stays somewhat in the game with the history that team has with Hartford, I don't understand the

hate. Yeah, I think it's because they left and that was the last team. And if they liked them that much, then they wouldn't have had to leave. I think that's probably the logic with it. But either way, Pasternak, the first Bruin to get 50 goals since Cam Neely almost 30 years ago. So congrats to Pasternak finally hitting that number. But we got to get to A.J.ely almost 30 years ago. So congrats to Pasta finally hitting that number. But we got to get to A.J. Greer. He got a one-game suspension. Him and Mike Hoffman were kind of jostling a little bit before a face-off. It was kind of almost like slow-motion business.

He just kind of like whacked him in the face. Hoffman went off the ice, and he had something to say about it on his Instagram. Why don't you roll it? So I've gotten a two-game suspension for a cross-checking guy in the back of the helmet. A full-blown, intentional cross-check to the face one game uh yeah not happy at all uh gray like i said he got the one game suspension did you think he should have been more biz was that appropriate for the for the level he got whacked or what it looked somewhat harmless as far as how hard it was but the amount of damage it did i was surprised he only got one game especially how hard it was but the amount of damage it did i was surprised he only got one game especially how deliberate it was in today's nhl if this was done in a couple

years ago when all the the check marks were going nuts on twitter about head injuries he might have got like thrown out of the league for it but uh it was a scene straight out of slap shot he just it looked like hoffman like hit him off the face off and he just turned him and went oh right in the face so yes definitely shocked at one game as hoffman was uh according to his message on his own instagram so taking player safety into his own hands and la's blake lazotte same thing he was given a match penalty and a game misconduct basically hit uh josh morrissey in the face the same way. That was worse, though, I thought. Because I think Morrissey, the video I saw, Morrissey dropped the gloves. Yeah.

And then, like, I think looking to fight, or obviously you drop your gloves, you're like, all right, let's go, and then just gets cross-ticked in the mouth, as opposed to Hoffman kind of starting it, and then neither one of them were good. They were both bad, dirty plays but i mean like morrissey's ready to go and catches a stick in his mouth so i i don't really understand the thought process behind lazotte doing that could you imagine wit with the penguins in his grumpy

days or maybe no imagine wit in edmonton eating cereal in the morning the day after getting cross-check in the face like that finding out that guy only got one game. What would your rant be, Witt? I would be just as pissed as Hoffman. I'll also say this. I didn't mean to, but I laughed at Moffitt's video. Same. I was laughing.

And I feel so bad for him. Like, boy, I'm missing Jim's enormous cut. Can't eat right for a month, but he's just like. The video is so sad. So disgusted with the league. Yeah. Marcy said, I thought we were going to go, and I took a cross check to the chin.

It could have been my teeth, so thankfully not. So, yeah, he thought they were going to scrap, and it didn't happen at all. Anyways, Lazard also got a game suspension. So, yeah, stop cross checking guys in the face, and it didn't happen. Well, anyways, Lazard also got a game suspension. So, yeah, stop cross-checking guys in the face, and you won't get suspended. He only got one game. We might see more. Yeah, I know.

Yeah. That's what I'm saying. If you only get one game, we might see more of these. Yeah. Alex Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky for the most 40-goal seasons ever with 13. It was a 7-6 loss to Columbus. Ovis has scored at least 40 in all but three of his 16 full seasons. It was his sixth time doing it since he turned 30.

Let's see, 21 of his 42 goals have come in the third period this year, clutch goals. And also, we've got to welcome back John Collison. He fucking had a skull fracture, man. He took that Brendan Dillon shot off the face a couple months ago, didn't know if he was going to play again this year. Had the skull fracture, came back, got a goal and assist, and it caps a 6-1 win later in the week with the Blackhawks. And this stat, too, caps 22-0-1 when Ovechkin, Backstrom,

and Carlson have two points or more. Well, I mean, yeah. Well, hey, just going back to Carlson, I think he described taking that shot and the skull fracture like being struck by lightning. It really fucked with him, man, and that's why he was out so long. I would chalk this season up for the Washington Capitals

as them getting hosed by injuries. Like Backstrom wasn't back on time to start the year. Everybody, I mean, at one point, they had 40 million on the IR. With Tom Wilson out, they had Oshie out. They just got hosed. It was a question on TNT, million on the IR with Tom Wilson out they had Oshie out they just got hosed and I and I it was a it was a question on on TNT and as well as we brought it up on here is there were three teams

Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington kind of getting to the end of their core group getting a little bit older buy or sell I thought that they were going to end up figuring things out and making playoffs but obviously they're not and then I picked boston of course to miss playoffs and then they have the best season in nhl history so the broader subject here like where do you see this team going now i think they're gonna be pretty bad you think so i think it's gonna be one of those ride it out till olby breaks the record and not much winning. And I don't know. I don't, like next year, I mean, they don't even have a ton of defensemen re-signed.

They got all these free agents. You heard rumblings that Wilson might get traded at the deadline. That ended up not happening. Maybe that was all bullshit to begin with, but I don't see an enormously bright future here over the next couple of years. It seems like it's going to be the OV goal chase,

and that'll be the main storyline for the Caps. Yeah. At least they got one, man. Yeah. Yeah, true that. The core group got one. It's always hard, too. They brought Kemper over.

He's been bouncing around from year to year the last couple years here. Where did he go from Arizona? Did he go to Minnesota before? Was he there before? I thought it was Minnesota to Arizona. Then he signed, did he sign with Colorado? Oh yeah, that's right. He wrote up the whole season.

So then signed Colorado and then ends up in Washington. So sometimes you need a year to get your feet settled in a new location where you've done bouncing around. So I think that they got their goaltending figured out. They have a pretty good forward group. Strom had a breakout year filling in that spot especially during the backstrom injury he got rewarded with that contract sonny milano who is starting to show signs of of being a you know a a regular in the nhl and providing that type of offense that they need in the top six but i mean yeah overall yeah, overall, I would say their back end's a little bit weak. And now there's a story

that just came out and it's been happening the last couple of years dating back to two years ago where Kuznetsov asked for a trade. I don't know what that's about, especially going back two years where they still were pretty relevant. Yeah. Per Match TV in Russia, Evgeny Kuznetsov once again requesting a trade from the Capitals via his agent. I guess he first did it two years ago. And beat writer Tariq El-Bashir for The Athletic reported the Caps, you know, bosses disappointed at the season. They say, quote, the trust is broken and they've been running out of patience with him. The 30-year-old, he's got two more years at 7.8 million average annual value. He's got a modified no trade clause. He has a 10-team no trade list. 53 points in 73 games this year. It sounds like they're going to probably part ways with this guy

at some point, but yeah, I guess they've had a little falling out here, Biz. What's frustrating is that's the player that you look at as a fan or the GM and you're just like, that you look at as a fan or the GM and you're just like, he's blatantly not trying some nights. You know, there's just nights that you know he's not in it. He's got no desire to be there, which I guess makes sense now considering he's been asking them to get rid of him. But you think back to the Kuznetsov when they won the Stanley Cup. Holy shit. That's what's so frustrating watching him is, you know, there's so much there. And when he decides to turn it on or he wants to play, I mean, this guy, the speed, the skill, he's got every single thing in the world you'd need to be a top end player besides the drive on certain nights. So if you're looking at Washington's struggles this year, I'm sure if you could get

the GM and the coach off the record, they say, well, fuck, half the nights we're not getting anything out of Kuzi. Yeah. And, I mean, he's had a little off-ice stuff go on. I think it's probably made – Sniffing counters. It makes a lot more sense now, seeing how he's playing and how he's kind of acted, that he doesn't want to be there anymore. And you would be hard-pressed to find a nation

where you can give a fuck meter as low as Russians. When they just don't give a fuck. Oh, they don't want to play? The give a fuck meter, like, you talk about empty, you might as well have stabbed a hole with a screwdriver in the bottom of that tank because it is so low, right? Am I wrong here?

No. I mean... Oh, they'll shut it right down. Some Blues fans, like, they messaged me on Twitter when I said that Tarasenko's give a fuck meter went a little bit low. I think it was a little obvious, no? When he didn't want to be in St. Louis. So it seems to be like when the Russians want out, they're going to make sure everyone in the world knows. Yeah, exactly.

They're going to say, all right, you don't trade me. I'll force you to trade me. It might be horrific. Yeah. exactly. They're going to say, all right, you don't trade me? I'll force you to trade me. It might be horrific. Yeah, watch this back check. Another playoff team from last year that's on the outside looking in right now is Nashville. They're still lingering. They had a 2-2 record last week.

They got 80 points in 72 games. Five points back at Winnipeg. They do have two games in hand. But you know, Biz, they've got a pretty valiant effort they've given. They haven't had Johansson for a while. He had 12 goals. They traded Ekholm. He had five goals. They traded Nino Niederreiter, Granlund, Janot. That was 32 more goals. And then Sunday, they lost Matt Duchene week to week with an upper body injury. But they're still in it, man. They're not mathematically eliminated. Roman Yossi missed the last five games, still leads the team in scoring

with 59 points in 67 games. I don't think they're built for a playoff run here. 27 in goals per game. Let's see, 21st in goals against per game. But you see Saros, man. This guy's seen more rubber than all but one goalie. He's had the second most ice time out of all goalies. Do you think they sneak in or what here, Biz?

I thought you were going to say something different. I haven't seen more rubber than fucking lisa ann yeah um they don't they don't use much rubber i was gonna say i don't think millennials know what rub is that go go yeah go raw dog on them little tiktok generation um if you are a nashville predators fan you have to be thrilled about where the organization is and the effort that these players have put on the ice for the season especially the way things started they had a rough start to the year but they fucking play hard i watched them a few weeks back at colin was actually still in the lineup it was before the before the trade deadline they play their fucking bags off that cody glass is starting to come out

of his shell and happy for him why did you look make that face all right because i was trying to pick up my a pen on the floor at my feet and i stabbed myself on the toe okay i said cody glass and you looked at me like i had fucking three heads uh but um but he's starting to show signs of brilliance out there offensively you got duchesne who's a heck of a player obviously the johansson thing would scare me a little bit with the amount of injuries he's had over the past but with with them unloading at the deadline and looking more towards the future but yet still being in the mix and still having a competitive team on the ice I would just I would be thrilled if I was a Nashville Predators fan so I think that they're set up nicely for the future and do I think they get in no I actually think that calgary might even have a better chance of getting in

wow winnipeg's well there's some issues in calgary we can go into yeah i playing devil's advocate i would also be very frustrated as a fan that former first round draft pick polvinen they just got rid of him and he's actually been phenomenal on waivers in waivers in Seattle, yeah. So what the hell, what was going on with the coaching staff in terms of not being able to get anything out of him, whereas he's given a different opportunity. He's got 15 goals over there. So that is frustrating for a team that, as Ari mentioned, can't score goals. To give up a guy for nothing that can score goals is super confusing to me.

Maybe they'd seen enough and maybe he didn't really fit John Heinz system. I don't know, but it seems like a lot of guys have gone to Seattle and found their game. That other kid, Jared McCain or Jared McCann. Yeah. Yeah. How many holes does he have now? I was talking to my buddy who's a scout who wants to remain nameless. The same guy who was saying that Matty Beneers was starting to hit the wall a little bit he said that he's like undercover nasty and he plays ridiculous plays with a little bit of an edge has great great competitiveness so it seems like seattle's found a few gems in the rough there wait wait he has 35 goals this season 35 wow that's big man that's big for a guy i i've had a few few times have been put on waivers.

Was he picked in the expansion draft? He was picked in the expansion draft. I want to say Pittsburgh had him at one point. Was he a Toronto Maple Leaf at one point too? Maybe, but I know he was definitely Pittsburgh's property when he was selected in the expansion draft. He's played for Vancouver, the Florida Panthers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Seattle Kraken.

Okay, so no Leafs. Thank God. I was thinking of a Leafs tough one. But he's been a bit of a suitcase, so good for him for finding his way. We got a little bit off topic there, but more Nashville news, R.A. Yep. UC Saras, old tandem partner. Pecorini had a statue unveiled over the weekend.

He's got the bronze statue right on the Bridgestone Arena Plaza, played all 15 seasons there. His number 35 was the first and only number retired by the Preds so far. He's the sixth goalie to get the statue treatment and the first European goalie to get it. So pretty nice tribute to him. I know they didn't win a cup there. They got to, what, 2017 they got there. But he was such a, not only a great goaltender, obviously, but a huge part of the community there. He did so much charity work, was so beloved in the community. So he definitely deserved it. But Grelley had a great question. Like, who are some current NHL players that will get a statue someday?

What do you think they would, Doug? Oh, man. I have a very, very high standard for statues. I mean, Biz would be given a statue to third line. I'd give one to Revo at this point in Minnesota. Well, he's on a tear. Have him do the smelling salts. Since Capri.

That would be the statue. That would be the statue getting buzzed off the smelling salts. I don't know how many of you saw that video. Oh, when they gave him the second bottle and then it was like crack hit him or something? Yeah, that was big time. I never did a smelling salt in my life i think i've done since retirement i think that there's gonna be a lot of guys who get statues moving forward how do you not give one to taves and cane in chicago they're gonna get one i i

would do a i would say i would do a three-way with Duncan Keith. For those three guys, three-headed monster statue. Yeah, Malkin and Sid and Letang are going to get one. They should start doing these three-headed monster ones. You guys got to remember those statues. I mean, we're talking Hall of Fame's one thing, guys. Statues are... We can't start chucking out L.A. King-style statues. guys statues are we can't start chucking out la king style statues like statues are fucking or gretzky jordan like statues aren't for you think that's bigger than getting your number

retired i think a statue is bigger than anything i think it's bigger than the hall of fame i think it's bigger than a number retirement i think it it's the ultimate, ultimate show of respect and greatness as a statue. Sid and Ovi, no doubt. The Blackhawks, yeah, I mean, three cups, true dynasty. But when you start talking about three statues, that's what I'm saying. For me, it's one guy. It's the Orr statue in front of the garden. It's the old Gretzky statue. Guys, before we go any further, I'd like to talk to you guys about our friends at Dunkin'. It's hard to decide what the best part of a Dunkin' run is. Is it the coffee? Or is it the $1 donut? Or the $2 stuffed bagel minis? Or the $3 sausage, egg, and cheese that you can add to that coffee? or just the simple fact that you got to leave the office the answer of course is all of the above and yes with the nhl playoffs approaching

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fancies. Offer valid on medium or large coffee. Price and participation may vary. Limited time offer. Terms apply. Folks, I've said it once, I'll say it again. America runs on Dunkin'. Does Lemieux have one? Is there a Lemieux? Oh yeah, he's got one. When he spliced through the Minnesota North Stars. Yeah, so guys,

we're talking about something different here I think. I don't know. I don't even know if the Chicago guys are tough. The Chicago guys probably deserve one. They got three fucking cups. So would you have pushback on the Pecorino one? A little bit. Here's my thing.

That's a little different because he was with the team the entire time. He was one of the greatest goalies of his generation. It was a new franchise that's really grown into this crazy fan base so there's a little like backstory to the renee one whereas you got to be in the hall of fame to have a statue in my mind you can't have a statue if you're like jonathan tase isn't going to be in the hall of fame is he oh yeah international play i think you're out of your mind if he doesn't yeah jonathan is a hall Yeah, Jonathan Tate is a Hall of Famer, actually. Take that back. As I get older, I do understand the side of just what you can do as far as your community work. And I value that importance, and I understand why a guy like that, where that is a category that would get you a statue.

I think some people were surprised, even I was initially, because I didn't know how much community work that Chris Neal did. And when they retired his jersey this year in Ottawa, I know we were questioning it a little bit and then all of a sudden droves of messages came in saying that what this guy did for the community. And sometimes when there's players who are better quality, who have more on their plate from the playing aspect when you have a guy like that who's taking the pressure off of them by going out there and doing these hospital visits and doing all this community community appearances i think it does matter and i think it does have a massive massive factor into who does get one and peca rene was one of those types of players. So I think why not?

But I definitely understand your stance on, hey, all of a sudden they're going to be popping up everywhere. Yeah, these are statues. I mean, Stanley Cup should be at the minimum. You've got to have a cup. What about Joe Thornton in San Jose? I mean, he's a Hall of Famer. I would say yes,

because locker room guy, what he meant to that, he's still hanging around in that locker room. I think he still does that. I think he still practices with him. Still showers with him. Yeah, he's still getting on the table, getting rubs. But that's a great question, R.A. There's a lot of guys who, I mean, Patrice Bergeron's getting one. Yeah, he would definitely, especially if he gets another cup,

but I mean, he probably already earned one already at this point. So beloved. Probably the most beloved Bruin in my lifetime, I would definitely say. Let's see, moving right along. The Preds did play the Leafs over the weekend. The Leafs had a 2-2 week. They're pretty much locked into their spot. They're probably not going to get any higher or lower.

But they did visit Florida after. The Leafs had tons of Canadian fans in attendance. And we got subjected to a flubbed version of O Canada. This guy, Ryan Michael James, I'm not sure who he is. He posted a mirror selfie slash thirst trap before the game, saying, still trying to learn the words to O Canada. Tarps off, folks. Tarps off, selfie. He had no shirt on. No shirt. He had the spray tan going. Who is that guy? He's an influencer. I'm not sure. Yeah, nice six-pack, buddy. But you might want to learn the song when you've got to go out in front of 15,000 Canadians.

So he totally butchered it. But, you know, the Canadians are great at picking up the feel. They have them singers. They sang. They helped them finish things. Pretty cringy. At least fans did bail them out. And, of course, they bailed out their own singer a couple months back or a few weeks back when the microphone shit the bed.

James did apologize to Canada. He said he found out two hours before he was going on the words were supposed to be displayed blah blah blah uh well the leafs did avenge the disc they dumped the panthers and um i don't know they've been pretty pretty much locked in on that spot we we did not mush the panthers that anthem singer mush the panthers and you'd be hard pressed to find more canadians in an American building than this time of year in sunrise and with a Leafs game going on it's 50-50 at that point maybe even 60-40 Leafs fans so if you look at missing playoffs this year we didn't mush them it wasn't Bill Zito it was the Tarps off influencer who butchered the Canadian national anthem you should have seen the looks

on the people's faces in the clip when they were listening to this guy try to belt that out. Should we play the entire cringy clip of him trying to sing it, G? Ryan Michael James. Oh Canada Our

home and native land True Our home and native land True patriot love In all of us Come and Fall in love with them Love strong and free. From far and wide, oh Canada.

Wow. I mean, for fuck's sakes. And I've long, like, I hate the Maple Leafs. Pearson Airport's a disgrace. The Prime Minister's a joke. But the Canadian anthem is one of the best songs I've ever heard. It does not deserve to get treated by an influencer that way. That's not fair. Take the extra seven seconds of the mirror shirtless selfie. I think he mentioned maybe that he was supposed to have the words in front of him,

and then they weren't there. Well, you got to take a cue from Big Cat when he sings the anthem at Rough and Rowdy. Just get the words in front of you. Because O Canada is a banger, and it doesn't deserve that treatment. But it is awesome seeing the fans just pick him right up and take over. Kodak Black should have been invited to sing it. What's wrong with that?

He was too busy fucking in the box. So, yeah, we talked about the Panthers. It looked like they were making a move, then they dropped three in a row, outscored 16-8 in those three games. They no longer control their destiny. 79 points, they're three behind Pittsburgh, four back of the aisles. They do have a game in hand.

They got nine games left, only three of them out versus playoff teams, two with Toronto, one with Carolina. We mentioned before, though, man, we can't remember a trade where two teams evolved where they had negative effects on both sides. I mean, the Panthers not in the playoffs right now, and neither are the fucking Calgary Flames. They've been struggling. They're four back of the Jets with eight games to play.

They don't own any of the tiebreakers. And apparently, Nizam Khadri's pretty pissed off. What if they both make it? Hey, now that we say this, they're both making playoffs in a wild card. 100%. It didn't work out for either team. That's all. say this they're both making playoffs in a wild card it didn't work out for either team that's not i know but i mean picardy signs a seven-year deal 49 mil and apparently according to elliot freeman he's not too happy about the communication there uh freeman said i've heard

that cadre has been very vocal about what he sees going on in calgary and why the team isn't firing on all cylinders i think he's been very blunt about the communication between the players and the coach there i'm betting some of that frustration boiled over in that game Saturday night. I'm curious to see where this is all going to go. I mean, he wasn't used in almost five minutes of overtime, getting 12 and a half minutes a game.

And the Flames, 0-18-3 when trailing after two. The only team in the league that hasn't won going into the third period trailing. Oh my god. The only team to not have a comeback in the third? Yep, yep. Oh, Jesus. And then, Biz, I know you've been kind of sort of teasing the Daryl stuff all year,

rightfully so. Well, he signed a two-year extension in October that doesn't kick in until next season. So, Biz, does, I mean, Brad Treeliving, does he have a big decision to make this summer if they don't make the playoffs or what? Well, R.A., Treeliving is not re-signed. So, Treeliving's contract ends this summer. And I would imagine he has no issue getting a job somewhere else if there's a seat that opens up. I've also heard rumblings that he might be in a position where his father's a billionaire.

He's the one who helped start the Dragon's Den. He owns Boston Pizza. At a certain point point he could probably just go help manage and figure out all that stuff where he'd probably make even more money than being a gm and it'd probably be a lot less stressful uh so he he has options on the table um from my understanding it's been frustrating for him because i think that he is a daryl fan but daryl has not made it easy on anyone for for this whole situation to unravel the way it's going i think that he is a Daryl fan, but Daryl has not made it easy on anyone for this whole situation to unravel the way it's going. I think that two years as a head coach remaining on a contract,

and I know that it was an extension, so he would basically not even get it started. I think there's a strong possibility with the voices in the room and how long those guys are locked into contracts and they're premier players. I would assume that this summer Daryl gets gassed and I have no dog in the fight. My experiences with Daryl have been awesome. He's never been rude to me other than when he fucking pigeon tossed me off the plane, when McDusty walked at me, walked me a couple of times, but it's, it's like, it's pretty public at this point that the players don't like Daryl. It was pretty public even when he's with the Kings, but the difference being is they were in a playoff spot

and they were winning cups. So I see no future with Daryl and the Flames the way that this season has played out. Maybe they give him a start next year, but it seems like the players are probably not going to respond again. I think he's also extracted a lot of confidence out of the net minders there with the way that he interacts with the players.

Players aside, goaltenders is a very sensitive issue and you need to handle them differently than you would players. And considering that hasn't happened, I believe that that's why they haven't been getting the saves this year. It's just a mind fuck. It's a mind fuck. And you talked about the

time on ice wit i don't care i don't care if they're not maybe playing the way or back checking the way you want you got caudry locked in for seven years and you got hubert oh for another eight fucking roll them out there the 20 minutes a game it ain't rocket especially right now it's it's it's win or go home it's like this isn't the time to be playing Kadri 12 minutes a game and Kadri's an outspoken guy who I mean he comes from a team with with Bednar who also got an extension congrats to him he wins the Stanley Cup he's now granted great team right but he sees communication he sees how things work to get to the ultimate goal and then he gets there and he's like what the fuck's going he's probably what's going on here like yes we have to play better but

this is not a healthy relationship between players and coach i mean it's very hard to look at that team see the minutes guys are playing in must win games and and not wonder like is he still sending messages right now like it's almost like Daryl's like, it's my way or the highway, and I don't give a fuck. Or he's playing chestnut checkers, and he's like, fucking fire me. I got two years. Two years, and what's he making, three sheets to go chill on the farm? How much hay you can get for three sheets a year?

Hmm, smoke that hay. Yeah, it's just I don't think they get in either. I mean, where are they right now? So they're sitting. They're four points back and tied with points, four or five points back of Winnipeg, Yeah, it's just I don't think they get in either. I mean, where are they right now? So they're sitting. They're four points back and tied with points, four or five points back of Winnipeg, but Winnipeg's leaking oil. And they play each other, actually.

They play each other once more, I saw, in April. That could be huge. Yeah, man, they're not done. They're not done at all. The only thing saving Darryl right now is that Calgary is typically a cheap organization. I mean to the point where I don't even, the reason the arena is not being built, the new one, is because they won't pay for the sidewalks. The sidewalk cement outside. That's the last we heard

of it. Now, gee, can you pull up what he's making on his extension? A coach of his stature with Stanley Cups, I would imagine it's no less than three, three and a half million. Is that always even made public? Oh yeah. Because I would imagine it's no less than three, three and a half million. Is that always even made public? Oh yeah, because I would imagine Bednar probably got four

or five million and we're going to get to him. The coaches, they don't always reveal the coaches for whatever reason. Sometimes it's on cap friendly, sometimes it's not. The salary's unknown on cap friendly. But the Flames, only two of their last eight games are versus playoff teams. Yeah, that's April 5th versus Winnipeg.

Has potential to be a huge game, depending on how the next few games for those guys go. And, oh, Jared Bednay, he did sign a three-year extension. He's the third longest-tenured coach in the league after Koopa and Mike Sullivan. Also, congrats to Koop. Saturday was the 10th anniversary of him being a coach in Tampa. You don't see guys hanging off for 10 years too often these days. So congrats to both of those guys.

Jason Robertson, we've been singing his praises on the show the last couple of years. He got 216 points in his first 200 games played. It's the sixth best among active players after Sid, Gino, McDavid, Caprizov, and I can't read my own writing there. Sorry. I'll have to go back. No, the printer. Blame the printer. No, I can't read my own writing there. Sorry. I'll have to go back. No, the printer. Blame the printer. No, no. I can't even. It's on the screen. But either way, sixth best among active players.

Just gives you an indication just how good this guy is. And Jonathan Quick, he's 5-1 thus far with Vegas. He's now the second all-time for U.S. goaltender wins with 375. He passed John Van Biesbroeck. Ryan Miller is number one with 391. We'll see what happens there. And how about this stat? Vegas was the first team ever to have four different goalies win in four consecutive games with Patera, Quick, Thompson, and Broussard. Kind of wild, man. I'm surprised that never happened before. And Thompson, he came back, was playing great in Calgary, and then he had to leave with injury again. I don't know has there been any word Of what that was and that injury Swollen liver

He likes his cocktails Yeah I just texted Harvey the Hound To ask how much Darryl makes the next two years So they didn't disclose what Bednar signed for either Not in the press release No Fuck I don't like that

I want to know what the coaches are making right If the players salaries get announced We to know what the coaches are making, right? If the player salaries get announced, we should know what the coaches are making. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, the players, yeah, back in the we talked about that dirtbag Eagleson. I just got words from Harvey the Hound. Four sheets each

year the next two years. Nice. Nice. That sounds about right. Craig McTavish pulling Harvey the Hound's tongue out of his mouth is still one of my favorite clips of all time. That was fucking hilarious. Get the fuck away from me, Harvey. I got your tongue.

Mac got your tongue. Talking about politics, how about Biden chirping the fucking Leafs in Canadian Parliament? Didn't see that happening. Did you catch that clip? I can't even believe he knew the name of the team. Sleepy Joe. Sleepy Joe sleeping on the leaves joe sleepy joe sleepy sleepy joe sleeping on the leaves that honest to god if there's one sign that the

leafs are gonna win something this year is that dummy saying the leafs then go come on a guy's fucking guy's kinger's age relax uh sorry kanger just kidding um but hey did you see parliament erupt and i'm sure every even the americans who are listening are aware leafs are the most hated team in canada times 20 there's not even a close second compared to the maybe maybe after uh oilers were given the first overall pick 16 years in a row. Maybe they kind of elevated to where they're just below the Leafs. The Oilers are not even close to as hated as the Leafs. I know. They are just hated.

Who's the most hated team in Premier League? It's got to be the richest team, right? I think Manchester United's hating, although they're all hated so much by fellow fan bases. Chelsea's hated. Actually, Man City might be the most hated because they have the most money now that's a little different because they all hate each other equally i've been watching i've been watching clips uh biz like you know the michael barrett the guy who retweeted wit when he went off on pearson airport

i started following him on twitter dude i i love how like they just kind of chirp at each other like one of the i don't know whatever their position is representative gets up and then they'll call trudeau and they'll like argue back and forth i wish like we did that down here man like you basically gotta like bitch the president down well prime minister in that case well you just took a shot at uh trudeau wit if if there was one outside the box are you a trudeau fan uh i would i would i would say no fifth on that one? No, no. I would say that I'm not a fan of him.

I think that he's said a lot of things that have been very contradictory. I'm going to keep it very PG here and move along. But you took a shot at him. One outside the box rule you would change about Canada just off the top of your head. Would you have something? It can't be Pearson related. Wow. We can come back we can

come back to it too if there was one thing about canada that you would change if you were in power what would you change yeah i don't know place is perfect for me off i mean i i'd rather focus on my country but use the u.s dollar i think if they used the u.s dollar maybe we'd see more we'd see a team in quebec city they just get rid of their currency? Get rid of their currency. You said one thing. I'm like, hey, why not bring on the US dollar? We got hockey players on money up there. That's the true currency.

That's a pretty sick dollar bill. I would make Saskatoon the capital of the country because people from Saskatchewan are so great, and they don't deserve a lot of other Canadians. Oh, my God. Army is going to be losing his mind. Saskatoon replaces Ottawa, and then we're at least cooking with gas. don't deserve a lot of other canadians oh my god army is gonna be losing his mind replaces ottawa and then we're at least cooking with gas that's a fine hey off the top of your head man you're

gonna you're gonna gain a lot of respect in canada you might get citizenship for that i think i'm equally hated and liked in canada personally you'd fit right in there paul i will say i ended up doing nothing for pearson pearson's worse now than they were when I came home during the Western Conference Finals. That place is a disgrace. All right, guys, before we go any farther, we got to talk about Farmer's Dog. I don't know if I've ever been more excited about a brand coming on with us as much as I am with Farmer's Dog. This is a product I used long before they were a sponsor with Spittin' Chicklets. And it's one thing I've always said,

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conveniently delivered on your schedule. That's the best part because I think being able to go out and get dog food, especially with NHL playoffs coming around the corner, is not easy. So the Farmer's Dog makes it super easy because they deliver it right to your house. Dog people all across the country have ordered millions of meals from the Farmer's Dog. It has never been easier to invest in your dog's health with fresh food. Get 50% off your first box of fresh, healthy food at thefarmersdog.com slash chicklets. Plus, you get free shipping. Just go to thefarmersdog.com slash chicklets to get 50% off. That's thefarmersdog.com slash chicklets. We got to say congratulations to Brian Boyle. He officially retired after 14

NHL seasons spent with eight different teams. He had 871 regular season games played, 124 more in the playoffs. He was in the 2014 Cup with the Rangers and the 2015 Cup with Tampa Bay. And of course, he won the 2018 Masterton Trophy when he was dealing with chronic myeloid leukemia. So congrats boiler man great player wit i know you know him a little bit so i'll go to you on this one yeah bry's a year younger than me so grew up kind of playing with and against each other in random things he was a stud at saint sebastian's local prep school and just made an amazing career i mean this guy's a monster if anyone's ever met him i think'6 at least his hands and his hand doubles my hand I

don't exactly have big hands which also kind of goes into what else isn't enormous on my body but Boiler on the other hand this guy's just a beast and he went to BC and then there was talk of him playing defense when he got when he became pro you know ended up being just an all-around solid player he could check with anyone he was willing to fight when he had to, you know, ended up being just an all-around solid player. He could check with anyone. He was willing to fight when he had to wait for such a long time. You mentioned two different trips to the Stanley Cup. Also very cool in a sense that he didn't play for a whole season. And then he went over with the world championship team, did a great job, ended up getting another NHL contract out of that. Just true perseverance. One of, I think, 15 kids in his family.

It could be 14, could be 16, I'm not exactly sure. But a great person who had just one hell of a run and an amazing career. He actually texted me, too. He went up and he's going to do some stuff with NHL Network. He was on this week, I think this past Thursday was his first night. Hopefully we see more of him in the playoffs. But very happy and very, I guess, proud, even though that's probably not the right word.

But having local guys that you grew up playing with and against play that long in the NHL and make that much of an impact off the ice too. You talk about off-the-ice work biz. I mean, this is a guy who beat cancer. He's been through some really hard times in his life. He lost his best friend in Corey Griffin that I talked about years ago. And just a guy who people love being around and deserved all the success he had. So congratulations, bud. Did he announce it on the broadcast? Because he did a broadcast and he was on the panel. I thought he did an excellent

job. I believe it was the NHL network. So it seems like he's going to slide right into the media gig. And I think he's going to be excellent at that because he's a highly intelligent guy. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Was it not his father who also had cancer and then ended up writing a book and it's an insane story? It's called like Six Weeks to Live. His father, Artie, Arthur Boyle, has one of the most amazing stories you'll ever hear in your life. A true miracle in every sense of the word. The book is called Six Months to Live. Three guys on the ultimate quest for a miracle, and they got the miracle. They were over in Magigoria. And his dad was, he was terminal. He was dying of cancer. It was a last-ditch effort.

He went over there. Right now, off the top of my head, I'm not able to get the entire story correct, but it was one of those things where people almost kind of said, why are you going over there? You got to enjoy your final days, months, hopefully longer to live over here with your family.

But no, I want to go give it a shot. I please tell anyone to order this book online and read it he came home and they did the test gone no cancer in his body like people say there aren't miracles no no no no this was an absolute miracle an incredible story i would butcher the story trying to retell it right now i believe i believe in the story it basically there's like a come to jesus moment where he's on this like hike or something i listen it's a secondhand story because i have not read the book but something happened on this trip where he in the book i believe mentions that he's like he almost like feel it leave his

body i think people i think there's somebody over him like i don't i i know this sounds ridiculous i wish i knew the exact story i should have fucking looked it up and had some info ready. I put you on the spot. No, no, no. But no one was going to chat about him. That's bullshit to me. But the story, nonetheless, is truly amazing. Six months to live, already boil.

The man went over there. He was passing away. He was dying from cancer and came home. Right now, he's healthy as a fiddle, living an amazing life, great golfer, great person, and he was cancer-free. It's just insane. You almost don't believe it when you read it. He actually wrote an article for ESPN. I can kind of read it real quick if you guys want me to and explain what happened. He said, as a sophomore, I was trying to navigate my way through high school. During that time, I just shut down. When it was determined that the cancer was in his lung and he only had a few months to live, my uncle Kevin and a close family friend,

Rob Griffin, pursued him to go on a spiritual cleansing. The three traveled to Matagoria, the mountainous town in Bosnia-Herzegovina. That's believed to be a holy site. When my dad came home, he had an appointment to scan his lung they determined that the cancer had been that they determined that the cancer had completely disappeared that was almost 15 years ago he's had a clean bill of health ever since it's fucking insane i got chills right now that's not goosebumps it's it's just it's just an amazing story so and then brian to go through what he went through um yeah it's just like it's mind mind-blowing to me what a career i'm looking forward to the second half of his uh his media career so a new beginning in life family love it he was actually

one of him and nathan gerby is what got me into college hockey wait i don't know if you remember like how electric that bc team was all those years ago, but those BUBC beanpots, those are my fondest memories of hockey and watching hockey and consuming hockey was being at the garden, watching big Brian Boyle, one shift he's on defense,

one shift he's on forward, playing with Gerby. That's where my love for college hockey came, is Brian Boyle. It's like the movie Twins. Did they have as cocky as interviews as Fantilli did the other day? Do I want Michigan to go down? Really?

I kind of want them to win now. Can we roll this clip of this? He tied the game in the third period. I didn't know they, I'm shocked that they didn't interview with a player after the third period before they go into overtime. I was shocked when I was watching the broadcast. And then here, roll it. Adam, I know at times this game has been frustrating for your mission in offense,

but you never showed any quit, and you got a big goal to tie this one. Now we're going to overtime. Yeah, I mean, I think we're playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think we just got to tidy up our turnovers a little bit. But when we play the way we can play, there's no team in this country that can play with us, and we're going to prove that next period. I mean, some of these kids and how cocky they are I fucking love that shit man they are a great team they are

they have I mean half their teams played on like the world juniors too like it's a it's they I mean they got I think Luke Hughes might hop right into the Devils lineup when they lose he could be playing in the playoffs I mean they got who's the other kid?

Oh, the kid who scored the OT winner, Samaskevich is his name? Yeah. I think he's a high pick. Yeah. He's a stud. Fantilli's going to be the second pick in the draft, leading the NCAA in scoring. They got a higher payroll than the Coyotes.

Exactly. Exactly. They already beat Minnesota in Minnesota's barn for the Big Ten title. Now we got three blue bloods in BU, Minnesota, Michigan, and the Frozen Four with Quinnipiac. Now, when I was at BU, Quinnipiac was the biggest disgrace in college hockey. One of the worst teams you could ever imagine. And I know they've got an amazing new rink now. I don't know the coach. I know Clifton played there. Clifton on the Bruins is an alumni of Quinnipiac. But they've turned into a powerhouse in college hockey.

No one's won more games the past two years than the Quinnipiac Bobcats in college hockey. When did they become this good? Was it them getting the rink? What happened? It's been the past 10 years. I think it's just they've injected so much money into this program. I think Rand Pecknall has done an amazing job as the coach, just recruiting wise as well. But I think they've just injected so much money and you're seeing kids stick around at QU. I mean, look at Skylar

Brindamore. He could have gone pro. He's a senior. You know what I mean? There's kids, they stay all four years. They want the education probably because the girls at QU are 10 out of 10. It's the best. Yeah, I heard there's smokes there. Oh, my God. Rich Connecticut girls. It's amazing. All right. Yeah.

And G just mentioned Skyler Brindamore. Really cool for him. He got a goal in the quarterfinal game to go to the Frozen Four. They ended up beating up on, was it Ohio State, I believe? Yeah. But Brindamore, I think they have a game, unfortunately, Thursday night of the Frozen Four. But if they get into the final, the game would be in the evening.

Carolina plays that day in the afternoon, so it probably gives them enough time to shoot on a plane down to Tampa and possibly see his son play for the national title, which would be really cool. He did talk to us about his son, how proud of him he is. So college hockey is buzzing, and it's going to be a special Frozen Four. Give us a little breakdown, G. I'm not a big college guy, and I know that Merle's and Army, the Chicklets Game Notes guys with you, are heading down there to Tampa for the Final Four, or excuse me, the Frozen

Four. I actually like calling it the Final Four, though. You guys are going to go down there. You're going to watch some games. You're going to get some interviews with some of these young studs Now what's the breakdown What's to expect in this Tampa trip We're also doing a little big deal brew

Meet and greet That'll be done at Hatrix On Thursday from 3 to 5pm It's a sick little hockey bar We're going to be buzzing in there We'll have some beers with everyone We'll be trying out the beer But we're excited

I think the way it's all lining up Because it's me, Colby, McQuaid, and Merles. You got Merles, who's on BU. You got Colby, who skates. He says he skates with Logan Cooley in the summer. He says they're boys. So he's on Michigan, I mean, Minnesota. And then I took QU to start the tournament at plus 750. I want to see them win their first national championship.

So it's going to be cool. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to be creating a lot of content, a lot of man on the street type stuff. And it's going to be a blast. I think that BU Minnesota game is just going to be battle of the heavyweights. I mean, Drew Camiso in goal for BU has been incredible. Then you have Logan Cooley.

You have Nyes for Minnesota as well. Matthew Nyes, the Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick. It's going to be a lot of fun. And I think just how the regionals played out, like to have two big schools like Michigan and Penn State with tons of money, tons of alumni, and tons of eyes on them, for them to be able to play in the regional championship and for the game to end like it did in overtime,

that is so good for college hockey. And I say this all the time is college hockey needs more of these big football schools getting involved so when you see i like i know the old college hockey people at wcha guys they fucking hate hearing that kind of stuff the bemidji states of the of the college hockey world but when you see the penn states and the michigans. And, I mean, the Big Ten cleaned up this weekend. It was Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State. They're playing the ECAC, the E-Z-A-C. Yeah, the ECAC had a tough showing. I hope the games are a little bit more competitive. That was the only one-goal game, the Penn State versus Michigan.

Now, who do you think is going to make the finals? What's your prediction? My prediction would be, gosh, I would say it's going to be Minnesota versus Quinnipiac. Fuck you. I think it's going to be Minnesota versus Quinnipiac, and I think QU is going to win it all. I had one for you too, Whit.

When's the last time BU won a national championship? Their last national title, was it 13G? Wasn't it 2009? Wasn't it the unreal game in 2009 like the best college hockey game ever won it they were playing miami of ohio they were down the minute to go yeah vinnie laverde was who we've interviewed before he was on the miami of ohio it was bang bang wasn't it yeah and then they wanted an ot and then they they played providence in the final four frozen four in boston uh eichel's freshman year when he won the hobie and just a disaster of a goal that was let in to have them lose my red line it was it's an the guy ended up going pro

didn't he i think he signed he signed the goalie but i don't think he ever played um it was a whiff people were saying that he they thought that he had money on it because of how bad of a whiff it was right yeah it was not pretty i was sitting right on the goal line too i'll never forget bu's definitely uh probably the biggest underdog there yeah i don't mind i don't set it hey you said it like you actually think he might have had money on it no you said it i didn't say a lot of people say that a lot of people say that we'll just shut your mouth right right now granelli yeah your delayed response makes me think that you had money on it too oh i did have money on it but wait isn't it isn't it so awesome to see bu's like resurgence and jay pandolfo in particular i love pumping this guy's tires i grew up next door to

him i used to go over his house and shoot pucks with him in the summer. But I just think it's so cool to see BU back in the mix. It's good to have a Boston team. Yes. And also Brian Yandel of the Rink Shrinks sent me a picture. A pretty good defining moment for Jay Pandolfo. He's first year head coach. They win the Hockey East regular season. They win the Hockey East playoffs. They then go to regionals, go to the Frozen Four. Big celebratory picture in front of the big cardboard that says, moving on, Frozen Four, BU. And where's Jay Pandolfo? You barely see him in the way, way, way back corner. It's not about him. It's not about his ego. It's about the team and his players. A guy's a Stanley Cup champ, a national champ at BU. That's just how he played too. That's just how he played.

It goes to show like this guy, it's not about him. And there's a lot of coaches out there that it is. And I think just like that picture, it just kind of goes without saying like, he is the perfect man for that job and BU hockey is going to be set up for a long time. We're back, baby. So like Babcock? Yeah, Babcock would have been like holding the sign. Oh, okay. All right, guys, before we go any farther, I want to talk to you about cross-country mortgage. I've mentioned it a few times in the past couple of weeks. I purchased my first home and it was a very tough and confusing process that cross-country mortgage made 10 times easier. It was an amazingly easy process, and I can't suggest cross-country mortgage enough. Buying a home can feel like a brawl.

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So don't risk getting board checked during the home buying process. Go with cross- Mortgage. They have your back and are dedicated to getting the job done. Go to crosscountrymortgage.com slash barstool so Cross Country Mortgage can take care of you through the home buying process. Cross Country Mortgage LLC NMLS 3029. All loans subject to underwriting approval. NMLS 3029, all loans subject to underwriting approval, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Guys, use cross-country mortgage. I cannot suggest it enough. Yeah, the semifinals, the Thursday,

the 6th, BU taking on Minnesota, Michigan taking on Quinnipiac in the national championship, Saturday the 8th at 8 p.m. So check it out. Good stuff. Let's see what else we got here. Oh, we had a goalie goal in the jungle. Fort Wayne Comet Ryan Fante scored an unreal goal. Did you see it, man? He scored it from the fucking trapezoid almost 200 feet all the way down, boom, right in.

And if his name sounds familiar, he was the goalie who had a fight in the jungle a couple months ago throwing some serious shots. So this guy's working on a Gordie Howe hat trick via the highlights here biz uh i feel like it's uh expected now with all these goalie goals so you got to be able to provide offense if you're a net minder that's just how much of that's how much the goaltending position is evolving it used to be the stand up then it went to the butterfly then it went to the fact that they're all made in the lab and they're six five and they move the most athletic of any player on the team. And now they're starting to contribute

offensively. So expect more and more of these goalie goals. Yeah, first off, goalie goal in team history for Fort Wayne. So congrats. Good stuff there. Also, we want to send congratulations to our longtime Flyers broadcaster, Steve Coates. He announced his retirement after 43 years with the team. He did TV and radio, and he was the color analyst on radio for the last nine years with the Flyers. Also, best of luck to John Garrett after 20 years in the Canucks booth. He was there, same thing, but he's basically doing the color analyst stuff. Speaking of Vancouver, ESPN just announced they finished making a 30 for 30. It's titled, I'm Just Here for the Riot. It's about the riot after game 7 2011 when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and Vancouver burned itself down.

So the two filmmakers Asia Youngman and Kathleen Jane they're gonna not only explain what happened but why it happened. They're gonna try to dig into that what the psychology was of all these people kind of getting the mob mentality. Looks really interesting. They don't have an air date yet but I'm looking forward to that one, man. I was actually in the city when it happened. It's a pretty wild feeling to be in a city. I didn't see it, but I was a mile away. That building's like a fortress,

but to be that close to that type of shit, man, it was kind of scary, even though I didn't actually see it. Do you think the Boston mobster will be mentioned in it? Whitey Bulger? Whitey Bulger was apparently there. He was full of shit already, they said, right? Chris Nyland broke the story on our show.

It was bullshit. The feds tried to say that he snuck over the border and went to that game. Knuckles said it was bullshit. Actually, the Boston Herald picked up the story from our podcast. They ran a story about that the next day. I don't know if you saw that. Trust me, I believe Chris Nyland more than I believe the FBI when it comes to Whitey Bulges. So no, he did not sneak up there to watch the game. So ironically enough, there's

a podcast I've listened to occasionally. My buddy, Chris Paul, had sent it to me. It's called History Daily. All right. It's great. Every day they go over about 15 minutes about things that have happened in the past. And recently they did. Grinnelli, do you know about the Montreal Maurice Richard riots? No, no idea. Never heard of that. Do you know about them? No, but I got a hose, but I'm going to keep my headphones on and I'm going to pee in this bottle, but keep going.

All right. Yeah, yeah. So March 1955, and there's a lot of people listening right now that have heard this story a million times i know ra knows all about it but for anyone like g who maybe doesn't know pretty wild and pretty cool um i'm i'm 100 uh let letting everyone know you can go to history daily they do a way better job it's only 15 minutes long in explaining this but I didn't really understand what actually went down. So March 1955 at the Boston Garden, Maurice Richard's drive in the net and Bruins defenseman Hal Lecko cross-checks him, knocks him over. I don't know exactly what happened, but it enraged Richard so much that he

got up, he skated over to him, slashed him in the face, and then broke his stick over his back. So enraged was he that a teammate of his went over to try and calm him down. He punched him and went right back at the guy, basically trying to kill him. Furious, incensed at the garden. There had been a longstanding kind of feud between Maurice Richard and Clarence Campbell, who was, I don't believe they were called the commissioner then, R.A.? Was he the president of the NHL? Yeah, Batmobile was actually the first commissioner. They were called presidents before that. So Clarence Campbell, all right, there's a hearing that goes down in Montreal. So he goes into the hearing. Now, he immediately, I think he decided after the hearing, obviously, what the suspension was going to be. But it was such a big deal that the Montreal, the fans and the media,

they're going nuts. So they're waiting for him to get to the league offices. And he opens the car door and boom, cameras, people screaming at him. What's going to happen? What's going to happen? He walks in. Richard's in there. The guy Hal Letko's in there. They're all bloodied and beat up and a mess.

A bunch of other Bruins players, a bunch of people that had witnessed the whole incident go down. This is six years ago, boys. Well, they have a three and a half hour session to go over this. And what happens at the end? Clarence Campbell suspends Maurice Richard the rest of the season, including the playoffs. Okay. Now I'll say this, the History daily does a good job of kind of explaining there was a lot of different um issues between french canadians and the rest of canada at that time i believe you know there was discrimination and things like that they wanted to separate at one point well yeah that was even like recently but so you can imagine back in 1955 and the discrimination French Canadians felt that they were getting and being treated like second class

citizens by the rest of Canada. So he announces this suspension and the city of Montreal is furious. They're furious. Maurice Bouchard, he's a hero to these people. He's an absolute legend. This is a guy who's showing so many French-Canadian kids what they could become, what they could do with their lives, people who feel like they're being kicked and knocked down constantly. So the whole city's furious. So what happens is in the 1,200 word statement where he lets everyone know he's suspended for the rest of the year, people go nuts. So I kind of wrote down some things here. There was even a newspaper in Montreal that put a cartoon of Campbell dead, his head on a platter. People wanted him dead. They were furious. So what Campbell does, very arrogant, if you ask me,

very, very arrogant, he says, I'm going to the next Canadiens game. I'm going to the game. And people say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Guys in the league, you can't do this. No, no, no says I'm going to the next Canadians game I'm going to the game and people say no no no no no no guys in the league you can't do this no no no I'm not I'm not scared I'm the president of this league it's my job to go to the games he's walking out of his office to go to the game and his phone rings he goes back he picks up the phone it's the mayor of Montreal begging him don't go to the game you don't understand I think part of the begging him, don't go to the game. You don't understand. I think part of the thing is, I don't think this guy understood these people in Montreal, these French Canadian proud people who were just beyond furious. He says, I'm going to the game.

He tells the mayor, take a hike, buddy. Make like a tree and leave. I'm done. I'm going to the game. So he pulls up to the game and he sees there is a crowd already there, furious. And he kind of gets his wits about him and he opens the door and, ah, fuck yeah. I wish I knew. They're doing the throat slash. They're screaming. They got police pushing the people back. This is before the game started. They got police pushing them back. He's trying to get into the arena. Holy shit, this guy. I would have loved to have been in his brain at the time. He probably thought, I don't know if this was the correct decision.

So all the protesters going nuts. But whatever. He goes in. He goes into the game and he sits down in his normal seat. Well, all of a sudden, all the fans, they see him. And they realize this fucking asshole is in the building. This guy that we want dead is in the building. People said that they were focusing more on him than they were on the game.

People are throwing tomatoes at him. Somebody threw a shoe at him. Mike Melbury must have been in the building. There was absolute chaos, dude. A guy went up to him and smashed a tomato in his fucking chest. And then another guy went up to him looking all friendly with his hand, took his hat off, went to shake his hand. What'd he do? With the five fingers, say to the face, bitch, slap. Slap, motherfucker. Slap Clarence Campbell right in the face. That had to be the moment that really hit him. I just got

bitch slapped in Montreal. I shouldn't be at this game, right? So the chaos ensues and ensues. It's getting worse and worse. All of a sudden, Clarence Campbell, he's got to sprint down underneath in the trainer's room. He's losing his mind. The police are trying to make everything go away. They're trying to calm these people down. What does Campbell decide to do when he's underneath hiding from all these lunatics? He says the Canadians have to forfeit the game. So not only has he kicked out the best player in the league for the rest of the season, he's now given the opposing team a win in the form. So what do you think happens then? The game ends. All these furious Montreal residents are coming out onto the street.

Well, what's going on in the street? The same protest that had already been happening prior to the game. So all these fans, they're joining the protest. It's a gong show. They said at one point, I think there was 10,000 people. And what do they do? They're furious. They're mad. They can't do anything.

So they started rioting. So you bring up this documentary that's going to go on about the Canucks riot. These people ended up walking around the city. First, they started throwing bricks through the farm windows. They knew they couldn't get to Campbell. So the entire mob ends up walking along the street. They caused $100,000 damage to the city of Montreal that night. That's about $1.1 million, I think it says in today's day and age in dollar. Finally, the next day, they don't know what's going to happen. So they end up begging. I think the mayor of Montreal, or I don't know, maybe somebody from the Canadians begged Maurice

Richard to make a statement. He had to go on and he had to sit behind all these microphones and pretty much beg the people of Montreal that although they love him and the Canadians and hate Clarence Campbell, we cannot have any more riots to our beautiful city. And if you haven't been to Montreal, what a beautiful city it is. That night, 12 police were injured, 25 citizens were injured, 100 people arrested. The Montreal riots of the Maurice Richard suspension is one of the all-time craziest stories in NHL history. I'd never really heard it in depth. So you can go even hear more about it.

And oh, what they ended the podcast with that I thought was very interesting was some people say it was the first moment that ended up leading to what the French Canadians called the Quiet Revolution. I think a lot of things changed in government and the citizens of Montreal that ended up hopefully getting them better treatment and more respect. I'm sure there's people that know way more than me. I don't know anything about this subject, but it seems to be 68 years ago, just about this time, that things changed forever for French Canadians in Quebec, all because a legendary NHL player was suspended for the season. So a wild story that just proves

that the Vancouver Riot wasn't the first one. And Whit, this podcast is coming full circle because my destination on the Bachelor Party stake draft was Montreal. Montreal. Montreal. A little super sex action for those Chicago Barstool guys?

It's got everything. I said to do it during the F1 race, but it's got everything you need. You got the clubs that are open late. Casino. The women. Casino and the women to die for. They're not ugly. It's like, even if you're Canadian, it's like going to Europe.

It's like, it's a different country within a country. It's inception of countries. Fair. Fair. It does feel like you're in Europe. And if you're an American, right now to go, you're getting $1.38 for one US dollar. So talk about a bar goon. Not once G's idea goes into effect.

Oh, okay. That's true. That's true. And maybe you'll actually get some strip clubs in Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon. My first time I went up is it was 200 American, you got 300 Canadian back. So it was like a buck to make a buck 50. That was the first prom you went to in Quebec, right? No, first time I fell in love with a stripper, I was 17 about 15 times that weekend.

I think I fell in love. And I did find that stat I've been looking for as far as Robertson. Most points through 200 career games active. The only guys who have more, Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, McDavid, and Kirill Kaprizov. Only five guys with more points than Jace Robertson from the first 200 games. Nice little nugget to end the podcast. Wildly impressive. Yep, we're just about at the end here.

Russia and Belarus, again, banned from IIHF World Championships. No surprise there. The World Baseball Classic happened last weekend. McDavid had a great quote. He was kind of clamoring to have the best on best, especially after we had Shohei Otani versus Mike Trout. Any of you guys watching that live? Did you have it on live or did you catch it on Twitter like me?

I just caught the ninth inning because I saw on Twitter what was going on. That's pretty amazing to actually see those two guys face off. And I heard some crazy stat that like, I think Mike Trout has struck out on three pitches, like what, three times in his career? Three swinging strikes. Yep, right here. And Trout's 6,174 career at-bats. He has recorded three swinging strikes only 24 times. And what's his name? Hugh Darvish had done it twice, and then Otani did it that night. So of all those at-bats, it's a very rare thing. I think it's like less than 0.39% of the time that he actually struck out

on three swinging strikes, and then he did it on the grand stage versus his teammate, who is the modern-day Babe Ruth, they're calling him. Yeah, he is. Oh, man, he's a machine. He's actually, he's probably the best argument that people gave me when I said McDavid's better at his sport than anyone else is at their sport. I think Otani might be the guy because he's doing it at both sides of the ball. You pay a guy who gets 40, 50 homers, 35, 40 million.

You pay a starter who pitches that many games, probably around 35-40 million. How do you evaluate how to pay this guy? He's going to get easily a $500 million deal. Oh, yeah. It's 50 million a year. It's insanity what he's doing. As far as the best on best, I have been adamant about this.

You just talked about Russia and Belarus being pigeon tossed because they're constantly cheating and shoot themselves up with vitamins. Every three years, world cup of hockey. It's all controlled by the NHL. It will help with the rent of revenue. You can make it a soft cap league with, with those types of dollars coming in.

You started off in North America. You put one division in Canada, one in the States, and then the next, three years later, you do it overseas in Sweden and Helsinki. You do Stockholm and Helsinki. It's an hour flight difference to fly, and then you give them their treat of it. People are saying, well, how are you going to grow the game

in places where it's not very popular? I don't think, who the fuck is waking up at three in the morning to watch a hockey game that's being played in China. Hardcore hockey fans. So you're not a hardcore hockey fan. So you're not going to be growing the game, grow it in North America. Cause there's still plenty of runway in the United States to go, you know, especially with the way, the way that the American team is built now with all these

young studs they got coming up. I think they're going to be very competitive. They could even win the fucking thing and upset Canada with some of the guys they got in the lineup. And then you switch it over three years later till you can go grow it in that part of the world. And then they're going to be at the right time where they can watch the game and enjoy it.

Because people over here will still be watching. What time would it be on here if it was over there? Like 2 o'clock in the afternoon? They're like 6 or 7 hours. Yeah, 1 or 2 in the afternoon. So everyone in North America could be able to watch it in that second time you have it over there. If you want to eventually move it to somewhere non-traditional,

other than those two places we're talking about sure but for the first couple years you do it in those places and you fucking figure it out and you keep the money in house and then that way the nhl can thrive too enough with the olympics in 96 yeah i'm fine with that in 96 it was september that i i was 13 years old i will never forget watching those games the u..S. came back. They got it done. It was unreal. September's perfect, dude. Don't worry about doing it mid-season. It kicks off the season with a bang. Guys are already in great shape and to play for your country. I mean, guys will be ready. I know they worry about football and worry about all this

other thing. No, we need best on best. We're coming up. We're coming up. Well, it's nine years now since we've had best on best. How is that possible? Crosby and McDavid. We haven't seen Connor McDavid wear Team Canada's uni? What the fuck's going on? We haven't seen Matthews wear USA's jersey?

It's crazy. Brutal. I think McDavid's saying that. I mean, if anyone's going to say anything and make something maybe change, it would be him. So it was nice that he, he spoke out a little bit, but we need best on best and we need it bad.

And the owners were against it, especially from an Olympic perspective where they're not getting any compensation. They're saying, why are we sending guys that are, we're paying 10 million bucks a year to go over there. And if they get hurt and then they come back and then we can't make a playoff push because our fucking best players are on the ir based on something we weren't financially

compensated over fuck that that's why you got to build it and keep it in house and i think it's going to happen especially now that mcdusty's saying something yeah it better uh eventually like it's just a decade way too long we need the fucking best on best uh two final notes here uh busy buddy charles barkley uh 60 minutes to the segment on him Sunday night. Not sure if you caught it yet. Give it a look, see if you haven't. And also Real Sports, the show on HBO. It's pretty much like the 60 minutes of sports, I would call it.

They actually did two sort of hockey-related segments. First, they did one, Hanurayan Singh, the Punjabi Sikh from Canada. He used to do the, you know, the Benino, Benino, Benino, Benino. That kind of put him on the map. Well, he does Hockey Night in Canada all the time. He's a great announcer. They did a nice segment on him and how he built, you know, built himself up to this level. He used to, like, take the red-eye to Toronto. He would rent the car. He wouldn't even ask them to pay for a hotel room. He just, like, you know, was one of the jobs so bad. Now he's up there. He's terrific at his job. And they also did a segment on Chris and Kelsey Snow, and

it was a very touching segment. I mean, you know, we've they also did a segment on Chris and Kelsey Snow. And it was a very touching segment. I mean, you know, we've had him on the show a couple of years ago. He's obviously going through the ALS. It's a horrible disease. And, you know, his wife is just so dedicated to him and still working with the kids and playing with the kids. I implore everybody to watch both of the segments if you have real sports. But it's kind of a yin and yang. You know, you feel great for Hunter Ryan to get to that level, the peak of his sport, and then you see with Chris and Kelsey going through it,

it's really Hot Woman. Just the love that she shows the family, it's really worth checking out. So I don't know if you guys had a chance to look at it. No, my dad, he texted me about the Chris and Kelsey Snow segment, and I hadn't seen it yet. I said, God, it's so sad. He's just such a great guy, such a strong family. He said, yeah, sad, but it's filled with so much strength and love when you see this. So I thought that was a pretty cool description. I haven't seen it yet, but yeah, just a horrible disease. But fuck, is it meeting an amazing competitor right now and Chris Snow and his wife seems like an angel. So God bless them. And thanks for tuning in again, guys.

That was a fun show. I'm like every hockey fan out there right now. I know these three guys agree with me. I'm just waiting. I know it's nine, ten games left. It's just like, oh, almost there. It's just blue balls. It's just like, come on, boys, let's go.

We got the heaviest sack in the league right now. We're back with you two days a week. I'm about to bust. We got two days a week, I think, for three, four weeks. We're going to be buzzing with you guys. We're going to have some special announcements, I think, about some possible daily things. I'm not going to give you anything away, but we're ready to go.

We love you all. Have a great rest of the week.