Spittin Chiclets - Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 445: Featuring Rick Vaive

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

On Episode 445 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Rick Vaive. The Leafs legend joined (01:44:37 - 02:41:31) the show to talk about his time in Toronto, losing his captaincy, Brendan Shanahan and tons more. But first, the guys open the show discussing the recent Kyle Dubas news. Are the Leafs better off without him? Are you Team Shanny or Team Dubas? The Boys break it all down before diving into all things playoff hockey. TimeCodes: Leafs Dubas Talk: 00:25:48 Calgary Talk: 00:51:53 Eastern Conference Talk: 00:59:21 Western Conference talk: 01:23:53 Valve Interview 01:44:37 - 02:41:31 Coyotes Talk: 02:42:48 Stomping Suspension: 02:54:08 PGA Championship: 02:57:28You 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, Spit and Checklets 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 445 of Spit and Check. Let's present to you by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Gang, we are four games into the conference finals, and we've had four overtime games, seven total overtimes. The play is unreal.

Stakes are high. This is what we live for biz let's go around the table say hi to the boys the arm dog is with us tonight colby armstrong how you doing my friend oh let's go we're in the conference finals is there anything better and i that is a uh nhl record the first two games of each series to go to overtime which is pretty crazy what we're seeing right now so um yeah and then i spent all weekend uh well at least one day of the weekend at a lacrosse tournament for my son which was crazy i'm gonna be my legs will be red like lobster red well you know what i'm talking about all right i'm sure you do

too canada's national sport canada's national sport according to wayne gretzky which actually which it is a legend biz we'll get into a legendary lacrosse Canadian when we're discussing the Toronto Maple Leafs. Because the man in charge who made the decision, he's a lacrosse legend, Brandon Shanahan. Oh, he was a lacrosse player? Yeah, he was unbelievable at lacrosse. And Army, Jans texted me. He was the same thing this weekend with his daughter.

He said, I'm in the middle of Florida where R.A.'s trailer home is. And I am in the middle of a field with no sort of ability to get shade for the next nine hours. So you dealt with the same thing. Yeah, he's cooked. I was cooked sitting in a lawn chair. I mean, I can say this, and honestly, you guys could probably attest to this, like sitting in a rink all the time.

It's nice to sit out in a lawn chair and just watch like summer sports. think that's awesome so yans is living the life with his kids get a nice based hand hey it must be nice too because obviously from a hockey player perspective because the reason it came up on the tnt broadcast is coop is a lacrosse player went to college played i think he played division one lacrosse uh asked uh uh brandon montour about it who was an incredible lacrosse player growing up but it teaches you to have those silky mitts and also to take punishment like going to hard areas like lacrosse is probably the one of the most intense most physical sports especially with getting like hack and whack the whole time my kid is black and blue he's bruised like crazy there's just insane slashing.

It was so funny on the TNT broadcast too. Wayne Gretzky said he played lacrosse until he was like 15. And then they're like, why, what made you pick? You know, it's like a joke. And he's like, oh, I just, I didn't want to play. It was way too tough. It's like, it's brutally tough sport. It's, it's, it's gross. So here he is, Mr.

Tough man from lacrosse himself. I was going to say, cheer at the end end of the at the end of practice though gretzky talking about quitting lacrosse on national television because it was a little too tough made me feel a little bit better about myself situation yeah you guys have we have so much so much in common you know what he talked about too is how he would uh he would take sandpaper and he would round his wood stick more like lacrosse, like his hockey stick, because of the way that he was able to stick handle better. Did you ever use a rounder stick?

Even when they got the one pieces, they started making them so you could get them a little bit rounder. Yeah. Gee, were you going to say something about those sticks? No. I mean, that's how lacrosse sticks are made they're super round super more like octagon where you can just kind of roll it off your wrist where they can just flip them easy so what wrist you don't even have wrists wheelie bag wrists you're like i you know what some of those didn't branches come

out with like a more like circular wood stick back in the day. Was it, was it, was that the company? I can't remember, but just traditional, like what square stick, normal wood stick. Paul is nasty. I don't recognize that background.

Is that a hotel room drapes or what? You're always, I'm in a different hotel. Cause we got to go home for a couple of days after the last round ended a little bit early, my wifi shit though. So I can't see you guys. So if our timing's a little off, it's my fault.

My Ethernet cord is pretty much useless because that box at the top of the television ain't working. Army, you know my pain. You had to come here and do the whole new setup, but still here, I'm ready to go. A couple great games, a long one, Game 1, Carolina, Florida. Matthew Kachuk, what more can you say? And really excited to dive

into some hockey and uh the headline hogs dronald maple leafs what the fuck is going on we can never just get a podcast off of talking about all their drama it's like oh yeah like you really want to like you really hope we don't get it get involved with some leafs talk i didn't want i didn't want this i wanted everyone to be happy and keep this thing going. What did I say last podcast? I wanted to keep the band back together for at least one more year to roll it one more time because I believe in this young group and I think they could eventually get it done.

But now all of a sudden the GM wants more money and the drama ensues and we'll get to it later. But RA, thanks for the intro. Looking forward to hearing from Witt and what he's got going because his boy Blake Koepka got the job done this weekend. Ryan Wittney, Wittshaken, brother.

Not much, guys. Yeah, Koepka. I mean, I guess we could talk about it later. I didn't see that much of the tournament. I saw the end today. This guy's a machine. This guy's an assassin on the golf course. And I've made it pretty clear I'm not a huge Kepka guy.

Without ever meeting him, I've always made that open or said that. But I can't not just give the guy as much credit as possible. He's the alpha now. He's the five major guy. Rory's at four. Last one was nine years ago. DJ's only got two and he's amazing. Kepka's got five.

I think there's only 20 golfers in history with five or more majors. So an all-time great machine on the golf course. My weekend, I don't know if you asked about that already, but I've just had a good one. Watched a lot of hockey. And also, we're talking about lacrosse. I've wanted Ryder to get into lacrosse.

So he does this thing, Scoops. I've mentioned it before. Great program around Massachusetts where it's for kids starting at four, five, six, seven. Then they get into even more serious. But it's the coach with the music playing. They're all dancing. The kids actually love it. But he's into t-ball too.

And I'm helping coach out. We got a great, our team is just four or five, six year olds are just ripping the ball and Ryder loves it. And I grew up playing baseball. My town didn't have lacrosse. I would have loved to play it, but, but I always played baseball to high school and it's awesome being around the

field. What, what sucks is when you start the slow pitch with the kids and the coaches pitching, I mean, you got kids, you got, you got out two three

hour games for seven year olds so buddy it's brutal it gets a little slower but right now like teaching them how to hit and they're on the t and every you hit it you go to first then the next kid hits you go to second they just love it so that was my weekend uh besides watching games and i played are you coaching are they gonna adapt one of the rules are they gonna adapt the mlb rules where they fucking hurry them up 15 seconds, throw the pitch? I'm straight up like having child services show up with a punch in the ass. It's like, get to the dugout, run off the field, Charlie. But no, it's a blast.

And then I played golf today and then watched the game. So it's been a hell of a weekend. Just beautiful around here besides yesterday. Yeah, the weather's great. We don't want to leave our producer out. Mikey Grinelli, how you doing, pal? I know we just said hello, but how was your weekend? I was good.

Waiting on pins and needles all weekend for my TNT shout-out from Biz. Still didn't come. You got one before, dude. No, I didn't. I'm telling you, I didn't. Yeah, you did. You got one late at night. Thank you.

Not true. Not true. Oh, he's coming to a high. Grinelli, you're telling me that? You got one late at night. Thank you. Not true. Not true. Oh, he's coming to a high. Grinnell, you're telling me you've watched every one of his broadcasts, including the doubleheaders, when it's Anaheim, like San Jose at 1030? I know that if that happened, I would have gotten a million videos of it. I know for

a fact this didn't happen. Okay. I'll promise any Chicklets fan who can dig up a video, if they have one, of me mentioning Grinnelli. And I think I want to say, I mentioned the apartment rats. So something of that regard, if any chicklets fan can,

can find it, I will make sure I send you a couple. Seven videos came in. But you have, there has to be a punishment for you, G because you're saying that I didn't do it when I know I did. I know I checked every guy off the list. The only guy who hasn't got a shutout is like fish and quater and i'll make sure to get to them at some point you tell me the punishment you tell me the punishment and

i'll do it you have to play you have to get that same haircut again you have to get that same haircut again that you got a couple weeks ago you gotta put his sideburns way higher like another like you have the sideburns like way up who is the inch and a half you have to get stan butler sideburns the old brampton battalion coach done these are so high but boys i didn't do much this weekend i'm i'm i'm hanging low but i do have one thing to say monday morning we're finally dropping these all black, murdered out, big deal brewing hats. It's been a long time coming. So you can buy those BarstoolSports.com slash chiclets.

There's been a lot of people asking for them. Also now available in British Columbia. So there's two provinces down, Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario is coming soon. So stay patient, Ontario. I know it's my home province. We got you guys. The rules are very strict in Canada, as I've mentioned a million times, but it will be coming.

It'll be there before summertime heats up. Here we go. You guys had another sandbag of that dropped. Everybody seemed to really get a kick out of it. Portnoy was hilarious as usual. I think that might've been one of the top two or three funniest ones you guys have dropped just because the, I mean,

the Whitney and Portnoy show never gets old. Yeah, it was a ridiculous show. That's kind of what I tried saying leading up to it. It was unlike any other sandbagger. People just, whether they love him or hate him, Portnoy gets, I guess, discussion about him no matter what. And he was such a miserable prick on the course. And everyone loved seeing it, whether they loved him or hate him.

He was just miserable. And the fact that we were able to do that to him and, and piss him off that much along with, we were two down with four to go. We were dead and we had different rules, but I'll still say, um, that the conditions in that course,

I would rather just go on a hike with biz in, uh, in what do you mean? Like, do you not like hiking? Do you mean like you do not like hiking do that again do you not like hiking what do you have against hiking a walk on a hill it's just like yeah i don't know i'd rather go for a nice walk where it doesn't involve like walking up a hill and then you got to walk down it after i feel more my exercise on a walk without being like what do you think i mean you do it over his shoulder right into his mouth.

You do the incline on the treadmill. Wouldn't you rather look at beautiful trees and mountains? But you're doing that because you're working out. You're actually working out. You sell it as it's like, and so do all the other hikers. It's like, yeah, they're coming up with amazing fucking ideas and like oh they're so clear and they're just like one with the universe it's like just fucking are you talking about like can we get some some common sense from our chicklets

listeners about it's just nice to go on a hike like in some cases you like find like you run into like lakes but you can't just drop you maybe see like oh the last one i went on there was wild boar so i was i was scared shitless because you don't know if they're gonna attack you or not all right no that's a war dog so biz actually in terms of a hike if there was a nice path and you know when they got the wood chips on a hike and the wood chip path is so soft on the feet my ankles and my feet if you give me that and it's up a hill i'd love it all right there's different kinds of heights on and you're stepping on rocks that are like moving around like there's different types of terrain when you go hiking with i mean yeah there is a

little when you go when you're in the desert there yeah there is a little bit of rock and then there is a little bit of dirt depends on which terrain you're going through like i go on somewhere you end up going through all types of terrain in some cases you're even passing these like little creeks and water paths so it's just nice to to to get like the what do you what the fuck are you laughing about army you never go hiking either water paths it sounds like you're just making up like a mysterious land like you're what's a Disney movie where they're like they're creations like what is that I don't know man it's you're making it up in your own

brain I can't be I can't Alice in Wonderland you're thinking of Colby yeah on yeah that's close I can't believe I'm getting shamed right now like walking past the water path just becoming one with the rock. And you know, I guess my thing is, the guy

went for a hike who ended up cutting his own arm off to stay alive in that movie 128 hours. Like, if that's a possibility of happening to me, I'm not doing it. I'd rather go on the treadmill. He was doing some extreme, extreme stuff, though. That was a wild movie, though. With his own arm off.

Yeah, I ended up, I turned it off when I couldn't watch that part i was like i'm done what's the end what's the movie i'm thinking of where they're cats and they live in like a fantasy land and they like fly i can only imagine what wit's saying behind my back story no no it's a it's a new one it's the simpson it's the new big disney thing if they're coming out with another avatar yeah that's not that's what this is like on his hikes he turns into an avatar and he like biz went on a hike one time he crossed like a pink stream was floating i bet you when he jumped over it i bet you 80 of chicklets fans are ripping on whit and army right now for the fact that i'm getting shamed about loving going on hikes. I love that you love it. And getting away from

technology and being one with nature. It really is. I was just giving you a hard time but... And then he jumps on a dragon's back and he's flying with a dragon and he's like looking down on marshmallow forest. He's like what a hick.

Yeah, wait till I get by a rattlesnake and I never come back he's lighting his ball in the tunnel of a rock cave and he's just looking up and just sees an old Inca like one of those Inca people and he's just like this is why I came for this hike

I'm gonna be that kid who goes to the movie into the wild you're never gonna see me again that actually might be you when this is all said and done what happened to Biz I'm going to be that kid who goes to the movie into the wild. You're never going to see it again. Yeah. That actually might be you. And this is all said and done. Oh, what happened to biz? Oh,

he ate a poison mushroom in the woods of Idaho. He died. Yeah. Three ounces of them. Jack and Joe went up the hill, each with a buck and a quarter joke came down with two 50. Oh, I think it's

fucking nice. I don't know. We should do it. We should do a content piece where we go spend like five days in the wilderness. We'll go to Jackson. I'll do a hike with you. Let's do like a crazy trail hike. What's the long one that everyone does? Is it Appalachian? Yeah, you could die on that.

The John Mayer trail or John. You're going to play the guitar the whole time. You have to be You could die on that. The John Mayer trail or John, John, John. You got to play the guitar the whole time. You have to be a misogynist the whole time and just pound the hottest broads on the planet with a nice watch collection. I would never, ever go for five night in the woods. I would never even probably do two nights, maybe one, one. Maybe I would know.

I would never do it. Like, what do you mean you mean like you don't want to do a tent like are you talking about sleeping under the stars could you imagine wit the amount of complaining he would do it would be 20 times worse than what we saw from portnoy in that last sandbagger by the way wit hey partner congratulations eight in a row that's oh i mean we got us and Kepka, top two guys in golf right now, if you count us as one. So right now, the people calling us out are the people that want a piece. Brady and Matt Kachuk. That would be legendary if we can get that done this summer.

With Walt in the cart with Merles just crushing pints. Yep. Sean Thornton and Tuca Rast with Keegan Bradley as their caddy. That's been called out um we got Scott Hartnell and Kimo Tiemann who won a piece and we have I'm not going to release the names but guys that'll be in Nashville and we'll be there for the draft and the awards unreal how the league's doing that June 26th to 29th Nashville you got everything going on and there's people there that want a piece too so we have nothing filmed in the bank right now guys and they do

take a while to edit pasha is doing an insane job the graphics the storyline like the putting the happy gilmore thing in when portnoy and richards and you hit it right or you hit it left they hit it right and just people were falling out of windows what a touch so they take i mean they take like a month two months to edit i don't know what you want us to tell you but we're gonna get some done and and they'll be ripping out through the summer can't wait for the next one uh the charles barkley feedback boys i mean it was overwhelming i so many people said mount rushmore for chicklets all the way i mean it it has to be probably a top three reception for our interviews now is would you say 100 and and so gracious with his time too we almost what was it an hour and 45 minutes sit down and keep in mind he had to do uh uh the nba

broadcast that night as well just some iconic stories the one about him playing drunk was i mean i i still people were trying to dig up the stat line. I think the common denominator was one game around where he got dealt, and he only had six points in that one. So, hey, not fucking bad for playing platoon. So, overall, I would definitely say Mount Rushmore for sure. The feedback was incredible. So, thank you to Chicklets Nation for all your support throughout the years. And, you know, we just try to keep bringing you guys the bangers

and also to sometimes get outside the bubble of hockey like i've i actually use the same trainer back in scottsdale as sugar sean o'malley who's a one of the more well-known ufc fighters and i think that we can get him on before his next fight which i believe is in august so we want to keep pushing the envelope and getting different types of guests on and wait maybe we can get some pga guys on it at some point because i know you're big into who actually i'll throw this one to you already because we actually didn't hear about your weekend who would be a guy outside of the hockey realm that you would love to get on to interview like who would be in your you would say someone we've never heard of there's an actor in the 50s well how about the yeah how about the guy who got

he's a great he's a great screenplay writer from the 70s uh Grinelli like uh googles him it's like RA passed away a year ago well you know who passed was the guy uh RA you talked about that movie that you love once upon a time in Hollywood Rick Dudley was that the character Rick Dalton Dalton geez I'm off with the names today but that's all right he passed form of gm yeah yeah i mean it was obviously not a real person it was kind of it was kind of weird i guess like to like have this like death notice for a person who didn't actually exist i mean it was just playing into like the movie how did he die wait a minute oh that was like a sham as they showed like leonardo dicaprio's head oh

what are you talking about you got duped by the internet and on a real fake story well this is supposed to be a joke they weren't trying to trick anyone you know me i believe everything i read on the internet i'm gonna be gm of the toronto maple leafs that's what i'm fucking believing right now rick dalton was the the character that leo played in once upon a time in america and then, I don't know, for whatever reason, they just decided to kill him off in whatever, real life, even though he wasn't a real life character. So, no, Leo's still with us.

The character who's fictional, not a real person, they'd kill them off for whatever reason. I don't know what Quinn's doing about it. I was so confused as to why they were putting Leo's face where I'm like, hey, I get that he played him in a movie, but that's pretty disrespectful to just not use the real guy. then i googled i googled the name and then somebody different popped up like it was somebody real so are you positive already it's your four year most favorite movies probably a rick dalton out there if you google i'm sure there's guys named rick dalton

but like i'm gonna do it right now it was just a spiel it was just like you know they killed him off because he wrote a book about the movie after like a novelization and, you know, I just, I seen it. I was like, it's a little weird like two years

after the movie came out to kill the guy off but I don't know. People are talking about it. They're probably renting the movie again. I'm sure there's like money behind it.

You know that Rick Dalton's favorite cologne was from Germany. Leon Dreisaitl made it. You fucking assholes. You said he was starting a cologne because you looked on the internet and it said cologne Germany,

that's one of the funniest things. I'll be, if God willing, I'm 90 years old laying in bed, I'm going to be laughing about you being like, guys, Gary's starting a cologne. Oh, yeah. Sorry, I interrupted your, what was your answer?

Who do you wish to have on the show? I was still mulling it over, man. That's a tough one, man. Obviously, outside of hockey, does it have to be someone I know already or can it be someone just... It could be anyone, all right. All right, yeah.

I would say maybe the Coen brothers. Yeah, they're two guys, but whatever. They direct movies singularly. Guys, before we go any further, it's Pink Whitney time. It's time to talk about the drink of the summer, the drink of the season, the pink juice, the birdie juice.

Mix it with a little water. Mix it with a little soda water. Mix it with an energy drink. That's my trick, guys. I talked about this last week. You hammer the energy drink in a nice, heavy pour of Pink Whitney, and you're buzzing around. You're either playing golf well. You're playing with your kids well.

You're doing it all at an extra level with the Pink Whitney and the energy drink. That's my choice, but you can mix it with anything. And when you get outside with your friends and you're looking to enjoy yourselves, now is the time to go grab a bottle, go grab a nip. The big ass bottles are here and they're here to stay. Pink Whitney's where it's at. No matter what you're doing, get involved. Have yourself a nip. The big ass bottles are here and they're here to stay. Pink Whitney's where it's at. No matter what you're doing, get involved. Have yourself a nice drink.

Feel the buzz. Feel the energy and have a great time. Pink Whitney. Thanks for representing us. I don't know if you guys heard Justin Thomas. He went on Smiley Kaufman's podcast this past week and he had a hilarious story about them going back and forth with Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Oh, I saw that online. Yeah, it's really funny. I'll play the clip right now. I'm a hockey fan. Pittsburgh Penguins are my team. And I come out

of the bathroom and I'm like, that is Sidney Crosby. Like that's a hundred percent Sidney Crosby. So they bring me into this room that they're eating at and I'm all geeked up. I'm talking to, you know, talking to some of the boys on the pens and then I come back and I think you were the first person I made eye contact with. I'm like, boys, it looks like we got a night ahead of us. Cause we, I just ran into some of the boys on the penguins and I'm sure they want to, uh, they want to have a couple after dinner. They sent us a bottle of wine and we responded with what? I don't know why it just came into my mind. I was like, there's eight of them. I was like, what do you think about

splitting a Caesar salad into eight portions and giving it to them? And then the guy's like, I'll end. He's like, oh wait. He's like, yeah, I could like, I'll just put like a piece of lettuce on there and like put a crouton and like put a, you know, make the whole presentation. I'm like, perfect. Waiter comes back in with a tray full of shots. It's got that, the salt around the rim, and it's got a lime on there and it's just, they put it down. And I think we all did the same thing. We just, you know, when you see something, it just looks warm. We're like, this is a warm tequila shot. And we just feel the glass and everybody is just petrified to even like smell this thing, let alone try it. And all of us are kind of getting a little closer to it. And I don't

know who it was. Someone at the table just goes, it's water, which then we proceeded to send the final blowback. And that was, uh, we got them all glasses of 2% milk. I mean, Justin Thomas would be an amazing guest. He's a huge hockey fan. He'd be unbelievable. I got to be honest with him right off the bat. I was all over him. Remember when he had the fan kicked out who yelled at his ball to get in the bunker? It was years ago.

But he hit a ball at the PGA National Course in the Honda Classic Army on the 16th hole. And the guy yelled, get in the bunker. And he had the security kick him out since then I've been an enormous fan but I'm going to have to be you can't chirp a guy on the show and then have him on and not be honest at what you said about him but hopefully we could get him that'd be sick

yeah it would be a good get because as for the weekend Friday had the seltzer on had the playoff game I just went down the club took it easy I didn't drink just had a couple seltzer waters enjoyed the games and then Saturday one of my oldest best friends my pal shannon i've grew up with her known since we were in diapers uh it was great her cheese cousins with big walt with the kachuk so the game was on it was an overtime and maddie scored like half the family was there so it was pretty awesome

everyone's dancing on the dance floor he scored the game winner during the party so it was pretty cool shit that was going on so yeah i did that that's awesome for my pal shannon her surprise 50th happy birthday shannon i don't i know you don't listen but i'll say it anyway so yeah it was it was really cool moment man it was good stuff so he was uh uh after post-game interview he was shouting out walt and uh calling him johnny drama just hanging around the house crushing all that that was unreal fucking hilarious he's wwe wrestler man he's he's just fucking electric right now. He's got the world by the balls. The league needed a superstar with personality like this shining in a big moment, which are these conference finals. And it looks like they're going to be going off to the Stanley Cup finals.

This is what hockey needs, man. More personality and more guys grabbing the world by the balls and not being afraid to speak their mind and show emotion. I want to say that he hit every single broadcast in the postgame. That's why he wanted to get off the ice so quick, because he had to hit out every network known to man. Yeah. What do you say, bus in 10? Yeah.

That's a good level. We'll get to, though. But here's your team, Toronto. World went a few days up there. The Leafs had a breakup day. Kyle Dubas met the media, and he spoke about a bunch of things. And he said, you know, he was asked by Chris Johnson, how much of the job has been taking a toll on him?

You know, he answered honestly, but I think Shani kind of took a mental note. Uh, they had had discussions about an extension and things were smooth, smoothly running along. And then they had a meeting Wednesday. Dubas said he wanted to make processes work faster. And then his agent reached out with a, with a new deal or, uh, you know, new terms of the deal and Cheney just kind of like all right I need a 20 second time out here and all of a sudden he decided that was it I mean Cheney had said that's it we got to make the change he called for a press conference three o'clock on Friday I guess it's a holiday weekend up Canada this weekend and uh it was a stunning turn of events because they were really going to

sign him and then it all switched around this so like what do you think happened did he overshoot overplay his hand or was it an overreaction by by shandy what do you think happened here biz well i mean it seems to be a like a little bit of hearsay like you hear you hear shandy's side and everybody's keeping it politically correct open air uh much like dubas when he did his sit down from my understanding he was offered an extension in March uh that then he was more like hey let's wait till the end of the season to see how it all plays out where hey if they go on a long run and they end up let's say winning the thing then obviously he's got way more leverage um yeah and it seemed like maybe in his post-season press press conference that he was trying to use

the media a little bit where he was considering sitting the season out he said that he he said that regardless as he was staying in Toronto if the job wasn't going to be his is that what everybody on this is that everybody's understanding too yeah he that was early in the week he did say that yes yeah he said that he wouldn't be like basically if the job wasn't his he was going to take the year off because he wanted to spend more time with the family because hey boys being the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs we all know how stressful that that would be and just also based on his comments it seems like like it was it was more of going to a round table to get decisions kind of cleared where I could understand that as a GM that might be a little bit frustrating but like if you're going to be a successful GM in the

National Hockey League you have to have a strong round table. It's probably the whole reason that Shanahan's in that position too, where, you know, if he wants to try to change something that he's there to maybe say, ah, I don't know if that's necessarily good. And you need a strong difference of opinions, but based on what my understanding of what he was being offered. And my understanding is either a three or four year deal around a five million dollar mark if that is the case and he after what they did this year and what he's done so far with the Toronto Maple Leafs if you really want to be the fucking Toronto Maple Leafs general manager take that deal you have no in my opinion no leverage in that

situation and am I saying that Dubas didn't have success as the Toronto GM? I would say that he's made a lot of good moves and done a lot of good things, but there's also things that have hurt them and cost them. And we've talked about them a million times. strength in negotiations between Marner and Matthews. And then all of a sudden they got Matthews heading into his last year of his deal where he has a no move or yeah, no move clause July one. So that's putting the new general manager who steps in, in a pretty difficult situation, considering he's got what six weeks to figure out what the future of this organization is without their going back to last year potentially having to move their mvp based on whatever he thinks he deserves uh as far as a contract so if if in fact and this is nothing personal but as like a fan of the toronto maple leafs if he tried to go back and have an act that he had strength in negotiation and was using the media a little bit to to use it as leverage to get a little bit more

and get the PJ at his access and have nobody looking over his shoulder based on some of the moves he has made. Fuck that, man. See you later. And if you can get more and more control somewhere else, all the power to you. But in no circumstance do you have any type of negotiating power when what he's done there so far in his tenure as the Toronto Maple Leaf GM am I crazy here no am I crazy forget if a guy's

going to make five million dollars a year for that is the most desired job in my opinion in all of hockey for winning one round like yeah the the team has been relevant and they've been winning and they've been you know at the top of the eastern conference the last two three years and you know making playoffs is successful because you know what type of money you make when you go in the first round and you get the gate and blah blah blah but based on expectations and i i would have been okay if they would have just offered them a one-year deal to run it back and say hey let's you want to prove yourself? Prove yourself.

You got one more year to make decisions, and let's see how far we can take this and give these guys one more year of growth based on everything that you've done as far as moves. But I must be going crazy here where a guy, a young guy like that who hasn't proven anything in the National Hockey League to think that he has leverage against against the toronto maple leafs mlsc or whoever the fuck you want to call it so biz i just have like a question after you said all that because i i think yeah you know like can we believe everything shanee said in the rundown like i would love to know like i would love to get the other side but do you so you're are you saying he's a bad negotiator pretty much like all those deals he did you know not getting getting austin on the five year instead of a big massive deal like you know he kind of like the boys got what they pretty much wanted the jt everyone and well i don't think he did jt really so well i just think it put the it put the team in a bad spot i mean

look at look at every team now still in playoffs but then puts team in a bad spot. I mean, look at every team now still in playoffs. But then puts himself in a bad spot too by trying to come over the top with like a muscle renegotiation. My thought is he doesn't care about being the Maple Leafs GM as much as he's saying, because even though he's coming out and saying all those things, he also used his leverage. He had to know there was a chance that this would backfire. And he probably knows, I'll get another job in

the blink of an eye. Now, granted, I don't know if it's going to be $5 million a year. But if a news organization hires him, it's probably not going to be that far off with probably longer term. So it's like, all right, I'll try to get this by using that press conference, which I'll get into Shani and probably what he thought in my mind, but I'll try to use this press conference. And if I get a little more or whatever, this is great. But in the end,

I'm still set. You know what I mean? He was asked not to say some of the things that he said. That's another one of our, cause it's, it's hard, right? Cause it's all,

all this hearsay and I'm basing everything off of that as came out publicly where some of the things that he mentioned, the press conference seemed as if though he was using that as leverage. And if he does end up, I mean, Pittsburgh has just asked for permission to speak to Kyle Dubas. So if Kyle Dubas ends up in fact, being the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins next season, we know everything we need to know about him, but this is nothing personal. If he goes and gets a longer deal as far as term and the same amount of money, if not more, and has to answer to less people,

Kyle Dubas seems to be the winner in all this because then he doesn't have the stress of dealing with Toronto media and the chaos is which being the Toronto Maple Leafs GM. So I have nothing personal against him, but as far as like a fan who roots for the team it's like he didn't do anything spectacular in the sense which he deserves any type of leverage so that's probably where Shani said well you were asked to not really go into too much detail uh in in that post-season press conference he did it and then on top of that

his agent came back asking for a little bit more money. My understanding is over the course of the deal that he was offered, he wanted a 3 million more. So it would have averaged out to, let's say six, $700,000 more a year and more control of the decisions to where there wasn't as much round table discussion. He wanted to trust his side of things and the team that he's assembled because of all the inner table. I wanted to trust his side of things and and the team that he's assembled because of all the inner table i want to say he's brought what i was reading online which we can't always believe was he brought in like 11 of the 16 guys that are really involved in a lot of these types of decisions and a lot of things that he bounces off of including jason spezza

where once dubas was gone boom resignation papers coming from Jason Spezza so it seems like Dubas at least from the from the inside is very well liked he's an extremely loyal guy and I I truly believe he was the type of GM where he woke up every day he put everything he could into trying to make that team a winner he he turned over every stone to see if he was making the right decision but at the end of the day the job wasn't done but if i truly believed that he wanted to be a part of this and was taking any form of accountability to what he wanted to do moving forward this team he wouldn't have done what he did he was looking for leverage and he might have gotten it and he might get what he wants from a different organization but all i can say say as a fan is siren aura. And for every Leafs fan being like, Oh,

they should have just gave it to him. It's like, nah, you're setting the bad precedent, just like he did with giving those guys who didn't have any leverage, Marner and Matthews, everything that they wanted. And here we are. Fizz and, and the fans who were saying we should have just given him whatever he wanted, that's where Shanahan comes in, okay? So his press conference was amazing. And I don't think it's been very common, if ever, to hear a GM,

I mean, a president openly talk about how the entire contract negotiation went with the GM and how it all broke down. And I mean, it was very detail oriented. And part of it was probably when Dubas gave his press conference, he said, I watched it and I'm driving home. And I started, I pretty much, he started thinking like, well, he made it clear that he doesn't even know if he wants to be the GM of the Leafs. Okay. Now you go into who Shanahan is. A guy who's won everything you could ever win a legend of the

game as a player. And, and that's not like somebody you're going to like push around and I'm using push around like in a ridiculous term, but he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's how I look at it. Like, hold, hold on here. Like you almost should be thankful at what we gave you. And instead, like now you're coming out with this press conference, your agent, I think he said, with this press conference, your agent...

I think Dubas said him and his agent would call him. The agent called him, and then Dubas wrote him an email. So who knows if... Why doesn't he just text him? Old school, though. You said you're going to call someone and you don't. These old school guys, that could be the end of you. It's cowardly. And I

just, in the end, think that he overplayed his hand a little bit but having said that like if he knows he's going to get hired by pittsburgh or somewhere else he didn't really overplay his hand he was trying to get as much as he could in toronto and in his mind he truly believes i don't really care if i'm here or not but i'm speaking from a leafs fan in leafs nation perspective where it's like if that's the case and like shanahan said he clearly really didn't care about being gm of the toronto maple leafs he cared about securing his bag i will never judge or shame anybody for that but the way that it went about and even to the fact where he was it seems

as if he was offered a contract before they even won a fucking playoff round there you go that's that that's being like hey we believe you. We're going to provide you with some security, regardless of what happens this playoff round, or let's see if we can get this thing going moving forward. So now all of a sudden, look at the situation that he's put this organization and moving forward where now all of a sudden the golden boy Matthews has to be re-up before July 1st and, or they risk the chance of losing them for nothing. So now they got to go out and, and from and from everybody's understanding, as they're going out and trying to look for somebody with experience,

the two names that have popped up are Tree Living and Doug Armstrong. Also, could be a rumor, heard that people are like, well, Doug Armstrong still has time left on his contract with St. Louis. I heard he has an out clause for a few teams that was put in there, and when you win a Stanley Cup with a team, you kind of, that's when you start getting the leverage that has leverage. So he has an out clause to go to Toronto if he so chooses. So we'll see what happens with that. But overall, just tons of drama and leaf land. And I don't

think you can blame anyone from the leaf side of things for being like, all right, man, then fuck off. But I also can't blame Dubas if he ends up securing his bag with any other organization do you think he ends up with pittsburgh army well that's been the that's been talked for that's been talked for how how many months now i think he that they've been linked together so that you know he's like fenway fen, you know, the style of best friends with the Red Sox GM. Jaime. That's what it is.

Is he a coward? Do you think he's a coward if he doesn't stay in Toronto for next year, considering he said he wasn't going to take a job and he would chill and relax because of the stress that it's put on him and his family? I don't, I don't think he's a coward. No, I wouldn't say he's a coward. Why? Because you're fucking paid by the Pittsburgh Penguinsburgh penguins well no i just think he's probably tried to negotiate with negotiate himself into a position so that seems a little bit you know

yeah i was watching the press conference which was like army you were loving it you were texting me i texted you guys on the group chat because i was like i sent it to you guys i'm like you guys seeing this right now like shanny's story time with shanny where he was just breaking down this whole thing and i got the craziest thought in my head afterwards and this is maybe i'm crazy maybe this is tin you are let's hear it tinfoil hat army i was like he's driving home and he all of a sudden is like what the fuck dubas you know and in my head i'm thinking he heard something he might have heard something already in the days between him talking to him to the agent talking to him to the email to the press conference don't do it don't do it he does it i think and then

there's three days after you don't think you know something spill the fucking beans i don't know anything this is tinfoil conspiracy guy bullshit you're blaming on the tinfoil hat i was thinking the press conference what if shanee knows more though what if shanee doesn't like that yes but what if shanee heard something what if shanee heard oh i heard dubas is you know his agent was talking to wherever i don't know biz biz um as a leaf and then he gets the thing in his head if if matthews all of a sudden's like no no i don't want to sign here because dubas left like does he want to be a leaf you're telling me the gm like that if it's a new gm you're done but the guys follow gms to sign with them that's what i'm saying well they do they do if they're gonna pay him

yeah like he gave he gave him everything he gave him everything he wanted including like it at the number that listen like i don't i always want the players to get paid but we all know if you get paid that drastic amount, it makes it more difficult to win. And I'm all about guys also getting paid when they've proven that they can do it. Like Crosby didn't even necessarily get paid based on the fact that he'd proven it. So you see all these other guys who clearly want to win that.

No, if I take the bag that it's going to not help me moving forward because you need more guys throughout the lineup to help carry the weight. Whereas not only did he get the bag, but he got it for a five-year term. If he would have gotten 11.5 million at that time at eight years, I would have been like, that's a steal.

But now all of a sudden he gets the 11.5 at a five year where, I mean, I'm drawing a blank here on, on his agent here. Oh, Judd, Judd, he's a beast. He's a blank here on his agent here. Judd. Oh, Judd. He's a beast. He's a beast.

He's a jugger. Look at Wierenski. Like, all of his guys. Yossi. Like, he knows what the fuck he's doing. He has these GM's balls in a mason jar on his fucking shelf for crying out loud. So I just, yeah, I think that I could now see an old experienced general manager maybe coming in and say i think that maybe this is a guy we can move based on what he probably is expecting

to get paid let me ask you this well go ahead do you think um shanny do you think shanny did any kind of damage on dubis by kind of making it look like he's maybe not negotiating properly they want if teams want him, they want him. They don't care. They don't give a fuck about Toronto. Do you think that Chani was trying to do that a little bit or do you think he was just being forthright? I think he said, I'm going to be so open and honest and tell everyone exactly what's happened and put it in their

court. It was amazing to see. And the court of public opinion, he knew, I'm guessing, would be like, what is Dubas doing? But we're also saying he's going to get money from somebody else. So we understand what he's doing. You already touched on it, right? Shanahan's won, like, he's got four Stanley Cups, three Stanley Cups. He's been around all these winners with the Detroit organization.

One of the comments was he wanted maybe more say, Dubas, like more control of what was going around. Where if he he in fact had to report these types of things to shanahan as to what he was doing why if you're the organization why would you not want that the fuck is dubious one nothing why wouldn't you want a guy like shanahan at your round table like say and i don't know i would want him personally now granted i don't know the relationship but i know for for me, if I was a GM, which is, I mean, there's zero chance of that ever happening,

but I would want as many minds around who've won it, who've been through it. And maybe like answering to somebody is just that annoying when you're like, and especially if they disagree completely on building a team. But for me, it was just once the, once the real story was told, and I think we'll get Dubas's reaction to Shanahan. I'm guessing maybe we won't, but once the, once the real story was told, I, I was like,

all right, well, I don't think he wants to be there as bad as he's saying. That was my takeaway. I can't wait for the comeback. I can't wait for the comeback interview by Dubas. I hope he does it. He's going to sign in the next week with the Penguins. It'll be a PPG Paints arena.

To that point, if he wanted to stay in Toronto, then the compensation wouldn't be the end-all be-all, right? If you wanted to stay in Toronto, you're taking not the first offer, but one of the early offers before you'd won a round. At least personally, I'm like, whoa,

you're going to give me 4 million a year for four more years. And we still, we haven't, and it's January. I'm in. If I really want to be a Maple Leaf. A Dubas is at PPG Paints Arena doing his press conference, let's just say, and I'm there in the front row. So Kyle, what'd you think of Shani's interview? He's like, I love Sid, i love it i love do you think you're a coward for saying that you're gonna stay in toronto for an extra year

and now you're here and now you're my neighbor oh hold on i got something coming here press conference i'm gonna make one more follow-up please uh what was that business what was it is what do you want me to ask him? Kyle, do you feel like a coward? Do you feel like a coward or a pussy with what you did? That was from Biz. Crazy times, though. I mean, just now the whole Matthews thing and then no move in July 1st and who they're going to hire, some good storylines.

Yeah, and Elliot said they want a GM with, with some bite, like biting quotes. I mean, obviously that's probably a guy who's been around. That's what I was going to say. That's a chirp. That's a chirp at Dubas.

Absolutely. I do think they're going to bring in a veteran or, or a fresh face. I mean, Ray Whitney's a guy who's looking for a job, but Ray Whitney and Shane Doan should be hired by a team out there right now. Have those two guys run the organization

and you'll be good within three years. I guarantee it. But the Leafs, as Biz mentioned, Tree Living and Doug Armstrong, I would guess it's one of those two. And finally, Calgary's giving permission. That's been the big story. Calgary wouldn't even let teams talk to them. Like, told you to fire

Sutter. You didn't fire him. Then you fired him after you got rid of him. Like, let him go. My understanding is they try to, they asked if he would come back tree. That was, that's what,

that's what I've been hearing. And he was like, nah, nah, I'm good. Another thrown out. Another name too is I've heard Mark Hunter who was, who was with the organization when Lou was around.

And then he obviously went back to London uh where he owns part of the franchise and they they run an absolute juggernaut there and Junior uh that's Grinnelly's new uh new sugar daddy uh but so aside from those three names I haven't heard any other name pop up that's just the three that I've heard and I I have you guys heard anything else I mean no not i mean berg of it there's a list of like potential guys berg of an was thrown out there but that's just a list of you know guys basically who are unemployed right now i don't mean i don't think they're gonna be sure like all the guys that were rumored to be interviewed with all the guys that

are said to probably be interviewed with the penguins too i imagine surely trades matthews for buddhist straight up i a question. Who do you think would have potential to be a GM first? Biz or Witt? Maybe that's for Chicklets Nation. You know how many good trades I could think of on a hike? You know how many good trades

I could think of on a hike? A nature hike? You'd be fucked, Witt. Right near that water path. You'd be like, it's a trade deadline where the fuck is he he's not in the board room the deadline's over it's like oh shit I did the

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for guaranteed delivery by Father's Day. Go to G4.com slash four for 10% off your first order. Well, Ami, you mentioned Pittsburgh. Great segue. They said they've been aiming to interview 10 to 12 gm candidates as part of their quote first wave the burger van eric tulsky uh jason comanos peter shirelli confirmed of among those of the first wave of candidates and then

p.l abrund said among those believed to be in the second wave uh eric tulsky dan mckinnon uh with buddy steve grayley jason comanos and uh matthew dash A very fluid process, but who knows what the Penguins are going to do after hiring Hextall on me, right? Well, I don't know. Yeah, and now that Fenway's in charge, right, and they're handling this, it's like when they've hired Hextall, it was, you know, previously, and it was a total different, and it's a different president, too, of the team.

But I would assume that it's, you know, Fenway all hands on deck in trying to select this one. So I haven't really heard anything, to be honest with you, other than what those guys are like the insiders are putting out there and seeing the names. But I'd imagine they'd, you know, I was thinking when the Leafs job came up, I'm like, whoa, like this changes a lot of things, possibly like what about your guys or what about your final three or you're down to your last five guys

and now there's Leaf job opened up while you were interviewing everyone. Like what kind of trail off is that or enticing to go and obviously interview in Toronto as well? I'd imagine a lot of those names that they're talking to want to go and interview for that job. You got to be our Pittsburgh insider from here on out. You't be playing playing both sides army yeah i know i got to get down there and figure some stuff i i honestly i've only heard what's going on so i don't know if it's

coming from boston like the fenway guys are doing it so you throw your resume in army i haven't yet i should throw something in there yeah i get I going to do? I think player development. Is it not a little... I mean, it's an NHL GM job. There's 32 of them. It's well coveted, I guess I'll say. But going to Pittsburgh right now, I'd be like, oh boy, this could get ugly

in the next year or two. It's supposed to. Because you just missed playoffs. No pressure, but the fact that in three years, four years, it's your deal, and the team could be shit. I think you just try to win a cup for three years. That's what you try to do, and then you become shit. How are they going to win a cup?

I don't know. I mean, I don't know. They have three awesome players. They're getting older, and they have no prospects and not many draft picks. I don't really, it'd have to be an amazing job done by that GM to make them contenders again. It wouldn't be. Elliot Friedman did say the Pens are expected to reach out to permission to

talk to Dubas. So it wouldn't be surprised if he gets it in the long run, but going over to Calgary, Darren Drager reports that Craig Connery is going to be named the GM this week. No real surprise. He's been the assistant for nine years. 32 thoughts with Elliot and our buddy Jeff Merrick mentioned that the Flames want Jerome

again the more involved. But I guess he only wants to be involved if Craig Conroy is the GM, his old teammate, which looks like it's going to happen. So this seems like it's going to happen to you. I mean, you know, it makes all sense. People have been talking about it for a long time. Tree's gone. Conroy's been the guy waiting and bringing Jerome now, no?

Yeah, some young blood in there. I mean, he's been with the organization as a player, and then he's been Tree Living's right-hand man, working with Don Maloney as well, right? Because Don's been there for a few years. So, I think it's a great pick, And you go back to that roundtable idea. From my understanding, though, Jerome McGinley is going to coach his kid

who's playing in the Western League or going to the Western Hockey League. He wants to coach him for one more year and then would plan on joining that brass. So overall, great hire. And Craig Conroy, he's a fucking awesome dude. Very well respected in that community. So I think it's a great start,

and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. I mean, I would imagine that that team is in playoffs next year. They still have great players. I think that they had a mutiny, essentially, against Daryl Sutter. So once they find a great head coach and get some new blood in there,

I think they're going to be right back on track, man. So I'm excited to see it. And I've been very complimentary of Don Maloney. he was working with the coyotes at the time and they had no budget and you know he could squeeze a nickel so tight the beavered shit as far as the good deals and and guys overachieving on those deals uh in my time there i mean we went to an eastern conference final i think we were fucking we were right at the basement as far as the salary caps concerned so uh a great guy and uh and a very good hockey mind and uh they're gonna have uh they're in good hands uh again the sun is heading into his third season with the uh whl seattle

thunderbirds yeah so i mean i don't want he obviously jerome again is not a coach for the seattle thunderbirds but he wants to like be around his games games, go to his games, like help out with his development. Cause then at a certain point, he's going to have to turn pro. And then, and then it's like, Hey, who was he drafted to any,

any NHL team? His kid. No, I think drafted. Let me ask you, does Iggy own? No, he has not been drafted.

Iggy owns a Kamloops blazers with a group of guys, right? Is donor one of those guys? Yeah. Darryl Sador. Mark Reckie. Reckie, Donner, and they're hosting the Mem Cup this year. And Seattle just won the Western Hockey League to go to the Memorial Cup too.

The Thunderbirds did, so that's kind of funny. Oh, yeah. I heard they have seven first-round draft picks to the NHL on that Seattle team. So they're a wagon. They're more than likely going to win the Memorial Cup. First rounders. That's what, because they made a big trade at the deadline.

They got that D man from Canada, like well wigger. That kid's sick. Yeah. I butchered his name. Olin Zellweger. Yeah. G can pull it up.

I'm pretty sure it's seven first rounders. So didn't Kamloops get him? Am I wrong? Craig Conroy. I was with baby. We're all over the place. Craig Conroy. I was with him. Maybe. We're all over the place. Craig Conroy. I don't remember if it was a summer like skate or one of the lockout skates.

I don't know, but he was a machine. That guy was one of those gym rats. Just like full workout before the skate get on, fly around, workout after. And he's been there so long. And nowadays, with today's technology, he scored the cup-winning goal. I believe that would be a goal game six against Tampa Bay in Calgary. I think it went across the line,

but they didn't have the review. No, no, parallax angle. No, parallax angle, they're going to tell you. Okay, I thought people had proven that one was a goal, but I think that was Marty Zjelina. It might have been Marty Zjelina. Yeah, we're all for the century right now. I haven't got all that thing right.

Yeah. Big red mile guy here, you know, just either way, either way. He's the man who darts with Kipras off. Maybe he had an assist on the play. Yeah,

it probably was. It probably was, but I think it's smart to keep him around. He's been around for, he's been around there forever. I mean, you know, what can you do for experience?

That could be bounce back. You think, you think Huberto's Huberto is going to be way better. And the team's good. Like biz said, Markstrom, those guys all couldn't stand Sutter. He's gone.

Little bit of a change of mind, change of attitude around the arena. And maybe that team takes off i mean the next coach probably isn't going to play huberdo and his off fucking went like son did last year kind of fucked everything up and 15 minutes a night saying mitch love might be in for that one no shit yeah i heard his name pop up but you guys the thunderbirds have three first round picks on their roster but their whole team just head to toe though they got tons of seconds, tons of

thirds. I was close. You were almost halfway there. Four off. I mean, if you round down. Seven's an odd number. I was like, seven first round. Didn't they get that kid from the Coyotes?

No, where's he go? We should probably stop talking about this. Gunther? We interviewed Dylan Gunther. The sniper. Did he go there? Gunther, I think. The old Coyote kid they sent back.

All right, boys. We're going to move it over to the series right now. We mentioned them earlier. Time out, time out, time out, time out. Is he old? 20? This was correct. Yeah, there you go.

This was correct. They have exactly how many first round picks, as he said. Yeah, there you was correct. They have exactly how many first round pixies as he said. Yeah, there you go boys. Can I get an apology? I apologize. Hey, you know what your punishment should be? I mean, Grinnelly should apologize. He's the one who came on and said, yeah, I apologize biz. I sandbagged you there. I was looking at the

1819 roster 2022 2023. They got they had seven. Witt, you have to hike the Appalachian Trail. That's your punishment. Oh, shit. With those rusty old ankles. I'll rub R.A.'s feet before I do that. He's going to find the only four seasons in West Virginia

and fucking sleep there. The hills have eyes. Biz's 14th trek of the month. Before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at GameTime. GameTime is the exclusive ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. Created by fans for fans, GameTime is the ticketing app that makes it easier than ever to score last-minute tickets on deals to sports, concerts, and shows, and they guarantee the lowest price. This summer, Guns N' Roses are coming back. Got to go see Axl and Slash Man.

Part of my childhood. They got on Fenway. Got to check that out. Plus, playoff games. I mean, might go down to Florida for a game. Who knows? I might go to Vegas. I'm going to hook it up at GameTime.

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All right, boys, we're going to move over to the series now. We already talked about Matthew Kachuk, but Matt, overtime game going to go on the road in games one and two. Red Hot Panthers got a 2-0 lead heading home for games three and four. Game one Thursday looked like it was heading for a fifth overtime 13 seconds left kachuk beats freddie anderson little i don't know i think it was bernie trying to pass the puck to uh i'm not sure if it's slave either way popped out just one of those quick bang boom booms games over uh the sixth longest game in playoff history the longest ever for each franchise uh also the second longest game since

the salary cap came but you know as good as kachuk's but we gotta talk about bobrovsky man like this guy we we beat him up a little earlier 10 million dollar goalie blah blah blah and we kind of forgot how fucking good he could be he went to vesnas and he's been outstanding i think he's been the team mvp thus far uh biz let's get your take on basically florida the first two games here i thought they came out and were great in the first 40 minutes. Carolina, for the first time, all playoffs looked flat, and it could have been the layoff. We talked to Matthew Kachuk after the game.

He said after that first round, going right into that next series was actually valuable to them where they could just keep the momentum. But given the fact that they were banged up and a little bit exhausted, the layover, he said that it helped them. They got their legs back. But like you said, you said all right it goes back to Bobrovsky every time they need a big save uh he's there to provide it uh I've been fucking stressing this if you want to score on them you got to go upstairs the only two goals they had on them they went upstairs in game one and really for Carolina it was the special teams that saved them they were great on the penalty kill as usual and they scored both their goals on the power play but you know going back to Florida man they just they refused to die and Matthew Kachuk who maybe hasn't stood out

like he has in in the first two series he just comes through in the clutch man and he's always sniffing around he's so good around the net and and Sam Bennett like the the one thing about about Carolina is they pressure pressure pressure and they'll even go do they'll do so even out to the walls and on that and on that play in overtime they try to go up the strong side and Bennett just did a good job of breathing down their neck picks the thing off, sets them up perfect, and he ends up going upstairs on Anderson. So really, man, it's just like big plays at big moments. I thought that they really deserved game one.

The overtime, though, as a whole was awful. It felt like after the first five minutes of the first overtime, nobody was willing to take a risk offensively. They just kept everything to the outside, and it was pretty fucking boring. Would you guys not agree? I was losing it. There was 15 icings in the second overtime, I think. It's still high drama, though, you know?

No, I know, but I... I mean, it was... Looking back, it was like a historical game. I fell asleep in the third overtime on the couch. I remember seeing 15 minutes on the clock. I woke up. There was seven minutes left in the fourth overtime. I'm like, they're still playing.

But at that point, I had a little cat nap. And so I was like, oh, my God, I hope this thing goes like nine overtimes. And I thought it was going five. I couldn't believe it was 12 seconds left. But for him to do it again in game two and then the same end of the arena, let's go right to the door. Let's go, boys.

Time to go home. What an amazing celebration. The fact it happened twice is out of this world and both goals were awesome. I mean, perfect shot in the first game and then the tic-tac-toe play in the second game where he still went up top. He didn't even need to. In and out.

And they're up 2-0. It's just... Florida's playing... Florida will play exactly like Carolina will, but they have some more top-end talent. And so I picked Carolina in 7. I don't think they're going to go down like... I mean, I hammered

them in Game 2. I think I'm going to hammer them again in game three, but Florida's nine and one since they lost game four to the Bruins. They're nine and one. Their goalie, he's amazing. How about the offside one-timer? Who had that chance, Army?

That was game two. It was terrifying. That was a save in playoffs. Second game? Game two, it would have made it. I want to say it would have made it two nothing it was in the second period maybe it maybe it would have made it two one but it was it was remarkable and it goes back to what darren pang and and lundquist have been talking about in the way that he he holds his stick how he's able to keep his blocker where he does where he's in tight so everything everything

around there from the bottom half of the net he's able to attack and he just attacked it with his blocker and timed it perfectly and nothing much you could do for teravine and like you try to go upstairs but you're one touch in the thing right so in a lot of cases it's just strictly reactional but at the end of the day man it's it's his Bobrovsky's east to west game is like his business seasons where he just strictly can't be beat on the bottom half of the net no matter how quick that puck is moving east to west and it was it was crazy the game won over time you mentioned it already the burn slave and you know lapse I guess you could say just kind of like thrown around I don't know if hit the

reference or something but what a shop i could chuck and then the next one i think it was coop on your broadcast that kind of pointed out the the gong show that happened in the corner with burns and slave and again he lost his sick stick going through burns's skate and then and then he can't get back to the net to pick up kachuk on the bang bang back door little give and go there it was it was just amazing to see how that happened again and then Kachuk those sweet little hands he just kind of you know he kind of corrals it over top of him I mean it's just unbelievable to see how both those games went like that if if Kachuk just shoots that as opposed to cradling that second overtime goal I it was a chance Ronta gets a piece of that I think he hits his foot I guess he did

need to go upstairs I said he didn't even really need to but you're right he could have got the pad over but army going back to what you're saying and Coop was talking about behind the scenes too and he's very complimentary Rob Brindamore's system's incredible there's a reason they don't give up a ton of high-nature scoring chances. I thought for the most part in game two, they control the play, and they deserve to win game two. But on the first goal, you saw it, where Foss got caught out there for a minute-and-20-second shift, where when you pressure, pressure, pressure,

it's okay if you just go to the wall, but if you get beat off the wall like Barkov did, and then even in the case of of Shea Brady Shea was there but he's anticipating maybe his guy ends up getting the puck so he ends up skating outside of that danger area to go close on his guy in case he does get it and that just parts the seas for Mahura who had an incredible game he ended up drawing that penalty in overtime too where they won it on he finds that seam to go to Barkov now going back to that power play goal in overtime there's there's a reason why all the other teams in league don't play man-to-man and they protect the house it's for that simple reason where Brent Burns's back is against the glass

so in most cases there's going to be a defenseman between the net and where those guys are at in the corner where it's a no danger area. But because they like the pressure, Slavin goes to attack his guy and he goes stick on puck first and it just so happens it goes between that guy's legs and it goes right in Brent Burns' puck. It was crazy. The probability of that happening, guys, is probably like one in a thousand, maybe even more, maybe one in 10,000 of you going to poke the puck there

if that guy's behind and it ends up in his tuck. So it gets stuck so much where when Slavin goes back to pull a stick out of it, it ain't coming, he drops it, and that, that once again parts the seas where they can grab that Bennett slides it over to Reinhardt Reinhardt just a wonderful wonderful pass most guys are shooting that puck in panic mode he takes his patience with it slides it over to Chuck and two times in that game they get bit on the way that they like to pressure the puck defensively and play man on man it sucks for them i they still they still dominated defensively and it works for them but it just so happens that it burns them the way

they play you see gudis get that uh interference penalty where he just got well no what was it what did he get for the tripping but he went at him and he just fucking like gudis face just raided to the side of his like leg like he didn't care he's so reckless that's what like florida like a lot of their guys are just playing this like reckless hard in your face game they're flying and you know what carolina in game two they got one and everything was good it was shots were like 19 to 2 or something i wanted like it was crazy and they couldn't get another and ra was just oh. was just going Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob gudas right boom you don't see that guy go down ever but he watched the games guys what watch the games watch the game tomorrow i feel like florida is dictating obviously i think you know like

carolina's like a they play pretty physical like they're they're they they play an aggressive game but like florida when they're going on a loose puck like they're more often than not like they're coming to get it just another level and you can see they kind of like they kind of like are unsure like they're unsure like they'll make sure that the other guy like they're not going to get there so that they get whacked you know what i mean i felt in game two that that carolina was dictating physically physically early on that was that was just i mean that's my opinion on it. And we probably have a lot of Florida fans losing their minds right now

at the fact that we haven't talked about that Barkov goal. The fake between the legs, the fake to Chuck, the patience in that moment. Wayne Gretzky said it was one of the best goals he's ever seen come playoff time as far as like clutchness and patience. He's so silky. You see, Jackie Redman had a tweet. seen come playoff time as far as like clutchness and patience he's so silky you see uh jackie redmond had a tweet oh about how many goals that he's been on for five on five against well you're

saying that i'll say barkov too has in this series especially and i think he's been criticized for being huge and like really good but not as physical i i think he's been rather physical and involved with his body at like a difference maker, you know, and then on top of it, cherry on top, his hands are amazing.

So going into game two, Barkov had been on the ice for just one goal against that five on five in the last seven games, goes back to game seven against Boston. He's played one 34 at even strength in those games. And over that span, it's six to one Panthers. Then I think he scored, it was five on five, or it was even strength, I believe.

And so that turns into seven one. He wasn't on the ice for the goal against. Just, I kind of dogged him in the Boston series. You didn't even really notice him. And people were wondering if he was hurt, but I think defensively all that time, he was still getting the job done. Now the offense is clicking

while still being this horse both ends. That's kind of what I'm saying, that Florida will play Carolina style, but then they have Barkov and Kachuk. And yes, I mean, Ajo's up there and on the back end, Burns and Slavin, but they've been out there for the goals against. There's great players on Carolina,

but at the top end of talent, Florida's got two, three, four guys that I think are above anything in the Hurricanes lineup. They're still playing their bag off, but this is when you're starting to see the missing Shvetchnikov and Pacioretty. And Tara Vinen's probably not 100%. I mean, he just had fucking surgery for crying out loud. And maybe if he is healthy, he does score that one touch goal and goes upstairs on Bob.

But right now, and you just talked about that stat from Barkov, Mike Kelly, who's great with all the stats and analytics, too. He's he's out of Canada. And I think he actually does some work with the NHL network as well and maybe some other programming. But he was talking about the fact that Florida doesn't, they don't give away the puck as much as any other team. And coming into the series or even after game one, they'd only allowed one goal all playoff longs as far as after a turnover,

where they had scored 10 goals off creating turnovers and that massive forecheck that we talk about. So talk about a team that's not handing over wins and then mix that within the fact that they have Bobrovsky and Nett that's a recipe for success along with with everybody who's listening and and Army I think it was maybe even you or maybe Yans touched on it this has LA Kings vibes when they got that eighth seed and they're just they have this mojo that you just you can't fabricate it. They got the mojo right now.

Everybody's tugging the rope. It's fun to watch. It's fun to see. And as far as that whole city's concerned, you got the Miami Heat who got the eighth seed, and they're up 2-0 after winning two games on the road. And they're smoking the Celtics right now. They're up by 18. And then you got Jimmy Butler rocking a Kachuk

jersey. So as far as Miami and Fort Lauderdale, they're just feeling it right now. The city of champions has awakened. Yeah, you don't tug on Superman's cape like, what's his face? Williams, what was it? Like talking shit to the fucking Jimmy Butler of all guys. Just basically fired him up and then he come and stuffed

it down their throat the other night. Celtics game. But actually, Biz, I want to go to Mike Rupp's video. He made that real subtle move that Kachuk made on the, on the game, on the second, second goal. He,

he put his stick on a Jordan stall stick. So he couldn't like try to poke check Bennett who made the, I think Bennett to Reinhardt was the pass. It was just a real subtle thing, but like he was unable to get a sweep check or a stick check on it. And that made the pass happen. Just one of those things that you might not even notice and Ruppert drew attention to it I thought it was a dynamite little video he made also another guy I think we got to talk about

is our Gustav Forsling man this guy I said the other night hit Swedish with Dennis Seidenberg and not that he's like a bruiser Seidenberg was just kind of what like one of these unheralded guys on a cup run that you know not everybody talks about first but he's been unbelievable man it's got five points in 14 games he played 55 minutes in that ot game second on the team in ice time this guy they got him on waivers from who carolina like two years ago and now he's playing this key role and and fucking pushing their face in it right now so i think we gotta give him some props too he can motor he's got a bomb too yeah he's been a lot of fun to watch and listen I obviously some talk online like oh other than the

OT goals Kachuk's been a little bit invisible fuck off is there a better guy around the net than Matthew Kachuk on the planet like you just talked about that subtle move he just creates so much space for his teammates out there he uses his body so well as far

as backing into guys and just being a pain in the ass at the top of the paint, making it a nightmare for opposition goalies. Listen, he helped carry the team in the first round and partway through the second round. Yeah, maybe due to the fact he's a little bit banged up was a little bit invisible later in that second round, but it's all about coming through in the clutch,

man, just waiting for your time to shine. And he, there's no moment too big for him right now. And on top of that, we, we, we,

we touched on it earlier, just being an, being a WWE superstar on the mic. So the league has found it superstar as far as Americans are concerned. And I know I was getting criticism for saying he's one of the best American, if not the best American on the planet. Well your words folks because i think i was right on that one and i gotta give credit i i their d their d is is like scale ekblad montour and then you go gudis and stall and then you go forsling too like i mean they're they're warriors like and they're all over the ice they're physical

they're reckless they're smart they're big they can fly so i don't know if anyone gave them enough credit mark stall has been a beast dude mark stall i 44 minutes on the all-star break the guy he planned on playing 10 12 minutes a game right i, he's towards the end of his career. It's been an amazing run for him and he's playing a huge role and he's a force out there. It's just NHL is so weird. Like they, they struggle all year. They barely, they get in the Cinderella story is not Marshawn missing the game five breakaway to win the series in five. It's not the posture knock hitting the knob early in OT a game seven. When Bobrovsky got real lucky, it beat him and hit his knob.

Pittsburgh lost to the Blackhawks at the end of the regular season. They, the fact they're even in, and now they're just running all over this league. It's, it's an amazing story that as I continue to think it would be ending picking against them every single round, I'm probably, I'm down so much money on these guys.

I bet them one time. They're nine and one in the last 10. I probably bet against them seven times. It's a wild story. It's because R.A. keeps saying fucking bets. He keeps coming into the chat with us and he's like, oh, here we go. And then we all have to go against R.A.

R.A., the Bruins diehard is now at Panthers cookouts and wearing the gear everywhere. It's a ridiculous story. I don't like Bryson DeChambeau. I don't know the fuck his name is. I bet him in golf today, buddy. So, you know. Oh, yeah. Rat King.

Get your Rat King shirt. Bostles, boots. I don't know if he likes the name Rat King, but either way, we're fucking pulling for him. I mean, let me ask you, were you surprised that they went to anti-ranter uh game two i know it was a big long game a couple nights before but you know uh florida come back with bob but they didn't i was i was i'm not gonna lie i was like i know i know the talk is like these guys use two goalies it's it's how they roll it's what they're used to they played a long game last game you know this is a luxury they have and it's no big deal i don't think ranta played poorly i thought he played well but I was just I was still surprised

that they did that just because I don't know I I think he I think I think he's their number one you know like if you have to look at it I that's what I would I would that's how I think so I was a little bit surprised in that situation not letting him come back in and try to, you know, get a W again, coming back the other way. You know how guys are when they want to get back in there and they want to do the job. So I, you know what, I give him credit. I give him credit. That was a ballsy call.

Yeah. Like I give him credit for, for making the call. I give him credit for sticking to what they have, what they've always done and what, where their comfort level is. And, and, and maybe saying hey listen like i know you probably want this next one because you know that was a tough pill to swallow but you know we're gonna do what we feel comfortable with and this is what we're gonna do so i give them credit for that i really do i mean how about the start of that game it must be hard for a goalie to not seeing any rubber through the first 12 to 14 minutes shots

were 16 to 1 for carolina like how does bob do it after playing that many periods getting peppered like that i was saying this when it was one nothing though i was like oh shit they don't get another one at the end of that first and they they can't separate they couldn't get they couldn't separate they couldn't't make it tough on Florida. They couldn't make them really chase the game. Well, they were almost up two. They got both disallowed goals. That first 20 minutes was incredible.

As for Bob, 150 saves on 155 shots last three games. All OT road wins and the fancy stats. His best three games. What Bob's done the last three games, the best three games stretched by any goalie in a single playoff season since the data became available in 07-08, the last three games he's played.

Just, you know, that's why he's gotten the $10 million. Would you say he's earned it at this point, Biz? I said when they beat Boston, it kind of made, and what he did coming in, it made like the, I think the contract's now worth it.

And then they do it against the Leafs and are you going to beat that team four out of the next five games that I don't see and they're going home so it's the same thing as Toronto and it's just an incredible story the only thing they could have hoped who welded that shot

off of Bob's head and popped his helmet off I was like that's the only thing they could hope on that they hit like a slapper in the head and he sees pink elephants flying around his head or something. I was almost taken to prison for saying that the wild should have ran out. So be careful what you're saying.

Yeah, I don't think I don't hope that that happens, but like he's so hot. He's so he's so dialed and already you're right. Bob equals the zone. I think I think he could end up in the ECHL for the rest of his career after this season making his money if he was playing so bad that the organization shouldn't give a fuck for what he's done for this team so far in this run.

The only reason that they're here is because of Bob. Yeah. Well, no, Alex Lyon at the end of the year. Yes, I know. I'm talking playoff. Yes, yeah, yeah. A few other numbers as well. Panthers are outscoring the Canes

four to one and five on five goals. Panthers now the second longest road winning streak in Stanley Cup playoff history. Eight games. L.A. in 2012 is first with 10. And they haven't lost in overtime, right?

Six and overtime. Five OT road wins ties the most ever. Back to Chuck. Matty now holds the team record for most points in a playoff year with 18. He's now gone farther than his old man has ever gone in the playoffs. Keith got to the conference finals one year with St. Louis, and they only won one game. So he's already won two.

So he's already surpassed the old man. He's not farther, R.A. No, he's not. I agree with you, R.A. No, I mean, it's not a subjective thing. I'm saying he's like... He's won more games in the playoffs. He's won more games in the playoffs would have been

worded correctly. I didn't mean to jump down your throat, but if they lose the next four, they went the same distance. Right, but Keith lost. When Keith lost, St. Louis won one game. If Florida were to lose the series, they already won two. That's all I meant. He's gotten closer to the cup than his dad dad I guess that's a better way to put it either way his three overtime

game winning goals ties the most ever in a playoff year the fourth player only to do that ever and plus that other hustle play he made I forget I think it was Martinook was coming down he dove his third period halfway through the third got a stick out just prevented probably an easy goal so all right enough with the stroke and they have one more question

I got one more question do you can one more question. Can you guys see like next game going to overtime again? The fact that all four and Keith Yandel came on Game Notes Daily on Thursday afternoon before game one. He said all these games are going to OT and he was talking about post conferences. I haven't

bet draw once four of them now. I mean, we call them probably will. they're all coin flips yeah i think they will uh in those in those stats did you mention that uh about the the road winning streak for for florida yeah how many games did you say it's at nine or ten it's at eight right now la la got the record with 10 so yeah okay all right they look like they're over time they're over time with eight or whatever it was. Overtime victories.

It's like the 93 Montreal Canadians or maybe. Yeah, it was 93. I think they had 10 overtime wins on their run. Yeah. Holy shit. Oh, good stuff, boys. That was a good year for me as a Habs fan as a kid. Yep.

10 year, 11 year old army just wearing his Habs undies. Only kid in town. All right, before we go any further, I want to talk to you guys about Omega Accounting Solutions. Attention small business owners with five to 500 employees. You were a responsible business owner who continued to pay taxes and employ staff during the pandemic. who continued to pay taxes and employ staff during the pandemic, Omega Accounting Solutions is a small business champion, helping you and your business get back the money you deserve through the CARES Act. Recover the payroll taxes you overpaid as a refund of up to $26,000 per employee, even if you got the PPP loan. Learn if you are a good candidate in less

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I missed that one, but I can't wait to get that to you guys. How was it? How was it, Biz? He's a pretty interesting character, I understand, huh? Oh, he's an interesting cat. Old school. We love getting the old school guys on. He's got some unbelievable stories,

and we're looking forward to you guys hearing it. So nice follow-up to Charles we're looking forward to you guys hearing it. So nice follow up to Charles. Absolutely coming to you shortly. So anyways, Vegas up to nothing, man, with just a few minutes left in the third period on Sunday. Look like Dallas, not quite smooth sailing,

but they're up the whole game. Two minutes left. Vegas ties it up before they can even pull the goalie. Then they win it like minute 20 into overtime. Stunning fucking result for Dallas, man. They will look like they're

going to go home tied up. What's your take on this series? Is Vegas having by the balls right now? Is Dallas going to do something different or they just get some bad bounces here? They don't have it by the balls the way the Panthers do considering they're going home, right? Dallas can go home and hold serve.

And we're talking completely different, a different series in four days. But what a gut-wrenching loss for the Stars today, right? They weren't just leading with two minutes to go. They had dominated the game. I think at one point in the third period, maybe it was the second, like Vegas had 12 shots. It was just, it was perfect hockey by Dallas.

They did a great job. And Ryan Suter had two assists throughout the game, but that last goal, the tying goal, excuse me, not the last one, he kind of just like lazily a little throws it around the wall, gets picked off. Then the guy passes. Eichel makes a sick pass, kind of right through Suter.

His stick's in the wrong spot. Martial show buries it. And from playing this perfect road game to all of a sudden blowing the lead and being tied up with two minutes, it's like, wow, Vegas might end up pulling this off. They hung in there. They didn't go down 3-1.

And now it's going to be hard for Dallas, right? Because Vegas, the same way Florida's doing it, they're reckless in terms of how they forecheck. They got the big, strong D as well. And they get two wins on the road. I mean, sorry at home. And,

and they're just, their confidence has to be at the highest level possible. They bullied Edmonton around. Now they get these two wins and they're getting contributions from everywhere. The whole lineup. I mean, Coles,

Coles are took that stupid penalty against Edmonton. He's looked great in the first two games. He's awesome. That guy. Yeah. I love that. He's looked great in the first two games. He's awesome. That guy, yeah. I love that guy. He's a beast. He's a beast. I texted the group chat.

He's a fucking unbelievable fourth liner. He flies out there. He's physical. He helps make plays in the offensive zone where they're able to keep plays alive. He's a stud. 14 different goal scorers. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's the depth on their team. They just, well, Cassidy was a good coach for this team. I mean, obviously, at this point, he holds them all accountable, right? Maybe the locker room was getting a little out of control. I don't know. I'm not there, but this guy's pretty strict

in terms of how you're going to do things. They have depth, and they've just kind of figured out a way to play. They're on their fourth goal. We've talked about that a bunch, but Aiden Hill, he looks so dialed in. At this time of year, it's the goaltending.

And I don't think you could blame Ottinger at all, but this team is so deep. And then when you get goaltending like that and you get the first two games, it's the same thing. So who's going to beat Vegas four out of five? It's just you create such a bubble for yourself and like, all right,

well, we can even lose the first one. If we can just split here, we're going home 3-1. That's probably what will happen, I'm guessing. I don't know if Dallas gets... I'm going to hammer

Dallas game three again. Let me ask you, how tough mentally is it for a team when they lose a game like that? They go down two-none instead of one-one. Can you just move along quickly? Definitely a kick in the dick because of how well they played for 58 minutes.

But you're also thinking, all right, we just own them for the most part, and we're going home. This series is far from over. And I hate bringing up the AHL. It's not the Stanley Cup playoffs, but Binghamton had one of the best teams you've ever seen in the AHL, the lockout year. Jason Spezza, Ray Emery, God rest his soul,

Anton Volchenkov, Chris Neal, Chris Kelly. Like, it was a stud. Anton Vermette. Anton Vermette. Brian Pothier. Remember that teammate? It was a stud team. They broke all the records.

I think Spezza had a... Spezza, did I even say him? I think he had 100 points. Army and myself and Merle's Wilkes-Barre team, we got them in the first round, and we went into their barn, and they waxed us. They waxed us two in a row,

and we came home. We won both. We won game five in a row. We won game six at home. That's when I scored that double OT goal. Or was it double? That was game three, I think, too. We were down 3-0 if we lost that game.

And I just bring it up because we got thumped those two games on the road. And we were able to come back after those home games. And Dallas, if you're talking about confidence, at least they're saying, not only are we going home, but we had them. That was our fucking game.

One mistake, and then they get a pretty lucky bounce in OT. You know, it goes right to Chandler Stevenson. So I don't think, by any means, they think this series is over. I'm just looking long-term. You got to win four out of five. And against Vegas right now,

that seems like a pretty tough task. And on, Bidzey, I'll say this. I'll ask you this. On top of it, Robertson, who we were talking about coming off the last he he's got goals and back-to-back games now and they still yeah lose so to to ra's point you're going oh fuck we got our guy going and we're playing pretty good hockey and we have ottinger and we have you know we have all these guys and fucking these guys buried us like what a minute and 12 seconds into the one ot and then a minute and 34 seconds into

the next ot like just took care of business how is she going get out of here uh you know that changes a little bit i think i think that changes the feeling just a little bit where it might defeat you just a little bit more i just i just looked to this vegas team and that group of guys that are still there from that 2017 2018 team who fell short against washington and how much they've came through in the clutch like marsha show right now like wild bill like especially in that first game theodore i mean theodore had a great apple on the winner and in uh in in in in the overtime and great game to Riley Smith who was a little bit snake bitten in the beginning of playoffs they

got white cloud McNabb carrier still there along with all these new guys they've added and you like like those guys collectively have done an incredible job and probably a big reason why they won that last round and then now are up to nothing in this one. But then you mentioned Bruce Cassidy, uh, uh, wit. I feel like he's had such an impact on Eichel because not only is he buzzing offensively, like he looks to be a well-rounded player right now too. Like he's making plays in the defensive zone as well. And I just think that from an overall 200 foot game perspective, he is that superstar that everybody expected him to be when he when he ended up moving over to vegas so it's just fun to watch uh i think that

they're the team to beat they are vicious five on five for the reasons that we've mentioned of their third and fourth line but he chandler stevenson is a fucking third line center of this team he's got seven tucks in playoffs right now. He flies up and down the ice. Their speed is just incredible. And, and normally you go down the lineup and all of a sudden things start maybe slowing down a little bit and it just gets a little bit boring where every line that hops over the boards, you look at them of, of a threat to put the puck in the back of the net. And as far as Dallas is concerned, no no I don't count them out but just right now right now for me Vegas is the team to beat overall they're they're just six defense deep Aiden Hill's playing

great I think that the fact that they have those shot blockers and the guys who are so well well rounded defensively is helping out in front of them where he doesn't have to be the Ottinger so yeah that's really that's pretty much all i have as far as i mean you guys are watching the games i know wit that you said they got dominated for about two and a half periods there uh they had 13 shots through through you know three quarters of the game but they could turn it on when they want and and they are just looking too good right now for dallas stevenson gets the winner today. Yes.

In the winner game one, he's the one who carried it into the offensive zone. He went behind the net. He threw it in front. It ends up over to Howden, who did a great job in kind of just terms of throwing it to the crease from behind the net. It ends up in the net. But yeah, Stevenson, he's playing third line center. The way he skates. He's unreal.

It's just the whole team. They never stop coming. Stone's been on the ice for both OT winners. It's a well-rounded, deep team. If it is them and Florida, which right now, I mean, I'm assuming Vegas has enormous odds they both move

on. That is going to be a battle. We might die. Vegas to Lickerdale? I can't do that. Merle's training two-a-days right now to get his liver ready. Merle said he's off the sauce to do it two-a-days to get ready for that. I want to say Vegas has given up the first goal six or seven times when they've came back and had a win so far in this postseason.

I don't know if you have that number written down, but usually first goal is a good sign that you're going to go win the game, but it doesn't seem to phase them when they give it up first. After today, Vegas now has eight comeback wins in the playoffs. Of course, you're down 1-0 in the first. It's still a comeback win. Eight of them. And meanwhile, Dallas has yet to have a comeback win in the playoffs.

The third series in a row that Dallas dropped the opener in OT as well. Oh, so what else they got here? How about this Bruce Cassidy quote? Some of them brought up, you know, while Bill Collison became a father, he's been playing great. Bruce Cassidy says, it's worked well for us. I think that's four babies for us. So we might have to call the guys up next August to get to work

on a summer project. That's unbelievable. Just a stunt. Just a dude ranch out there. Unreal. Go to the playoffs. But, and also too bizarre.

Overtime records, Dallas now 0-4, Vegas 3-0 now. It's just, you know, as good as Dallas has been there, you know, they're falling behind

and you can't come back every game, man. I think we're seeing that right now. It's hard, man. It takes a lot out of you. And I know that you say, like,

you go back to the regular season. I think the NHL set the record for most two and three goal comebacks, at least halfway through the year where you're saying no lead was safe. But when you're playing against teams this good, it is, man. You got to find that next gear just to get yourself back in the hockey game. It plays a factor. And then you just kind of alluded to the Dallas side of it,

where they haven't won a game where they've given up the first goal. They don't have a comeback win. They haven't had a comeback win. So, yeah a comeback so yeah i guess yeah well that would fall into the same category i guess there you go so it can affect you man and it has for dallas yeah and it was interesting i think what was it today or in the in the game two ray ferraro during the broadcast was like uh up until when marcia so scored that goal i think he had like zero shots on goal like his stat line he read off his stat stat line prior to scoring that goal, and he's like, once this guy gets going, he gets going.

All right, you would know this, but he's been an analytical darling since he was in Tampa when he started. He didn't score in the first round, Army. Yeah, he was invisible in the first round. Yeah, yeah, well, I know, yeah. And this guy, these guys are the original guys, but it's so funny just in this game alone when ray was reading his stat line i know they weren't very good but it's just like boom he scores and but he's like a guy that he's a guy that drives his team too man he's like a he's like a another stone almost uh with the way

he goes so it's important to have him going. Did you guys see Stone jump on Miller after they scored the OT winner and yell in his face? He slammed him and then grabbed the puck with his big hands. He just... And Barbashev kind of ran into Suter after they tied it up too. They're just pulling. Oh yeah. He was barking at him too. Barbashev's a

fucking player. He made that play down to Eichel on that wall. One other intangible we didn't mention was the carolina fan behind the bench doing the wolf during the third third intermission of overtime there so i heard game notes daily talking about this was there actually a clip of him doing a quick bump oh yeah he waved the bag to get the all of it broken up see i i don't know if it was a zin or a like a smelling salt i could i couldn't tell i mean i didn't no no no no that was a mini bag of coke not that i know from experience or anything

well hey speaking of fans at the game and that is you might have to wear ear can't like sound canceling headphones for this series going into dallas You chirp the bang guy. No, no, no. That was Witt. I actually follow the banger. His name's Nick. I didn't know he was like a person. He's a guy.

He's best friends with Gretzky. He lives at Gosser in the summer and they hang out and golf together. Yeah, the bang guy. I had no idea that he was a known guy. I guess he's a real guy. That's his move. Hey, he brings a pro to every single game with his season tickets on the glass.

You guys think I'm kidding, too. His name's Nick Maroch, and this is his Twitter bio. I like to bang on the glass, but I hold a sign for restraint. Bang. And then it goes, in quotes, you're the most hated man in hockey Paul Bissonette to me because a few years back I was I was with you because I used to travel with the Coyotes as the radio guy and and also they were a division rival with us he's been there forever having

seasons right behind the opposing goalies uh net and he just wears a white suit every game and just continually bangs but I don't think they've ever had a mic set up there like you talked about during the espn broadcast where they got this series so games three and four in dallas you're gonna be here and nick go to town on that glass no they're not goes to town he loves banging on that glass. He bangs on the glass, then he bangs on his pro. She bangs. She bangs. She moves.

William. That was fucking hilarious. Hey, should we get him on the pod? I don't know, man. He'll probably just bang on his microphone the whole time. No, we should get him on game notes. Tell me your name. Get him on game notes.

We should get him on game notes. Yeah, we should get him on touch. I had tweet beef with the Dallas band guy years ago because I was bitching about him during the game. Yeah, it was you that shared it on the thing. That's how I saw who he was because Witt brought him up and then it turns out he's a real guy. I didn't know he was a real guy. I didn't know he was a real human.

Yeah. Yeah, this is what he does. That's his thing. I'm going to message him right now. You want horses in the Belmont? You want to go on game notes

this week? Shit. You'll be like, what the fuck is game notes? He follows me. No big deal. All right. Before we go any further, here is our word from our friends at Labatt Blue. You know, lots of things are better together. Hockey, food, golf, going to the movies.

But if you really want to take things to the next level, drink some Labatt Blue Lights with your friends and live life to the power of we. Take a page out of the Labatt Blue Light book and enjoy your beers together so you can live life to the power of we. Like I just said, bad blue light book and enjoy your beers together. So you can live life to the power. We like, I just said, gee, we love it in the playoffs, right? Come on. All right. We love it in the playoffs and we especially love it. Cause I've always said the bat is such a refreshing beer. It's so, it's so great in the summer. It's so

great by the water. It's so great by the pool. Well, right now the Stanley cup playoffs are looking like we could be in Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas. I don't want to jinx anything, but I'll tell you right now, all right, drinking a couple of bat blue lights on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, or even at a nice little pool party in Vegas.

There is nothing better in the entire world. The bat blue. It is so refreshing. It is the drink of the summer. Absolutely. I'm going to my favorite pizza place in East Boston here in the city. And they have Labatt there. I can't wait to have a couple on my birthday this week.

So listen, you can find Labatt near you. Go to labatt.com. Check it out. Enjoy a fine Labatt today. One final question. Do you think Dallas has to make an adjustment or do something different? Or is just they kind of get some shitty bounces right now? Are you think they get like thoroughly outplayed or just stick the stick with the program right now for

Dallas no I mean they got the goaltending in game two from Ottinger and we saw his numbers when following a loss which I was shocked when they scored that that goal with 222 left to make it 222 kind of a little fun fact for everybody out there no man i i i you know just a little bit more execution from their top guys and and to find the back of the net you know pavelski he's sniffing on the doorstep he's always there they showed a clip of him working on the tips as usual um in the pre-game skate so no man they're fine they do a good job as far as a defensive unit i don't know how many people uh were i mean dallas fans may be complaining about the five on three where you don't see that too often. No.

So that first goal to open up the game for Vegas is, you know, there was a delayed penalty called and then they ended up calling another one. Hanley and Harley. Hanley and Harley, like a goddamn movie, end up in the penalty box together where it's pretty much a gimme goal with Stone on his knees. So, no, I think that they're right there, and I think that this series, as Whit mentioned, especially going back home, could turn on a dime. I view them more in this series because they still have everybody healthy

way more ahead of uh of carolina right now as far as coming back yeah if i had kids and i had a college fund for those kids i would bet that college fund on dallas next game let me ask you this is it crazy that miro high skinning has one goal like of all the d that we've we've sung praises to this entire playoffs but he's probably been nasty he's so nasty he's so good but it's like you know you look at some of these other teams and some of these other guys that are just, you know, they got like, what does Montour have, six goals?

Yeah. It's like, you look at some of these other teams that have, you know, I think Pesci has more goals than him. So it's like. It is surprising. It's just surprising to me that he's like this guy that we've, you know, I think he's elite, elite, but it's just like. Should have been a Norris.

Well, you got one more candidate. Nine assists, 10 points in 15 games. I mean, he had 11 this year, so it wasn't even like he really, he had 62 assists, but he carries the puck up the ice. He just does little stick fakes. He's so fast, even when he's gliding.

It's crazy. And it's crazy, those guys, and this is what I hate about them, and I think all you guys do, too. It looks so easy. Like, they're not even trying. That's what pisses me off. I go, you want to go on Game Notes this week? He goes, ha-ha, Game Notes?

Question mark. I say, it's Chicka's Daily Show. He goes, oh, sure. I say, with Armie, Merles, and Grinnell. So you guys have a guest. He's going to answer me back here. And I'm going to put you guys in touch and hopefully he can give you guys some winners.

Oh, so we'd get them on Tuesday. We got to do Tuesday. If he's available, if he's not. Yeah. If he's not like out there patrolling for his next guest to the game, he's just hanging out in the hotel lobby.

This is the apps for that one he's on a riot paying a nickel for the ticket and who knows for whatever else afterwards but

boys we send it over to Rick 5 or what without further ado let's send it over to Rick 5 this interview is brought to you

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And there's up to an impressive 785 foot pounds of torque. So head on over to chevy.com to learn more. chevy.com right now to see the EV family. Well, everything's a little different here. R.A. took his option today, so I'm the one doing the intro, and we have a very special guest. Former Maple Leaf legend, the first man to ever score 50 goals in that uniform, Rick Vibe. Three-time 50-goal scorer with the Maple Leafs, captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, actually had the record of goals in one season with 54 until Austin Matthews broke it last year. He went on to coach a championship team

in the East Coast Hockey League, coached in the OHL. Right now, he's sitting in Niagara where it's 77 degrees, I think he said. So thank you so much for joining Spittin' Chicklets. Rick, what's up? What an intro. Woo-woo!

Oh, that was a good one, yeah. I know. I appreciate that. I practiced it a couple times. And who would have thought a kid from Arizona would have broke my record? I know, huh? That shows what's happening with hockey. I thought you were going to say who would have thought a kid from Arizona like Biz

could have even played in the NHL. But I guess he's not even from there, so I don't know what I'm talking about no i yeah i didn't know where he was going off the hop with that one either whip but austin matthews was born there and raised there rick what'd you make of when he broke your record were you in attendance did you get to go down to the locker room afterward no i i wasn't he broke it in dallas actually on the third and i met with with them Saturday morning before their pregame skate. They were playing Montreal at home. And we had a great conversation, and I congratulated them and everything. And then I said to them, I said, well, you may as well get 6-5

because you're the only guy that's going to break that on this seat. And he got a good chuckle out of that. But, no, it was great. And then on the monday i i they invited me down to the practice rink went into the video room shell and keith went over everything he wanted the players to know and everything and then he goes okay we got a special guest here let's play the the video so they showed about 15 of my goals in a fight and said 54 goals and 200 and whatever penalty minutes. And I heard a couple of guys behind me go, oh, shit.

And I'm like, I'm talking to them after and I go, guys, you don't realize how the game was played when I played in the 80s and late 70s. I said, three quarters of our team had no 200 penalty minutes. And they thought that was pretty crazy, but that's just the way the game was. I actually, I saw a pretty cool video on your career and life a little bit on YouTube, and they were talking about, we'll get into how you were in the WHA before it folded. You had a bunch of young guys in your team. I guess that year, Dave Semenko went at you and kind of gave you a little bit of a beating and then you caught a 51 year old Gordie Howe elbow to the face as well so it was a little different yes it was I mean we were

I was 19 Michelle Goulet was 18 and the rest of us were 19 Hartz, Ramage, Keith Crowder. Off the top of my head, I can't remember the rest of the guys. But, yeah, we're playing Hartford. And I played center all the way up until junior. So, John Brofier, coach, if there was an important faceoff in our zone on the right side, he would have me taken. So, I won the draw. Defenseman shot it off the glass. I beat the guy down the ice for the icing.

I came around the net, turned backwards, shooted in the empty net. Next thing I knew, I was trying to get up off the ice and fell down three times, then started crawling to the bench. I had no idea what happened until the next day. I looked at the video and gordy when he went by me just stuck the elbow up hit me right here did you ever get a chance to ask him about

it and why he suckered you like did you guys play against each other again or and were you able to get him back if so no well i don't think i was gonna try try to get Gordie back. That's for damn sure. That's playing with fire. Yeah. I mean, that might be the wrong thing to do to a guy like Gordie Howell, I would think, especially he's in his 50s, right, when he's playing against us. But the other one was Semenko.

I mean, we played in Edmonton one night. The next night we were in Winnipeg. Then four nights later was we played in Edmonton one night the next night we were in Winnipeg then four nights later we were back in Edmonton and I remember Glenn Sather was chirping at me face off by their bench and just kept going and I just turned around and I said

you know will you shut up he goes I'm going to send Semenko after you and I said whatever so'm going to send Semenko after you. And I said, whatever. So I'm playing against Semenko, and I'm back checking on him, and the play goes offside. We both turn, and he just suckers me. And then he grabs me by the back of the sweater, hits me a couple more times.

I'm already out. My gloves fall off, and we get five minutes each for fighting. And so anyway, I didn't play the next night. I had about six feet of cotton batting up both nostrils. And then we came back, and I played the next game. So it started all over again, and he was yapping and yapping. And I said, hey, if you don't have equipment on and come out here to do anything about it shut your mouth and i'm gonna send send me after you

and i said go ahead he already knocked me out once what's one one more time so i'm against the boards i got i got the puck and i see him coming he's coming hard. I just got out of the way. He hit the boards and he went down. He didn't wear a helmet. Thinking in my head, what should I do? So I give him a little tap on the head, open up a little tiny little cut. And I leaned down and I said, if you ever do that to me again, I'll cut your head off. So I escaped away and I'm thinking, oh shit, I'm dead.

He never came near me the rest of my career oh shit that is unbelievable well it is kind of true what you said like i mean why do you think slats was was was out to get you so bad i mean you were a young gun real good player was there anything else to it no i think it was just that i kept i scored I think against Edmonton every time we played I think he was just trying to get under my skin and and uh get me off my game I guess or you know I don't know but he he loved it sure he loved it sure you were born in Ottawa and I saw that you played junior in Quebec um I know now it's known as a very soft league and not a lot of fighting so was that the case back then and and if so like how hard. So was that the case back then?

And if so, how hard was that for you to adjust to then getting to pro where, as you said, to earn your goals in professional hockey back then, you almost had to be a gladiator? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And junior back then was pretty much the same. I remember my first fight, Mario Merwa. uh i remember my first fight mario marwa and i was 17 years old and he was a 19 year old nobody told me he was a left from we brought the gloves he about six size before i

there were no game notes back then so you couldn't check them. But you'd think someone on the team would have told me, like, hey, this guy's a lefty if he ever, you know, because he was a defenseman, I was a forward, and we're in the corners together and everything, but nobody told me. So anyway, that was okay. But it was the fame and the way the game was played. That was in the mid-70s pretty much.

And hockey was the same way. You had to battle your way to get goals like you said. And you get hooked all the way down the ice. And I remember one time we were playing the Islanders. And a couple of the defensemen were grabbing me by the sweater in the corner. And I couldn't get away. And I'm thinking to myself, how the hell can they do that with a hockey glove on well one face off i look and i see one of the defensemen he's got his hand up well he's got the whole palm cut out of his glove all he had was

the thing you put his fingers in that's when so he could take it out and grab the sweater so i said that's pretty smart i think marshawn actually plays with like a big hole in his glove too or at least he did last year at one point but wouldn't be surprised if he had a couple of those tricks himself i guess the way he plays oh yeah i wanted i wanted to ask um the thing i saw said you still had another year of junior left but that's when the birmingham bulls went and went went out and got you and a few other guys you just mentioned to play in the wha when you could have still played junior and did you guys all get 50 grand for the season is that how that went yeah it was 20 to sign and 30 salary the funny part about that was Sherbrooke where I played junior offering they went all the

way up to 75,000 under the table if I stay I said look I says not about the money I said it's about me playing against men and getting better uh and trying to get into the National Hockey League and be a good player. I wasn't going to stay for the money. It was all about trying to get better. And that's exactly what I ended up doing. Well, that kind of goes into what I wanted to ask. And so at the time, you didn't know that WHA was going to fold or anything. So it wasn't like you were signing up to play there forever. Your goal was still the NHL and this was just the best way for you to get there kind of? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, first of all, it was just a one-year contract. But Bassett, our owner, halfway through the season, he signed all of us to four-year deals. And he signed me for 200 a year for four years.

And he signed me for 200 a year for four years. And when the merger went through, they were supposed to honor all existing contracts, but they didn't. So we went to court, and I ended up getting a, I think it was $75,000 payout after going to court, and then ended up in Vancouver. That NHL draft was the deepest draft maybe of all time. Some people say, you know, 2003 was crazy, but did you have any idea you were going to go fifth overall?

Did you have any city that you wanted to go to? And I think one of your teammates at Birmingham was the first overall pick, Ramage, right? Yeah, he went to Colorado. I thought it was going to Washington because they were the only team that talked to me. There wasn't a draft. Like, it was a phone draft, and it was in August that year because of the

merger. But they had called me and talked to me. So I thought for sure I was going to go to Washington. And I'm waiting by the phone and i get the phone call that i went to vancouver and they took a guy named mike gardner so i i guess it wasn't a bad pick for that that worked out all right i guess oh yeah yeah rick merles here i got the call up from the minesies for this interview. And my biggest question has got to be about your time with the Maple Leafs as we move on to that and being captain. What was that like being there through all that, like the fringe benefits and free meals? Are you still was kind of a rough time when they brought Punch Imlach back, and Daryl and him didn't see eye to eye.

They had a lot of problems, and then finally Daryl ended up asking for a trade because he was the only guy in the league, I think, that had a no-trade contract. And he went to Philly, and then the funniest part was usually the GM and the coach or whatever, they call you into the office and say, would you like to be our captain? Well, that's not how it happened. Harold Ballard just came up to me and he said, you're our captain. And at that point, I had already been traded once. And I figured if I said no to this guy, I had already been traded once and I figured if I said no to this guy he's probably going to trade me for sure and sure enough he probably would have so I just said oh okay I wasn't ready I was 22

years old for god's sakes yeah I mean you know I and we had an older team at that point and then we got a little bit younger three years down the road, and it got a lot easier. But I had Boreasalming inside me for seven years, and he backed me up every time I said anything. So that was probably the best thing that could have happened. That's incredible. I heard Harold Ballard, was he an asshole? I've never heard a good word about him.

I wouldn't say he was an asshole. He didn't treat us like really bad but he was really cheap i mean i bet you everybody on our team were making probably 30 to 40 percent less than what guys on other teams that were doing what we did were making and that was because arrow was a sheep son of a bitch hey what's the story about him wanting his dog in the team photo wasn't there a story where he like he insisted he's like i want my dog in this team photos the players weren't happy right yeah well yeah i mean and what i was named captain i'm right there beside him, and the goddamn dog is in front of me. So the funniest one was the first year I was captain,

and it took a while to get set up or something. I can't remember what exactly happened. And G.C. Puck was the dog's name. And when it was all over, we all got got up and the dog tried to get up and he yelled because his balls were frozen to the ice so harold's feeling for this guy tommy that worked for him they called him tommy the dog walker because he walked puck tc puck all the time and came out, had to scrape his balls off the ice. So from that time on, they put a mat there for him

so his balls wouldn't freeze in the ice. They put a doggy door on the boards for him? No, no, they didn't do that. Oh, no, okay, sorry. He was around all the time, but Harold wasn't an asshole or anything. In fact, sometimes he was funny. But some of the comments he made when he was being interviewed,

I mean, if that was today, the league would take the team away from him. Wait, so when you got traded there, because Tiger Williams went back to Vancouver, and then I saw like it said they were getting rid of the friends of Daryl Sittler they had gotten rid of Lanny McDonald so was Harold just furious at him for wanting the trade or was there's just what had happened to really kind of crush that relationship I mean Daryl Sittler's an all-time Maple Leaf legend yeah absolutely and and he was a hell of a player even then after about eight years in

the league. But what happened was when Punch came in, you know, they had that showdown and they used to film it in the summer and then they would show clips of it between periods. So him and Palmatier were supposed to be in it. And he told him he didn't want them to quit it because the year before that, somebody got hurt and missed the first two months of the season. And they just went ahead and did it anyway. So that really pissed Punch off. And he knew he couldn't trade Darryl because he had no trade. So he started trading all his buddies lanny first to colorado and then tiger to vancouver which was okay with me because i'd love playing in toronto yeah uh i heard daryl sittler was a pretty big prankster was he a big prankster in the locker room to keep things light i mean you guys had to occupy yourself somehow no phones or anything

you guys did it the right way i think it was my shoes the one time got nailed to the floor that happened but the best one and i i'm not sure if it was daryl i think it was someone else because it was after daryl was gone put the baby powder in the hair dryer and Harold would come down before practice and get his leg massaged every by our trainer because he had diabetes and he had circulation problems but this particular day he decided he came down later we're coming off the ice and he's coming out of the shower and we're all going oh shit hopefully he doesn't grab that hair dryer. Sure enough, he grabs it. He comes out.

He's got a towel around him. He's got baby powder all over him, and he's laughing his ass off. And he's going, who did that? That was unbelievable. Meanwhile, we're all shitting our pants because we're figuring, oh, God. Yeah, you're going from a 30% pay cut to a 50% pay cut. That's what you guys are thinking. Yeah, oh, God, yeah.

Take our younger fans who are listening through, like, what was, like, training camp like for you guys back then? Like, what was the fitness testing? What were your practice days like? Well, we didn't have any fitness testing. We had this old Army guy, and I can't remember his name for the life of me, but big guy, he had the short haircut and everything, and great big guy. And he would put us up in the corridor upstairs above the first level

and do exercises. He had these blocks that you did push-ups on and all that kind of crap. But we went twice a day we'd go from like probably 10 or 9 until 10 30 in the morning and then back on the ice again at two o'clock till about 3 30 and it was grueling boy i tell you, I remember the one year we had our camp in Belleville, and it was Olympic size. And we're doing laps. And you got to do like four laps one way, and there were groups in all four corners.

And you went all the way up to eight laps. And Christ almighty, I'll tell you, it was tough, boy, I'll tell you. And there Malak was our coach, and he took the water off the bench. He wouldn't allow any water on the bench. So you go over to the bench looking for something to drink, and there was nothing there. It was the most grueling training camp I had in my entire career. Back then, the guys, they loved having a couple beers after practice

and after games, the guys would go out in training camp. Was it the same way that night? Have some dinner, a couple pops, or would you at least take it easy all you guys during camp? No, not really. It's pretty much the same. After the second session, we'll go go for lunch and have a few pops and then go home and rest up and get ready for the next day because it was coming again

and back then too there was i think we had like 80 some guys at camp and so there was four teams and you in the morning you scrimmage and And there was probably six fights every scrimmage. It was just like crazy the way training camps were back then. Rick, sometimes we start at the beginning. Like, what made you fall in love with hockey? I guess it was in Ottawa, and we lived in a fourplex. And somehow, my dad got the other people in the fourplex to agree to build a big rake the whole yard of everybody's yard so we had a nice rake with lights and everything we were out

there non-stop like every day get home from school right on the ice weekends we were out there all day. And I think that just kind of made me want to play. And I loved it. It was a lot of fun. I didn't think it was going to be as tough as it was when further on in my career, but it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. So I just kept it up and then we moved out east to Amherst, Nova Scotia. I was nine and we're doing a tag day for Meyer Hocking. So you stand on the corner with a can and somebody puts money in, you give them a tag and all that. And the guy says, one of the kids says to me, are you going to try out for the Pee Wee team, the travel team the travel team i said well i'm only nine years old peewee's 11 12 and he goes yeah but you can try out so i asked my dad he goes yeah sure why not so i tried out and i made the team at nine years old so that's kind of where it all really got started

when i was nine years old making that team playing the quebec peewee tournament two years there and then that was it oh here we go yeah oh my god yeah we got to ask about the quebec peewee tournament what your experience is and i don't know if you know but whit won the whole thing his year so i've never told anyone i told these guys once we got beat out both years in our first game in overtime. But I remember the one time we were in, we got billeted. Yeah. And I remember, well, I mean, I think it was when I was 10. And where I was billeted, they had a daughter that was like about 16 or 17.

Here we go. Beautiful. Be careful, Hallard. about 16 or 17 she here we go beautiful be careful barrel hollard oh like you know but hey i was i was 10 years old so what was i gonna do remember to talk about on chicklets 53 years later like back then was it selling out like that with all the people waiting for autographs on your way out and as big as it is today? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was huge.

I mean, they didn't have all those European teams back then. It was mostly U.S. and Canadian. There was the odd team from Europe. But now, I mean, God, there's teams from all over the world going there now. And it's bigger and better than it ever was so you developed all your skills on the pond at your fourplex who did you grow up rooting for would you walk watch the hockey night in canada broadcast were you were you very dialed into everything going on hockey related yeah pretty much i unfortunately, my father was from Gatineau, so he was a big Habs fan.

And he made my mother a Habs fan. The funny thing was, I didn't leave there until I was nine years old. My sister was a year older. We both could have been bilingual if we had went to English school, French at home, or vice versa. And it never happened. But he taught my mother how to speak french and it took me i think i realized it about 15 years ago why he did that and that was because when they didn't

want us to know what they were talking about they spoke french so so we didn't know what the hell they were saying so all the secrets were kept why did you you guys move from Ottawa to Nova Scotia? My father worked for Dominion Bridge, and they were on a project, and they were bringing a beam across with a crane, hit him in the head, knocked him out, and he fell 40 feet. So he was in the hospital for about a year and a half. I don't know how many surgeries he had,

so he couldn't work on uh with dominion bridge anymore so he started working for a company that made altimeters and different things for aircraft and they were opening a factory in amherst they knew my mother was from charlottetown pei and they asked him if he'd go and run it and he said he said, yeah, sure, no problem. So off we go, and then two years later, the plant shuts down, and we move to Charlottesville. You know, it's funny how many places I've been, and everybody says, well, was your dad in the military? And I go, no.

I said, but we moved a lot. And I mean, personally, myself, I mean, you're in Ottawa, Amherst, Charlottesville, PEI, Sherbrooke, Birmingham, Alabama, Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, Buffalo, Charleston, South Carolina, St. John, New Brunswick, and then Oldville and now Niagara Falls. So I'd move the lock. So those years in Toronto, I mean, the three three straight years you played in three straight

all-star games over 50 goals every season but the team you know it was a struggle right like what do you think it was just not enough depth I mean I guess I guess Harold being so cheap probably had something to do with it but the biggest thing is being a young captain it must have wore on you with a hockey crazy toronto and you guys couldn't couldn't get many wins right it was difficult and it was all because harold wouldn't spend the money on a good general manager or a good coach and they made a lot of bad decisions both the gm and the coach and that was the whole problem. Like, bringing in three 18-year-old defensemen in the same year. Yeah.

Like, it was the stupidest thing I ever saw. Like, they were all, they were 18, but they were at the maturity and the bodies of 50-year-olds. And, like, Jimmy Benning and Boyntruck, even Gary Nyland, who physically was big and strong, but mentally was like a 15-year-old. And that was tough. That was tough going through that. I would imagine it was a lot tougher for them. And because of that, guys like Jimmy Benning had very short careers. I did see, though, that you had 13 playoff games one year. So that means you got out of the first round.

So you did better than what the Leafs are doing now anyway. Oh, for fuck's sakes, Merle, you son of a bitch. You know, it's funny. I went to a thing at the Hall of Fame there and they had a thing on the Leafs, and they went through every decade. And they said the 80s was the worst decade in Maple Leaf history I'm going wait a minute I was there seven years we made the playoffs four times

went to the second round twice and lost in game seven so it couldn't have been all that bad that's better than now yeah absolutely I mean they haven't won a round since 2004. How do you feel about this year? Do you got some good mojo? You got some good juju? Oh, yeah. They're ready this year. They've gotten a lot more depth than they ever had. Like, I talked on our podcast a lot about, like,

Tampa Bay, when they won their Cups, their first line and fourth lines were, you know, not that far apart. And the Leafs were like this. But now the Leafs are like this. They're like Tampa was when they won the cup. So I'm expecting some pretty big things. And I'm going to be there for game one in our alumni box. They picked my name. It's a lottery in the playoffs uh so my name was drawn for the first game and then I'll have to wait till everybody

else gets their turn and then I'll be able to go again in the Stanley Cup finals hopefully oh that's cool they do it like that so how many how how many tickets are there for the alumni box for each game? Like 16-ish? I want to say 20. Oh, that's awesome, actually. Yeah, it's pretty good. And we're right on the 200 level, right behind the visitor's net. Great food, free booze.

Harold wouldn't have been down with this back in the day. He would have been giving you guys dog food. Are you kidding me? Not a chance that he would have done something like that. Rick, who would you say the most impactful person on your career was, especially maybe when you got to pro to learn the man's game? You know what? Oddly enough, the guy that probably had the most impact on my career

was John Brosey. John was from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He was a tough guy himself when he played in the old Eastern League. And he called me in one day and he said, because the year before I got there, they had all the tough guys and they beat the shit out of everybody in the league. So when I got there, all us young guys, well, it was payback time for all the other teams in the WHA.

So he called me in one day and he goes, listen, we only have Dave Hanson now. And, you know, so he can't fight everybody. So if you don't stick up for yourself, he said, they're going to try and run me out of the league. I said, okay. But it was kind of that way anyway. So I had 248 penalty minutes that year,

got the shit kicked out of me multiple times, but had a pretty good year with, I think, 26 goals and 50-some points. And I was pretty happy about that. And then Brophy coached me again in Toronto many years later. So I'd have to say he was probably the first guy that helped me. And then Boria helped me a lot when we were in Toronto, when he sat beside me for seven years. And I remember going to his place many times for parties.

And he had those big fridges, the Sub-Zero ones. So we were over there at one party, and I looked in the fridge. I was looking for a beer, nothing in there. I opened the other one. The whole fridge was just vodka, and I mean, it was full. I said to the boy, I said, what's with all the guts in a vodka in the fridge? He said, well, in Sweden, we like to drink it as shots, and we like it cold. said the boy he said what's with all the guts in a vodka in the fridge and he said well in sweden we like to drink it as shots and we like it cold i said yeah i know but

there's probably about a hundred thousand shots in that fridge he said yeah but it'll it'll be gone at some point they're okay. He's trying to get rid of the calories. No beer. He didn't want the boys slowing down on the ice. That's what Bjora is such a legend in Sweden. I've heard so many stories about him. And that was one, even when he was done with his NHL career, went back and played in Sweden.

He was teaching those guys not to drink beer, to drink vodka, just so they would stay in shape and stay fit and everything. He was such a legend do you have like one other story about him like off the ice that the people would love to hear yeah the best one i think i could probably talk about is uh boria would go skiing up north in uh horseshoe valley or whatever with his family on a saturday afternoon for like three four hours then he would come back and play the damn game and be the best God there for on the ice.

And you see the goggle marks around his eyes and everything. I knew. And Harold probably knew too, and so did GM and the coaches. But when he goes out and he's the best player on the ice, what the hell are you going to do about it? You can't say anything. But when he came over from sweden like he got challenged and tested didn't he and it turned out he was as tough as

nails yeah he certainly was he got challenged very very quickly and they called him chicken swede and all that kind of crap and but i could tell you the one thing about boria i think a lot of people look at him for the amount of points that he had as a defenseman but i gotta tell you he was one of the best defensive defensemen in the national hockey league when i was with played with him i mean he would block shots he he had this little thing they put his stick in and twist. Like he used to drive the truck. The can opener. Like I would be going down with the puck and I'd be by him and I'd go, Oh, good.

I'm going to get a good shot here. And he would put the stick between my stick and my body, just give it a little twist. And then the puck would go off into the corner and I'd get so pissed off at him that he'd just be giggling at me. That's awesome. We were actually going to ask about Brove too because we've had some guys on before,

and they've told some wild stories about when he'd have his snap shows because he was a pretty intense coach. What were some ones that you can remember where you're like, this guy's a loose cannon, but he loved to win hockey games? He did, but he was a bit of a loose cannon. I remember one time we had Paul Henderson,

and Paul was a born-again Christian. But Brofe would come in, and he was, this one particular night, he started at one end of the room, and he went all the way around it. He gave it to every single guy. Then he gets to Paul. And I've never seen Brofe lost for words ever, except for that. He kind of stopped, stared at Paul, and he didn't say anything for about four or five seconds.

And Brofe, when he got mad, his voice would graze. And he goes henny henny maybe you can talk to the pig fella up there is that because these guys all need a bunch of help they're no goddamn good oh my god how did you guys keep a straight face? Were you guys laughing in your jerseys a little bit? Well, you had to be careful because if he caught you laughing, he'd throw something at you. Oh, shit. And someone told me this story about, I think he was in the Halifax in the minors,

and he threw those big things you used to do your six with that had a point on them. Torches. Torches. Torches? Back then, he threw it at somebody and it missed him and it stuck in the garbage can. So if that had hit him, it would have done some serious damage. But the other one was Davey Gorman was a good player.

Rick Adullo was my centerman. And Rick and Davey played junior together at St. Catherine. So Davey would always go down and then cut into the middle. But he had great speed, and Brofe always told him, go wide, use your speed, go wide. So he called Rick in one day, and he said, Rick, what's going on with your buddy there? He keeps cutting into the goddamn middle,

and I keep telling him to go why rich oh i don't know he said well you know what i'd like to do with him i'd like to take a big hatchet and cut his head open down the middle and see what what the fuck is going on in there when rick told me that i just i couldn't believe it it was like oh god but that was bro he was entertaining and he wanted to win so badly like i gotta say if he had to come into the nhl 15 years earlier he probably would have had good success because he was more of a motivator than a an x's and o's type guy was that around the time when things started changing like was there any video implementation or was it more like just systems-based, like very simple systems?

Well, I mean, back then pretty much every team in the league was just, except for Edmonton, was dumping chase. And there really wasn't any set game plans, maybe power play or penalty kill, but that was about it. We had VHS back then. We didn't have the stuff they have now. And I remember we played in Winnipeg one night. Dan Maloney was our coach.

We lost, I think it was 10-1 or 10-0. We fly back the next day, but we don't land until about 1 30 in the afternoon he goes okay everybody right to the right we go to the right we watch the whole goddamn game film and he must have rewound it probably 50 60 times so then he goes okay put your gear on we go out on the ice and he skates our bags off for two hours i got home i think about 8 30 that night i think like i go when hell what is this gonna do like is this gonna make us better you know i mean i gotta work the next game too oh god yeah it was like but that that was just that was just kind of how it was back then.

And the funny thing about Harold and all that, but you know what? There was probably only four or five teams in the 21-team league back then that were run properly. And you could probably go with the Islanders, Edmonton, probably Quebec, Montreal, and that was pretty much it. Every other team had an owner that were very similar to Harold.

How would you summarize your entire time with the Leafs? I mean, we're going to obviously get to Chicago as you moved on, but I mean, how did that trade go down, and how would you summarize your entire career there? I loved it. I loved Toronto. I loved the passion of the fans. I mean, yes, they could get pretty bad on us if we're losing,

but I loved it there, and I didn't want to get traded. I never asked for a trade. I know somebody wrote a book and said I left on bad terms, which was bullshit because I'd never asked for a trade or anything. But I remember one, Dan Maloney, we were in Minnesota. It was when I lost the captaincy. And John Anderson was my roommate for I don't know how many years. They got traded to Quebec.

So we're in Minnesota. We get in on a Thursday, and Quebec's in town. They're playing Minnesota. We're not playing until I think it was Saturday afternoon, I think it was, or Sunday afternoon. So I go out with John after the game. So Dan has practice at 7 o'clock in the morning the next day so greg cherry is my roommate he wakes me up i didn't get out i i got home around one o'clock

but i i had a fair bit to drink and greg woke me up i sat up in the bed he goes are you good i said yep he left the room I put my head on the pillow and I I mispracticed oh no Dan came over and I thought it was a little harsh to be honest with you to take that away from me for just that but I guess that was their thinking and you know there wasn't much I could do about it. It was dumb. You know what? The funny thing is, the next four years, I had 33 goals or more every year,

and then we're at a golf tournament. Telemedia Sports owned the rights to the radio broadcast back then, and they always had a golf tournament in September right before training camp up at Horseshoe Valley. So Bill Waters was my agent. He was up there at the tournament, and we finished the tournament. I come in. He goes, Rick, sorry, but he said you just got traded to Chicago. That was three days before training camp.

So I got to drive home from Horseshoe Valley, pack up the car, and leave the next morning to get to Chicago in time for training camp. I never had a bad time in Toronto. I loved it there. And we were starting to get better. Wendell was there. That was his third year, I think, by then, or second year.

We brought in a couple other good players who were getting a little bit better. And Dan Maloney was finally starting to get what he needed to do to be a better coach. But he wanted a two-year contract and Harold would only give him one. So he went to Winnipeg. And Dan was a funny guy too, because i remember when we had an argument on the ice because he made our line skate because he blamed us for two losses in a row and i got into an argument with him so the next game we're playing philly at home and he sits john anderson billy derlego and myself on the bench for the first half of the first period. Then he starts playing John and Billy.

Well, I'm sitting there. I sat the whole game on the bench. And I remember it like it was yesterday. The guardies could get very quiet at times. And there was a guy about probably six rows behind me in the golds. And he yells down, he says, hey, Rick, you're not very busy. Can you get me a hot dog? And I wanted to turn around so bad and say, what do you want on it?

But Dan was behind me everywhere I went on the bench. And I thought, if I said anything, he's going to punch me in the face. And he probably would have I think Colby Armstrong played a whole game for Terry and where he didn't get one shift isn't that true Merle? Do you remember that story? I'm sure it has we've been all night with those stories I'm surprised you didn't have one where you

sat down the entire game. I would have but he was playing me on the power play only I was playing forward for fine and then playing on the power play he didn't want to mess up cross his play he has to play on the power play so i'll take that well i thought that that was the first time i had another instance like that and that was my i guess was my last year in buffalo john muckler came in he was going to take jerry take over for Jerry Meehan as the GM the following season. He fired Rick Dudley about 18 games into the season. And all of a sudden, I'm sitting in the press box.

So I'm there, and I played a couple of games here and there when we had injuries. We go to Montreal, and of course, i got all kinds of relatives in montreal area because my father's who got no a lot of the moves of the montreal area i had to buy like 15 tickets for that game son of a bitch sat me on the bench the entire goddamn game he called four guys up from the miters and played them and i sat the whole gig and i i wasn't very happy about it so i asked him when i got back i said can i have a meeting with you and he said yeah no problem so i go in i go why did you embarrass me like that in montreal you knew i had 15 people there relatives he goes well i didn't to, I wasn't trying to embarrass

you. I said, well, you did a pretty good job, whether you were trying or not. And I said, listen, I said, John, it's pretty obvious you don't want me here. I said, why don't you put me on wave? He goes, I already did. Nobody wants you. I said, yeah, you put me on recallable. so no one's going to claim me because they know you're going to recall me he goes it's the same thing I go you know it's not so I went to Jerry and I said listen can you talk to John and if you can't move me by the deadline send me to Rochester because Tampa and Ottawa were coming in the next year, and I wanted to play. So I went down there, and of course, I hadn't played in like three months,

and it took me about four games to get into the flow of things again. I ended up playing 13 games, I think, regular season, and then we ended up going to the semifinals. So it was fun. Hockey was fun for me again when I got down there. I want to ask you something more positive about your time with the Sabres. A player that's a really interesting guy is Alexander Mogilny. We don't hear enough about him. What do you got for us on him? You guys have probably all been asked the same thing. Who is the best player you ever played with or against? That is the guy that I say.

Oh, shit. I have never seen a guy go from zero to full speed in two strides like this guy. And he would go down, put the puck underneath, and the fence was sticked about three times. And the next thing you knew, he was around them. And you go, how did he do that and the guy the guy was unbelievable and you know he scored what 76 goals one year or something and then you put him and LaFontaine together and that they just were tearing it up yeah you play

with some legends there I mean Dave Andertruck was there as far as Mogilny though I want to say that that was his rookie season uh like how was his english and like did you did you ask him at all about defecting from russia and like what that was like what the feeling was personally for him at the time because that was probably some chaos in his life yeah it was he actually defected when they were in the world juniors in alaska in Alaska. And how about this? He was on line with Murray and, gosh, what's that guy's name? Federov.

Federov. Could you imagine them playing together in the back pocket? I mean... Oh, my God. So he defected from there. I talked to him a little bit. He didn't really want to get into it

very much, but his english wasn't all left out actually and uh but i think it was his second or third year of course i hate flying and it's probably a control thing with me because i don't have my hands on the wheel and so i would always sit behind beside beside Alex because he was worse than I was. So that made me feel safe. But anyway, we're coming back from L.A. We got a stop in Detroit, and we got a connecting flight to Buffalo.

We go to a new gate, and we're all waiting there, and we're ready to board the plane. And everybody's looking around and so was his where's alex nobody knew where he was well he left the airport and he took a bus back to buffalo so the rest of the season the guy who helped out the trainers in rochester drove him to all the games he drove him to st lou Louis from Buffalo for a game. And Alex would just lay down in the back seat, sleep, and this guy had to drive him everywhere.

Unbelievable. What a great set of stories you have here, Rick. We appreciate it. It was a hell of a run you had, man. I mean, I guess playing in Buffalo, you saw how rabid those fans can be 12 years now since they've been in the cup playoffs. So hopefully that switches around next year for them.

You saw how passionate they were. Oh, yeah. And they've got some good young players. They've got a couple more guys still in Rochester that are going to be coming up. Get that in tune here. They're going to be a team to reckon with for sure. We got to talk about your coaching career.

You were down in South Carolina with the Stingrays. I mean, that's one of the best places in the world to play hockey. But I heard a story about your goalie was using illegal pads one game, and you got caught with it. No shit. Well, that was funny because I was in the finals and we were playing the louisiana ice skaters and god what's the guy's name the coach um oh god anyway he complained to the referees that is our goalies pads were too big so uh annie van helleman was in charge of the officials he comes in the room and he goes

he's complaining the other guy about your goalie's pads so he said just jump on them for a while he said and make them a little bit thinner he said i don't think they're illegal but let's just make sure so they got the trainers jumping on the pads and everything and then he measures them he goes yep they're fine that was it we beat them four games to one and the reason we beat them because they were so undisciplined they took so many penalties and our power play was 33 percent in that series fuck the oil Oilers. They're new school Oilers. Yeah, well, we had a good team. Robbie Kincannon, right?

Yeah, Robbie was there. Well, he's a president there now. Yeah, never left. What an unbelievable, crazy son of a bitch he was. I mean, he would do some really crazy shit yeah there's there's some amazing stories about him i can't even tell you the stuff that he did because well no i can't but anyway he's a great kid i had a lot of great kids back then the biggest thing for me coaching was when I finished playing, I took a short psychology thing online that I bought five books on psychology and sports psychology. I read the hell out of them.

So it was my communication skills with my players. You know, I would pick three guys every day that I was going to have a conversation with. And I would tell them before practice on the ice, I want to see you in my office after practice. And they'd probably be shitting their pants the whole practice. They'd come in. I'd just say, hey, how's it going?

How's the apartments? Are they okay? Is there anything I can do? If they had a wife or a girlfriend, are they okay with it? Is there anything I can help you with? And they had a wife or a girlfriend, are they okay with it? Is there anything I can help you with? And they'd be sitting there like going, holy cow. And then they'd walk out. So they knew when I went in and gave them shit that, you know, I cared about them

and I just wanted them to be better. And I had great captains and assistants. I only did it twice, but I called them in twice and i said guys tomorrow you're going to pick up the paper and i'm going to be blasting you three guys it has nothing to do with you guys you're doing your job i gotta wake those other assholes in there so i said if they read what i'm saying about you they're're going to go, holy shit, he could get rid of me tomorrow. Sure enough, that was after we'd lose like four or five in a row. And then we'd go and win 12 in a row after that.

So, so obviously it woke him up. They needed a kick in the arse. I actually heard another story too. Is it true that when Shanahan, Brendan Shanahan was 14, he somehow ended up where you were and asked you for an autograph and you, and you snubbed them. And then years later, when you ended up on the were and asked you for an autograph and you and you snubbed them and then years later when you ended up on the ice together he tried to go after you

you know first of all i don't even remember it he he leaked into the press actually and he we used to skate at etobicoke centennial monday to friday the whole month of August, first week of September going into camp. Apparently he was on another pad, according to him, and he came in for an autograph, and I wouldn't sign it for him, according to him. And so when he was in New Jersey where he got drafted, I was in Buffalo, we're lined up at the face-off, they dropped the puck, he jumps me and beats the shit out of me. And, you know, I mean go and i said like what the hell was that for what the fuck did i do autograph and i go what the fuck

like i'm going like that was four years ago like you know like i didn't remember that and and if i did you know what i i apologize to him i said if i did that i apologize but i wouldn't do that to a teenager uh back then it's just not something that was in my dna so to speak the only thing i could think of is that i was already halfway in my car or something and i had to be someplace i don't know what happened he was being a seeker shanney was being a loser seeker he's probably trying to sell it make a couple bucks don't worry hey my only thing i'm worried about for you though is they might take away the the seafood tower and the alumni box because he's the president of the team there in toronto so no because he pumped his eyes shut he's a viper had turned around and me, he wouldn't even be going to the game.

No, I wouldn't be. You're right. But no, he invited me down to meet Austin that time and then to the dressing room. And then when Guy Lafleur passed away, he invited me to go on a private jet with him and Wendell and Dougieie to montreal to pay our respects and you know he's been good to me i i mean i aside from not uh retiring my sweater perhaps but you know what are you gonna do hey hey did you ever end up giving him an autograph and handing it to him hey i got you i know i know i'm a little late here, but here you go, pal.

Yeah, you know what? I thought about that, but I thought, eh, that probably isn't the best thing for me to do. When the guy's the president of the hockey club and I just didn't think that was a smart thing to do. I did think about it, though, Biz. Hey, I was surprised you didn't put out the receipt for the private plane and ask you to sign that as the autograph but you know what he's been good to me i can't like you know i can't complain uh and i get a lot of things through mlsc uh got a big

thing on saturday that pays well i do a lot with them i'm i'm not under contract but but i do a lot of things i still love doing it and uh still love going to the games watching them play and i think this year i've heard you say it biz and i agree 100 this could be a real special year for this team yeah biz is saying it you know there's a real good chance it's gonna happen so you're right on that one tampa sweet on fire since this podcast began i said boston was gonna miss the playoffs this year how's that one for you oh god you said yeah i reversed mush them into into first place overall ever best season go on then He wants him second round. That's all he wants is he wants him second round. Pressure's on them, Rick.

Perfect. You know what? The only thing I look at in that first round, Tampa's basically playing with house money. They've gone to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row, so if they lose in the first round, it's no big deal, right? And the pressure's on Toronto to win that round. I mean, they haven't done it since 2004,

and there's going to be a lot of pressure on those players. But I think they have enough depth, and they've made their back end better. Samsonov's been outstanding lately, so I don't see how Thaba can beat them in the first round. I love it. I love the positivity, Rick. Well, Rick, I hope you enjoyed coming on and telling some old stories

because I know us three really did enjoy getting to hear some of that old-time hockey stuff. So thank you so much. Well, it was old-time hockey, that's for sure, and I loved playing it. It was a little more difficult back then than it is now. You think? These guys going down and cutting in the slot

and going right down the middle, and I'm thinking, holy shit, if I had done that, Scott Stevens would have been coming over to take my head off. Exactly. But you know what? The skill level of these players today is off the charts. It's unbelievable. It's fun to watch.

And the game is growing. It's great. And you know what? Gary Bettman gets a lot of shit from people. But hey, he's made the players and the owners a hell of a lot of money the last 30 years, so you can't say anything bad about the guy. I tell you what these young guys can't do is tell stories like you old guys.

You guys are the best. That's right, because they don't even go out anymore. No. Thanks so much. That interview was brought to you by Chevy. You guys know I've talked about it. We've been a part of the Chevy EV family, and we got big news. The first ever all-electric Silverado is officially Barstool's most valuable truck.

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but hopefully everybody enjoyed that out there. There's some news out in your neck of the woods. We have to talk about this? It's hockey news, and that's what we do here uh the coyote coyotes latest bid to stay in arizona uh shit the bed uh tempe voters said no to the proposal that would have built a new entertainment district and an arena that would have ensured the desert dog stayed out there for who knows how many more years uh the turnout by voters 65 and older was 63 and they made up 43 43% of all voters. So basically, the old folks were like, fuck this. We don't want our taxes going to this.

I think the franchise sealed its fate with the Glendale shit a long time ago, but there was very little public support. There was a political action committee for the Yotes. They spent $200,000, while the opposition spent $2 million on it. So it was like 10 times more on it. It's all fucking PR stuff. The thing is, what? Does Gary call it a day with Arizona or what?

I mean, what's the next option here? I know the owners are saying they're going to pursue other things, but there's no fucking plan B here. I mean, let's face it. Yeah, it seems as though the time has finally come. And credit to Keith Yandel. He said on Game Notes Friday without the coyotes, right?

There's not an Austin Matthews in the league. So it does suck. And we've been harder than coyotes. There aren't a ton of, um, loyal, like diehard coyotes fans. I, maybe I'm wrong on that biz.

I think you'd disagree, but overall it's been a shit show there for quite some time. Now, maybe if somehow the sun's owner, like those are the rumblings, maybe the Suns owner could get involved and they could play there, but my favorite part of

all of this is them losing the vote and somebody going all rogue on the Twitter account saying, if you give us enough likes, we'll release our new arena plan. Like, dude, the arena plan just got axed about an hour ago. I don't know.

Whoever took over Twitter was on the crap. I run the Twitter. You shut the fuck up. I run the Twitter. I mean, it's funny, but it's like it looks like a joke. It looks exactly like. I mean, I got it right here. They're like, oh, who wants to see our next plan?

Like, click here. And they literally fucking Rickrolled people. Fucking Rickassie. That's a 30-year-old fucking internet meme. And so you're an NHL team, and you're fucking doing this to your fans? It was like, I mean, it was a clown show that got even worse, man. I don't know. I don't know what the fuck they're doing.

Not to mention the fact that while being a cool atmosphere for fans this year, I mean, they're playing in a 4,000-seat arena. It's the NHL. They ended up being a really good home team, and the vibe apparently was great. It's an NHL hockey game played in front of 4,700 people. What are we doing? You didn't claim Tyler's dad was into the wine when he sent out those tweets?

There's that. And then there's Logan Cooley who said he's going back to college as well. My boy, Logan Cooley. The first round pick at 22. Tyler's dad was sending out tweets? Yeah. He said he got hacked. Kind of like when I got hacked when I posted

all the photos of the girl doing woof of of happy of happy birthday lines of the bad guy in dallas's girlfriends uh yeah yeah i mean his father well the tweets appeared on his father's uh account about like clayton's not gonna go back to phoenix next year blah blah he come out said he was hacked whether he was or wasn't i mean it wouldn't serve clayton to not go back I mean you're under contract you're not gonna get paid I don't know I don't know what he would do that for anyways and I don't think

that was really true but either way it's just an absolute clusterfuck his agents did meet with the Coyotes brass to discuss the future on and off the ice and they are gonna play at mullet next year that was already planned but for the next year after that nobody no clue nobody knows who they're gonna play this is a fucking NHL team and they don't have a fucking bond next year all right from my

understanding they got about six months to try to get something else done uh currently they're looking at mesa at uh it's probably about 15 minutes from the site where they were trying to get approved in tempe um i was a little discouraged when i heard that the opposition spent 2 million to try to get it rejected where they only spent 200. It seemed like maybe they underestimated the amount of people that didn't want that to happen. Although in the same breath, it's like allowing all these older people to decide what the future should behold. It's kind of like, ah. It's kind of like, ah, but once again, like if I'm coming from a biased opinion, it's like, all right, well, you know, I'm just very overall disappointed because I call Scottsdale home and that area and that organization was the being in the desert because with five million people being in that you know hour radius in that area i just can't see a reason why it can't succeed and ra going back to your point yeah i think the i think the story was written when they went to

glendale originally yeah originally broke ground um you know in the scottsdale area or planned on it and then last minute they came in and said hey we're going to give you the land for free in Glendale. And at the, and, and to defend the decision at the time in which they made the decision, the Glendale was like technically the fastest growing city in America based on what was popping up there, but maybe not the demographic who can afford season tickets and afford to go to sporting events. So to contradict myself. So that was why they decided it along with the fact they were getting free land and it's just been a shit show. And now they find themselves in this situation where, um, some roads seem like they're leading to Utah where the owner for the NBA team there is, is very excited about potentially bringing in a hockey team.

And from my understanding is that that happened, they would then build a new arena for the basketball team and hockey team. Uh, also rumblings of Atlanta, Houston, and then, uh, Casey.

Uh, I don't think, uh, Quebec city is, is a possibility, but if they don't get this thing done in six months and try to shift to a new idea of an arena and mesa i think that the coyotes are going to be moving to a new destination and that really sucks for me but i understand the decision and the fact that they can't they

couldn't figure things out another thing too about the arena situation most of it was going to be self-funded so i don't that is a little bit frustrating too where it's like as far as taxpayer dollars like how many and fuck we're talking about a huge entertainment district and and revitalizing an area that has a lot of empty dirt so uh sucks uh but whatever i'll still call that area home and uh you got to move on. Hey, when I was just thinking if they leave, it might not be so bad for biz as he thinks he'd be like business hockey and hiking camp. Shut the fuck

up with the hiking, you fucking asshole. I just lost my NHL team. Let's go for a hike and then shoot some twisting wrist. There's boys hiking fantasy camp and like nobody signs up. They're like, uh, you know,

I'm all sad. I do feel bad for the fans. Cause they, there are a lot of fans. Yeah. Oh, I didn't even mention the fans. That's what I was.

Fuck. That's the last thing I forgot. Four Sunbelt teams in the finals right now. I've on the semifinals, Vegas, Dallas, Raleigh, and Fort Lauderdale.

Like hockey works in the South, the hot market. Since that's bullshit that it doesn't work there. But when you put an arena fucking 45 minutes away and it becomes a cluster in Fort Lauderdale. Like, hockey works in the South, the hot market. That's bullshit that it doesn't work there. But when you put an arena fucking 45 minutes away and it becomes a clusterfuck, then you can't establish what you need to do.

And I mean, obviously, it worked there early on when they played at the old arena where the Suns were, when, you know, the first couple of years when they were the Phoenix Coyotes with Big Walt and Roenick

and all those guys. But they just couldn't get it right since then. And it's like, all right, man, if you're going to fuck this up too much, then we got to go somewhere else. And I think Houston, I know I've said it before, then. And it's like, all right, man, if you're going to fuck this up too much, then we got to go somewhere else. And I think Houston, I know we've said it before, seems like the most

viable option, the biggest city without a team. They have an arena that could fit everybody. They don't have to build anything new. And it's a natural rivalry with Dallas. But, you know, I do have a lot of sympathy for the fans who've been sticking by this team for 25 years. I feel bad for them. It sucks. They've done nothing wrong.

They've done nothing wrong so i i will say this is a visiting guy that like went to play there when you went out there like i didn't think like anything well it sucked there's no fans most of the time but i it was cool going out there like we stayed out we stayed sometimes we stayed like a nice golf resort if we were there for longer or we stayed at a hotel right next to the rink but like you're in this, like there's like fountains and music outside and shit. Like I was like, this is kind of cool. Like I heard ice.

Yeah. I was like, this is like in the middle of nowhere. I didn't even know I was in the middle of nowhere. This is awesome. It's a tough, just a tough look for the league. We're on a respirator right now.

We need help. Maybe we start a go fund me. Every chicklets fan just throw in what? 10 grand? I think we can make a stab at it. Hold on, let me get my checkbook. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said Friday he's planning to meet

with Batman about the possibility of moving to Cairo's to Hartford. It's like, buddy, shouldn't he wish for 100 bucks? He would get fills up first, buddy. There's no way that fucking Hartford is getting a hockey team. They don't have a rink. That's just like a pipe dream. That's never going to happen. Hoffman's never getting a team, right, Ami?

I mean, for real? No. Get the fuck out of here. Well, Bettman's helping him do that. He's helping Shani pick a new GM. And I mean, he's got a lot going on. He's got lots going on. If you had to guess a team, I'm going to guess Houston.

I guess the city, rather. Where do you think they end up if they do in fact move after the season? Houston would probably be mine too. I got to piggyback on you there. Oh my God. I'm with you too. I said tough way to end the podcast.

Oh no. I played for the Phoenix Coyotes and people are going to be like who? He's going to say Arizona Coyotes. They're going to be like, oh yeah. I remember them. You were the radio guy that was all fucked up that night.

Yeah. Took my girlfriend home. You sprayed your quad on that hike. I remember meeting you. Gary Bettman is going to meet with Joel Quenville after the playoffs to review his coaching status. This is per Darren Dreger. And Stan Bowman is in the same boat.

He's been talking to a bunch of teams to get employed again, but they have to get approved by Gary Bedman to rejoin the league. I don't know what the parameters are for it, whatever. I don't know what the proper penance is, but either way, they got to have a sit down with Gary. I don't think they got to kiss the ring or whatever, but Joe Quenville trying to get back of the game and Stan Bowman as well. I don't know what happens there. I mean,

I don't again like this is treaded. What would you say the odds of that is of him getting a job again of them getting like reinstated to come back at this point right now? I think much more likely than not, you know, really, I thought they would be like kind of on the lower end.

I mean, the more time goes by, it's just like you know, really, I thought they would be like kind of on the lower end. I mean, the more time goes by the it's it's just like, you know, years will go by and at some point they'll give him the chance to work in the league again. I mean, Quenville have a job immediately. So it's basically up to Batman, I guess, in terms of

like, all right, we'll make him make him wait another couple years or he's done his time. Yeah, it's it's like I said, it's new territory. This type of thing never happened before. What, you right, we'll make him wait another couple of years or he's done his time. Yeah, it's like I said, it's new territory. This type of thing that never happened before. What, you know, guy's got to, you know, what is it? You got to say the right thing. You got to do something. I don't know.

I don't know what Gary Bettman's thinking, but we'll keep tabs on it. And one last story here. Joe Valeno of the Detroit Red Wings organization. This is a brutal scene. What the hell was he doing? He was trying to chop a guy's leg off. Ugly, dangerous, over the world. Where was the world this year, Rami?

Riga, Latvia. Helsinki? Biggest smoke shows on the planet. I played an exhibition game there. I almost fucking broke my neck. Staring up in the crowd nonstop. I was wearing a neck brace for weeks. He cranked the cock off my torso

with all the visual smack. He was battling behind a neck brace for two weeks after the trip. He was battling with that. Nino Niederreiter behind the net. He just looked like he just stomped on his fucking ankle slash Achilles. I mean, he could have easily gashed him, but fortunately nothing happened.

And ironically, they call the penalty on Niederreiter. I HF suspended him for five games, which basically ends the tournament for him. But just the ugly man. Like, what do you think? That's just a horrific fucking thing to do in the sport biz, right? But that's fucking crazy. Late in your shift, no oxygen going your brain for whatever reason he was frustrated at the

fact that Nita Ryder was protecting the puck and it was staying stagnant on the wall no whistle and yeah I mean I'm imagining a very regrettable decision for him I'm sure he feels like a fucking idiot especially with the amount of backlash going online you know you've seen a few instances in the past where guys have had those Achilles injuries I like a fucking idiot especially with the amount of backlash going online uh you know you've seen

a few instances in the past where guys have had those achilles injuries i don't think matt cook did it on purpose to carlson any ottawa fans are probably losing their mind right now at me saying that but this one was like legitimate deliberate he just lifted his leg i don't think he tried to get his foot in front to go along, like to get like kind of. You're talking the cook situation. No, I'm talking the Valeno Valeno. It looked like he knew.

It looked like he meant to, I'm just saying, do you think he was trying to do something else? And that happened? I would love to know what he said. Yeah. Yeah. I would.

Yeah. Maybe like to know what it just didn't look good. It didn't, it looked horrible. He went right down on it. And thankfully he ended up getting the pad, the area of the padding that has the plastic in front of it. Yeah. it just didn't look good it didn't it looked horrible he went right down on it and thankfully he ended up getting the pad the area the padding that has the plastic in front of it yeah and and not in behind and uh and at least he didn't come out with a major injury but i think the rest of

the tournament is a fair punishment a learning experience and hey they'll face off against each other more than likely in the nhl and that's why I love fighting in the NHL where Niederreier is going to take matters into his own hands, I imagine. I guess a little poetic justice that the Swiss won that game over Canada as well. I thought that was poetic justice considering the guy tried to cut his fucking foot off. Well, he got five games, right? They suspended him five games. And I even seen like Evander Kane who got his arm like gashed open skated over he he's had he said on on there too after my incident and kind of some of the attention drawn to you know how serious

these can be and how how much time he missed and how serious and scary that was like what the fuck are you thinking trying even trying to do something like this so i don't know like i i try to like think about i'm trying to think about i'm like did he did he really like because when you see it it looks like he like karate kicks him in the leg like that yeah but i don't know if he's motion that a hockey player was doing that situation that's crazy uh so yeah that wraps up all the hockey news boys um pga championship uh i know what uh kept going on it i know i know we're not gonna get into too much but we didn't have any dough on that uh in the movie i know a few guys watch it we can talk about it next week but raving about this i said you and you and ra just back and forth love the show yeah i loved it too

yeah i wrote a little piece on it over the weekend too i was uh i was very happy with the thing uh also succession another only like two episodes left? But you're a Succession guy, right? I'm going to watch this. There's two episodes left, so episode nine is tonight. It's already happened. Such a great show, yeah. Episode eight, all right, with the election. I haven't watched any of this, boys. I haven't gotten anything away.

No, we won't spoil. Episode eight involves the presidential election. That's not giving anything away. That's been leading up to that. One of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen in my life. I love the show to begin with, but it was just awesome viewing. I'm

pissed off that show's going away. It's a great, great show. I'd rather shows go out on top with a little left of the tank instead of milking it for three more years. He's actually English. Matthew McFfade there the scenes with him and shiv like like holy fuck dude they were going at it unreal stuff and also barry that's winding down to the bill bill hayden show of snl if you haven't watched that tremendous fucking show it's sort of

like a break of bad as far as like you know going dark to light comedy and horrific stuff all the time fantastic show but uh boys any final thoughts, whatever, before we close up shop for the night? No game notes daily all week starting today as you're listening at noon on Chicklets YouTube, Chickletons Twitter. I'll be definitely on that show one, if not more days this week. We have bang the glass guy now joining the show and we'll be, we'll be back to you soon enough. I would like to say my heart's going out to the all coyotes fans out there. I appreciate you mentioning that. All right.

Cause I would have felt like an idiot not mentioning it. Everybody, everybody works for the organization to Judd Austin Matthews agent, please for the love of God, maybe sprinkle in a little bit of a hometown discount. Let's get the job done here. And to the GM search, I hope it's Bradtree Living because we'll have them at the live show in Toronto at the All-Star Game next year, which seems to be something that we all agree on we're doing. Oh, yeah.

Is that too much of a sprinkle of a tease or what? We're doing that. We're doing it, baby. We're doing it. And make sure to check out. I might get a tomato chucked at my head make sure you should we should fucking initiate you on stage uh check out the charles barkley interview make sure you check out the sandbagger thank you to portnoy and josh richards for being

a part of that wayne mcbean coyotes alumni he's the one who set us up at his course and is as miserable as it was we're very grateful that you could squeeze us in during Superbowl week. And we know that was a difficult move. So we appreciate you. And what's the name of the course again? Los Ciendas. Help me out, G.

I, I do not know off the top of my head. All right. We'll end it on that note. Go check it out on YouTube. You'll see the name of the court.