Spittin Chiclets - Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 449: Featuring Stanley Cup Champions Jonathan Marchessault + Zach Whitecloud

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

On Episode 449 of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Stanley Cup Champions Jonathan Marchessault and Zach Whitecloud. Marchy joined ( 00:58:09) to discuss winning the Cup, the parade, winning the Conn Smythe and tons more. The boys are then joined by Zach Whitecloud (02:09:42) to discuss his role in winning the cup, his heritage, the parade shannigans and tons more. But first, the guys open the show discussing how they all got to party with the Cup in Las Vegas. Murls gives his recap of the Chiclets Decathlon and Whit breaks down the US open.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 449 of Spit and Chicklets presented by Pink Whitney with my friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports podcast family. How we doing everyone? Another season in the books, still got the drafts, a little free agency yet to come but another big trip for the boys, a great one, let's go around the table here. Merle, thanks for joining us, late notice, how we doing my friend? to come but another big trip for the boys a great one let's go around the table here merles thanks for joining us late notice how we doing my friend i'm doing a lot better the voice is still not back to 100 after that that two-week run but um it's good to it's good to be back i'm back in my

parents in troy new york i am relaxing i'm drinking water i'm hanging out the pool my wife and kid so it's a lot different than last time I saw you guys in Vegas. You think you actually have a normal person voice, but it's carved into what it is now based on all the bender weekends. So you've had to adapt on how to speak coming out of the bender weekends. Yeah. I'm afraid this is maybe my voice now forever. I think there was an actor. I don't know if it was Cuba Gooding and junior or somebody like that they had to do a different voice for a movie and after the nine months of doing it he just got stuck with it for like a long time so i'm hoping i'm still hydrating i'm still on the good thing it wasn't radio for cuba or he would be i would that would

have been a tough one to stick with yeah if fact check that one for me all right you're the movie guy but there was somebody that didn't confirm it wasn't radio i forgot about that movie oh i can confirm it's not radio murals that's like with no prior knowledge coming into this murals have you logged how many miles you traveled this season you keep track of it just no that's a good good idea though i should do that i think the tax man would want to know where i am at all times though so maybe i don't want to release that. No shit. Definitely want to keep that in the down low. Next up, let's go to the wit dog, Ryan Whitney.

What's going on, my man? How we doing? Not much. Not much at all. I'm just hanging. Yeah, that was a tough one. I'm not going to lie. It was like, holy shit, of course they're going to win it while we're there.

The video I dropped of the uh of merles as we left each other on uh wednesday morning or whatever it was it was like we met at the airport and just hammered like a 24 ouncer and i was i was wrecked again wrecked i was like oh my god i was like i actually don't feel that bad for not sleeping although i guess if you never go to sleep and then have another beer like i guess why wouldn't you be wrecked again? But I thought I kind of sobered up a little bit. But we went hard. We saw one of the most electric atmospheres in sports history. I'll stand by that.

I haven't been to a professional soccer game or a World Cup game. But hockey-wise, holy shit. Merles did every single game. The Chicklets Decathlon, one of the all-time greatest achievements this podcast has ever seen and we all got to experience kind of a night with the cup i mean some more than others obviously ra snuck in through a birthday cake and figured his way his name's engraved on it now yeah it's on the bottom he got the engraver to chisel it out at the third cup party he snuck into he gave the engraver the same shrooms he got in Florida.

The guy hasn't been seen from since. And the cup's wild and all over the continent. But, yeah, no, it's nice to get home. And it's nice to kind of put a wrap on the season. I mean, I know we got the draft and the awards and free agency coming up to really finish things off. But besides the second round, which is a little bit of a disappointment, I guess the conference finals obviously lacked a little juice. Overall, with the first round, it was a fun playoff to be a part of.

And I was very happy for the Golden Knights. A lot of those guys have been through a lot in their careers, and they got the chance to lift it. It was a cool story. Happy to be there. And we're going to have a pair of them on the show a little bit later. We'll get to that in a bit. But next up, Paul, Biz Nasty.

All right. I'm coming back at you, buddy, because we had two guys on, and we lost you. The cup was won, and then R.A. disappears like Houdini. Now, during these two interviews, you were very quiet about what happened. It was like he wasn't on the trip. It's like you weren't on the trip so take us through what the hell happened the minute the stanley cup was won how did you find your way downstairs how did you end up around the families like what was your night like because i feel like you celebrated more than anybody

before you go i thought you sent the group chat a text like fucking t--Mobile Arena, fuck this place or something. So I was like, oh, I think they might have grabbed him. I thought security might have nabbed you. It's exactly what I thought when I got that text. And as for that, because I don't want to take away from the interviews with those guys. Oh, you're so classy. Oh, okay. No, people aren't tuning in to hear my goofy stories with those guys.

Maybe now they are. But so, no, that message, it was about the signal in there, the texting. It was brutal in there. I mean, it's T-Mobile Arena. I think that's any sporting event, though, now. Your phone doesn't work. Yeah, it was particularly bad there. So I wasn't shitting on the arena. I'm sorry you couldn't get cell reception in

the dressing room, R.A. I'm very, very sad. Finally, you ended up getting the Wi-Fi code. When you have Michael's jockstrap around your head, it's hard to get a signal. Hey, hey, hey, Michael's celebrating doing interviews, like emotional interviews. RA's like, hey, what's the Wi-Fi code in here?

Hey, let me hop on the Wi-Fi here. Oh, fuck. Yeah, so what'd you do, RA? Stayed for the cup presentation. You know, like, why wouldn't you? I mean, it's a historic thing to see. Where were you during that? At the seats. He was doing pyro. Oh, we were at the seats. Oh, no, me and mean it's where were you during that at the seat he was doing

pyro oh we were at the seat oh no me and Merle's not like that box yeah the box well then someone snagged my seat before the third so I was a downer row so you might not see me there no I sat in the seat watch all the cup presentation then everybody was that level above I found you guys

up there and I left someone left my charger there and a couple guys were using it and I was like oh I think. I found you guys up there. Someone left my charger there, and a couple guys were using it. And I was like, oh, I think that's mine. The guy's like, he's like, can I use it for a couple minutes? He had an accent. I was like, yeah, okay, but I don't want to say no. So I took a piss. Everybody left. I didn't know where anyone went. I got ghosted on the text. So I talked to these guys.

They were friends at Wild Bill. So they're like, oh, just come with us. So I, fuck it, why not? Went and roamed. It was Phillip. No, it wasn't Phillip. Super agent. No, it come with us. So I went in Rome. Phillip. It was Phillip. No, it wasn't. We were hanging out with Phillip. Super agent. No, it wasn't.

Flew in. No, it wasn't. Phillip definitely wasn't. Phillip, because we went to dinner with the night. That's Carlson's agent. Wild Bill's agent. So we're going to get to Wild Bill in a little bit here, but we're getting to Wild R.A. right now. Keep going.

So everyone left. And I was like, I'll let the guy who's my charger. And they're like, hey, come with us downstairs. And you know how they had that potty, whatever, like in the arena. I don't know if you guys were there at all. It was like family and friends and shit. That's why we're asking you. Like you got in.

We did not. We're not family. So I don't know if I snuck in. I mean, I was invited by those guys. I mean, when someone says come with us, I mean, it's not really a sneak. Okay, so you don't want to rat out the family member that made you Uncle Fester? The guy who had you put a mustache on before you went in. That was great down there, too.

I mean, there was tons of people just shooting the shit. It was a good vibe. And all of a sudden, everyone just started bailing because they were going to, what was the place? It was the name of that. The first, Jewel there. And so everyone just kind of separated i was by myself so i'm like all right i'm gonna get a couple beers go maybe go to the room smoke a joint kind of re like re-establish my bearing see what's going on because i know

the tech so i look right now the guys i had seen a half hour earlier that i was in the elevator with i saw them and a bunch of other guys going down the escalator into jewel so i just like kind of slithering here with trojan horse style they were like hey what's up a bunch of other guys going down the escalator to Jewel. So I was just like, kind of slithering here with Trojan horse style. They were like, hey, what's up? A couple of guys said, hi. I just stood there. The bouncers all thought I was with those guys. So right into the moose, right into fucking Jewel.

And then we would hang out there for however long. I mean, lose track of time. And then everyone split up from there. But I got friendly with one. I think I met a friend of this guy, his brother. We were hanging out, doing a bunch of drinking. So when I left with him, he gave me a wristband. We took one of the shuttles together.

So I was pretty much legit by that time. All right. Speaking of shuttle buffets. That was incredible. That was incredible. You don't sneak into these places. We all just figured it out by you telling the story. You just ride the wave.

Yeah. And the wave just takes. You own the place. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Guys, Witt here. And the wave just takes. Exactly on the place. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Guys, Whit here.

We know what's up. It's Pink Whitney time. It's the drink of the season. It's the drink of the year. Possibly even the drink of the century. We'll see in a few years how that ends up going. But listen, I got a lot of people in my DM saying, Whit, you're talking about Pink Whitney.

You're talking about Pink Whitney all over the golf course, all over the beach. How about us lake people? I got a bunch of people in my DM saying, wait, you're talking about Pink Whitney. You're talking about Pink Whitney all over the golf course, all over the beach. How about us lake people? I got a bunch of people in Muskoka up in Ontario. Bring up the lake people. So you know what? If you're out there ripping around the lake, putting your feet in the soggy bottom. I'm not a lake guy. It's too creepy at the bottom.

But if you're putting your feet in the lake, if you're a tubing guy on the lake, that's where Pink Whitney's at. It's water. It's land, which makes up the entire earth. And there's Pink Whitney everywhere. We got guys all over LACC for the U.S. Open this week. Send me pictures of Pink Whitney nips. They're sneaking in. We got apparently F1 racers drinking our stuff, G.

I know I'm not ready to say names, but apparently we got some F1 guys into the Pink Whitney So we got fast cars We got slow golfers We got crazy ass people on a lake And we got lunatics out on the beach with a shark swim Because the sharks know what's up too That's Pink Whitney baby And I just want to say to everyone

Once again thank you so much for enjoying the drink Thank you so much for buying it It's kind of a It's a pleasure of my life to know that I've been able to share this drink with so many others that have caught a buzz, maybe talked to a girl they were too nervous to talk to because of that pink drink, giving them a little confidence. It's all about Pink Whitney. And we appreciate your support. I'll always love you. And thank you so much for enjoying it.

All sizes, one flavor, one name, the Wit Dog. Pink Whitney. Biz, but speaking of shuttles, though, like, I sat down in my seat, and one of my buddies from home, he's like, look who my buddy's found. All right, I don't even know if you remember this, but my buddy, his friends were out at the game, and they had, like, a sick sprinter van, and there's just a picture of you on the sprinter van, like ripping a bowl. I was like,

just, just ripping out hundreds. I don't know how he met him, but R.A. is on this, these dudes bus now. I was like, this guy is an international man of mystery. He was lying the whole time.

He had a feature on Vegas. Right before the game, you were on a bus with some guys. Oh, fuck. Oh yeah. What about that? Unbelievable. know i yuck because i i don't i think i was got lost going through new york new york or some shit now yeah that's i forgot

about that fucking thing holy shit what should we go back i mean should we go back to this dinner we had with this guy he just shows up we go to the tables next thing you know houdini he was gone again you're you're you're're the international man of mystery. Merle, you were there, Gam. By the way, I know the worst odds in the casino, but fucking three-card poker me right in the five hole all day long. It's a great game. I love it.

Drinking game. I love it. We were getting smoked, dude. I got in there Sunday and had a bankroll. We're just getting killed. And I just needed something to slow down the pace. I mean, blackjack, boom, loss, boom, dude. I got in there Sunday and had a bankroll. We're just getting killed. And I just needed something to slow down the pace. I mean, Blackjack, boom, loss, boom, loss,

double loss, boom. And so, boom, Merle's like, let's do some three-card poker. Well, we all had a little bit of success. We also had fun because you could take time looking at your cards. You want to play the hand. You want to fold, whatever. Well, finally, finally we won something. It was it was like i i i i

don't know why we didn't play that game longer but it actually gave us a little bit of time to not just lose everything in seven minutes some of the grumpiest dealers in the history of dealing at the and all right you've been going to vegas a lot longer than i have like i don't know if that's changed where i don't as a dealer like you're making your hourly wage and and i understand like some of these people probably hate their job but the more the people win the more money you get on tips so i don't understand we sat down at one table five minutes and i go nope not doing this nope this lady's an absolute fucking i won't say it i was like i'm out of here and she had one eight out of nine hands and she was grumpy we're out good he's like i'm winning

though i'm like i don't care let's go and you gotta drink with your buddies because it's a team event also at the game so then at the game so i was uh texting with avery, Sean Avery. And he's like, Hey, I'm walking into the arena, him and Conley, those two beauties. So like Avery ended up taking our seats for the third period. We went up to this box and then we just were like with those two guys.

After I lit up a cigarette in that hide lounge, the woman's like, Hey, you're in the arena. You can't smoke. I was like, Oh, we won the cup though.

We won the cup. And the whole time I was so miserable. Merles and I sat, we really, we really only cup, though. We won the cup. And the whole time, I was so miserable. Merles and I sat. We really only watched the last six minutes of the third. We were at a back table. And I was complaining the whole time because my dad and I were texting. Oh, yeah. That was the biggest lock in sports history.

I put four grand on the money line or whatever, and then another bet on the first period. So I won, but I was so mad. That was a call the bank, call the financial advisor, send me out a million dollars, and I'm putting it on this game, and I'm going to win. And I was just like, how do I lose all that money gambling with nonsense dealers like a

complete clown and not put like riders college tuition savings on the game we would have figured out a public uh like uh boston state that ra went to or whatever college if the game had lost but they weren't losing they weren't losing so i'm still pissed off like i should be just swimming in it i don't even gamble and I was mad that I didn't throw. I know. Even you said it. You said it the night before to me. The night before, I go, this is over, right?

Especially at the fact that Kachuk was questionable. Duclair was questionable. You knew other guys on Florida were banged up. I mean, we'll get more to the break-in, but the fact that I didn't – or break-down, excuse me, not the break-in, Jesus – that I didn't lay down at least 10 grand on that one it was just it was it was like i remember we're walking into the arena and merles has checking his phone he's like no kachuk and i was like oh my god like i wanted to sprint to a casino i had no cash left i was like this is this is when

that that was like their heart was taken out of them and that was the the final death blow then fast forward to after so my family was in portugal as i was of them. And that was the final death blow. Then fast forward to after. So my family was in Portugal, as I was talking about. And we went to the club. We went to Omnia, where the Cup's going. We got there at like 2.30 or, I don't know, 1.30. They put us in maybe the biggest pigeon table in Vegas, about four miles away from where the DJ was.

And Biz is like, I don't think so. Yeah, top shelf. He's like, what are we doing here? We're fucking six miles from the stage like it's so busy you were just like nope give us another table so whatever we party there and finally i'm like merles this is like i can't do this anymore like the music the house music i'm 40 years old i look like i'm 60 i'm like i'm done as we're walking out the cups coming in i'm like merles and i literally like trying to look over a wall as we're getting ushered out just to see the top of the bowl already sitting in it. And so I get outside.

So I get outside. So it's four. So seven in Boston plus five. It's like noon in Portugal. And all of a sudden, like the FaceTime rings. And I'm like, hey, babe. And she's like, what the fuck and i'm like hey babe and she's like what the fuck i'm like we're partying with the cop and then i'm like jesus christ so i get off the phone and this guy comes up he's like hey man i know biz i know biz well i played with biz i was like oh

what'd you play in the ohl or something he's like i'm amadio it was amadio amadio great guy i felt so bad i ran after him like, congrats, bro. He's like, yeah, sweet, dude. You fucking don't even know who I am. Nice analyst. But yeah, then we went back and gambled till the flight. I mean, just a horrible flight home. Didn't sleep a minute.

What? Oh, man. I don't sleep on planes. Me and Merle. I figured with the 24-ouncer, it would help just liquid glaze you. I was drinking canned wine. That's canned wine. Canned wine.

I never heard of this until that flight. Good shit. So I actually can't stay awake because of the propeller noise. It trances me out. You're on a plane with a propeller? What are you, an idiot? No, the sounds of the engine, that mm, there's a sound. It just hypnotizes me every time i can't

stay awake on planes rarely do i stay awake i'd kick a cat across the street if i could fall asleep on a plane dude one of the other crew members had a running with the cup uh where's our producer mikey g you had a little cup interaction where are you buddy yeah so i had maybe the biggest rebuttal of my life, biggest comeback story of my entire existence. So first off, anyone who says Ryan Whitney does not defend his friends and fight for the boys, they're wrong. They are wrong.

Wait, I don't know if you remember. I spilled the drink on a guy at the casino. Oh, I forgot about that. The guy just absolutely loses it on me like i've never been yelled at before just belittling me and i'm just sitting there like taking it and wit walks up as this is happening and just loses it on this guy basically is like i'll fucking kick your ass right now you're from Toronto. You would be from Toronto, you fucking pussy. There's more to this story. How did you know it was from Toronto?

Listen, there's more to this story. I was playing first, but then I lost all my money. So then I was walking around. I was on the phone, but I had spilled a drink on the table. Whatever. I mean, we're not exactly all in great shape at this point. That might explain why the dealers hate your guts. We're at a table with Collins and Avery and Murrells.

And it was the very first table we could find from the arena. Like, we didn't even search. As soon as we saw Green felt, we sat down. Oh, yeah. So we're all losing. So I went to another table. G came with me. I spilled the drink.

I was apologizing. Now we're talking to this guy, and I'm trying to strike up conversation with him. He's one of the all-time biggest losers I've ever sat at a gambling table with. Like this little miserable prick. I'm trying to get anything out of him. He's like, I'm a Maple Leafs fan. I was like, oh, that explains it. You're a loser.

And I'm like joking. Like the dealer's laughing, and he's just this guy. It's like man so i spilled the drink a very apologetic very apologetic uh pit boss no worries comes over drives it off i lose my money so i'm kind of like standing nearby and then i see grinelli knock over his beer dude this guy acted like it was acid like getting on his like fucking stonewashed jabot jeans that were his number one pair in Vegas. And he's like, you're a fucking idiot. And I was like, what the fuck?

Did Jesus sit there taking it? He's just like, uh. I'm like, shut the fuck up. I'm like, I'll fucking slap you in the face. He's like, I was like, you're being a little pussy. You are the definition of a Maple Leafs fan, you little motherfucker. You suck. Your team sucks. I hope you lose

all your money. And this guy shut up quick. He shut up quick. He must have thought I was a legitimate, tough person. You're a big dude. You're a big dude. Yeah, you have pants on. They can't see your ankles, so you're good. No, I'm serious.

By the way, the whole time... This guy's huge. The whole time, I was so mad. He was legit berating. And I'm so mad mad and in my head i'm like dude if this guy like calls me out right now like i'm gonna get dumby like if you're willing to like come back i'm like please don't say anything back please don't say anything back you ever seen those online clips of that guy looks like brad marshall with a huge snout oh my god it would have been him beating you up you would have been the next that so best part is i'm like

let's get out of here, Grinnelli. We walk back. Merle's has his shirt off. He's winning. Merle's is running around the table. He's finally winning with Conley. Merle's is doubling 14s and shit. I don't know what he was doing.

We were on fire. I turned my last 50 into 1,600 all of a sudden. Just kept doubling it, doubling it, doubling it. Guys, before we continue with this podcast, we need to talk about Discover. I just learned Discover credit cards do something pretty awesome. At the end of the first year, they automatically double all the cash back you've earned. That's right. Everything you've earned doubled.

All the cash back from getting head-to-toe hockey gear doubled. All the cash back from going to every away game this year doubled. And the best part, you do not have to do anything ridiculous to get it. Nope. Discover does it automatically. See terms and check it out for yourself at discover.com slash matched. But me spilling my drink on the guy was my sign that I got to go upstairs. I got to take a quick shower.

I got to like, if I want to go the distance tonight with the cup, I got to like rest and recuperate. Yeah. I try to do the responsible decision and I go upstairs. I take a shower. I'm sitting on the edge of my bed and this is 1130 and bang, I wake up and it's two 30 in the morning. I have 50 text messages from every one of you guys. Everyone that was in Las Vegas texted me and was like, where are you? They're sending me pictures of them with the cup. I screamed as loud as I possibly could in my hotel room. I started pulling my hair out. I'm like, I did it. I fucking, it happened. I missed the cup. I missed the cup. So I instantly, I put my clothes back on without thinking, just right away, put my clothes back on and i start sprinting to omnia

so i get on the strip boys i sprint as fast as i possibly can my calves still hurt i sprint as fast as i can to omnia as i get into omnia phil kessel mark stoner walking out with the top so i'm like all right i gotta go perfect timing perfect timing so i'm like, all right, I got to go. Perfect timing. Perfect timing. So I'm like, I got to go say what's up to them. I go say hi. I'm like, hey, I'm Mike Grinnell from Chicklets. They looked right through me. They couldn't even see me.

But regardless, I end up going into, they went to the bar next to the club. I end up going into Omnia. I see RA, I see Biz. This is the end of the night. This is 3.30 at this point. So that's the end of the night. End of Omnia, basically. So I'm leaving Omnia and I see Biz. This is the end of the night. This is 3.30 at this point. So that's the end of the night. End of Omnia, basically.

So I'm leaving Omnia and I see Larry Flowers. And Larry Flowers is like, come with me. I think they were hitting Spearmint Rhino or something. And I'm like, fucking right. I need something to cheer my night up. So I'm walking with them to the Uber and a bunch of the Vegas Golden Knights walk by. And who do I see tailing behind them is my buddy, Johnny Lazarus, couple of the Empty Netter guys.

And they're like, hey, Ike's just told us to go to McMullen's. And I'm like, where's McMullen's? And they're like, it's a dive bar, like 25, 30 minutes off the strip. It's open 24 hours. I'm like, fuck it. What do I got to lose? Like, I'll go. So we go to this dive bar.

We're the only people in there. And I'm like, boys, what the fuck? Like, I'll go. So we go to this dive bar. We're the only people in there. And I'm like, boys, what the fuck? Like, I was going to Spearmint Rhino. I'm like, I'm going with Mac L with like all these big spenders. Like, I'm going to Spearmint Rhino when I have the time of my life. And they're like, fuck, we fucked up. Like, let's just have a friend beer and then let's go home. I'm like, all right, boys, friend beer.

We all cheers. Right as we cheers who comes storming in the door jack eichel no shit jack eichel come on a bunch of the boys come in and right away i'm like jack and he's like what the fuck are you doing here how did you end up coming here remember no he never told me. He told the other guys. Oh, yeah. You're a tainter. You're like, hey, Jack.

I knew you guys were going to be here. I followed you here. But yeah, so we ended up, we stayed there. We stayed at this place, McMullen's, all night with Jack. He was breaking down the, he went like series by series with us. Because at this point, like he was, I wouldn't say he was sober, but it was the very, very end of the the night so we were just like eating food like we weren't even drinking that much at this point but he went through series by series he was like breaking down each guy on florida to me

and i ended up i was texting with pasha after the fact that i'm like he's like fuck that sucks like you missed omni and i was like you know what No. I'm actually kind of happier that I ended up being able to talk face to face with these guys. Like, sitting around a table with them at 7 a.m. as the sun comes up. Like, they're breaking down how they just won the Stanley Cup to me. As Witt said, the shit gets so. Dude, I was trying to talk to Biz in there. I'm like, this isn't my scene. I used to be a club rat.

I'm just an old grandpa now. You got any gum? My voice will never be the same. I'll text you. My breath's shit, bro. Oh, wait. I forgot to tell you guys, though. One of the funniest parts of why you guys

are going to bury me. The second I walk into Omnia, I walked right into the bathroom and threw up everywhere because i was in a lot of shape because i was like oh yeah now we're off the road get back to the trainer that's that's tough sore calves bad from a run but hey so that was kind of as my night was winding down and you didn't really miss much probably up until about 30 minutes as they came in they you know they got on the mic they did their celebration i hadn't drank in in like four and a half months so i was having a fun time right after the game and we finished the broadcast

i was able to go hang out with the whole tnt crew and we can get to that that gambling story oh my god get back to that but then we ended up going to omnia we were probably there for what two two and a half hours they did that and then that was enough by then i was fucking ready to shut her down and uh like you said the noise so you kind of ended up going on the best journey of them all all right i'm kind of disappointed you've now lost your throne as the sneak in guy where we got mr g You got the young legs coming from behind the bar at McMullen. I was bar backing. No, actually, G did give me the heads up.

He texted me about 430, said at McMullen's. I put it in the map. It was about a 15 minute ride. I was like, I don't think I need to go off campus right now. I sat down in the lobby, played video poker. I tried to count how many hookers were in the lobby. I cannot believe how many hookers they let hang out. Like we were just talking, Vegas has changed.

I went out there first, 97. It wasn't completely corporate owned, but they would shoo these women out of there all the time. They had to be, for every guy gambling, there'd probably be three or four hookers. No judgment, not my style. I'm a happily married guy. Were you there taking analytics or something?

Were you asking them? No, I fake negotiate with them. I kind of like mess with them. I'm like, how much for that? Well, what do I get? And I make them like save. Oh, yeah. I was like, yeah.

Well, they fucking are classing me. Do you have ARB rights? With my agent. What's your coursey like? But you used to never see that many. It's been like so-called higher higher end places out there but they're all what is the cost for a for a bj from from uh somebody in a casino in vegas right now like on average it was two two for one they were package deal they wanted uh 400 bucks for a fucking hump thing i was like yeah he's like go fucking hamster let me check my wallet uh

i got this coupon on the strip does this save a nickel does this help me save any money hey so back to um so before omnia uh i was because i hadn't seen biz he's like come over here to um all right you are in fine form right now what's the room it's like the high limit room whatever so that's where i got to go to end end the night with the TNT crew and say our goodbyes. It was a fun year. We'll get to that in a little bit. Oh, yeah. With that show that Tommy Boy brought.

Oh, my God. So I come in and Biz is at a table with one guy. I mean, let's just call him Mr. Papa George. So I'm walking over and Biz is like, sit down. And then kind of looked at the guy to get the okay. The guy kind of looks me up and down. And he's like, yeah, you could gamble with us. I didn't understand.

It was this guy's table. And I look over. I'm like, what are those whites? They're $5,000 chips. All right, the guy's playing 50 Gs a hand, three hands. 35 to 50 Gs a hand, three hands. He's getting 16. Dealer's shown king. He's getting 16. Dealer shown king.

He's just, what's it called, Mark? Submitted. I never even knew that. It was a bitch. Dude, he's surrendering 25 Gs. Which I actually think if you're playing huge money. I don't know. I don't know either.

So I sit down. I started playing, I don't know, 400 bucks a hand. I started actually winning a little bit. I was playing like know, $400 a hand. I started actually winning a little bit. I was playing like $1,000 a hand. And Biz is playing anchor, all right. Biz is playing $25 a hand, okay? Biz, the guy is kind of all over the map. He would just get up, and we immediately had to wait.

Oh, and the other part is, so the pit boss in **** comes over. He's like, hey, do you remember me? I'm like, no. He's like, do you remember when you and Merle were at the **** about 10 years ago and you guys were winning in craps and you were on the rug, swimming on the rug? I remember this conversation, yes. He's like, I was the dealer. I'm like, holy shit. He goes, that was an unbelievable run.

So this guy would get up and go talk to people and we just had to wait like it was his table his table and his buddy was with me and it was kind of like they were very close friends i think they worked together like his handler in a way and um i'm like what's this guy's deal he's kind of explaining to me who he is and he's like dude i've seen him win and lose like five million dollars like it's like i don't i don't know i don't even understand the point of gambling at that point it's almost like i guess it's straight up like uh chump change but so he's now in the middle and he's taking a while he's got 150 grand on the table dude and he's trying to decide what to do and he's talking to people biz has 25 bucks and he's talking to people. Biz has 25 bucks and he's like, hey, hey, buddy, come on.

He's bullying this guy. He's bullying this guy. And then I was just, I was losing hands but if the other guy won, I was like, I just want you to win and Biz is like,

fuck! And he lost a $50 couple. It's all relative. All right, the guy took seven, he got $700,000 markers. He would sign a piece of paper. They give him 100 grand. Oh, yeah.

Lose it. Sign a piece of paper. Give him 100 grand. He was leaking oil. Hey, but I made 200. Biz made 200 bucks. I've never. I will never see somebody gamble like that again.

And Merle's came over. He goes, what are the whites? I go, 5K. There's 50 of them up there. It was nuts. Hey, I want a couple hundred bucks though hey it all evens out in the wash oh you bullying that guy with that amount it was weird though it was like it was first of all the concept of it being his table i don't think i truly understand it till the other pit boss was like well it's his table buddy I just thought we had to... Yeah, because I was trying to play at another table

and they're like, no, this table is reserved. I'm like, what did that one? No, that's reserved for this guy. They're all singly reserved for extra players or something. Yeah, for a guy who's about to get seven $100,000 markers. Yeah, the guy gave me the... The guy's like, nope. I'm going to go kick balls.

He'd seen enough of me... I was going to play with reds. I was going to play $10 hands. He'd seen enough of me. I was going to play with reds. I was going to play $10 hands. He'd seen enough of me giving it the pumper nickel. The pumper nickel. And I win a quarter as he drops $100K and a half. I had my guy. I had my guy.

Oh, that guy got rinsed. Oh, no wonder he fucking blocked my number. All right, before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at The League. Let's talk about the newest league you guys need to join. No, it's not an NBA bracket or a fantasy football team. It's a dating app called The League designed for busy, career-oriented people to find their other half. Many athletes, especially those making a career out of it, have the passion and work ethic the league looks for in their users. You don't have to be

from an Ivy League school, rich, or a CEO to join. So whether your passion is business, music, or sports, if you value your time, refuse to settle, and want to find that in a partner, then the league is for you. And speaking of the league's user base, they boast a 60 to 40 girl to guy ratio. So the straight guys are looking at much better odds here compared to the mainstream apps where you're lucky if there's 30% women. The league believes a supportive partner is the best career accelerator there is. So when you're ready to find you a special someone, pick a partner who will challenge you to swing for the fences. Download the league for free and meet your equal today. Oh, G.

You're going to get rinsed, Merles. Didn't Hannah Mongeau kind of jinx your whole weekend there? Oh, the Black Widow. G, thank you so much for bringing this up. And G, by the way. I forgot about her. I'm sitting next to Wayne Gretzky, and G comes up with the best Stanley Cup story of all of us.

Bravo, buddy. That was quite the comeback, G. And you're now the sneaky undercover cup god from the podcast. Sorry, Iray, you've been dethroned. You didn't make it to McGulligans. I've been following them around. That's for a while. Okay, so let's go back to this girl she's internet famous

what 10 million followers on instagram but as merles she's always going to be known as the black widow yeah i i had obviously had no clue who she was you see like these five girls come in in this red big redheaded guy with a duffel bag and i i think i joked like oh what do you do like is that all your cash in there? Like you guys big time players? And no, no, but this girl ends up coming to sit down and again, it's three card poker. And once again, Biz is bullying the table.

So he's trying to tell her how to bet. She's like, I got this. She's like, I'm from Vegas, blah, blah, blah. Oh, that's interesting. Like where you live now? She's like, I live in LA, but I'm from Vegas. And I'm like, well, what are you guys doing? She's doing she's like oh these are just my friends don't worry about it she's trying to place her bet so biz is yelling at her play this play this she's like leave me

alone i know okay uh seat order goes myself wit black widow merles is at the caboose and i've lost you know i haven't won all trip i finally start start winning. I think I turned 400 into 2,400. You were ripping. I had stacks. I had to get paid in red chips. I'm like, only pay me in red chips. Yeah, he's got a dickhead. And I was building towers in front of me.

And everything was going great. And I didn't even make it, like, realize it. Because I'm used to blackjack. If somebody jumps in, it's going to screw all the cards up anyway. But with three-card poker, she's getting my three cards, whoever jumps in that spot. I knew it right away. I was like, oh, no.

Oh, no. And I was just so high. I was like, on life, I was just like, I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm winning everything. Let's go. Let's go. Not that kind of high RA.

I was surprised. Like, Merle, did you hold out on me or what? And lo and behold, she gets a pair of nines. She gets the Gretzky, 9-9. So she wins. She wins her bonus. She gets the Gretzky, nine, nine. So she wins. She wins her bonus. She wins this. I get crap.

Actually, I think I got enough to play. You got qualifying, and then she came in with an ace king over your ace queen. Exactly. So I had enough to play. So then I lose double. So now I'm rattled. I'm like, oh, no. She leaves.

She leaves the table, gets in, plays one hand, is gone. What did I go on? I went on, I think I won three out of 49 hands the rest of the night. I just got rinsed. At one point, I remember I was counting. I'm like, oh, he's just lost 18 hands in a row. His giant stacks of reds are now gone. He's motherfucking this black widow.

And Grinnelli's like, yeah, I think that girl's famous on Instagram. And Merle's like, I don't give a fuck what she's famous on. And that's why they call her the Black Widow. It was a slow death. She had a 50-person team with her. Yeah, it was the wildest scene. It threw me all off, and that's kind of why I let her sit down. I didn't know what was going on.

It was a wild scene. I don't know what they were up to in there. That's when I knew that the series was over because you were talking about you know florida and the rainbows and ah and then i saw that happen i said hammer the vegas golden knights tomorrow that's a guarantee you were saying five one you and g were both calling five one like we knew it was going to be a beating and it delivered yeah it was a savage beating well that's that's another incredible story what a fucking week that was and you weren't even in fort lauderdale so what no thank god should we talk about the decathlon will we put you put you through it

every single year you got you got off easy five games that's why i predicted the five games i knew i couldn't handle more so you you went Sweden, Vegas for four nights, Lauderdale for four nights, back to Vegas for four nights, back to what, Troy? Troy. Oh, my God. You should have seen me walk into my parents' house that night off that plane.

We'll see at the draft, girls. I never needed to come home to an empty house more in my life. I just walked in, and i just sat on the couch then i woke up it was like three in the morning i was like what the fuck i i made a i must have made a five pound bowl of pasta when i got in the door just scarfing it down there's sauce all over me i was like this is a disgrace i never want to go to vegas again i can't do that not me yeah i guess the last thing i want to say was uh it was an awesome rip in an awesome year with tnt and uh uh so grateful for the entire team

uh behind the scenes they kind of run the ship and and make it so easy and you know uh liam an incredible bus driver who actually um russo uh just uh or russo ended up writing an article in The Athletic. Excuse me. I was getting them confused with the other sports media guy. Awesome article in The Athletic about Liam and his preparation and what he does in order to drive the bus. And just so dedicated to his craft. Actually, I ended up going sober for a bit because he doesn't drink much.

And I was like, hey, for mental clarity, I should follow him and go on the same rip. So it was awesome. So from like a friendship perspective and just like ACE as well, it was so fun. Like, you know, sitting in the seat with those guys, they're, they're veterans of their craft as well. Cause they worked at NBC together and then it sucked to see talk, talk, leave halfway through the year. But then, you know, Hank ended up coming in army jumped in there yan so from an overall perspective of the tnt side of things it was an awesome way to end it on the road i thought hank jumped in and did an incredible job as well it's so fun to get his his goalie perspective and holy fuck is he a handsome bastard and he's better looking than tom brady i'll tell you that and we can argue about that later. But, uh, and then obviously with Wayne and

having him in the mix. So just from the bottom of my heart, uh, thank you to everybody for the positive messages about the, the, the broadcast, but, uh, all the praise should go to the, the, the other cast members and, uh, and all the people behind the scenes. So thank you to TNT. You guys are all fucking amazing and, uh,

couldn't be more grateful to be a part of that. And, and of course you fuckers too. It's, it's more grateful to be a part of that. And of course, you fuckers too. It's really cool to be a part of both, boys. So a great cap off to a great season. And it was good to spend some time with them in that room and watch that guy lose 700K. You guys did crush it. Everyone talked to fans. Everyone raves about TNT while also putting down ESPN a lot of the time.

But everyone loved the show all year. You guys crushed it. Can't wait till next year, man. fans everyone raves about tnt while while also putting down espn a lot of the time but everyone loved the show all year you guys crushed it can't wait till next year man yeah like i said it's just like it's it's like the professionalism involved like like i said everybody behind the scenes it just makes it work and it's just really fun and um you know and it's yeah they make they make it very easy so thank you ra and uh we look we continue to try to make it better every time we get there and uh and we'll continue to do so just like this show all right i'll talk some paco what y'all yeah i mean how about walking into the game we had to uh we did the beer house pre-game pink whitney party which was a blast really cool like outdoor bar setup that was

awesome and by the time the the party had ended you know the game was at 520 start or whatever. So it's 415, 430. We're walking in. There's about 10,000 people outside the arena with Steve Aoki DJ and throwing cakes off girls' faces. I'm like, what are we doing right now? We're going into a hockey game. So I was kind of like able to experience the atmosphere before even getting it, getting into the arena. And then from the time we walked in i would say warm ups was 95 full i don't know if you guys agree but the like the atmosphere we kind of knew it was going to end that night and and ironically like vegas didn't have a great start but it's still it was just to see the pre-game intro for me was the best part i mean you get to see like

the night come out and he's fighting the panthers guys and like everyone's seen it on tv but 50 cents doing horn that's what you knew yeah that's when you oh we were we were at the beer house outdoor party and like somebody's like look at mcgregor and mcgregor's like driving in a limo with his head out the window like screaming at everyone i was like spitting a little kids yeah it was a celebration before, like at 1 p.m. It was no doubt they were winning. The celebration started. The beer house even brought out an ice sculpture of the Stanley Cup. We're pouring drinks in that thing. It was

over. The whole city was celebrating at 1 p.m. I mean, we didn't eat a thing either. Did we eat? I had a half a hot dog with G at the first intermission. That's all I ate all day. Wait, we gotta give a shout out to Erin from Iowa. The girl who flew from Iowa to the game by herself. Yeah, the girl.

Just like I used to do, bitch. She got a single ticket. She's married. She tells her husband, I'm going out to the game. She used to live in Vegas. Flew from Iowa to Vegas by herself to go to the game. Saw that title clinched. I was like, this is my sister from another mother over here.

She was a hot shit too, so. Before we go any further, here's a few words 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 deals on tickets to sports, and shows and they guarantee the lowest price hey summer times here you might want to have a ball game maybe some concerts well you want to check out game time because they do the best at it everything is possible at the game time app the biggest last-minute price drops can be found on the seats you thought you could never buy the purchase process takes just two taps in 10 seconds

and once you buy your tickets they're delivered directly to your phone no printer needed the app also allows you to easily share tickets with friends via text so you can get to the game seamlessly skip the hassle and enjoy the moment download the game time app or go to the website enter your email and redeem code chick for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. All right, we've got to get to the game here. We've got to move it along a little bit here. It's just their sixth year as an NHL team.

The Vegas Golden Knights won their first ever Stanley Cup after crashing the Florida Panthers 9-3 in the Game 5 clincher. Mark Stone had the hat trick. Eichel and Shea Theodore each had three assists in the route. How about Jonathan Marcheshow? He's going to join us in a little bit. Had an assist. He had a 10-game point streak to end the playoffs.

13 goals, 12 assists, 25 points in 22 games to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. There was no doubt he was going to win it, I don't think, right? I don't know, man. I think that the morning of the game five, the odds, Eichel was 20 to one to win the consummate and Marshall. So it was minus 600. So it's like, all right, well, Vegas knows that this is an enormous favorite, but Merles and I, we snuck in a bet on Eichel being that, I mean, I think he was tied with points or maybe one back-end point. Now, granted, he only had six assists, six goals, excuse me, and Marshall had lit it up. But I figured, and we said, if Eichel had a big game,

maybe a two, three-goal game. And he did. And he had a three assist. You know, he didn't get the goal, but I still was like, there's a chance. And then in the end, Merles had said it before. He's like, I think the league wants to give it to an original misfit, which did make sense. But I didn't know that 18 writers vote on it, which is kind of crazy.

Like, I guess I don't really know what else you do besides that. But right when Bettman was given the award, I think his first thing, he's like, and an original Golden Knight, I knew, I knew. And it made a lot of sense leading the playoffs in goal scoring. I think it took him, whatever, it would have taken four rounds to just beat Leon by one goal. But it was still, it was an amazing performance by him. And when we talk to him, we'll go into the fact, first seven games, he didn't score. Right?

And then he goes on this amazing run, lights it up. So it did make sense. But I thought it was, Eichel was a little closer than those Vegas odds, of socks at least big time the final vote was 13 to 5 on the first place votes i don't think anybody on planet earth would have had a problem with it being eichel or marches so i thought that maybe hill as i said going in uh into game five like i don't think you're going to remember it as aiden hill's playoff run i think you're going to remember it as uh jack eichel's coming out party or the original misfit who came through in the clutch. And it's crazy. He didn't have a goal the first seven games, but he just caught fire. And Ari, I don't know if

you have the stat there. The amount of goals that he scored that were tying goals or go-ahead goals or eventual game winners is just astronomical. And as he gets to in his interview, everybody or other guys kind of stepped up in that first seven games i don't think they had the toughest series against winnipeg they were very depleted but when it mattered most especially in that edmonton series as things started to ramp up that's when he started coming through in the clutch the way he did and i want to say he had like 13 goals in the last 13 games yeah and 10 of his 13 goals either tied the game or put Vegas ahead. I mean, that's just cautionary. That kind of makes even more sense for the consummate.

That, to me, is the, yeah. But when you talk about, like, one of the deepest teams I can remember, Stanley Cup champion-wise, up and down the fourth line, the 6D, they were 5-2 in the games he didn-2 in the seven games he didn't score. So it just shows. You get the consmith winner doing nothing early on, and you're 5-2. You win 4-1 against Winnipeg, and you're tied 1-1 with Edmonton.

Then he pops off for two in game three. But then he never looked back, and it was cool just realizing this team's that good where their number one sniper doesn't even need to score early on for them to still be running away with it just i think yeah just a well-oiled machine and looking across the way i think it could have been a closer series but just seeing how depleted they were as far as injuries the laundry list of injuries for florida's now came out and the fact that they even got to where they did is pretty remarkable. But the fact that their first two defensemen, you got Ekblad and Montour dealing with stuff. They're saying Montour is going to be out three months with a torn labrum.

And then your MVP forward really to not have in the finals going against that team who, you know, we talk about it later with the guys. They could have played another round is what I go. I don't know if it was in the post Stanley Cup party where G was talking to him, but they weren't battling that many bad injuries, and they just had everybody pulling the rope, and they formed a wagon, as they say. I mean, Matthew Kachuk, a broken sternum. How do you even play hockey with a fucking...

How do you breathe? Yeah. I mean, insane that he played and scored a frigging goal too, man. But an absolute warrior. Well, they talked about... I think Brady was there visiting him. He was helping him out of bed, helping him get dressed. The guys are helping tie his skates.

It's true warrior stuff. And I know I had mentioned on the episode we did in Vegas before the game, like, this is an injury the guy would be missing a lot of time in the regular season and I think after what everyone saw in game 4 it's just too much right it's like when you hear about Bergeron with the punctured lung apparently he wouldn't have played game 7 had they not lost to Chicago

in 2013 or whatever that was like I just think like you saw Kachuk you saw him he just could barely move out there game 4 yet he's still out there trying to tie it up late. And they must have realized as a staff and a guy, like, I just can't do it. I can't do it. And if there's one kid that's not going to play,

you know how serious an injury is with Kachuk because of how tough he is. So an amazing – and, Biz, you're right. Like, Vegas – the no injuries for Vegas – and I say no injuries. Guys are bad on stuff, but nothing in terms of Florida. Like, that's, like, the luck aspect of it yeah that that's like the there's there's things that you you really can't um put into words when you look back at a Stanley Cup and realize like what went right and part of it is like your key players didn't get injured and Florida just had those battles in Boston this it was seven and and then you see the physicality like ramp up.

And Carolina's not an easy team to play against. Toronto, whatever. And after that, they had nothing left. They had nothing left in the tank. And so, like, it's unfortunate for Florida to have to go out that way. But Maurice Aftert gave such an amazing speech. Oh, God. Talking about just what these guys went through

and, like, how they all laid it on the line. You just got to give them credit. I think we should play it. It was with Jackie Redmond, and it was so heartfelt. Oh, man, his ability to deliver these types of quotes all throughout playoffs, this was the icing on the cake. Obviously not the way that you wanted this to end, and this team has battled through so many injuries,

and then you lose Matthew Kachuk tonight. We just heard you in the presser talk about his fractured sternum. how hard was it for him to accept that he could not play in this game oh there's two pieces to that the mental part of it not being there killed him but he knew one of the things about him he's an incredibly bright young man so he can assess his own game he knew we all knew that the hope would be that if we could get five more days of rest into him there was a chance for game seven but he uh you know he came back he fractured that and came back and scored the game tying goal net front and then you could see him in the next game trying to find a way to play with a broken bone. And I think he had the three best chances we had to score.

He had three of the four for sure. But clearly he also knew that the other four guys on the ice needed a guy who could do other things. So he accepted it. He understood. Well, he's not the only one that battled through this series gudas has missed time du clair has missed time uh montour has missed time what can you say about the character of this group because they never seem to stop fighting yeah there's a thousand stories in that room jackie truly aaron eckblad broke his foot in the boston series may have to boston in the boston. Then he popped his shoulder out

twice, passed a concussion test and tore his oblique. And he drove that puck up the ice in game three and kept it in. We scored and scored tonight. We have some incredible stories. It wasn't actually this series. The vast majority of

our injuries came in the Boston series and they survived it and I love these guys I've never seen a group of men Bradco got hurt here high ankle sprain that's a six-week rehab he missed a period you know it was wonderful to watch well it's been a hell of a run for the Florida Panthers even though it didn't end the way that you guys wanted to uh you've been around for a minute Paul um what has this year meant to you as a coach? You get cynical when you get old, right? Pro sports sometimes makes that happen.

The game is wonderful. It's beautiful. But the best part about sports, for all the things that you want your kids to learn when you put them in sports for all the for all the great character stories we're all in that room this year from training camp on we're casual with our words sometimes but that group of guys loves each other every day the way they treat each other completely destroyed any cynicism i might have about pro sports it was absolutely i don't even

necessarily feel that i was a part of it but it was a wonderful thing to be a spectator of and to see it every day so it was at the very least profession affirming for me well thank you for this and congratulations on what was a hell of a story and an incredible run by your team thank you thanks jackie uh also eckblad biz oh sorry he he had uh let's see he broke his foot in the first round two separate shoulder dislocations a torn oblique and a past concussion test and he's not even gonna make training camp next year so another guy just buying everything on the line remarkable and and like you kind of saw it because you you felt his shifts were a little bit shorter it was like the 30 seconds on the ice

and then get off every time where i mean laboring that many things and then just i mean i don't know if we could talk about it enough the game three uh i think it's 99.9 sure was that colasar hit was which broke matthew kachuk sternum right i think we can all agree on that in that game he had he set up the the first goal and they were down they were down with three minutes to play and he scored that goal in front of the net with a broken sternum like so he came back after breaking it to make that type of impact i think that this will also be remembered as matthew kachuk's coming out party as well, as far as his runs concerned.

And, um, I don't, I expect that Florida team to be back, um, especially when they're healthy. And I think a few more, a few more pieces moved around, man, and they can continue to be a threat. And also another big aspect is probably reinstilled the confidence of Bobrovsky in exactly what they needed with his salary moving forward, right? Now you know that this guy is capable of doing it, so if he can bounce back and continue to play the way that he did in playoffs, I think Florida is going to be in fine shape.

Yeah, he earned his 10 mil for sure, but wait, I want to ask you, did you think the fans were kind of quiet, I guess, in the third period? We knew what was going to happen. They're going to win. I mean, it seemed tentative. I don't even remember the third period. Alright. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if anyone else, I mean, Biz, you were in the building. Well, it's because they got, I think they were up

7-1 at some point, and then they scored two or three in a row quick. I think, what did it end? 9-4? 9-3. 9-3 final, yeah. So they scored two quick, so it just did it end nine four nine three nine three final yeah nine three so they scored two quick so it just kind of killed the buzz a little bit and yeah i was there but it was hard because by the end of the second period like we talked about the fact that it was a drumming it's like everybody had already had this huge celebration to end the second basically knowing we're gonna win the fucking stanley cup so after that yeah i guess

there was a little bit a little bit of a lull man but fuck did they kick it back in a year half the arena was up in the high hit lounge with us after the second mission there's bartenders standing on the bar just pouring shots and everybody it was done like it was the celebration it started it was wild and also and also that was the point where murray and i were in this back corner table you couldn't see the ice and every one i was mother i was so angry that I didn't have more money on it. It was like I was losing the whole time. Every time they scored, I'm like, fuck off.

What am I doing? Why didn't I take the stone hat trick prop, for fuck's sakes? It's too good to be true. And what a way to cap it off with him doing what he did in that game, too. Before we finish on Florida, I got a good stat for you, especially for you, Biz. It's a quirky little stat.

I don't even know what it means, but all these teams beat the Maple Leafs in the playoffs and then lost in the Stanley Cup final. Boston 2019, Montreal in 2021, Tampa in 2022, and Florida in 2023. So when Florida got to the finals after beating the Leafs, they didn't stand a chance. So something to look forward to next year. Whoever beats the Leafs.

You're going to win. Will go to the finals and lose. Happened three years in a row, and what's that? Four out of five, four out of six years. Biz, I got another question for you. Bob ended up giving up eight goals on 31 shots. Were you surprised that he stayed in the whole game? Do you think he told Maurice, I don't want to come out?

No, yeah. You want to battle to the end with your teammates. In no way, shape, or form was that Bob related. So keep him in there to allow him to experience that. Cap off a great successful season for himself whatever that means i saw i saw like on nhl network they kind of like showed highlights of the game with guys mike like behind the bench and all this stuff and it was like uh seven three or eight three whatever and like maurice is like we gotta get pucks in deep and

guys are probably like dude dude, it's over. Fire up the jet. Shit. Boys, I think we should probably send it over to March right now. We'll talk about teams, what they're going to do in the future a little bit after. But we got two interviews. We do get Zach Whitecloud coming up as well. So, gee, we're going to send it over to March right now.

Enjoy. Guys, this interview is brought to you by Chevy. Yes, it's Chevy time. The Chevy EV family. We've been a part of it for quite some time and we got that big news. The first ever all electric Silverado is officially barstool and spit and chickle. It's most valuable truck. The thing's a horse yet you just plug it in because it's EV. We experienced it. We drove it. It's a game changer. I want one. I'm not going to lie. I really, really want one. It's available 400 mile range, GM estimated on a full charge. That's more than you'd get if you tug the thing full of gas. There's over 10 feet of length in

the bed with the multi-flex tailgate combined with the multi-flex mid-gate. The large, enormous, I'll say, 17-inch diagonal display screen, which just makes driving around using your navigation that much easier, all electric. It could tow up to 10,000 pounds of max towing, zero to 60 in under 4.5 seconds with the wow mode, and up to an impressive 785 foot pounds of torque. That's a lot. 785 feet? I mean i mean are we kidding this is electric too the silverado head on over to chevy.com to learn more chevy.com learn more now the all-electric silverado first one ever get involved all right it's time to bring our first guest on despite his four years of terrific play for the Quebec Ramparts and Juniors,

the skilled and gritty Ford was not drafted. After six pro seasons with four organizations, he was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights after being exposed in the expansion draft. Six years later, he played a huge role in leading the Vegas to its first ever Stanley Cup, and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. We're very happy to welcome jonathan macho macho to the spitting chickens podcast congratulations man how's the party going uh well right now it's over but uh was the for some guys yeah yeah for the married with kid guys

yeah exactly paul carter's probably going at it still but you think wild bill's still going at it holy shit what a speech yeah that was all time huh oh was that was that his wife or like a pr girl that was like ah let's go it could have been his wife but i mean no i it was it was kim she works for d for since the beginning and she was like normally she does it with like uh she's like kind of like her uh her bulldog a little bit with the fans when they come around and stuff and now she was like all right this guy needs to get out of here i i mean i could see the online comments some people like hey he wasn't that bad i thought he nailed the speech but then i'm trying to put myself in her shoes like she's been dealing with these drunk idiots the entire day.

I have to babysit them. And also in the same breath, trying to protect Wild Bill so it doesn't go fully off the rails. But I felt that he completely nailed that speech. That might be one of the better ones I've ever heard after winning a Stanley Cup. You know what? I thought it was great, too, because I always joke with him because he says my english is not good and i say is so much worse than mine because the only thing he's better than me is he he talks slowly and he looked like so slow during his speech but um i honestly thought it was so funny like we were together in the bus too and we're drinking the whole day and that was that

was wild bill at his best for sure. So just an amazing turnout, which is to no surprise. I mean, that was my first game, the clincher in Vegas. I was blown away. The outside crowd. But then you get on the strip, and a lot of people ask me. I got back home. They're like, well, what's the fan base like? I was like, they're the most loyal fans because it's their first ever pro team.

And I could tell at the parade, it's their first ever, like, pro team, you know? And I could tell at the parade, it's like people truly love you guys. And granted, you just won the Stanley Cup. But from the very beginning, it's like this fan base has just taken you guys in and made it such a great place to play, huh? I mean, it has to be one of the best places in the league to play for sure. I mean— I said it was number one, Marci, after I left. With a practice arena, everything put into one one i think it is the best spot well you know what i put in tampa and in florida and those are unbelievable places to play in but i honestly

vegas is is the whole package like it's it's everything you need like the the facilities the fan base like you're not getting roasted when you don't score for five games, like, compared to other places. And, like, after the no tax, the weather, everything is just, it's unbelievable since year one. And the fan was great because the first year when we came in, there was, like, that tragedy that happened October 1st. And people, like, in vegas like uh people wanted to like show up at the same spot and like support each other and the only place

they could do it is that t-mobile arena and they just kept their mind out of a little bit like of what happened before and like a little bit of help that city to heal and ever since then it's been such a love story with them now before the parade uh your owner bill foley he filled up what four planes uh the guys and their wives and kids and took us to montana for a little field trip basically how'd that go yeah i mean uh we do it that's our you know before every season a lot of teams like do like little team bonding stuff that's our team bonding like the first year we did a scavenger on that become like outrageous but the other years we went to montana that's our the ranch of like uh our owner and we go there and it's like uh it's it's a dream for any sports team or any guys honestly you go

there there's a golf course there's like atds uh is it atds how do you call that? ATVs? STDs? Wild Hills laughing right now. ATVs. There's fishing. There's like a bunch of stuff to do over there. And we play poker at night, just the guys. So it's unbelievable. And we got there and the first thing we did was everybody got on a golf course.

I mean, it was honestly, it was so much fun. Well, I mean, it ties into ownership. You talked about when you first got there and everything was first class the practice facilities ownership is is incredible and you talk about that montana experience that's his own personal ranch it's got a golf course on it you guys are doing scavenger hunts for for gold bars like this guy was all in at no expenses i even heard that you guys were getting your cars detailed after practice every day, and it became this superstition that you guys did all throughout playoffs. Yeah, so you're talking about Bill. It starts with the owner.

If the owner wants to spend it and be willing to be, all right, I want to give all this to the guys and make it like the best place to play in the league like he did it perfectly like he brings us in montana on his private jets like he has like three four but like they're so nice and they're so luxury and we go there and so smooth and he treats us really really well but yeah like the car uh like the car guys were keep telling me like every time we get a car uh detail the day before a game we're winning and every i think we were like not losing the first game every time the car the our cars were getting clean so at the end they were coming almost like every time the ring but uh it's been a while. Like that's, that's the little things like it's not a,

it's not a big deal, but like we appreciate it so much that once or twice a week, the guy comes in a parking lot, brings all the cars. And I mean, it's just the little things that makes it so much better. I was going to ask about the superstition thing and, and going back to the fact that the fans wouldn't bitch at you if you didn't

go and score a goal for five games. Well, you started the playoffs not scoring seven games in a row. Was there anything that you did superstition-wise in order to change that up when you finally got one? I think you got two game three against the Oilers. Fuck, I mean, and then you end up going on to win the Cots. That's fucking pretty crazy start to the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, I was as cool as it can get uh at the start but like at the same time like our playoff run it was always somebody that was

stepping up at the right time and like the first round like uh i'm thinking of stevie stone and howards they were like all the time and carly was hot uh hotter than burnt toast too in the first round. Honestly, it was just like everybody stepped up at a different time, but was pretty good along the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, I was disappointed with my performance, but we were winning

hockey, so I didn't really care. I was able to chip in at something for sure. Was there anything that you said or did differently in the locker room and be like all right boys you guys have been carrying me long enough i got you now like anything no nothing i don't necessarily think like that like i would i'm obviously i'm pretty vocal uh every day uh every time of the day but i mean uh i didn't do anything different it just i become hot at the right time, and it just kept on going.

But even though you hadn't scored, I remember the first two games of the Oilers series, I think you had 12 shots, and then the game you got two, you had seven shots. So it was like you had to know this is going to change at some point. Now, having said that, through seven games, if somebody said, hey, you're going to win the consmite this year, you probably would have been like, what? Liar. that through seven games if somebody said hey you're gonna win the cons might you probably would have been like what liar yeah you would have been what what bill was on or even hag in the in the parade yeah jonathan i want to ask did the the misfits know that butch was gonna start you guys or was that a complete surprise to you guys i was a surprise and honestly like i was i was

shocked i was like i didn't expect it i thought it was a super, like, nice recognition from him. But, like, it wasn't our best start. So, after we were like, let's get our lines going. So, we came back. And after, like, me and Smita were next to date together in the locker room. And we were about to start the second period. And you looked at me and was like, I don't think we're going to start that one. I think they had a nose on chip the whole time and we're like in our D zone. So, but it was, it was like, yeah, he thinks of little things like

that. And honestly, it was something that's not going to go unnoticed. So I got a question and it kind of involves Barbashev, right? We've talked about him a lot, the hit against Gutis, so many different aspects, but when he came over, I mean? We've talked about him a lot. The hit against Gudis, so many different aspects. But when he came over, I mean, you'd played against him a lot, but did you have any idea how good he was offensively? Like seeing him with you and Ike's or just the entire team, like kind of blew me away offensively. You know, the physicality was always there,

but what did you know going in and what were you surprised about once you started playing with him? Well, I know that like two years ago, he was like an honest greedy player uh but i know that last year he was actually like really elite like he like he had his best year ever did he not like 70 points or something 60 points a couple years ago yeah so like i knew he was like he had some offense in him but like every guy's it depends in each situation where uh they get put in in different situation i think when he came in like we we needed somebody like uh be really good with

with me and jack and when we came in it was like oh it's we're going to get somebody for jack and and marshy and i mean they they went to get him i was like that's such a good pickup because we need in the in the other years we didn't have enough brit i think like in our lineup and we went to get a guy like that that can make plays and he's like an overall all package kind of guy like he does it all so uh the pickup was unbelievable and the fact that he stepped up like in the playoff he got some big goals and big momentum hits like he was like that's another guy that could get the mvp right like he was unbelievable every every time he was out there so uh yeah we're definitely lucky to have him like i don't know how we're going to be able to get this guy back because he's at that point he needs to get paid

right he's he's a winner he's shown that he's so good everywhere. He's going to get a ticket. MVP for Barbershop. Did you have a ticket on that, R.A.? I'm sure you did. You had a ticket on like 60 guys, didn't you? Just Aiden Hill. I had 40 to 1 on him.

Okay. That would have been a sneaky one, too. You talked about momentum changing hits. What were you guys saying in the locker room when he reverse hit Gutis? That was the craziest reverse hit I've ever seen in my life. That's a question for Guti too because I know the guy, and he's as tough as he can get for hitting guys. He doesn't get reverse hit.

He puts guys through a third row every time he hits someone. So, I mean, to see him go down like this, I was on the ice. Oh my God, what's going on here? Point out to the GM box. You're like, thank you. Thank you. But he was like, he was, he never got hit like hard. He always expects them.

He always ready for it. And that was one of the biggest hit I've seen. Like, I think the other hit I've seen that big was maybe Bufflin on Stoney a couple of years ago. Oh, Jesus. But Stoney's still recovering from that one. But I mean, he was, you know what? Like, he's an awesome hockey player, but God, then it's funny to hang around with. Like, I spent like, he's always there with the boys like

playing cards every night like he is an unreal guy to to have on your team oh that's awesome to hear um uh some very cool moments obviously during the celebration uh one i'm sure you've seen the picture of where everyone's huddled up and you're the guy in the middle and you're looking towards the sky so just fitting for the con smith then right before, or right as you announced the Conn Smythe winner, you had a comment to Jack Eichel. Obviously, him coming over meant so much to your game, and you guys gelling the way that you did. I thought from a defensive perspective and overall game,

he just brought it to the next level this season. Just maybe talk about what he meant to you personally and and the team yeah you know what like hockey wise either game changed right when he came in last year you could see uh i think with the surgery he had i think it's something that's pretty tough to come back from and he did he did good for uh for when he was there last year and it was hard because like everybody's like oh we didn't do the playoffs but like our lineup was like mangled yeah you had nobody healthy yeah everybody was hurt we're trying to just hold the fort for a couple games and try to get some guys

back but we like it was too late and it was unfortunate but the fact that he came back this year and like when you think of jack eichel or maybe he's definitely up there in the best players in the league but like when you talk to point wise like but his other years he's probably close to 80 and this year he did like a point per game in the 60s but like that's maybe what what we needed like we needed somebody not to score 80 and be like minus at the end of the season we need a guy like to be a first line center and carry us to the playoff and be our best player all year and all playoffs and honestly his game defensively was unbelievable like he was

playing against the best lines or the top two lines every night i mean we were finishing the pluses because of him so his hockey game went to another level he's so like mature and like good on the ice and you can tell like the way he skates with the puck like it's there's only a few guys in the league that can do that right so and I mean for my game it was different because I was playing with Carlin Smeding sometimes I used to have a little bit more to talk on my stick but like with Jack he has it a lot of times so i'm i'm all about like just getting open open for him and be ready to shoot it and i think it that's what he needed but like despite all the hockey chemistry that we built in the past few months like he is an unbelievable guy to hang out with

what you think of with the ultimate beauty that that's that's what he is you know like he is an unbelievable guy to hang out with what you think of with the ultimate beauty that that's that's what he is you know like he's like i don't even care if i didn't have any connection with the guy like on the ice like we sit next to each other on the card uh the card table and we're staring at phil's forehead for six hours and like he's talking shit the whole time oh my god and he gets so mad at us like once every two fight he would put it earphones and listen to some music we're playing cars we don't even know what he's saying like he doesn't hear us too uh but i mean we're just like we had so much fun together and uh yeah he's he's probably one of the funniest guy i've played with he's like reminds

me of yans like you guys know yans right yeah oh yeah he was like one of the funniest guy i've played with he's like reminds me of yans like you guys know yans right yeah oh yeah he was like one of the funniest guy i noticed i know in my life but i mean jack is as dumb as i get for that it's just so funny we had an unbelievable group of guys this year it was like the best year for sure that's what i sensed is it was like true like good friends And it's easy to say after you win it, but win or lose, it just seemed like a tight group. But you bring up Phil and it's a pretty incredible story. I mean, he breaks the all-time Ironman record. He plays every game this year. And then he wasn't a part of the playoff team and what you guys did. But as hard as that was for him, how great was he around the room?

I'm sure he was still very professional. And that must have been hard for him to watch have happen. But for you guys to see him stay positive must have meant a lot. Yeah, I mean, he has to be one of the best teammates I've played with. He is unbelievable. And you know what?

He's an Hall of Famer. The numbers are what they are, right? he is an unbelievable guy to play with but like even his is i don't even mind what he does on the ice like that's remarkable already just the fact that he's a character like the way he speaks the way he says things like is the expressions about everything like now everybody talks like him on the team like all the expressions like we all talk the same way as him and like he comes to us like me and jack most of the ncd like we're always around him like chewing you chewing his ear a little bit like fucking around with him and like you have to stop saying my lines here a that's when i'm gone you guys have to stop saying my slang hey man it's just like all of those things like that that is i don't know he was unbelievable

and yeah he wasn't in the lineup the past few games but he was the same like he was the same and he's so funny like he comes in before game five the practice day and he's like if you fucking guys lose the game and i have to fucking fly to florida and back i'm gonna be pissed like always stuff like that that is just every day like we just sit around him and wait for him to say something stupid and we let each other all laughing it was it was so much fun to just be around the guy this the that guy this year bruce cassidy comes easily hold up here i gotta say something quickly before you go bruce if you guys make me fly across the country i'm gonna fucking ring out your necks all right go ahead it was it was funny but like this guy's equipment is terrible like he has stuff

that he had for 15 years and he's like we're like making fun of this so we're kind of making fun a little bit of everything and like the whole character and after like the coaches start after every video say something about phil and he was not so happy about it but it was just hilarious to see his reaction and stuff like that so it was unbelievable jonathan we're just talking about what jack brought to the ice what did butch's a new coach bring behind the bench for you guys? Well, he came in and, like, it was – like, every coach are different. Like, obviously, Butch is a little bit more of a motherfucking behind the bench

than the other ones we had. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Every time the fucking camera pans to him, if you made the mistake – Oh, my. Oh, you motherfucker. He's disgusted. Oh, dude.

Kidnapped your family. Every start of the game, like the first shift, if somebody turns the puck over, he's losing. We didn't even do a shift yet, these motherfucking guys on the ice. Everybody's like, let's relax. We're all okay here. We're just starting the game.

But his message was like, one of his messages that got to me more was like, let's get to our game. Let's get to our game. So that's why he was probably mad at first, like, because we were fucking around on the ice. But in the playoff, like, you didn't hear him. Like, he was not, like, mad about turnovers and stuff like that. He was more, like, neutral.

And I think that helped us being really calm on the bench. And the belief on our group was there. Like, we knew we were in every game. So, yeah, but his message was, like, he had a couple of good messages. That was, like, get to your game. Like, we're the better team. Like, you know what? Like, he was adjusting every game something.

So, like, he was playing chess, you know? Like, he was always adjusting something. So like it's, he was playing chess, you know, like he was always adjusting something. So I think, I think that's something that made us better definitely and we needed in the past few years.

Watching Stone and just like, you know, he's had such a long career. He's just such a great all-around player. We joke sometimes that he skates like biz,

but I mean, this year and as he's gone through, as he's gone through these back surgeries and then he's missing the regular season or the second half, are you guys worried that he's not going to be able to come back? Was he open and adamant to you guys, like, I'll be ready to go once the playoff starts? What was his year like for you guys being around him, trying to battle through a second

back surgery? Yeah, I mean, that was so unfortunate, to be honest. You think you do a surgery and you're done with it, right? You like, you just do recovery and you're okay to come back. Like I was, it was sad to see him to be honest.

Like when he got injured this year, uh, right after he's like, all right guys, uh, he texted on a group, like guys, like I'm doing the,

the same surgery again. Uh, my timeline is, should be coming back for first round. I'm going to battle for you guys to come back first round, and I won't be around the team as much because he doesn't come on the road and stuff, but just so you know, I'm going to battle back, and I'll be back for you guys for playoffs,

so just good luck the rest of the year, and see you in playoffs kind of thing. And, man, he was out at the rink for three, four hours, four or five hours sometimes, and just grinding in the gym, doing all his exercise. And he was like, you can tell he wanted to come back for us. And honestly, when that's your captain, that's your leader at battles like that, it just goes down through the lineup. I mean, that definitely gave us a little boost knowing that he was going to come back.

He looks like a different guy without the mustache, huh? I've seen him in his clean shave. You can't even recognize him. Yeah, he looks telling for sure. But you would see this guy in practice and you're like, oh, my God. Like, he's not the flashiest guy, right, in practice. Like, shoots almost from the always from between the blue and the top of the circle. Like, doesn't score much in practice.

But he gets in the game and just, oh, he's a different player. He's an elite player in the league. And, I mean, he's unbelievable. And, like, I've played, played like with a lot of guys in my life but like rarely is one guy makes everybody good on the ice like he could play with anyone in the league he would somehow make that guy a special hockey player and that's probably the best quality to have we haven't even talked about the the revolving door and net yet even throughout the season but that in in playoffs with uh with brassois going down and then Hill coming in?

Yeah, I mean, well, this year, the main guy I thought was Logan for a bit, Thompson, he was great. He was playing great. He got a nasty injury. Trey came back too early, got hurt again. And after Hill was doing good, but he was not playing as often as Thompson. But he was really doing good too. And after, Broussard was in the AHL for the most part of the season.

And after, all our goalies were injured, so we went to get Quickie. And we were at the end of the season, and we were like, who's our goalie here? Who's starting? And it honestly didn't matter to us because we we believe that the team in front of them was really good and any of them would have done the job i think like everybody was great and lb came in and he was like by the end of the season he was like unbelievable so like well we to start LB. He was the best goalie in the past two, three weeks.

So they started him. And after he went down and Hiller was coming back from his injury, I think he went down and Silver Knight played one game. And after he comes against the Oilers and started being like lights out, he did an unbelievable run. The save that he made along the series were unbelievable, giving us a chance every night. And you know what?

Sometimes we weren't really – one of our weaknesses as a team is our starts in the first period. We weren't really good most of the time, and he made some key saves right off the bat. Yeah, our goalies were unbelievable, but Hiller's run at the end was sick, for sure, to be part of. Personally for you, kind of away from just this season, you finally play your first full season in the NHL.

You get 30 goals, and then the expansion draft comes. Were you surprised that you were put up for that, not protected? What was your feelings going in? Did you want to get picked? And was it disappointing to actually get a chance as a full-time player and light it up and then boom you're gone like it's another organization like what was that for like for you when it all went down six seven years ago well yeah i i was like disappointed like i know well first of all i didn't know they were going to do four four you

know like you can't get players different i didn't see that coming. I thought they were going to do like the regular like 7-3 or something. So yeah, I was disappointed. I thought I was like I scored 30 goals. So I was like when there's not a lot of guys in the league, like maybe I don't know how many years, how many guys in the league score 30 a year? Maybe 20, 30, something like that, right? So I thought that I was okay enough to be protected.

So I was pretty happy of that. It was like my kind of my first offensive year. Uh, but I mean, it just, I was disappointed. Like I love Florida. I love the, I living there and the guys there, but I mean, it was just, uh, it was just disappointing, but I mean, the world of hockey just keeps you honest every year. Like there's always a new, and like, there's But, I mean, the world of hockey just keeps you on it every year. Like, there's always a new – like, there's only a certain amount of guys that they don't need. Like, if they're not off here, they'll be fine still. They'll get contracts and they'll go forever.

But, I mean, for me, I was disappointed. So I was like, well, I got to do it again. And I go to Vegas, and I wanted to show myself in the top six in the NHL. I wanted to be there at some point. So I was like, well, that's a good opportunity. We'll have a shit team. We'll win 10 games all year. And I'll be able to get to Einstein.

That was your thought process? I was like, this team is awful. I feel better now because they were using my voice saying you were going to be the doormats of the league before the game. Yeah. Well, you're an idiot. But I mean, yeah, I thought the same. I was like, we have no one. Like, we have a guy coming from Russia who's supposed to be our best player, never played a game in the NHL.

Ship us up. So I was like, oh, boy,, like we're going to be in one. But we ended up just like hardworking everybody and like having a four line mentality a little bit and it brought us to the final. So we did unbelievable that year. But after, yeah, it was definitely disappointing at the time. But after a few weeks and during the season, I was super happy in Vegas.

So everything kind of went away. Marchie, were you ever at all nervous through that six years? Because you were an original misfit and you were one of the pieces they decided to stick with. Throughout the entire process, did you feel like they were communicating that to you? Like, hey, you're one of our guys and we're trying to add these pieces? Communicating that to you like hey you're One of our guys and we're trying to add These pieces or were you left in the Dark because they did make some pretty

Significant moves that were like It just made it feel like maybe they weren't As loyal as I would have expected Like the flower situation Like some of the ass so Well flower situation that's one of those Things that like There's there's insiders that

Know shit that I don't even know how they do like like uh like we had one time like oscar lindbergh got traded and he was still on the ice and they showed up at the tv but like the jams were like how did they show up at the tv before it wasn't even done it wasn't even a done deal like it was like they're paying the fax machine guy at the nhl office yeah probably it's a there's something behind that but i mean i i thought they were pretty loyal but like every like you said every year we had we were going to get like the biggest fish out every single year so like yes i was there from the beginning but my name was thrown out there as much as anyone else right

like it was like we're we're gonna do anything not anything but we're gonna do what we have to do to get that specific player and yeah it was it like i said like the nhl keeps you honest whatever you've done before you're always on a trade block and that's just the way it is but like the best stall in the nhl is a stall in the nhl so like like i always say i'm happy to play here but i mean if you're in the nhl you should get back a little bit of where you're from and think of what you've been through and you're playing in the nhl so just shut up and that was definitely my approach yeah i would shut up at the bar but

i would shut up in the room all right you were you were loving that line like you were laughing when he said the best stall in the nhl is a stall in the nhl you love that absolutely that's a that's a great line absolutely i mean that's yeah i mean i i think so like i don't know like that that's the way i think but uh yeah it's it's always getting thrown out there and that's just the way it is but like one time i remember uh i was that world championship that second year and there was a lot of rumors of me getting traded and uh kelly called me and he's like march you just sure you know uh you're not in any rumors this year you're safe and don't worry about it and just enjoy enjoy your summer. So that one time. That's huge. I really appreciate it. And like you can sleep a little bit better.

But yeah, I mean, obviously I love it here. And that's my home for my family. But I mean, every contract comes to terms. And that's just the way the business goes. Shows the difference, Biz. Shows the difference between the cons, my Twitter and myself. Because Ray Charo told me I'm not trading you. And four days later, I got dealt.

Hey, nobody would even trade for me, so I was all right. Like I said, it keeps you honest, huh? Keeps you honest. One of the things, well, first of all, you're unreal at describing teammates. And you made the point of every time there was a big fish to go get, they went and it they went and got stone that was huge they got eichel and another guy was petro who yeah he's he's an a1 he's the guy he's not going to be intimidated by the opposition uh you saw it in the edmonton series which i would imagine was probably your guys toughest series you see him come in with a tomahawk he is just he's a he's an alpha male is he not yeah oh

yeah and you know what like he is like now that he won and all the point production per game and his career and all that he has to be up right for like the one of the he's all he's hall of fame i yeah that's that that that's what i was gonna say like you gotta think he's he's up there and to be playing with a guy like that like yeah he's good offensive yeah but like the things that he does defensively cut plays and all that like uh yeah he's unbelievable like he's the he's a one and he's been great since he came in and he's like such a good leader and like a just an awesome guy to hang around just a good person uh uh he definitely has the uh his attention uh to stuff sometimes like he if he sees a squirrel like he'll go run at it like seriously he's out for lunch sometimes but he's he's so fun to to hang out with uh to hang out

with and honestly is uh his slash was as crazy as it can get. Like that was, he touched the moon and came down. Whoa. I think he hit Gretzky's banner. Yeah, seriously. And Phil was like,

that's like after his reaction, that was dirty. Yeah. It was just so funny to see and uh yeah i mean he got a suspension for it and he owned up to it and came back strong the next game you guys must have been nervous though because that was a very pivotal point in that series and and to go back to my question was that the hardest uh matchup you think you guys faced oh it has to be the hardest matchup yeah like they were like you had two goal lead and

you were never safe like that that that was just an elite team like uh but uh the thing is we had to be disciplined oh you're telling me there isn't anything like it so we had to be disciplined and not get involved in this and even four and four was not good Earthy. So that was a big factor. And the 5-on-5 game, we know we were better than them. So that's where we got them kind of a little bit. But that was the toughest series for sure. But Petro being suspended game five, we were lucky that Nurse got suspended at the same time because that was a rule that was written white on black.

It was like really, you can't go around it. Yeah, it was bullshit. Well, the rules are rules. I don't know. I don't make them. I got a 10-game sussy for that one time, and then they reduced it to three, and I ended up losing 11 grand, Marchie.

But they still scratched him the next seven, so he missed out in a row anyways. I had one in junior, too. I had a seven-game. I processed somebody right in between the teeth and the nose. Seven game. Now they got a cleft lip and they're ugly and they can't even get laid in their hometown and here you are, the fucking consmite winner with millions in your bank.

Sometimes guys really get the raw end of the deal. Oh, man. But saying that, I went on before the series, and I picked you guys to win that one, and I said, because you were the most disciplined team in the league, you guys must have taken 50 fucking minors in the first four games. You had me sweating. I looked like an idiot.

Yeah, like, well, that one game that we got spanked, I don't know how much we lost, but we had, like, they scored every par play chance they had. Game two, I think. We're doing stupid things still. But coming back to Petro, something like, I don't know what Petro did in the league, but this guy was getting abused.

Like after whistle, hitting, like a little dirty play. Because I said, Marcia, he's dirtier than people think, though. Like he's kind of a prick on the ice would you not say like he's a modern day pronger yeah yeah well yeah but like he is not like crazy dirty there's more dirty guys out there and that i've seen but like he is it yeah he's he's a little asshole out there for sure but i don't know. He was, even against Kachuk, Kachuk had a broken sternum, and Petra was somehow like a lobster in a cage, locked there at the end of game four.

I was like, Petra, just leash on him. And he was, I don't know. It was just, he's definitely a funny guy to have around. I think it's partly because the other team is like, if we go after him and get him to Bach, we're in a good spot. And what was the other thing I was going to say? Oh, frustration.

I went on a PTO to St. Louis' camp when he was still there. We would do one-on-one drills. I couldn't even get across the red line because you mentioned how good he is at breaking up plays and how quick he is to close and get stick on puck i was like i was like give this guy 12 million bucks man i can't even fucking i can't even do anything around him now i mind you that's me but he was doing it to everybody yeah i know he's it's a stick like we talked about stoney stick but like petrol is as

good as it can get in the nhl and he's is he not one of the best in takeaways and defense yeah yeah his metrics were correct even in playoffs i think he was like first in every category other than one yeah no he was he was awesome for us and he's been a big factor since he's here and uh definitely happy for his uh all-offend career uh marshy like i i have two kids and they weren't around when i was playing pro hockey and and i got to see right when you guys won i saw you had four kids on the ice it looked like your oldest was a boy like around eight or nine i'm not sure but how cool is that man like you know they're on the ice to get to experience especially the oldest who's

probably into hockey or at least knows what's going on like that must have meant the world yeah like he grew a lot like in the past uh week i would say you saw me win uh win the san luis cup and after you saw me shot gambiros at the parade so he he definitely grew a lot in the past few weeks but i mean i mean that's that's like everybody has a different, uh, motivation and like me, like my kids is my motivated, my, and my wife, like my family is my motivation. And like, you know, I just want to do so much better for them to have a better life. And that's, that's what motivated me. And that's, that's the ultimate, you know, like a, not, not everybody can say in their life that they achieve their dream

and you know what that's what i told them on the ice that's one of the things that i want i wish for you is one day i want you to achieve your dreams and whatever it is uh i just want you know that i achieved mine and i'm an accomplished uh person right now and uh yeah i'll cherish those moments forever that gives me the chills yeah yeah that's a great oh my god mashi i know you had buddies uh when the stanley cup and i think 18 19 20 and 21 did that also motivate you in some way because you got four or five friends with stanley cups and you hadn't got one yet yeah well everybody was winning it around me so i was like fuck it would be nice to come at some

point right like there i'm all going at their parties i'm getting the drunkest guy out there but uh uh yeah i went to alex shason when we he was in uh when he was in wash he's my best buddy since we're like 12 years old after uh david perron yanni g Gord everybody was winning it so I was like maybe one but I was always like I'm not the jealous type of guy I'm always so happy for the success of anyone really so I was

always happy for their success and getting their dream accomplished and I was like you know what maybe one day it will be my turn i guess this year it is you have a lot of hockey left but like do you think with what's happened in you guys like becoming a home base in vegas do you think this is a place you you could see yourself living

forever in the winters i mean granted you probably go home in the summer but yeah is it too hard to say now yeah like uh like i have one more year I may deal, right? So hockey, it is what it is, and it keeps you honest. But, I mean, I would love to be in Vegas for sure and resign here. I always said to my wife, if I resign here, I would see herself, like, keep going here and, like, living here for sure. Well, I mean, we'll see. I think that decision is going to be made in the next year or year or so i don't think we really asked you much i guess

enough about the parade like who were the drunkest guys like like what were some of the funny things happening behind the scenes our bus was awesome i was with riley and carly uh so obviously uh riley gets it done uh gets it down pretty easily and carly is was wild bill at his best too there and uh that that was the work uh uh that that was a work of heart like honestly it was just like we're drinking all day having a great time like it was awesome that was a almost as good part as the day that we won in the party after the cup it was so much fun all the fans like when you think about they closed the strip for us that's unreal like that's that's what made the best street in the world and now they closed it

for us so everybody was like hammered and having a great time and uh i mean what what wild bill's speech it was it was great but like the fact that he fell down the stairs and he's like one of the first ones to come out that was as funny as the speech for me i saw that clip too i missed it it seems like he's going down the slide or something with his arms up it was it was so funny but i mean i we had so much fun and that that's going to be uh in my uh engraving my memories forever jack eichel's going to be in the thunder down under with the striptease he was doing out there for the fans he was he better put some sunscreen on though that guy was like bright he was so white yeah i mean jack is like he is he i mean he wears it in his face right when he's drunk like he hits that like phase that's just holy shit you look awful right now like he is

like he knows that a party and he said something yesterday i don't know he said that like a lot of people like work all their life for the cup. I partied all my life to be ready to party for Africa Cup or something like that. It was along those lines that I was like, he is unbelievable. He's out every night just doing the best version of himself. And I mean, he's just such a fun guy to hang out with. He's unbelievable, to be honest. The last one I had, I know we've kept you a long time,

so I appreciate your time, was it felt like Florida was extremely banged up. I mean, you saw the four guys come out with a laundry list of injuries. It seemed like you guys were able to stay pretty healthy, and even at the end, did you guys have anyone come out with major injuries? I think Eichel said that you guys could have played another round if that was the case. Honestly, I was done after. I'm like, everybody's healthy.

Everybody's doing like the past few years, everybody had a broke, like some guys had broken foot, like dislocated shoulder, broken fingers. It never stopped. Like it just kept going every game. This year, we missed a little bit will carry in the first few games and he came back but after we're healthy the nabber got crushed a little bit for like one or two games but he said that everybody was in like everybody

was healthy we could have kept going for sure like i don't know like it was one of those things like we were having like phil Kessel in the stands. Like, we were so healthy. And I think to win it, you got to be a little bit lucky for that. You need everybody to be healthy. You need to get some puck luck. You need good bounces at the right time. Like, Hillsy's six save, like, that six save happened to us on the other side

would all be, like, five, six years. So, I was like, and that, that pivoted the whole series for us. I was like, this is that, this is the, the luck that we needed and we're going to win this.

We just need to execute here. And, uh, but yeah, everybody was pretty healthy. I, I seen a couple of quotes from our teammates, Mashi.

Like they've, they've talked about your boys, like ability to stay calm and high pressure situations. Is that something that always was an innate where or come over time the more you played? It definitely came over time the more I got comfortable in the league. Honestly, it just came with time. I just want to be a guy that you can rely on in moments that you need and to step up at the right time and i remember in the first round my uh my gm came to see me and he's like he knew i didn't do much and he's like you know

marshy like you scored such big goals for us and that for that organization that i'm not even worried about you really right now and so just keep going and play the right way, play winning hockey. So that gave me a lot of confidence for sure. And it helped out for the process of the past few rounds. Is there like a ripple effect to your line mates or teammates when they see you like calm, maybe calm them a little down a little bit?

You know, I was talking to Phil, like right before my first goal in the playoff, I think was game three i scored two in the first period and before that i was like man and like it's been seven games i didn't score i have like two or three assists and i was like i don't know what's happening i don't feel like i'm playing bad right now you know like uh so he's like he's like actually i thought you were playing really good just keep going you know like you like goal scorers you go through stretches that you just don't score for like certain amount of games and after you'll like pile on six and six you know like and it just you're right back at where you want to be and so i remember he he he told me that

and after a game he came and see me in his little face like I fucking told you Marci I told you like it was just so funny but I mean like Phil is awesome like he's so fun to hang around like I remember that for the first few weeks we're together we're in the first trip in Canada like we're Ottawa

Montreal all those areas Toronto and we like the boys like we all came together that trip like we were out like every night like we had a few days in Toronto we went back to back like it was like every like we were always grabbing beers all the boys together the trainers would come like we were tight right off the bat and before a game like to add up to that the story that we were tied that trip is me and phil were after the video meeting before the game in ottawa me and phil were just fucking around in the like i was saying like phil i would i would whoop your ass and that little boy you wouldn't even be able to touch. We were like, we're fucking around. I fake punch him, but I go right next to his face, but kind of close.

And he's like, hey, that almost touched me, eh? I'm like, what the fuck are you going to do about it, Phil? So we come together, we grab each other in the shoulders, and we fake headbutt at the same time. Like, our head goes. I started leaking from the forehead. Like, I'm cut. I'm'm split open i'm needing stitches and it was wet on the floor phil slide almost pops his groin and he's on the he's on the floor and he's on his iron man street right so he's i think he's at 996 at that time

so i'm like he's about to get a thousand straight so i'm holding my blood like this i have my hands over and feels on the on the floor like almost like he was like man you you shook me here oh my god my head and he was like he had like he looked like he had a little mosquito bite on top of his eyebrow or something but either way he was on the floor and i was i was late for warm-up i went to get stitches uh right in the middle between my eyebrows and feel like nothing he was shook and man was that that moment like everybody was dying laughing coming to see me when i was getting stitches for the game and that that moment was like, I don't know, like that trip, like kind of got our team really bounding.

And it was, it was just so funny. That is fucking unbelievable. He's got a forehead, like a drive-in movie theater, right? Oh my God. It was the hardest thing ever.

Yeah. He, he looks like the, the, the doctor from, uh, back to the future. What's his name?

R. Ray. He's got the same haircut. Yeah. He's got the same haircut. he's got the same haircut and it's long huh yeah oh yeah it's pretty it's long it's getting there it's i can't say shit about a big forehead i gotta take myself out of this conversation marshy this is awesome man and like we're so grateful for your time but just like the the stories the journey like your own

personal growth through the game, man. We obviously congratulate you, and it's been well-earned, my friend. And that quote about your family, that's all time, brother. Yeah, well, thanks for having me, guys. And yeah, it was awesome, and you guys are awesome to listen at too. So I'm happy for you guys. Who's got the worst hot takes of the three of us? Who's got the worst takes?

What's the takes? Well, if you listen to the show a little bit, you know that we sometimes are very opinionated and have bad takes. Probably the guy who said his team was going to suck and then they went to the finals being me. Although now that you said you thought you'd suck too, I feel better. You know what? I got to say, you're really a fan of the Maple Leafs. Oh, it's a fucking joke, Moshy.

Fuck you. They're coming for that title. I would love to see you guys against them in the finals. I would like to see it, but it's hard for me to see it. Exactly. I just don't know. They get past the first round, and after they lose in five against a team that I think was they were hot at the right

time obviously but I mean I don't know like it's hard for me to see there's a lot of things that needs to change if they want to win that's because you live on planet you live on earth you live on earth and him and the rest of the Maple Leaf fans they

live on another planet in another galaxy. Planet Zoltan. Congrats again, dude. That's unbelievable. Unbelievable story personally and as a team. It was fun to watch, so thank you. That interview was brought to you by Chevy. Yes, it's Chevy time.

The Chevy EV family, we've been a part of it for quite some time, and we got that big news. The first ever all-electric Silverado is officially Barstool and Spittin' Chicklets' most valuable truck. The thing's a horse, yet you just plug it in because it's EV. We experienced it. We drove it. It's a game changer.

I want one. I'm not going to lie. I really, really want one. It's available 400-mile range, GM estimated on a full charge. That's more than you'd get if you tugged the thing full of gas. There's over 10 feet of length in the bed with the Multiflex tailgate combined with the Multiflex mid-gate. The large, enormous, I'll say, 17-inch diagonal display screen, which just makes driving around using your navigation that much easier, all electric. It could tow up to 10,000 pounds of max towing, zero to 60 in under 4.5

seconds with the wow mode, and up to an impressive 785 foot pounds of torque. That's a lot. 785 feet? I mean, are we kidding? This is electric too. The Silverado. Head on over to Chevy.com to learn more. Chevy.com. Learn more now. The all-electric Silverado. First one ever. Get involved. Big thanks to Machi for coming on with us, man.

I know those guys are on a real busy schedule right now. Wow, what a funny bastard he is. I was cracking up the whole time. Plus with the accent, it's even 10% funnier. Yeah, and I'm very happy for him just because of what he's went through his entire career. So it's cool to see stories like that. Every Stanley Cup winning team has guys who've battled through a lot

and to not be drafted and then put on the expansion draft after 30 goals, it's like you're happy for people to finally kind of live out their dreams and battle a long way to get there. So we appreciate them coming on. Yeah, and in the series, Vegas outscored them 26-12. Comes to 5.2 goals a game versus 2.4 goals per game. But Florida's special teams, man, I want to go to you again, Biz. Was the special teams essentially the difference in the series,

or was it just a matter of one team just being way better than the other? Because, I mean, what do we got? Florida 0 for 14. Just five on five, pure domination. And some of the numbers for Vegas, like shooting percentage five on five, everything was just crazy. They were off the charts. As far as special teams, it just really killed Florida.

No power play goals the entire series. PK was rubbish. The first three games, they gave up two goals each game. But the thing is, they were an undisciplined team all season, and they just were never good at penalty kills, so you figure they would catch up to be smarter about how they take penalties. And yeah, I would say that in this series, it put that stamp of approval, but I think that even if special teams were tied,

I still think Vegas is coming out alive based on their 5-on-5 play. So it wasn't pretty from both, but definitely not the only reason. Yeah, Florida 0-14. Does that make sense to you, Whit? Yeah, it was utter domination everywhere. Not only 0 for 14, but outscored 7-1 on special teams. That's pretty putrid.

Jack Eichel, he led the team again with 26 points. The third most points by a player in his first playoffs with a team. Mark Reckie, ahead of him with 34, Eric Stahl. Got himself a pretty good list. Buffalo fans for a long time have given me a hard time in terms of, oh, your boy, you're talking about your boy.

He fucking sucks here. We want to get rid of him. Blah, blah, blah. It's like everyone knows kind of how that entire thing went down. But it's hard not to respect and be happy for a guy to like be that high of a pick, go through a lot of downtime in Buffalo, finally get his chance to get to the playoffs. And what does he do?

He leads the playoffs in scoring and wins the Stanley Cup. It's kind of a fairytale story in terms of a guy who was just waiting and hoping to play these big games and gets the chance and just takes full advantage. I mean, obviously he's on an amazing team, but I think that to only score six goals, now granted he had all those assists, it was more for me how he's playing defensively.

And I think that entire team buys into that. That's why they're so good. Cassidy's all about that. You've got to be a two-way player. But I noticed a lot of great defensive play from Michael. It was like, all right, if I'm not going to be scoring much goals-wise, I'm just going to do it all over the ice. I'm going to break out the puck well.

I'm going to have my guy in my D zone. It was like him truly coming together as an all-around player, and it's exactly what Vegas had in mind when they made that huge deal. So very happy for him, and he ate a lot of shit for quite a while, and he kind of comes out on top. Yeah, and I guess the one criticism they tried to throw at him was, know he's not that guy and in fact he is right so that's kind of the that's the that's the finale there so what what a run by him and yeah i would say that there was quite a few buffalo fans online giving him a hard time on the way out of town so he he gets the last laugh

i would say he he grew up a lot too too, in the last couple of years. Just going to that organization, how things are run there. That culture in Buffalo was bad for so many years. We saw it's changed now. New coach. But you go to that locker room now with Petrangelo, Stone, all these other, all the misfits, and Cassidy running it now. I think it changed him, and he realized and and benefit him for like okay i gotta play this way i gotta be this committed i have to be this focus and and we all know how good he is the guy skates probably second best to mcdavid in the whole league and he beats big and he's

he got it all so he he really stepped up and i think he's grown a lot in vegas i thought that quote by somebody released a quote about patrice bergeron when they said that vegas was going to go hire bruce cassidy is that a factual quote yeah uh yeah george mcphee said that kelly mccrimmon asked mark stone to call patrice bergeron before they hired cassidy bergeron told stone if vegas hired bruce they'll win the stanley cup next year and lo and behold yeah yeah so when i heard that i'm like well like the would you not agree that part of it was maybe he was a little too hard on the guys and and they maybe kind of started not listening to him as much there's no doubt and i i don't think creature would have

been back had cassidy been back and like that's why there's a lot of bruins fans like oh i wish we could get coaches like that but it just it wasn't going to happen in Boston with him there. Interestingly enough, I did get a kick out of Marshall. So telling us, yeah, he's a motherfucker. So it's like they had an amazing team. They won the cup. Now, let's see it two to three years when guys like that sometimes maybe their message wears a little thin. But in the end, it was the perfect hire for that group who marshy even said like we we kind

of needed that a little bit he did well part of in the interview too though he said that uh he said that he didn't really get too bad during playoffs it seems like he also made some adjustments which which was was nice to hear but uh holy shit that's you never heard that quote before just now oh isn't that fucking wild so does that tell you that that means he would have rather have kept them i think bergeron's the type of guy that would never really bad mouth anyone he's ever had coach him or played with like you know what i mean like he's only gonna build people up now you can do that without saying you're gonna win the stanley cup if you hire him but i i also think that bergeron's a player that probably doesn't see a lot of the

bad sides of coaches that a lot of players do see like no one's saying shit to him so it's hard i remember like complaining i remember complaining to like crosby or getzoff about coaches they're like what do you mean i'm like oh yeah they just tell you how great you are it's different for those guys they don't really see all the all the stuff that the plugs deal with from certain hard asses. And I think Bergeron understood what was going on in Vegas. I know I heard about it from all sorts of people that it was like the inmates were running the asylum out there that they needed a guy to come in and be strict on them

and be hard on them. So Bergeron, knowing how good they were, but they were playing too loose, he knew Bruce was the guy for the job maybe. It's still crazy looking back as we move on to the future of this team or the future of the two teams, but

Vegas won the West and they ran through to win the Cup, and I don't think anyone picked them before the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup. And the goaltending was a question mark, but looking back, it's like what the hell was everyone missing? Doesn't it happen every year where we build up one conference and they end up being a dud no i said a conference not a team well you know what in in a sense we were kind of right because i think we said

the east is going to beat the shit out of themselves they're going to be so banged up when they get to the finals and it kind of of happened. Wow, we're geniuses. There you go. Yeah, exactly. Because you'll like this stat. 18 out of the 24 Vegas Gold Knights who played in the playoffs are Canadian, and Army will love this one if he was with us. Two-thirds of their full 36-man roster played in the WHL. Oh, wow. Two-thirds of them played in the WHL.

Pretty interesting little stuff. Man's hockey. Love their beers. Throw them both ways. Give me a... Throw them one or two. While we're talking about predictions and Army, I'll let you guys know that me and him both had the best records

for series winners through our whole playoffs. All right, I'll clap to that. Good job, Merles. And I'm going to give myself the tiebreaker for picking Vegas in five. So I'm taking the chicklet's crown, self-announced or pronounced. You couldn't say it by the end of the series, but you did. Who finished the worst? Vegas in five.

Vegas in five. Who finished the worst? Wow. All right. Quick math. Well, Biz and Witt, you were both last, and you both had Florida in six. So you guys can share it. I picked Florida to win the cup.

Yeah. In the last round. What is wrong with me? I know we talked about the clip of Bruce Cassidy starting the misfits when we had Machio on a few minutes ago. But did you notice before he did it, he actually apologized to William Carrier, who's the sixth misfit. He could only stop five of them.

He gave him a little apology right before he called it off. It was kind of subtle. The way that game went, they could have started the sixth of them and just pulled the hill. They could have started R.A. They would have won. It's not the little fucking rascals. Also, Kelly McCrimmon, he's going to join his older brother, the late Brad McCrimmon, and have his name engraved on the cup as well. Brad won the Stanley Cup back in 1989 when he was a defenseman for Calgary

and of course was tragically killed in a locomotive Yaroslavl plane crash like 12 years ago. So, you know, I saw a clip of Elliot Friedman interviewing him on the ice after and, and, and he brought that up and, and, and I think he, you know, he got a little emotional and talking about how much it meant to his family and, and Brad's son was there celebrating with them and such a tragic ending to his lives all the guys who were part of that locomotive team i'll never forget i was in sean horkoff's kitchen living with him in camp and

just a horrible horrible tragedy and for kelly mccrimmon who what an amazing job that guy's done him george mcphee and the owner just like truly have built like an amazing team out there so for him to get his name on the cup with his brother that's an awesome story yeah I actually met Brad's son one of the clubs that night he was that nice kid Liam he's he come up and said hello he's listening to the show so yeah it was a nice little gesture there uh anybody surprised by the order which the cup went out you know Stone had it first and then it went to the misfits I know people are kind of like bellyaching about whatever. Did anything surprise you?

It was kind of routine or what? Who cares? People bellyaching are idiots. Nobody gives a fuck. They all just won the cup. And then they were bellyaching when Kevin Bieksa and crew were practicing. Like, well, do you want them on the same page or not? You know?

Never happened. Never happened. Juice will knock one of us out if we say i commend him for being prepared it's a nagger regional thing we're on top of our shit i think i think uh during the finals him and strombo had a joke about it on on sportsnet and had a good had a good laugh about about the rumor of uh rumor of practicing the cup raising when they were up on Boston. That was like Chara's first experience on a podcast. He's probably like, what the fuck just happened? Like, I just always heard that happen.

People are coming at me. Another emotional thing, Alex Petrangelo, he had a nice embrace with his four-year-old daughter, Evelyn. You know, she got sick early in the year with encephalitis, which is a pretty nasty thing. And he took, I think it was nine or 10 games off. And the team was like, go ahead. He said, I can't play.

I'm not going to play. And fortunately, she got some treatment and she got better. So it was like another heartwarming thing to see. It was pretty, pretty nice there. So let's see. Oh, we get some thank yous as well. We got to thank Pink Whitney, of course. Big Deal Brew.

Beer House by T-Mobile. Gee, if you're out there, if you have any other names, we should be thanking them. Tin Roof in Fort Lauderdale, who hosted us. And then, of course, the Elbow Room as well. The Merle's Room. Ah, shit. All right, before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Front Door.

We all have that long, nagging home to-do list that we keep putting off. It's full of annoying things that need to be fixed. Dripping dishwasher, hole in the drywall, or the dryer not drying. Wouldn't it feel great to get it all done? Now you can, and it's easier than ever. Introducing Front Door, the all-new, one-stop home repair and maintenance app. Front Door lets you video chat with experts in

real time so you can diagnose the problem faster, sometimes fixing yourself on the video chat, or Front Door will send you a list of vetted and trusted pros to come out and help you solve the problem. I can't fix anything. I couldn't fix a toothbrush. I use Front Door. They come over, they get it done, they hook it up. Not everybody's a Mr. Fix-It I'm definitely not so I'm all over front door and with a front door membership it's easy to cross things off your home to-do list and enjoy that feeling of done download the app now and get a free video chat offseason I'll go to you Merle's uh what's Vegas gonna do in the offseason they got about 3.4 in cap space. The whole defense is coming back intact. UFA forwards, Babashev, Kessel, and Bluga.

UFA goalies, Brassois, Hill, and Quick. Leonard Thompson are the only goalies signed for next season. I don't know. You think they're going to re-sign Hill, or he's going to go walking away? I think he's going to get too much money that won't be able to keep him. How do you not give that guy the big money? One of these teams, like Toronto, always needs a goalie, although they won't be able to keep him. How do you not give that guy the big money? One of these teams, like Toronto, always needs a goalie, although they won't be able to afford him either.

But that guy just made himself a lot of money. And you look back at him, and you think he was probably so close to going to Europe, never to be heard from again. And now all of a sudden he's Stanley Cup champion, and he's going to demand the same kind of money like Kemper got got last year even though he wasn't you think you can get a five times five why not i think no doubt okay i think no doubt i was saying four times four because i don't think he's ever played a full regular season so it's very difficult to to assess it to kemper's money one team out there man and then they start bidding against each other.

It's like, maybe if it's a four-year deal, I think his AAV is going to be five. The question now, though, this fucking animal barbershop. And unfortunately, there's no way. I don't see a way he can be back in Vegas. I think he is the number one free agent. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm not reaching there too much based on your reaction. But if you look at how this guy plays and then in the playoffs.

So it's like, all right, we're signing him. And he had the one year with 60 points in St. Louis. And you saw how good he is playing on the top line. but then it's like, we're signing this guy for the playoffs where he's fucking indestructible. I don't know if there's a more playoff-style player out there. If you're trying to win a Stanley Cup with a heavy game, I don't know what he's going to get. I mean, would he get eight years?

Well, not there. So they would have – I don't know if they could trade and sign. I would say $6 million would be a fair number for Barbashev a year. Coming off a deal where he's making 2.5. That's who she has. That's why I said I think he made between 20 and 25 million extra from this run. There's not a lot of guys out there this year. Most of the big guys are tied up. I'd say another guy that would be close to him would be Tyler Batuzzi,

would be one that would be comparable to him. Those would maybe be my top two forwards I'm going after. Most of the other guys that I see here are a little older, not nearly as skilled as them. Maybe Michael Bunting is a guy kind of like them, plays a little edge. I like Barbashev over Bunting all day long. I don't think that's. Yeah. I mean,

and the thing is though, like I, a lot of times like a guy who's UFA say the, the market's weak. I mean, you might get an enormous deal from a team who's going to be probably kind of bad for a little bit, but I feel like the,

the teams that are going to go after Barbashev, they're all going to be Stanley cup aspirations team, right? Cause like this is the guy we need to get there. Maybe it's a team that thinks in two years they can compete, but it's not like he's going to have to sign with some shitbag team. What about Chicago? Get him playing with Bedard on the top line.

And they have a ton of money. Modern day protection. Well, for him too, you have two cups now, so almost you're like, I'll go wherever gives me the most money, if that's what you're looking for. And if Bedard's this good, Chicago probably could be pretty good in two, three years. That's not a bad call.

I would like to see him with somebody like the Devils. I feel like the Devils need him more than they need Timo Meier. Don't give Timo Meer all that big money. Bring in a guy with a little grit. You got enough scoring now. You just signed Bratt. You got Hughes. You got enough little skill guys.

You need a little grit. Or get them both. I don't know if they can afford it. We don't have our insider, Pasha. He's probably still at the nightclubs in Miami. And as for Florida, I wonder what they're going to do this offseason. Biz, right now they've got a little over $10 million in cap room. They have $73 million spent on 16 guys right now.

Just one goalie, Bobrovsky. Of course, Spencer Knight is in the employee assistance program right now. Four defensemen signed, Ekblad, Montour, Forsling, and Mahura. And 11 forwards. So I don't know. I don't know if they're going to. I think two years from now, they only have two forwards signed. Tkachuk and Barkov, two seasons from now.

I mean, it's like Zito can pretty much make this team in his old mold at this point, right? I mean. And Montour and Forsling only have one year left. Yeah. Montour, you got to lock in and make him your core. Listen, I think Barkov is a tremendous player. I think that the rumors that I'm hearing about them potentially getting rid of him and moving him and bringing in somebody else. Have you guys heard any rumblings?

Imagine a Brady Kachuk for Barkov. Okay, so we're the rumor boys. Everybody knows that. We throw a few out there, propositions're the rumor boys. Everybody knows that. We throw a few out there, propositions, but this is what I'm hearing is a potential Brady-Matthew reunion, and then Barkov's the guy out. Where are you guys reading that?

I'm hearing it. I read it anyway. Are you hearing it from some fucking rando at the elbow room in the corner on the way to the bathroom? Who are you hearing it from, Merles? I'm on sweet level hearing these things, Biz. I don't know.

Also, with Gutis, he's a free agent. You've got to bring him back, right? But I don't know. What's he going to get? What would you pay him a year, Biz? Because you've got to remember, it's not just— Pay him in meat. Like, just whatever red meat he wants.

I'm limited. The liver king. The two stalls, Gutis, Lyon, and Hornquist. That's where they got to bolster up. They got to get deeper on their back end from, like, being able to move. They need to look like Vegas' back end. I mean, I know that ain't easy, but you got your Montour. You have your ace.

Ekblad's got one more year left on his deal or two? He might even have more than that. He's got two more at 7.5. So you got your one, two. You just need to get those second and third pairings dialed in. They have enough crafty guys up front. They still got Duclair one more year at a three-year deal or one more year at a $3 million deal.

Reinhardt, Bennett, they still have a great group. I think they need to focus that money on making their back end a little bit more competent. And that's not taken away from any of the guys who helped them out throughout this run. But you look at the things that would need to put them over the edge, that would be one of the most addressed areas, in my opinion. They'll most likely be very active in the free agent front as well. Kachuk, Barkov, Bennett, Verhage, and Dalpy are the only forwards signed beyond next season.

So, got to be spending some dough somewhere. We already talked about your TNT crew biz. Did you see that drone video that I think Yeah, it was awesome. That was amazing. That was absolutely incredible. We should tweet it out from the Chicklets feed. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

It was awesome stuff. Let's see, boys. I think we should maybe bring Zach Whitecott in unless you have any final thoughts you want to talk about for the series. No, I think that's good. We got the conspite winner, and then we got a guy on, in quotes, the third pairing with Nicholas Hagg and another guy, undrafted, been through a lot.

It was great talking to him. So we get the conspite winner, and then we got considered a depth defenseman. So we appreciate him coming on. Here's Zach Whitecloud. Okay, before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Top Legends. With Jaramillo Yaga as an ambassador, Top Legends will be celebrating ice hockey legends through their commemorative one-of-a-kind value notes.

Each series that Top Legends releases will feature seven commemorative value notes with seven different legends. These will be issued over a period of seven years with one value note released annually in 2023 top legend starts with the ice hockey legend series, but expect more to come involving sports and arts legend. Each value note has its serial number making it truly one of a kind giving you a chance to collect the whole ice hockey series with the same unique number limited issue with no future reissue products sold to people 18 years or older

subscribe at toplegends.com to make sure you don't miss out on anything big. Also, subscribe to the Top Legends YouTube channel and watch the launch event live from Vegas on June 28th. All right, we're going to welcome our second guest to the show. After two years at Bemidji State, this undrafted defenseman was signed as a free agent by Vegas and just finished up his fifth season as a Golden Knight. He was already the first indigenous player from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in NHL history, and now he's the first indigenous player from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation to win the Stanley Cup.

We're very happy to welcome to the Spittin' Chicklets podcast, Zach Whitecloud. How are you doing, my man? You all recuperated from the weekend or what? Yeah, doing great. Thanks for, appreciate you guys having me on. When R.A. messaged me on Instagram, the first thing I said was, why do you guys having me on when when ra messaged me on instagram uh the first thing i said was why why do you guys want me on here i thought you and ra were playing tummy sticks at the party that's where i thought you guys met and how you guys talked about this interview is that not how it happened all right i i know we shot the shit for a little bit i maybe a little flustered on the details I thought he brought it up. Oh, weird. Weird. Oh, sorry.

It was for the modern day Vegas. Oh, who was the drunkest guy at the Stanley Cup? Oh, it's this guy, R.A., that works for a podcast nearby. He must have won the consmite. R.A. was on cruise control that night. How'd the parade go the other day? It looked like a raucous time with all the videos out there. I mean, it was Vegas.

I guess that's the best way you can describe it. I mean, both sides of Las Vegas Boulevard were completely packed. And I mean, it was a later parade than I think usually. It was kind of closing in on sunset and just the way that kind of vibe was around the downtown area and the strip. And it was so loud the entire time. I think we might've been on the buses for maybe, I don't know, maybe an hour, hour and a half, somewhere around there. loud the entire time i think we're we might have been on the buses for maybe i don't know maybe an hour hour and a half somewhere around there and the entire time it was just incredibly loud and and uh and the fans were great they uh they let us get off the buses and kind of go and drink with the fans and then uh show some t-shirts and stuff so it was a good time it was unreal i think they learned their lesson from the the parade planning from when sanford remember they had the drop tops and it was like the day after they'd been on a huge bender and Sanford ended up puking in the back of the drop top. So they're probably like, hey, let's go with the sunset. So it nice and eases the mood and then you don't got the sun blaring on you guys. So it looked like a riot. So much cool fan experience as well. think it was martinez who was going by so each fan along the way got to touch the stanley cup so yeah you guys did a heck of a job man yeah and i

mean that that's a credit to uh you know everyone behind the scenes that uh i mean we we just go out there and we party and and all that stuff right but there's there's a lot of moving parts that uh go into organizing that stuff especially on on short notice too, right? So, you know, it's a huge credit to not only our city, but the people in our organization for getting things organized and kind of keeping everyone on time, right? It's during those types of events, it's pretty, it's everyone's everywhere, right?

And they're having a good time. We're not aware of time constraints or anything like that. We're just kind of like RA on anything like that we're just kind of kind of like ra on cup night we were just cruise control and and uh and uh no just just having fun though right and and uh you know everyone was able to get everyone on the buses stay on schedule and and uh it ended up turning out incredibly incredible and and extra credit to whoever had to take care of your d partner because he was on a different planet. How funny is that video? That might have surpassed, as far as time you have to invest into it, the wild bill.

And we'll get to that. But that is going to be a meme forever. Oh, my gosh. How funny was that? That was all time. He's hilarious, right? Oh, he's one of the best. He's got a great sense of humor.

And I forget who was telling me. It might have been my mom, actually, because our parents were allowed to come on the floats with us. And obviously, Hager was crushing beers and stuff like that. And I think his mom was close by him, feeding him food so that he didn't... Running along the parade line. That's what,

that's what I heard. Anyways, you might have to fact check that, but his, his mom was making sure that he was eating right and not overdoing it too much. So for some people who are listening, who aren't too dialed in,

we're talking about his D partner, Nicholas Haig, who you actually were playing with as a partner, even before you got to the NHL in Chicago. So you guys have been boys and have come up together, and it just so happens you guys were the third pairing on this team. But as I kept saying on this pod, it feels like you guys had three top pairings. You guys had so much chemistry.

You were shutting big lines down when you had to, contributing offensively. So this partnership with this guy goes way back yeah it does um i think our first year in the minors together was i remember correctly i think it was 20 2018 and we we had a good team that year which which really i think helped our development um there were a lot of guys a lot of young guys there i mean colestar was there too and uh and then a lot of guys ended up just kind of coming up through the, through the minor league system. And, um, yeah, since, since kind of day one in Chicago, Edgar and I were put together and then just kind of learned how to be pros

together, which I think helps learning at the minor league level too. And then obviously you never, you never assume you're going to have the same D partner when you go up to the, up to the big club. Um, but for us, we've been playing together, I think, in the NHL now for, I think that was our third season. And I basically know what the guy's going to do with the puck pretty much every time, right? You just understand one another and you gain that chemistry, right? And even for our other two pairs, like Petro and Marty have been playing together now for, it might've been like two or three years now as well. And then McNabb and Theodore have been playing together since day one, since the team came came here and it's not too often you find chemistry

like that right and and uh um obviously you guys know being being uh d-men it's it's it's tough to stay with one partner for or you know let alone a season nobody wanted to play with wit for longer than two games let alone this was so bad at d they moved him to forward but it's uh no it's it's uh it's been you know just grateful that we're able to keep that chemistry throughout right and it does help um and as you said you know we we had three pairs that you can you can kind of roll over and uh and i think our coaches know that you know each pair is going to go out and get the job done um and obviously especially when you go on the road too you don't it's tough when you're searching and I think our coaches know that each pair is going to go out and get the job done. Obviously, especially when you go on the road too,

it's tough when you're searching for matchups and things like that, right? So being able to have four lines that can roll over and play against any line and then having three pairs that can go out I think is definitely a nice thing to have. Can I propose a game show, a matchmaker game show with the three pairings going against each other given given the longevity of each pairings time together? All right. That would be great. You should host it.

That would be hilarious. Would you guys be down for that? Oh, I think most of us would be. That would be hilarious. Okay. All right. You have to write the questions, though. No problem, buddy.

I'm on it. Golden Knights Social Media is going to do this first day of camp next year. We're going to get shriveled. Hey, let's do it on Foley's Ranch because I heard this place is the ultimate playground. Describe this time at the ranch. Well, first of all, the golf course is, I think, when we first started going there, I wasn't here the first year to go there. But then from then on, I think at that time, the course was ranked top 50 in the world.

And this place, it's called rock creek cattle company it's uh heard of it and i'm probably making beef jerky and shit there too they're probably doing everything on that ranch you doubt you have to fact check that though i'm pretty sure it was a top 50 or top 100 something like that like it's it's up there in the in the high rankings and uh i mean this place like there is no really off season for it it's just always super nice and uh i don't know if you guys ever been to montana but it's like obviously it's mountains and stuff everywhere and this course is built into this like little valley where the ranch is stuff it's uh i mean you guys play some nice courses but this place is is uh is incredible, is incredible. And then after that, you can go ATVing, fishing, hunting, all that sort of stuff. It's, it's, it's, uh, it's super grateful every year.

Cause, um, you know, Bill's treated us, um, incredible since day one. Right. So he, uh, and then every year he takes, he takes us up there before, uh, kind of when we get that break in camp, he, uh, he takes all the boys up there and just kind of have a time. I'm looking at pictures right now. This is actually insane. Yeah. It's beautiful.

Sorry, Ben. All the views and stuff, like tee box views, the way you kind of got to hit shots and stuff like that, like it's just – it's one of a kind. You don't have to apologize to me. I'm a pigeon. Uh, the, the hunting and fishing, do you take part in that? No, I I'm, so I'm a golf guy. I, I, uh, every, every time I think I can't count how many times I've been there, but every time I've gone, I've, I've tried to play as many holes as I can before I have to leave. It's a, it's just, it's, you can play

it as many times you want and you kind of, It's one of those courses you don't really get sick of. And you can play it from different tees too, right? And you can make it different every time. Yeah, now I'm on the course tour, so I'm on it. Yeah, Ari's on it. We'll talk to you in 10 minutes. So are you a stick? I wouldn't say that.

I'd say Stevie. Stevie's a good player. Navi's a good player. Theo's a good player. We have a lot of golfers on our team. We've got a lot of guys that can play. Do you guys get any... I mean, the Vegas golf scene, I think, is one of the best. I know the season gets crazy,

but maybe some off days, do you guys get any mid-season golf or do you guys kind of stay away? Yeah, I mean, you try to, right? It just depends. I mean, being in the West, you're coming home sometimes and it's and it's late then the next day you don't really feel like doing much right but it's your one off day you're like i'm not gonna get up and play yeah exactly so it it uh you gotta kind of dig a little deep if you want to get out there but um when when we're home we we try to get out i think uh most days we we have some time right it's obviously nice having the nice weather

here and getting out getting some sun especially during the season too is nice um and just kind of getting that little disconnect too right instead of sitting around the house all day and and uh thinking about hockey whatever it is right so um but yeah we we try to get out as as much as we can whenever the time's available so we just talked to um to marsha show and you know like going over his kind of life and getting to where he's been in this team he was great at describing all his teammates so kind of want to ask you about him as a guy right before we got on you said there aren't many players like him anymore so what does he mean to your team i mean you could tell just when we talked him pretty

humble dude he is humble until until he's not he's he's uh oh yeah yeah that's why him and phil battled so much i guess yeah he's got you know he's uh oh yeah yeah that's why him and phil battled so much i guess yeah he's got you know what you whenever you mention i think playoff players and guys that just step up in moments and you mentioned like those guys just have that swagger right that can step up and they can score those big goals and all those things and then he's exemplifies all that and he's he's been a leader on this team for so long and he's one of those guys that brings a team together and has that team morale right he's kind of he's like a glue on this team for so long. And he's one of those guys that brings a team together and has that team morale, right? He's kind of, he's like a glue guy if you take it that way.

He's, you know, he's loud. He's always chirping someone. He's having fun all the time. Even like, especially when you get into the playoffs, right? Like, you know, you're trying to focus every single day and especially during practice and that stuff. But he brings the lightness and the energy to those atm those atmospheres. Um, and there's, there's multiple other guys that do that, but I think he's, he's one of a kind at it just cause he's, he's not, he's so loose, but he gets the

work done. Right. And he's a pro all the time. And, and, uh, yeah, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's my kryptonite when it comes to golf. He, uh, he gets, he he you guys have heard clips of him chirping on the ice right so oh yeah um i can't imagine how it feels when he means it let alone on the golf course oh no he's a bully just a bully oh my god he gets in my head so easily too it's the worst it's because he's got all the money to play with so if he loses it he doesn't give a shit yeah playing with the upper hand that's what's's happening. It's like playing with Jordan. Or I don't even know if I could say that. I just got you mixed from Jordan's playing list.

I think I was done anyways. Zach, I want to go to the third period. You guys got a pretty big lead. How do you keep yourself from getting ahead of yourself? You're on the verge of winning the Stanley Cup. Well, guys, just stay level. It's 9-3, dude. The game's over.

Well, that's what I'm asking. It was 6- of winning the Stanley Cup. Well, guys, just stay level. Oh, it's 9-3, dude. The game's over. Well, that's what I'm asking. It was 6-1 when the period started. I mean, I'm just curious how the hell that goes to guys. Like, when do you realize, oh, it's going to happen? It's not going to celebrate a little bit. Yeah, obviously it's – I mean, it is tough, right? Because you've been dreaming of that moment for, you know, however long you've been alive. And, and, uh, you know, when you get that close, especially, you know, going throughout that series, you're just trying to, you know,

take it game by game and focus shift by shift and, and, uh, and not get too hard, too far ahead of yourself. And it's a cliche, but it's, it's so true, right? When, especially when you, when you get into those later rounds, it's, later rounds, it can be easy to look ahead and be like, you know, what if and all those sorts of things. But trying to stay in the moment and enjoy the experience, right? And take in, you know, what the atmosphere is like and the lead up and the pressure and all that stuff, right? That's part of, you know, why we play the game is to enjoy that stuff.

But when you get to that point, you know you start looking at the clock and and uh you know just counting down and stuff like that right and um again it's you don't want to start you know celebrating or playing loosely right because you're you're still you know uh again we i think we we owed it to ourselves to finish it the right way too and and play till till the buzzer right so um and then obviously once it you know came down to a minute and stuff like that and it started to to sink in pretty good you personally like i didn't know a ton about your game obviously i've seen you play the past few years but i did notice you signed that six year i think 16 and a half million dollar deal and now it's like are

is there a sense of like fuck man i could have probably made a lot more because you continue to improve you continue to get better are you just just real happy being in Vegas? That's why you signed long-term. You want to be there, et cetera. Yeah. And I mean, that's exactly it. Don't get me wrong. The thing I try to remember, and it's not me saying that if I didn't have a contract, I'd go out and get X amount of dollars. I could care less about that. Um, you know, when I signed it, I try to remember the mentality I was in. I, I, I was a kid that was undrafted, um, throughout all, all junior leagues. Um, and then obviously in any, in the NHL. And I originally went into college just trying to get my degree and get out of there. Um, pro hockey wasn't even on your mind. No, not, not whatsoever. And, and nor was it like my family's and if you would have saw me

going into college you would have been like yeah that's that's not a pro hockey player um and then i was i was given a shot i went to bemidji state up in minnesota and uh they gave me a shot and i ended up you know obviously just developing um really well and then uh went to la development camp my first my first year after college and that's kind of when it sunk in where like you know i can maybe you know do something with this but even then it still wasn't like realistic at all i was i was just playing to like trying to get my degree and then kind of move on work start a career whatever it was right um and then and then it kind of took off so i always try to remember kind of where I came from and, and, uh, and why

I signed that deal is because one, I love it here. It's home now. This is where I spend my off season. I spend year round here. Um, yeah. So obviously the heat is, is, is one thing, right. But, and I, because you lived in Arizona probably during the summers, it gets, I got to get out of here for like two months. I go back to Victoria, BC to get some fresh air. Yeah. And, and I'm from Brandon, uh, Manitoba so um you know all my buddies and stuff have moved out and and are at university or have jobs other other other places right and and uh so it's just easier for me to stay down here and go to the rink and have that it's a 10-minute drive from the rink and that's where all the treatment and skating

you have ice five six seven days a week if you want it um so it's i mean we we've and obviously again going back to that's why i signed her is because i mean one that the team's good every year right you're you're competing for a cup every single year and for me that's that's why i play this game is to win and you know what i mean i want to be on a winning team for as long as i can be and and and that's where i get enjoyment out of the game is playing with all these guys and winning and creating memories like that. And you know what? At the end of the day, you can look back on where you signed and what you signed for, but at the same time,

I'm just grateful that I get to keep playing in this league every single day, and that's the main focus, right, is to keep winning cups with this team. And the other great thing is – Damn, that's what Margie said too. I just want a stall. Yeah, exactly. He said the best stall in the NHL is a stall in the NHL, which I'd never heard that.

I loved it. But for you too, maybe as you've gotten better and you continue to get better, maybe you left money on the table in quotations, but also with a team that's always going to be up against the cap, you're now such an elite signing for them because you're a bargain. So in a sense, if you love it there, it's even better because they got no reason to ever trade you because

this guy's only making two and a half. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. That's really nice of you to say. I mean, there aren't enough good things I can say about this organization in terms of how I've been treated since day one. They really paid attention to my development and, and, you know, helped me become a pro and then eventual, uh, regular at the NHL level, which was obviously the end goal for, for both sides. Right. Um, and I mean, that's, that's when I signed my deal out of college is because, you know, they, they, uh, they were a new team and they had some room on, on, on D to, you know, eventually in a year or two year or two try and sneak my way in.

And then obviously it ended up working out. But just the way our owner treats us, the way that the culture is around here about winning, and that's something I want to try and continue for hopefully after my contract as well, but into those later years of my career, I take a lot of pride in being a Vegas local now and, you know, playing well and trying to,

obviously now, bring a cup to this city. Obviously, you're a smart guy. You go to school. You said you wanted to get your degree and get out. Did you already have something in your head that you wanted to take and then get the heck out of there and go professional with? Not really. I'm not that smart either so it's uh you know

i i was uh i was just kind of like finding my way just figuring out kind of what i had a passion for um to be honest it probably would still would have been something in hockey afterwards i was just you know it's the same thing as phil i just i just love the game i love to play it uh you know having this for a job you know still doesn't sink in some days that you wake up you go to the rink you come home at whatever time and and uh you know it's it's still and i you know i look back on where i could have been as well i could have been you know working somewhere doing that sort of stuff not that that's a bad thing it's just that you know i never grew up ever thinking that hockey would be something where i wake up and go do every day um it was probably more of like go go to the beer league at eight o'clock at night and

have your beers and then go home right so uh now you're pouring champagne down steve ioki's throat and yeah whoever other fucking djs were dj for you guys what a world eh adan hill was on the dj booth there for a minute he was spitting What was the Eminem track Was it Till I Clapped Lose Yourself right Lose Yourself Is he doing that before games in the room To get the boys going a little karaoke time

No he I think he The next day he was like Aoki handed him the mic He's like do you know how to sing Lose Yourself And he was like not really And then he just handed him the mic he's like do you know how to sing uh lose yourself and he was like not really and then he just gave him the mic just started just started sending it and uh it was it was pretty funny though he was he was in the moment so it was cool to see him do that he like went in the zone i thought it was eminem he was spitting every lyric he was

fucking down and he was dialed in yeah he was dialed in. What other silliness came from the partying aspect? Like what were some stories that maybe haven't leaked that you were just like, oh, God, this is just a Project X type situation? What a show. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Honestly, there wasn't too much. I mean, RA was there the first night. Where was it?

At Jewel, right? Yeah, then much. I mean, R.A. was there the first night. Where was it? At Juul, right? Yeah, and then the second place, Omnia. Right, yeah. That whole time at Juul, R.A. didn't even take two steps away from the bar, I don't think. Oh, yeah. Shocker. Here's my surprise face.

It's crazy because he was involved with all these behind-the-scenes parties, but yet we haven't heard a word about them. It's because he got hit with the Men in Black buzzer. It's gone. Memory gone. He's keeping the stories on lockdown. Well, he better be saving them for the pod. But then come 10 years from now,

there'll be something that happened in Golden Knights, and he'll be like, oh, flashback. And there'll be this picture with you and you and uh in ra just hammered with the cup in hand he's been to every fucking behind the scenes cup party since it started being introduced yeah this uh how do you sneak into those i'm always curious um it is kind of funny because i there were what three three parties afterwards and yeah i i mean i wouldn't i don't know if i snuck in the trojan horse you kind of get him get with people or behind people who are going to be going in. And, you know,

they, you just look like them though. You just walk right into you a little Trojan horse. He kidnapped Foley's driver and he was driving around all the spots. Yeah. After the second one, I, however,

I met a couple of guys who had relatives on the team or in the front office or whatever. So I kind of, one of them gave me a wristband that I was all set after that, but yeah, just act like you're supposed to be there. it was it was cool seeing you in there it's cool chatting for a bit um likewise as uh as far as stories though there isn't anything crazy i think for me the funniest thing was was hager's like seven minute clip there where he was asked

how he was feeling that was i watched it the next morning probably like 10 times it was hilarious on loop yeah yeah and then uh and then carly's speech i think i think that was all time um best moments of a parade i think carly's speech was just like marsh he was talking about how i think it was kim she met he mentioned just like dragged him off i was like is that his wife he's like no no no no this lady's like we've had enough you got to get this guy off but it was a great speech. I'll say that. That was right from the heart too, hey? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. And the ball. So who had a hand in kind of forming this defense squad and the way that you guys played? I felt like you guys sacrificed your bodies. You guys blocked a ton of shots. Who was the defense coach, and how much of molding did he have on that group?

I think it was John Stevens, wasn't it? Yeah, it was Johnny Stevens behind the bench this year. Yeah. So, I mean, he'd won cups with LA. So I'm sure that he talked to you about the sacrifice and the commitment as all three pairings and what you guys had to do in order to bring this group together. Yeah. And I mean, that's a good point, right? First of all, you got Johnny Stevens back there who has experience in those situations, right? And then, I mean, you got Alec Martinez now, that was his third cup. And then you got Petra who won one. And you got Barbashev and you know, you got Stevenson, a lot of guys that have been down that road before. And that filters through a locker room, right? Especially when you get in those really close situations where the nerves might be amping up a little bit or the pressure um and those all those guys you know you know

spoke up and and you know said to said things to kind of whether it was to calm the group down or motivate whatever it is right um having those guys speak and and be confident in those situations you know kind of bleeds throughout the group right um and yeah i mean that decor i mean you got, I mean, you got, you got, and then to the blocking shots part, you've got Alec Martinez who leads the league every single year. Um, and then you got Petra, who's a, you know, a number one defenseman in the league. And when you see him doing all these things, it's, um, not that we, you know, guys are scared to do it, but you're just, you feel not obligated, but you want to do it. Right. Cause you see that guy doing it and, it and making sure that we take care of, you know, it's more so helping our goalies too, right?

And making their lives easier. And it goes all throughout our lineup. And I think in the playoffs, it specifically showed as well, all of our forwards have bought in consistently over the years about blocking shots and getting in lanes and keeping a lot of stuff to the outside. So, no, it's something we, keeping a lot of stuff to the outside. So, um, no, we, we, it's something we do take a lot of pride in. And, uh, you know, obviously when you see guys like Marty

Naber and Petro and, and Theo and those guys do it, it just goes throughout the lineup. You said, you said like calming comments throughout the run. Can you remember any specifically where, was it like John Stevens pulling you off to the side and saying something, Hey, you know, relax, you know, maybe not the best game last game or whatever it may be. Or was it more guys like in the locker room after a game standing up and saying, boys, we deserve better or we got to be more of this or whatnot? Yeah, it's a bit of both, right? I think coaches obviously play a big part in that and, you know,

firing up a group or calming them down, right? But, I mean, even specifically the one thing that sticks out to me was after game three, Johnny Stevens pulled Hager and I aside and just kind of went over some stuff from the last game and just reiterated the good stuff. Because obviously after losses, I think it amplifies in the playoffs too. You're kind of hard on yourself a little bit more.

What could I have done to help the team win or or what could have been done differently and you try to reflect right and and i think every player is hard on themselves at some point and it's natural um and having a guy like john stevens who's been through that you know pulling us aside and and uh you know helping us just kind of move past it and cut the court a little bit um because i think at that time of year it's you know during the regular season i think it's a lot easier if you have a you have a bad game it's easy to kind of leave it at the rink and go home and and do whatever you do but um especially in playoffs i think having uh you know those um uh to reaffirm the the positive things you're doing and keep playing the right way you

know it's it's one game doesn't define you know how a series goes or or carry it in the next game and and uh you know johnny's good for that petro's good for that marty stoney all these guys right to to just tell the group in general you know you're you're uh we're fine we're gonna move on new day tomorrow and and uh and keep going from there zach do you have any idea what you're gonna do uh what you're gonna do when you get the day with the cup there any plans yet uh yeah i've we've been busy the past you know week or so so it's uh i haven't uh i haven't had a ton of time to think about it i know i i do uh i'm taking it back to brandon where i grew up um and then going to take it out to my home

reservation sioux valley which is um 20 minutes west of west of brandon and then uh gonna try and take it out to my my junior a town that i played in for for two years that was that was a big part of my life because i almost didn't make it out of like triple a hockey when i was like 17 18 somewhere around there like they the team that i played for ended up putting me on their reserve list like uh because i had never been drafted or anything or um so they protected me and then i ended up making the team next year and and i had great billets that kind of helped me figure out figure a little bit. And so I want to take it back there because that's a meaningful spot to me and then eventually take it back to Brandon and have a

little night with it. I know you've mentioned how much your heritage means to you and I can't imagine how much it'll mean to the people that you grew up with bringing the cup back there. What was hockey like for you growing up? I mean, how many rinks were there around? How much were you skating? Are there a lot of kids your age playing? How was it like getting into the game there? Yeah, I mean, getting into the game was no problem.

My dad played growing up, so obviously being Canadian, especially obviously Western Canadian too, we have winters there, you have ice available to you like six or seven months of the year, just being outside. Right. So, um, access to that stuff was never an issue. Um, honestly, and I think a lot of guys say it too, that the where I kind of gained a passion for the game was, was actually on the outdoor rinks and, and, uh, you know, just messing around with your friends and,

and basically playing till your feet fell off. Right. It, uh, you know, those are, those are the, those are the times where you remember when you reflect on, throughout the past couple of days, those are the times that I remember. That's where you grew the love for the game, just playing because you love it. Those are the times that are special too. I was lucky to grow up in a town where hockey was very prevalent. I think my town was probably 45,000, 50, I was lucky to grow up in a town where hockey was very prevalent. And, uh, you know, we, we had, I think my town was probably 45, 50,000 people growing up.

So we always, you play with the same age group, same guys growing through each level. Right. Um, which was kind of nice. And then, uh, once you started hitting the travel teams, guys sort of branched off and did their own thing. And, and, uh, but no, Brandon, Brandon's been known for a hockey city. And I, uh, I actually played for my local community team out in Sioux Valley when I was, uh, probably six, seven and eight.

And then, uh, and then once travel hockey started, I had to go into town and, and, uh, start playing with, uh, it was always called the weekends. That's what the, that's what the travel teams were. You got any, uh, trips planned this summer, a little vacation or actually action or what? Uh, yeah. Um, we're,'re it's it's kind of tough for us right now my girlfriend's studying for the bar so she takes that on uh july 22nd so um you know lots of studying and lots of long uh long days for that so we're uh we're kind of

trying to plan around that and and uh at least try and make sure she's feels comfortable studying and stuff like that but um no we were gonna try and i think shoot over to hawaii for a little bit that's one of our favorite spots um take a trip there we went there on all-star break with uh um huttons amadios and and the waz and and uh that would that had been the first time i was there because we uh growing up we spent all our money on hockey so we never got to go on vacations and stuff like that so um that was that was one of that's probably one of my favorite spots to go to so we might do that i play with amadio oh my god the guy he like no heartbeat he's i've never seen him get angry or slightly angry have you ever seen him get slightly angry about anything

no not really just in uh maybe just in golf that's about it okay that's where he that's what brings out the anger in everyone yeah yeah you know what you gotta it's gonna show your true true colors for sure that game so we we did get a chance to talk to marchia about pretty much everyone because he's so good at describing teammates uh when i look back on this run i think of that defense i also think of the strength of the middle of the ice and one guy i don't think who's gotten maybe enough uh national coverage is uh chandler stevenson like that's unbelievable hey what a like his like he skates just as he skates just as well as eichel and all of a sudden he just kind of found his game and we we had the chance to sit down with him at the all-star game but just like what a guy and and and what a hidden gem they found in in a second line center and him i mean when you say hidden gem i think that's that's an understatement to what he's what he's done the past couple of years now right and

and uh you know obviously seeing him play with stoney and and uh um and howards now it's uh it's incredible what he's done and what he continues to do he's uh yeah he's another one of those guys that's one of a kind right and also another kryptonite my golf game he uh he must be getting rinsed in the yeah holy shit oh man there's no state tax there and you took a team for every deal at least and your wife's gonna be a lawyer yeah um he's always uh whenever he hits a long ball too off the tee so um he'll like hit it 5 15 20, 20, 25 yards past me sometimes. And he'll just drive by looking at me and it just crushes your heart. With those nice teeth.

The best teeth, eh? The movie teeth. Yeah, yeah. He, no, and then, you know, Stevie's been huge for us. He plays on the first power play, kills penalties. He does everything, right? He does everything so well. And on top of that he's

quick he's got a great shot the way he sees the ice is is incredible him and stoney on the same line it's unbelievable um so i mean as yeah it's it's uh it's been really cool i think to see him kind of how he's grown with with obviously like more opportunity i think he said since he came over from washington and and uh. And just the way he plays the game, and first and foremost, he's a great teammate. He's unbelievable. And I feel like it really was able to bump down Carlson to the third line where he also developed this shutdown role

where this guy scored 42 goals in his first year there, and all of a sudden he was able to adapt his game and become this wet blanket for other teams off bed. So as far as the top three and then fuck we can stroke off the fourth line as much as any line because they were they were tremendous as well but those top three were so lethal yeah and i mean when you talk about carly's line that's not even a third line in the nhl you know what i mean like that's a that's two, um, you know, in a lot of places, right. And, and, uh, you know, we've got four lines that, like I said before, that you can roll over and throw against any line, whether you're on the road or at home. And that's such

a huge advantage, especially in the playoffs. Right. And our fourth line, you know, they're heavy, they're big, um, and they can score and produce. And, and I mean, when you've got that mixture, it's, it's, it's tough to play against. And I mean, you guys guys know as d-man when you're playing against a line that you know they're trying to put you through the first row like every single shift it it's it's annoying and it's it just makes it makes your mind constantly think right and um it's uh no they're i mean every single line it's just they all have their uniqueness to them that just makes them so good what about phil what were your experiences with phil yeah marchie talked 30 minutes about Phil stories. That's it. Yeah. Margie loves Phil. Those guys go at it more than any teammates I've ever seen before, but it's just hilarious. You

can literally sit in the corner of the room, let's say before practice or before meetings, and you'll just watch the show for like 20 minutes it's unbelievable and you can hear marchie all the way across the ring too like the guy's got a voice where you can just hear him everywhere but um now phil phil's been i mean marchie probably described him as glue or or something like that right where he just like he just it's a good reminder to always have fun with the game and and uh you know what the guy against the game look easy it's it's it's uh it's effortless and uh you know for what he's done and being able to you know be a small part and experience what he's done consecutively is was cool at the start of the year too to be able to see that and and obviously phil hates attention right he hates

the ovations before the games and stuff and and stuff like that so yeah it was it was funny seeing that and and uh what's he saying what's he saying before the game like is he like ah here we go again like that that exact thing that exact thing because you know it's you know it's coming right most buildings you go into they're they're uh one uh you know say their say their thing and and congratulate them and stuff and he just kind of He sits on the bench and he's like, what are these? And that's it. But Phil's an unbelievable teammate.

I didn't spend a ton of time with him, just a year, right? In that time, you understand why he's so liked on the teams he's been on. He plays the game the right way he plays to have fun and uh and first and foremost he's you know he has no problem joking around with the guys or or uh

taking shots whatever it was and he did it all looking like ra like a body like ra his body simply defies science at least i shaved my head at a certain point he has to donate his body to science for when he for when it's all over. He's got it. Someone's got to figure that out. That interview too. He's like, I just don't want to throw up tonight. There's something about throwing up.

He is a piece of work. Andy threw a shot at Toronto. I think he's like, oh, you thought I couldn't win. He's on my shit list. I saw that too. That was funny. I've asked him, I would say, no less than 20 times to come on this show and every time he's like,

no. No. He doesn't want to do it? Back off, Maze. Yeah, he doesn't like it. And then every time I see him in person, he like has a chuckle about it,

but just the, yeah, like you said, does not like the attention, but what a career. Yeah, he's, you know, I say it about a lot of guys, but he's a one of a kind too.

He's, no, I mean, all of these guys too, they're all great teammates and all great human beings, right? And I say, I say it about a lot of guys, but he's, he's a one of a kind too. He's, uh, no, I mean, all of these guys too, they're, they're all great teammates and all great human beings. Right. And I think, you know, that's what this organization has said from the beginning is like, once you get good people in the room, usually the hockey side takes care of itself. Like winning will take care of itself at some point. And, uh, and I mean, every, every single guy in that locker room is, would do something for, for one another. Right. And, and, uh, you know, it's know it's it's now you're now you're champions for life and your brothers for life too right so um and that's what

it felt like before before all that too right going through this year and and uh going through the ups and downs and and uh and obviously it makes it a lot more fun when you're winning zach i was gonna ask i mean you got such a good head on your shoulders and you've obviously figured this all out and uh who would you say had the the biggest impact throughout your career like coming up like you know you had some some turbulence you had the you know the triple a experience where you got these little breaks along the way like who who kept you motivated and who did you kind of lean on to kind of siphon through all this stuff and get to where you're at now you know what honestly like it wasn't so much motivation as it was just i kept playing the

game throughout all the levels just because i loved the play and uh and each opportunity i kept on getting whether it was from junior a to college college to the american league american league to the nhl i was still just you know going going to play hockey for the day and and uh getting to do what i loved and that was the cool thing about the whole ride is, is, uh, throughout like junior a and, and, uh, and you guys know how junior is like, you just, you get up, you go play, and then you have the rest of the day and you're playing the game because you love it. And, uh, it's, uh, it's been, it's been a fun ride. And, you know, I won't ever tell anyone that my road was tough because everyone's got different paths and struggles. And that's the

same for work life too, right? Everyone's got their struggles. Everyone's dealing with something. Everyone's trying to fight adversity at some point or every day, if that matter, right? So I've just had fun with it. I've experienced failure. I've experienced success. Try not to get too high, too low, and just keep going along for the ride. I mean, when you, and as Margie said, any day you have a stall in the NHL is a hell of a day. Looks like they're going to be putting a baseball team out there soon. Have you been to any Raiders games? Yeah, I've been to a few Raiders games. Yeah, they're pretty fun. I'm pretty excited. I'm a big baseball guy, so I'm pretty pumped to get the MLB here at some point.

That'll be exciting. Are you a Blue Jays guy like every other person in Canada? No, I'm a baseball fan. I just like watching whatever. Yeah, I'm not really too biased one way or the other. I do like to see the Jays do well, and then obviously like the Canadian I am, hop on the bandwagon once playoffs start. Well, buddy, we can't thank you enough for hopping on. It was great to get a different perspective, obviously,

other than Marchies because everybody's getting so pickled. And it was great to hear about your come up. And once again, buddy, congrats on all the success and have a great summer with the Cup and friends. Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. It means a lot. You invited me on it. I appreciate it a lot.

Big thanks to Zach for jumping on with us, man. I got to talk with him a little bit in the club the other night. I know we have some laughs about it today, but great guy, man. He come over and said hello to me and yeah, we had a nice little rap. So we appreciate him coming on and hope you enjoyed it. Some other NHL news, the devil's extended Jesper Bratt with an eight year, $63 million.

Yeah, there we go on cue. Comes out to 7.875 million a year. It's going to run through 2031. Got a no-move clause for years 2 through 5, and then a modified no-trade clause years 6 through 8. 73 points in 82 games last year. He had a career high in goals, tied his career high in points. Six points in 11 playoff games.

Whit, was that more money than you thought he was going to get right around? No, I actually thought that that was a great deal for Jersey. I mean, looking at what they got Hughes at that people questioned at the time, and then you saw him this season, and knowing the numbers Brat put up. Now, granted, he kind of had a little bit of a disappearing act in the playoffs, but that's a lot of production for a guy making under $8 million if in two, three years the cap's going to go up, eight million i i love the signing i do agree with merles though that they got to address some some size issues and maybe getting a little bigger and tougher but i thought that for him to

get signed it would be over eight under eight i'm laughing at that another great deal by tommy fitzgerald you nailed that one i think yeah definitely left some money on the table based on his playoff performance and we talk about how how the lack of physicality plays into that. But yeah. And I think that you probably as a GM, you go to the guy, you say, well, do you want to stay here and win and want this longevity to be part of this? Where our best player is making, and I know he wasn't an unrestricted free agent by Jack Hughes. He was restricted and he signed that deal, but you can't possibly think you're worth more the same amount as Jack Hughes fall in line,

take a little bit less. You're going to get your eight years. You weren't exactly electric come playoff time. You mentioned the disappearing act. Let's fucking keep the band together and move this forward. And I thought it was a very friendly deal. Everybody all sides. And I'm,

I'm very happy for yes, but that's what our team oh my buddy weeks he tweeted that uh he's curious to see where things end up with my and the devils as they're going to salary arbitration sources with san jose told weeks he that uh the sharks offered of over nine million to team oh my so it's curious to see what the devils i know they kind of a little i agree with you merles it's like you can get bar can get Barbashev cents on the dollar to where, yeah, maybe he's not getting you what Meyer put up in the regular season, but you have a playoff-proven player who could play with high-end talent

that is a massively cheap replacement of Timo Meyer, even at 8.5. If you're telling me he's already turned down 9, but we heard from guys who have won before, it's like, well, it's a lot easier to take less when you know the team's going to be good for a long time. So maybe he lands in that similar area to what they gave Jesper Bratt, and I think that that's a good deal for Meyer. But anything north of nine, I didn't see anything in playoffs that was that impressive. Right now, the Devils got $26 million in cap space. Only 13 guys signed, so I don't know. They'll have to do a little finagling somewhere along the way.

Am I crazy here? Is $9 for Timo Meyer out of this fucking world? $9 would be out of the world, but $9... Sign him. Oh, did I say $9? $9 million. $9 million! I forgot how to speak

I mean somebody would give him that right is Shirelli still in the league I don't know sorry I mean 9 million and then he only gets

when I hear 9 million a year I don't pick a Timo Meier no that's that's Jack Eichel or Sidney Crosby or 9 million

hey but maybe for 9 million you could get Barberchev for 5 and go get another D for 4 maybe it was That's Jack Eichel or Sidney Crosby at $9 million. Hey, but maybe $10 million. You could get Barberchev for $5 and go get another D for $4. Maybe it was because it was Man Jose and there's no girls here. You pay me $12 million, I'm not staying here. That would be my only theory. You've got to fly them in. Let's see.

The Canucks bought out defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsen. He still had four years on his deal at $8. quarter per the deal he signed with Arizona back in 2018. Vancouver's cap hit was seven and a quarter million because Arizona was eating a piece of that. The buyout's going to be spread out over eight years for both teams. Obviously, Vancouver's going to be taking it off the chin. He had 51 points in 133 games with Vancouver. He's going to be unrestricted. He's only fucking 31 years old still. I thought he was 35 years old. He's going to be unrestricted. He's only fucking 31 years old still.

I thought he was 35 years old. He's only 31. He's going to be 32 in July. So do we see him maybe sign with a playoff caliber team, maybe get utilized in a different role, maybe have a bounce back season? Is that possibly in the cards? Like a Shattenkirk when he went to Tampa?

Yeah. Great analogy. He's kind of an example of like the new age NHL. Like you lose that half a step and things change. I mean, this guy is one of the best skating defensemen. I think he slowed down a little bit. But I also think, you know, you're kind of like exposed a little bit when you're on Vancouver playing that many minutes,

where if his minutes go down, he's making way less money. He could be really good on a contending team. So, yeah yeah i don't think you'd see him sign a deal with like an also ran team but i think you'll see him take a lot less than maybe he could get and sign with a team that could win it and and maybe still be top four but not have to play 25 minutes and and be exposed a little bit in terms of his foot speed going down a touch. Would you agree, Biz? Yeah, so he's, like, from talking to people close to him, he's really making an effort this offseason to bring his game, try to bring it back to where it was, like making, you know, different diet changes,

different, you know, weight lifting. Like, he's created a regimen, so it sucks to hear that they went down that road because I really think that he was you know going to get his game back to to where it could be this is a this is a guy who I consider a friend of mine and to see him get bought out obviously it's a shitty day but like you talked about it does bring a new beginning it brings a beginning where maybe you're going to be slotted a little bit more carefully where he might be a a fourthman on a, on a good team,

right. Where he comes back and he's, he's a, an awesome asset. And he's also making two, two and a half, 3 million where it's like, nobody's talking about that.

So for him to be eating up as much as he was at the production, where it is now. Yeah. It just wasn't a lot aligning properly. And that's the casualty to the hard cap now. And, you know, he's the type of guy where he's a competitor you know he's one uh he's one at the national level um and you know he he was awesome incredibly two back-to-back 20 goal seasons as a defenseman i think he had double digits and goals for six or seven straight years as a d-man so he has that threat to his game

he's just got to find it again and i hope, and I hope he finds a happy home for it. So that's, I agree with everything you're saying though. It's like the money, the money nowadays, like it's just that label. It just can suck you down, especially with a negative fan base.

If you can't block out the noise, it's a, it's a killer. It's a killer. Why are you laughing? All right. I don't know. It's been a funny show,

I guess. Oh, it's been a, yeah, we've been everywhere. I think he would be, I would be on him big time. Look what stall did down in Florida.

Everybody kind of thought he was done. You paired him with who Montour and he took off. You think about that, put them with a young guy. He just plays on the side. You pay him a million bucks. He's making enough on the buyout. He's Swedish. He's the, he doesn't care too much about the money. He's making enough on the buyout. He's Swedish.

He doesn't care too much about the money. He's not going to try to take it all from you. So I would have him high on my board. And he's already made so much. I would say he's going to be north of 50, maybe north of $60 million at this point. Maybe you take a one-year deal like Klingberg did it at a higher number where they don't have to make this long-term financial risk. And you're looking at as if,

Hey, I'm going to, it's a prove me year where you could take that gamble on yourself based on those things I talked about. But you don't know what he's doing. So it's like, even if you have a great year, you're not getting like a long-term deal.

So if you could get like a four-year deal for four years times four, like look at what, like Evander Kane got that after getting his chance there and having a great year. So, yeah, I think I would love to see him bet on himself and succeed, especially with the approach he's taking and the mentality he's taking pre-buyout. All right, Patrick Chapp returned to the place where his NHL career started, Philadelphia,

and joined the Flyers as special advisor to hockey operations. Jonesy taking care of his boy. Does this instantly make Philly the best-looking front office in the NHL? It's a good-looking front. And I'm glad that you brought this up. Yeah, I'm glad you brought this up. I didn't get to say bye to Jonesy, who finished his last game as in-between-the-bench color analyst.

And he was fucking awesome. Great guy to have on your team. And he's off to the bright lights of of managing that team but uh we talked about this round table that he was going to go assemble and he is on the right path just the man patrick sharp is championship mentality stanley cups three cups in his biggest win of his career do you know what it was what he talks about it all the time the chicklets his chicklets cup in vegas on the barstool roller team the first cup that was raised in vegas sure oh yeah that's true too i fought sharp in the minors legendary brawl still talked about this to this day that's why he had to get his new teeth alright let's see Calgary welcome back

franchise legend Jerome McGinley as the Hockey Hall of Fame assigned on as special advisors to the general manager and his long time teammate Craig Conroy this seems like a nice cushy gig when your boys get some nice gig come on and talk talk to my ear a little bit you only get it if you're a legend

you don't get special assistant to anyone unless you're unreal or you're like Dwight Schrute. You have to be an unreal player to get those jobs. It's more like the guys who've won the cup. I know Aguilera hasn't, but Hall of Famer. You got to be one of those guys to just be brought in just to chill and get a little paycheck. You could go into the media buffet before games and that's all you do for the organization. You're going to get a fancy title if you score 500. No, craig conroy is like what do you think about this like i like it

like perfect checks on the way well he said that the only reason he considered it was because of of conroy becoming the gm i thought that that was his quotes so that that also helps his boy out getting that seat i would imagine bringing him back had something to do with it. It seems like Matthew Kachuk might have started a little ripple effect here. Winnipeg RFA, Pierre-Luc Dubois, he told his Jets that he does not want to re-up their long-term. He gave a list of teams that he's willing to sign long-term with. His qualifying offer is $6 million. He's going to be 25 in about a week.

I mean, we started the playoffs a couple years ago. When he brings his A game in, that kid is a fucking bull out there. But the thing is, he doesn't bring it all the time. And, you know, Matthew Kachuk's reputation was probably a little bit better as far as a team maybe willing to go out there for him. But, Murrow, do you think he gets his wish and ends up in Montreal, which is obviously what he's wanted his whole career? Yeah, I think you're going to see a lot of changes in Winnipeg.

Just everything and the way it's gone down the last two years, it hasn't been good. And it's time for a restart up there, get some guys that want to be up there. You saw when Eckholm, he went to Edmonton and how excited he was to go up to one of these Northern cities and Canadian cities. So there is guys out there that want to be in these places and you're not going to win with guys that don't want to be there. So get them out of there, get some some picks you can get back and find some players that want to be there and help you win the thing is though i think i think dubois only has one more year till he's ufa is that correct all right i'm pretty sure i'm pretty sure after one more season he's ufa so in terms of montreal trading for him if they know he's gonna sign there anyways it's like hey take this or we'll just get him in a year type thing

maybe i'm wrong on that i thought i've read that um but but it's an interesting situation in the nhl now like almost a little like the nba where you saw kachuk do it you saw eichel do it and you see these young studs and if they're good enough, they're very willing now to be like, hey, I don't want to be here anymore, get me out. And you really do hold the team hostage. I'm not dogging any of those guys, but it's just the way the game is now. If you're that good, and you know there's other teams that want you, and you don't want to be there, back in the day, this didn't happen. You had to just eat it. But now, these young studs are just saying, hey, I want out,

and the team pretty much has to move them. So it is a slow change happening around the league where the top players can pretty much decide, RFA or not, I don't want to be here and get rid of me, and they kind of have to listen to them. It does seem like a sea change here. You wonder, why haven't guys and agents done it before? I mean, it was always an option on the table.

Do you think Bizday didn't want to, like, maybe piss off front offices and, like, you know, they were too deferential maybe? Like, I don't know. I don't know. It was just kind of like, I guess, the culture. I was going to say that. It was just like most guys weren't really willing to kick up the dust and kind of this be grateful for where you're drafted mentality.

Yeah, I mean, I always felt that type of loyalty to my club, but I also was in the position where I had to go out there and play first line center. It takes a lot of balls, I'll say, to make a complete enemy out of a fan base, right? Correct. Where I think now it's like guys are just more willing. Like, I don't care. Like, I don't want to be here. I know I could be a better player somewhere else. And they're willing to kind of eat a lot of hate

from certain fan bases to get where they want to be. I agree. Some guys don't have that mentality where they'd much rather just be like, I don't want to ruffle any feathers and I'm just going to stay in the good pecking order, where they probably can't handle that scrutiny that you're talking about, Whit. The only interesting part in Dubois' case is he was very excited. He wanted out of Columbus, right?

And he's very excited to be in Winnipeg. And now he's not happy in Winnipeg. So it starts happening more often, and then you start questioning, like, all right, is he going to come here and not like it either? So obviously you've got to take a kid by his word in terms of him really wanting to be a Montreal Canadian, but the whole thing is flipping and changing

in terms of taking power of your own career if you're that young and that good. Yeah, he's RFA right now, and I think if he were to take a one-year deal... So he has one more year of restricted free agency. Yeah, this's RFA right now, Whit. And I think if he were to take a one-year deal, I think he would. So he has one more year of restricted free agency. Yeah, this upcoming season. But he's not signed. Okay, good to know.

Let's see. Another one, Alex DeBrinckit. He's a pending RFA as well. He gave the Senators a list of preferred trade destinations and hoped the player and team can pull off a sign-in trade. He just finished a three-year $19.2 million deal. But his salary last season was $9 million dollars so that's where his qualifying office starts so anyone who wants him has to start off at nine million dollars great job by the agent there

uh so i don't know where do you think oh yeah or not or not because no one's gonna pay him that anyone who gets him it'll be a long--term deal in which you're not paying that average salary. So it's a little bit of like smoke and mirrors. But I don't know. That guy's a goal scorer. He's a sniper. But I've seen Carolina out there. That's not what Carolina needs, a superstar.

I've been saying this. And granted, they didn't have stretch and patches during this run, but that's not what's going to get Carolina over the top in my mind. It's almost to me like I don't think that's what they need. They need Barbashev. Fuck, everybody needs Barbashev. I know. That's why his agent is laughing right now.

Just start cloning him. If his agent is listening, just clone him. We can make a lot of money here. Dr. RA's lab. Get it going, RA. money here. Dr. R.A.'s lab. Get it going, R.A. Start with the gene pools. Comes out with three ears. Yeah.

Let's see. Oh, he listens to his line mates. He's a great listener. Look what happened to this clone. He came out of the R.A. lab. Six eyes. He's got vision all over the ice. Down massive cast.

Yeah. Noah Hannafin. No over the ice. Down mass at Cass. Yeah. Noah Hannafin, same boat here. He let the flames know he's not going to be re-upping there. He's heading into his final year of a six-year $29.7 million deal, a little under $5 million average. Then he's got an 18 no-trade list. I don't like this. Like I said, it's a little bit of a ripple effect.

What a sinking ship everybody wants out of Calgary. They better start putting the fake tits back in those girls at Cowboys. They'll get the boys to resign. Merle's is saying they want people, especially Conroy's already talked about. I want people who want to be here. So he's gone because it's like Conroy's like, you don't want to be here. I don't want any of these guys.

It's Will Smith. The photo of Will Smith. Nobody's in the room with him. The hell? Hey, put the shitty locker room and Conroy in the middle and just no one in there. Wasn't that the last scene? Yeah. When they all move out.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Uncle Phil's in the back. Fresh Prince. Yeah, just cranking himself off. Our long international nightmare is over. The sale of the Ottawa Senators. I can't say that word. Senators is done.

Not sure if it meets the criteria for a chicklets bump. We talked about it last week, and they get sold about two minutes later. Toronto billionaire Michael Andlaro will become the new majority owner, paying about $950 million per Bruce Garriott. The deal is pending approval from Bettman as well as the executive board, but there are no problems anticipated. So the Senators will get new ownership soon.

And the awards, we got to do them real quick here, boys, because they are Monday night, so we don't want to be late with them. We're going to be there, by the way. We're going to release a special pod come Tuesday. The fact we're going to Nashville in a week makes me sick to my stomach. I haven't had my fun yet.

You guys better bring the energy. I want to have a little fun with you boys out on the strip. I'll see what I can do for you. I.V. with me. All right. We'll rip through this quick. Just carry it around the strip. We don't really need to do picks unless you want to.

Just run down here. Jack Adams trophy. I got Haxtell, Montgomery, and Ruff. So these are all voted on before the playoffs. Before the playoffs. Yep. The Norris, Fox, Carlson, McCaw. Carlson.

Carlson. The Calder, Beniers, Power, Skinner. Beniers. I'm giving it to Beniers. Same. Yeah, three different positions as well. The Selke, Bergeron, Heischer, and Mitch Marner. I think it's Heischer's year. Yeah, three different positions as well. The Selkie, Bergeron, Heischer, and Mitch Marner. I think it's Heischer's here.

Yeah, maybe some new blood there. The Lady Bing, Jack Hughes, Kopitar, Braden Point, Jack Hughes, what do we got here? Oh, Ted Lindsay, McDavid, Pasternak, Dawson. Everything else is McDavid. McDusty. Okay, yeah.

The Masterton, Keller, Letang, and Staloc. Yeah Okay, yeah. The Masterson, Kella, Letang, and Staloc. Yeah, Kels. Yeah, Kels, yeah. Letang obviously was a lot of shit. He came back from the broken femur. He had a great year. Letang, what he went through with the stroke, his dad's passing, that's a tough one to call. It is. The Vezna, Hellebuck, Sorokin, Olmach.

I think Sorokin. Yeah? I think Olmach's gonna take it. Yeah, Olmach I think Sorokin. Yeah? I think Olmark's going to take it. Olmark is, yeah. Based on body of work, I'd be okay with Sorokin doing it. It was the Ringo season. And a hot, you just said McDavid, pasta, kachuk. So McDavid there. That does that.

Call the Cup Finals. Let's see. The oldest franchise in the AHL, Merle's Hershey, taking on the newest franchise, Coachella Valley. Hershey lost the first two games by a combined 9-0. They won the next three and they could end it tonight. Well, we'll drop it Tuesday. They could end

it tonight, so see what happens there. All six games have sold out, Biz, and the AHL had record revenues and record attendance this season. Love that. Hey, man. Wilkes-Barre, Reese, and Penguins. Wilkes-Barre, Reese. We gotta give a shout-out to our homage here. Hershey, man. In the AHL, that's where your playoff bonus comes from. Penguins. Wilkes-Barre. We got to give a shout-out to our homage here.

Hershey's a wagon in the area. Oh, yeah. Big time. How many times have they won it? Wilkes-Barre. This will be 12 if they win it this time. They got the record. They're the London Knights.

Yeah. Wilkes-Barre, next year, 25th anniversary. Big celebrations going on. They got all sorts of stuff going on. Maybe we'll make a trip down there. Hey, but guess what though? The Arena Bar and Grill's done. I heard about that.

They're shutting it down. Maybe they can open it up for one last time. She should have turned it into a green smoothie bar. She'd still be in business. Alright, two final notes here. The WHL's Winnipeg Ice has been sold and they're going to be going to

if I can pronounce this correct Wenatchee Washington for the next season I don't know Wenatchee never heard of that and then Wynton Clark, Nip Rory for the US Open yesterday a lot of people complaining about it like there wasn't a good crowd there was a lack of electricity

can wrap it up here. Yeah, so LA Country Club, which is an amazing place, I've been fortunate enough to play it twice. Basically, all the members bought up all the tickets, so they made it very corporate. It was all suites. There weren't nearly as many fans on the ground as there were at the Country Club last year in Brookline or a lot of other places.

So the vibe on TV was tough. Like, you know, they had a couple holes. There aren't even any fans near the holes. Like, there was hole-in-ones. Matthew Fitzpatrick made a hole-in-one, said there was, like, zero reaction. And I think it was overall, like, kind of a disappointing watch. It was a great Sunday. I mean, I felt bad kind of rooting against Wyndham

Clark. Rory drives me nuts a little bit, but I also can't help myself from rooting for him. But then as Wyndham Clark's story came out, he lost his mom to breast cancer 10 years ago when he was in college. He said she had gotten him into the game of golf. He was a freak college player and finally got his first win a few months ago at Wells Fargo or Quail Hollow or whatever. player and finally got his first win a few months ago at Wells Fargo or Quail Hall or whatever. And then he wins the US Open. I think a lot of places, I saw him 85 to 1 pre-tournament. So just to see kind of what he'd been through and he broke down right when he made the putt, but he played nails, dude. He was unreal. This guy's hitting just high power fades, like 190 ball speed. The course, the problem with golf, the pro golfers are too good.

That course is not easy. It's big fairways, which makes it really easy for those guys. But crazy green complexes and things, and they're just too good at golf. If you don't get wind and weather now, any course in the world, they're just going to chew up and the top five guys are all going to be you know the us open was 10 under winning score usually i think that's a fun score it's not too excessive but at least they're scoring yeah people like the us open it was always like the hardest test in golf and a lot of times well weren't they all the players

complaining about it they complain about it but the fans like seeing them struggle and maybe over par winning a tournament. You can't do that now. Get the leather golf clothes on just like they want to see the punishment. Rory McIlroy has 19 top 10 in majors since his last victory, which is coming up

I think on 10 years since he's won a major. I don't have that exactly right, but it's just amazing to see like you see scar tissue evolve in a game like golf where it's like he was hunting down Cam Smith for the open championship last year. He couldn't make a putt. Same thing this year. He birdies the first hole, doesn't make another birdie in the final round, like hitting 16 of 18 greens. It's just, it's such a hard sport, but to see a new major winner i think was exciting

even though i was kind of rooting for fowler and mcelroy but um i i had fun watching it but i think there were a lot of complaints because the vibe seemed so bad on tv that that people were upset in terms of like where's the madness it's a pretty stuffy course too i know kepka was bitching about it and just kind of like the whole the overall overall. Well, there's a lot of rules there. You have to wear pants, no phones. Oh, yeah. You have to wear a sport coat after six o'clock. So all the real stuffy rules. But on top of that, it's the second highest valued landmass in all of the United States next to Central Park.

That isn't developed on. That isn't developed on, right? Yeah. central park and that isn't developed on that that isn't developed on right and they they also have a loophole where they don't have to pay many property tax on it where they might pay a million dollars worth of property tax maybe even less like a couple hundred thousand where normally for something of that size it would be in the like like tens if not hundreds of millions the land's worth eight billion dollars yes and and they have this 50 year old tax law that they've just like grandfathered in where they don't i mean they should be paying i i would guess

a year what 40 million like yeah yeah and they're able to just kind of finagle by on this old loophole yeah so pretty interesting yeah we're gonna wrap up but wait i think the best part was after hoops and hockey just ended that we had primetime golf two nights in a row. That was pretty good. Oh, I love it. Yeah, I love it. Put the kids down, and the leaders were only on Saturday night.

They were on, like, the third hole. So I loved getting a chance to sit down and watch that. So one more major, which is it makes me sick to my stomach. It's, like, June 19th already. What the fuck? But yeah. All right. I'll go old.

I'll go old school for you. All right. Since there is no sports to watch lately. I watched a movie the other night. First time in years. I don't know if you ever talked about this one where the crawdads sing. I haven't seen it. I haven't heard about it.

But it's on Netflix. It's a good one And I don't bring much of movie recos But get that one locked in this week I can't wait this to be the worst movie R.A.'s ever watched I've heard about it, I haven't seen it Is it old?

No, it was a book And now it's a movie I got something to watch tonight Did it come out the same year as that wallpaper? The old ladies like it. Did it come out the same year as that wallpaper behind you? That's a scratch and snip wallpaper, actually.

Alright, boys. Congrats to the Vegas Golden Knights. Thanks to Marshall Stowe. Thanks to White Cloud. Thanks to you guys. It was an amazing season. We're not done yet, but it's an amazing thing to see an expansion yet but um it's uh it's an amazing thing to see an expansion team six years old win the stanley cup the league's in a great place so and all you listeners fuck you guys are always listening to us the most loyal amazing fan base

i've ever met meeting people that like this show and and appreciating uh us just shooting the shit and talking to different players it's like the greatest 100 the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in my life besides my kids so uh thank you so much for listening we love all you guys and we'll be back next week with awards talk