Spittin Chiclets - Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 450: Featuring Jaromir Jagr

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

On episode 450 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by NHL legend Jaromir Jagr. Jags joined (01:01:58) to discuss his playing career, some stories from Pittsburgh and his time with Mario, playing in the KHL and tons more. But first, the guys are in Nashville so they open up the show with some NHL awards talk. The boys also talk all things NHL draft, and some rumors they are hearing about who could go 2nd overall. The guys wrap the show talking NHL news, including the recent Taylor Hall trade. Are the Bruins preparing for something bigger? Is Chicago loading up for Bedard? The boys break it all down.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 450 of Spittin' Chicklets Presented by Pink Whitney, from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka And the Barstool Sports Podcast Family Yeehaw Biz from Nashville, how we doing? We got the whole crew here, just had the award, you killed it on TV Biz Hello, it's like you're going to be on stage tonight at the barstool bar. Don't tell you.

Don't count that out, baby. It's still early in Nashville. Oh, yeah. You were in fine form last night. Well, it's not a road trip if it's not. I already saw someone say, all right, it was the most fucked up person in the SEC conference land last night. So we're back on the road.

The day ends in Y. Vegas was just spring training for this week. That's all, boys. So great job tonight, Biz. Seriously, it was awesome. How nervous were you? I was so fucking nervous, boys. We got told about this about eight days ago.

You had no idea. No clue that I was even doing this. And I saw an email and I was like, I don't remember agreeing to do the NHL awards. And then, you know, we try to put a few things together and lighten the mood a little bit. Some stuff, you know, crash landed and other things popped off. And at the end of the day, I got a shout out in the heart speech from Connor McDavid.

That's kind of cool, no? The hot tub made it in to a major award speech. That's when you know you've kind of laid your mark on the league. Yeah, I'm basically a heart winner. You'll never be in the hot tub, but it was brought up in the heart memorial trophy. And the joke has to die now. Connor hates the hot tub being talked about.

We're putting it to rest. So this will be the podcast. He hates most of the stuff we talk about. I think he hates all of us. I think he hates my guts personally. He doesn't hate me. I did an interview with Oilers TV just pumping his tires basically. So I think he hates my guts personally. He doesn't hate me. I did an interview with Oilers TV just pumping his tires, basically. So I'm still on the good side. Yeah, you're a killer.

I've never brought up the hot tub. I've only pumped the Oilers. So you guys can all stay away from it. I'll try to get an interview. I'll try to get an interview. That's the voice of our co-host, Turd Ferguson. What do you have? I said walking out of the arena for people listening in their cars,

I got a big old foam Smashville cowboy hat. I was like, oh, I'll grab that for the pod. That's a good little prop. And I brought it up there, $41.50. I was like, what the hell? You can never be the person that brings something to the front, and then they say the price. Bree calls you.

She's like, is there fraud on your credit card right now? No, no. I just bought 14 foam cowboy hats, but it's okay. I got one for Ryder. And it's funny because we ended up bringing up Lloyd Christmas with Jack Hughes on stage because when he lost his tooth, he kind of looked like him a little bit. And for those of you in their cars or just listening, it's the foam hat that Lloyd Christmas has on when he ends up dropping his wallet off.

And I got robbed by an old sweet old lady in a motorized car. That's the cowboy hat we're talking about Matt Merles once again this guy absolute tea I like the tea to a podcast this season holy shit it's better the more you drink you only got a tie on

we all had suits he wore a tie I've had multiple people come up to me already on this trip like how are you here what are you doing here? Like, you need to go home. The chicklets, the Catholic, you're dead. You go home. But no, amazing trip so far.

And with, yeah, you're definitely got the credit card fraud because before you bought that hat, the three drinks you bought us were $71. No, no. They just gouge you over there at the Bridgestone Arena. It wasn't as bad as Vegas. Good start. Good start to the trip. Yeah, better than the tables.

Yeah, thank God there's no tables. But I will say, shout out quick, Merle's Army and myself grabbed a little bite to eat at Martin's Barbecue Biz. This place. Unreal. No free ads, but I'll give them a free ad. Local spots.

You go in, you order kind of like, not cafeteria style. It's like McDonald's. You go in and order, and then they give you a number, you sit down. We just had everything going. So we felt like we actually kind of lived it up in Nashville getting the barbecue.

It's a great city. I know I said last part, and I'll stick to it. Vegas is the best place to play in the NHL. This is kind of right there. I mean, in terms of the no-state tax, I know you love that. Great fan base, arena right on Broadway. It's an awesome city. Dierks Bentley.

Actually, so our buddy Frank Cervalli, like everyone knows, he does the... What's his podcast? Daily Face Off. DFO. Daily Face Off podcast. Great insider. So Dierks Bentley did a show on Broadway before the awards as we're on the red carpet. It's pumping. By the way, Merles goes, I didn't even know there was a concert going on. He thought

it was just from the speakers. It was 20 yards away. But we walk out of the arena and all of a sudden, I see the stage. There's not many people around. They're like, and let's welcome up Frank Cervalli. I'm like, what the fuck? I love Frank, but Dierks Bentley to Frank, poor bastard. But it was a good night.

As far as the city's concerned, when I was driving in with Army, we just talked about how crazy the development is here. The city's basically doubled in size in the last five years. That's what our driver said on the way from the airport. Yeah, it's doubled in size. It's just crazy. There's cranes everywhere. Everything's going up here.

And then the event factor, right? And you made a good joke today about the bachelorette parties up there with Al Marc. It's the bachelorette party capital of the world. Yeah, they take the bars, the riding bars, those taps. It's crazy. They're all on that, and they're just like, you know, just buzzing around. So, yeah, it is. I actually came on a couple of bachelor parties here,

so it's not a bad spot for that. Yeah. More layups than the Globetrotters practice, for Christ's sake. Well, and we did mention it. All right, good for a dad joke. All right, you were in five forms. Did we mention the Barstool Sports Bar? No, no.

We had one last night. No, I want to announce the Mayor McCheese of the NHL, Colby Armstrong. This guy knows everybody, anybody connected to the game. We had to give you a heads up. Yeah, this event is awesome. I was in Montreal last year, and just you see, like, guys you used to play with that are scouts for teams,

like in junior. I saw the guy who works for St. Louis, that drafted me in Red Deer here tonight. Yeah, the guy's been working at Tim Hortons since he drafted Harvey. He wouldn't claim me, but I was like, Carter, don't you remember me? He's been sober since.

Doing the drive-thru. Great guy. Doing the drive-thru, like sitting back. Is that a double-double? Yeah, here it comes. He's replacing engines. Yeah, I'll get the Wano. The 99. But it's's awesome this event is awesome and the fact that they did the awards and the draft in the same city i think is

something that we'll see more of in the future just because it makes it so easy how do you not do this how do you not do this everywhere uh i saw my brother though he's here with the flyers we come downstairs busy the first day we sit down to go eeks we're starving there's jonesy and johnny leclerc then my brother comes over the brass male brass i feel like everybody who played in at least the ahl could end up being involved with the nhl to some degree from like a scout player development and that was a barstool bar the other night yeah it was crazy who was all there like guys we guys we played against. Like, you would have known everyone in there. So that's what the draft is. It's like a major networking, how's it going, hockey,

gong show of, you know, seeing familiar faces. So it's been a blast. And this trip, to Merle's point, just keeps going. I went home to Saskatoon for one week, saw my mom and dad and my sister and her kids, and my whole family was there. And then I fly home quickly, pack up again again and here we are in nashville i think we gotta send merles to hoffman at this point guys listen to this this is the first scoop i'm going to

release on this podcast but guess where the draft and this awards act is going to be next year oh don't say it. Buffalo. No. Vegas in five. Vegas, baby. I've heard. I got multiple reports. It's in Vegas next year. I'm not kidding. Vegas in five. I'm not resting.

Whatever you guys want, I won't be there. Merle's just bought a timeshare. I saw Merle's yesterday. He just kept going. Everyone's like yelling. I was like, Vegas in five. And you just said you want to talk about the new bar still by. You mentioned before I intro'd Colby.

Have you got a chance to pop in? I haven't been there. I just figured since you guys went and experienced it, you talk about it. But I'm here for four more days. I will definitely see that bar. I'll be serving drinks behind it. I'll probably propose to one of the waitresses there

based on what they're wearing. As Armie said, you walk in and you could see their buttholes pretty much i mean that's their attire yeah but i'm surprised ra has his vip bracelet off he's been wearing that thing all day oh you took it off yeah i figured they'd give us a new one tonight i haven't been there either because i just flew in this morning but somebody said that they were walking around and there was like you know a very attractive young woman and not not much clothing and and they tried ordering a drink from her she's like oh no no no i know i'm i'm not a bartender i'm and they're like what do you do she's like i'm just a floater i just go around and i show my big tits off to everyone i was like oh my god for the barstool bar she

walks around the bar apparently and just shows how hot she is, and that's her job. So I guess, could I be a floater somewhere? I could. With Armie's tits, could. Yeah, maybe with Brian McGonigal's. Who's got the nicest tits on the pod? We should have a tit-off between Armie. Show us your tits. No, whip out your tits.

No, don't whip my tits on. Armie, whip out your tits. That TikTok we did with the country singer last night, Where's your tits? No, whip out your tits. He's got Spanx on. All right, whip out your tits. You don't like to look at me. That TikTok we did with the country singer last night, it wasn't a good look for me either. I'm trying to look around here. Grinnelli doesn't have nice tits. Posh, no.

I don't know. Fishy might have some sneaky tits over there. I'm seeing some titties on Sean right there. Yeah. He's got a dancing t-shirt too. He's like the muscle chick. He's a huge clit like a dick. there yeah yeah he's all those effects he's got a dancing t-shirt he's like the muscle chick guys we're here and you know it's time to talk some pink whitney spitting chickle tone pink whitney the best drink of the summer of the fall of the winter of the spring it don't matter the season it don't matter the event it don't matter the people you're with. You can be alone.

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We got the beach people. We've already talked about them. We got the golfers. We talked about the golfers. I mean, if you make a birdie, you have a Pink Whitney. If you make an eagle, you chug a whole bottle. And I'll tell you right now, every single event that you go to, if you show up with a bottle of Pink Whitney, people are going to be laughing. They're going to be smiling.

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Continue to buy this drink enjoy it enjoy your summers enjoy your days with friends family co-workers and just catch a buzz with pink whitney thank you very much well we we were for the awards tonight so we probably should give a little rundown i think we pretty much are pretty predictable uh bergeron got the selkie once again. No surprise there. Pal Matty Benares, we're going to drop an interview with him coming soon. He's going to call the trophy. Anze Kopitar, Lady Bing, McDavid, Ted Lindsey, McDavid, Maurice Richard,

McDavid, Art Ross. Of course, we knew that already. The Jennings, Allmark, and Swayman. Allmark on the Vezina. Letengo, the Masterton. I just want to say those speeches that the, the doctors come out and talk. Oh yeah. Uh,

Pierre Joseph. I mean, I, I was still, the tears rolling down my face. Watching it was just the very emotional, like, especially the one with Keller,

man. Like, you know, they said like the break in the, the, the femur, it's like a car accident. They brought up the coyotes,

orthopedic surgeon, everybody who had a hand in like helping. I like how they did that. Yeah. Yeah. It was really a great moment, a great touch. Real nice touch.

We got to chat with LeTang pretty quick. Merle's did a Merle's Minute with him and Armie and I got a couple quick red carpet interviews and yeah, I mean, he went through so much this year. I was really happy to see him win that. Yeah, it was pretty emotional stuff. Stamp goes to Messi. Leadership, great speech too, by the way. I mean, Stamp

was such a great guy. It was good to see. Hot Trophy McDavid. Norris Carlson. Were you guys, anybody surprised that, I mean, IDavid. Norris Carlson. Were you guys anybody surprised? I mean, I know he had the offensive year, but it's still for defensemen. I think there was a little rumblings online that kind of McCarr maybe deserved it again. Yeah. Just with how dominant he was, even missing games. But for me, and I've been kind of open in terms of maybe get a defensive defenseman award.

Or just like bobby or becomes a norris and norris whatever i think that it's unfair that it just goes to the best offensive defenseman but if you're the first guys in 30 years to have 100 points right man yeah that's a no-brainer in my mind i think he just he got on a heater off the start and he just sustained it the whole season let's not forget he's not playing with an unreal team either. He's not snapping around with a power play like Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl. He played for a team who was a bottom feeder. I think they're picking what?

They're picking fourth overall this year. So I think if you can sustain those offensive numbers with what he had surrounding around him, I think he deserved it this year. And McCarr was banged up. McCarr's going to win four, five, maybe six more of these things if he's able to stay healthy all right um jim montgomery won the jack adams uh gm of the year has done at the draft as uh he said earlier and the kate clancy michael backland for calgary so yeah i'm on monty speech yeah that was good yeah another emotional moment as well so yeah like i said no major surprises i mean nothing shocked nothing shocked you, Merle, as I'm guessing.

No, I mean, you couldn't even, like, find. Everybody's asked me for pics on it, all the EBR crew out there. Hey, what do you got? I'm like, they're all pretty much locked in. It was all pretty much set. No surprises, really, at all. All right, next event, the draft, obviously, Wednesday night. Well, tomorrow night, first round's going to be on ESPN.

Then rounds two through seven are going to take place during the day Thursday on NHL Network. Obviously, first round's going to be on ESPN. Then rounds two through seven are going to take place during the day Thursday on NHL Network. Obviously, Bedard's going first. Now, there's a lot of talk, as you were saying, Fantilli seemed like the automatic slam dunk for number two, but apparently that's not so anymore, huh? Yeah, I mean, we got boots on the ground down here. We got our ears everywhere.

There's scouts. There's coaches, guys we've played with. There's, I don't know what we call that one guy, staff of the team. I don't know what that guy was. We're hearing all sorts of crazy stuff. It is not locked in from 2 to 5 anymore. We thought it was probably before this when we did our game notes top 9. Not top 10, top 9.

They forgot the 10th back there. We left it open just in case. This Will Smith is just climbing up the ranks every day. That's the name that's climbing up and um i won't say who told me but there's a there's a legit uh insider in the game or knowledgeable guy around the league who said um there's gonna be some crazy shit that happens in the top six picks so i guess everyone kind of thought it was bedard it was fantilli it was carlson then will smith that's kind of what I'd heard for a long time in terms of the top four and this guy's saying that nobody has any clue how off the rails this thing could go that and there's so much crazy shit with people trying to like get salary off

the books and like some some teams are trying to shed players so it's unprecedented unprecedented yes good job fucking eight out of applause for getting out stay hot busy for the nhl just given that with that with the cap getting jammed up in this year's draft which they're saying could be just as deep as my draft 2003 not a big deal fourth rounder but it's cool to see and and going back to the fact that we have the draft here and also the nhl awards these people from the nhl who work tirelessly to throw these events on, they're away from their families. They've got to go to the conference finals.

They've got to do the All-Star game. They've got to do all this, the Stanley Cup finals and then keep going. Finally, on Thursday they're going to get to go home and get a little break after all this. So, round of applause. School of morals. He's not really forced to be here. He's volunteered. I got a text from Wynn that was's not really forced to be here. He's volunteered.

I got a text from Wednesday. You got to be there Sunday. And I'm like, ah, it doesn't really work for me. You'll be there Sunday. I'm like, all right. But you do see all these people who work for the NHL, and as much as they love doing their job, they're like, I can't wait for this to be over.

They can blow it up in style on Wednesday after the draft and then go enjoy some time with their friends and family in the summer. Or just end the season before June. That is ideally what would happen. So their whole thing about not starting earlier is based on not competing with football. It's like just don't play on Sundays and figure it out and the Stanley Cup Finals around Memorial Day

and then all of a sudden what we're doing right now is like June 10th to 12th instead of 25th whatever it is so I agree I just I don't know if it'll ever happen but I'm with you I have a theory I think that the NHL should attack the NFL in a sense of teaming up and just putting a bunch of games on Sunday that's a very bad idea no no it's a very bad idea. No, no. It's a very bad idea. Think of how many times. One of your dumbest ideas. No, no. I'll think of how many times I've been there on a Sunday watching NFL games,

and they usually package about, what, five or six games. Yes, you can watch Red Zone, and that's a little bit more entertaining, but half of these games are brutal, and they're blowouts. If there's fucking other sports on, people are going to change the channel. No, they won't. They're sitting down on the couch all day, and they're picking out, and they're drinking. Hey, hey, hey. to change the channel. No, they won't. They're sitting down on the couch all day

and they're picking out and they're drinking. Hey, hey, hey. It's a ritual. No, they won't. It's the gambling. You don't think they're going to change over to... No, they won't. You're under the mistake of the gambling factor.

This is the NFL, dude. Yeah. The gambling is just sick. You think that was my dumbest idea ever? Not ever. Top five. That was one of the worst. Army?

Hey, this is like fucking with... Third dapple. This is like... This is the NFL, dude. You ain't going near them. You take Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL and chuck all these games on on Sundays and they're all getting trounced. It's a national football league.

I can't even look at Whit right now with that fucking hat on. And then you two are going out. This wants to have Columbus play Philly on Sunday at 1 o'clock, there'll be four people watching. You guys' hats. The hat off right now. Okay, so I agree with you. They need to start it earlier, so they need

to start the season, what, middle of September to end it at the end of May? Literally two weeks early. Okay. That's all you need. I think they should test the theory of running some games on Sundays and doing these big stuff. All of a sudden the NHL full. They ramp it up like fucking Bissonette. I think they should test the theory of running some games on Sundays and doing these. All of a sudden, the NHL. They ramp it up.

Fucking business. No, they're like hardcore advertising like this. They do it like three times. I'm going to be three Sundays. It's like this is the one of the nights that we go ahead. Let's hear you, hockey fans. There's seven fans in the arena. We're all working.

Tim Hortons drive through. Hey, that's a tweet. 20 hard chiclets. I'm like, fucking biz. Riders going to public school. Hey, hey. Oh, no. Hey, you know what they should do?

Hand-me-downs? Here's an idea. On a Sunday, they should let us do a game. Call a game. Yeah. I still don't want to fuck around with Sunday. No, like the fucking Blitz game. Not messing with Sunday.

That might be the day they could let us do it, though. You could let me play in another NHL game. I'm not playing on Sunday. Who's the Smurly guy, and why is he doing color? By the way, if you want to do a Sunday night game, you have to do it after the last NFL game on Sunday night. No, that game ends at midnight. Yeah, but that's when the hockey game on

because all the gamblers want to make their money back for the week. So that would be the last game. No, because midnight hits and the week's over, dude. Well, that would be considered a Monday nighter, by the way. Can you imagine Merle's back in Japan? He's like, oh, that would have been on at 1 o'clock when I was playing for Tokyo. We used to bet the Monday night the West Coast basketball game would come

on at midnight. I'm going to text Gary Bettman. We're going to start Sunday specials. I saw Gary walking down Broadway today. Well, they got Thursday night. They got Sunday night. They got Monday night. How about Gary tonight when they booed him? By the way, he brought a team to Nashville. They should be cheering for him.

And he comes out and he's like, music to my ears and the music to you. At least he's playing up to it. That's a good line. One of his little lackeys gave him that one. It's like, when they boo you, bring up that this is a music city, Gary. No, I didn't. Okay, I got that. No, he ain't Drake.

I can do that. He ain't got no I can do that. He ain't got no Ghost Riders. He's spitting his own bars. Hey, you know, at a Central Scout, in the first 17 skaters were all forwards. They didn't have a defenseman ranked until 18th in Central Scout this year. I think there's going to be a defensive from Sweden

that goes way higher than that. And another one. That right-handed guy. Yeah, right-handed guy's there, but isn't Leonard a D? No, Leonard's forward. Oh, is he a forward too? Yeah, they have a nickname for him. Yeah, he's got guy's there, but isn't Leonard a D? No, Leonard's forward. Oh, is he a forward too? Yeah, they have a nickname for him. Yeah, he's got a nickname for him.

But I moved him up in the rankings, but now with boots on the ground, that's scrapped. He's down in the 8-9 range. I'm hoping for a crazy draft. The draft has kind of turned into what we all think of as the old trade deadline. I feel like maybe 10, 15 years ago, the trade deadline. Now, granted, there's been action throughout the last few years, trade deadline, but it seems like the draft is when you're seeing current players being moved maybe a lot more freely than the

three o'clock deadline every March or whatever that day comes. So I know we got some stories to maybe talk about for guys around the league, but as long as there's some maybe surprises in the top five picks, a couple of players traded, that's basically what all the fans want. Merle's got a great interview that, you know, is on social of,

uh, with Bedard. Oh, fuck Bedard. So a little bit of a action, uh, Bedard, who'd you rather have on your team?

He said, I don't even think he knows who I am though. Like he took biz cause he sees him on TNT. Like he might've been, I don't even think he knows I ever played or he's thinking Ray Whitney Like he took biz Because he sees him on TNT Like he might have been I don't even think he Knows I ever played Or he's thinking Ray Whitney

And he took biz And then he's really stupid Or he's going the Canada angle Yeah Maybe you saw that Or he just kissed him I was a bedard guy But now he's taking biz

Over me He's pigeon tossed me Twice now What'd you call him On the tweet though I called him a bust Took biz over me Oh great

Now we're not gonna get get him on the pod. I don't think we were getting him anyways. His agents like stay away from those losers. Sounds like Barry Trotz might have some up his sleeve. He's talking about trying to pull off a big move. So you think he's going to do something, Amdog? At the draft or what? What was the story?

He said he told Poyle, like, hey, what are we doing? Like, let's get going. Let's make some moves. I don't know. Do you think it's like a little bit of show business here in Nashville? He's trying to get the crowd riled up a little bit? Or do you think they're really going to push and do something here? Because they've made a lot of moves here in the last how many months?

What was the move with Johansson? Oh, yeah. Let's get to that right here. Actually, hey, Merle, what about if Will Smith gets drafted by Philly, then they trade him to L.A.? That little life-imitating. West Philadelphia. Born and raised. On the That little life-imitating. West Philadelphia. Born and raised on the playground is where I spent most of my days.

Chilling out, relaxing, all cool. And I was shooting some b-ball outside my pool. And a couple of guys, they were up to no good. Started raising trouble in my neighborhood. I got in one little fight and my mom got scared. She said, it took me to the ID and I'm going to be there. Whistled for a cab and then I came near. And license plates had dice in the end. You are.

I absolutely love that show. So do I. It's my favorite show. It's one of the best shows of all time. Every day after school, I come home and watch that. When Uncle Phil chucked DJ Jazzy Jeff out of the front door, I'd laugh every time. They would cut to it.

He'd go, ah! Ah! Show of hands, let's have a vote. Should Whit wear that hat the rest of the week he's here? Should I wear it in the sandbag? Maybe it'll keep my head still. Yeah, the sandbag is sad. Maybe it'll keep my head still.

I can't believe you're going to play golf in this heat. It's like a sleep-joke game in shambles. You guys cannot play in this heat. No, I'm very worried. In terms of not wearing a glove golfing, I'm kind of in trouble. Hey, Biz, you should wear the bottoms that the girls wear at the barstool. Asher Chaps gets up, pukes on the first tee. Just teeing off.

They're staring at my asshole. My hairy butthole. Oh, Biz isn't playing golf. He's just a floater. Like the girl at Barstool. Before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Top Legends. With Jarme Jager 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 other sports and arts legends 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. So 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. By the way, R.A., did you hear Army's scouting report on Will Smith on Game Notes Daily? I don't know if I did or not. The rapper on the play. He's got a great slap shot.

That was what he said? Slap shot. You know who gave me the dead fish tonight? That was my dad, Jill. No, you got a dead fish. Kind of. And you're going to call him out? No, but I kind of love when I get pigeon tossed.

Please tell me that this- Julian Briseois. The GM for the lady. Yeah, kind of a little bit. I saw him. He was great to me. I saw him at the conference. Oh, he's a beauty.

He's a beauty. Him and Darshy. I think he thinks I'm a pigeon, though. You know when you can get that sense from guys? They're like, oh, look at this fucking loser. Does he maybe just have a shitty handshake, though? Some guys just have a shitty handshake. Yeah. Shocker. Army met him in the lobby and talked to him. Oh, look at this fucking loser. Does he maybe just have a shitty handshake, though? Some guys just, like, have a shitty handshake. Yeah.

Shocker, Army met him in the lobby and talked to him. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. He's looking for a job. Every guy. What are you, the fucking head scout

for the Tampa Bay Lightning now? I got it. Someone came up to me today, works for the league, with the awards, and said, hey, listen, like, we have, like, meetings and stuff.

We were talking about, like, media. Gary Bettman said that Armstrong guy is doing a good job. Oh, yeah. Holy fuck. Why don't you lick his taint too, Army? I never ever talk about Gary. Army, you.

I don't know how he thought this. I don't know where this came from at all. It's just good work. He must be on the Game Notes. He must be a Game Notes Daily guy. Is he in the chat? Is that Singsy? It's Singsy. I was just just gonna say that um i know uh i think we're pretty much through with

the draft yeah yeah now is there any any cool stories about any of these prospects maybe guys who like came out of nowhere like i don't really do much draft digging i had a word army's doing a draft show for sports net so maybe he's got something. I don't know. You said Will Smith has a good slap shot. Slap shot. We're going to get a couple guys on. We're going to get Leo Carlson, and we're going to get Leonard on. You got Fantilli.

You got Will Smith. So we're going to find out probably later. I will say, as we move on from the draft, Pat Verbeek, it's his first draft as the GM of the Anaheim Ducks. It's a pretty ballsy move, and maybe this ends up being useless conversation, but it's a pretty ballsy move not to take Fantilli. In terms of freshmen who've won the Hobie Baker, Paul Correa, Jack Eichel, Adam Fantilli, he led the nation in scoring.

He's got to have a pretty strong opinion on him as a player to not take him second overall, in my opinion. So we'll see what happens. And obviously, Will Smith, I think this year he was better goals-wise than Jack Hughes was his draft year at the national program, and Leo Carlson plays in the Swedish Elite League. But to me, it's always seemed like Fantilli, and if he doesn't take him, it's a pretty ballsy pick.

But it also seems like this is one of those years, if you're a GM and you're drafting in the top five, you can't. You can't. This is as deep as it gets, no? And I think Mitchkov is interesting because he's kind of the unknown wild card that's like rumored to be probably the best guy

next to Bedard, but he's like probably going to go like fifth, but maybe not. Maybe he's going to go third, fifth but maybe not maybe he's gonna go third fourth is is that is that because sometimes the russians it takes them like three four years to get over here we'll look at kaprizov right right so look at panarin look at some of they're still under contract panarin can't come and the whole picked yeah the world climate is a mess is adding to that contract problem and the russian. Find these guys. EBR. But they all come over a little later.

Political science major. Usually. Usually. KHL camp opens July 1st. Oh, I'd be pumped to go over there right now. We're going to send R.A. to the Wagner group at one point. You're like, this isn't my curve. This is an AK-47.

Instead of playing bad music with it, you're going to have me on a fucking microphone talking to the Nazis. All of a sudden, R.A. joins the Wagner group in Russia, and the war's over. They're like, we can't hang with this fucking guy. He's shit-faced all day. Where are my Bauer pads? This is a grenade launcher.

Well, you just mentioned Nashville getting into the trade stuff. Colorado made the big move, hoping to solidify the second line center. They got Ryan Johansson from Nashville for the rights to uh pending unrestricted free agent alex galchenyuk and the preds retain half the salary basically it's a salary dumped by the preds they're gonna save well four million dollars if buy it would have been a lot more expensive and colorado gets a potential second line replacement for cadre i i love the risk i love i love the gamble here not even really a gamble i even i'd say you know yeah because all of a sudden you're getting him a $4 million cap hit. You could see they really lack that depth at center ice.

And I think that Johansson also, when he's playing his game, two years ago he had a pretty good year. This year was an off year. Sometimes he's banged up. I don't know how well he's taken care of himself off the ice, but if he has a good summer training and he brings that nastiness that he can bring sometimes to the lineup i look at it like a cadre 2.0 yeah yeah i i'll say and this is kind of stuff i've heard so i'm not gonna say it's like definitely true but i don't know um as barry trotz comes in and takes over, if Johansson maybe kind of like how he approaches the game, maybe not necessarily like a culture guy in the Trotz sense of the word.

Sure. Maybe not his style and kind of just looking to maybe get rid of guys that aren't. And I don't know him personally. I actually know guys really love him off the ice. Love him. He's a great guy. As a great guy, but maybe Trotz just has seen or heard a couple of things in terms of like, all right,

he's not necessarily what we want in terms of what I'm looking for. Being a pro and things like this, this is all things I'm hearing. So I'm not like saying it's true. So he moves on to him. And at the same time, Colorado gets him and says, well,

if that were to be an issue, he's coming into a room of stanley cup champs and that that stuff that that maybe we looked at they looked at in nashville as unprofessional in quotations wouldn't fly yeah so like it's one of those things where it really is like a low risk high reward for me you get a guy like nathan mckinnon we've heard how he is with teammates in turn i'm expecting a lot and maybe if he he's kind of dogging it on the ice some nights, that's not going to fly. And then also, when Johansson's going, I mean, that's a true,

I'd say 70, 80-point guy. So I love the move. It is interesting, though. You know who Whit heard that from? Who? The floater. The floater? I wish.

That's where he's getting his intel. Nate will be like, Joey, put that fucking baby Ruth down. No, I went to try to see the floor. The barstool bar is closed today. But the thing I'm wondering in terms of like if you're Roman Yossi or Saros is right now Nashville, they don't look like they have a ton for next year.

Maybe they go out and make a couple moves. Yeah, but those guys are locked in long term and I think that probably the communication to them is quick rebuild because with all these draft picks they have, and remember, it's a young man's league now. You can get some fucking... They have some good prospects, too. They have good prospects.

They can draft well or, and, or. I think what they have, they have two first-rounders this year. They have two second-rounders. They have three third-rounders. So expect some chaos on draft day where maybe they can add some guys to the mix and let's not forget and we talked to hal gill um what you weren't in town yet but towards the end of the year they weren't really expected to to do much and they went on a bit of a run they almost

ended up making playoffs with like guys like cody glass so agreed with you on the Johansson thing. It's like, yeah, maybe he's not exactly a gym rat. Or a trots guy. Or a trots culture guy. But going over to Colorado, they already got those guys. Will that be like Kessel going to Pittsburgh kind of thing maybe? No, I think it'll be like. That's a great comparison. That's a great comparison.

He doesn't have to be like an $8 million guy. He doesn't have to go there. They're paying him four now. But those other guys are setting the tone in practice. They're keeping the pace high. So you have to fall in line. Nate's like, what are you eating? What are you eating?

What's your diet? Why are you gassing beers on the plane? Put those down. Grab an Aquafina. Does he do that? Does Johnson do that? I don't know. I hope so.

Gas beers? There used to be like 12 packs under all our plane seats when we got on the plane. Everybody else in this city is gas and beers. This city is out of control. Good conversation, but overall, love the move, and I think it's going to help Colorado, and they need that. The Avs also will not be resigning.

Defenseman Eric Johnson was there for 13 seasons, so he's going to hit the open market as a UFA for the first time in his career at 35 years old, but I believe he was the longest-tenured Ed Lynch, if I'm not mistaken. Just a great warrior for that team. It was so great to have him after the Cup last year on the show. That's a culture guy. That's a veteran. You know who should pick him up?

Florida Panthers. And they should go sign Oliver Eckman Larson to a $1.5-$2 million deal too, which I heard they're going after him. We mentioned that last podcast that a competitive team could go land. They need those character defensemen. And those are two guys that can go out

and land and improve that team. Yeah, they don't have to be a top guy anymore. Just, you know, fill a bottom payroll. I think Oliver could end up being a four if he gets his confidence back going. And they already got Montour and they got Ekblad. And then, is it Forsling? Yeah, Gustav.

Fuck, he was great in the playoffs. That's a pretty good six right there. Fuck, I should be a GM. Well, yeah, kudos to Johnson, man. Great job out in Colorado, and he'll end up somewhere, no doubt. The Bruins obviously have been up against the cap. We knew they were going to have to do something. So they basically had a salary dump.

They traded Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno's signing rights to Chicago for a pair of RFA defensemen, Ian Mitchell and Alex Regulia. Hall was halfway through that four-year, $24 million deal. So he's basically just dumping six mil. They had to make some room somewhere. Foligno's going to be UFA if he

doesn't sign with Chicago by Friday. 24-year-old Mitchell has, let's see, 16 points to 82 games over three seasons with the Blackhawks. Also played for Monty in Denver. And Ragula had, let's see, one goal in 22 games played over three seasons. So a couple of depth guys. Well, Conor Bedard's got to play with somebody.

I like the move for Halsey. He's going to get tons of ice time. Sucks that, because I know that he was really happy there. Yeah, he loved it. He loved it. He loved it in Boston. He felt like he was at home. And maybe all the talks about him not landing that huge, huge deal,

but he found a place that he loved, and that's really all that matters with the amount of money that he's made. So probably bittersweet for him. But, hey, two years left. You're in a great original six team, and you have this first overall pick coming in who's going to make an impact instantly, plenty of worse situations he could have found himself in.

Yeah, exactly. And from Boston's perspective, it seems like they're clearing up cap space because they really want to sign Bertuzzi. Yeah, and I'd rather Bertuzzi than Hall because he's younger first off. Plus, we saw what kind of player Bertuzzi was in the playoffs. I know Hall statistically was great, but Bertuzzi's a dirty, greasy, grindy player.

You got to win cups with. So, I mean, out of the two, I'd prefer Bertuzzi. Well, yeah. The only question is now if like they somehow don't get Bertuzzi.

I feel like if you're Don Sweeney, you don't make that move unless you're pretty sure you're going to be able to resign him. Right. In terms of what he wants. So I, I would be kind of shocked at this point if Bertuzzi doesn't go back there. But I did feel bad for Halls. He just, you know, knowing him and we played golf a couple of weeks

after, you know, their season ended and he did love it, you know, owns a place in Boston, really enjoyed it, loved the guys. So you just kind of feel bad that he was finally on like a really good team and get shipped out after that brutal loss they had. So, but you're right, it's like you're going to a great Biz. You're going to a great city. You're going to a place where you're going to play with this potential superstar, even though he picked you over me, and he's going to get a ton of ice and should be able to light it up and only has two years left, right?

So maybe you light it up two years and you can sign another big ticket. I think we should get ahead of it and just ban Conor Bedard from the podcast. Okay, I'll ban him. He's no longer invited to come on the podcast. Alright, fine. He picked you if you want to do it. Another top five bad decision by this year.

Two in one show. I'm on a roll. We were laughing about this. He's going to score 81 goals next year. We're going to be like, oh shit, we already banned you, bud. Damn it. Another funny thing, though, we were talking about, I saw someone tweeted, sorry, I can't give them the proper credit

because I forget who tweeted it, but it was like the Taylor Hall, everywhere he goes, they get the first overall pick, they win the lottery every time. Oh, yeah, shit. So he goes to Chicago later, and the jokes start flying again because they're getting- So that'll be his fifth? I think so, yeah, right?

Fifth first overall pick of an organization he's involved with it's got to be so him newton hopkins yakupov he's sheer and yeah but hard it's after the fact but it's so funny how it works out he was there for mcdavid too so i guess it's to be six including himself maybe uh g can you can you Google that? I don't even know how you Google that. Jesus sleep. That was a long day. All right, before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Body Armor. Hey, Chicklets Nation, you're going to love this.

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all body armor, all body armor, all the time by body armor now on Amazon. We got some fun. Speaking of that, we got some fun stuff coming out on the Spittin' Chickles YouTube channel as far as a vlog concern. Hey, how did we get on the red carpet, by the way? Is there a story behind that?

Like, how did we get? We're back, by the way? Is there a story behind that? How did we get this guy? We're back, baby. They told me eight days ago that I was helping host the NHL Awards. And then you used that to flex. I said, okay, two things have to happen. The boys have to get red carpet access, and Pasha has to come off the NHL bans list. Pasha was on

the no-fly list for the NHL. A couple clicks a couple clicks i called out the rangers instagram person for unfollowing him because pasha said him for blocking him and we met the person on the red carpet yeah the girl's like i'm the guy i'm the girl who blocked him i said why did you do that? She was awesome. She was awesome, though. I think she should re-block him. Was she awesome? That's what I said. She's cool.

Okay. I said, block him again. She goes, no, I never will again. So I respect that. Oh, okay. Yeah. It was awesome. The red carpet was cool as everyone's marching.

It was really great. Was it fun times? Yeah, it was cool. Everyone was done up. Okay, so who do we get? Who's everyone going to see on the vlog? We got, oh, crazy. We got Kachuk, who is-

We got Kachuk in the sling. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, he's all banged up in the sling. We got Pasta. Perfect. We got Letang. We got Letang. We got Clayton Keller.

I tried to get Brayden Point. Oh, Brayden Point. I love Brayden Point. He didn't know he was being a good guy, like good Western guy, like signing autographs and just being a beauty. He's working his way down. I met his mom and dad.

They're all families were there and stuff, too. It was really cool. I told him to probably dust by us. That's why I got the dead fish. Oh, I totally forgot that I fucking was rooting for the Leafs again. That's why I got the dead fish. There you go. Oh, there you go. Well, you shouldn't have traded fish. There you go. Oh, fuck. There you go.

Well, you shouldn't have traded everything in the farm for John. Oh, we had a great little talk with Shani. Yeah, we had a talk with Shani. We met a tree. Shani, yeah. Shani said, hey, all-star game Toronto. Why don't we do something up there? I said, ho, ho, ho.

You got it, Shani. No doubt. We saw Tree living with him. My boner just ripped my jeans. Good catch up with those guys. Shani goes, you fucking hate us, man. All you do is rip us. I said, your fans are cunts.

He goes, I won't say what he said. We got Shani lined up. We got Shani lined up. Yeah, now we don't. He fucking shit on, like, big shock. I shit on my basketball, not once, but twice. Yeah, he goes, oh, I'm sorry. Dude, that basketball shot.

McGann, he's shooting a medicine ball. Then when he left, he goes, so what was up with that? What are you, Charles Carson? Ten minutes later, he's like, put your seat, Channing. R.A.'s like, it was wet, it was wet. What was up with that basketball shot? R.A.'s just like, he had nothing for him.

He's like, I've never shot a shot like that, and then I was kind of like, I didn't know, I got my own head. Channing walked away. By the way, Channing's huge, eh? You forget how big he is until, he came off the elevator, Tree's a big guy too. They both came off, I was like, holy way, Shani's huge, eh? Oh, yeah. You forget how big he is until, like, he came off the elevator. Tree's a big guy, too.

They both came off. I was like, holy shit, Shani's huge. Tree Living's the man. You know who's a big fucking guy? Ron Francis. Oh, is he huge? He's built. Oh, yeah, big centerman.

Like, when you see him, 6'3". Built like a brick shithouse. Yeah. I was joking around him about the expansion draft when Frank Cervelli was eating the hot wings. Have he butchered at all? But where were we? I interrupted. No, we talked about Halsey trading.

One other thing. Even if they do sign Bertuzzi, they're still only going to have like four million to sign like another eight guys. So they're fucked. They're going to make a few more trades. And Jesus are getting shamed, boys. He said Krug's coming back, too. He tweeted it.

Bring him home. Yeah, I don't know. They might trade one. He makes seven million bucks. A lot it. Bring him home. Yeah, I don't know. They might trade one. He makes $7 million. A lot of action there with St. Louis. All right. L.A. Kings sent defenseman Sean Dursey to Arizona for a second round pick in 24. He's making $1.7 million next season.

He'll be RFA eligible for arbitration after the season. Basically, the deal frees up money for L.A. moves they might want to make. And also, they have this prospect, Brant Clark. You were talking about the eighth overall pick in 21. Yeah, he's good. He's got a good slap shot. I think he started the year up there. Yeah, he did.

He started the year up, went back. But he's an offensive, like a, what do they call that? Like a river hockey kind of guy a little bit. Like Drew Campbell. Yeah, he's kind of like is Dersi, but maybe a little bit more like creative. I like Dersi, though. A little more of a wild card.

Yeah, he's like. Well, boys, let's not bury the lead. He's going to be really good. Let's not bury the lead here. They're getting rid of as much salary cap so they can bring in a third elite center. PLD. And I would assume that they probably were kicking tires on Matthews,

and now it seems like Matthews might get re-signed by Toronto. It seems like a strong possibility. So they go to the next best thing as far as a guy. I told you Shane was in such a good mood. Buddy, could you imagine the LA Kings in the West? As an Oiler fan, you must be shitting your fucking pants right now. I'm not wearing it at all. Are you out of your mind?

We already did this. What do you mean? When you told me I should be petrified of the LA Kings, then we dusted them in sticks. Okay, but I'm just saying that that's a different team if you now insert Dubois, right? You know that, right? So imagine Deneau, Dubois, and Kopitar in the middle of the ice

with those other guys? Am I smoking crack here? Okay, well, defensemen deal with McDavid and Leon more often than not. And if Brant Clark's that good, then yeah, I'm worried. But maybe if he's young and not ready to step in, Dursey was a pretty frigging good defenseman for them. So it's not exactly like you're gaining Pierre-Luc Dubois and not losing anything else from your roster.

I'm going to stick with my original thought that I'm not scared of the LA Kings as an Edmonton Oilers fan. The whole league's scared of the Edmonton Oilers. I'm not worried about your Kings, your 15th favorite team. Drop the subject, and hopefully if Dubois does go there,

we can get by him again in the first round. And if not, I'll agree that you were right and I was wrong. Merles, if you're a GM, do you have any concerns about PLD, given inconsistency? I mean, when he plays hard, he's a bear, but other times he kind of floats a bit. If you're a GM, would you make a big-ass bid for him? If I can get him under contract, because there's all that talk last year,

I think it was at the draft last year, going to Montreal and stuff. I don't want him for one year. This would be a signing trade. Exactly. Then I'm fine with it. I like him as a big body. He's still young. He's played, what, since he's 18, so he feels old, but he's still young.

Cole Pitar is probably one or two more years left, maybe one year left, and then he's off the books. I could see him taking a hometown discount just to stay in L.A. He's made a boatload of dough, and all of a sudden you have an elite team like that to end your career. I think L.A. would be very wise to lock in. Is L.A. your new team, like for realsies? I just think that Rob Blake has—

He went hard on L.A. Yeah, I think they've got a great team la yeah i think they got a great team i think they got a great coach and and and they have they've had great prospects right they got by field who still needs to take that next step so velarde would be gone iofalo would be gone so it's like i'm oh i'm okay with them getting rid of iofalo if that's the case velarde sucks too but man they got other guys they got more they got fiala uh who else do they have up front kempe kempe who's nasty like 40 goal guy yeah so arvidson who had a monster playoff so we just solidified their top six as being absolutely filthy and then fuck you could stick a couple

plugs with dino and he's still going to shut down anyway put me in there are you officially off of calgary like basically the whole team is he quit them after he's like with all the other calgary guys he's off i've been off calgary since halfway through last season i'm hardcore la coyote till i die and I bleed blue. Yeah, we'll talk Calgary a little bit later, but a couple other signs. Craig Morgan out in Arizona, they extended

restrictive free agent goalie Connor Ingram. He's going to make, let's see, 1.95 for the next three years. Looks like they're going to run it back with Ingram and Vizhmelka next year. Great tandem. Unfortunately, because they slapped lipstick on a pig, and now we're drafting sixth overall. Way to go.

And what's his, Perzvetsov? They're like, this kid down in Tucson. Actually, he's like 23 or 24. Is he like the big prospect? I've never heard of him. All right. All right. Okay.

They also brought out Zach Cashin and Patrick Nemeth. They had a year each remaining on the deal. Do you know the Yotes have more draft picks, 12, than they have signed roster players, 11 right now? I actually think that the Coyotes pick 12 times before the Tampa Bay Lightning pick once in this year's draft. Correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, but they got Braden Point, wears Crocs, eats chicken fingers,

and pounds rums. And pigeon toss. Yeah, and pigeon toss. I don't care. He's the most elusive star in the league. He has like a Nokia phone I heard. Is that true?

If Arizona does a good job of drafting here with all these picks they have coming up, it's not just this year, I think. It's next year as well. They actually, in a couple, two, three years, wherever they're playing, they could be a hell of a team.

It just depends on how well you do in terms of recognizing what you need and picking guys you can play in the NHL in two, three seasons. But when you have options like this in the draft and that many picks, if you hit a couple home runs, that's how you set your team up. It's the only way to do it now. And and bill armstrong is known for his scouting and drafting so let's see the magician go to work and next thing you know it's going to be the desert dogs back in the mix let me put it in my file shut up wit all right before we go any further here's a word from our friends at Omega Accounting Solutions.

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per employee call 855-505-DAVE or visit omegataxcredits.com slash barstool sports now caroline hurricane signed captain jordan stahl a four-year $11.6 million extension, 2.9 AAV. That'll take it through the 26-27 season. It'll be 38 then. Canes also working on a deal to bring Tony D'Angelo back on the fold, back to Raleigh from Philly. I mean, that's a pretty no-brainer deal, I guess, for Stahl, right? I mean, that money.

Oh, yeah. I mean, what he does. You're captain. You're getting him under $3 million. He's able to play not as offensively gifted as Deneau, but pretty similar defensively in terms of just shutting guys down. He's a horse. I love that deal.

And it makes sense for him. You know, he's been there that long. It's a great deal for the team. It's a great deal for the player. Probably be his last contract, I would think. Yeah. He's 38 years old at the end. He's already got a cup.

Maybe he gets one more. I was interested to see and hear all about the league kind of shutting down the D'Angelo move in terms of them kind of calling it like cap circumvention. Circumcision. Circumcision, yeah. Sorry, on your foreskin. But basically they're talking about how he was playing for Carolina

like 12 months ago or whatever it was. They're trying to say it's not allowed. But he was signed to the contract with Philly by the GM, who isn't even there anymore. Right, right, yeah. Because Fletcher's gone. And so to me, it's like that'll end up working itself out. I like that move.

I mean, Tony D'Angelo's a bulldog. He's like an offensive guy. But he's an offensive guy, but they're going to lose Goss' spare. He did pretty well when he came over. And he's able to produce points. His teammates love him. And I just think that the fact that Brindamore's willing to bring him back after already having him there.

He can rope him in, though. No, but I'm saying he would never want him back if he didn't know, I want this guy here. Oh, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, that'll end up getting done, I would think. And that's a nice move. I mean, God help the Flyers next year. Holy shit.

They're going to be horrendous. Well, speaking of the Flyers, look, it hasn't happened yet. The Blues looks like they're trying to pick up Hazy. But Torrey Krug doesn't want to wave his no-trade clause to go to Philly. We can understand that. So, apparently, Philly's trying to get maybe a third partner to make this deal happen. But Brea, he's looking to add another probably.

Take two. 32-year-old defenseman has four more years left on his deal. $6.5 million as far as Krug. I mean. Oh, that's why your agent gets you these things. Because if you're Torrey Krug and you've had the career you've had, you think you want to go to some shitbag team like the Flyers for the next couple years with torts fuck that man just say you want to trade from there big deal fucking just say yeah okay i'll go there yeah but they don't

have to trade you and and my thing is like what do you mean army i'm trying if i'm krug i would just say trade me philly i'm not i don't want to come there they say okay i'll trade you well that's burying the miners why do you want to why do you want to stay in St. Louis when they're trying to trade you? No, I agree with that. Because there's been situations where guys have said, no, he's still a valuable asset. He gets put in the lineup because, well, they have to play him

because he's a top four defenseman and he plays well. And next thing you know, the relationship for whatever reason can get reconciled. It's like Jake DeBrusque. I don't view it as an, I don't think that they don't like Torrey Krug.

I think they look at it like, hey, Hazy can add maybe more to our lineup right now in a sense of what we need compared to what maybe Torrey Krug brings. So, like I said, the no move, no trade clause for Torrey Krug, flex that as much as you can when you're trying to get dumped off

to some shitbag team like that and hold out until you're trying to get you signed it to some shit bag team like that and and hold out until you're able to land in a place where you want because i think does you not have a kid on the way somebody said you just had a kid like all of a sudden you're moving to philly the your your year remaining years on this deal are going to be miserable absolutely not and even if it makes it uncomfortable in the locker room for the time being with St. Louis, well, hey, find me a better place to land. The only question is, and I'm with you.

And don't sign bad contracts if you don't like me. Yeah, no, I'm with you that I'm lucky enough that I was in a position where I can get this no trade. I don't want to go there. I'm going to use what I have in my deal. You had that? No, no, no. I had it, but it didn't kick into the final three years of the deal so cheryl shit my ass out before it kicked in veteran but um no i'm saying krug like i understand you're right like this i i have this there's no trade i'm not going there then if st louis is like well if you don't

go there we'll put you in the minors all year that's when you're like and i don't know if that's happened but it could and that's when you're like oh and I don't know if that's happened, but it could. And that's when you're like, oh, fuck. Like, would I rather be in the NHL or would I rather be in the minors? Like that's when there's decisions to be made.

And army, I agree with you. Like no doubt as, as a proud, like pro athlete, you have a little bit of an ego. Like these guys don't want me. I don't want to be here, but I would almost be willing to try to like business saying like play well. And maybe have them thinking at the all-star break like wow kind of happy he refused

to go anywhere do you think he doesn't want to go there or he or he doesn't i think you think do you think he doesn't want to leave st louis or he doesn't know he doesn't want to go to philly yeah okay exactly so he's tory crew like's established. But say you go to Philly. Say you're like, I don't want to go to Philly. Fuck, I don't want to go there. And then you're stuck there. And then you don't play good. I'm not reporting. And then you don't play good.

Don't report. Well, then you don't get paid. Well, then you go to the minors. No. You're not going to Lehigh. I know. You're on Sui Watch. You're giving up your leverage, though, Ami, if you say, all right, send me there.

You're rolling the dice that Philly does the right thing. I'm just trying to think of a way out for him so it works out for him. Well, that's why they got to get a third team to get involved. Yes, exactly. Hey, that was worse than NHL on Sundays. No, nothing. No, my hat's not worse than NHL on Sundays. I'm not even close.

That's not even the same. Fuck. I'm trying to pass the buck. Hazy's still got three more years left at that deal. 7.1 mil. He had 18 goals, 36 assists last year, 81 games. Actually, career high in assists and points for Hazy last year. And he didn't play in the third period of any games.

Yeah, you're done, Hazy. And they would be eating half that. Philly was going to eat half that. Okay, yeah, if it does go through. So St. Louis would be getting him at what, three and a half? Yeah, about that. You're laughing at that. No, absolutely.

All right, one more deal before we get to our interview. Pasha, I don't know if you want to get comfortable with you, unbutton your pants or whatever. The Devils extended Eric Holler, three-year, $9.45 million deal, a little over $3 million a year. Let's see, he had 41 points, 80 games last year, six points in 12 playoff games. What's your take on it, Pasha?

Come on, jump on. Come on in. Come on in. Come on in. Come next to me, my boy. Up there already, big guy. I think it's a great deal. I think he's... Use my back pad.

He's really proved he was a character guy in the locker room. He had a really weird year in the sense of shooting percentage, just cratered, was missing nets, hitting posts, but then come playoffs, had a great series, and I think Jack Hughes loves him. He's kind of like the older guy, the vet in the locker room, keeps the guys in line, so I love the deal. He's like a

floater at a male strip club. He's like John George. He's a devil's floater. He looks amazing. He's got a deal. He's got the knuckle. He's got the chustle and the RLC. Pasha's here.

Pasha's here. I got this shit, man. I got a question for you, Pasha. Any concern, and it is a concern, but for you, that they're still small. Like, Pasha's small. He's not Stalzy. Stalzy neutralized these guys. He's a big gronk. He just leaned on them.

Well, that's why they need to sign Meyer. They need to get a bulldog. If they don't get Meyer, you're going to freak. They're going to sign Meyer. That's happening. Is that a Pasha guarantee? That's a Pasha guarantee. Wow.

Take it to the bank. Take that to the bank. If I was them, I'd go after Barbashev as opposed to Shining Meyer. Absolutely not. Some team's going to overpay Barbashev, give him $6 million a year. Give me Meyer. Meyer's going to come in at between $8.5 to $9. I agree with you. Some team's going to overpay Barberchev, give him $6 million a year. Give me Meyer for... Meyer's going to come in at between $8.5 to $9. I hope closer to $8.5.

You're telling me as a Devils fan, if they sign Meyer to more money than Hughes, you'd be okay with that? I think that's a deal. You can take a dollar less than Hughes. Obviously, I want that. But listen, the cap's gone up already since a couple years ago when Hughes signed, and you can't just stick to that philosophy forever. I mean... The Bruins did.

Till McAvoy, pretty much. It was Bergeron. I think I'd rather Barbashev. To answer your question, Armie, to answer your question, who won the Cup before Vegas? The Avalanche. They were the second smallest team in the league. Who were they? So I know size matters, but now this guy has all the stats. This is a league that's the second smallest team in the league. Were they? So I know size matters, but now... This guy has all the stats.

This is a league that... It's not the size. It's a copycat league. It's not the size of the ship. It's the motion of the ocean. It's the motion of the ocean. It's a copycat league. All of a sudden, Vegas wins.

Everyone thinks it's size again. It's not the size of the Forze. You know what? The Devils are just fine. The motion of the calamari. Pasha, also named Travis Green Green associate coach as well is that going to help what power play yeah I like that move I like

Green as a coach in Vancouver I think you know like losing Brunette he was there to you know kind of fix the power play and honestly the power play wasn't great I think their middle of the pack power play and to have guys like Hughes, Heischer, Bratt like all those Hamilton you should not be middle of the pack.

You should be top five, top six kind of power player, those kinds of guys. So yeah, I, you know, I think there's an upside there and, and you know what,

let's be honest, Lindy is an older guy, so I think he's going to pass the torch to someone and, you know, that could easily be greener. See what happens with Ruffles. Our devil's insider. Gang,

it's time. Thanks for having me boys. Oh, anytime Posh. How about this fucking interview we got? But I know I, I, I say that I didn't tease it earlier because it's such for me boys oh anytime posh it's time for this fucking interview we got but i know i i say that i didn't tease it earlier because it's such a big fucking deal you heard me yeah i mean we'll get an hour and a half close to a g i think an hour and 15 minutes unreal i'm best friends with the guy seriously though i think he said how like three quarters

way through this the first podcast he ever did i got a little tear in my eye when I heard that. Not to mention that we started in, he was in Prague. It was 12.15. It was just after midnight. And we got an hour and 25 minutes with an all-time great, the second leading scorer in the history of the National Hockey League. Yeah. Who missed years of, not his prime, but, you know, years where he could have ended up with 800 goals he talked about.

So it was amazing talking to him. I still remember being at a Bruins game, a couple fans in front of me going, this Jaromir Jagger's unbelievable. goals he talked about. So it was amazing talking to him. I still remember being at a Bruins game, a couple of fans in front of me going, this Jaromair Jagger is unbelievable. This guy's unbelievable, this Jaromair Jagger. Yeah, so we can't thank him enough. And without, is it without further ado?

Yeah, you got it, buddy. Without further ado. We're killing it. All-famer Jaromair Jagger. This interview with the legend Jaromairaga, is brought to you by Chevy. Yes, I'm back. And I'm back with a vengeance to talk about Chevy. We are a part of the Chevy EV family.

And we have big news. The first ever all-electric Silverado is officially Barstool and Spittin' Chicklets' most valuable truck. We're here at the awards. The true MVP is the Chevy EV Silverado. We're here at the awards. The true MVP is the Chevy EV Silverado. We got a chance to see it. We got a chance to drive it. We got a chance to sit in it. It's a complete game changer. It's available 400 mile range, GM estimated on a full charge. Once you plug that thing in, you're driving 400 miles till you got to charge it again. Over 10 feet of length in the bed with the multi-flex tailgate combined with the multi-flex mid-gate. That stuff matters. Don't pretend it doesn't.

Large, I'll say enormous, 17-inch diagonal display screen. You want to use the navigation. You want to change the music. You want to maybe adjust the air, the AC if it's a hot day, the heat if it's a cold day. 17-inch diagonal screen to do all that stuff. It can tow up to 10,000 pounds of max towing. Zero to 60 in under 4.5 seconds with the wow mode. It's a special mode. That's a quick truck. And up to an impressive 785 foot-pounds of torque. Head on over to chevy.com to learn more. The Chevy EV Silverado is a game changer, like I said. Go to chevy.com to learn more now. It's time for our guest and we've been waiting for this one for a while. This dynamic right wing was taken fifth overall by Pittsburgh at the 1990 draft.

He played 24 NHL seasons split between nine teams. He won two cups, five scoring titles, a hot trophy, three piercings, and will eventually have his own wing at the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a pleasure and an honor to welcome Jaromir Jager to the Spitting Chicklets podcast. Thanks so much for joining us, Jaromir. How you been? Thanks, guys. Everything good. Everything good. I appreciate it. It took a long time.

I know I got asked a lot, and I said no because I didn't want to talk to anybody. Plus, I didn't speak English for five years, so it's going to be tough for me right now. But I'm going to try my best. You were still playing this season, right? Yeah, I still do. I still play. Well, I didn't plan to play. I didn't want to play, but our team had a virus, and there was a lot of guys sick.

We had only 12 guys, So, you know, it would be automatically we would lose. So I was skating and, you know, I decided, hey, I'm going to try it just to be on the ice. And I did pretty good. I actually said, you know, if I start working out again, so I might play. So I keep playing until the end of the season. So do you always stay on your blades, even if it's men's league all season long? Do you skate a couple of times a week, no matter what? Well, because I'm the seasons. So do you always stay on your blades even if it's men's league all season long you skate a couple times a week no matter what? Well because I'm the owner you know if I don't play I want to be you know part of the practices be as a coach you know tell the players what I learned

in NHL because we we're the only team in in the Czech we have small eyes. I did it for myself. We have a small eye. In a show size ring, we're the only one who had it. So I learned a lot in the NHL so I can tell the guys. You're the only team in professional hockey history to play from the blue line in, in a full game. When did you become owner of that team well uh 2000 2012 uh my dad owns it uh since 1993 you know he didn't want to do it anymore you know it's just

a lot of a lot of time and a lot of i would say headaches you know it's you know it's totally different economy like than it you know if you owner if you're owner nhl it's, you know, it's totally different economy like than it, you know, if you owner, if you're owner NHL, it's totally different because you got the revenue for the fans. You know, it's just the money from the TV. It's coming in. You know, if you're an owner in Czech Republic, it's a tough job. You have to know you got, I would say 15% coming in from the fans and the rest of that the 85 you have to find from the sponsors support the city you know the state you have to ask all the you know all the people all the time and my dad you know he was he was older he didn't want to do it anymore so he said you know take it and

you know i tried my best and i did it for 10 years, but it's kind of tough. It's kind of tough. It's not easy. Well, we know you obviously love the game. Did you feel like it was part of your duty to try to pass on all your experiences and what you've learned throughout this amazing? I mean, I can't even call it a career because you're still playing, like to just give back to your country. You know, that's the city I was, you know, I was born. I learned to play hockey. My dad took me when I was two years old. You know the same ring. The ring didn't change. It changed three years ago. We changed the top because we couldn't play it anymore under that. There was a chance that it's going to collapse. we have to change it. But when I become an owner, the ring was the same.

You know, without the ring, I wouldn't be playing in NHL and I wouldn't be a chance to be an owner. And my dad did it for 20 years. So I felt like it's my destiny. It's my thing to do it. Otherwise, if I don't do it, you know, there's no hockey in our city. So, you know, I just, you cannot tell the kids, hey, listen, you know, tomorrow you don't go to skate. Well, that's the way I felt, you know i just you cannot tell the kids hey listen uh you know tomorrow you don't you don't go to skate well that's the way that's the way i felt you know but you know i'm not yeah i did a

great job but i i just tried my best amazing you mentioned your dad and and i think biz would agree with me that growing up kids my age all we ever really heard about was yarmir yager as a young kid and his work ethic and thousand squats a day, hundreds of pushups. Like was your dad, you know, he brought you to the rink early on. Did he teach you that work ethic? And you, can you describe like what your daily routine was when you were 10, 11 years old? That'll take up the full hour we have with him. Well, you know, I started when I was young because I was born in a family. We live on a farm. You know, you have to, you have to work to survive. You know on a farm you know you have to work

to survive you know I have to I have to work since I was 7 years old to help the family to live on a farm to feed the cows you know just a normal thing on a farm and you know I had no problem to work out

I mean to work you know I had it in my chin after my dad and my mom I had it I had no problem plus work out. I mean, to work. You know, I had it in my chin after my dad and my mom. I had it. I had no problem. Plus, when I think about it back, it's given me so much power. I never had a problem with my back because, you know, when you work on a farm, you're working with your whole body. It's not you go to the gym and, you know, do it 10 times here, 10 times here. You finish when you're done.

Like, even if you're tired, you have to finish because, hey, tomorrow it's going to be a rain you have to finish tonight so you start 10 o'clock and you finish 10 o'clock at night so you know when you're in the gym there you go in you know you go there you get oh i'm tired today i'll go home you know just you're living on a farm it's not and well i don't know i forgot what was the question because i started talking about all the squats and was it just the farm work or was it the other stuff? Well, that's what I learned. So I never had a problem to work hard. My dad, you know, living in communist years and, you know, my dad was smart enough to figure out if you're not going to be a sportsman, you're not going to have a chance to see other countries because it was

illegal to go see other countries well you're gonna have a job from six to six to two afternoon like everybody else and you're not gonna have a good life so this only way to see other countries to live better life you know you have to be a sportsman. And, you know, there was two most popular sports, soccer, I mean, we call it football, or hockey. And, you know, I was born when I had 14, 13 pounds. You know, I was, you know, 60 centimeters. I was a big kid. I still think I have a record in hospital, you know, the biggest kid. So my dad knew I'm not going gonna play soccer because you have to be thin

and fast so you know my body was perfect for hockey you know it took me there when i was two years old we start skating when i was two years old and you just loved the game from the start was that how it went well i i don't know i don't really remember that and my you know when my parents talking about it they said you know i was crying i didn't want to be there you know it's normal i think it's normal for everybody and you know and i wasn't i wasn't good right away i start being good when i start doing the squats you know when i started doing the push-ups and all the all the extra stuff and even you know i think it's normal for the for the ego even the kids have an ego you know guys have an ego all of a sudden I was seven years old when I started I started doing the thousand squats

and when I do it you know I become a you know in in six months I was the best in my class you know next six months I was playing with year older I was the best there other six months it went right away. And I started to like it. You know, nobody told me, you know, all of a sudden I was better than everybody else. So I keep doing that. I did more. You know, when I have a break in school, I did 2,000.

So it's crazy. I love that. Do you still do the squats every day? No, I would die if I do it right. Well, if somebody told me you have to do it, I would die if I do a rush. Well, if somebody told me you have to do it, I would probably do it. But I won't be able to sit for, you know,

or walk for a week. And, you know, if you say the number of thousand squats, you know, it's a big number, actually. But I split it 150. I did 150. When I woke up, I did 150. I had a breakfast. I did it 150. When I woke up, I did it 150. I had a breakfast.

I did it 150. Then I went to school. I came home from the school. I did it 150. 15 minutes break, 150. And before I go to sleep, I had 200 and 200. And it took me 10 minutes exactly. You got one squat for one second.

I had it calculated and everything. So it's 1,000, but it took you only 10 minutes. You know, hard work. That's what it is when you add it to get. Yeah, right. When you got drafted by Pittsburgh, you were 18 years old. What did you know about the NHL? Were you, like, did you know a ton about it back then?

Or were you still kind of foreign to you? Absolutely nothing. And we couldn't talk about it because, you know, during the comments, there's some players who defect. In 1985, there was a world championship in Prague, in Czech Republic, in 1985. So, you know, the Canada, Canada came with a very good team. When you think about it, there was a lot of good players.

It was Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Stevie Eisenman, I think, was there. So, and there was a young kid, 18 years old, number 66, and he was so tall, and in the quarterfinals, he scored two goals against the Russians and beat the Russians 3-2, and it was Mario Lemieux. And since then, he was becoming my idol, and I still follow him and the NHL.

So when you got to Pittsburgh, it was a total culture shock coming from a farm in Czechoslovakia to this big American city? Well, I was, you know, the draft was in Canada, so it was in Vancouver. There was a second time I was in Canada. First time I was,

when I played for national team, I was 16 years old. I think we were Saskatchewan. There was like, you know, we played like 10 teams against the juniors team, I guess. And there was like you know we played like 10 teams against the juniors team I guess

and there was a second time I was in Vancouver when I was drafted and of course it was a big shock and even for my parents they never

you know they never been in the other different countries so my parents when I was there you know it was exciting

so and after the draft I don't know how they did it because I had no visa at all. And Craig Patrick, the GM for Pittsburgh Penguins, somehow he got a visa and we flew from Vancouver to the US and

I was one week in Pittsburgh and then I went home. They didn't want me to go home because they were afraid I'm not going to come back. Nobody knew because it was after the revolution. The revolution was in November 1989. This was six months later.

Nobody knew what's going to happen. So they were kind of afraid to let me go home. But I was kind of homesick. I didn't say hi. I didn't say bye-bye to my friends from school. So I want to go home. And I did it. I went there for a month and a half, and I came back before the season.

And was that your first ever experience coming over to North America at that time? It was the second time. The first time I was when I was 16 years old, I was in Saskatchewan. I was in Canada. It was the second time. But, you know, it was different because the first time we just played hockey. We traveled from one arena to another. I stayed at the hotel.

I didn't see anything. You know, that was the first time I kind of enjoyed it. And it was excellent. So at 16, was that the first time that like maybe your name started popping up where people were like, oh, my God, this guy from over there, he's incredible. No, I wasn't. Oh, I was pretty good, i i wasn't oh i was pretty good but i wasn't i wasn't that i wasn't that good when i play i think the break was 16 17 when i when i become pretty professional

you know this i signed with the man i stopped playing with the man and uh and that's i think that's you know i don't think i've become a famous but people start knowing, oh, this guy can be good. But I wasn't famous. At what point did you introduce that legendary mullet that you had? Did you get drafted with that salad you had? And what was your inspiration from that hair? It wasn't a salad. It was a beautiful style. I wish you still

had it. You never got rid of it. But it's not a style anymore. I think I had it, maybe not that long, but I just love everything from I don't know, from the US from the West so back then we could only listen to Czech from, I don't know, from US, you know, from the West. So

back then we could only listen to Czech music. So all of a sudden I had a chance to listen to heavy metal, you know, Bon Jovi, John Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, you know, Metallica. So they all have a long hair. So I thought,

that's pretty cool. I want to be like them. So that's why I did it. So you were listening i did i you know a motley crew was my first uh first table wasn't a cd cd back then was a cd it was like you know they put it to the cassette that was the first thing i bought it uh motley crew uh dr feelgood if you guys remember that that was a that was That was my favorite. It was my first CD, but that's the first music I bought. And I love Jumbo Joe. They asked you who your idol was.

You said Tommy Lee. It wasn't a hockey player. It was that guy. Tommy Lee, yeah, that was him. I look at the roster of your rookie year, and I see Yuri Herdino. Is that Jan Herrdina's dad? No, no. No relation.

That's just a name. Yuri Hrdina, he was a pretty famous Czech guy. During the communist year, there were rules. You couldn't play NHL unless I think you played 10 years for national team or so many games they let you they let you go but they're gonna they they would took almost all the salaries you know you you don't get any money just just you you just had a chance to play in hl so I think you're you know had a you know had those 10 years for national team. And he went legally after the Olympics 88,

it was in Calgary. So he signed with the Calgary. And I think he won the cup there, 89. And then he got traded to Pittsburgh. And it's kind of saved me. I don't know what would happen to me because I was kind of homesick. You know, I didn't speak very good English.

And it was kind of tough for me. All of a sudden, you play 80 games and you travel a lot. You couldn't speak much to your teammates. And it was kind of tough. People don't realize it. But I was the first European to play for Pittsburgh. So the players back then wasn't used to it to have a European on a team it's not like

right now it's kind of half and half but back then it was totally different so he kind of helped me a lot all of a sudden I have somebody who can speak my own language you know I can explain him how I feel he can show me around he took me out so it was win-win situation

I hope it was win-win situation for him because you know we won the cup when he was there but for me for sure it was it was it was it was great and Jan Hergina he came a little bit later he was my center man but they know it's just just a no relation no what did you think about the the game the NHl game the north american style was it hard at the beginning i mean you had a great rookie year but were there times you were down in the dumps like not playing well like what was that rookie season like for you as far as you can remember well you know of course it was tough uh you know i remember the the first player i i met uh right after the after the draft when Vancouver, Craig Patrick.

We flew to Pittsburgh. And there's a lot of guys during the summer, they practice at home where they have houses. Not many guys practice in Pittsburgh. And there was a tough guy in Pittsburgh. That's the first guy I met, Jay Caulfield. Great guy. Yeah, great guy but he like he

was a huge back then you know he was a tough guy but he was huge so Jay he was the first guy I met and now you know at the arena we went to the arena like and Craig said you know I had a translator there I have a guy who translated and he said oh this is one of the players and I look at my dad I said that I'm you know I don't want to play here i don't want to be here if everybody like that i don't have a chance and but they said don't worry about it not everybody that big you know you're gonna be okay so but at the first guy i met jay coffer like he was you know he's the only guy who could keep up with your thousand squats a day so we sent him over to meet you that was a warm up for him and even he's walking

the next day like oh my god what the fuck was that I saw Jay two years ago so he's probably in better shape than he was 25 years ago he's still in great shape that's awesome the first time you played with Mario

whether it was during a game did you guys have instant chemistry because you both were super skilled or did it take a little Awesome. Yeah, man. The first time you played with Mario, whether it was practice or during a game, did you guys just have instant chemistry because you're both so super skilled, or did it take a little time? Well, don't forget I was on the fourth line when I started playing in my first year. And Mario, he had a back surgery, so he started playing until, I think, February. That was his deadline. Number one line was Mark Reckie, Kevin Stevens, John Cullen.

That was the first line. And they were all young, and they had such a great year. You know, I think almost the whole year, they were 1-2-3 or 1-2-4 in scoring. You know, they had a great year. Mario was out, and they took care of the team in scoring. They were unbelievable. Mario started playing when it was February and slowly he got in good shape and he was an excellent player. explode so I mean it had to be kind of shocking right they had such a high pick for you and then all of a sudden this team's so good and like were you almost surprised at the success right away I mean like you don't you don't you're so young you think oh we're gonna win the cup every year as you get older you realize how hard it was what you guys did like was it surprising that year to go all the way I I think I had different goal than you know to win the cup uh I think my goal, and I know it's a long time ago,

and I don't really remember all the feelings, but my goal was to survive. My goal was to just survive somehow. Don't get homesick because it was the first time I was without a parents. I was 18 years old

and no English. I don't want to repeat it again. But my goal was to survive and you know and we keep winning you know and I was on a I was on a third forward line but

when you look at the lineup and I love it because it's kind of crazy because I met during my hockey career and I played for nine teams and 24. You guys set the stats, you know, early for a long time. But, you know, the connection with the players I have, when you win something with them, it's totally different.

You know, I remember all their names and wives and when I see them I hug them, it's totally different and people they never win anything with those guys they never probably understand what I'm talking about but

that's a kind of special connection and a special feeling when I see those players. I'm truly, from the heart, happy to see them. And when I saw Jay Caulfield, probably after 20 years, two years ago, you know, I jumped on him and I gave him a hug. And, you know, it's just, this is kind of, it's a different feeling. But when you look at the hug and you know it's just this is kind of it's a different feeling but when you look at

the lineup you know there was it was such a great team and you know and I named it

the first line that was Mario Joey Mullen you know Paul Coffey Larry Murphy they were on defense

you know Tommy B was in the net it was like when you look at it you know Brad Tr Brad Trachy, I don't want to, you know, football, Brad Trachy, he just won the Cups before. When you think about it, you know, in Ireland, they told him, you know, you're too old, and he was 32 or 31.

You know, they called him too old. But, you know, for me, it was great because, you know, they call him too old. But for me, it was great because they call him too old, but all of a sudden, I was playing with Brent Trashy on the line. Me, guy from Europe, play with somebody who somebody thought he's old, but the experience, the hockey sense, the understanding. Even I was on the fourth and third line i was playing with that great players yeah yeah i was gonna ask like who who rubbed off you in the most you said you met caulfield early on so was that somebody that you gravitated towards the

entire time well you know i that's that's the guy i saw for after a long time i didn't see him for a long time and i just you know it's, it's just different feeling just to see him. I was surprised to see him because it was somewhere I didn't expect that. And, you know, I was so happy to see him. But, you know, like a month ago, I was in Pittsburgh. And it's not even a month ago. You know, I saw Brad Trash here. Paul Coffey was there.

Mark Reckie, Phil Bourque. You know, I saw them again. month ago you know i saw bright trashy paul coffee was there more creaky philip work you know i saw them again you know it's it's it's it's great kind of memories and you know it's great time every time i see that's awesome so i would assume that i would assume that you getting to kind of ease into the league by playing in those you know third line situations some case fourth line few years of that finally when after you guys had won your your two cups all that and being around that had rubbed off on you to the when then you personally could kind of bring it to that next level because like obviously you were at an incredible level as a rookie but then all of a sudden it was like lift off like what do you think what do you think made everything

click to where all of a sudden you were a superstar? It's tough to say where they click. I think the biggest change was 1994-95. There was a lack of, there was a half of the season only. And, you know, I had a lot of points before, but I was still, you know, second, third line, you know, not, you know, probably top five in scoring in baseball. You know, nothing special. I did my job, but nothing great.

You know, nothing the team cannot play without me. I was okay. You know, I was always voted by the fans to the All-Stars. I don't know why, because the hair probably. Or the 99 points. That could do it, too. I was kind of embarrassing because back then I was voted, my second year,

I was voted to the All-Stars, and I was on a fourth line in Pittsburgh, and I was voted number, you know, All-Star. I kind of feel embarrassed to play with those guys. You paved the way for John Scott. Yeah. That was the same feeling it was the same thing he was he was wounded there so again i just forgot why i started talking no as you said during that that shortened season so what did you come in in better shape

yeah thanks you remind me so so i was playing in europe i was you know i was playing i was during that shortened season. So what, did you come in in better shape? Yeah, thanks. You remind me. So I was playing in Europe. I was, you know, I was playing, I was practicing, I was playing some games. So right after the lockout end, you know, the lockout end, you know, some guys took them a little bit more time to get in the game shape.

And because I play in Europe europe i think it's helped me with the start and all of a sudden i got the good start season and you know i was playing a you know a lot of minutes and you know and there was the first time i won the scoring and you know mario wasn't on a team mario wasn't there so i i think that was that was a break for me when I make a name for myself and even the respect for my teammates and the coaches in Pittsburgh organization. Do you think that the legendary goal in the 92 finals was the greatest goal you ever scored? I know there's so many of them, but every hockey fan that's ever watched has seen it. It's just an all-time beat three guys.

Is that the best one you ever scored in your mind? seen it it's just an all-time beat three guys like is that the best one you ever scored in your mind well you know the best best one the way the all depends how you how you look at it probably there wasn't the nicest you know i scored a lot of nice goals but it was it was important it was in the final game one and we were down for three and you know i think it was five minutes to go uh you know i right now i don't remember how i did it i know i did it on on youtube but you know when he if you would ask me how i did it i don't even know you know just like but it's like it become an even bigger goal because mario scored probably 10 minutes 10 seconds to go and a game winner so you know it just and the the game was so important because we were down four i think we, you know, it just, and the game was so important

because we were down four, I think we were down 4-1 and then half of the game and we changed it. And then we swept the Chicago for nothing. And I think the first game at home kind of, you know, make the note. I got the chance, I was lucky enough to play about 10 games with Mario Lemieux and obviously that's years later, he was quiet. Was that how you remember him too in the room? did all his talking on the ice was he pretty quiet then in the locker room well he was he you know he just you know when you're that talented and

that good you know you don't have to say much you know he just he just he just do it and uh you know I have a lot of great memories with him. I love Wayne. Wayne, you know, he's got, you know, I think nobody ever going to break Wayne Gretzky's records. It's kind of impossible. Unless they make the nets like in the soccer games and all that big. Otherwise, it's kind of impossible. And I love to watch Conor McDavid and his other big. Otherwise, it's kind of impossible. And I love to

watch Conor McDavid and his other fantastic player. But what Wayne did, 200 points, I think he beat the time by 30 years. He played hockey 2000 at 1970

or 1980. He beat the time by 30. It's like you would put a Ferrari in 1990, you know, car right now, he just beat the time by 30 years. But what I saw, what Mario did, you know, even when he wasn't healthy,

you know, how much pain he had and how he played, you know, it's tough to describe because, you know, if you witnessed that, if you couldn't witness that, you wouldn't believe it. If I start talking about it, people think I'm lying, but he was just that good. Plus, he had the size.

And I always said, you guys said that I won the five scorings, but I never won the scoring when Mario played. Never. I won scoring scoring when Mario played. Never. I won scoring when Wayne was playing, but I knew I had no chance if Mario played more than

60 games, I knew I had no chance to win scoring. I won five of them, I never win when Mario played more than 60 games. Does he remind you when you guys see each other? Does he remind you and throw a little jab? You don't have to. He knew it.

He knew it. He's like, it's impossible. Like, it's just like, and when you think about it, he was just genius. He was the genius. And when you think about it, he was just a genius. He was the genius the way, you know, he always find a way to score or make an impact on a game. And he's different than anybody else. He find a way.

You know, when he didn't feel good, he used the other players. When he feel great, he scored eight points. You know, he's just different. I play with a lot of talented guys, but they had one style. Sometimes they had one style and they play the style all the time. If they play good, perfect. If they play bad, if they feel bad, there was turnover after turnover. But Mario, he always knew how to get impact in the game. I got a quick one here before you hop in uh you you were giving wayne praise about no one's ever going to touch his records especially the maybe the well now ovi might catch the goal record do you ever sit back when you're looking

back on your career and think if i would have spent all my time in the nhl and i would have went back over to the khl that maybe you could have passed the goal record? Because with the time that you missed, you could have, it seems like. Oh, you know, when I came back from Russia, you know, my goal was, you know, I wanted to do it 2,000 points because, you know, it's looking a little bit better than 19 or whatever. You know, the number two, starting at the numbers, it's kind of different bit better than 19, whatever, you know, it's the, the, the number two, starting at the numbers,

it's kind of, it's kind of different. I never did it. I want to score 800. I mean, 800 goals. I, I never did it.

Uh, but you know, I, I never say if, because, uh, when I went to Russia and it was two, I think it was 2009.

I'm not sure. You know, it was 2009, 2000. And, uh, if I didn't go to Russia and it was, I think it was 2009. I'm not sure. You know, it was 2009, 2000. And if I didn't go to Russia and when I come back, I don't think I would play other six years. I don't think I would play that long. And it's just my feeling. I don't know what would happen.

But when I went to Russia, it's kind of, it's kind of end something and starting something else. And probably maybe mentally, because, because you know for 20 years if you if you start season I don't know September 15 the training cup and you finish in the playoffs and you got most two three weeks off then you have to

start practicing again and if you do it for 24 years even if you love it you know you get tired of that. And all of a sudden, it was a different system. It was less games.

I had a chance to, because you got four national breaks in Europe, so I had a chance to see my parents. I didn't see them for a long time. I had a chance to see them four times a year during the season. And all of a sudden, they were totally different.

I think that in Russia, because you got less games, you practice more. You know, I practiced a lot more all of a sudden. I was in a lot better shape. And after three years, when I came back, you know, I kind of had a new energy, new excitement. And I don't think, I don't know, but I don't think if I went to Russia, I don't think I would play that one. Wow.

I got to ask, like, I'll never forget. I think it was a couple of days after Christmas when Mario returned that time in 2000. And right away, I mean, you score, he assists on the goal early on. It's like, did you guys know he was coming back? I think it had been 44 months since he retired in 97. And when did you guys start hearing he was coming back? Like, do you remember all that? Well, I got the story for you guys.

I don't know. Maybe it's going to be too long, but I have a story. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. We got all night, buddy. It's kind of exciting. You know, it's my favorite stories, you know story with Mario. How he decided, when he decided, and how he let me know. When he decided to come back again, because he was three and a half years old.

half years out. So he had a son, Austin, and he was always, when we played Mario, he was the owner and he was always playing with the stick in our dresser. And there was

a trainer, Steve Flatton, and he had a big poster when he was shopping the skates of Mario Lemieux. And little Austin was playing with the stick, and he asked Steve Lattin, who is this guy? And Stevie Lattin told him, that's your dad. And Austin said, my dad played hockey. And Stevie Lattin said, your dad was the best player in the world for a long time.

So, and somehow, this conversation, Austin and Steve Lutton get to the Mario. And I think that he clicked him. And I think because of this, he decided to come back and show his son how good he was. Wow. You know, that's a story. I think that he was you know that's that's a story I think that's happened you know and so I think Mario started practicing

he didn't tell anybody and you know I kind of had a tough start at that season it was 1999 you know 2000 it was 2000-2001 but I had a kind of tough season, tough start, and, you know, and I was,

Craig Patrick called me to, you know, we were in Boston and Craig Patrick, our GM, you know, called me and said, when we come back to Pittsburgh, Mario, Mario want to talk. So we came back from Boston from the trip and, you know, I went to his office Mario Van Aert. So we came back from Boston from the trip. I went to his office.

And he said, what's going on? I said, well, you know, we don't play very well. I don't play very well. I would like to get some players, but I know we don't have the money. And we were in bankruptcy back then. And he said, well, I know one guy who could be good i said well you know but it was so funny and he i didn't get it back then i and he's i said well you know okay but we don't have a money it cannot be any superstar i said well he's you know he might be pretty cheap, but he's pretty good.

I said, well, who is it? And he said, it's me. I'm practicing already for two months. Don't tell anybody, but I decided to come back on December 26th. That's why I found out. And it was tough for me to keep it for myself. I didn't tell anybody, but because Mario was afraid. We thought the media was going to be there all the time.

But that kind of news, you know, it was probably the toughest thing for me to keep a secret. Don't tell anybody. You know, just, that's how I found out. That is an incredible story.

Yeah, we click right away. I think it's a great story. And, you know, we scored, you know, first shift, we scored a goal. He scored, he scored a goal in the middle of great story. And, you know, we scored, you know, first shape, we scored a goal. He scored a goal in the middle of the game. And, you know, we won

five, I think, 5-1 or 5-0 against Toronto. And, you know, he had like three points next game. He had other three points, four points. It was unbelievable. And that's the other story. How many professional players, I mean, it doesn't have to be hockey or any any sports can maybe michael jordan can you know take a three and a half years off and

you know come back practice for three months and dominating you know he he played 40 games and he had 80 points but you know it's just that's why i i gotta say hey i lost my game in one off season that's why i couldn't play anymore. Took me one off season. It was a gone. This guy's fucking taken four years off, comes back in, just unbelievable. That's an incredible story. How many people you think know that story about his kid?

Well, you know, I was telling a lot of these stories to my friends in Czech. I don't know if I ever say in English in uh in english so i'm not i'm not sure but it was you know it was i think it was a great story you know that's oh it's incredible i think that was the you know as a as a parent that you know because i remember when austin was uh when he was born in the day and mario was in hospital you know i kind of remember everything about you know not everything but most of that about mario so you know we I kind of remember everything about, you know, not everything, but most of the time about Mario. So, you know, we played together, it was 19, I think it was 1996 or 97, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not sure, but, you know, Austin got, you know, he was born and, you know, Mario was in hospital for three days he didn't sleep he was there

and then we played St. Louis that night and he just came for the game and he still had the you know

from the hospital I don't know how to call it the rest he still had it and I said hey keep it it's good luck for you

and he kept it he scored four you know he scored eight points he scored five goals and three assists well I guess it wasn't luck but it was just very

but he you know he didn't sleep for three days he was in hospital he scored eight points against St. Louis Jesus What were the circumstances that led to you trade from Pittsburgh to Washington? You know we just lost to New Jersey in 2001. And, you know, it was a tough, tough loss.

Well, Mary just came back from the retirement. And I didn't have a good playoffs. I didn't score many goals. I was a captain. You know, I didn't have a good playoff. I didn't score many goals, and I was a captain. I didn't have a good playoff. So in a whole second line, it was Marty Sraka, Alex Kovalev, Robert Lank.

They were all free agents. So they all have to be signed. And back then, Pittsburgh was in good shape. And it's just still about the bankruptcy, and it wasn't in good shape. So I was talking to Craig Patrick, he was still the GM, and I told him, Craig, I think the best thing for you and for the team is if you trade me away. Because with the whole lineup, we had a great lineup. We didn't beat the new jersey

so next year if you do you know if i stay here you cannot sign all the players you know somebody would leave so our team would be worse than it is right now and we still didn't win this you know with this team so and i told him there's no reason to for me to be here because mario gonna play the fans gonna come so i think the smartest thing for for the team is to you know if you trade me away you know you can sign all those free agents and you know still have a great team there was there was my thing because i didn't even i didn't play good in in that playoffs you know i was kind of injured but i didn't i didn't feel good plus i felt. I was kind of injured, but I didn't feel good. Plus, I felt that the fans kind of knew I didn't feel very well,

and they started kind of literally booing me during the games. I felt like something is not the same as something like before. Because when you play okay or you play okay you know or you play good all the time you know all of a sudden you have a bad you know bad playoffs you know it's just people got used to it and this is you know the the feeling wasn't the same so that's that's that's what that's what happened and then I got traded. People think or say I wanted to get traded. I didn't want to get traded

but I felt like it's the best situation for baseball. That was the best and I still think I think I would do the same thing again. If I was in the situation and when you put plus minuses together I think for that team that was the best thing to do.

We've been talking recently on the pod about like, you know, players back then maybe not having as much say as to what their future holds. Was it you who picked Washington? Was that the team that you asked? No. They just decided and got the best? Well, I didn't. And you kind of

didn't pick, but back then my salary was so high, so everybody thought, I'm going to go to Rangers. There's no other team who can afford it, the Salaries. Everybody thought, I'm going to go to Rangers. And

Glenn Sater was the GM in New York. And I think I heard that's the only thing they talk about. They just couldn't get the deals done because Pittsburgh was asking for the money. Back then, they were still allowing for the money. I think it was the last trade allowed with the money. Back then, after that, it was only players. But there was $5 million involved in in that trade so you know and everybody felt like rangers the only one who can who can pay it and all of a

sudden you know the washington show up and and i went there what do you think about your time in washington i know maybe just one year you made the playoffs. Was the time the team was not as good as you thought when you got there type thing? I don't want to make some excuses. It's a long time ago and things happened for a reason. So, you know, I was leaving Pittsburgh. I got traded when I was fourth straight. I won fourth straight scoring titles.

So if the new team trading for you, they're expecting the same thing. They're expecting Jaron Mariagor to score 120 points. Well, I was expecting that also, but you're coming to the different team with the different players, different style of hockey games, and everything is new. with the different players, you know, different style of hockey games.

And it's everything is new. So my numbers wasn't the same like it was in Pisa, understandably, you know. But the new owner, the new GM expecting, you know, and I don't blame them. I was probably expecting the same thing. But, you know, the team didn't make a playoffs. I didn't play the way, you know, they expect me to play or I didn't score as many goals, as many points. And that's why I think it was kind of short, short living in Washington. You know, and I got traded.

I got traded two and a half years after. Was that where the Jager salute was created or were you doing that in Pittsburgh already? Well, it was in Pittsburgh. It was in Pittsburgh and, you know, there's a lot of guys, you know, a lot of people ask me, you know, why I did it, you know. And to be honest with you, I started it because back then I was a big, a big football, football fan.

You know, I watch every Sunday I was sitting on TV. I was watching American football. For me, it was the best sports ever. So I was watching it all the time. Back then, John Oliver and Broncos was... Oh, Terrell Davis. That's where it was from?

No shit. So I saw it. I love it. It was a different celebration. I started doing that and all of a sudden, I was kind of more lucky when I did it. After a goal, I scored more and more and more. I keep doing that. But it was John Oliver Davis, the Broncos.

They were good. Oh my God, I didn't know it was about that. Why did you wear 68? Well, because in 1968, there was a revolution in Czechs. There was a six in Czech so you know there was a six months revolution last six months so

you know they changed the president it was for six months there was a freedom in Czech Republic and after six months the Russian tanks came to Czech Republic and the Russians took over for another 20 years. So I took that because we were living on a farm

and I spent a lot of time with my grandma. And because we were on a farm, it was kind of illegal to have a farm during the communist years. So my grandfather got in the jail. And actually both of them were kind of rebels. So both of them, they were in the jail one six years, other five. Holy shit. Yeah, but my grandmother was, you know, was talking about it all the time.

She was kind of talking about her husband, my grandfather. And they released him because he was in jail because of politics. So they released him in that year for the six months. And because he got sick in the jail so he died during that so i took it you know first of all because the revolution 68 plus my grand on grandfather it was he died 68 uh when and you had brought up is brought up when you went over to russia and missing those years in the nhl but when you went over there did you plan on coming back at some point or at that point in your mind you were done?

I didn't. Well, when I was leaving Pittsburgh. So this is what happened. I was a free agent after the season and I feel like I still can play on a high level. And I wanted to sign two years contract. But there was a lockout. It was 2004. There was a lockout.

And I was in Omsk. I was in Siberia. I was in Russia. And I played there for half of the year. And I like it a lot. And I think the team likes it. And the governor of the city likes me. So when the Russian team find out I'm a free agent after that season,

he sent the governor, he sent the GM of Omsk back then, you know, he sent him to New York and, you know, we talk about it and he said, listen, the governor sent me here and he wants you to come to play in russia and i said listen

guys you know uh you know i'm in new york so and back then you know new york was like the top class like top organization back then you know there was like all the organization were great but there was a new york above that you They weren't Fugazis then. They weren't the Fugazis then. Yeah. Anything you ask, you had it. It was a New York. So I said, oh, I don't think I can be happy somewhere else in NHL.

I would probably be because I love the game. But I said, if I don't sign with New York, I promise you guys I'm going to go to Russia. said if I don't sign with New York I promise you guys I gotta go to Russia so we talk about after the season and Chris uh with uh with Glenn Sater and you know I wanted to two years and you know he said well let's let's do only one you know you're not young anymore and I believe I can I can play and because I promised him if I don't sign with New York, I go to Russia. I wanted to keep the promise. Man, you're weird. Yeah, but July 2nd,

I think Edmonton called. No thanks. You could have been playing with Wes. And I didn't want to break the promise. So, you know, it's just like I believe in karma. So if you promise something, you break it. It's just not good. So I thought I'm done.

You know, I give all the stuff I had in New York away. And I flew to Russia because this summer they're practicing together. You know, it's not like NHL. You know, even summer, they have the summer camps and they so i have to go after the season right away i went i went to russia that's why how you know and then i never thought i'm gonna come back so but when i was in russia i was playing for national team because there was no playoffs the season started before the world championship so i was playing every year i was playing for national team and uh there was a national team 2000 2013 uh 2011 2011 so there was a national team and we play in Slovakia and

you know and there was a lot of guys from from NHL to play that tournament you know a lot of a lot of great players from US Canada even for our team Russia Ovechkin was there, all of them. And, you know, I had a great tournament. So, you know, we played against US semifinal, and I scored a hat-trick. We won 4-0, I scored a hat-trick. And then I said, fuck me, sorry guys, I said, if I can score against those guys, I still can play NHL. So, I decided, you know, I'm going to come back. that game kind of changed why it changed my mind i still can't do it i i have to ask this question i mean you said the decision because you made the promise but i mean the salary had to have been pretty decent well were they coming comparable

to what new york was paying you was it more was it tax-free and duffel bags like how are we doing here in the old school k no it's not it's not it's not tax free you you know but i would make more money in hl did the offer i got in edmonton i would i would make a lot more oh you know i wouldn't want to hear we could have had a great we could have had a great connection y'all me and you yeah we do it it didn't happen but but there wasn't it wasn't right away it was in it was in july 3rd you know second third because you know i i if i remember the right way they want to sign osa for long so and i i don't i i he signed one year somewhere I don't know if he went to Detroit or Pittsburgh. Yeah, Detroit. You know, he signed only one year.

So all of a sudden, they were under the salary cap at Monton. So, you know, they have to sign somebody. You know, they had no other choice. They had to sign back then. So they offered me a lot of money, but I already made a promise. I had to pack everything. I had to hold it in the back of my shoulder. It's pretty much Russia. It's like Siberia.

Yeah, it's a cactus club in Russia, though. How many years? How many years? And maybe if you want, how much money were they offering? Come on, come on, Yags. Break it on chiclets. I will explain. Hard ownership.

Yeah. You own McDavid's rights. Yeah. That would McDavid's rights. Yeah. That would be good, actually. You should have been talking to Mario about the deal that he cut in Pittsburgh. You could own the fucking Oilers right now. Yeah. Hey, I'm the owner.

It's a different kind of owner. Yeah, exactly. Did they pay you in cash or check in Russia? Normal. They paid. No, those crazy stories. They don't fucking pay normal. Stop it.

I don't know right now, but they did pay. And there was just no. Yeah, man, you would know if getting the key to the rink and going like a midnight and going skating by yourself. When did you start doing that? And the first time you asked someone, did they kind of look at you funny because you wanted the key to the ring? When you're kind of older,

you have to look for the edge every time. Because I never had a problem to work hard. My advantage is I don't get tired when I practice late. I don't get tired.

I don't get quick, I don't get strong, but I also don't get tired, so I can practice, you know. When I took some young guys with me to do it, they couldn't play the next day. You know, they were tired. But I don't get tired. So when I came back from Russia, and I know I was 40 years old,

so you have to look for everything to be perfect so i always pick the apartment closest to the arena i don't have to travel i spend the time on the road you know and uh to to save energy and uh and i knew i needed you know to work on my game, to go to the gym, to work out. So I always ask. And the management, the teams, they like it. Because it's a good example for the young guys to show. Even the old guy has to do it. So if he does it at 40, you should do it automatic.

I want to say where it started really pick it up was in philadelphia when you ended up coming back after those years in the khl and like what was it like for you to all of a sudden be getting this go on all these different stops because it seemed like you were just you were in philly then dallas then boston new jersey florida calgary it seemed, I mean, obviously Florida a little bit longer, but was it fun at the end to go experience these different teams and cultures? I don't think it was fun. I didn't do it to meet more people. I didn't do it.

You have to understand that I was 40 when I was in Italy. And in that age, you have to be good year after year. You cannot have a bad, I don't know, month or two months. You can't. You're done. Everybody say, well, he's old. He's not going to play good anymore. When you were young, you have a bad two months. They said, oh, okay, a bad month. When you were young, you have a bad two months. They said, oh, okay, a bad month.

When you're old, you're done. You play bad because you're old. Nobody cares. And even Glenn Sater didn't want to sign me when I was 35. He said, I'm old. So same thing. They thought, okay, he had a great year, but nobody guarantee us, you know, he's going to have another good year. And, you know, there was a salary cap and you don't want to, you know, you don't want to sign 40 years old or 40 plus year old guy if you're not sure. so you know I did it in Philly I was happy in Philly you know it just you know and I was playing on the first line with with Giroud and Harty and you know there was you know and we had a great

we had a great team and it was a lot of fun it just but there was a lockout again so you know I went back to check and you know and all and all of a sudden Dallas, you know, called, you know, they, they heard about, you know, my work ethic and, you know, they said, well, maybe you can show our young guys, you know, how to work and, you know, show them how to, how to do it, you know, show them something. So, you know, just, and then New Jersey and, and it kind, and kind of always something happened when I got lucky. Like, for example, in New Jersey, you know, I don't think I would be there if Kovacic wouldn't go to Russia. And all of a sudden, Kovacic went to Russia, and Lou called me. And I don't think Lou Lamolero would ever, you you know ever bring me on a

team but you know he took a risk and even for me it was a great experience you had a great year that year yeah he did I love Lula yeah it was good it was great we're very close

this is Lube I know you never thought you'd hear it from me, but we want to sign you. Are you interested in coming here? We lost one Russian. You played there. There's a connection. You signed in a what? Is that how you did it?

That's a good Lou. Yeah. I thought it's Lou. I like that. What is that? Yeah. Before you sign, you have to come here. I want to see you before you sign.

He wants to see me eye to eye you know if i'm in good shape he's probably more intense than the people yeah let me there let's do a little physical here um he's probably more intense than some of the fucking owners you saw over in russia but i was actually going to go to uh new york quickly was it fun for you to embrace the lifestyle because you're kind of this like local celebrity or did you really not buy into that bullshit and you stayed private well uh you know what just you know i i had i had a lot of fun you know playing hockey and you know and even in pittsburgh i enjoyed my life and i i was uh and my advantage is I never drink so you know I like to go out you know I was I'm not saying I was out every day you know I never went before the game but

after the game I went out but I never drank so and the last call was 1 30 so you know it was it was perfect you know I I don't mind to sleep all the time I can sleep afternoon I don't care so you know.30 was last school I went home. I slept. I went to practice and I sleep after practice. So I never had a problem. My huge advantage was I never drank. But when I

play hockey and I was all in. I didn't have to when I got older I don't have to go anywhere. So I don't remember I went out in Europe. It was hockey only for me in Europe. That's awesome. Do you ever meet those traveling Jager guys that would wear all your jerseys to all the games?

Those are his kids. In every city, he had along the way. Yeah, that's them. Don't tell anybody. That's why he had to keep playing. He had to pay child support but they're not my kids because they're older

than me so I gotta answer the question I met them I met them I saw them and I was talking

to them and they're from Calgary so my last NHL star was in Calgary so I see them every game

they were every game they even have a special special special car NHL star was in Calgary. So I see them every game. They were every game. They even have a special car. And they're the traveling Yaggers. So they park before the Cedar Dome. It was like Cosmo. He had all of them living in his living room. Yeah, they were living together.

That's got to be flattering though to see that on the way out. Like, I know we talked about all those stops towards the end, but at a

certain point you probably knew the ending was coming and you feel that you kind of got the send off you wanted slash deserve. Like, did you feel

that? Well, when you're playing, you don't think it's over. You know, when I was in? Well, when you're playing, you don't think it's over. You know, when I was in Kyogre, even if a lot of guys think it's over, I don't think your brain lets you think it's over. Otherwise, you see it the way the brain tells you how to see it. So it's just, you know, there's a lot of guys think they're

better than they are and you know because the brain telling them so even in my last year maybe even if i didn't play play good enough for for for the people that they see me i didn't see myself like that you don't and and i think it's great because you know you don't kind of you still have to believe yourself even if you're not good anymore so you have to your eyes see you differently you know sometimes so you can see it in the girls you know sometimes not very good looking girl thinking she's the best oh and it makes her hot those are the ones that i take home and you know and the other way around like it's just i think it's fair and even the other way around it's beautiful girl doesn't have a confidence at all like she doesn't think of her

like she always spied something on her so that's the way it is i think that's why i drink you said you don't drink you could solve that problem by having a couple of bottles oh god we're out of control right now this is amazing this is fucking amazing we gotta ask you about top legend right and this is the reason that we're lucky enough to get you on and you're a part of this can you explain to everyone what this is and what's going on and i know we have an ad we're gonna do for you guys but you could you can let everyone know yeah well i just you know i just this is uh something i have a here it's like i don't know if you see it you know that's wayne's so it's it's it's it's a beautiful so this is uh this is uh collectible

stuff it's a value note collectible look like a money look like the currencies you know i just because there is there is you know there's hockey cards there's pictures people wanted to sign this but this this is kind of special nobody i don't think nobody can make it it's it's uh it's it's make in the czech republic when they print the real money you know it's it's kind of impossible i don't think anybody else can do that you know it's just nobody and it's exactly you know just like you got all that all this stuff you know protecting it's it's just the best thing i ever see like even i got it today actually the vein and uh just it's just just perfect so so i met those guys uh i would say probably a year ago they asked me when i was 50 years old they said oh let's make it something special for you you

got 50 years old and you know you're pretty famous in czech republic let's uh let's let's do it something to people have it forever something nobody nobody ever did it. And we, you know, we thought this is going to be cool. So we went to the, you know, that's a government printing company. We went there. If we can, we can do it.

They said, yes. So, so we did it and we did it. 10,000 of them kind of collectible stuff. And, uh, and it was sold out after,

you know, after three hours and it was only for Czech people. It was sold out right away. So, and we, we were talking, you know, three hours and it was only for Czech people it was sold out right away so and we were talking you know we were talking about it and we know it's it's kind of it's kind of special and nobody nobody can make first of all nobody can make it you know it's a collectible it's something never been done before never I don't think it's gonna be and you know just it's like you have a you have a hockey card, you're collecting pictures, jerseys.

This is something special. This is something I like. When I see it, it's like real money, but it's just... We're going to have a press conference in Las Vegas on 28, and when it's going to be there and we're gonna introduce that top legends collectibles do you think you could bring that money to the table and they'd give you

back chips in return no just it's 100 bucks but it's it's it's worth it's ten thousand dollars how did how did you uh how did you get the country to kind of clear wayne in that regard obviously he's a hockey legend and how did wayne get involved because you guys the country to kind of clear Wayne in that regard? Obviously, he's a hockey legend. And how did Wayne get involved? Because you guys are going to be in Vegas together launching this in the next couple of days when this interview comes out. Well, because I'm involved with those guys.

We want to do 50 of them, the top guys, top sportsmen, top legends. We want to do 50 of them. And because guys, top sportsmen, top legends. We wanted to do 50 of them. And because I'm a hockey player, you know, and it's always, you know, it's important who's number one. You know, me as a hockey player,

you know, who's got all the records, Ed Swain, Ed Swain was important for me, the number one sportsman, Ed Swain Gretzky. So, you know, I started talking to him probably six months ago, maybe before that. And, you know, slowly tried to introduce him. What is mean argument and uh you know he's gonna be there and it's just this is just the way it is but it's it's kind of it's kind of beautiful it's called you know you got stripes and you got you got all this all the stuff you needed to do to have a lot like like a money currencies, but it's not. It's memorable stuff. It's just,

you know, for me, it's kind of, I saw it today, it's beautiful. So hopefully people are going to get it and they're going to enjoy it because it's something special you cannot get anywhere else. I love it. Thank you so much. It's going to be on the Top Legends YouTube page on June 28th if you want to check it out once again

Top Legends YouTube page I have one more question for you outside of the NHL was the 98 Olympics your biggest best memory in hockey outside of the NHL or even more so yeah I used to be outside the NHL so it was

especially for our fans for the Czech people it's just you know that's the first time the Czech hockey you know won the Olympics gold medal and it was the first time all the professionals team

you know all the professional hockey players were in that tournament it was 98 and you know just everybody were expecting that would happen and nobody really gave us a chance to to to do good and but as a player you know you know you're not you're not that bad how the media talking about it you just know because you know we had a dominating acik back then he was he was the best goalie. He was playing for Buffalo, he was good.

As a hockey team, you needed to have a good goalie and we had it. Plus all the players on that team, they were kind of first, second line on a lot of NHL teams. So we knew we had a pretty good team. Our biggest

advantage was we had a coach who knew it's going to be playing on a big, big ring, big size. So he took half of the guys from Europe. The best European, we had two lines best Europeans and two lines from NHL. And I think it was our advantage. We had a perfect mix. Because a lot of teams took only guys from NHL and I think it was our advantage. We had a perfect mix. Because a lot of teams took only guys from NHL and who play on the big ice, if you play on the big ice, they call it hockey but it's a different game. You've got two extra meters on each side, it's huge. Especially for defensemen, for forecheck you have to play differently. You

cannot forecheck like crazy because you get tired right away. So every hockey player needs probably 10 days to get used to that big ice. And in Olympics, you don't have a big day. You don't have 10 days. You just have a one-day practice and you go play right away.

So it was our advantage, how the team was playing in Europe. Now, correct me if i'm wrong was the gretzky not putting out for the shootout was that when that that whole thing happened where was it against you guys yeah yeah that was that that was that was that was the game that was the game were you were you even thinking of that at the time did you notice or were you like did you find out after the game that's a pretty shocking thing and I would I found out after the game but you know I was thinking about myself because I have to go forth and he like back then and I never been a big fan of

penalty shots or you know breakaways because you know I wasn't I wasn't in my game. I was good in 1990, 1991, 1992, but the goal is to figure out how I do it. I wasn't good anymore on the breakaways, so I had to go forward and I was so nervous. In particular, I was in the net. I was thinking nervous and Patrick Rua was in the net so you know I was thinking about myself

and I even I don't even watch the other penalty shots I was thinking what I gonna do and I was so nervous and I didn't I missed

I scored I scored the post but you know we needed one goal to beat but it was you know it's just kind of

it's kind of different because when you're playing for national team you know you kind of you have a different responsibility you know it's just kind of it's kind of different because when you're playing for national team you know you kind of you have a different responsibility you know you you don't play for yourself you know i don't mind if i make a mistake and i pay for it i don't i don't mind at all but you know it's just if i make mistakes and you know a lot of a lot of other people are sad it's it's kind of killing me. Did you not get to go back to Prague and party after?

Or did you have to go back to the NHL? Or was the whole team able to go? Well, we did. We kind of flew after the game. I remember the president gave us the private plane. So we make the final. The president gave us the private plane. So we make the final. The president gave us the private plane. So our girlfriends or parents, they had a chance to watch the final with the plane. And the team would fly with the plane to the Czech Republic.

No matter what happened, we would flew back. So, somehow, I don't know why, the plane was take off. They didn't let them land in Russia. They have to go through China, blah, blah, blah. So, some parents, some girlfriends, some wives, and my girlfriend back then they arrived they they after the game they didn't watch the game they missed the game they arrived and you know they just find out we won the gold so they didn't they didn't have a chance to see it on tv they didn't they didn't know what's going on there was back then there was no cell phones they couldn't talk

to anybody so nobody knew how the score so they landed and we already won it so so then we flew back and uh you know we were there for probably 10 hours 10 11 hours our president was waiting for us in the house we went to his house and then you know we did the big celebration on the square the famous square in czech republic and you know i would say that was would say that was a crazy time. There was a parade. That was crazy. I think whoever was there, I feel like everybody was there. They were talking about it right now.

Because it was the first big thing for the Czech Republic after the revolution. Something big won. So it's connected all the people together. You know, because it was a tough 40 years during the communist years and it was the first kind of tournament with the sports, you know, the team won.

So it was all kind of connecting. It was different. Like it wasn't only sport. It was politics and everything together. Yeah, man. What's one or two things you're missing in North America that you can't get over Europe anything the traveling Jager man nah

well it just I think the kind of the service a little bit better you know the competition of I don't know how to say it you know just if you if if you want something there's more companies to have it so you get everything quicker this service kind of kind of better than in europe it's understandable that you know the u.s is so big

and you know it's just economic economic so it's so great so you know, other things, and I was in the U.S., you know, in the U.S. last time, two weeks ago. So I like that they don't worry much about, you know, about politics and other stuff. They enjoy their life. Now, I was in Florida. Maybe it's different, you know, but they try to enjoy their life. You know, they don't worry stuff they cannot control. You know, I think in our country and in Europe, you kind of worry about everything. You know, you wanted to talk about it.

You have opinion about everything. In the U.S., they know they cannot change much. They enjoy it. They like it. They woke up. There is a sun. They enjoy the day with the family. They enjoy how they want it. And, you know up, there's a sun they enjoy the day with the family they enjoy how they want it

and there's always next I think in our republic we worry about stuff we cannot control much everybody have an opinion about everything I think we should take it a little bit more

enjoy the life a little more Jaromir, you said you don't really worry about the what ifs but should you know take a little bit more you know enjoy the life of them all. Jarmer you said you're not like you don't really worry about the what-ifs but you know through your amazing career and you know how it was all carved out from your childhood and the work ethic and the fact that you wouldn't drink is there still something that you look back on that maybe you regret like there are a situation that you handled that that throughout your entire career but it seems like everything you did like the trade from pittsburgh like you gave it thought you went and said this is the best thing i think for everybody moving forward so it seems as if though maybe there wouldn't be any for you well i'll make a lot of mistakes and no question about it it's everybody does and you

know but regrets i don't you know, I believe things happen for a reason. It's just, I am what I am because I lived the life I lived. It's just, you know, everything makes you stronger. The good things, the bad things, it just, it doesn't matter. You have to survive, learn from that that's then you become what you are like you know if i wanted to change something you know probably that would be that would be good in that situation but we don't know what would happen but what would happen after maybe we would you know maybe because the situation happened i become a stronger and more experienced and I I I and I learn from that and then I use

that tools for the next problem you know just you know I barely use every day just a learning progress till you die and it's over but it's's just, even the game, even the practice, everything you have to understand that you're just learning to feel better next day or to be better next day. You know, you just, there's nothing else. Like, you just, if you know you're going to wake up tomorrow, you just have to make sure, you shouldn't compete with anybody else. You should compete with yourself and make sure you do maximum to be better next day or to be more experienced

next day that's the way i look at it and i just you know you of course not every time i'm able to to do it and you know even you know you have emotion up and down and it's understandable because sometimes stuff to control yourself and you're not happy with the results or whatever but that's the way you should look at it no just never be up too up or too down just just take the whatever is it it just just just just the experience this is just you know same thing like uh and it was uh it was kind of funny because just you know i don't want to talk about it, but I didn't tell anybody, my friends, but this Christmas I went to the church on 24th and, you know, just the priest was talking about, you know, just, you know, all the situation happened, even the bad situation happen it just make yourself stronger and i was thinking about it and i said well it's the same thing like a gym like if you go work out in the gym and you're gonna work out all the time with the light weights you don't get stronger

and now sometimes you have to take the heavy heavy heavy weights to get your body stronger so more problem you're gonna have you're stronger you So more problems you're going to have, the stronger inside you're going to be because you're going to learn how to fix it. So I was thinking about it when I was driving from the church and I got an accident. I got an accident. I hit it.

And I said, well, I was asking for some problems to make my insight stronger. All of a sudden, December 24th, you have to call somebody to tell you, you know, it's just, well, I didn't want to tell the story, but that's the way I look at it. You know, every problem just makes me stronger. They should make me stronger. If you want to be strong inside, well, you got to challenge it. You got to take everything as a challenge. That's the way it is. Of course, everybody would want to have an easy life, the perfect.

I don't think he would enjoy it. I don't think he would enjoy it. Then he would be 70 and you're going to meet your friends. What are you guys going to talk about it you know it's just it's all about stories anyway it's about the stories when you when you sit with your friends

what are you talking about right now it's kind of funny back 10-20 years ago it wasn't that funny but now you're laughing it's just laughing. It's all about stories, about the memories, about the stories. That's a great insight. That's incredible.

What do you got? Do you have any more, R.A.? Well, I guess, how'd you like your time in Boston? You had a good run. He's the Boston guy. He loves Boston. I'm the Boston guy. We love to have you here. I'll tell you that. I mean, put me on the spot. He's the Boston guy. He loves Boston. I'm the Boston guy. I know. We love the avenue here.

I'll tell you that. Old Boston. I was there for two months. So, you know, it was a short experience. And the marathon things, the terrorist attack that happened when I was there. Yeah. And that's just kind of my memories when that happened

then it was the playoffs that was a pretty special team at Boston a lot of tough guys on that team good players tough players I still cannot believe right now we didn't win it

but I felt like it was the toughest team I was playing on. Every line had a tough guy or somebody who can fight. Looch, first line, Orton, you know, Marci. Marci, I'm not saying he can, you know, find anybody, but he's he's kind of dirty and he know how to do it. Berger was there, you know, there was like third and fourth line, there was

a lot of tough guys, you know, defense, you know, there was, you know, leading with Big Z, you know, so it was a, I feel like it was a toughest, toughest team I ever played at. You could do it. Actually, as a

skill guy, you could do anything because nobody got in touch. Even the fans, I remember my first game I was playing in Boston and my first face-off. and I remember exactly when it was, it was the offensive face-off on the right side. And I got standing at the end.

Eventually, people were standing. My first shift, I was surprised. 41 or 42 years old, the other people standing. There was a great feeling. I remember that. Face off, offenses on, right. You're a legend, man. Yeah.

Sometimes we have other guys on the show. One of which is, he works with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Colby Armstrong. And he said he wanted us to ask you about when you first got to Pittsburgh, how Trottier helped you work on your shot and helped you develop it into a lot more lethal. and he said he wanted us to ask you about when you first got to pittsburgh how trache helped you work on your shot and helped you develop it into a lot more lethal can you maybe go into that and how he helped you and and and how he crafted your shot well i don't think it was charles was that there was the guy who you know showed me how to how to how to do it you know uh brian he was he he helped me a different ways i don't think he was, he helped me in different ways.

I don't think he was exactly helping me with my shot. Brian helped me. He was my first roommate. He's a great guy, understandable. He kind of tried to talk to me slowly because he

knew I don't understand English, so he bought a dictionary. We had a dictionary in the room, so, you know, we played together. And, you know, I think the best thing he did for me, he kind of adjusted to my game. He knew what's my strength, you know. He knew I wanted to have a puck, and even he was a great player, he tried to give me the puck all the time

so he kind of like not many superstars like that or legends adjusting the game to a young guy and he did it and when I go back to the shots I think the most who helped me with the shot

I think Bob Johnson was the coach and Bob Johnson was the coach and bob johnson was the coach and uh you know he he was the reason i was drafted he saw me he knew it he just you know he he came from calgary and he was you know there was a craig patrick uh badger bob they were like there was there was those all those guys from 1980 Olympics US teams. They were there. So he knew how I play, and he knew my shot wasn't good enough because in Europe, I didn't have to shoot much.

I kind of dig everybody and make a move on a goal. In NHL, I couldn't do it. There were a lot stronger guys, stronger defense. I couldn't get that easily. So I have to learn how to shoot over those guys. And Rick Keough, he was the assistant coach. And he is the guy who I think who scored 50 in his career in a year. And he scored 450 or 500 goals.

So he was the assistant coach back then. And Bob Johnson taught him, teach him how to shoot. And we did it after every practice. He stayed with me for 30, 45 minutes and we just were shooting wrist shots all the time. He teach me how to do it. He show me how to do it.

And he had a time and he stayed with me on the ice. Oh, I can't believe it. I mean, it's 1.30 in Prague right now. We're getting to chat with you. So that's what time used to go home from the bar. He, I can't believe that. I mean, it's 1.30 in Prague right now. We're getting to chat with you, so. That's what time he used to go home from the bar. He's been training this his whole life. Last call. That's why he's got his suit on.

Last call's a little later over there. I'll ask just a quick one at the end. Was there a reason that you never drank? Like, what is it? just choice? Well, yeah, I don't know. We never, like, my parents never drank. We never had alcohol at home. My dad never drank even beer, and we never had it.

So, and I was afraid of my dad, so I don't know. I don't know what would happen if I ever drank. You know, he was a tough you know nobody could touch me like in like even my mother like even if i did something wrong like nobody could touch but i was i was afraid of my dad and then one more give you one more you played for 22 head coaches in the nhl did you have have one that you despised? You know what? I got to tell you, I love everybody. I do.

Even if I wasn't the nicest guy and I just, honestly, if I would be a coach, I wouldn't want to be coaching Gero Mariagor back then. I wouldn't. And I wasn't easy to coach. But in the time, you know, all the coaches I had, they were great. They were great, and I learned from them. And, you know, I just, if I could see them right now, I would tell them I'm sorry.

And if I did something wrong to you, and if I wasn't nice to you, I apologize because, you know, I wasn't smart enough to do it differently. I was complaining. I wanted to be on the ice all the time. I admit it. I wasn't the nicest player to be coached. But all of them I had. I don't want to name anybody who helped me, but all of them i had they just they and i don't want to name it anybody who helped me but they were all but all of them they were all great all great especially when i come back after

from the russia then like just you you kind of look at the coaches differently when when you're 40 than when you're 22 you know i i appreciate it you know all of, you know, all of them, you know, and I think I've become a good, good friends with them, you know, all when I got older. I think you were also six months or just six months younger than the one that you had in Calgary. So at a certain point, you always catch it. You started catching them at age. Well, I, I, I had him in Dallas first.

So, so, you know, you know, I think that was the other reason I went to Calgary because we were together in Dallas boys that was a hell of an interview unreal, Jaromir we can't thank you enough once again Top Legends June 28th, gonna be on YouTube

any final other notes on that Jaromir or anything else on Top Legends you want to share? You know guys to be honest I don't like to do a podcast you know I think that's the first podcast I ever did

I don't mind to talk to people you know but first of all I just learned I don't want to tell people what to do you know I just learned I don't want to tell people what to do. I just think people should live their lives how they want it. I don't want to tell anybody what's the best way to do it. That's why I don't really talk to anybody.

But I had a great time. It was, I would say, one hour, 30 minutes, and it was so quick you know i would say one hour 30 minutes and it was so quick i don't mind it's kind of tough you know with my english because i cannot really explain exactly everything i would do it in how i would do it in czech but i had time and hopefully the the fans or wherever the people because you guys you know were pretty big and a lot of guys watching you and listening to you so hopefully they're gonna like it Hopefully, they're going to like it. Then maybe they're going to take something positive from my interview.

I was happy to see you guys. Don't worry. Even it's 1.30. I don't mind it. Don't worry about the accent. We just added you as a co-host. We'll see you same time next month. Once a month,

I'll pay you in Wayne gretzky currency too all right guys thanks a lot pleasure that interview is brought to you by chevy yes i'm back and i'm back with a vengeance to talk about chevy we are a part of the chevy ev. And we have big news. The first ever all-electric Silverado is officially Barstool and Spit and Chicklets' most valuable truck. We're here at the awards. The true MVP is the Chevy EV Silverado. We got a chance to see it. We got a chance to drive it. We got a chance to sit in it. It's a complete game changer. It's available 400-mile range, GM estimated on a

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The Chevy EV Silverado is a game-changer, like I said. Go to Chevy.com to learn more now. Once again, can't thank Yags enough, man. Just an awesome interview. Hopefully, everybody enjoyed it as much as we did doing it because he's a funny MF, man. It was good stuff. So, other big news last week, Biz. Hopefully everybody enjoyed it as much as we did doing it because he's a funny MF man. It was good stuff.

So other big news last week, Biz, your coworker is going to be entering the Hockey Hall of Fame, getting inducted this November, Henrik Lundqvist. I think he was probably the one slam dunk people were pretty much expecting him to get in first ballot. Of course, he won the Vesna back in 2012, was a finalist five times, 459 wins of the sixth all time, the most among goalies born in Europe as well. Only 18 goalies have a better playoff save percentage than his 921. Also won gold at the 06 Olympics, silver at the 14 Olympics,

and he said he had two guys on his wall, posters on his wall, when he was a kid that also joined him, Tom Barrasso. He won two cups with the Pens back in the 90s. He won the Calder and Vezna as an 18-year-old rookie. Imagine that. And Mike Vernon. Right out of Acton Park, Spurl High School. I was at his last high school game at the Boston Garden.

Sat right behind the net. He had Barrasso and Vernon posters on his wall. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he said he looked up to him as a kid, yeah. And Mike Vernon, of course, he won his first cup with the 89 Flames. Terry Crisp, coach of that team, we met him tonight. And then, of course, 97 with the Red Wings. He won the Conn Smite there. His 365 wins.

He was seventh all-time when he retired. Also, Pierre Turgeon. He's a guy who people have been talking about him for years and years. I couldn't believe he wasn't in already. Yeah, most points of any eligible player not in the Hall of Fame. 1,327 points in 1,294 games. That guy was... Sabres, Islanders, Canadians, Blues, Stars, Avs. And, let's see, 97 points, 10,294 games. That guy was... Sabres, Islanders, Canadians, Blues, Stars, Avs,

and let's see, 97 points, 109 playoff games. I think of him as an Islander. Yeah, 100%. When I think of the greatness of Pierre Turgeon, it's his Islanders days. And granted, as you get older, you move along. And I also think of Dale Hunter crushing him into the board. Oh, my God.

I was at that game. No shit. I was at that game. The very last row of the upper deck. No way. And Dale Hunter said, I didn't know he scored. There was 20,000 people going bananas. Did I do that?

One of the all-time dirty hits in NHL history. But Pierre Tur... Yeah, I actually, like, I can admit I was like, wait, he's not already in the Hall of Fame. Like, I didn't know. Yeah. But yeah, congrats to him. I was very surprised. I mean, I don't know if there's ever been

a time when there's been three goals in one class that was shocking i think this year three goals and we always talk about the snubs uh mogilny's a discussion every year we can have so people compared his numbers to turgeon's and they're basically identical they're right around there i just think it's a matter of time and i think it would be fitting if they actually save mcgillney to the same year in which alexander ovechkin make it more of maybe like a russian theme induction where you know he's going to be first ballot so if he keeps getting pushed back i don't know at a certain how many years has it been 17 or 18 years he's been eligible yeah he's been a long time and i i just think it's a matter of time before McGilney gets in. And people, every year, you hear the barking more and more. I feel like I hear it for Roenick, Kachuk, and McGilney.

You know who else should get some barking for him is Fleury. Yeah, Theo Fleury. Theo Fleury, man. Theo Fleury won everything. The guy was a superstar at one point. And he literally paved the way for Braden points and for other smaller players and he did it with a bunch of fire too in his belly and people talk about the nowadays and Theo Fleury and gets political online shut the fuck up we're talking about hockey and I know there's a bunch of

guys you mentioned Big Walt Jr but Theo Fleury for me that guy's an NHL Hall of Famer and the other goalie too Curtis Joseph Curtis Joseph he didn't win a Stanley Cup but I mean he finished second to the in the Vesna I want to say I don't know for sure so I'm kind of making this up I want to say three times four times wow he was he was it was Hashek and Wah in those days right like it's not like he was finishing runner up to these pigeons like in my mind that's another guy and i and that's more of an argument than maybe mogilny or some of the others but curtis joseph also in my mind is a hall of famer yeah he saw more rubber than a whole house back when he played so i'm on a roll tonight uh let's see as a thing with the hall of fame are we all done hall of fame talk no no, no, but you... I guess I'll leave you hanging, bro. Who all thinks they shouldn't put, like, a...

Can he say his point? Yeah, you're right. This wasn't even my point, but yeah. Why is it... There's another one. Yeah, just true. I know to read his mind. That's why we're good teammates.

We were good at line. You ever score a game seven OT winner in a conference final? Yeah, mind melt. That's why we did that. Mind melt. Very fair. But yeah, I don't understand why it's like mandatory that five or six, whatever the numbers have to go in every year.

Shouldn't there be like some years where there's like no Hall of Famers? That's dumber than the- No, I'll try it Sunday. No, zero is dumb. They need one a year. Like two or something? Yeah, it could be one, but it seems like there's always got to be eight. That's kind of weird to me.

Like it's a Hall of Fame. It should be a little more exclusive. They got the builder categories. That's how Biz is going to go in someday. You know Biz is going to be in the Hall of Famers. Biz the builder, they're going to call him. It should be a little more exclusive. They got the builder categories. That's how Biz is going to go in someday. You know Biz is going to be in the Hall of Fame. Biz the builder, they're going to call him. It should be like a little higher standard. There's not always everybody's going in every year. I get you.

Team Canada member Caroline Ouellette also goes into the Hall of Fame player category. One of just three female players who has won at least four Olympic gold medals. Hayley Wickenheiser and Jay Jane Hefford are the other two. She also won gold six out of 12 times at the World Championships. And the other six, she won silver in those.

So basically 12 times there she medaled. Also a D1 title at Minnesota Duluth. In the builders category, Chicklets alumni Ken Hitchcock and GMP LaQuara were elected. Hitch is the fourth winningest coach in NHL history in 22 seasons with the Stars, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Blues, of course, he won the 99 Cup with Dallas. And LaCroix was GM of the Quebec slash Colorado franchise

from 94 to 06. They won cups in 96 to 01, on which he was the architect. Induction will take place November 13th in Toronto. And Merle, you had one last point as well. This one is for biz. There was another hall of fame induction this weekend. It was the svats and svams. I don't know if you guys know what that is.

That's the equipment managers and the trainers of professional hockey. They have their own like they're in Arizona. Why svats and svams? Uh, professional hockey, athletic trainer. So something, I don't know,

but they inducted somebody into the hall of fame biz donnie del negro your guy donnie del negro is that's your boy so the long time bruins guy went into the hall of fame and uh he's a big listener his kids are listeners so i knew you wanted to congrats donnie del negro my buddy uh my buddy from Beantown. No, actually from North Adams, Massachusetts, where I went to college. He's a Drury High graduate. Oh, you know Donnie? Yeah, oh yeah.

Yeah, I mean, me and Del Negro go way back. Hey, hey. And I heard, this is not confirmed, but they were going to use your Donnie Del Negro that you used the other podcast during the induction as like his opening. Well, I think he ended up saying it 17 times. Hey, it's Donnie Del Negro.

Hey, Donnie. I'm going to be saying that the rest of the night. All right, the Board of Governors. I'm going to start naming my horn. Donnie Ney, Donnie. Oh, yeah? You want a piece of Donnie Del Negro? NHL teams will no longer wear specialty jerseys during warm-ups next season

after the Board of Governors voted to do away with them. Of course, we're talking about pride jerseys, military, various heritages. Ivan Provorov, I guess, should take out the ball rolling when he opted out of wearing a pride jersey last year. And I think a lot of other players felt empowered by that. They decided they didn't want to. And I think the Board of Governors just felt it's not worth it anymore now teams are still having these theme nights it's not like they're doing away with these classes they're just simply

not going to wear the jerseys anymore so I mean they're still gonna you know honor these groups or whatever the the cause may be so you know Bettman says he feels it's just become a distraction it's taking away attention away from it instead of talking about the cause they're talking about people not doing it so they just have the theme night you know well because certain media members rather talk about the one guy who didn't participate and and blow it up and make it uh a distraction and and uh what's what's the word i'm looking for make it make it a divisive situation where it's like these teams are throwing on these theme nights and majority of the players are wearing these jerseys. If one guy, based on his religious beliefs, doesn't want to do it,

listen, I don't agree with the guy, but it's his fucking right to do it. I'm not going to fucking scream from the mountaintops. I'm just simply going to tell you what I believe in. And I believe that if a guy wants to be married to a guy, go have at it. It doesn't affect my life in any way if they found love great but if it's against this guy's religious beliefs oh well i don't agree with him go have an opinion i don't need to tweet about it and fucking drag his name through the mud and that's what kept happening and i agree with gary it it it took all the focus off the good of it it

made it divisive and now we don't get it anymore. So it's like, ah, I, we talk about this pendulum that keeps swinging. And I think that like in certain cases, people have just lost their mind. And I don't know if it's, it's become this like social media, Twitter thing where they, they just feel like they need to go, you know, all of a sudden drag these people through the mud where I feel like they're making it more about themselves than what the actual cause is yeah no i i agree with you yeah they just want to kind of beat their chest maybe get a little bit of clout if that's how they got to get clicks yeah and that's what they do to kind of ignite their fan base in order to

get the conversation started all good but it's at the end of the day it's just rubbish and i feel like majority of people kind of really get truly what the fuck is actually going on. You know what the NHL nailed about this too? Was announcing this now. And people said, why announce this now, right? Well, it's because next year if you announced it, it would have become a story again. You announce it now. And then all of a sudden the awards happen and the draft happens.

And it's all over. And next year when nobody wears the jerseys. I guarantee they try to kick up dust again. That's what they do. How? They've already announced it. They did a good job in terms of kind of like burying the story right before the awards and the draft in my mind.

And they still have the Knights. They're still going to have the Knights. Exactly. They're still going to have all the Knights, military, gay pride, whatever you want to do, have the Knights. The players don't need to wear the jerseys. And they're still going to make the jerseys and sell them to people who want to buy them. This is a no-brainer for

me. Enough with all the nonsense and making these stories much bigger than they need to be. Alright, everybody. Before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Bolero. Bolero is the world's largest owner and operator of bowling centers.

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and that is B-O-W-L-E-R-O Polaro. Yeah, alright. Well said. We were talking about Dumb and Dumber earlier, Biz, while in Calgary they're saying our pets' heads are falling off right now. After all this shit, I mean, Frank Savarelli, our buddy we were talking about, he said Michael Backlund is, quote, leaning toward not re-signing in Calgary.

Noah Hannafin clearly indicated that he does not plan to sign an extension. The Flames also made a big pitch to Elias Lindholm, but they're not sure that he's going to come back. And then Tyler Tafoli, add him to the list. I mean i mean what's going on in here is there like a chain reaction here i mean is it that bad playing there i'm dog like what's the deal like the uh community service king clancy yeah so it's like he does a lot of great work there with his wife too in calgary and like is like a mainstay core guy and now you've got Cora guys all saying they don't want to leave. I don't know what the hell is going on.

I don't either. I've seen stuff that's the owner. Sutter's gone. Tree's gone. The owner's Sutter. So what the hell's going on? They brought Maloney. Their rig sucks. But I actually... Calgary's an awesome place to play.

It's one of the best cities in Canada. It's an unreal city. Yeah, the arena needs a new one, but they're getting one. Maybe that could take three years. Who knows? They'll be playing at the University of Alberta's rink like the Coyotes. If you're Uberdo, you're like, what the fuck? Oh, shit. Did we already talk about the fact that they offered –

when they offered Kachuk that bridge deal, they made their own bed, they had to lie in it? Kind of like the Marner and Matthews situation. They made their own bed, they got to lie in it? Don't do bridge deals with superstars. Yeah, don't do it. And then all of a sudden, all the things were the uproar with Sutter last year and ownership had his back and they wouldn't let him go.

And that pisses people off. Kachuk was not a fan of Sutter. That's why Kachuk left. Johnny Goudreau, he had some positive things to say about him when he came on the podcast, so I'm not exactly sure whether it was his decision for that exact reason, but the Sutter situation with ownership, this is now the trickle effect going on.

The few guys left, now you see Lindholm being like, well, everybody's jumping ship. I got no one to play with. Why would I let my career die here? So he's off. Well, there goes your fucking top line from fucking two years ago. And now it's just a shit. Who's like the 130 goal scorer they might have left now?

Amanjipane. Amanjipane. That's it. That's it. It's over. It's time for a rebuild. They might be in worse that the Monjipani. That's it. That's it. It's over. It's time for a rebuild. They might be worse than the fucking Flyers. This is my conspiracy theory. Go ahead, Murr. Sutter was the coach.

Huska was the assistant coach. What did they hire? They hired Huska. Do you think that has something to do with it? That maybe they should have went with my prediction of Mitch Love, the AHL coach of the year. Where is he going now? I heard he's going to Washington.

They brought in Savvy, Mark Savard is coming in too. Maybe do those players know Huska is going to be the same as Sutter and that's why they're getting out? I don't know. I don't know him. I don't know what's going on there, but that's just my personal thought. It's crazy to see this many guys. And speaking of another name, you know who I heard is trying to get Zdorov?

The Toronto fucking Maple Leafs. It's always about the Leafs with you. What do you mean? Everyone goes to the Leafs. No, no, no. We're talking about people jumping ship from Calgary. And I just said Zdorov. Did Zdorov say he wants out?

I don't remember. Sometimes it's not your decision. I don't remember. It is interesting. rumor boys sometimes it's not hey sometimes it's not your decision boys i just it is surprising because it's an awesome city and and it's a great great fan base and they had something going i mean yeah they ran into the wagon called the edmonton oilers two years ago and then this year obviously was a failure but i i'm just very surprised in terms of seeing all these guys. Or maybe it's because I jumped off the bandwagon. All these other guys are.

Maybe that's the reason. True. All right, gang, before we go any further, here's a word from our good friends at Sport Clips. Gentlemen, we want it all. We want to play it by ear and have definite plans. We want to overshare life stories and remain mysterious. We want to be hip and wear the same sweatshirt every day, but sadly we can't have it all unless we're at Sport Clips Haircuts,

where we can tune into the game and tune out work pings, where we can put our hair in the hands of pros and put our brains on do not disturb. At Sport Clips, we get an unbeatable haircut and some uninterrupted downtime with the MVP experience, complete with massaging shampoos and hot steamed towels. In other words, we get to have it all. Walk in or check in online. Sport Clips, it's a game changer. I was going to say, too, back about the Oilers, though, too.

I think Elliott Friedman was talking about one of the Oilers, and it was an unnamed Oiler source that said that not only did they want to beat the Flames when they did. They wanted to ruin them. They wanted to ruin them. And they did. And they. They did. Yeah.

They literally ruined them. It's kind of like an interesting. Yeah. McDavid ended the Cal It's kind of like an interesting... Yeah. McDavid ended the Calgary Flames organization. All right, one last note here. The Hershey Bears won their record 12th Call the Cup in dramatic fashion when Mike Vecchione scored the overtime game winner

in Game 7 to end Coachella Valley's dream debut season. A hell of a first season in the Valley, but Merles, what do you got for us, buddy? Well, first off, EBR rule number three game seven always take the under we hit that one but we hit that one but I think it's hilarious

I have to recheck okay sorry but I think it's hilarious I gave you one AHL pick this year one AHL game all season long said wit Witt, Hershey Bears at home, teddy bear toss night, hammer them.

They're the best team in the league. They're the best team in the league, Witt. He hammers them. Like hammer biz. Hammer. Like hammer. It's ridiculous. As we have heard, they got shut out. No, and a teddy bear toss night? Yeah, they shut out.

I put 20 grand on the game. toss night? Yeah, they shut out. We didn't hear about that. I put 20 grand on the game. On an AHL game. Teddy bears. He goes, I guarantee they're going to win five to one. They didn't score a fucking goal. They're like nine and one all time on teddy bear toss night. And then, so once that didn't happen, I'm like, I'm off AHL. I'm off giving picks to wit.

It doesn't hurt. She'd go and win the whole goddamn thing? Of course. 14th ever Calder Cup? 12th. Record 12th. Okay, 12th. I want to ask you guys a question.

Hockey guys played in the American League, played against Hershey a lot. What's one person you think of when you say Hershey Bears? Bork. Marek Svatos. Mine was Bonvy. Chris Bork. Chris Bork is in the hall I think of two things

Boyd Kane I think of Boyd Kane as a Phantom and I think of Bruce Boudreau who I believe still lives in Hershey as well You know who else I think of? I don't know why You guys were gone

Who was that Frenchman who was a rat who used to run around? Oh, Robitaille. Robitaille. Louis Robitaille. Robitaille. He was a rat. You know what I think of him? Was he in Portland?

Yeah, he bounced around a lot. He was in Portland as well. When in Hershey, he was a piece of shit. I think of when my rookie year, our rookie year, I had to go back down to the minors. I don't think you did. And I had to go back down to the minors. I don't think you did. And I had to go back down and we played Hershey.

We beat Bridgeport. I'm still down there. Then we played, were you that year? Oh, fucking hell. When we lost to Hershey second round? I don't think you were. No, no, no, no.

I was on the team. Yeah. Remember Mike Green? Oh, he was nasty. I was on the Saskatoon. And his shin pads were so skinny And he had the tongues out And he must have had 20 points in the 6 game series

I was like who is this kid And then he goes on to be a 30 goal scorer In the NHL as a defenseman I just remember being blown away by that Well that was the year he scored So he scored 30 No this was before he was ever in the NHL No I understand but then he went off to the NHL

And the one year he scored 30. No, this was before he was ever in the NHL. No, I understand. But then he went off to the NHL. And the one year he scored 30. But in playoffs, his stealths were running out. I remember that. He had these Easton stealth sticks. They're blue and black. And he was just snapping it all season. He'd been the first defenseman in years to score 30. He scored seven games in a row that year.

Yeah. Broke a record. And then all of a sudden they ran out of his Easton twigs. And he just couldn't shoot at the same time ever. I'll tell you what I think of Hershey and I hope you guys remember it is when you would come in there, you get in there at like three in the morning to that Hershey resort. Oh my God.

Trying to find your room at the Hershey Hotel. Oh God. I didn't think of that. It's just lots of guys and it's just amazing. I remember walking. It was with you or Endo. I remember walking and we walked around like different ways of the elevator and then's just amazing i remember walking i remember you were endo and i remember walking and we walked around like different ways the elevator and then we just met at the other side i'm like what the everybody's eating their hershey bar they give you a big hershey bar when you check

in where is this room where are we people think pro hockey is all about the women and the and the beer no it's about hershey finding your hotel room. And the other thing about Hershey, the worst bus food after the game. Shakey's Bar would bring the food. I remember at Wilkes-Barre, we stopped ordering. We stopped ordering because it was so bad.

We were just like, oh, we'll just wait until we get home to Wilkes-Barre and go to the... Do you like to get a salad because you're healthy and you open it up and it's like swimming in water. I remember one time, Chris Kelleher, Rob Scuderi, and myself, we found, the story isn't even good, but we found fall so funny. Like, you know, a good fall in a game is just so funny. And we were talking about it beforehand because I had had one the night before

against Norfolk and Wilkes-Barre, and then we hopped on the bus, we played Hershey the next day. And Chris Kelleher is skating backwards, dude, right in front of us. I'm talking like me and Scud's are sitting here and he's three feet in front of us. Dude, a banana peel got thrown underneath his skate. I'm telling you, dude, his skates were higher than the glass. I remember Scud's legit had tears coming down his eyes. Scud's, he gets it going. He gets Scud's going, tears coming down his eyes. Scudsy gets it going.

Scudsy's going, we were just talking about that. I'll tell you this too, boys. I love that. This is another thing. We always ended a three and three in the mindsies in Hershey's. I always felt guys after that game, three and three, sitting in the room, can barely get your gear off, just exhausted, just sitting quietly, win or lose, just done.

But you know what the best part was? It's like 5 o'clock at night. The best part was it was always an afternoon game, and we would get back to the arena bar and grill, and we would get a blivary. Sunday nights in the AHL are bold. We're in the minor Sunday night. If you have a buddy in the AHL,

call him Sunday night at 10 o'clock. He'll be the drunkest person you've ever talked to. Also, my memory of a 3-3 was, I think we've told this story before. That's why I think the NHL could survive on Sunday night. Yeah, exactly. These guys are so drunk, they don't remember the game. We finished lockout year.

We went, last four weeks of the year we went three and three friday saturday sunday then we went wednesday friday saturday sunday wednesday friday saturday sunday wednesday we did three and three four and five four and five four and five and the last game so we played in norfolk we drove home six hours. We played in Wilkes-Barre Saturday night. We woke up Sunday morning and we drove to Philly. Dude, this is, I mean, I'm talking, this is the 15th game in 25 days to end the season, and we did warm-ups, and I'll never forget, and Terian comes in the room after, and I look over,

and Ross Lupischuk dead asleep. Before? After? Before the game, dude. Fist. I remember this. It was like torture.

But nobody blamed him. We're all exhausted. Lupi fell asleep. Do you remember what happened after? No. Do you remember Kochi? David Kochi came over with the pill. And he's like, Ross, take this.

And he took it. He's like, it's the best. That was like the original Russian gas. Yeah, and he had like three fights and two goals. Yeah, he's like, this is the best I ever felt in my life. Lupe had a cannon. Oh, I'll never forget that. I was asleep five minutes before the anthem. Witt's tracksuit just had skid marks in it from that straps.

Fart suit. Jesus. Fart catsuit. I still had a disc, man. I was listening. I remember I had. It was a shockwave. I had like a Counting Crows CD.

I was crying listening to it. Oh, shit. Omaha, somewhere in middle America. Philly had great food, though. Philly had the great cheese steaks after the game there in the minors. And I always liked playing the prank on guys. They would write like the medium cheese steak, which was huge. It was this big.

And then I would go on later. The medium was 14 inches. Yeah, so then I would go on after, and I'd put XL on the guys. It's a six-foot salt. We sit in the guy's seat. They had to get another bus. Oh, I loved it. Who's got the one questionable Hershey, and away we go.

Nobody even knows that. That might be my favorite memories. Hey, congrats, Hershey, and away we go. Nobody even knows that. That might be my favorite memories. Hey, congrats, Hershey. Congrats. Oh, yeah, Hershey, congrats on the top. Next podcast, we'll do Wheeling. I'd love to hear those. Boys, great pod.

That's old school chicklets. Absolutely. I love you, boys, and what a day. Yeah, what a day. We got the draft tomorrow night. Everyone tune into that. The Conor Bernard Show. And then all of a sudden,

Friday or Saturday, we got free agency starting. So an exciting time. And everyone probably deserves a little break maybe after that. But listeners, don't worry. We are booking... What's the word the kids use?

Mad interviews? Is that old school? Maybe that's not... Sick. Maybe that's not the current slang, G, for a lot. What's a lot? G doesn't like mad.

A plethora. A plethora. I'llethora. A plethora. I'll go mature. A plethora of interviews to hold everyone over. Speaking of free agents, I got a text from Ivan Barbashev. What'd he say? Hi, Biz. This is Ivan Barbashev here.

First of all, big thank you to you and Witt and the boys for saying good words about me. And other reason I'm texting is i saw you guys texted me on insta to do a podcast but i'm gonna say no because i'm it's not my thing i hate interviews and just not great at conversation so sorry about that what a classy guy no problem pal ha ha congrats on everything he said thank you barbershop over meyer we'd love to get the top free the top free agent on the podcast, but he can't. He's not good at conversation, but we still support you, brother. I hope you get your six times six, and I hope you make it 25.

No, eight times six. Somebody give him eight times six. You can't. Cigarette mis-exited you. You can't get eight times six. Unless he re-signs with- Or they trade his rights before Friday, bitch. Get up and-

All right, guys. And we have a sandbagger. We're filming Friday, so that's going to be coming out soon. Also, shout out to Santa Monica and L.A. County Firefighter team. They're up in San Jose. They had a little bench clarin ball. Like, firefighters playing, you know, like the game we went to had absolute bench clarin ball. Spent just pitting chicklets.

Fans, I heard from them earlier. So, shout out to Matty, Matthew Mullen. And check out Church and Union if you're in town. No free ads. Good restaurant if you're in town. Awesome stuff. Love it. Great time.

Nashville, love you. See you next week.