Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 456: Featuring Tom Fitzgerald

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

On Episode 456 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the boys are joined by New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald. Tom joined (00:52:02) the show to discuss his NHL career, his management career, the Devils bright future and tons more. But first, Colby and Whit open the pod breaking down all things Pittsburgh and Erik Karlsson. Was it the right move for the Penguins? Can they content for a Cup? The boys break it down. The guys wrap up the pod discussing Grinnelli’s golf swing and if he’s actually as good as he says he is.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! Hey! That was my RA impression. And welcome to episode 456 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney. Just tap my Pink Whitney hat. I got the lid on, Armdog. And there he is right there, Ryan Whitney, our boy.

Mikey Grinnell G, the G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Unit is in the house as well. hat i got the lid on arm dog and there he is right there ryan whitney our boy mikey grinnell g the g g unit is in the house as well as you guys keep rolling through dropping episodes uh let's get the elephant out of the room right away obviously you can tell by my voice and my electric introduction that this is not the wonderful rear admiral ra guy. Guys, I literally got a text message. Can you jump on? So you got called up from the mind-teaser. You got the big call-up. And actually, thank you very much.

Yeah, so I'll kind of explain in real time what's going on, and I'm guessing by the time you're listening to this, you know the answer. R.A. is nowhere to be found he the guy has never not answered his phone he's never not been on his phone so he's never not answered he's never missed a show besides the time i went to his house and he slept through uh the 11 o'clock recording and i was hammered on his door and then it happened again a couple months later but i i want to chirp him and hopefully everything's all right.

But we're a little worried, folks. I'm not going to lie. I mean, he's never just no-chowed. So I don't know. We'll see. We've had a few occasions, though, when we were in Fort Lauderdale. Remember, we went and got lunch, G, and it was before game four uh maybe the day before we had a little appearance to do and we'd been there already for like almost a full day at

this point and ra was there but we hadn't seen him yet and that's when i was like where's ra where's ra how come we haven't seen ra because we'd all been hanging out together so always answers his phone though he'll never leave you out to dry. That's why it's a little weird right now. Until he's completely waffled, but that's at like, whatever, sometimes 6 p.m., but not today. So we were chatting all day because I was coming on, and we were going to catch up a little old school chicklet style, a little recap of the summer so far, I guess. A little bit old school style with you three going on. Yeah, and then I texted R.A. I'd seen Oppenheimer, which is just an absolute film and a half. So we were going to just chat about that,

a bunch of different stuff in the sports world, and most importantly for chicklets, the Carlson to the Pittsburgh. So I guess this makes sense, Armdog, because you and I are the – we're the penguins from the show. I mean, he had a cup of coffee, but then they sent him to the East Coast League because he was such a piece of shit back in the day. so he he's not i mean he's got his games but you and i hey we're the pens guys yeah we are and speaking of being called up he's a coyote he identifies as a coyote i would say this speaking of being called up um it was it's kind of funny too uh when i did get called

up originally um what year would that have been? Geez, I don't even know. Sid's rookie year. I keep forgetting the year. What is that, guys? I'm brutal. That was- 05?

It was 05. 06, 07. 06, 07. So I would have been a senior in 04, 05. Okay, there you go. 05, 06 was Sidney Crosby's rookie year. 05, 06. 05 was the lockout year that we had. year in oh four oh five okay there you go oh five oh six was sydney crosby's rookie year oh five oh five was the lockout year that we had december of oh five just after christmas i get the nod after

three and a half almost three and a half years grueling toiling in the american hockey league without a single game wit you were already called up you came up fresh out of a little rut playoff run the year before and then a couple games in the mines to start and then rate up. Obviously their talents could not be denied. Three and a half years for myself, I finally get called up. So my mom today sends me this awesome thing. This is so cool. She sends me the ticket for my very first game because they happen to be in town for Christmas visiting me in the minors. And, oh, you're getting called up. Oh, just drive on out. So they came on out for the game

and they're there for the game so she has the ticket she also has it's called an ice time magazine i believe they still do them at the pens games it's like the yes what do they call that thing it's like uh it's like the game day magazine like the game day notes but yeah they do kind of have the game notes in them i think they do have the game notes in them little stories Tidbits you can still buy them at most NHL games And there's one player that they focus on I remember Mine there's one player They focus on so my mom got the game Ice time booklet

She bought it when she was at the game with the ticket She sends me the picture guess who's on the Fucking cover Whitdog Merles I'm not even joking. What a coincidence. Like, I was like, no way.

My mom sends this thing to me. I'm like, that is unbelievable. Stars aligning. Game notes. Get the call up. Your game. Gets a call up, and that's Merles' time to be on Ice Time magazine for the game day. So here I am with the call up today.

It's supposed to be original chicklets. Nonetheless, amazing. I remember my first Game Time magazine, or the only time I was on the cover probably. I was having that big year, and I was sniping. I was on fire. Was it back doors? Yeah, I was getting the tap-ins. And then like Warrior, they had some stick.

They made me a pattern. I'm like, no, I'm good. They're like, oh, we'll give you five grand or whatever it was. I'm like, okay. So I use it in a game, get the biggest tap-in in the history of tap-ins and just miss it like a straight up, this is a top 10 blooper. I mean, I could have legit blown the puck into the net with my mouth. That sounds a little ridiculous.

Well, the magazine comes out with me on the cover a month later, and what do they got? They got the picture from that game because I'm holding this brutal warrior stick instead of the blue synergy that I was rocking all season sniping with. So I just knew that I was kind of mushed as a penguin when the picture they got is the stick that I had a blooper missed wide open net with. Yeah, he's forever an Easton guy, is Witt.

Easton skates, Easton everything that Easton sticks. Easton doesn't even make sticks now, I don't think. I think Bauer owns them now because Bauer re-released the Synergy. Does Easton make anything? No, I think they're out of business. What? Yeah.

You were such an eastern guy oh the guy doug hardcore remember him he lived in montreal he was a good dude he helped me out try to get these skates from my ankles this guy i mean this guy should have been you you deserve money for hopping in tonight on this episode i mean this guy deserved like a double salary dealing with me. I flew up to Montreal. The guy's got to pick me up at the airport, bring me to the goddamn Easton factory. They're trying to mold my feet before mold was even in existence.

So Dougie Hardcore. Shout out to Dougie Hardcore. Easton's done. I'm so done as a player now that everything I've worn, now I'm a fossil. Because kids who are four or five years old now are even older they don't even they won't even have heard of it bro try playing for the thrashers but i to ask people they don't even know what that is i know it's crazy so i always thought dougie hardcore i i gotta give a i gotta say easton skates were fucking brutal bud i know they were the only ones that they made.

Oh, there he is. I got the Ryan Whitney Easton right here. He gave it to me after one of the first Chick-fil-A pod recordings. I was like, hey, kid, I'll never see you again. Take a stick. Yeah. He's got it all signed up. Guys, it's the

wit dog back to talk to you about pink Whitney New Amsterdam's own pink lemonade flavored vodka thank you very much for listening and thank you very much for drinking more importantly because this drink it's taken the world by storm

how about those sound effects? Pink Whitney. And this week's story comes specially brought to you by yours truly. So, took the kids to the carnival. Now, everyone knows about carny folk. So this isn't about carny folk. The people who work the carnival is nuts. I hope you guys drink Pink Whitney, but you're nuts.

But the kids were all excited. You know, they got the pirate ship back and forth. They got the thing that spins around. They got it all. Well, I was waiting in line and a couple of younger gentlemen, I was going to guess they're maybe in college, out of, probably just out of college. They seem to be 23 ish. They came up to me and they tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and this kid opened up his little jacket. He had like a summer jacket and opened up the jacket. Nips of Pink Whitney sticking out of it. Who the hell brings Pink Whitney nips to the carnival?

Not only, not only then my favorite people, carny people, not carny folk, big difference, carny people, so this kid didn't want to ride the Gravitron without ripping down some Pink Whitney, so I said, good for you, buddy, I said, I wish I had some cash on me, I would pay you back for you buying that Pink Whitney, but my kids took all my cash, and I got nothing left, because we've tried making that basketball shot that's impossible to make, because the rim's fucking not legal. I got no cash left. So we spent about an hour and a half, and I saw these kids at the end. Well, the Pink Whitney had run its course because these kids were having the time of their life.

At this point, they're chanting, Winnie, Winnie, Winnie. My son Ryder said, Why are they chanting your name, Dad? I said, Don't worry about it. We'll talk about it when you're 21, son. Do not worry about it. But these kids, they said they have it at the carnival. They said they have it at the beach. They said they have it on the golf course.

I mean, and they sometimes go to a lake. Yes, we're in Massachusetts, but there's still lakes. They go up to New Hampshire, to Lake Winnipesaukee, actually, where recently there was a big-time golf tournament, a member guest tournament, I believe, at Lake Winnipesaukee Country Club. Apparently, the Pink Whitney was being drunk, being drank, flowing like the salmon of Capistrano. Is that the word? I don't know. But all I do know is that summer 2023, the Pink Whitney summer is rolling on, rolling on, rolling on. It's like a boulder going down a hill.

How about my sound effects? It's gaining speed. It's gaining momentum. And it's all because of you. You listeners. You guys getting involved in this. You guys drinking it with a little soda water. You guys drinking it with an energy drink, which everyone knows is my favorite.

Or you guys just ripping shots at a carnival. Grinnelli's nodding his head because he wants to go to a carnival because I think that's where R.A. works in the offseason. And he drinks it. We know that. So I want to thank you guys. I want to thank New Amsterdam. I want to thank you listeners.

I want to let you know that we appreciate you way more than you appreciate us. And Pink Whitney loves you. It loves you back. It loves you a long time. And thank you so much for buying. So continue to support the brand. Continue to drink the pink. And continue to enjoy summer because it's fast.

The end is fast approaching. And then we're on to football season where we crush Pink Whitney with the big hits by the linebackers. Thank you very much. Witty out. I was just going to say, oh, about how you played for the Thrashers and they don't exist now. So you just kind of look like a goof in those jerseys. But I always heard that was partly one of the reasons Mario wanted to keep Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh and stuff. Because if they ever moved, his legacy is different, right?

Yeah. I mean, it shouldn't be because it doesn't matter. But still, if the team doesn't exist anymore, it's a little different. Oh, yeah. Can you imagine people telling their kids, like, oh, I remember I watched Mario Lemieux. And they're like, who is that? And they're like, oh, he used to play for the Penguins. They used to be a team in the National

Hockey League and the kids are like Wow really That's a stupid name Yeah I heard the California Seals I'm like Yeah They had white skates that's almost like right on par With your Easton's that you used to wear Oh my god those Easton's buddy

Easton was the only skate that would cut a piece out They would actually cut a piece like a hole in the Sk and then plug in this like soft, soft stuff that my huge pterodactyl ankle bones would like sit in as opposed to like just against the brick wall, basically. Because they never really got a glimpse of your ankles. I got to see those things. Like, are they still beat up? I wouldn't show them on film. I guess that's one of the reasons I got to wear the high socks golfing because you got to cover these fucking monstrosities up.

Making only fans, but it's only Witt's ankles. Make big bucks on that. You think if I did that, I could make over 500 bucks in a year? A thousand million percent. Like rubbing oil on your ankles and stuff? People would love that? I'll bet you 500 bucks. How much do you think I could make in a year with OnlyFans of my ankles?

How into this are we getting? Are you down to lube them up and stuff? No, I'm not lubing them up. They're going to be full production? All I'm doing is taking pictures of them, but I'll angle them and I'll get the lighting good. I guarantee you could make at least 2,500 bucks. In a year? At least.

Minimum. I almost want to do it, and then you just have to pay me the difference if I don't get the $2,500. Done. Deal. I'm in. Let's do it. How many do you think you'd have to do it to get to $2,500? I'm thinking like $25,000.

Yeah, I think you could make stupid money. People would pay like, what, a penny? What would you charge? I mean, a quarter? What do what a penny What would you charge I mean a quarter What do you do what do you charge It's like what you make like a 10 second vid of your ankles Rubbing your ankles down Are your toes included

No no no no My toes would make the Biggest foot fetish creep In the planet throw up They'd be like dude you got fungus bud Yellowtails Or like this is creeping the planet throw up. They'd be like, dude, you got fungus, bud. You're in Yellowdales. Or like this. Legit. There's no chance you

make $25,000 showing those ankles. No, he said $2,500. I don't think I'd make $250,000. Yeah, I don't know. I think that wouldn't be way more than like, you'd have to do what? Two things a month? Two little bits? If I made more than like $20,000, what two things a month i'd actually be so like if i made more than like 20 bucks i'd be so disgusted in humanity that like that many people would like pay money

for that an ankle pick like get off i guarantee it i guarantee it a granelli guarantee you'd make at least 2500 oh buddy you gotta take this challenge Ah fuck it let's move on What have you guys been up to this summer though Chicklets fans want to know you guys haven't been on the pod Yeah I know Let's hear about it Yes I'm very happy you mentioned that we just got so off topic But um

I was missing coming on right It's been a great vacation summer vacation I've had a blast with the family We've pretty much hung out We went away Nantucket for a couple weeks around 4th of July. Other than that, Ryder's in camp. He's doing all this different stuff.

He's playing hockey, so he skated for the first time last week. It's been nice, but I have missed getting together, getting some hot takes out there, and basically just kind of shooting the shit with you guys. This past weekend was phenomenal. It was Kevin Hayes's wedding so uh his wife is is russian and they had a russian wedding already which so they were officially married but i'm pretty sure that was just family and then the

people who were in the wedding all his buddies he had like 13 guys i think in his wedding party but it was a star-studded affair, Army. It was an NHL all-star team. And it was a time and a half because the night before, everyone got together at a bar after they had their rehearsal dinner. I saw the big Walt, saw Tommy Fitz

hanging out with him. But not everyone that was at the wedding was there, and then so the wedding showed up. It was just NHL guys everywhere. I mean, it was a Seekers complete wet dream situation. You get one of those Seekers near this wedding, man, they would have had to call the police. So it was just great because Sammy Adams, who had a couple hits back in the day, G, who I believe played some barstool, maybe blackout tours or concerts.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, he went to UMass. Yes. Tell the bartender, make a motherfucker stronger. I want to go all night longer. Yeah, he played that one. He played that one. And what's the other banger, the big time banger, Sammy Adams?

That's pretty good, G. I like that. What's the other one? Oh big time banger sammy adams that's pretty good g i like that what's the other one oh this is gonna you driving me crazy baby it's a jam so um i looked over gaudreau is on uh brady kachuk shoulders just giving her i was dancing oh i was dancing up a storm too uh all of a sudden the saxophone player came out into the because uh the main band was great the saxophone uh player came out in the middle of the dance floor i'm actually grooving with this guy pretending to play the trumpet um and then after like that was till like 1 30 or no whatever when whenever that ended say uh they kicked us out of the main floor We went upstairs We had a DJ till 1.30

This kid pumping hits He had this Morgan Wallen Remix dude Oh gee this song I gotta send you this thing I guess we can't play music on here unfortunately But just an all time Well how do I call it

Great guy festival? Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? I'm catching up with all these. I got Brady Shea and I got JT Miller going back and forth who's better at golf. This thing was getting vicious. All of a sudden, JT Miller was like, oh, you're a plus one. I'm a one.

I get a shot. So I'm like, you just said that you dummy him. And now he wants a shot. But I guess JT Miller is a hell of a stick. He was'm like, you just said that you dummy him. And now he wants a shot. But I guess JT Miller is a hell of a stick. He was with Trochek. He was hanging with Trochek. I got to catch up with him. It was awesome. And his wife Katya looked beautiful. Keith was hilarious. He did the best man speech. And I think it was hard because he crushed it, but it was probably hard. And Keith said right away, this should be Jimmy doing this, right?

And I think Jimmy was on everyone's mind, naturally. So that was kind of obvious, right? When he's up there, he knows that should be Jimmy. But he went on to say, I just want to thank everyone. This is right at the beginning. I want to thank everyone. No, Kevin Hayes' dad, Mr. Hayes,

is the biggest legend of all time. A little bit bigger of a guy. He's actually lost a lot of weight since years ago, but big guy. And Keith, I want to thank everyone here for all the hard work they've put in. All the staff that have gotten this place ready. Everything looks amazing. Everyone's worked so hard, but nobody's working as hard as Mr. Hayes' belt right now. That's pretty good.

I should. Maybe you had one of those stretch ones, stretchy ones i was absolutely dying everyone was um i was sitting next to joel farabee philadelphia flyer and wade allison uh two flyers that kevin had so it was just good it was it was overall fantastic weekend i was hurting my voice is still a little hoarse it's like you haven't heard from me since nashville i think and my voice is the exact little hoarse. It's like, you haven't heard from me since Nashville, I think, and my voice is the exact same. I have not been doing this the entire summer. But, Armdog, what were you doing?

That sounds like a time, brother. That sounds like it's always so good to catch up with guys like that. Was there shirts coming off and all that shit, like the normal style? Oh, every – so, you know, all these hockey guys are all shredded, even though I was never even – I was always a bag of milk, so it's like, what the fuck happened to me? But all these guys, they got the shirts unbuttoned and it ripped open. They got six-packed ripping.

I'm like, honey, honey, stay away. You love me for me, right? So, I saw Shattenkirk. I'm leaving – oh, Chris Stewart Army. You know him at all? Yeah, yeah, Stu, yeah. Oh, Chris Stewart Army. You know him at all? Yeah, yeah, Stu, yeah. Dude, this guy is so funny.

I knew him just from when I was at camp with St. Louis for a little bit or twice. The Fizz, the Jesters. And he's telling me about his last year in Philly where they got him playing D. He didn't play, like, I think like 25 games in a row. I don't know how long it was. So he's telling me stories of when he used to have to be on D and he's imitating going up and then trying to pivot backwards. And he's like, and Hartnell's going back door. He was just hilarious

describing his practice days as his career wound down. Oh, that sounds awesome. Yeah, it was great. That's like when we don't see each other for a while, we get a little road trip in us, hey, and you get to get together a little. It's like going for dinner. dinner like we went for dinner in Nashville at the draft and awards

I was it's like one of those moments so always good to have those you forget when you're playing every day is like there's so many little jokes that teams have and teammates have and like you're caught you're together so much that it's just like all

these inside jokes that just come back or things you remember that nobody else would besides guys on that team. So all these guys had all played together, right? Or most of them. So it was just classic, classic story. When did that like wedding tradition of NHL guys ripping their shirts open? When did that become a thing? Because I saw a video at Frankie Borelli's wedding where they were all trying to get Tommy Smokes to rip open his shirt. And apparently that's like a thing at NHL weddings.

Yeah, they probably whoever did it first. Their DM box on Instagram probably started becoming flooded once the pictures were public of these girls seeing these man rockets with their shirts undone. So it's like, like all right let's show off what we got that's why i wore a turtleneck yeah i don't know what it is maybe i don't know get a couple couple drinks in you right yeah just get her going at the boys you're sweating probably you're ripping the d floor hard no one's like what no one's like no one's going oh my god what's up with that guy no one says that it's just always good times like no one's judging, oh my God, what's up with that guy? No one says that. It's just always good times. No one's judging.

It's just so fun when you get together with a hockey crew, for sure. Weddings are actually so good. No one has the governor on. Everyone's there to just get after it for the most part. And you're just having a time and you know nobody's, yeah, like you said, nobody's judging. It was great. And I got the Fallon Cup this week. The big member guest at Walston Golf Club.

You got to qualify. I think 96 teams qualifying for the top 16 spots to then try to go on and win the championship flight, win the Fallon Cup. And then depending on how you shoot, there's five other flights, 18-hole match play, 80% handicap. It's a hell of a time. So I'm very very fired up probably my favorite week of the summer coming up who are you playing with yeah playing with my buddy andy luther big daddy this guy i got paired with him at the state am um i 2020 i think and i didn't know him. He mentioned he was from Alabama, originally went to Auburn and then moved up North.

I got a job up here. He's had a couple of jobs since, and now he currently lives in Milton. This is right when I meet him. So I'm like, Oh no shit. I live in Milton too. He's like,

yeah, do you, I think he'd played at Vesper and he'd recently joined Boston golf club. Right. Since he moved to Milton, which is in Hingham, a little closer. So he's like,

yeah, do you know anyone around here who likes playing money matches? I was like, this was fate. He's speaking to the real sandbagger. This was fate. So we've played golf since, just playing some Nassau's, getting after it golf-wise, gambling-wise.

So he comes, great player. And he also, we had a weather delay that year. We had like a three-hour weather delay. He had 10 IPAs, and then he went out and was like two under for seven holes. I'm like, what the fuck? If I had 10 IPAs, I'd be standing sideways like on the green, like Happy's Caddy with one shoe on. Bundled, yeah, bud.

Yeah, so a bunch of guys are playing. Well, good luck with that, Witzke. I know you love that so much. I haven't been up to much. I'm not even going to lie. Yeah, how was your trip to Toontown, though? Because that was right after the draft. That was right after the first round.

Sorry? Right after the Stanley Cup final. Sorry, that's when I took off. Oh, I thought that was after we saw each other at the National. I just recently went to Atlanta to visit some friends. I went boating. I went wake surfing. I got up wake surfing for the first time, boys.

Is it tough, dude? I've always wanted to try that wait wait like on your knees no that's knee boarding this is like you're what's it called wakeboarding goes super slow yeah it creates like a huge wave behind it and you like surf in the wave on it you just vibing in there and you never slow down no you're not supposed to of course i wasn't there yet but i i was hanging on the rope I was getting close I was letting slack out of the rope and I was I was carving in and out of the wave like just being electric on there I know what you're talking about so you you have to get up out of the water without your feet strapped into this board which was like so fun I loved it it was it was so. Once I got it one time I tried, what was it? Two, three years ago, I was in Kelowna. Rennie Bork had this sick boat. He's like, he pulls it out.

He just bought it. He's taking wrappers off everything. He doesn't even know what he's doing. Just, you know, with the Shed Brothers and Mike Smith, who's an absolute freak. He can do like anything you, that guy's just an athlete. Yeah, he's an open shirt guy at weddings. Oh, he shirts off no matter what at weddings for sure. He's just an athlete yeah he's an open shirt guy at wedding oh he shirts off no matter what at weddings for sure he's just shredded anyways he's doing everything i tried

at once i was just reefing my back reefing my back and then i found out this new way to get up where you lay in the water you just put your heels on the board and then you push down and when they start to go and then it just you just kind of you know athleticism takes over right boys you just kind of get up and get out of there. Are you going like down the right part of the wake, over to the left part, like you're back and forth? No, that's wakeboarding. This is just, you just get out to the side right away

and you just crank it in that little sweet wave spot and then you eventually can throw the little rope back. You're right behind the boat. You're not far behind the boat, you know? And then you just follow the boat. As long as you follow the boat, you're not going to like gonna like stop yeah as long as you stay in that wave you stay in that sweet spot you're just carving and you can come in guys are really good can do like 360s and all this cool stuff so i did that my son also got up for the first time which was really cool to

see crews tried that um and then i got invited boys um to a uh like a I think it's kind of like a discreet Members only Bocce club In a guy's backyard it's like It has to be like is this bocce and swingers Or is this just bocce It's just like the boys So I was hanging out with

Rex and a few other guys Mark Reckie here and they're like hey you gotta come This bocce game Tuesday night. Okay. It's like, like I didn't, I wasn't, I didn't play, but I, you know, hung out stogies, you know, it's all Italian. So I was like Colby Armstrong, Gini, that

was my name. Colby Armstrong, Gini at the, at the bocce tournament. And these guys play a league every Tuesday night. Now I don't know much about bocce. I don't know much. I thought it i don't know much i thought it was like kind of like i imagine lawn bowling but let me tell you the the throws these guys were throwing rex had it dialed but these guys were some of them older

guys some of them like getting in these weird postured positions boys like doing like a side ninja split and throwing the bocce like i was like what the hell is going on here this is amazing and i was sitting there just in these things they built these platforms on the side like i'm telling you this guy's bocce pit whatever you want to call it he has a roof over top of it lights fans so the rain and snow is not slowing them down no i went in there i was like oh my god this guy had a setup so just a beautiful place are they putting spin on them can you spin those fuckers they're not putting spin they're just bowling it down there with great feel and touch and you got to know where the floor kind of bends a little bit maybe or yeah you got to know how to like bump it out of there it's kind of like curling in my own mind so i did this like super cool thing the other day i went to this bocce thing and then i've done just i just been

golfing and you know this this story will lead into eventually what we want to talk about here with the carlson thing i was golfing the other day i got invited out to butler country club beautiful golf course here with if you're ever out back in pittsburgh you should definitely golf there the course that we did the sandbagger out's really really really good as well but this one that's where trochek and um miller play yeah swickly heights that's their course yeah really nice course i love that place this course i get invited by a buddy of mine out to uh butler to golf with casey to smith and his and his father this is just a couple days ago the day before the trade no joke so we're out there i meet casey's dad we're golfing he has a montreal canadians golf bag his dad's diehard montreal

canadians fan no joke he goes hey you're played for the canadians why don't you sign my golf bag if you don't mind uh i'd really appreciate it i was like are you kidding me so i get a marker his dad before it happened though case goes I don't know Casey that well either I just got to know him in the last like three weeks or so and chatting with him but anyways he's like hey my dad's gonna ask you to sign his golf bag he loves the Canadians okay and like you played for the

Canadians he had a cup of coffee there so like he's gonna be really thrilled okay and I'm like oh yeah this is awesome so I go and I sign his bag so we golf we have a day beautiful day i take off and then all of a sudden the next day the trade happens and i'm like wow the penguins they got him they got carlson boys they got him they did it holy smokes the pens are gonna make it again they're gonna make a run they got their guys holy jeez i'm going crazy right new core for the canoe core for for dubas they he's got it wow what a play you know and and i and i and i tweet out they they wow let's go

peds or something on twitter and then without looking at the names that were traded i'm like oh shit i better check to see who's included this massive trade probably and i check and i see it's casey to smith who i was just hanging out with i'm like oh shit so i text him i'm like hey casey uh sorry to see you go you know but uh i couldn't help but think of your father and how happy he must be and he's like yeah you know blah blah blah he's he's just wrote back something nice and i go all right buddy now go go in the garage and sign your dad's golf bag i thought it was just hilarious because it's just so perfect timing with his dad in town visiting so uh i'm gonna go but this was this dad's dream what day is it today it's monday monday so tuesday this drops i'm golfing with him tomorrow on wednesday

so i'm going back out with dad is so fired up then His dad's got to be loving it Can you imagine like You know Whit Like if you're Your dad probably loved the Bruins or what Yeah I mean Imagine if you played for your dad's team Just the fact that like this happened

And he had the bag And this was all a couple days ago And then boom Yeah I mean it was just crazy How it worked out But I don't know if You know on top of that story Sad to see Casey leave and some others.

But, you know, the Pens went and got Carlson. Let's get into that, boys. Gee, you were pretty outspoken on the social media. Oh, Gee's got a lot to say, actually. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I want to hear him. Gee's got a lot to say. Don't you, Gee? I mean, all I said was that it just doesn't make sense to me.

And I've said it for months now because these rumors have been lingering that they have a Walmart version of Eric Carlson already and Chris Letang. And not to take anything away from Chris Letang, but neither him or Carlson are great defenders. That's not what this team needed. Are they a better team than they were, yes, two months ago? Absolutely. Did they get rid, two months ago? Absolutely. Did they get rid of some shitty contracts?

Absolutely. Are they now built for a Stanley Cup run? Absolutely not. They have no dogs. They have no mean Radko Budis type players. How do you say Crosby's not a dog? No, that's not what I mean when I say dogs. I was texting Colby about this. What do you want? More depth like Hammers, right?

You want some more hammers in there, right? Vegas would stuff the Pittsburgh Penguins in a locker. That Florida Panthers team from last year would stuff them in a locker. Like I said, they are a better team than they were two months ago, but now they have

another fat contract on D. It doesn't make sense to me. Look at their bottom six. Look at their all six defensemen. They're just not built for a Stanley Cup run. Like I said, it's not to say. Army, and you could disagree with me as well,

but they had to do something. They weren't able to really, I mean, whatever. He's made a lot of changes. I actually, as a harsh critic of Dubas in terms of everyone just loving him so much, even though he's only ever won one round, I also can admit the guy gets shit done. I mean, their teams in the regular season are really good. I agree

with you only in the fact that I don't think the Pens, I don't want to say I don't think they can win the Stanley Cup because of Crosby, but I agree. Like, they're not a top eight favorite for me next year. Maybe go to top 10, top 12, I think. But what else were they going to do? And his contract, it's four more years at $10 million, which is a lot,

but that's when all these guys are going to be done. They're giving it one more go. I love it. What are you going to do? You're either going to not do anything, fold in Crosby's last few years and Malkin and Letang after just signing, or you're going to go out and get a superstar to at least try to do something. Can I recap this trade too?

Yes. You want me to just go right over it quickly, G? Please do that. So this was a massive three-way, which I love three-way this is a new thing in the nhl at the bocce club at the bocce club i'm just working it right next to the fettuccine alfredo hey it's old army hanging around strong guinea the three-way trades are the way you got to do it now with the cap especially being so tight so you know dubis and grierzy and um the boys they all got together canadian san jose and montreal are and canadian san jose and pittsburgh all in a giant three-way trade the one contract that i was amazed that was

moved was mikhail grandlin that was here they were stuck with that one there was a buyout window with an opportunity uh with the drew connor and and his contract and they get it done and uh it opened it up and we thought this might be the only way to get out from underneath this thing and somehow he just gets thrown in the deal so that money's out of there the penguins come up with save three million bucks out of this entire deal they get carlson rem pitlick who's who's a good skating you know speedy power forward type of player um uh dylan hamiliuk from san jose and a third round pick from san jose san jose in this in this three-way gets a first round pick from pittsburgh in 2024 top 10 protected i believe i saw mikhail Granlund from Pittsburgh, Jan Rudolph from Pittsburgh,

and then they schnizzled Mike Hoffman out of Montreal, uh, and their rebuild to make some more room for some of their young guys in Montreal to get some more, um, opportunity. And then on the flip side, the Canadians,

they obviously got Casey to Smith, my golf partner that I was telling you about from Pittsburgh, Jeff Petrie's going back. What the hell's going on with that? He was there five years, wasn't he? Yeah. I don't know what's going on with that though like didn't like i didn't want out of there now they got him back there i don't know what's going on they're saying they might move them before the season kicks off they've got a 2025 second round pick and nathan legger a uh

a top three third round pick or something from the penguins a few years ago so multiple pieces multiple prospects some draft picks some money getting tossed around all over the place san jose retaining some money pittsburgh retaining some money on petrie and the carlson thing and bob's your uncle and the pens got carlson baby best defenseman in the league last year boys not a big deal over 100 points this guy is all over the ice you never know where he is he's like a ghost he just appears bingo bango it'll change it and this is where my argument comes in with you g this is the penguins identity their transition team they're a speed team they're a skill team they've never been a hammer team they've always been like a quick like north south

type of team this is mike sullivan system too this isn't what toronto did with hanging on the pucks and turning back and all this bullshit these guys are attacked this might be a a different feel i think for dubas and trying to build a team with a guy like mike sullivan coaching with his style plus gino plus sid plus letang if jari can put a year together stay healthy and be big in big moments obviously he's going to be key. And keeping an eye on some of these depth pieces that they've also managed to pick up in free agency. I don't know.

I'm curious to see how the first month, two months of this season goes and what happens here early to start the season. Obviously, no Jake Gensel who had surgery. He'll miss the first month as well. That's a kick in the you-know-what. But to Witt's point, Dubas went and got the guy. Big fish. But I feel like Dubas is saying like Dubas doesn't always,

like just because he gets the best players doesn't mean they're the right players. And we saw that in Toronto like when he went and got John Tavares. Like he didn't need to do that. And like you said Witt, what else is he going to do? I agree. But for months and months and months, we've heard Eric Carlson to Pittsburgh. So it's not like this was the only trade out there for them. They went, they seeked him out.

They wanted Eric Carlson to come in. And that's where it just doesn't make sense to me. Who else are they supposed to trade for? And LeTang also, knock on wood, he has a hard time staying healthy. And, I mean, to add those two guys,

to have both of those guys on the ice, right, at different times, they probably won't play with each other. It's just a way to get it to the forward. They couldn't even get

the puck up ice army. Now, the only argument that you make that's really valid is their problem last year wasn't the stars. Like, Malkin had a good year. Crosby had a sick year. Letang had a good year. It was the depth. But Rem Pitlick, actually, I remember watching a game.

He had a natural hat-trick against Seattle. The last two goals were the exact same goal, actually. They were sick. So, maybe he finds something. He can play all three positions. So maybe that's a guy who steps in and has a big role in the third or fourth line. I just thought they had to do something. They did what they could.

And also, they didn't really have to – I mean, they didn't give up like a crazy haul in return. I feel bad in a sense for Griersy. I love him and trying to rebuild with San Jose. But he kind of was stuck, right? Everyone knew what Carlson... It was like a no-win situation for him. But it's like he's saying, I get rid of this contract.

That was his win almost, too, on top of it, right? Yeah, it was. It's $1.5 million on their cap, I think until $25,000, $26,000. Maybe it's a little longer, but that's not bad actually right like that's yeah i mean that they're not eating a crazy amount so it'd be way different if for four years they were eating like six million or four million or something i do think at the end

of the day like they owed it to sid to go make a move like this yes like they owed it to sid they owed it to gino and latang like they owed love this. Cause while it might not be the right move, it was probably the only move, I guess, with like, you're saying that they had, they had to do it, I guess.

So, and I think my problem is I'm one of those persons that live in recency bias where I see last year, the Vegas golden Knights won the cup. They were bullies. They had every defenseman over six feet. But then as Colby's talking about how they're a transition team, they gonna be fast i'm thinking one year prior i'm thinking about the colorado avalanche so me and that's what they kind of were they weren't that tough team that the vegas golden

knights were so yeah maybe you guys are right and maybe i'm just a fucking idiot you guys know way more than me but i do just want to clarify when i said they have no dogs, I just meant like bully defenseman, big barbershop type players. I know Crosby, and I know he's. I know what you meant by that. Real people know who you meant, buddy. So no, again, so I will say member of the Riley Smith trade, too, at the draft.

So Lars Eller will come in. You know, Rem Pitlick, as you mentioned, Nieto, Nola Chari. I mean, Dubas has done some some work to redid all the depths i mean he did i mean i'd be shocked if they don't make the playoff they better make the playoff they better make it they do need jari to just stay healthy kind of i mean i'm telling you there's buzz in the city though boys yeah everyone i think it all hinges on jari i think this whole season is it likes it revolves around jari if they don't have jari they have they're fucked yeah carlson's so filthy like imagine him

with those forwards i mean he he's gonna be so deceptive and fast and and like dynamic that when he has the puck it it's not, you're just like this. It could easily go end to end. He can snap one length of the ice for a breakaway. It's just kind of, you never know in terms of how good like he can be watching him because it's so smooth. And yeah,

defensively, I guess, but I mean, you don't have to be that great defensively if you're getting 80 to a hundred points as a D man. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what too,

like, this is what I love. I love this. It's know what too, like, this is what I love. I love this. It's like, you know, and this is where I think Hextall, you know, had trouble. It's, it's, there was, there was a confusion in the message with the new ownership coming in and stuff, but it's, it's exciting around Pittsburgh

because they got Carlson. There'd been a buzz about it for a while. The fan base is, is pumped up there. They're excited to see, you know, this elite of the elite offensive defensemen that they got. And I think the message is like, yeah, guess what? It's different now. Dubas is here. We're winning. We're winning when we have our guys and we're going to be bad. We're going to be bad. We're going to have harder times when these guys are done.

But while we got them and they're still good and we still believe that they can be good in lead, we're going to go and we're going to get some guys and not only guys, the Norris Trophy champion from last year and multiple Norris Trophies, Eric Carlson. So welcome to Pittsburgh, Carlson. Is that what we call him, Carlson? Yeah.

EK? EK-65. Yeah, Montreal. So that's exciting. They're going for it, though. It is exciting. I mean. They just need the goaltending Big time

I kind of forgot about Achari Love that signing I like him too So massive three-way boys Pens are going for it Dubas stays electric, stays hot He says he's likely done for now This will be our group

But he never says never I saw that little soundbite today That's not quoted word for word. But, yeah, I mean, just an unbelievable week for a player of that caliber to be on the move and a multiple team trade to make everything happen, guys. It did seem like this has been kind of a month, though, where you figured he was going to Pittsburgh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and they got him.

All that talk, and they got him. congratulations to the pens uh and the boys to go the best defenseman in the nhl coming in to help chris letang and the rest of them chase a cup it's going to be exciting in pittsburgh all right guys before we go any farther we got to talk about haircuts and as you guys know i got the absolute worst haircut of my life to start this summer. Some were calling it the Demi Moore cut, aka wit. But that'll never happen again. Absolutely not. And that is because I will never, I repeat, never stray away from our good friends at

Sport Clips. Your hair may grow fast, but after going to Sport Clip Haircuts, you'll wish it grew even faster. Why, you ask? That's because sport clips has the best seats in hair, and that may or may not be because they happen to be right in front of TVs playing sports all day, every day. We know that watching sports while getting a haircut sure beats watching your reflection while you get a haircut, especially when you look like me, which is why at Sport Clips, every day is clippers and curveballs, high tops and Hail Marys, and even waves and wickets if you're into that kind of thing. At Sport Clips, you can check in

with the pros in men's hair and totally check out with pure uninterrupted relaxation. So yeah, come watch an endless stream of sports on TV. And let me just say, imagine watching some hockey highlights while you get some highlights. Doesn't get any better than that. Sport Clips, it's a game changer. Don't make the mistake I made at the beginning of the summer never I repeat never stray away from sport clips it's a game changer baby also the one uh one other deal we got to mention is Tom Wilson's okay yeah yeah I would love to talk about that yeah Tom Wilson um I mean I saw oh she

had an awesome post on Instagram about I mean I think that those guys are obviously boys. But, I mean, Tom Wilson, he's got that unicorn. He's got that unicorn in the NHL now style that you just don't find. And, I mean, he was hurt last year. That crushed him. And so I think, I mean, put it this way. If that guy went to the open market, there's a lot of teams going after him. Now, I don't know if he would have got that long of a deal. I think he's...

Is he 34? Can you look that up, G? I don't think he's that old. Is he not? Is he that old? He's got to be 32? I think he's like 30. Tom Wilson is 29 years old. Yeah.

My dad... It feels like he's been around forever. My dad hosed me on that one he told me he was older i believed him so people are carving him right for the amount of money he got the amount of years he got and blah blah blah blah blah and he's only got 40 points a couple times he's only got i don't hate any part of it now you know one time 36 yeah he's 29 the guy's a bull he doesn't give a shit he'll go anyone even fights revo but i mean you know obviously revo's big tough guy for sure but like his yeah just to mention it too complimentary guy it was a seven year 45.5 million dollar contract with a 6.5 aav and i'll bet you

this i'll bet you this if you get a group of uh you know a bunch-year-old boys that play hockey, get them in a room and say, hey, who wants to be Connor McDavid? They all put their hands up, and you say, who wants to be Tom Wilson? All their hands would drop. But guess what? Tom Wilson's a dog. Tom Wilson's a dog.

And he's in my Penns division, too, which sucks, and he's a menace all the time. But I do appreciate and like the way he plays. For sure, no question. So that's big money for a 29 he plays. For sure, no question. That's big money for a 29-year-old wit, Tom Wilson. Why the fuck 36? He's younger than me, wit.

He's younger than me. He's like missing his spine. That's an all-time fuck-up on my end. I added seven years to the guy's life. just had a 7 year deal His body might feel like it's 36 I had the guy born in 1987

He's born in 1994 Oh yeah Speaking of that 87 you did mention that Sid's birthday too 87 I'm not sitting here doing this pod Without number 87 So shout out August 7th

Neither am I August 7th happy birthday to the kid Sid the kid Alright congrats Tom Congrats Penguins It's been great catching up Army Thanks for filling in I know that you were probably busy

And it's summertime I was on the Traeger Oh yeah that's your new thing Is that way better than You were probably busy and it's summertime, but. I was on the Traeger. I was on the Traeger, bud. I was. Oh yeah. That's your new thing, huh? Oh yeah. I did a brisket.

Is that way better than a gas grill? I love it. It's electric. You plug it in. It's got the pellets. You smoke it. I got the, I had a brisket on all day today. And then I Googled how to do this.

You actually wrap it in a blanket after it's done. What? You wrap it all up and then you let it rest and you put it in a cooler. What kind of blanket? Like a Just like a towel I think like a towel Type of thing Yeah

It's supposed to like Absorb the meat It's supposed to like Throw blanket Hey honey Give me these Your like toes are all cold I'm like yeah

I need it for the brisket She just bought it It was 500 She's like Ah Why is the brisket In Saks Avenue I might have used a nice towel I'm not even sure I just grabbed one I was like screw it, why is the brisket in Saks Avenue?

I might have used a nice towel. I'm not even sure. I just grabbed one. I was like, screw it. I got to wrap this brisket. And I threw it in a cooler in the garage. So it's going to sit in there for a while. Do you have to rechange the pellets? Yeah.

You got to fill it up all the time. I'm out of that. I'm out of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You're too. You're low maintenance. I just like just firing that gas on. Light. Well, that was good. the thing up to 415 I'm gonna go down right now And do that And cook a burger

I'm gonna hammer a burger After this Oh yeah But I wish I was there I'd make it for you I love barbecuing Would you? I love getting her going

Yeah I would I had My brother-in-law Moose He brought this These bacon cheddar Cheese Bacon cheddar burgers burgers yeah

i think that's the cheddar and the bacon stuffed in it already oh those things man those things are unreal what a burger that thing was how old are we i hammer like bubble i hammer like you know the bubble burgers you just leave in the freezer i think the bubble burger is pretty solid personally i think if you're hating on a Bubba Burger, you're crazy. Now, there's better, but for just slamming one home, Bubba Burger all day. Well, a guy that's had a pretty big year, slammed one home with a good playoff run with his team, is Tommy Fitzgerald, and he's the general manager, of course, of the New Jersey Devils. Had a long, good career, too, in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup in 09 as an executive with

the Pittsburgh Penguins, but building a great quality product in New Jersey. And he sat down with the boys for a real good interview. We've had run-ins with him all over the place, the draft and awards. Every time you see him, he's just a great guy and uh one of the real guys in the game and a guy that everyone loves to be around and see so without further ado boys great catching up g wit yeah army the only reason he's on too is because when we went to the game uh early on in the year or maybe it was whatever around christmas time i said hey if you went around you come on chicklet agreed to it. And then I saw him at the draft.

He said, hey, we won a round. I'll come on. Man of his word. Great guy. I mean, I remember playing against him when I was just turning pro. Summer hockey. He was diving to block shots. The guy's an animal.

So we were pleased to have him on, and we want to thank him. So without further ado, Devil's GM, Tom Fitzgerald. thank him. So without further ado, devil's GM, Tom Fitzgerald. This interview is brought to you by Chevy. And you know, we've been a big part of the Chevy EV family. I'm kind of adding the word big, but we've been part of the family. But we do have big news. The first ever all electric Silverado is officially Barstool's most valuable truck. We got the chance to see this thing, experience it, drive it. It's a game changer. It's available 400 mile range, GM estimated on a full charge, over 10 feet of length in the bed with the multi-flex tailgate combined with the multi-flex mid-gate. I'm also not a truck guy right now. I want one though. I

don't drive one, but I feel like I'm turning into a truck guy. So I really actually wouldn't mind checking out and buying a Chevy new EV Silverado. There's a large 17 inch diagonal display screen. It can tow up to 10,000 pounds of max towing, zero to 60 in under 4.5 seconds with the wow mode and up to an impressive 785 foot pounds of torque head on over to chevy.com to learn more all right we're very happy to bring on our next guest taken 17th overall by the islanders of the 1986 draft this defensive minded forward would go on to play 17 nhl seasons with seven different clubs including a cinderella run to the final with the new franchise. After retiring, he joined the Penguins front office for eight years before heading to Newark, where he just completed his third season

as general manager of the New Jersey Devils. It's a pleasure to welcome Tommy Fitzgerald to the Spit and Chicklets podcast. What's going on, Fitzy? It's a pleasure. Why are you laughing, Fitzy? I am honored. Are you ready to get berated with these questions or what? I am honored.

I have to correct you on one thing. I actually was an offensive player, and then I got turned into a defensive player because I wasn't very good at offense. So I had to survive. No, you got to the show, you're like, wait, what? I can't just be the offensive guy anymore? We had my power play time.

Yeah, exactly. I played power play. How am I supposed to get points? I can't do it from the fourth line. And for listeners who are curious, we wanted to get Fitzy on for a while, and then when we went to the game versus the Blackhawks in Newark, I said to him, hey, we got to get John. He said, I don't know.

I said, if you guys get to the second round or further, you're coming on. He said, I agree to that. So we were very happy with that first-round win against the Rangers, especially Pasha. Yeah, it was fun. It was good. No, if getting by the Rangers in the first round, Yeah, it was fun. It was good. Now, if getting by the Rangers in the first round, come on, I'll do it.

I'll do it every single day, twice on Sunday. Well, I mean, I think the last time we saw you was when we went to the game at the Prudential Center, and I'm surprised you guys had enough money left over to sign Timo Meier after all the shrimp that R.A. ate in the box. I was waiting for that. R.A., you must have ate

like 50 pounds of fucking shrimp that day. The ocean called. It's running out of shrimp. We treat our guests well at Proop. Absolutely. You can't waste it, too. We don't want to waste that kind of shrimp. It was good stuff.

Absolutely. It was awesome. And also, I got to apologize for maybe some comments at the beginning of the season. I thought that I kept chirping you guys. Yeah, the future is bright, the future's bright. I was all over you. That's what I kept hearing for years and years, and I doubted you.

And then I actually made a proposition online. I said, I get a tattoo on my ass if in the next two years you guys reach the Eastern Conference Finals. So I got to ask you, as the general manager, can you renege the bet for me? Because I'm a little bit nervous going into this next season

with how you guys have been able to load up with not only what you guys have done in the draft and as far as these young guys, but also bringing in these free agents, Dougie Hamilton, of course, Timo Meier, and now you guys ended up picking up Tyler Toffoli. You guys are looking mighty fine in the East right now, Fitzy. Well, first, ownership per that wage that you put.

So they told me I'm going to spend as much money as possible on players to try to win a Stanley Cup within the next two years. Fuck. But no, in all seriousness, I do have great owners. We're all sick of losing, but we felt we did it the right way. Just watch our kids grow, craft, develop um and now they've matured now did i think we would pop like we did this year i would tell you the numbers last year showed up showed that we were we were on the rise and we were a team ready to pop um yeah we got some great kids good charity kids the only one do is when just adding around the edges you know being able to trade for a team of my ability to trade for the full view was locked

up jack nico bratter long term um and then not to mention the two young defensemen we've got coming in blue cues and simone nemich is the future's bright but you know we're worried about today's well the you mentioned locking up those guys and that's kind of what's most interesting to me it like reminds me of the bruins a little bit we've had this unreal, I don't know, 15-year run. It's getting the guys at the cost that you have. And so you looked at Hughes, you got him eight, and obviously Hamilton's more and Myers a little bit more. But none of them are the 10, 11 million mark, which we've seen kind of can cripple teams in a sense. So was that something where you were just adamant about it, or was it also a little luck that they were young enough

where they weren't trying to really break the bank? You know, everybody wants to break the bank. Everybody wants to get paid as much money as they possibly can. That's real. You know, the PA, this is a hell of a job for their player. So you're not only dealing with the agents, you're dealing with the PA. With our guys, you're back on with. Like, I look at the

bruins as a model franchise that you know there was a lot of buy-in to to create a winning organization all i try to do is preach that to our guys and to say like you can't take every single crumb on the table because it won't be enough for depth it won't be enough for good defense it won't be enough for goaltending won't be enough for you know the penalty chiles like everybody just can't take and take and take and uh I think our guys bought into it and here we are. So yeah, we feel good about where the contracts are at. Our window has just opened up, quite honestly. And we're excited about where this is going. That's kind of what Pasha said in terms of the window. Even this year was a little bit of

maybe kind of early in jumping into the game of playoff window. Like even this year was a little bit of maybe kind of early in jumping into the game of playoff success. That's what it was good to see for you guys. But my other question was, so Severson's gone and Graves is gone. Is that one of those things where good players, but with Hughes and with Nemec coming, it's like maybe this year it'll be a little tougher on the D, but we just have to keep room for these guys on their way?

Yeah, Ian Campbell. Yeah. You know, they're similar players. He's a house. He's been through the minor league 6-7. He can move and he's got good hands. He just needs an opportunity and he's going to get that chance. He's the last guy. I'm trying to sign him right now.

We shouldn't have any issues blocking him. No, we do. What we saw with Luke last year, especially in the playoffs, just was, man, the ceiling's high for this young man. He's going to get an opportunity to replace Stevenson's eyesight. Maybe first power play, second power play, I don't know, Dougie. We're trying to create competition. to this player as an 18-year-old. He went into the American League and did really well. Do we need him to make our team? I don't need him to make our team.

But if he comes into camp and tells us that, listen, I'm not going down because my play deserves to be here, we'll deal with that when that time comes. That's a good problem to have. But going out and finding a veteran like Colin Miller was important to us just to create that depth on the right side.

If you were a little confused when Witt said the name Pasha or or were you do are you aware who pasha is he met him in nashville i think okay he's the baglicker pasha stalked him and he was in his closet hopping out of the he's the new jersey devil's baglicker on the podcast and he knows the whole history he's not a bag a wagon jumper because he liked them during the broder days and all the early days. I don't know how from Vancouver. He's going to hop on a little bit and ask some questions. But I was going to go back to the Timo Mayer trade.

As a GM, how nervous are you giving up all those assets, not having a guy locked in yet? Because it ended up taken to the offseason. And were there talks going on right away? Or was he more like, I up taken to the off season and were there talks going on right away or was he more like i just want to finish this season and get it done well great question um we we've built up a lot of equity asset equity um to someday be able to use it whether they come into our team and play for us or we use that bait to to to trade for a player like team on mine so you know you got to play a team on you back up some good players we thought we did um to be

honest with you i i yeah my first thought was we should get him signed or assigned and trade and then give up these assets um i give my ownership credit you know david butcher is just you know what let's just let's just do the trade and bring him in David Blitzer is just like, you know what? Let's just do the trade and bring them in. We still control them for two years. We still actually control them beyond this year. Now, $10 million QO wasn't attractive for us, that's for sure. And to be honest with you, Timo and I sat down immediately and just said, I will not talk to your agent. I will not talk to you, but I just wanted to get acclimated with the environment, the organization, how we play.

You got to have them treated. It's hard. It's hard going to a new team and trying to pick up a new system. Our system's a little different than other teams. So it takes time. You squeeze and stick a little bit more than you should or need to, but that just tells you the pride players have, especially T-Mall coming in.

So I just really wanted him to see what we're all about. Listen, guys, I played probably most of my games against the Devils, and I just thought of the medal events. Nice arena, but that's all you thought of. It's an incredible place to live. The players love it. I love, I mean, I've got a great place in Hoboken. The city's right there.

You want to live out in the suburbs, great to travel. You know, we're one stop shopping with our arena, mini arena practice arena. There's just so much to offer. So I just kind of, I believed in Jersey and I just wanted him to to understand what we are and let him come to me and say this is where I want to be that's all I want I want players who want to be here I don't want to have to you know entice them by more money and we

just want to understand what this is all about and we really we think it's going to be a special place to play why why was it team oh my or was it because i mean the makeup of your team you guys are very fast skilled and maybe you guys are a little bit small was it just the physicality and the power forward aspect that he brought why you narrowed in and zoned in on him or was it more maybe a lack of availability as far as players like that no we zoomed right in on on timo even going back a year early when Grazy took over. It was just like, if you're ever going to move him, please don't lose my number. Call me.

Just make sure you call me. Yeah. And I would keep planting the seed with him every couple months, whatever. And then he called me. We think we may be moving him. I said, great. Great for if we get him. But we target him because of all the things you talked about.

He's at the size. He's at the heavy. He can shoot the puck. He drives off. He's not afraid to get to the dirty areas. He loves playing physical. He's versatile. There's just so much. And he's young. He's just a young player.

Tommy, it was, I think, 11 years since the Devils had won a first-round series. How do you balance, like, the sense of accomplishment that they, you know, finally went around versus keeping them hungry? Is that a tough thing to do, you know, making sure they keep them on that track, I guess? I think playoffs, you know, just getting in the playoffs, the players hungry, because it's a different animal, you know, in the playoffs. It's so different than the 82 games.

When you get there, now our players understand it. Now they get how hard it is to win. go for we went to where they're gonna go two more rounds actually win is is is the toughest thing in sport you guys you've been preaching this you know forever um but i think that hungrieness or or that step of trying to advance to the next round and then the next round um i just think it has them hungry for more and what would you say happened in that series against carolina and after the season do you sit down with the players and get their feedback based on what they process through that experience because i mean you know obviously carolina's got a wagon of a team they're well led by brenda moore they play very hard was it just a little

bit overwhelming for the guys in that series without the lack of playoff experience from a from from majority of the guys i think he was the wow there's another level in round one you know round one is is here round two is is is higher especially when you play a team like the carolina hargreeves fast they, how heavy they play, how quick they play. They're very well coached. They're structured. They're committed to that structure.

But we knew it was going to be hard. We did. I wish we had an extra day. That's for sure. You know, you win on Friday and you play on Sunday. Yeah, we travel Saturday and we played Sunday. I believe those were the days, Friday to Sunday. But it is what it is.

You know, like in hindsight, maybe we should have started VTech to give the kid a rest and then come back with them. But you know what? At the end of the year, when the series was over, we just looked at it as a celebration. Like, no, we didn't win a Stanley Cup. No, we didn't get out of the second round. But where we were to where we are, we need to celebrate.

And remember, like, remember this feeling. We don't want to go through this again. our second round but where we were to where we are we need to celebrate and and and remember like remember this feeling um we don't want to go through this again so again it was more of a let's let's celebrate the year uh let's celebrate the accomplishments the growth the development um and and that's what we did now our expectations and standards are really high and but that's why we all played the game and that's why i manage this team so the creative team that could win a championship i think i think getting to know you when i was younger coming up at skate with you in the summer like it's it's not surprising at all you're a gm now like just been around the game forever you played in the minors a little bit you played a

long over a thousand games so now that you're there things like uh like say the beginning of the year the the fans are chanting fire l Lindy, like all the outside noise. Is it easy for you because of how long you played to kind of just stay away from it? Or is it sometimes hard when you're like hearing what fans are saying, hearing what the reporters are saying? Or is it just like single focus sticking to what you know you have to do? Yeah, no, it's exactly what's in my eye. I respect our fan base.

They're the lifeline of our organization you know of course they've been frustrated of course they weren't happy with the 0-2 start um listen this this is all in two all in two fancy come on they were being ridiculous but this is this is this is the area i mean pulling, you know, Eric Judge, just won the, you know, MVP of the Major League Baseball. You know, listen, I don't let things like that, you know, blame me by any means at all, but I have a plan. And, you know, I have to look at certain things as well. I could tell you this right now, I'm going to ask my wife, it was the worst weekend I had as a manager because I felt just because of getting off to a slow start, how does this get better?

And hey, what's going to happen here? But it picked up fairly quick thereafter. I believe in him. I do believe in him. I believe in the staff. I believe in what he's got. I brought him in for a reason, to understand how to handle young players, allow them to make mistakes. Don't just sit their ass on the staff. I believe in what he's got. I brought him in for a reason, to understand how to handle young players,

allow them to make mistakes. Don't just sit their ass on the bench. Make sure they're learning, growing, and they understand what the next shift meets versus sitting there or just taking advantage. And then accountability started to creep into year two. And then year three, you can't deny where our players are and how Randy set a huge hand in development. He was your assistant coach down in Florida, wasn't he, back in 96?

Yeah, he just retired from hockey and he came down and was the second assistant down there. He had some great mentors, you know, Roger Nielsen, Craig Ramsey, and Tommy Webster. And then he jumped right to Buffalo, which is really no head coaching friends. That was how he got the job at Buffalo just after being assistant quick?

Yeah, well, four years. He was four years with us down there, and then year five, he took over. Fitzy, you talked about the plan, and you have one did you ever anticipate the amount of work that goes into being a general manager like is it just non-stop and just I mean I'm sure you have to learn how to delegate as well but just like how much are you working and do you ever even get time off uh well first what I appreciate the kind words from from earlier in your career and i never ever ever

ever ever thought being a general manager was something that would be in my place no really no nope it wasn't even when even when i played my last game for the boston broans i was doing um it was the uh otl network there when, yeah. Was it Nesson? No, no, no. It was the outdoor. Outside Life Network. Whatever it was called. Outdoor Life.

That's where the NHL had their games. There was OMBC. There was OTBS. There was TNT. We were on this panel, outdoor network. I don't remember what it was called. I remember driving down because I was a guest analyst, and I talked to my old agent, and he just said, listen, I think you should take some time. I can see you getting into management. I said, I want I was a guest analyst and I talked to my old agent and he just said, listen, I think you should take some time.

I can see you getting into management. I said, I want to be a coach. I think coaching's really what I want to do. Then I took that job with Pittsburgh Penguin and both you guys were there. Actually, Biz, your exit meeting was my first ever exit meeting on the management side. Oh, God. I'm surprised you didn't retire right then. What did I say?

No, you didn't say anything. You remember what Ray Shero said? Ray was awesome. He was awesome. I think he said, Biz, you need to learn how to shut the fuck up. Is that what he said? Exactly. Boy, was he wrong.

That's why when my agent told me, he he said you need to get the fuck off of twitter nothing good can come of this that's why i always say well boy was he wrong too yeah so you know what when i went to pit you know i just i got a chance to work in development with players like you guys and you know i was in and out kittsburg and american league and um but i knew i knew it would take me to a fork in the road. But after going on the bench in 2009, I realized I wanted to be a manager.

Or at least stay in the management track and not the coaching track. So yeah, that's probably when I first really got the bug. But I've had great mentors. Ray is a fantastic mentor of mine. I've had some great ray was a he's a fantastic mentor of mine i've had some great teammates on the management side billy g jason chuck fletcher david poyle bill

tory my old gms like there's a lot of people that have influenced me you were unbelievable when you were in pittsburgh you were so kind to me i i remember there was a a scary moment didn't you end up getting a blood clot and then you had to take some time off? Didn't you have a health issue there? Yeah. Yeah. I, um, that's something I'm proud of, but we won the cup at 09 and then I was at a friend's cottage in Maine and, you know, tough guy, Tommy thought he was still 25 and was jumping off rope swings.

And I fell and landed in the shallow water and just first opened my my heel um and it was jesus that's a that was really it was bad at a time you don't realize how bad it is until when they they they they tell you you're good and when they had the darkness i thought i was gonna have to take your foot off when you first came in um i yeah so no more no more rope swings for me at 54 so but yeah i did i we raised the banner and i was on crutches and um yeah not a not a great time but a good learning lesson for for me my kids and their friends that's a show and they saw me do oh tommy just mentioned that bring it up yeah sorry to go dark side on you there, buddy. Sorry.

We'll do that right now. You just mentioned David Poyle in the seventh round, the second day of the draft. You traded picks with New Jersey, so he'd be able to take – I'm sorry, with Nashville. So he'd be able to make one last pick in his career. Was that something you preplanned or did it kind of be a spontaneous thing? No, not at all.

I actually was talking to David at the deadline about a player and I did say it to him. David, why don't you make your trade with me? Right? Earth captain. Yeah, give me Yossi. I'll give you the seventh rounder.

I'll take Cyrus. Package it up. Didn't even dawn on me. And then I was just sitting at the table. I was going on NHL Network. And before that, Barry Trotz walked over, tapped me, called me to the back, and just said, hey, I need a favor. I need your seventh round pick. And I just said, okay.

He said, I don't have a seventh round pick next year. So I went back to the table. I got online, and I started looking at what they had. I'm thinking, well, if it's that important to you, give me a pick next year so i went back to the table i get on i go online and i started looking at what they have you know i'm i'm thinking well if it's that important to you give me a six next year yeah yeah so and i noticed i said he's gonna have it next year and he walked back home and said we have a we do have a seven it said you got a deal so i go do i send my my i send my uh my hockey ops guy over to do the deal with brian oil he goes packing says brian uh brian says they may have something else going on i'm like all right I sent my hockey ops guy over to do the deal with Brian Boyle.

He goes, packing. He says, Brian says they may have something else going on. I'm like, all right. So I go do the interview. I come back. I get the deal done. And it didn't even hit me yet. I was doing battery first time GM a favor. And then PL beats my, our communications VPp came over and he said hey this is what they

want to do they want to announce what they did and they want to announce it that they're going to make the trade with his first ever captain predators and his last trade ever and i i said yes i i literally put my head down i called my wife wife, she said, are you watching draft? She said, yeah. I said, just watch the end. And so, I'm drawn. And I honestly, I started to tear up because it really hit me. Like, wow, the magnitude of this in David, how important he was to the game and how I could play a small little part in his life as a manager. Because these guys, they picked me.

I didn't pick them out. They picked me to go to Nashville. And it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me and my family. So when they told me, we want you to walk up. And by the time I hung out with my wife, these cameras, the microphones were over the table and on the table. And just said, we want you to walk up. And he just kind of walked behind me and grabbed them.

And that and the rest is history. It was a great moment for me. It was a great moment for my family. I think it was a great moment for the Predators. But Barry Trotz deserves all the credit. That's how you bring the mood back up on the pod. A little round of applause to R.A. for the question. He's got a fake foot, but he made that last trade.

I can't signal anything but yeah damn alligator bit my hand off but um in being down in nashville like i'm glad you brought that up it first of all the way the city's grown and grown and like broadway and now you just go out block by block it's incredible what's happened and you were there right from the beginning like take us through that first year because i guess like you know with an expansion team and a new team, you know, things are always, not maybe a little bit behind, but just so different, and especially down south. Like, what was your mindset when you got selected in the expansion draft

and then getting named captain? Like, take me through that first year. Well, I didn't get taken in the expansion draft. I was a free agent. I was a free agent. And I think day three i like called my agents check in on where we're at with teams and it was like the same three or four teams i'm like ah and then he said what about nashville i was talking to david pook because

mike got him was a client of my agents and he he they took the uh donnie in the expansion draft i said half so huh uh so and then did it get serious and then honestly i leaned on my experience in the expansion draft. I said, half. He said, huh? So, and then did it get serious. And then honestly, I leaned on my experience in Florida, in Florida for the first five years. It was,

it was an incredible experience for my family, myself, me personally. It really is where I made my career. Two boys that were born down there, two older boys. And then when I thought of that, and then they said, you know,

they would like to, if you were to do this, they would like to name Chapman. And now I get a handprint on that organization from what I learned from the Brian Skrullins and the Mike Huffs and Mike Folinos, Joe Sorella's guys, like, going on and on. That started in Scott Mellenby in Florida. And I get to do um talk to my wife and just said let's let's do it i didn't know anything about national it was you know i don't even know if i country music um but you know what we were down and it was it was it was impressive you know what it's all about the people who are running the organization and as you guys know you know it

was some great people running the organization craig leopold was the owner um to this day we're friends um you just when you have somebody like that at the helm and given david poyle and barry trotz the power to do their jobs um it was all about the people so that was the main reason why i went down there and yeah i mean mean, I just, I can't, I had another son who was born in Nashville. So it's just, it's way different now than it was back then, that's for sure. Was the fan base rabid from the get-go?

Yeah, they were. They really were. It was incredible. They, you know what, they had that minor league team there, that East Coast League team. So there was hockey fans, you know, inside the Nashville community. But there's a lot of transplants there as well. So there's a lot of, you know, I forget what car manufacturer

moved down there from Detroit. But, you know, a lot of Detroit transplants, Chicago transplants. So there were a lot of knowledge fans at the time fitzy how did you get into hockey like what what made you fall in love with the game i don't know if i fell in love with it my dad just paid like a dollar to get me on uh skates there to charlestown nbc right and i didn't want to stay on and he said i paid a dollar and you're gonna stay out there and i i hit my brother and i was just never came up, but, uh, you know, it was the Bobby or, you know, I started my, I started my youth in Charlestown. Um, that's where my family's from.

As Ari knows, uh, it was just, it was, it was fantastic. Um, you know, playing in the milk, Smitty there, the old, and then playing for the mic. Um, and that's just where my family was from. And, uh, you're right down the streets for the Mike. That's just where my family was from. You're right down the streets in the garden. But the Bobby Orr era, and then I was lucky. I was a bit older, and I was, I think, 11 or 12 when TDOSA won the 80 gold medal. Oh, shit.

Yeah, you're in – I was those guys in my heroes. Those guys in my heroes. You don't want to, growing up, after we moved from Charlestown toown and belrica um berica high had some great hockey players come out of there if you look at the amount of pros that have come out of there the millen the arnold's the jenkins brothers like tommy clavin was there um it was just a great hockey town um and again i people i got a chance to play for the bruins and people said i must be living out a dream got a chance to play for the Bruins. And people said, oh, he must be living out a dream. My dream was to play at Billerica High School and have kids come, like I did, every Friday and watch us play.

But my parents sent me to Austin Prep, shout out to Prep School, and I wasn't happy with them. That's for sure. Glavin was a great hockey player, wasn't he? Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was a couple years older than me. And he got drafted in the fourth round in the draft, and I think he probably would have been higher,

but taken already in the second round in baseball. So I don't know if teams wanted to waste a pick earlier in the first, second, or third round. Before we continue, I need to talk to you guys about body armor. Oh, my God. This water is perfection. Spitting Chicklets is brought to you guys about body armor Oh my god This water is perfection Spittin' Chicklets is brought to you by Body Armor Body Armor just hopped on to the Chicklets Cup

Happened in early October In Buffalo I got Body Armor Sent to me G And I've just been pounding it I love the wide mouth on the ones they sent me The big dogs And my wife said today

Can you please ask them to continue to send that she even said it all proper like that to continue to send that and it's for a good reason because it is the best water i i'm a water snob body armor is it for me body armor is it and from sports drinks to sport water body Body Armor keeps us hydrated all day long. Whether we're talking, watching, or even playing sports, Body Armor is our go-to choice. Real hydration, real ingredients, packed with electrolytes, vitamins, and nothing artificial, the most important part. Body Armor has great tasting flavors like strawberry, banana, and blue raspberry. If you don't want to go plain water, you go the flavored. The best athletes in the world hydrate with Body Armor Lake.

Ronald Acuna Jr., Christian McCafferty, Alex Morgan, Paul Bissonnette, and the latest athletes to join the team, Joe Burrow. G, when do you crush Body Armor the most? I'll tell you what, Witt. Like I've been saying, I've been on the golf course nonstop this summer. Very hot, getting very dehydrated, but you have the Body Armor sports drink. I've been crushing the water so much, but they also sent over some of those Body Armor sports drinks. I've been ripping through the strawberry banana ones. Like we said, none of the artificial stuff, all the real stuff. And the waters are perfect

too. This size water too is just dialed because I can't take the small waters. I finish those things in like two sips. You know you're hydrated when you crush one of these. Exactly. Then you crush three or four. That's a day right there. Body armor is available in stores nationwide. Head on over to Body Armor Store on Amazon and get yours today. I read that you're cousins with Walt Kachuk.

Is that true? That's true. Okay. Wow. It's like Charlestown's just like inbred everybody's just related in there aren't they that's what happened all right yeah yeah yeah Keith and I have first cousins uh my dad and Keith's lot of my brothers sisters they were the only two in the family and you know you know, we grew up a really tight family.

You know, our grandparents passed away. I'm the oldest of the eight of us, seven of us. And you know what? Keith's mom and my dad, obviously super tight. We're a super tight family. Actually, we're both on vacation now. Every year we go to meet. We rent this big house at Fitzgerald's and Kachuck's.

Keith pops in here and there, but his sister is his brother, his mom and dad, my mom. So that's starting Saturday. Actually, after Brady's wedding, Brady gets married here at the end of July. Am I supposed to say that? Because this isn't getting. Yeah, where's the address? We'll have to check what's paparazzi over there taking photos. Hey, guys, we actually have a little breaking news here.

The Florida Panthers have agreed to terms with defenseman Casey Fitzgerald on a one-year, two-way deal contract two months ago. Oh, wow. There you go. Chicklets bump. Did you already know that, Fitzy? Be honest. I did. I did.

I did. I knew it like day two of July 3rd. Okay. I don't know why they waited so long. Thanks for breaking, G. Thanks for breaking. Can't get this guy excited. What was, you went to Austin Prep in Redding, Massachusetts?

Yep. Yep. I didn't want to go. My parents made me go. I want to go to the public high school. They're like, you're not going to the public high school. It's a zoo. You're not doing it.

You need this for academics. And I just said, well, I don't want it. They said, well, you're gone. Ironically, you know, those teams that I played on there, we had eight to 10 bill working kids on the team that went to the Procter and Chalice School as well. You know what? After

a year, I settled it. It was the best decision in my entire life, that's for sure. And then how did you end up at Providence? Did you want to go there? Were you kind of looking at somewhere else? How did that all come about? Great question. No, I was earmarked for BC or BU.

I gave away the Boston kit. Did they shrivel you? No, no, no. Back, I chose my five schools to go visit, and it was BU, BC, Providence, UNH, and Maine. Sean Walsh was just started at Maine, and he was an incredible, an NJ Leach, incredible recruiter to the point where I already made my decision. Providence is my third school that I went.

I made my decision, and my dad said, you made a commitment. You're going up to Maine, and you can put a face on. I'm like, you're excited to be there. You're going up. But anyways, when I made the decision, my dad looked at me. You know that I'm the B-plot? I'm like, yeah. I know that.

But I chose it for a reason. I chose it because, you know, a smaller school, it was a good hockey school, too. You know, it was, if you look at the players that come through, Providence, Lou was my AD my freshman year. And then, yeah, then he left for, yeah, yeah. Then he left for New Jersey to bring on my freshman year. I stayed an extra year and then turned pro. But it was, it was, it was very impactful for me. I don't think I would have turned out to be the player I was

if I went to one of those schools, in my opinion. So, yeah, that's the reason why. It was a bit away. I didn't care about the first Monday in February or the first two Mondays. And, you know, I had a ball. Wasn't that Jack's dad? One of your teammates' dad too?

Jack Hughes' dad? Yeah, Jimmy. He was, yeah, two years. That's crazy. Small world. Yeah, he was a good friend, yeah. Yeah, small world is right. When you were, like, I think it was a mite.

Were you commuting back and forth from Billerica to Charlestown for a couple years, playing youth hockey down here? I did, yeah, until first year. Yeah, the second year mites. So I played three-year mites there, and it shuts the play. My grandmother would come up. She worked at Burlington Mall and she would stay at our house and go work here. And on Fridays, practice.

And she would drive me down at school. And then my dad would come off the docks and pick me up and just take me home. And then Saturdays, we were going down to play at our beer time. You know, we'd go down to our beer. Holy shit. Yeah. That's a community. Holy shit. Yeah. That's a community. It wasn't that.

It really wasn't. I was in the Neltschritt League, too, at Papa. So, no, I wouldn't change a thing. And then when you left Providence, I see, like, first year you played mostly AHL, but you played 23 NHL games. Like, leaving school, were you kind of looking at, like, I'm going to be in the NHL right away? Were you not that surprised to spend a little time in the minors for a couple of years? No, no. I gave myself four years in America. I said, if I can-

No shit. Yeah. I just said, listen, if not, I'll take my signing bonus. I'll go back to school, finish the last two years. But I got a sniff at the end of the year or the middle of the year, my first call-up game. And then at the end of the year, again, seeing that is selling off. Now I get it. Selling off older pieces for future assets and giving the young kids a chance to play.

I was in the right place at the right time. Made the team. I actually got invited over to the World Championships as a 20-year-old, which was great experience in 1989. And then made the team coming out of camp. I played really well. And then my ice time just kind of inched down towards the fourth line. At the time, I didn't care.

I just wanted to get fourth line, fifth line, sixth line. I just wanted to get into it. You're telling me, buddy. You're telling me. But, you know, when I had good people, Al Arbor, I mean, I had good people I was surrounded with. Al Arbor was the coach and Bill Torian. You know, they knew what was best for me. But, you know, when I had good people, Al Arbor, I mean, I had good people that I was surrounded with. Al Arbor was the coach and Bill Torian.

You know, they knew what was best for me. I was, I just turned 21 my second full year and they knew what was good for me. And we went down,

we went and called the Cup that year. I got a chance to come up and play in the playoffs for the Islanders. I made the team out of camp again

and, you know, I didn't need waivers so I was up and down um yeah that's that's how it all started who had the most influence on you becoming a defensive four I know we joked about it like all of a sudden you know you don't you're not getting the power play time or whatever but when did that shift was that in the American Hockey League like no I mean I was like I would play I, I played right wing in the American League. I scored 30 goals that year in 53 games as a right winger.

I played a little bit of center, but every time I got called up, I played center. They just played me at center in New York. So I learned how to be a versatile player that way. But it wasn't until probably the third year, Al Arbor's the 1-0 influence. He didn't influence me. He just said, Matt, if you can play with the energy you play, be physical, be versatile, win your face-offs, be able to go out and be his own starts, be a good penalty killer.

That's a pretty long list. Well, it's big money. And he just like, you can play a long time. You may score 10 goals this league, but if you don like you can you can play a long time you may score 10 goals this week but if you don't you still can play a long time or you can still think you're a goal scorer and and be on the power play and my my brain switched right over and you know what it's that's what i love about my job and i loved about development was i love communicating with players because you guys you guys are the norm exceptions are Stitt and Geno and Nicolo. These guys are the exception, but everybody else is the norm.

And they go through things that we went through as players and understand it and just try to help somebody understand the value of actually being a fourth line guy, how important it is to a championship team. I love that part of my job, to be quite honest. Because I'm around, I'm in the locker room. I don't have an office down there, but I'm in with Frosty. I use Frosty's office as my office, but I love being around the players.

We actually didn't really go too much into Jack earlier when we mentioned him. Like how cool was it for you to see, I feel like he grabbed the bull by the horns from the media perspective and really speaking on behalf of the team, especially come playoff time. How important was it for you to see that leadership from him, especially vocally in the media doing that? He speaks what's on his mind, and that's what makes him special.

He can say things elegantly to his teammates. There's a meaning behind it um to the media i just think he's so authentic it's it's incredible like he just he's yeah like you say he's just he's real like he he says things that pop in his brain that i think others may think twice about saying and how i polish this up a little bit um and that's what makes him special I guess being a GM like now that I think about it you you saw Bill Torrey and Al Arbor in their relationship then you saw Poyle and Trotz in Nashville like I guess you've seen along the way how important it is for a coach and a GM to I mean not coexist but but work in in the correct manner together

is that true it's extremely true. It's very much true. Because you can't tell him who to play and stuff, right? But there has to be some give and take, I'm guessing. There's a partnership that I call with the coach and the manager. I have a fantastic relationship with Lindy Ruff that we could sit around. It's not like I didn't play a game. I've got some pretty good thing in my career that I'm not just a guy coming in from the sand saying,

hey, you should play him more on the power play. No, I get it. I understand it. So, and Lindy respects that. And so don't the other coaches. So, when I come in and say like, oh, sorry, I don't see a system there. We'll fail there. Like, I'm watching.

I know the way we play. So I know when they have breakdowns and who makes the breakdown and who they're going to be pissed at and who's going to sit and who's going to play more. But having a partner that saw how I saw this team growing and developing was incredibly important to me. And if I didn't have that, I don't – if Wendy Ruff wasn't the guy I picked and didn't do what he said he was going to do at that time and maybe go off script a bit,

I definitely don't see our players growing like they do. Fitz, I want to go back to the Islanders for a minute. One of the biggest upsets of all time, you guys beat Pittsburgh Penguins four to three. What, like, they outscored you the whole series. What was the secret, I guess, to beating those guys? It was clutching and grabbing. We did the water ski off Mario and Jäger. No, you know what? That was the game back then.

We just were extremely hardworking. We had a lot of talent there on the island. Pierre Terzian scored 50. Derek King scored 40. Thomas and Benoit O'Leary-Ferrari came out with 30. We had some good players on that team. And then we got the

injection from the Olympic team, you know, and Scott Lachance came in from the U.S. team and Vladimir Malikov. But it was these young guys team there that just injected a different life into our team, which was very helpful but we had really good depth you know travis green was a young center that was coming through marty mcginnis

joined us from the olympic team as well that was the disappointing thing for me already was i got i was the one who took an expansion draft after that year i didn't want to go because all of a sudden i i was you know the first four years thunk and, and now we're good. And now I'm heading out to an extension team. And, you know, you just watch Ottawa get, you know, run over. And you're like, I don't want this. And that correlated to probably the next best thing in my career, being taken to the extension. Yeah, so I was wrong about Nashville.

You signed there. So when you, you know, now you say you almost didn't want to get picked. And then that day comes, like, did you know your name was out there as a possibility in terms of getting selected and then like how'd you find out Donnie Malone took over as the manager and he called me up and asked me if I get my year-end meeting he told me he was protecting me so so fast forward to a week out remember the expansion list had to be in, or yeah, the protection list. He calls me and asked me if I'd seen or heard from Jeff Norton. Jeff Norton was a teammate of mine from Boston, and I just said, no.

I haven't. It was all cell phones. And he just said, oh, okay. I got to go away. I got to find one. Just traded him the same day. All right. But he didn't tell me I was being exposed.

And I found out two days later that I was being exposed. I wasn't happy about it. Then I got taken. And like I said, I was wrong. I was wrong about what expansion could be. And again, that's something that's about Nashville. It's about the people. You know, you had Bill Torrey.

Wayne Heisinger was a great owner. Bill Torrey was the president. Bobby Clark, not many people know, was the first general manager of the Florida Panthers. No shit. Yeah. And Roger Neal, all-famer, was our first coach. So they were going out and getting high-character,

hard-working guys who competed their asses off, filled in with some younger talent. And we had a great goalie, John Green Beesworth. Was there a fun buzz right off the hop? Was it selling out every game that first year? Yeah, I think so. Or at least 90%. And you got to remember, we were down in the old Miami arena.

So we would all live in the Volca and Coral Springs area. We'd practice in Pompano. We would commute down to the Miami arena. We had D rooms every day. I had every game day. So we'd just go down and check in a hotel, and we would carpool down with each other, and then wives and girlfriends would carpool down.

It was a 45, 50-minute jaunt back to Boca after. But it was part of our routine. I did that five years. It was a hotel for every game. Every single game. Well well i didn't cook pre-game meals you guys have been kids nowadays oh every team's got four personal chefs like the minute they get on the on the plane they're sushi waiting then they're getting their fillets dropped off by the by the fart sniffers um i was gonna that's what that's what yance calls the stewardess

because you know guys are drinking the protein shinks and everybody's always farting on the planes. Oh, my gosh. He calls the Stewies fart. Yeah, you're probably going to stay away from that one. We don't need you in any negative headlines. A thousand games, man. You're one of a few people on this planet who is fortunate enough

to play a thousand games in the National Hockey League. You did so with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'm sure it was a whirlwindwind experience you get the silver stick like looking back who do you think had the most impact on the fact that you were able to accomplish that goal other than yourself of course for the record i didn't actually get a silver stick you didn't get the silver what who else didn't get one biz remember we had this issue before i think it was todd bertuzzi, wasn't it? Shani, get on it. I could tell you the other guy was Gary Roberts

because Gary and I played our 1,000th game. Oh, it was Gary. As a teammate on the same night. Get the fuck. It was Gary Roberts who came on and said that. Suck on that one for a little bit. Yeah, that's a little fun fact for the boys. That's crazy.

Teammates playing 1,000 teams on the same night. That'll never happen again. Well, I can't say. I didn't think anyone would beat Gretzky's goalscorer. He's coming. Yeah. But, yeah, no, that's – Gary's probably the other guy. What do I – well, I just remember it was –

one, I remember sharing it with Gary, which is incredible. I mean, I had so many influences. I can go back to youth hockey coaches. Obviously, my mom and dad. Just making me believe that dreams can't come true. That sounds corny, doesn't it? It is. If you want to be a player, you can be a player.

I had some great coaches. I had had a hall of fame coach pat quinn you know talked about lr barry trotsky the hall of fame coach roger nielsen um i was i was fortunate to be put in the right place so i can continue to grow my career and extend it i mean I had great teammates. You know, I just like a lot of friends. But I was highly competitive. Just like I wanted to play a thousandth game. I had a separated shoulder, number three, and I wanted to operate on it. I said, you can be out six months. Ooh, I'm 25 games from my thousandth.

I'll be back playing. But no, I'm very humbled by it and very honored. I didn't accomplish individual goals. I was just an everyday player. But I think for players like that, if you can hit 1,000 games, that's quite an accomplishment. Fitz, another coincidence. Matthew Kachuk scored the goal that ended up sending Florida

to the Stanley Cup this year. You did the same thing back in 96. You bombed and beat Barrasso from the blue line. That ended up being the eventual series clincher. Pretty wild stuff. But that ride, that was a magical run you guys had. Obviously, you ran into a stacked Colorado team. That was like, what, third year

in the league you guys were there? That was it? Third season? Yeah, year three. Well, just watching Matthewthew in florida obviously invested interest down there um one is a dad you know family member of matthew's an alumna one of us um what an incredible run those kids went on at special moments that they'd created for not only themselves but you know for the city as well or the erie um so that was fun to watch and ironically matthew scoring that goal this was a little different than what i scored yeah 58 feet you scored from 58 feet like second period or maybe it was the third about seven minutes left he scored, four seconds left in the game? But, yeah,

no, that was an incredible run for us. I think we were built like I told you, the team was built. A lot of character, a lot of hard work, great trades. Stu Byrnes was a really skilled player. Jesse Belongia was a skilled player. Ray Shepard

was a skilled player. We drafted well. It was Ed Jovanovsky Shepard was a skilled player. We drafted well. It was Ed Jovanovsky's first year in the league, and he was someone to be reckoned with. Rep Warner was a hard-nosed defenseman. And we had a good goaltender with Beezer and Mark Fitzpatrick there. So we were very committed to our system, very dedicated to it. We didn't cheat because we know if we did we we couldn't

get into the the pot hockey game um so we're very detailed and try to and again there's a lot of hook and hold as well yeah will you get a little time now i mean development camps over kind of you got obviously you got a couple other deals to get done but will at least the end of july beginning of august be your kind of recharge the batteries time of the year? Yeah. I mean, this year is a little different than the past three years. We're going back to my first full year, you know, Seattle expansion. We had to worry about that right into free agency. Yeah. It was later, and it was right in the middle of my vacation.

Now, this year, last year, we had a lot of our cases. This year, I'm going to enjoy my vacation next week. So I appreciate that. Do you mind if we get the baglicker Posh on to ask a few questions? Because he's a Devils fan. Posh, you got anything that we... Go ahead. Fitzy, what's up, man? How you doing?

Hi, Posh. Great to see you. Great to see you again, man. Yeah, yeah. Congrats on a hell of a season. I was telling you last when I saw you at the Panthers game, you guys really helped me save face with these guys with that Game 7 win. So appreciate that. If it wasn't for that, I'd be hiding out in the cabin in the woods right now off the grid.

So what a year. What a year by you guys. A couple questions for you. The one, everybody talks about how the Devils have, you know, a couple of the best defensive prospects in the league. But a guy that's kind of flown under the radar is Seamus Casey um tell me a little bit about what you see in him well he's he's right he's uh he doesn't fly under the radar i could tell you that you know um just in comparison to Hughes and Nemitz i mean yeah for sure um he's when you're

talking to teams he's probably one of the names that come up all the time he's just a he's a he's a very mobile you slower right shot d-man that can it's very elusive um these kids that don't get hit much you know um but he can transition the pot he's really good walking the blue lines he's very aggressive his gaps are good we just had him at camp they look great you know go back to school and continue to hone in on his craft there at Michigan. Love it. Love it. Another prospect I want to ask you about is Alex Holtz, seventh overall pick from a few years back.

I'd say he's perhaps the one prospect who hasn't really been on schedule development-wise. You know, not necessarily a knock on him. I think he's, you know, the future's bright for him. But do you think that's a product of your team just being deeper than expected and not really having much top six opportunity for him? Or what do you think, you know, he needs to work on to get to kind of fill his potential? Well, second question, I'll answer first.

We'd like to see more pace from him. You know, we know he's got great vision. He's held a passer and we all know he can shoot the puck. But just working on that pace constantly, keeping those legs moving, just anticipating here and there is probably the things we've asked him to really concentrate on. As far as his development, you know what? I probably need to take some blame there because I really felt, well, one,

I didn't think we're going to be as good as we were um he had a good camp he came in and then his kind of role slid a little bit and then our fourth line was a line that could all always play against other teams top lines if need be and they were getting some more ice time and um the only one as jack said that 13 game heater and coaches aren't changing a lineup they're not unfortunately um i just i truly felt that you can develop at the national league level because you're practicing with and against nhl players every day fast and strong better passers like that's that's. It should be. But as the year kicked away and games started to kind of add up,

practices became irrelevant. You weren't getting everybody on the ice at the same time. The 30-minute skate, you guys know this. Yeah. And I probably should have sent Tim down, but I did. And I'll take full responsibility. We do believe in him as a player. What he can do on the ice, he can't teach.

He's going to get an opportunity here to play with some good players. But, you know, for me individually, he's got to make sure he comes in camp ready to take a job. You know what? Those worst problems to have, I think five years ago, if you said the Devils would have, you know, too deep of a roster for prospects to be cracking

and anybody would take that. So it's a good problem to have. Get the lotion out. Here comes the double wrister. Hey, Fitzy, quickly, we never talked about your media career. You worked for Nesson

as soon as you finished playing, right? I did. Yeah. How did you enjoy that? I really didn't at first um i just found it really hard to critique my ex-teammates from a year months earlier you know you're trying to as you guys know you're trying to tell the fans really where the breakdown was and i i had a hard time with that quite honest. The next year when I took the – so that was – I went right in in 06, 07. I did college hockey, some college stuff, starting in January

as an analyst for the Friday night game. And I enjoyed that. Easier ripping the kids? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was. Just laying into these fucking college kids. Look at this lazy back check, this piece of shit.

He was probably out last night boozing. The next year, they actually called me to see if I'd come in and help audition a play-by-play guy. I already had the Pittsburgh job, and I went in, and I was just so much more relaxed, and he was way smoother. And they were like, do you want to come back? I'm like, no, I don't want to do this. That was it.

Yeah, that was my career. I got one more obligatory Bruins question. You were here 04 through 06. We had the lockout. Joe Thornton trade happens early in the season. You got it out of the gate slow. Did you guys think you were getting punked when you heard about that trade in the room just because they had just signed him for three years?

Ari, I kid you not. My old man called me and said, they just traded Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks. I was like, what? Well, we got to get Marlo acting. We got to get, you know, he's like, I don't know, Primo, all great guys. The guy is Stuart Primo. Marco Stern had a great career in the arc. But that caught all of us off guard a little bit, to say the least. Then he goes on and he's the MVP. Anyways, management, don't treat your best player. Write that one down. Well, listen, Tom, you're a guy I used to check the box quiz as a kid looking for your name way back in the 80s and 90s. So to come full circle like this, it's been a real treat for me, pal.

So we appreciate it. Thanks for coming on. It's been great. I'm sorry I disappointed you every Sunday. You're not seeing my name. No, that's all right. That's all right. Keith was there, too.

He was making up for it. So I said, always get the penalty minutes. Your name shows up. But I appreciate it, guys. This was fun. And before we continue, I need to talk to you about Le Bat Bleu, the beer of the summer right now, the beer of the season. And many things are better together.

Hockey, food, golf, all of it is more enjoyable with your buddies and only if you're doing that with Le Bat Bleu. And we have a sandbagger coming out pretty soon, Ryan Getzlaff, Kevin Bieksa. And they are crushing and we are crushing Labatt Blue. So take a page out of Labatt Blue Light book and enjoy your beers together so you can live life to the power of we. Find Labatt Blue Light at labattusa.com slash finder. Once again, that's find

Labatt Blue Light at labattusa.com slash finder. Thank you very much to Fitzy. That was a blast. So thanks once again. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Grinelli, you've been texting me videos of your golf swing and telling me that you're the best golfer on the podcast, which is a ballsy statement. Um, considering I would say you're three out of four. And if you include army and Merle's,

I think you're five out of six. So why, why are you so like cocky and confident? What are you shooting? So I played the absolute best round of my life about a week ago and for a week straight no i don't if you think you were the only one getting those texts just about everyone in my phone was getting those texts i'm the best golfer ever i shot a 46 on nine ball in hand. So your best career round was nine holes.

It wasn't even 18. No, I stopped at nine. I was playing amazing. I'm not pushing it. Cause I know I would have fallen apart. He's got, he had the best round of his life and it wasn't even a full round of golf.

Cause I know I would have completely fallen apart on the back nine. So I got to stay up. I got to stay positive. So Taylor made, sent me some clubs. I'm all dialed in, ready to go. I I'm taking lessons at the Hudson golf down the street.

I'm I'm ready, man. You saw my swing. It's a good swing. I have a really good golf swing. You can't deny that. I got to see this. Send me some show.

Send me some videos. I'll send it to you right now. This is all very, like this is all very, what's the word i'm looking for relative because i mean your swing's okay but like a very good golf swing like what are you talking about my swing's kind of brutal but i was at a golf tournament in erie a few weeks ago there was a long horrible swing it's not a very good swing grinnellinnelli's? I think for someone who has played as much golf as I have

in the past four years, who basically cut off two fingers four years ago and has no feeling in half of his hand, it's not a bad golf swing. It actually does look better now that I look at it. It's a good golf swing. People tell me all the time. They're like, it's a good golf swing.

And I have no feeling in half my hand. You know what? It's a little better than I thought. It's a little better than I thought. It's a little better than I thought. Does he look good? Does he look like a little drowned rat when he's golfing like he usually does? Is he tucked in? No, no.

I don't mind a shirt untucked, though. He's got the hat backwards. I don't even know if that's allowed on most golf courses. Doesn't bother me, but probably not allowed. I was in New Hampshire. Doesn't matter. Yeah, he takes it. We'll post this.

You know what? Let's let the people decide. The backswing is way better than the follow through and the finish. Does he cork it? He's a very simple, actually pretty nice on plane,

lefty golf swing on the way back. Comes down, releases it pretty good. And i videoed my hole i videoed my hole the entire hole and it happened to be the best hole i played all day i have every single shot i parted out it was unbelievable i'm telling you boys you did like a jake marsh video kind of thing or what yeah yeah i love when he does that quick little 90 second tick tock of it all wow can you know what can i see that my swing my swing shit right now like i think your swing might might actually i don't think you're that good at golf but your swing's decent look and i take

that's that's the point i'm making is i got a good swing wedding when i watch that one you know what's brutal about a golf swing and a hockey guy's, you know, the natural movement, we get thrown into that like it should be easy. But I think we get into the twisting, like we twist differently, right? It's not like that nice composed like shoulder twist that you're supposed to have. It's like more, I get caught in with the baseball corking like. Yeah, it's so different than a baseball swing. It's so different. And if you do that, you're screwed. Then you get in your head, you get like, you know how you reef so different than a baseball swing it's so it's so different and if you do that you're screwed then you get in your head you get like you get screwed i was golfing

in a thing the other day and like literally last few holes i was standing over the ball and like with no clue what to do yeah and i kept i kept trying to wiggle around to get comfy and have you ever gotten that where you're trying to wiggle around you you're like, I can't do it. I can't hit the ball. I literally my brain is breaking. Unbelievable. Anyone who plays golf knows that feeling. You're like, I don't I can't hit this ball right now. I know this is going to be a bad shot. I was trying to dial it up when I'm stepping up.

I take one practice swing, maybe because the more practice swings I start taking, I get in my head and I start thinking about it. And that's when I get fucked. So if I just get up there, grip it and rip it. Yeah, exactly. And the thing is, golf's so nuts because there's also the amount of times that you stand over it and you know you're going to hit a good one. Yeah. And you're like, I'm going to smash this thing right now.

Oh, that feels good. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and getting in that. Yeah, I know. So the more thought, the worse you're gonna be at golf that that's a fact so yeah granelli granelli's basically just like a a brian harman um twin right now just his lefty giving golf advice because he shot 47 and a nine hole four if you ever get through 18 holes let me know what you are i might maybe i'm looking for another partner in a sand

bagger well i played in a scramble yesterday which was perfect coming off coming off the best round of my life by playing a scramble keep the positive vibes going so i'm i'm feeling great right now colby if you need another partner i'm here for you so scrambles are fun right when we're with your buddies but they're also i think a lot of people want to play their own ball. But if you're just looking to get after it. But, Corneli, on the 46 or 47? 46. 46.

Did you putt the ball in the hole? Did you scoop a couple? Nope. Ball in hand. So here's the thing. So yesterday, the scramble, I played in a tournament with my girlfriend's family. So I needed an honest. Because when I go like I cheat, like, you know what I mean?

Like I'm not a legit. Yeah. You just, yeah, you do. You have, you have fun. Like if you're not playing. Exactly. I just try to have fun. So I was like, all right, I went alone.

I'm like, I need a real legitimate, like I need to know how good I am at golf before I go into this with my girlfriend's entire family, like 50 cousins. And so, yeah, that's why I went. Were you bad in the scramble? No, I was great in the scramble. So hold on. You didn't do one like you were kind of close, like a two-footer, and you're like, I'm good. I know.

You putted every ball into the hole. So I had one mulligan. I had one mulligan on the second hole. Oh, my God. You shoot 46. You fucking little bitch. I had one mulligan on the second hole. I can't lie to you guys.

But that's it. My best career round that wasn't even a full round tells us 10 minutes later he took a mulligan. Which immediately makes it not a real round. What an unbelievable turn of events. Respect the honesty. Just respect the honesty. That's all I can say. Well, I guess the second time, it's like, yeah,

if you lie at the beginning. What a turn of events. But it was ball in hand the entire time besides the second hole. Just one mulligan off the team. That was like when Kevin Spacey's Kaiser Soce at the end, the usual suspect. The whole story changes. Holy shit. All you said was, okay.

I heard okay. I said, here we go. I took one mulligan. Holy shit. Where did the ball go when you took a mulligan? I think it might have gone in the water. Auto-double. Auto-double. 48. I don't know.

Oh my god, this is a story. He might have put another one in the water next. 50. This is why I didn't play the back nine. It was all coming apart. We basically shot Tom Wilson's age God we broke down that confidence Oh my god I'm the greatest golfer alive

Oh I needed that boys I haven't laughed that hard I'm crying Ding ding ding ding Well G you know what though Fuck it I love that you're playing golf I've told you for a while you should start playing golf So I know you're in the city. It's actually impossible to live in New York city and play a decent amount of

golf, but, um, or you're in Jersey, but, um, wait, wait,

so wait, well, am I allowed to golf with you now? Because every question I always get when I'm out with chicklets fans, I see someone at the bar. They're always like, dude, what's it like to just like hang with Witt,

go on the golf course with him, just kick it with him. I'm like, you know, I've never gone golfing with Witt. I've never got the invite. Been waiting for the invite to Old Sandwich. You told me once that you,

you told me once that, yeah, you don't want to golf with me. I'm horrible. I don't, I, I don't remember that, but I do want to golf with you. You're like, I hit ground balls. I'm horrible.

I was like, oh, okay. You kind of like downplayed your game. G seems like the guy that could play a little bit, because I know he doesn't play. I know he's busy. His stuff he's doing. But I feel like this is me in my head. I feel like G could just put a little bit,

like if he really dialed it and tried to get out there a little more, he'd be better than me in a short period of time. He's like little, scraggly, probably compounded. That would be a great match to set up. You think he could take me? I think you'd get him, Armie. I think you'd get him. At least if he can't take a mulligan again. If he's low 90s, it'll be a battle.

Yeah, low 90s is... Is that where you're at? No, I'd say I'm, yeah, high 90s, low 90s is is that where you're at no i'd say i'm yeah high high 90s low how many mullies two or three maybe four what a turn of events what a story i love it i love it i'll be keeping track of you g send me some of those videos dude i like seeing that stuff i want to see how you're doing i love that you're golfing, too. Yeah, I love that, G. I love that. I got you, boys. It's great catching up with you guys, though.

I've missed doing this. And Army, thank you so much. Hopefully everything's all right with RA. And just to preface real quick, we started recording at 9 p.m. I texted Army at 8.56. Four minutes later, he jumped on with us. So just shout out to you. Stick taps to Army. Oh yeah, it's good to be up here. I was like, what's going

on? What are we doing? How's this going? What's happening? So it was great to be on here. Yeah, it was great to be on here, break down some stuff. A great interview from Tommy Fitz and good luck with your golf tournament coming up here with whatever you have, your member guest, member member. I don't know. Yeah, I actually got to go over in the morning and buy some

Mulligan cards. They sell them for the tourney. So I'll get on that. G keep, keep doing your thing. Army. Thanks again. Love you. Love you boys.

And I'll talk to you soon.