Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 46: Featuring Elliotte Friedman

Episode Date: September 29, 2017

On Episode 46, RA and Whits kick things off discussing the Stanley Cup odds for the 2017-18 season and who might be a dark horse before welcoming Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman to the show. The esteemed Canadian journalist tells us about the road he took to his current position, his insight on the Matt Duchene situation in Colorado, the future of John Tavares on Long Island, whether anthem-kneeling will be a story that carries into the season, and much more. The fellas also talk about the Paul Kariya interview on TSN and Brian Boyle before finishing up with #AllRightHamilton questions.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

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See DraftKings.com for details. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 46. What up? What is up? Fittin' Chicklets brought to you by Barstool Sports. 46? Is it 46 now? 46, right? Yeah. I think every like five I'm like, oh, whoa, five more. David Krejci. Honestly, I feel like Walt and fucking Jesse right now, me and you, because there's a fly in my house

because the 90 degree weather came back and they woke the fucking flies up. We're going to kill each other if not this fly. I might just slap you in the face and then say, oh, it was on your face. Fucking Three Stooges style. Oh, wise guy. I don't mean, I don't. We need to get this racket.

If anyone ever seen, I got this tennis racket thing where you just electrocute the bugs. Yeah, I need to get one even now that it's October. Producer Mikey Grinelli, who also, I believe it's producer slash Barstool blogger. Oh, yes. I saw that, buddy.

Mikey Grinelli is going to be covering college hockey for the esteemed website, Barstool Sports. Welcome to the crew, bro. Thank you, gentlemen. Top 10 teams are just going to be the top 10 hockey East teams. Yeah. Or maybe throw in an ECAC team. I thought you'd like I put BU on. I loved it.

I was actually like, how is Denver not one? But then I read your blog and you kind of made me proud of BU. Ottinger, yeah. Or maybe throw in an ECAC team. I thought you'd like I put BU on. I loved it. I was actually like, how is Denver not one? But then I read your blog, and you kind of made me proud of BU. Ottinger, baby. Yeah, exactly. You need a goalie. You need a goalie. Welcome to the writing squad at Boston. Obviously, college hockey starting up.

NHL starting up as well. Well, this episode will, of course, be dropping Friday. The season will be two days old. Exactly. The last, well, that's next week, but yeah. Very true. Back to the future. Preseason will be two days away from being old.

Basically, yeah, we'll have this episode next week, though. The season we've already started. So naturally, me and Ryan were very interested in the Las Vegas Stanley. I don't know why you call them Vegas, because nobody actually bets their bets in Vegas anymore. Your site. Yeah, your particular site. Of course, we have one. We have a lovely sponsor here that we use.

But, dude, Pittsburgh favorite, 6-1 for the Cup. I wouldn't bet it. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they win, but it's like there's no value there. I mean, three in a row when nobody had had two in a row in 20 years. I mean, I don't know, 6- one, it's like you're not really getting – like your money's not going to – you're not going to make as much money as you should. Right.

It's not – exactly. It's not a ton of value. I mean, and then you go on against the whole history of a team that hasn't won three in a row since the early Hades Islanders. Yeah, when guys dummied beers and cigarettes like right after the game. Like it's a little different now. Exactly. Two in a row I thought might never happen again.

But, yeah, I mean, if you're a fan and if you want to make a good investment, if you're going to put a few thousand dollars down, I mean, then six to one, they're not bad odds for the team. But, again, you're not getting tremendous value in. You're going against the history of a team not doing it for a while. Also, we forgot to tell everyone, we have Elliott Friedman this week. So so he's going to be coming on so we got to actually talk about him with some dark horses but the one dark horse that we had mentioned before and then you know he made us look smart well at least to each other was carolina i mean i really i really like them to

to begin with i think they're at least i don't know about dark horse to win the cup but an improvement this year so you also wonder if they could make some more moves. But they're a team that's like, well, probably quietly, you know, nobody will be talking about them. Then all of a sudden they have some success. I at least think they will. Yeah, they're definitely picking up some steam. You're hearing a lot of people talking about them. They have, you know, they went out, they got themselves.

Well, I can't say they didn't have a goalie. Cam Ward kind of, you know, he was an unbelievable rookie. He had a great career, but the past few years, he hadn't been what he was when he first came up and won the Cup as a rookie against Edmonton. So they weren't getting the goaltending that you need to get to be a really, really good team in the league. Right.

And I think Darling has the chance of doing that for him. But I would also say the team around Ward the last few years wasn't the best team. But they went out, they got Tara Viner from Chicago. They brought in Dallin also from Chicago. Definitely a lot of Chicago flavor on the squad. But, yeah, they've certainly become a fashionable pick. The odds are they're only 25-1.

Same as the Bruins. Again, I would much rather the Bruins in that pick. You would? Really? Yeah, for 25-1. I mean, I just feel like if you're going to pick a team to win the Stanley Cup, maybe it's just because I see some of the young talent in Boston living around here. But I think they're actually going to be a sneaky, solid team this year.

I think they'll be better than they were last year, and they made the playoffs. And, you know, with Cassidy, he came in, they started playing really well. If he had been there earlier in the year last year, maybe the Bruins even had a higher seed than they do. So I think with some of these rookies, they're a team that kind of could surprise. And if you're going to bet 25-1 odds, I'd rather them than the Hurricanes. Yeah, and there's definitely – I see value on the Bruins. I believe they will – I think they only like 16-1 to open the year last year.

So that's much better odds. And like you said, they brought in Cassidy late last year. Had they brought him in earlier, they might have contended for the division lead or whatever. But then you take a look further down. Teams like L.A., St. Louis, 30-1, man. Those are pretty tempting odds. L.A., they've obviously faltered. They're going to have some cap issues.

But they still got a lot of good pieces in place. Jonathan Quick, I mean, hell of a goalie. Drew Dowdy, Anze Kopitar. They still have a lot of good pieces in place. Jonathan Quick, I mean, hell of a goalie. Drew Dowdy, Anze Kopita, they still have a lot of good pieces in place and they're a team that if they do get in the playoffs, man, it wouldn't be the worst thing to be holding a 30-1 team. No, I wouldn't hate that at all. You remember one of the Cups they won,

they were the eighth seed, and they lost two games. They went 16-2. I think they swept the first three rounds. But it's funny you mentioned St. Louis as another team. tough injury news in terms of the year they were going to have is rob fabry who a lot of people probably don't know i would assume that he hasn't really done enough that most hockey fans would know who he is but he was a really really great young player coming up with st louis my last year playing was his

rookie year he was a first round pick played in the OHL and he had an amazing camp 19 years old he made the team he ended up playing like world juniors I believe but but he was a a kid you could tell right away like this kid can play he's fast he's he was smaller but it's you know now with the league it doesn't matter and he tore his ACL last year and he missed the entire year but then this year you, it's no big deal when you tear your ACL. At least when I heard it, I wasn't worried because I'd met him and got to know him. He's a really nice kid, actually. Me and Biz hung out with him. When we were the clowns, we were the jesters for St. Louis camp.

We were hanging out with Fabry a couple nights. So I'm thinking he's going to come back. And just the other night, he tore the same ACL again. And, I mean mean you feel so bad he had he had a press conference that um i just saw a clip of that he just looks so i mean he's probably worried about if he'll ever be able to play hockey and it makes me sick to my stomach but he's a guy that was going to be on a top two line for st louis and they lose him and now you're like oh i mean that just kills their chances i know that's i mean we're talking a long shot

odd to win the cup anyways but it just sucks for that kid. And you saying the Blues name reminded me of that. Yeah, that's a huge loss. Maybe they signed Jager. I mean, they're complete opposite types of players, but, I mean, now they need a winger. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen. You mean Paul Bissonnette, the rattlesnake hunter?

Oh, dude, if people didn't see that. Can you get that online or is it probably? Yeah, no, just go to, well, it's on the Biz's Twitter. I'm sure. Just go to BizNasty 2.0. That was like a legit funny reality show for 20 minutes. Dude, it was crazy. Our frequent guest, Paul Bissonnette, Biz Nasty, he shut his garage out in what's Phoenix

area, Scottsdale. And the garage closed down on a rattlesnake in his driveway. And he didn't know it until he came home later and opened the door. And the snake had the indentation from the garage door, but it was still alive. So he had a pretty crazy video. Check that out. Because stuff we don't have to deal with in the Northeast. Oh, fuck, it's still alive.

Holy shit. Yeah, he definitely was giving some hilarious narration. But quickly going back to the cupboards here. I think there's some decent value. We got Pittsburgh 6-1 Anaheim's plus 750 Edmonton plus 750, which is crazy Isn't it crazy, Edmonton's the

Who would you think's going to win a cup first? Edmonton or Toronto? I think those are the two If you're going to pick a Canadian team The next Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, it's one of those two Wow, you know, Toronto might be a little more balanced But Edmonton's so top heavy. Yeah, I know.

Connor McDavid makes it tough to bet against them, but you've seen Matthews this preseason. He's incredible. He had a hat trick the other night. He looks like he's going to be better than last year. Toronto, 12-1, which is, again, hilarious.

These teams that were lottery bubble teams a couple years ago. But I think there's some good value to be had just outside of the top few teams. Chicago 9-1. I like Chicago. You know, Tampa Bay 9-1. Dallas 10-1. I think those are kind of actually a little too low for them. They improved, though.

Elliot talks about them briefly. Yep. And the Predators 10-1. They were in the cup final last year. So there's some good value out there. I always look for not necessarily the team that you think is going to win the chalk, but a team that, okay, this would be a nice price if I could pop that on. Yeah, I mean, the thing with futures, I've said to you before,

is that if you bet a bunch of futures, for me, it's like all of a sudden, the regular season ends, I didn't win one, and I'm down tons of money. I'm like, oh, shit. So I don't end up ever doing them. But you're the guy who's hit on like 20 futures that I've heard of. So it's like you just always – will you bet over 10 teams to win the cup? It's possible by the time the playoffs start I may have that many. Usually I bet like one or two at the beginning of the year.

Oh, so preseason you'll just pick one or two right now? Yeah. Plus, like we were talking about too, it can be dangerous when you have an online account like we use MyBookie. If you're using that account, you're kind of getting credit cuffed to you, so it's easy to make these bets when you don't have to come up with the dough out of your pocket.

Like when you're actually in Vegas, you have to come up with the dough. I've run some tabs during the season. Then if you go 0 for 15, then you're stuck with your thumb up your ass at the end of the season. Like the regular season ends April 7th or whatever, and you're just like, uh. And then a bank on West Broadway was robbed on April 8th. I almost got a broken leg for this week's podcast.

A club foot. So, yeah, I'm not a big, will this team make the playoffs or the points totals? I'm not a big fan of those plays. I just like, you know, the cup wages. And plus, too, like last year I had Nashville, and, you know, they get to the final, and you can hedge it the other side and, you know, guarantee yourself a few bucks. So, all right, so, yeah, I don't know. I haven't done anything yet.

I'm a last-second guy, but I could see myself throwing something on Chicago at 9-1. Yeah, I like that. Nobody's talking about them. They still have these – like after last year, kind of – not kind of. They were embarrassed in the first round, swept. That's why Merle had them, of course. So, I mean, I think they come back hot. It's just you look down and you see like – look at Detroit.

They're going to have a tough year. They just moved into a new building, but they're in that rebuilding kind of time. So it's just different. it's a different age. You talk about these teams that were terrible two years ago, three years ago, and now they're up there as favorites. But Anaheim, too, I mean, plus seven, plus seven and a half. I mean, they're good, though. I think they don't get talked about enough, but they've been there the past few years.

It's just can they finally get over that final hurdle? I just thought there'd be a little bit more value from them, I guess. I mean, I'm surprised to see them tied with Edmonton and Washington after Pittsburgh for the number two team. They just go to so many Game 7s every year. All right, well, that little segment has been brought to you by our friends at MyBookie.ag. I want to talk to you guys about our particular friends there.

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You win. You get paid. Expert or rookie, you got to check out MyBookie. Sign up today. All right, so check that site out. Now we're going to bring in the esteemed hockey media member from our friends north of the border. Just the guy who's always on the go, getting scoops, having sources. All the time.

Like I mentioned, he's one of the Premier journalists In Canada Well if he tweets something It's not like Reading it on Like What is it Hockeytrades.com

Yeah Those bullshit sites So Hockey rumors It's gospel Exactly You know it's going down So that's why

We appreciate Elliot coming on If it's coming from Elliot You know it's good And what we talk about With him about Sourcing and stuff So if he If he is ever wrong

It's not his fault It's his asshole sources So We'll blame anyone else and stuff. So if he is ever wrong, it's not his fault. It's his asshole sources. We'll blame anyone else. All right, so now we're going to bring in Elliot Friedman from Sportsnet up in Canada. And now it is the pleasure of spitting chicklets to bring with you one of Canada's truly great hockey journalists. I kind of have, I know Mount Rushmore sort of played out down here in the States, but I have my Mount Rushmore Canadian hockey journalist and Bobby McKenzie, Pierre Lebrun, Darren Drager, and our guest today, Elliot Friedman of Sportsnet.

Welcome to the show, Elliot. Well, that's interesting. I've never heard of any of those three other guys, but thank you very much. We don't mention them, Elliot. It's just you, buddy. Now, we've got a new season starting now. Wednesday night, we've got the opener.

What number of years is this for you covering the NHL? How many years have you been doing it now, Elliot? Well, I mean, for Hockey Night in Canada, 15. But, like, I've been in the business for now coming up on 25 years. And in Canada, you always cover hockey one way or the other, right? It's not like you can escape it. So it's most of the last 25 years. So, all right, Elliot, so I don't think anyone really knows

besides some of my buddies, but I'm starting to get into the hockey Big J journalist type landscape. So I'm at NHL Network. I've worked up at Sportsnet where you're one of the kings up there. And people don't really know that you really helped me. You were the beginning of helping me get into kind of what I'm doing now. And I've always told you how grateful I am for that. So what was kind of your beginning in getting into it?

And I know you'd mentioned you didn't always cover hockey at the beginning. But just to get into the beginning of your career, how did that go? Well, when I got out of school, it was 1993, and I was actually a writer. I wanted to be a sports writer. Like probably a lot of people who are my age and way into the business, I love Sports Illustrated. I subscribe to Sports Illustrated. No Twitter.

No Twitter at this point, right? What's that? No Twitter at this point. There was no Twitter at this point. No Twitter at this point. This is 93. There was no Twitter. You could write in more than 140 characters.

So I wanted to be a sports illustrator writer, but at that time, like the economy was bad and I'm from Toronto. There were no jobs in Canada in print. I kept all my rejection letters. I got, I think I got 22 rejection letters from jobs I applied to and I kept them all until I lost them actually in a flood and I couldn't get a job so I started volunteering at a radio station the sports radio station in Toronto and it kind of took off from there I mean you guys know how it goes you you go in at ridiculous hours of the day and you do whatever they tell you to do and then if you keep your mouth shut you do a good job you okay you want to do this okay do you want to do this and then if you keep your mouth shut, you do a good job.

Okay, do you want to do this? Okay, do you want to do this? And it kind of took off from there. My real big break was when the Raptors came to Toronto because there weren't a lot of people who knew basketball, and I was a big basketball fan. So that kind of gave me a chance to become more of a day-to-day reporter type guy. When did you make the transition from strictly writing to television? I don't know if you guys catch HBO Real Sports at the same time we do down here.

I'm not being a wise guy about Canada and the United States, but I know it just aired the other night in the United States, but about Will McDonough and how he was the football writer. He was kind of the first guy to do that, who was a newspaper guy. And then he became a TV personality. And that's kind of been like, I guess, the blueprint from everybody since. So when did you sort of make that transition from strictly writing to become more of a physical presence on TV? Well, I went into TV in April of 97, and I was terrible when I started.

I'm not afraid to admit that and as people will tell you I'm moderately less terrible now but I was really bad then and you know Will McDonough though like he was a god like I know you guys have your Boston connections and at the time Will McDonough went from print to television um he he um he was like god in the business. Everybody knew who he was. He was a big star. He was one of the most well-connected reporters around. When I went to TV, I was still basically about three or four years into my career, and I did not have anywhere near the same clout that Will McDonough had. I do more writing now than I ever really did then. And the issue was I just couldn't find a place to write. There was no internet. There was no vehicle. So I went into TV as much because it

was the next step up as opposed to because somebody really said, wow, he's a great writer. We got to have him. And so now it's funny, like you've now turned into what we were saying before is similar to Bob mckenzie just a complete hockey insider you're you know in a way like adam schaefter is to the nhl so it's always interesting to me because when you say something and like we said those other guys say something you know it's fact you know it's true and you have so many sources so when you're doing that job regularly like are you calling people like out of nowhere even if you haven't heard from or are you just waiting for sources to call you?

And, like, how does that, how busy is day-to-day with kind of keeping up with everyone that you're connected with in the NHL? You know, Ryan, I don't think you can ever sit there and wait for anyone to call you. Yeah. Like, I have a group of about 15 to 20 guys who I talk to quite a bit. And, like, sometimes they get really sick of me. There was one guy when something was going on, and I would text him first thing in the morning, has anything changed?

And then I would text him at night, and I'd say just before, like at 7 or 8 at night, and I'd say, has anything changed? And then in the morning, I'd text him again. And finally, he called me and he says, you know what changes between the time you text me at night and in the morning? I said, again. And finally, he called me and he says, you know, it changes between the time you text me at night and in the morning. I said, No, what is he goes, I wake up, like, give it a bit of a break. And so like, I think that that's the way it is. I think a lot of us

have people in the business that we talked to. And, you know, you text them and what's going on anything happening and then a lot of your information flows from there they'll say check this or check that and you know like that's kind of where it all goes and I think there's also like among the sources unless someone really gets mad at you really persistent about something or you're really on top of something. Generally, I think, you know, you get three kinds of people. There's kinds of people who say, look, like, I don't like you. It's because I don't want to answer your question.

And I respect that. I would rather have that than somebody who lies to you. And then you get the people who lie to you. And, you know, you have to be very careful what you what information you get from them yeah like i i totally would see that your job like you almost not you don't want people to be annoyed with you but you're like listen i gotta know i have to have them know that i'm persistent and then that's kind of like how you do your job but it's just funny to me like with the sources you have has there ever been an instant when somebody really

comes to you and says listen who was that source i'm sure you know and then you have, has there ever been an instant when somebody really comes to you and says, listen, who was that source? I'm sure, you know, and then you have to stick by it. Is that difficult when someone says something like that to you? It was when I first started because you can be really intimidating. You're new in the business and you get something and somebody comes after you and they say, who told you this? But I have a standard line, line guys that i give to people who ask me you know and and to be honest most guys don't ask it anymore like they're they understand that it's not going to happen but um what i'll say is if i told you who told me that would you ever trust me with private information again yeah and uh they they understand that. They respect that. Because they're not going to tell you anything if they think they can

pressure you to get information out of you that you don't want to give, like who told you something. Yeah, it's almost like a test. Right. I think people in the business, they respect that you won't give it up. Yeah. I mentioned at the beginning that we're going to be coming up on a new season Wednesday night. Where are you going to be kicking off the year from, Elliot?

What city will you be in? I'm in Toronto at the studio. I'm one of the panelists on our Wednesday night hockey show. So we have the big doubleheader that night, including Connor McDavid's playing in the late game, and it's Austin Matthews and Patrick Laine in the early game. So we're really excited about that because those are some great young players. And, geez, this league is getting younger and younger every year.

I'm not sure how many of these guys can even shave anymore. They're so young. It is crazy. And we were talking to Mati St. Louis a couple weeks ago, and I asked him, have you ever seen this much talent in the league at once? And he said he don't think he has. What about you? Have you ever seen this amount of talent in this league at one time?

Well, I think the golden age was like the Gretzky-Lemieux years, like when we had like there were 10 50 goal scorers in the National Hockey League. I think like the players are incredibly talented. There's no question about it. And they train better. I wish we could almost have these players today with the way the game was played in the 80s, with the smaller goalie equipment. If you guys watch classic games, the goalies, they look so much smaller now.

There's so much then. I i mean there was so much more net i almost wish you could have these players with those rules and we could see could conor mcdavid or sydney crosby or austin matthews or stephen stankos could they go for gretzky's record of 92 goals i know i guarantee you one of these guys would get it. No doubt. I know. And it was such a it was just such a different game. It's just so hard to compare to. It's like any sport. The times were different. And so even in 20 years, 30 years, will people look back on the 2017 season as slow? And oh, my God, look how slow those guys look. And it's it's crazy to think that that could happen. And and that kind of brings me to the point that we were talking about your writing before.

And if hockey fans don't know, every week you release 30 Thoughts by Elliott Friedman. It's probably one of the most informing columns every week. And I was reading the one that came out yesterday. And your number five point is that the majority of the games this year in the league could be played by players under the age of 27 years old, which is just insane to me when you think, you know, not long ago, you saw a lot of 32-, 33-year-old veterans, and they're just not there anymore.

So you've seen that. And one of those young guys, though, that just got hurt yesterday is Robbie Fabry. And how brutal is that injury for the Blues? It's almost scary. Like, is there a chance that knee's kind of done for good? Well, I hope not. By the way, Rear Admiral, this is

Ryan's jealousy coming out that all the league is so young. And I look and feel old. I'm just disgusted. He asked me if I was going to make a comeback one time. I almost puked. Hell, I'm jealous. I'm jealous of him, Elliot. I wish I was 10 years younger.

You know, and I agree. I watched the St. Louis Blues put that media conference up on the internet. I feel so bad for them. It was brutal to watch. The kid's heartbroken. I know. It's really tough to watch. And he was, I got to meet him at the Blues training camp his rookie year.

He made the team. He was unreal. I was like, this kid has a really bright future. And then last year, tore his ACL. Andl and you know people come back from that now but to tear the same one again i just felt so bad for him and i didn't know if you had talked to him i just did i figured you might have just seen the press conference yeah i haven't spoken to him and he did say he wouldn't take any questions until after the surgery was but you know it's interesting like just before you guys uh i came on today

like you guys were talking about um the challenges you face with sources and stuff like i had a story this morning i got a tip that um josh anderson from columbus had asked for a trade he's in a contract dispute right now he's got no contract uh for this year and i had heard that he'd asked for a trade and i checked with the agent he said i'm not going to comment i checked with the team and and i said uh and they said they're not going to comment so i wrote the story and then the gm of the team yarmulke line he called later and said you know i haven't been told that he wants trade and and we're not going to trade him so you have that moment where you're like, oh my goodness.

And like, did I just blow this entirely here? And then you go back, you walk back, and you figure out who's talking about what. And it sounds like it could have been like a semantics issue that he asked for a sign-in trade or something like that. We'll see. But in those moments, guys, like you are panicking and saying did i somehow screw this up yeah i mean i'm not going to name names but you know you remember the the one former player who

just made a big mistake and and and it's just it's hard to see because it's almost like your reputation it's crazy this one tweet can kind of really ruin what people think so the fear you have of making sure it's true is definitely, there's got to be some anxiety to that. Yes, there absolutely is. Because you know what? Like if you blow something, man, you certainly feel it. There's no question about that.

Yeah, and it's even worse when it's really not your fault, which in the case of the former player, Ryan, is not going to name. I don't know who he's talking about. A guy kind of got, you know, somebody changed their mind after the fact. But anyways, getting getting back to the modern modern day here, the couple storylines to kick off the season. I think probably the the biggest one is Matt Duchesne in Colorado. We've seen his body language. We've seen the interviews. He certainly doesn't look like a guy who wants to pull on that mountain sweater again this year.

Where do you think, A, he may end up, and B, how soon can we expect him to get traded? Well, I think Colorado has made it very clear that they're going to do this at their own pace. Like, I haven't heard as much lately, but you never know if that's because nothing's going on or it's, you know, what's the old line? It's the calmness before the storm, so you're always wondering if you're missing something. Colorado has made it very clear they are making this deal at their own pace.

They're going to do it on their schedule and nothing else. So we have to wait until they get an offer that they like. You know, who's there? You know, Columbus has definitely been there. They've been really interested. No question about that um i think um you know i think that uh other teams have kind of kicked around at times you know boston has kind of looked at it uh calgary i think has looked at it anaheim i think has looked at it nashville has certainly looked at. I think there's a lot of teams that have kind of kicked it around,

but they're not close. And, you know, Carolina was a team that considered it, but they didn't want to pay the price that Colorado asked, and that was Noah Hannafin, a guy that you guys know pretty well. So I think there's a lot of teams interested, but until someone steps up and pays the price Colorado set, they're not making that deal. So switching gears more to where you live at, Toronto looks great. I think Edmonton looks solid, but what's going on in Montreal?

Is there any panic there? I mean, I think are they 0-6 or 0-7 in the preseason? And I know it's preseason, right? But have you heard any rumblings of what's going on there? I saw that Julian was kind of critical of how the defense have played and things like that. Ryan, you know Montreal. There's always panic.

There's panic there. It may not be on the team, but there's panic in the city. Yes. You know what? I think they're a little worried. I mean, you always look at the guy in goal and you say, we got a chance because we got this guy here in Carey Price. But, you know, this is a league now where if you don't have centers,

it's really hard to win. Yep. You know, and they're not great down the middle. And I think the toughest thing is they have a player in Galchenyuk. They hope that he can be a center, and the coaches don't believe he's a center. You know, they have Drouin, who might be a center, but I'm not convinced they're 100% certain he's going to be a center.

And it's really hard to win in this league when you don't have that position sorted. And that's the biggest challenge that they have. There's no question about that. Like, they're in tough down the middle. It's tough to win that way. One other player's name we're going to hear a lot about this upcoming season. I don't know if it's the same urgency as Duchesne, but

John Tavares with the Islanders. He's a guy who can be unrestricted after this year. He's obviously the franchise player there. My producer, Mikey Grinelli, just handed me a piece of info that the Islanders are looking to purchase a spot at Belmont Park to potentially put a new arena there now that's obviously would take a few years with uh for you know as far as swing as far as swing Tavares I don't know how how much that will help if it's going to take years to build an arena but

what's your sense of how that's going to play out with Tavares does he stay in the Island or does he uh does he go and uh see what he can get in free agency? You know, we have seen Steven Stamkos took less money to stay. He just likes to work on hockey and not worry about the other stuff. He's very loyal to the New York Islanders.

I think they know if they get that arena sorted out, they've got a chance to keep them. A good chance to keep them. If they don't get that arena sorted out, they've got a chance to keep him, a good chance to keep him. If they don't get that arena sorted out, then all bets are off. How fast that moves, or at least get the approval to build the arena, is the whole key to the deal. Because if they don't get a new arena done by the time he's a UFA, an unrestricted free agent, I think it's going to be really tough for them to keep him.

Yeah, it's just such a weird scenario how they ended up in Brooklyn. I went to a game there, and it was just, there was, I will say when they beat Florida in the playoffs, it looked pretty crazy. But the night I was there, it was a February game, and it just seemed so dead. It wasn't made for hockey. So, I mean, I imagine. And they weren't very good at the time.

Yeah, exactly. So that's the other problem. Exactly. I mean, I can't imagine what he would get on the open market. He's such a special player that I think could do so much more if he was on a better team. But the loyalty you talk about doesn't surprise me because I've heard he's such a good guy. But going to the Olympics. You know what? He'll have a blank check.

Yeah. But I'll tell you, he's going to be one of those guys. Like, if you were to tell me that in a year from now, he was going to take less money to go somewhere where he could win, wouldn't surprise me in the least bit. That guy wants to win. That's the only thing he cares about. Yeah, you've got to think this stage in the career,

a guy's got to take a long look at what the franchise he's on is doing. And if somebody else out there is, like you said, they don't necessarily give him the most money, but give him the best opportunity to win. One other story that's been sort of percolating down here in the States is about the kneeling for the anthem stuff. We hate to even really go political on a hockey show, but it has become a hockey story. The Penguins opted to send out a statement on Sunday during all the NFL stuff, which a lot of people, myself included, thought the timing was a little odd. It seemed like it created a storyline where the one didn't exist.

And then, you know, Joel Wood, he didn't rule out doing it. P.K. Subban said in a club the other night that he would absolutely stand up for the anthem. So do you see this becoming a storyline in the NHL going into the season, or is it just kind of the – Please say no. Please say no. No, I think – like if somebody takes a knee, and Wayne Simmons of Philadelphia yesterday just said that it was possible

that he would take a knee, then you know it's going to be a story. Because, you know, the one thing that we're seeing is, like, I've been watching, like, the NFL, like every other sports fan. The anthem is, it's, look, I don't think any of the, like, I don't think any of these players are protesting the anthem. We know that they're not doing that. But the anthem, especially at a time where the united states is at war it's such an important thing for people like for example you know my family came to canada after the holocaust

in 1948 and they had nothing and they built a pretty good life in Canada. And so, you know, like, I respect people's right to protest, and I will support anybody who protests in justice. I'm with Kyle Ocposo of the Buffalo Sabres, who when he was asked about it, he said, I believe in the right to protest, but I wouldn't do it during the anthem. think the anthem uh if for for a lot of people it's a really powerful thing and they don't like to see that fooled around with actually fooled around with a really bad word they don't want to see it used um brought into a situation where there's controversy yeah so i i think like i think there's a lot of very reasonable people who support protest who don't like it during the anthem and that's the issue i think that's what the issue is i think people support the right to protest i think we realize there's a lot of problems that have to get fixed or have to be addressed but i've met a lot of reasonable people who don't like it uh during the anthem and i think it also can open like a

can of worms too it's you know if okay if it it also can open like a can of worms, too. It's, you know, okay, if it's a Canadian player who's, you know, citing, you know, racism on both sides of the border, is he going to now in turn kneel for the Canadian anthem if he was mistreated in that country as well? So I think it can really open up like, you know, a Pandora's box of things. So, you know, obviously players are going to do what they do. And like you said, Elliot, if somebody makes a quote or answers a question, it's news, it's a story, and it's going to be reported on,

especially nowadays when every sort of morsel of information becomes a story on the Internet. So, yeah, that's one I guess we'll just keep an eye on. What, the Internet blows things out of proportion? I've never been aware of that. No, no, no. You didn't know that? It's a new thing, yeah.

People on Twitter are irrational. That's the thing now. So looking ahead toward this season, give us – I've got to hunch who you may say, but every year there's teams that everyone kind of jumps on their bandwagon. Who's the dark horse this year who, not necessarily for the Cup, but might come out of nowhere to at least catch people's eyes, perhaps make the playoffs when they haven't maybe for a few years? Who do you like for that? Carolina is a team that is moving in the right

direction. I don't know if they have enough offense yet, but I think they are moving in the right direction. I've liked Winnipeg for quite some time, but they take all sorts of undisciplined penalties that kill them. i i've liked that i think they've got great young talent you know i i think boston is a year away from being pretty good again with those young some of the young players they've got there and maybe they're a team that gets they were in the playoffs last year but maybe they're a team that takes a step up i kind of like them but i think there's two teams that missed the playoffs last year that if you told me they were going to win the Stanley Cup this year,

I wouldn't be surprised. And that's Dallas and Tampa Bay. Yeah, Dallas. I like Dallas a lot. Yeah, they finally went out and got some goaltending after. They finally got a goalie. It's like you can't win. And a defenseman.

And a defenseman, you're right. And a defenseman. And I think the fact that you mentioned you've got to have centers. They have centers. It's just about having some stuff in the D zone that you can kind of rely on. So I really like them. And Tampa, too. I mean, it's just can everyone stay healthy?

That's the question. I hope Stamkos can because he's a player you haven't seen in so long that just was so great when he was healthy. I agree. Sport's so tough on their bodies. One more for you, Elliot more before we let you go. Do you think we see the first three-peat in the NHL since the early 80s with the Islanders or what?

Would you bet against Sidney Crosby? Nope. I did before, and I told you I should have lost $20,000. I bet Max Talbot. I bet Max Talbot $20,000 that Crosby would never score 50 goals. Swear to God, when we were rookies on Pittsburgh, stupidest bet ever by me, but he set guys up so often, and he had that straight curve.

And, of course, he ends up finding out once I got traded that I made the bet. Getting 50, Talbot didn't make me pay, but that's why I'll never bet against him again. Yeah, it's easy. You know, I've got to tell you, you know what the least surprising part of that story is? That I was wrong? I've seen you at the bar.

Like, I've seen that. Alligator Arms Whitney. Well, you know what? Like, Crosby, like, Connor McDavid's giving interviews the last year where he says, I'm not the best player in the league. And he's not.

Like, you know what? He will be. Yep. But in the league. And he's not. Like, you know what? He will be. But in the playoffs, last year, Sidney Crosby reminded everybody who's the best player in the league. He is. And I'm not betting against that guy ever. And he's 30 years old. I mean, the way his body is, he's so healthy.

He's like, you hear about how crazy Tom Brady is, what he eats. Sid's similar. He works so hard. I mean, he's got three or four years. But then, you know, you think Connor McDavid, but not yet. I tell everyone that, that it's still Crosby's league right now. I agree 100%. He's the best player in the league,

and somebody's going to have to wrest that out of their hands. That's a perfect answer, Elliot, And a good way to conclude this. Listen, Elliot, as I mentioned before, we brought you on here. I've been a huge fan of your work for a long time. So, I mean, it's a great honor to have you on. R.A. loves you. R.A. loves you, buddy. Well, I was a journalism major.

Well, I tried to be a newspaper guy, but the industry died off before I could get there. So, I really do appreciate, like I said, what you do with Bobby Mack and Pierre and Darren. You guys, to me, I think you I can't put my finger on it, but there's a certain thing you guys, I think, do different than perhaps some of our reporters down here. Not just in hockey, but other sports. You do it respectfully. You always give each other

props for each other breaking reports, and you just do it in such a respectful, gentlemanly way that it is appreciated down here by some of us. We're not all savages in america they're nice they're nice canadians they're just friendly canadians to each other so we we appreciate you coming on very much well it's my pleasure and uh all right i'd say you picked you landed on your feet you picked a pretty good spot so i wouldn't regret regret those non-newspaper days. Continued success, guys, and do a great job.

All right, Elliot. Thanks so much. We'll see you soon. That interview with Elliot Friedman was brought to you by Draft.com. Fantasy football fans, listen up. It's not too late to join the 450,000 people that have already downloaded Draft this season. You get to play in a real-life snake draft, but you're in under five minutes and they last for just one week. You can join one right now for week

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And it gets even better. Draft is so sure you'll love it, they're even offering listeners a money-back guarantee up to $100. Just search Draft in your app store or go to Draft.com and come play free right now with the promo code CHICKLETS, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S. Once again, a huge thanks to Elliot Friedman for joining us. Great guy. Great journalist.

Like I said. You're a big fan. Yeah, I'm a big fan. Like I said, it was my major. That's what you're into. I appreciate what those guys do. I think we kind of lack that in the state sometimes. Not that we don't have great reporters here.

We obviously have Schefter with the NFL. Yeah, but it's not the same. Hockey's the number one thing up there. They're going to get all the number one sources, so it's a little different. It is. And they don't seem to really, you know, they don't really have any detractors. Well, it is the internet. I'm sure there are some people who bitch about them, but they just, you know, they do a great job up there,

and it's nice to recognize them, and it was great to have Elliot on. So now it brings us up to the All Right Hamilton. We got any good ones? We're going All Right Hamilton. We do. We do have some good ones. Josh Hildenbrandt It's like All Right Whitney. It really is. I think you are Hamilton. I think that's the

point of this whole thing. Wow, this is deep, man. I think I need to order a double cheese and sausage. I'm Hamilton. You're Hamilton, man. All Right Hamilton. You're Hamilton, man. We're on Hamilton. I don't even mind that nickname. That's a pretty good nickname. Although that play was so stupid, everyone was paying money to do it, so I kind of hate that name.

Wait, Hamilton? That stupid play, Hamilton, that people were paying. Not a big fan of U.S. history? No, or plays. Oh, all right. So Hamilton's fucked. All right, so Josh Hildenbrand asked, with the college b-ball scandal that is going around,

I was wondering were there any sketchy recruiting tactics in college hockey that you've recalled? All right, Hamilton. There was none, and I think I would have got them too because I was a big recruit, you know, not a big deal. So you didn't get blown to go to BU? No, unfortunately. I mean, I missed out on the – well, actually, I didn't miss out on anything.

Hockey missed out on the payment, the money, the cars, the jobs for your parents. Blue Chips, which is a classic movie with Nick Nolte, that's 100% legit. Yeah. And he got game when he goes in and the two girls are in there. That's got to be legit for basketball and football. But hockey is different. You just go there. you get buckled and then usually like the recruit who's there who's staying with you know one of the players in the team like pisses the bed or ends up ruining something and then that's kind of your visit then you just meet with the coach the next

morning so hungover i remember i met with jack parker and i was eating lucky charms i was like oh my god i might throw up but he knows you you know, he knows the guys took you out. So hockey's more low-key, but I mean, that basketball and football stuff's crazy because these shoe companies that you saw that, like, why wouldn't they do that? Especially now when one and done, like, I don't understand why the FBI got involved in this. And maybe I'm just, but isn't this like NCAA? Like, parents got money from a school their kid was making the school tons of money or from a

shoe company that the kid's gonna sign with who's also gonna pay him a ton of money like were laws broken where the FBI needs to be involved someone said that the NCAA actually tipped the FBI off yeah they should deal with this and the teams get like suspensions or whatever but like I don't know it just seems

like the FBI should have better shit to do than this. I mean, they're bringing corruption charges in. I don't know if because it's a major company involved. Guys want a prison for this? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you've got a company paying kids off to sway them to go to a school knowing that they're going to be a client later down the line.

Yeah, but nobody's getting hurt in that. Money laundering, too. There's a lot of money wiring and wire and wire tap like that kind of shit okay so money laundering is different but in terms of like you know the only people you could say getting affected by that are schools who can't afford to get shit done to get a kid to go there but in the end i mean this kid's getting paid to help a school who's making tons of money off them and these these kids a lot of times come from nothing. It just seems like the FBI is a little aggressive for this.

Probably because the government wants a piece of that. It's untaxed, $100,000. Well, there you go. And that's the root of it right there, Mikey. Anytime money's involved that the government doesn't get their piece of, then they're going to come out for it. And then I think you can add in jealousy. Probably whoever, if someone dropped a dime on them, whether it was the NCAA or another program.

You know, Louisville's been a solid program, a top program. Remember they had the hookers, too, and Patino's like, I didn't know about that. Here's the thing, though. Like, this stuff, like, goes on so much in basketball and football. It's part of, like, what the whole thing is. It's happening. It's baked in. It's like the whole, I mean, corruption is built into anything to do with

NCAA football and basketball. And like you say, I don't begrudge kids for taking money. Think about Michigan football. That comes to mind. I love Michigan. I lived in Ann Arbor. You know, not a big deal again. Not really.

I just think that that school is making so much money. And same with Kentucky basketball. Why wouldn't you realize or understand that these kids are getting paid? These schools are willing to do anything to have good players. It's so obvious to me that it happens. It's just about how do you not get caught? And I feel like everyone will get caught at some point if you do it. Yeah.

If anyone looks. Well, there you go. I mean, if they want to catch them, they will. Yeah. If anyone looks. Well, there you go. I mean, if they want to catch them, they will. Because I think basically it's like the teams in the program are staying one step ahead of the NCAA.

It's like whack-a-mole. Because they know, okay, well, we can't do this. So if you put enough layers, enough buffers to still, a little Godfather II lingo for you. If you have enough buffers in between, then you can't. Because, I mean, well, Patino can, but he hasn't got charged with anything. Obviously, he knew, but he hasn't got charged with anything. Obviously, he knew, but he hasn't got charged. It's always like... Yeah, but you've got to think the

head coach is such a street dog. They're like, hey, I'm out of this one. I'm in, but my name will never be anywhere. I'm never getting in trouble if it goes down, besides being fired. He's got plenty of money. I think there's just such a level of corruption with so many of those guys. It's like a shoulder shrug at this point. But hockey players don't care. Yeah, well, hockey, I missed out on

that boat. Do you think if you let the players sell their brands, like sell their names and be able to sell them themselves, that this would all be avoidable? Like in the NCAA? Yeah, like if they could do jersey sales. Yeah, like if everyone, who was that nasty defensive player on Michigan last year? He played both sides of the ball.

He was a Heisman finalist. Remember that kid? Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Number five, I remember. Jabril Peppers. There were so many of his number jerseys in the stands.

If he could make money on that, I think that's legit. That's almost saying every kid has the possibility to, but the better you are, the more money you make, which is fucking real life. If you're good at something, you'll make more money. It's clear the NCAA exploits them. I mean, it's been going on for years.

Jay Bilas. Is it Bilas, the guy on ESPN? Jay Bilas. Bilas. He's always talking about this. He goes on rants and has facts of why players should get paid. So I'm in that boat. But hockey, we can get shit.

All right. All right. So switch it up a little bit here. JohnnyUnitas29 asked, if you entered an eating contest, what food could you eat more than anyone? All right, so switch it up a little bit here. JohnnyUnitas29 asked, if you entered an eating contest, what food could you eat more than anyone? All right, Hamilton. San Tapio's pizza.

No brainer. I was going to say pizza, I think, because you can eat it breakfast, lunch, dinner. I don't know where I'd pick it from, though. Honestly, probably Town Spa or Linwood. That's local joints. Yeah, those are with like seltzer. Well, that's like what they call a seltzer bar pizza.

No, I'm not saying tape type pizza, but no one else will know if you're not from Boston in terms of that. But pizza's like got to be it, right? You can't eat crushed. I love steak tips, but you get sick of that. Yeah, too much. Your hot red meat farts would just be a dummy in you. I'm a bar food guy.

So what would you have? I grew up in a bar. Grew up in a bar. Grew up in a bar. Tender bar. Mozzarella sticks. I think I could outdo people. Wow. Cheese, dude.

Although we're going pizza. Yeah, true. Maybe buffalo wings. I'm a big wing guy. Yeah, I don't know. One food. Wow. I got to go.

I mean, pizza is the obvious, but Santa's obvious for me. That's, by the way, for'll have listeners outside of the Boston area. That's the best pizza in Boston. I don't know. I don't know. I'd have to go pizza, dude. Yeah, I guess there's nothing else. No other option.

This fucking fly. Go ahead, Grinnelli. All right. Connor Douglas asks, which five NHLers would you want on your side in a bar fight past or present? All right, Hamilton. Wow. Wow. Do you want to your side in a bar fight past or present? All right, Hamilton. Wow. Wow. Do you want to go with?

Bob Probert comes to mind immediately. Fucking, I mean. You go one after him. Neely was one of the toughest pound for pound guys. I mean, he just fucking, he was like Tyson on skates who can score too. I'm taking Ty Domi. Gets low. Can dummy anyone.

Can also get underneath you, tackle you. He's got, like, probably UFC shit in him. Ty's my second. I get Dave Schultz. Oh, the hammer? The hammer from the Broad Street Bullies back in the 70s. The guy, motherfuckers didn't mess with him. He was a badass.

I'll take him. I remember him. I remember him from seeing the Broad Street Bullies documentary. Number three. You know who's fucking tough is Bugsy Malone. We always talk about him. He's a big dude. All tattooed up.

So he's got the intimidation factor, maybe. And he's loyal. Yeah, he's my number three. My number three. I'm going to go with Rick Talkett. Oh, he'll fish hook you and shit. Yeah. I still don't know why he blocks people on Twitter.

You must have chirped him. Yeah. Honestly, no. It's funny. I asked him about did he really knock out Lindros years ago, but I was polite about it. He answered, no, he answered. He LOL'd. He's like, no, that's a rumor, blah, blah, blah.

But I don't know. I must have chirped the penguins or something after, and I was kind of surprised. That was probably it. I don't hold it against him. You're not a grudge guy. I still want him. I'm want a lot of grudge guys still want them to get my back my fourth guy oh man you know bar fights is like you got to do what you can to survive so you got to take like a really really dirty player you know yeah good point yeah like you never you don't give a fuck how dirty they are on the ice so they'll grab like a like a glass and smash it off someone's head they don't give a fuck yeah like you don't give a fuck how dirty they are on the ice so they'll grab like a like a glass and smash it off someone's head they don't give a fuck yeah like

they don't give a shit actually you know what he wasn't a dirty player but he was a psychotic fucking animal is gary roberts he's in my crew i saw him like george laroque like used to come on the bus and like give guys like dead arms and stuff and like he never did anything to Robbs, but then one day he did, and Robbs just flipped him upside down. He was a psychopath. I got my four. He's an animal. I'm going to go with Taz, Terry O'Reilly.

Yeah, he'll get in the mix. He was definitely, he can switch it up on you. Tough bastard. Hot and soul, that old Bruins, Lunch Pail AC gang. All right, one more for you, Wits. One more for me, Bar Fight. I'm looking size. I think a Brian McGratton. Brian

McGratton, a lot of people I think will know who that is, but the first time I played pro, he was on Binghamton and I was on Wilkes-Barre, and he was beating up everyone. He was like a WWE wrestler. He'd have amazing celebrations after fights. He was a complete animal.

And then he went to the NHL, and he was tough as shit there. So McGratton's for sure in my bar crew. My last one, well, a popular opponent of Taz is Clark Gillies from the Islanders team. You went to old school guys who probably got in multiple bar fights too. Yeah. Well, I think obviously as the league's advanced there's been less tough guys. Not to say the league's not tough but you know,

there's just fighting's gone down so there's not as many guys to pick from. I tried to get some current guys in there but yeah, I think right there me and you are sitting to the side

and our five guys can just dummy people. We got a good mix there. Me, PJ, Stock, and Lucic would take both your crews down. If you're just ordering them around, Stock crew would have been a good one. Who do you got for an else?

Stock and Lucic. I don't even who you like more. Yeah, he's just a three-man team. Just a three-man team. He's going to stand above on a table and just tell them which guy to knock out. All right, so this is the last one. Mitch Pero asks,

Starring a franchise, which duo do you start with, 99 and 97 or 66 and 87? All right, Hamilton. Saying Gretzky and McDavid or Lemieux and Crosby. Mitch, I mean, I don't know. How do you answer that?

These hypotheticals where you're asking fucking errors and generations and shit. Come on, Mitch. How am I supposed to answer that? You can't pick those two. You can't pick it. I mean, you'd have to say Lemieux and Crosby have more cups. McDavid doesn't have...

Five to four. He just doesn't have the resume yet. I'm sure he's going to soon, and tomorrow he's going to be fucking dynamite. I mean, he is dynamite, but yeah, it's just... You have to, I think, give the nod based on the resumes

right now to the Pittsburgh guys, but it's like also... It's fucking Gretzky. It's the G-man. Yeah, I don't know. I just got to go with Lemieux and Kruge right now. I forgot to tell you, this is off subject, but I was over that question. I saw Brian Boyle, so I just wanted to let everyone know. He's doing great.

He was actually making fun of another buddy of ours for texting him and being like, oh, man, I love you, buddy. He's like, dude, stop talking to me like that. I'm fine. So he was in good spirits, and he hasn't ruled out playing in the season opener. So it was good to see him and kind of see how good he was. He was in a great mood. He was really, you know, positive about everything.

So that was good to see. That's good to hear. I appreciate that. Yeah, I saw a headline on twitter that he's you know he's still planning on playing the season he's been bag skating himself and he's you know he was said more than anything he was really tired that's what he started noticing uh right when kind of they started skating before camp he was just exhausted so they redid some tests and that's when it was seen but um he's in a good place. So I was happy to see him. That's good. That's good. We always want to hear good news on this.

Yeah, we're good news type of podcast. What, that it for ARHs? All Right Hamilton is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Are you hiring? Do you know where to post your job to find the best candidates? With ZipRecruiter, you can post your job to 100 plus job sites with just one click. Then their powerful technology efficiently matches the right people to your job better than anyone else. That's why ZipRecruiter is different. Unlike other job sites, ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on candidates finding you. It finds them. In fact, 80% of employees who

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For free, go to ZipRecruiter.com slash chicklets. What else you got going on? Nothing really, man. No. Nothing really. See, I'm excited for the season. I'll be back up at NHL Network. Tell us, what nights can I listen to see you on the NHL Network?

So I'll be there. I'm going to be there October. He's looking it up. October 9th to 12th. 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, those nights. Then I'll be back the 30th, 31st, November 1st. And then I'll be back November 10th to November 16th. So you're doing four nights a week, basically.

Well, no, because I take two weeks in between. But then I'm doing like seven nights in a row in early November because then I've got to be home before Baby Whitney comes. Oh, yeah. I've got Baby Whits coming. November 30th, dude. Dude, these are exciting times for the Whits. It's like every week you're like, oh my, holy shit, we've got another week to go.

So I've got to go on Podfathers once the baby comes. But I'm not doing that until because I don't want to just have them tell me what I'm about to go through. Let me just experience and then I'll go talk to them. Yeah. Nothing like getting parent advice from the guys at Bastl Sports, right? Actually, Clancy hasn't been on the last few weeks. I don't know. I haven't listened in a little bit.

Yeah, you're not a Podfather guy. I mean, obviously, they're buddies of mine. But yeah, I'm not in the kid game, so I don't really seek out parental advice. Yeah, but I'm excited to get back to work. I'm excited for the season to start because it's funny. This time of the year comes and you're just starting to get anxious. Like, all right, we need some hockey now. It's been long enough.

Yeah. And there's so many exciting storylines. Actually, one thing we didn't talk about was Korea. Oh, bingo. People caught that interview. I had it written down. I think it was with Michael Farber. Yeah, Michael Farber, another pretty well-known.

Sports Illustrated guy. Yeah, another Canadian journalist. Yeah, he did probably about a 10 or 12-minute interview with Paul Correa. And Correa, very private guy, never really gives interviews at all. I think he's held some grudges towards the NHL, too, about the head problems he's had and how concussions were treated then. It was go back on the ice, and he's had a tough time, I think, with some post-concussion syndrome.

And he talks about it in the article about how he didn't remember the end of the game when he came back in Game 6 against the Devils in the Cup Finals. He scored the game winner. And he doesn't remember all of Game 7. Which is fucking – I mean, that's crazy. That's fucking insane when you say that. It is crazy.

Worthy of the Hall of Fame, though, this year. Oh, absolutely. He was incredible. Absolutely. But yeah, it is crazy. Yeah, okay, you can understand him not remembering the game, but to not remember Game 7. And he said he wasn't right for two years before he felt right again.

That's scary, too. I mean, that's years when you're like, am I ever going to feel right again? It's funny. They came out, Boston university said they might be able to figure out if people have cte while living now yeah i mean how amazing would that be it's it's funny though that an agent came out and i i'm an idiot for not having it written down but um an agent came out and said of all his clients if they could test to see if they had cta not one of them would want to do it and i can kind of see that because like what are you going to do you can't change anything why would you even want to know yeah um but in terms of when guys retire things like that i mean

maybe people won't even test but it's interesting to see that there could be a chance now of knowing i mean i i could see both sides like not want to know because what can you do but i think you probably maybe can't not you can't obviously obviously treat it but as far as okay i have this now this is what i can expect my behavior to start changing and you know my family knows this so if i start acting like a lunatic or i start behaving you know misbehaving over it's like okay this is why it's happening so i mean i can understand it from that perspective but yeah man as far as just k a test. But Korea, too. Do you remember? Six concussions. Do you remember when they did, before the All-Star Game one year,

they did that cool promo or intro? We're out on a pond. It was Lemieux, Howe, and Kretzky, I think. Lindros was there, too. They were passing the torch to Korea, Lindros, Gagger, and Pavel Bure, I think. And Correa, I think being maybe in Anaheim for a long time, you didn't know about him a ton, but he was a superstar at one point. And his career was definitely cut shorter than it should have been.

I could say he's one of the best college hockey players of all time. Yeah, one year. He won 25 goals, 75 assists, 100 points as a freshman at Maine. And they went 38-1-1. And the team that beat him was BU and tied him, I think. That's it right there. Did I name it right? Yep.

Beret, Gretzky, Correa, Yaga, Lemieux, Lindros, and Gordie Howe. So the passing of the torch. That's funny. I just happened to have the picture on my phone when I was at Gretzky's joint back on the spring or whatever. So that was a cool interview. Check that one out. I think it's on TSN. Yeah, it's funny because a lot of times they don't make their content available outside of Canada,

but they did make that interview available. But yeah, TSN, just put Paul Correa in the research field. It's worth watching. Yeah, he definitely seems like a guy. He seems like he's at peace a little bit more, but you can tell he's, you know, I don't know, I guess affected by the game. I don't know.

Just watch it. You know, you can kind of draw your own conclusions, but he was a hell of a player. Maybe going into the Hall of Fame will help him, I don't know, not mend wounds that he has towards the league, but at least make him feel better, because that was an amazing career. Yeah, he was fucking phenomenal.

All right, I think that about wraps it up for this week's episode. The league will have started. We'll have a night of games or maybe two nights of games next time we record. Yeah, well, one night when we record. If we record Thursday, the league opens Wednesday. So, well, basically bottom line is we'll have fucking hockey to talk about for the first time since June. So we're looking forward to that. Hoping a lineup of VIP for next week.

We hate teasing because of the history. It's probably not likely. Let's just be honest. But we're trying. No, we're shooting the boot for it. We're hoping to bring a very special guest in for next week, tease. But if not, we've got plenty of pucks to talk about. So everyone, peace out.

Thank you for listening. Thank you.