Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 49: Featuring Ray Ferraro

Episode Date: October 20, 2017

On Episode 49, the fellas open up with some chatter about their sister podcast Pardon My Take and their new show on ESPN. The boys also dissect what ails a few teams before discussing the Las Vegas Golden Knights inevitable introduction to Hockey Twitter and the Internet Outrage Machine thanks to quoting a movie. Ray Ferraro then joins in for a fun and wide-ranging interview. The scrappy forward who scored 408 goals in 18 hard-nosed NHL seasons discusses his time in Hartford, the favorite stop in his career, the squandered chance in the 1990 Adams Division Semi-Finals vs. the Bruins, scoring 108 goals in juniors, how the Atlanta Thrashers maintained their sanity during a 14-win season, how he got into TV, the 1993 Islanders epic upset over the Penguins, and much more. The boys then answer #AllRightHamilton questions and close with some words about Gord Downie. Ray is a hell of a raconteur so tune in and enjoy.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, Spit and Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. This episode of Spit and Chicklets is brought to you by Dollar Shave Club. By now, everyone knows that Dollar Shave Club ships amazing razors for a few bucks. I've been a member for a while and I love my shave. What you might not know, I didn't, I'm sure you don't, is that Dollar Shave Club also has products for pretty much everything else I need in the bathroom. Body wash, shampoo, hair gel, lip balm, everything. Remember LA Looks hair gel? This dummies it.

As soon as I heard Dollar Shave Club had stuff other than razors, I was sold. At the store, there are way too many options and you can't tell the difference between any of them. Then if you have any questions, the clerk usually doesn't know the difference or can't really help you since they aren't experts on the products. And they're way too expensive. It makes no sense. Just like their razors, everything is super high quality with Dollar Shave Club and left me looking and feeling amazing.

From premium ingredients to sophisticated scents, Dollar Shave Club is changing the game. If you're like me and sick of the nonsense at the store, now's the time to try out Dollar Shave Club. For a limited time, Dollar Shave Club is basically giving away their shower and shave starter set to new members. For only five bucks, this starter set features their executive razor and a three trial size versions of their most popular products that help you stay fresh and clean. In your first box, you will receive their Shave Butter, Body Wash, and One Wipe Charlie's Butt Wipes. Not a big deal. You will also receive their Executive Razor, which includes their premium weighty handle

and full cassette of cartridges. After the first box, replacement cartridges are sent for only a few bucks a month. This offer is exclusively available at dollarshaveclub.com slash chicklets. That's dollarshaveclub.com slash chicklets. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 49. What up? Joey Juno episode. No, that's Joey Juno. Joey Juno from Anchorage, Alaska, I think.

Episode 49, Spit Check. It's brought to you by Bastu Sports. Producer, Mikey Grinnelli. Happy anniversary, boys. What? One year? This is our one-year anniversary. Oh, it's our one-year official.

Today? This day? This day is our one-year anniversary since I joined the squad. Wow. Oh, happy anniversary to Grinnelli. What a year. That's really nice to hear. Was Joey Juno, he was French, wasn't he? I thought he squad. Wow. Oh, happy anniversary to Grinnells. What a year. That's really nice to hear. Was Joey Junot, he was French, wasn't he?

I thought he was from Alaska. Oh, Idaho, Alaska. Dude, were you just teeing me up? Were you teeing me up there? I wasn't even, but... Wait, you thought Joey Junot was from Quebec, or is he? He's from Anchorage, Alaska. Isn't he, Joey Junot?

I thought you were making an Alaska joke. I think you're thinking of the capital of Alaska. Idaho, Juno, Topeka. I don't know, man. Maybe I am. Anyways, dude, he legit went. He was number 49. When reporters, when he was a rookie, like early in his career when he was with the Bruins,

someone was like, hey, Joe. They asked him a question. He's like, my name is Joey Junot I was thinking I was thinking The capital is correct Joseph Junot Is a retired Canadian

Reflectional hockey player Born in Quebec He really thought He was some fucking You remember You should have been On the Sopranos I had a brain

With your malapropisms You are like Pauly Fargo Walnuts I think I know it But I can't say it That's hilarious. I've had some moments like that. So we're welcoming a guy who has no problem with that, by the way.

Ray Farrar is joining us today. So he's going to be calling in, I think, in about 25 minutes. So he's someone that's so current with today's league and really good at doing color. You don't get to hear him in the U.S. enough because he works with TSN, but he'll have some insight to an awesome career and also really what's going on with some certain teams in the league because there's some question marks right now.

He was an irascible player when he played. What's the word? Irascible. That's kind of like... That's true. Good word. That's a word, yeah. That's from you writing. You know certain words like irascible. Irascible, yeah. Like impish. Likes to stir up the pot a little bit. And I up the pot, okay.

And I think he kind of carries that rascability, if you will, over to his Twitter feed. Oh, I love when he's angry, Ray. Yeah, he definitely gives it back to people, which is kind of funny. He's a guy I got to see play a lot. He was with the Whale. Boston, yeah, Hartford. Nice little rivalry. It's funny.

I was just saying to Grinnelly when you were on the hopper, can you think of another nickname out there where, like, the mascot for the whale is like this cute, cuddly whale. What's his fucking name? I don't know, whatever, like the little green whale. Willie? Is it? You set me up now.

No, it's Willie. Oh, boy. He's fucking, oh, my God. I'm feeling it. He, really. Oh, boy. He's fucking... Oh, my God. I'm feeling it. He didn't have edibles either. But can you think of another fucking team anywhere where the logo is like a cute little animal, but the name of the team is like the occupation of the person who used to kill that said animal?

Well, I don't know. I never was a Whalers fan. I was such a Bruins fan. I always wondered who was a Whaler. A Whaler is a guy who kills whales for a living, but their mascot was a cute little whale. It's kind of weird. That's actually true. That is very true.

Well, that kind of summed up most of their time in the league, although Ray had a year when they could have won. Yeah, we got a couple of huge series. We're going to dial back the clock for you younger guys. For you older guys, it'll be a walk down memory lane when we bring Ray on in a few minutes. Our podcast brethren, we want to give those guys a shout out. Pardon my take.

They made their ESPN debut. Sick time slot, 1 a.m. Sick time slot. Nobody could even understand the day, which was hilarious. Wait, what? Tuesday, 1 a.m.? Or that's Wednesday? And then finally, it's fucking Tuesday, 1 a.m.

You'd be awake Tuesday and watch it. Tuesday night, yeah. Technically by the calendar, yeah, it's Wednesday. But Tuesday night, they come on. They did a.m. Like, you'd be awake Tuesday and watch it. Tuesday night, yeah. Technically by the calendar, like, you know, yeah, it's Wednesday. But Tuesday night they come on. They did a great job. I mean, because that was quick, man. I mean, I know they've been talking for a while, but to have the announcement and then to have to bang out that show quick.

Yeah, it was a low-key week for Barstool leading up to it. Oh, my God. Honestly, like, I mean, we've always been a lightning rod at Barstool. Sometimes, you know, it's warranted. Sometimes we draw the attention. What's up, Dave? You've seen them all, too. You've seen all the controversies. You've been here for them all. I miss them, kind of. I used to love

when they'd get in these. I loved it. Dave was in the mud. What this week showed me is it was just an indication of that. Yeah, Barstool has risen to a higher level. Then you're going to get more haters. You know what I mean? More people who... What does Chap say to the haters and losers of which there are many? Of which there are many.

Yeah. And exactly. When you become a bigger company, you're going to get more and more of them. And I think a lot of them, they don't even... Not only do they not understand what we do, they don't even care. They think... I think a lot of time I said to Mike, when they say, I hate Barstool, they actually don't like Dave or they don't like something Dave said.

And they don't even know Barstool itself. I mean, we're all Guys with wives And I don't have daughters But guys with daughters We're all normal guys We write for a comedy site And like I liken it to There's like one guy

With daughters right KFC KFC Clem Oh yeah yeah yeah Chaps Yeah The Podfathers

Yeah You know it's I liken what we do And certainly not comparing Our talent level Because that would be outrageous But so like National Lampoon

In the 70s This is millennial talk Yeah because that would be outrageous, but National Lampoon in the 70s, they were... This is millennial talk, though. Yeah, ask a millennial. Everyone's heard of National Lampoon, Animal House, National Lampoon, Vacation. Well, they were a group of Harvard guys who started their own magazine. They were like the forefront comedy magazine in America, and they offended the fuck out of everybody in the

1970s, which was fucking hard to do back then. So, you know, what Barstool does is in that same spirit. It's like we push the comedic envelope, and it's not for everybody. But I don't like when people call us harassers and sexual harassers and intolerant and all that. That's where I bristle because it's like that's not what we're about. Those people are complete idiots. They have no idea what they're talking about.

So fucking huge shout out to Pod My Take guys. Yeah, that's awesome. It's good to see them there. Taking it to the ice, dude. To the league. To the league. Dude, we talked about him a little bit last week. No, no, first.

I'm sorry. I forgot to say it when we were talking. When we wanted to say what we were going to talk about, I forgot to bring up. First thing has to be Kucherov. As people are starting to realize how incredible this guy is. I mean, quietly last year, he's over 80 points he has an unreal year now he's scored in the first seven games of the league of the of the season which i think has only happened one other time grunelli can you look that up quick i should

know but it's it's he's pretty much on the verge of breaking records and the lightning is a team that for everyone at the beginning of the year you know people are throwing their name out as a cup contender and just because with the injuries last year you know you forget that they they they had they had a bad season you forget so many guys were out now they're back and I was like are they going to be that good as you know as people are saying but sure enough Stamkos looks great Hedman's a beast and Kucherov is turning into you know if not the best goal scorer one of them in the the league. So this team's like for real. And I just can't believe that last year was such a one-off. It just shows missing a couple key guys how much it can hurt a team on a season.

And, you know, they're a team we talk about contenders all the time. They're a team I think they don't get mentioned probably as much as they should. I mean, you know, the team that was within a goal against, well, technically two goals to get against the Cup back in 2011. And they've stayed consistent this whole time. Obviously, everything kind of centered around Stamkos. Go ahead, Ty. What was it?

So he became the sixth player in the NHL's modern era since 1943 to score in each of his team's first seven games. The guys ahead of him, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Ken Hodge, shout out R.A., Toadie Tanty. Oh, Toadie Tanty ruined the list. Toadie's that. And then Nikita Kucherov. Wow. All right, so does it have it for eight? Have people done it in eight or have they already played?

That's only seven. All right, so let's see what happens. So, yeah, Tampa, man, they're a stacked squad. It's been an unreal job. Stevie Eisman's done there as the general manager. They've gotten just to the one cup they lost to Chicago a couple years ago. Yeah, exactly. Well, they won it in 04.

They won it in 04, and then the one when they lost to Chicago. Chicago was such a wagon that year. But it's true that you're right. They went up. And in a similar way to people when the Bruins won the cup, it was like they were up and they could stay. Tampa's kind of done what people thought the Bruins would do. Great call.

And with all those trades, the Bruins went right back down. Tampa's gone up, and you're like, wow, they actually could be here for seven, eight more years, and they're doing it. Right. So it shows. I mean, they traded Duran this year, but that's after time and figuring out it wasn't going to work. And they get a young defenseman, Sergei Sergeyev.

I don't know if his first name is Sergei. That might be me doing my brain mess-ups again. But Sergeyev, this kid can move the puck. He's skilled. And they've had no problem in losing Druin's offense. They have so many offensive weapons anyway. So it's just a team that I think this year, all year, is going to be top of their conference, top of their division,

and looking like a team that could make a run to the Cup. It's just all about injuries. Yeah, and I think the year, all year, it's going to be top of their conference, top of their division, and looking like a team that can make a run to the Cup. It's just all about injuries. Yeah, and I think the only – The Celtics. If you even want to really call it a question mark, I mean, he's looked good. So Vasilevsky, the goalie, you know, they had – what's his face? Bishop last year. Of course, they traded him late in the year because that was really

committing to Vasilevsky at that point. And Dallas needed a goalie too. They finally have one. Yeah, yeah. Actually, no, I'm sorry. They traded him to L.A. That's right, because L.A. still didn't make the playoffs, because they basically knew he was leaving as a free agent anyway.

So, you know, that was the only area maybe of, if you even want to call it a concern, but they've been looking fine there. So, yeah, Tampa Bay, they've been doing it well. I know we beat up on the Canadians last week. Oh, my God. They're fucking Dude Like Julian signed for five years

Like You know After Shea Weber and D It's kind of It's very It's kind of rough Commodore had some advice for them They lost again

To LA last night I'm sorry You know This is Wednesday night Yeah Just They had nothing 5-1 I mean not even close in the game They lose they had nothing. 5-1.

I mean, not even close in the game. They lose in San Jose 5-2. They're only not scoring. They're giving up a shitload of goals. Yeah. You don't really want to blame Carey Price because their D, like you said, is thin, but it's like, I don't know, where are they going to go from here? We did give them shit last week, but this is ugly.

I mean, and talk about a city that'll just turn on you. Oh, God, yeah. That place will be a house of horrors for them to play in if they continue this up though the booing can start there i remember playing there and the crowds fired up before the game unbelievable pre-game intro there they play like this these sick music it's just it's awesome and two minutes in we had the puck for like the whole two minutes. Like a line got in, cycled it around. We're able to change. Another line got in there. Like just dominating. And they just came out quick.

So it's not like it takes any time. They'll be booing them in warm-ups if they keep losing like this. Absolutely. And well, last night, I'm sorry, Wednesday night's game, there was actually 1-1 about I think 10 minutes left in the third. They were hanging in there with L.A. Montoya was playing a good game. And then L.A. just poured it on.

I mean, the score, I think it was 5-1 final. The game was a lot closer than that. And what's funny is Camilleri gets his first two of the year for the Kings against Montreal

who he played for. That's always what happens. You feel like the guy who played for the team. People who played for the Oilers when they go back and play the Oilers

score every fucking time. It's the biggest, like maybe it's a little different now. Although the Oilers, man, that's another club. What a segue that I didn't even mean to do. I was going to say, motherfuckers just segue. Just real quick, Montreal, man,

Carey Price can't do it all. Jonathan drew in. They got him the first center. He's not really probably the first center guy. He looked good for Tampa last year. Right now, he has it in Montreal. As a Bees fan, I love it. I chatted for it all day. But yeah, Edmonton, they haven't won a game since last week either. Thank God I laid off from the last couple

because I'm like, this team is broken right now. I know Cam Talbot, he got yanked like three times already. They had to start the backup. His name escapes me right this second. He didn't have a great game versus Carolina. But I mean, this is a situation right now, and there's a lot of teams in it, probably half the league, where I said before, you can't win a playoff spot in the fall, Ryan,

but you can certainly watch one whittle away from you. It's so hard to play catch-up. Like, you've said it prior. It's just all of a sudden if you look up and you're like 3-11, you're so many points back that it takes one of these runs that it's not only getting a lot of points, but you have to leapfrog so many teams. Sometimes people look, they're like,

oh, my team's five points out of the playoffs. Well, there's six teams between you and that team. Exactly. It makes it a little different than what you're saying, five points, because all these teams are going to get points. And that's the same thing in starting a year slow. I'm telling you, Commodore said the Kings, I mean, the Canadians have to just get in one.

It sounds crazy. And, you know, maybe it's nowadays it's not the same. But if you're telling me the Canadians had a night when all the guys went out and got loaded, they wouldn't just come out buzzing the next game. You know, sometimes little things can change it up. So I think Commodore jokes a little bit. But at the same time, a little team bonding when you're struggling early, it's like, we gotta try

something here. So I respect Commie just telling them how to get in one and then swearing in French via Twitter. Yeah, that's another team that's struggling. Mikey said, too, the Arizona Coyotes, I know a team we don't, well, actually, we kind of have talked about them a lot on this show because we've had biz on, but they haven't

even won a game in regulation yet. I think everyone knew this year it's a really young team. They're rebuilding. They're trying to get things going in a different direction. It's not like that's shocking. It's just you want a team to get a win. You need a W.

It's just tough to see teams when it's not even Halloween. They're not out of it, but it's like you're going to need a strong run to get in it to get in one. I'm at the point now where you're actually counting games in hand. I look at the Bruins and I'm like, they have four points back and they got one

game in hand. You know what I mean? You're doing that sort of map already. They have 73 games in hand. Fuck. Yeah, so going back to the internet outrage, like we were talking about with Boston a minute ago, Las Vegas Golden Knights had their introduction. Oh, my God. If you got mad at this, shut our podcast off.

They were the bell of the ball early on. Their Twitter was hilarious. They were body and teams left and right. It should be said we're coming at them first. They were doing a new team thing. Like, get on Twitter and be loud. Whatever.

Good PR. Good PR. And they learned the hard way that people are soft as warm. There's that. But they also learned that optics matter

more than intent and reality do. Just to get you up to speed, if you somehow missed it, when the Vegas played the Bruins Sunday night, the Twitter adopted sort of a mass hold vibe.

They were quoting the movie Ted. They were just doing everything in a Boston accent. I mean, obviously, we've seen it here a million times. It was funny to people who probably weren't familiar with it. And they quoted Ted when they gave the Bruins lamp. They gave the scene in Ted when he names off all those girls in that scene there. And that was the joke.

They listed all the players, all the backups. There was like 35 names on there. And naturally, there was internet outrage. Oh, it's sexist. And now, having written for Boston over 10 years, I've been on the internet, I get a pretty good rate off. Not that I'm personally sensitive, but I get a pretty good rate off of what people are going to be sensitive about.

And I read that, and when I first saw the girls' names, I didn't click with Ted right away. And I was like, wait, let me look into this. I'm like, okay, all right, Ted, I get it. It's a name joke. They're taking all the names from the movie. And then all of a sudden, people are mad. I'm like, wait a minute. There's no punchline.

There was nothing demeaning. There was no point where they said, aha, women, aha, they're girls. There was never anything like that. How do you take that, that they're saying, not only one, we're naming them girls, but two, girls, you can't play hockey. Dude, okay, tell me if they listed off the names and the lines instead of women, and they named them,

and they did the Goodwill hunting line, Marky, Ricky, Danny, Terry, Mikey, Davey, Timmy, and named the 10. Dude, is that fine? Just because those are guys? That's a fucking movie, you idiot. That's what it was. Quote in a movie.

There was no point where women were made to be a punchline. Were made to be inferior. And I understand. Here's going back to my point about the optics, too. And this shouldn't matter, but it does, especially in the online world. This is coming on the heels of the Harvey Weinstein bullshit. So there's kind of, I guess, an extra sensitivity out there. Shout out to Al Michaels making Harvey Weinstein jokes.

Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. And also the same time that hashtag Me Too was trending, which is women, mostly women, revealing that they had been victims of sexual assault. And a quick aside, it is eye-opening. As I've gotten older, I've said to Mikey,

you find out that's a lot more prevalent than it should be, and it is disgusting, and women were kind of letting people know. So you have that going on, and this movie joke, a movie quote joke comes out. So people are like,

oh, they're making fun of women, and it really wasn't that. We're not just defending them all, like being cavemen here. There was nothing. I read it. I kept reading them. I it really wasn't that. And we're not just defending them all like being cavemen here. Like all the, there was nothing. I read it. I read it,

kept reading them. Like I don't see the outrage. And I asked a couple of my followers or people who were, you know, where is the offense? And you know, one woman said,

well, you know, they're making fun of them to kind of demean them as women. But I didn't really want to argue with her because that was her viewpoint

and I didn't want to mansplain to her. So I said, you know, okay, I appreciate your feedback. But it was, I want to say, but nobody was making fun of, nobody demeaned them.

No one said, aha, the women, we're not calling them girls to lessen them. They were calling them girls because those were girls' names in the movie. Like you just said, someone tweeted, sorry, the guy said, oh, they should have just did the Will Hunt names and no one would have. Someone said that?

I thought that was an original. No, someone actually tweeted that. And I was like, yeah, the guy's right.'m like but then again you know what somebody would have fucking complained probably if he did that like the fucking too many irish names the foster children of america would have like fucking complained or something yeah so basically you know uh the vegas golden knights to twitter they learned an early valuable lesson you know that yes people are going to be offended um so you just gotta straddle that. There was a funny article about them kind of riding that line, and personally, I don't think they crossed it, but others didn't.

I think that's probably what matters more in this day and age. So anyways, I hear the phone ringing. We have a pretty solid NH17, 18-year NHL veteran. Chicken palm. Chicken palm on the line. We're going to go to our guest now. Okay, before we get to Ray Ferraro, we just want to let you know that the interview will be brought to you by ZipRecruiter.

Are you in need of great talent for your business but short on time? You don't have to get lost in a huge stack of resumes to find your perfect hire. You just need the right tools. With ZipRecruiter, you can post your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards with just one click, so you can rest easy knowing your job is being seen by the right candidates. Then ZipRecruiter puts its smart matching technology to work, actively notifying qualified candidates about your job within minutes of posting, so you receive the best possible matches.

That's why ZipRecruiter is different. Unlike other sites, ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on the right candidates finding you. It finds them. No wonder 80% of employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site in just one day. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Find out today why ZipRecruiter has been used by growing businesses of all sizes and industries to find the most qualified candidates with immediate results. And right now, our listeners can post jobs on ZipRecruiter for free.

That's right, free. Just go to ZipRecruiter.com slash chicklets. That's C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S. Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com slash chicklets. One more time to try it for free. Go to ZipRecruiter.com slash chicklets. Spittin' Chicklets

is pleased to present a former member of the Hartford Whalers from one of those vaunted Boston Bruins-H Hartford Whalers rivalry in the 80s. Also memorable time with the New York Islanders, Ray Ferraro. Ray, welcome to the Spittin' Chicklets. How's it going, boys? It's going well. We really appreciate you coming on.

The first thing I want to ask you is what was your favorite team that you played for? Because Brian, aka Rear Admiral over here, is trying to say you loved being on the Whalers, and I'm guessing it was the Islanders. So I first need to clarify that. Well, see, this is kind of, I grew up with the Whalers, right? Like seven of us were in Binghamton in the American League together. They called us all up. We were all kind of like at the same stage of life. We were a really good team that we thought was about to get better. life. We were a really good team that we thought was about to get better. So I have great memories of that. My best, my most success was with the Islanders. I mean, I loved living in Connecticut. I loved, you know, where I lived. We had a great house there, a great neighborhood. The Island was a little different. I grew to love it, really. I loved living there too,

but my success was with the islanders so i i'm gonna pick the islanders yeah yeah that's what that's that's what i figured i mean i i first actually though before i get into the the nhl career i have a bunch of questions i i want to remind people or tell people who don't know um that we right now are talking to one of the greatest whl players to ever play so those years uh with port with Portland or Brandon was your biggest year? Brandon? That was the huge year? Brandon.

I played my first year in Portland. We won the Memorial Cup. Our team was so good. Like, it was crazy how good that team was. I was the third center on our team. And we had Kenya Ramchuk, who was a first-round pick of Chicago, Alfie Turcotte, who was a first-round pick of Montreal, and whose son is going to be a really high pick when he gets to the draft.

We had Cam Neely. I mean, we scored a million goals. It was crazy how good we were. Then at the end of the year, after we won, me and four other guys got traded for one guy. One 17-year-old player that they thought was the next big thing. It never worked out for Portland, and I got 108 goals that year in Brandon. Oh, shit.

108 tucks. Not a big deal. I always love that. I actually killed penalties that year which I never did once I got to the NHL I had like 15 short-handed goals and our play was the team would dump it in the zone

our goalie was Ron Hextall Hextall would jump out behind the net stop it, I'd take off, he'd flip it over top of everybody or fire it over everybody's head and I'd catch it right around the red line I must have had 7 or 8 short-handed breakaway goals that year. This is before video.

There was no video. Nobody knew. I was just going to say that. Nobody knew. It was like a secret. It was going around the rink like wildfire. Like, they're going to throw it over everyone's head to Ferraro. It was too late.

Nobody could have done it. Timu Solani talks about that. He goes, we had this great breakaway play my rookie year. He said, but there was no video. So a team in March had only, if they didn't see it on the highlights, they'd never seen it. Yeah, exactly. All right, so we fast forward a little bit.

This is an undersized guy before a lot of guys your size were playing in the NHL. So you have that 108-goal year. And is that the year when you're like, can play in the nhl or are you still like i don't know if i have this or not because of my size and what people have said and by the way for people who don't know you went on to play 1258 regular season games so when did you kind of realize that this was going to happen or you believed it well okay this is going to be this might sound a little arrogant or whatever or stupid, naive. But why you made it though.

Yeah, but I was in grade one and my, my mom used to keep a scrapbook for, we had four boys in our family, you know, your, your teacher, your class picture, your favorite friend, your, what you like to do, what you're going to be when you grow up. And mine was like, it had on there like a fireman and an astronaut and a policeman a policeman or nurse or whatever little kids think they're going to do, and I wrote in there, NHL player. Like, I never thought I was going to do anything else.

And so when I scored all those goals in Brandon, like, I was shocked, like everybody else. I mean, nobody, who the hell scores 100 goals right and so I just thought well obviously I'm ready for the NHL I went to camp in Hartford I lasted four days and that was the first time I really doubted whether I could play and I was like man maybe I'm just too small maybe I'm not fast enough or tough enough because the game was different then you had to go when you had to you know you play a rookie game back in those days they were three hours of boxing matches with a few plays with the puck in between like it was brutal i didn't i didn't fit that right it was scary we'd go play the bruins we played one exhibition game or rookie game against the

bruins and the game got called in the second period. It was like, okay, everybody go home. That's the 20-fight rule. It was like it was a shit show, and they were like, wait a minute, all these guys, they finally stopped them because they figured out all the guys playing in those games had just finished playing against each other in junior, or they were a little bit too old to be a prospect, and so they were like, yeah, I'm going to kick the crap out of one of these younger guys. And so it was literally fight after fight after

fight. It was brutal. But that was the time I doubted it. It was actually right after that season that I got called up. I'd scored 20 goals kind of like halfway through the American League year. I got called up and I never went back.

Now, Ray, we have a lot of younger listeners out there who weren't fortunate to see you play. I was fortunate enough, like I said, the Bruins- Hartford-Waylors rivalry, and I got to see the 93 series with Pittsburgh. We'll get to in a second, but I would probably liken your style of play, your career,

I mean, between your size, your ability to shit-stir, and your very talented hands. I just said to Witz, you remind me of Brad Marchand. Do you agree with that? Oh, you like that one? I do. Yeah, anyone will take that one.

You know what I like? I like that no matter how hard he tries, he can never bury the little being a pain in the ass part. No. You just can't. It's in you. I have had coaches forever say, would you stop yelling at guys from the bench?

Get off the refs. Stop in the scrums. You're not going to fight anybody. Quit stirring it up. And then I'd stop, and I'd go, man, I feel like a passenger out here. Like I'm watching a movie. This stinks. And so, like, I'd dive back into it, and I'd play stop and i'd go man i feel like a passenger out here like i'm watching a movie this stinks and so like i dive back into it and i play well yeah exactly marchand tried to play and get 20 penalty minutes he would be nowhere as good as he is i mean i watched him a lot when my

son was with the bruins and i i knew he was a good player. I didn't quite realize he was as good as he is. Like, the skill, you know, him and Bergeron play so well together. I was like, oh, my God, this guy can do just about everything. I know. I always knew he was skilled, and then I skated with him like a couple summers, and that's when I was like, oh, my God. Like, he has the ability where he'll be in the corner there's three guys around him and every time somehow he comes out of it with

like the puck so close to his feet and he has the puck and he's going in towards the net like he's so good at protecting it and like somehow like wiggling through people always holding on to it and that's when I was like oh my god this guy's a different player you know what I like about that description so like they're now the game's exploded with scouting and analytics and all this stuff That's when I was like, oh my God, this guy's a different player. You know what I like about that description? So now the game's exploded with scouting and analytics and all this stuff. And there are some things that you look at, and you can't even really break it down enough to really understand it. You're like, I don't know, somehow he wiggles his way out of this crowd.

I watch Austin Matthews shoot the puck and I'm like, I can't believe his shots never get deflected. Like the defenseman who's got a stick right in front of him. How does he not deflect that? I don't even really know how he does it, but he sometimes he goes to his forehand and gets it around the stick. Sometimes he pulls it to his feet. So you can, I mean, you can analyze things a hundred different ways.

Some guys just have a knack for something. I think that's what you're describing with Marchand, because that's what I see, too. I'm like, I don't know. Somehow he comes out of that pack of humanity, and he's got a scoring chance again. Speaking as a former player who is now himself an analyst, where do you stand with the whole analytics, the so-called fancy stats,

whatever you want to call them? Do you incorporate those a lot into your analysis, or do you just kind of use them as a guide maybe to help you out but not rely on them 100%? No, that's background stuff for me. Background stuff for me. I talk about it during a broadcast

because I don't get used to it. Like if I say, oh, look at Joel's got a fin tighter, or his fenwick is this, or people don't care. They don't want to watch the game. My job, I think, is when the game's going on, I'm supposed, the play-by-play guy's supposed to tell the viewer what's happening, and I'm supposed to add why that might have happened. And that's what my experience is.

I think analytics has a definite place. I think it is a really cool support view or support lane when you're scouting a player or trying to put together what your roster might look like. Okay, we're looking for somebody that can do this. And so you back up what your scouts have done because there'll never be an analytic that can define courage. There'll never be one that can define what a player plays like

when he's nervous or under pressure. That stuff I think you need to see. And those are just two examples that are outside of analytics. Now, if I'm looking at a goalie's five-on-five save percentage or a power play save percentage, well, hell, that will help. And I will look at that. But I can't incorporate it into the game. To me, it doesn't make enough of a connection to the guy that's watching at home.

Yeah, and I think that maybe in 80 years, hockey will be different. But I think for now and in the in the near future coaches will they'll watch a guy play and they know at the end of the game and especially when they watch tape how the guy played they know if they did their job they know if they played well they know that they put it out on the line they know if they played smart so like if they then looked at a number that said that the guy's course he was bad the coach in his head's like i i don't really care in a sense and and i think that's personally how a lot of coaches look at it maybe i'm wrong but for me it's like you'll always know especially coaches and gms they'll know by watching a guy play well i i don't think it's just them either i mean like how many times with did you walk off

the ice you don't even need to see video of yourself or have anybody tell you. You knew if you were good or bad. Exactly. And you knew also most of your teammates that night. You'd be like, man, that guy had a crappy night. Yeah, he had a go at it. Or that guy had a go at it tonight. Yeah.

You know, and like you'd look at him and go, yeah, he scored twice, but he wasn't great tonight. And then if they laid out those analytics stats, I'm guessing most of the time your eye is correct. But what the analytics can do is you can't watch every play and every player. So the composition of the stats over a large course of time will tell you, I think, in pretty good accuracy, what a player might be. Okay, so you're in the East Coast. I live in the West. So say you go to

bed at 10 o'clock. L.A. played last night, and they beat Montreal 5-1. And Adrian Kempe had three goals. Well, you look at it, and you go, wow, he must have been awesome. Now, I can't tell you if he was or wasn't because I didn't stay up that late to watch it. I'm in Ottawa right now. But if you look at the box score, your view would be, that guy's great, or was great last night. And then you might look at it a little deeper and go, gee, it wasn't so great. He had three shots on net, and when he was on the ice, they gave up 15, but his three went in.

And so I think there can be, not can be, there is value to the analytics, but I can't get it into a game. First of all, I have no interest in getting it into a game. And secondly, I have, because I think it's like people's eyes glaze over if I tried to make it interesting while the play is going up. They're like, what, Ray? They're like, please stop talking about this right now. 100%. Would you stop it? So that's actually what I wanted to get into, because you've pretty much gotten to exactly some place that I'd like to be in terms of where you are and working in hockey media and how you kind

of transitioned from your career to doing what you're doing. So I'm more than anyone interested. I don't really have your backstory and how this started, where you started working. I remember you were with Edmonton as a color guy, but is that, was that the beginning right then? Being a color guy, but being on TV, I got traded from the Rangers to L.A. And so I instantly went from a playoff team to one that was going to miss. Two tough times. Oh, man, that sucks. You're just like one phone call and you're out of the playoff.

Yes. And so I get out to L.A. and I'm doing my thing, and I get a phone call from this guy at ESPN. His name was Barry Sachs. thing and I get a phone call from this guy at ESPN. His name was Barry Sachs. And Barry was in charge of, they call it talent, but I'll call it the guys on the air. And he was a big Ranger fan. So he had seen me over the course of my Islander and Ranger career and had filed away that, oh, a guy likes to talk. He seems to have an opinion. And maybe one day he'd be interested in TV. So I get traded to LA.

I get a call. Would you like to do the playoffs on NHL tonight? And I'm like, I've never done it, and I'm still playing. And they're like, yeah, that doesn't matter. We'd like you to come in for two weeks and do it. Is it with Bucci? No, it's before Bucci. Bill Peto

was hosting the show. Billy Peto was hosting the show. Mel Rose was pedo's hosting the show mel rose is there and now i go to this meeting i don't know what the hell they're talking about they're bringing in highlights from this room and that game and so that's at 3 30 the games start we watch the games at 11 30 we go on the air i don't know what's going on i i'm not even making this up when I, when the show was over, I took my jacket off. Right. And I had pit stains from my elbows to my rib cage. I was so bloody nervous. I'm like, I don't even know what the hell's going on. Well,

two weeks went well I guess because they asked me to do it again the next year. So I did it till I retired. And then I moved back to Vancouver. Um, you know, I was getting divorced. My ex-wife was going back to Vancouver. So where she was going, I was going, I get there and like, I was going to take a year and try and figure out what the hell I was going to do. I got a call. Um, the Oilers had a color job open. Would I come and audition for it? And I'm like, well, sure, I guess. So I retired in May when the St. Louis Blues got knocked out by Detroit. That was my last game.

And then I went to Edmonton in October and started my broadcast career. And that crazy part, this is 15 years that I've been doing this. And it's almost as long as I played in the league. Wow, that's flown by. I remember when you were playing for Atlanta. What was that like starting off with a new franchise

and kind of laying the foundation? Sometimes I think the worse your team is, the more fun you can have. Oh, yeah, for sure. There's the realization that we could play as good as we want tonight, and we are not going to win. We went through six goalies, I don't know, about 45 players that first year. We won 14 games, which would be awesome if there were 25 games. That is a long season.

Honestly, there's a book about the Thrashers. We had this old plane that we shared with the Atlanta Hawks. The first flight we went on it, we get on in the exhibition, and there's a whole bunch of tools underneath one of the wings. They were fixing something we're like look at this like they're it didn't look like it was really organized it just looked like a bunch of tools on the ground so we ended up we nicknamed the oh man we we were like i don't even know if they were worried about us so we called the thing the trash can and um

called ourselves the t-balls and we had and Andrew Brunette, who's the assistant general manager in Minnesota now. Awesome guy. He created this three-on-three league after practice. So there was like six teams in it. And so we'd set up a tournament. And so these games were like super competitive. And in the room after where you change from your, you know, after you shower, change into your clothes,

there was a big whiteboard that had like flight times and all the stuff you needed to know. And he would find out everybody's hometown paper. And so he'd write headlines on the game, like a headline from the Trail Daily Times where I grew up, and it said, Ferraro sucks in 5-3 loss. And then he had a waiver list. I mean, it was outstanding.

I've never been on another team that did it. This was all brunette? Was this all brunette doing this? All of it. Oh, my God. What a fucking beauty this guy must be. And he also ran, we'd play past the ace on the bus. Oh, yeah, I love that game.

You know, great time killer. That's the ace. You know, you pass your card, you want the highest card. The ace is the stopper. And so if you, you know, say if you want to pass a crappy card, and the guy shows you the ace, well. Yeah, you're done. You know, you're stuck with your crappy card, and you're out.

So he had, we'd have 15 guys playing past the ace on the box i mean we won 14 games guys are yelling and can you buy back in and this is after a five loss and oh yeah and so we'd have a um and kurt fraser was our coach super intense guy he was not buying into this past the ace game so like on some trips it it was a long way from the airport to the hotel. And so Bruno would say, okay, boys, this is a major. So instead of $20 ante, it's $40 or $50 it was. So you'd have this pot, you know, $500. The guys are playing a single.

We just lost. But we're like, there's nothing. Like, you can't. Otherwise, you just jump off the bridge. Yeah. Like, we just lost. But we're like, there's nothing, like you can't. Otherwise, you just jump off the bridge. Yeah. Like we're no good. You got to keep your sanity somehow in a situation like that. I had no idea somebody wrote a book about the Thrashes.

Was it Stephen King? No, no, there should be. I want to write it. Yeah, you need to write it. That's the closest you'll ever get to like a KHL team. Well, some of your stories on there like we didn't have anybody smoking in the room that was when I first started playing well actually had a sign in Hartford no smoking in the room so so speaking of smoking in the room I just think of smoking

the room and then for some reason I think of like the Penguins I don't know why I have no idea but I'm just wondering that series for people who don't know 1993 Islanders first Penguins, I don't know why. I have no idea. But I'm just wondering, that series, for people who don't know, 1993, Islanders first Penguins. Penguins have won the prior two Stanley Cups, and that 93 team, I believe, was even better than the other two. You guys go on, you win Game 7 at the Igloo. Just tell me about that series, what you remember. I mean, that's one of the biggest upsets in the first round of the NHL history, I'd say.

You know what? I think it was. We beat Washington in the first round of the NHL history, I'd say. You know what? I think it was. We beat Washington in the first round, and Pittsburgh just absolutely annihilated New Jersey. So we get through Washington, Pitt's through, now we're facing them. We got into the playoffs on the last day of the season. We had to win one of our last two games. Our second-to-last game was against Ottawa.

They were an expansion team. They had not won a game on the road. No. All year. And you lost to them. We lost at home. We had to win the next night in New Jersey to get in. Somehow we won.

We won game one. Oh, at the end of the Washington series, Dale Hunter cheap-shotted Pierre Turgeon. Oh, that was that season? Yes. So we didn't even have our best player. That was the dirtiest one of the dirtiest plays in hockey history. If you haven't seen it, if the listeners haven't seen it,

just YouTube Turgeon Hunter, and you can't believe it. And he said that, didn't he say that he didn't think the game was over? Well, he said he didn't know the puck went in, except the horn was going and Turge was in the corner celebrating when he hit him. There was an old lady celebrating. She was already standing up. So we had, we get in the first game.

I get a penalty in the first minute. Somebody else gets a penalty in the first game. I get a penalty in the first minute. Somebody else gets a penalty in the next minute. I come out of the penalty box. This is probably a sign. I've never scored a goal and never did score a goal again shorthanded in the NHL. I come out of the penalty box. They pass it to the point.

It jumps over Larry Murphy's stick. I get a breakaway and score it. So we won game one, lost game two, lost game three, won game four, got smoked in game five, looked like it was over. We won 8-5 in game six, and we go back for game seven. We're leading 3-1 with about four minutes left. Ronnie Francis scores twice. And I'm sitting on the bench

next to Derek King, who was just an awesome guy, and Kinger goes, this is a bloody shame. Just like that, not mad. Look at them. They're so much better than us, of course. So anyway, we get into overtime, and Glenn Healy was our goalie. He made, in that

game, he had to make 10 unbelievable saves. We get a 2-1-1 five minutes in. I passed it to David Volek. Volek scored. And I still hear Glenn Healy as the only voice in that arena, yelling, coming down the ice. The place was like church.

It was so incredibly quiet. We had no chance in that series. And somehow we won. I remember it vividly. Actually, it was my second first semester of college. And it was a party going on. I remember I snuck into one of the rooms that had cable. There was me and three other people in there.

Huge rager going on. And people were like, what are you guys doing? We're like, Game 7, Islanders, Penguins. About to see possibly one of the biggest upsets in playoff history. It's just one of those, definitely for me, where were you moments. Do you guys play the Canadians next round?

Yeah, they beat us twice in overtime. They won that year 11 straight overtime games. That's impossible. Patrick Wah. Holy shit. I didn't know that. 11 straight. You know what? The other thing I've got to say about Game 7 was

in the first minute, that's when Kevin Stevens got hurt. Him and Rich Pilon ran together, one of our defensemen on an icing call, and Kevin fell face first on the ice. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen. Yeah, knocked out.

He was knocked out so he couldn't even brace himself, right? Right. His arms, he was knocked out immediately. His arms were behind him. The first thing that hit the ice was his face. That changes a game immediately. Like, no matter what, the place was probably silent. It was. It was quiet. It was. And then it was like. game immediately. Like, no matter what, the place was probably silent.

It was. It was quiet. It was. And then it was like. How do you keep playing? Cleaning up and scraping up. Yeah. It was just a really, really terrible, terrible thing.

But that was in the opening minute of game seven. I had one other series I wanted to bring up, Ray, before we'll let you go, shortly. And, again, thanks for before we'll let you go shortly. And again, thanks for being along with us for so long. The 1990 Adams Division semis was Hartford versus Boston. You guys, I believe it was game four, you had a huge third period lead that you squandered, ended up losing the series. And of course, the Bruins went on to the Cup.

They ran into the Oilers' machine and lost. But was there a sense of, like, with that team, that hot-fit team, where you let something slip away where perhaps you hung on in that game four, beat the Bruins. Who knows what might have happened after that. Is that a series you're looking at? Yeah, 100%. We were up 5-2. They don't have Ray Bork.

He's hurt. And somehow they scored. The winning goal was this dribbler that went from, I think Dave Poulin shot it or deflected it. And we could see from the bench that our goalie, Peter Sidorkovich, couldn't see it. And it just, like, dribbled. We're like, oh, there's, like, two minutes left, and it went in.

It sucked. And then we get back to game seven, and Bork comes out of the tunnel for game seven, which was not good news for us. And then they had a guy they just signed from the University of Wisconsin, John Bice, and he scored in game seven. And we lost 3-0. But that series was ours. Like, we felt like that was ours. Yeah, that's what they'll always remember.

And it wasn't. And then you know what? Our team got broken up in the next year or two. Instead of adding players, they started trading players away. And the final blow to Hartford was when they traded Ronnie Francis to Pittsburgh. That was it. Oh, what a legend that guy was. Now, Ray, you signed

with the Rangers as a free agent I think it was 96. And then all of a sudden they turn around and trade you at the trade deadline. What was that like? This team, all the free agents out there, they bring you in and then they kind of give up on you like six or seven months in. What was that feeling like?

Well, it was brutal. And I would say of the, like, I'm not bitter about anything about my NHL career. People say, oh, gee, if you were born later, you would have made more money or you could have won a Stanley Cup. And that's all true, but that's just the way it is. I mean, I was born when I was born. You know, I had a great career. Loved it. true but that's just the way it is i mean i've you played 1200 games you know you're like i i had a great career loved it the only thing i was bitter about was what happened with the rangers

yeah and so i signed as a free agent i had 25 goals in 54 games i don't know how many they were expecting but that's a pretty good pace and um and then they traded me me and four other guys me and three other guys for marty mcsorley shane churla and yari curry and these were long past the best days of curry and mcsorley yeah they were getting the band back with me curry was on oh yeah yari curry was on like extra holes at that point like he wasn't even on the back nine they were playing a couple like an emergency nine it wasn't even you know and so they traded me ian leperiere matthias nordstrom nathan lafayette like so anyways they made the deal i get a call at home

and landon who my son who's now 26 he answered the phone i don't know how old he would have been 96 so he was five and he says uh dad colin's on the phone which was colin campbell our coach like no now i know he's not, I know he's not calling. I know he's not calling to ask what we're having for dinner. I grabbed a call, and Coley tells me I've been traded to L.A. And the thing that pissed me off the most was that Neal Smith, never, the general manager, never had the balls to call me. That's bullshit.

He left it for Coley. And Coley called call me that's bullshit he left it for coley and coley called and that's fine you know maybe neil was busy doing something else at that moment and they had to tell us because we needed to be on a plane the next day but i get that but you traded me you call after you got a call yeah and it never happened like. Like Doug Armstrong told me that the general manager for the blues, whenever he trades a player, he makes the call about a minute long, basically that, Hey,

it's Doug Armstrong. Look, I've traded you to wherever Chicago for a trade. It doesn't even say for who traded you for Chicago. I want to thank you for all you've done for us and wish you the best of luck. And that's it. And then he'll circle back in a few days, send a text, and say, hey, can I call you? And then, like, once the edge is rubbed off, he'll call back and, you know, have a deeper conversation with the player.

Because at the time, wait, you've been traded. The guy tells you you've been traded. You're like, whatever he says after that, you're like, I didn't even know. Yeah, you're so shocked you don't even remember it. Nothing. Yeah. And so that's how I got traded to L.A., and yeah, that was not a favorite time of my career.

Yeah. So for a lot of people that don't know, in terms of, you know, you watch hockey, you, you announce hockey for a living. It's, it's part of your life and people probably don't really understand or know that you're married to what a lot of people say, the greatest USA hockey women's player ever in Kami Granato. So does she still enjoy watching hockey with you? Is she into it? Does, is this, is that part of your guys' relationship? A hundred percent. It's funny, too. I don't know too many guys whose wives, as you're watching a game, she says, like she pointed out something in a game last week. She's like, whoa, did you see that? I'm trying to remember the play. It was a pass across the front of

the net, and whomever the commentator was said, you know, and he just taps it in the net. And cammy's like no he didn't he stepped outside he was outside the defenseman he stepped inside him and got his stick on that so i rewind it i'm like oh as usual she was right you know like we argue about players all the time she will always always bring up the first year that Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taves went to development camp in Chicago. The Granados are from Chicago. So we were back visiting our family. And so we went back and we went to the camp for a day. And so we're sitting there and they're both zipping around the ice. And she's like, man, I think Kane is going to be amazing. And I'm like, yeah, but he's not

ready this year. I said, look how small he is. I'm like, yeah, but he's not ready this year. I said, look how small he is. I'm like, Taves is ready. You can see Taves look like a man out there. She's like, I'm telling you, I think he can play. You won the rookie of the year. So she has never eased off the pedal on that one. She's like, listen, this is what you get paid for,

and I'm calling rookies before you. She's like, listen, this is what you get paid for, and I'm calling rookies before you. And if anybody ever, like our kids are young. They're 10 and 7, so certainly they don't have any recollection other than any video or any stories we tell of our career. And Cammie is the most humble person I've i've ever met and i'll give you this example um in 1998 when they won the gold medal it was the first year the olympics included yeah women's hockey nagano or whatever right yep she was a captain the they always you know they present the gold medals so the first medal in women's ice hockey ever presented goes to the captain of the U.S. team, which is Cammy.

That's in our house. You think it should be displayed. It's in a drawer in the box, and I can't get her to let me display it. She's like, it shouldn't be about me. I'm like, it's not about you. That's history. It should not be in your sweater drawer.

Ray, I got my silver medal hung up. I might as well go put that underneath the toilet. You're going to hang it up. You're going to hang it up this Christmas. I won a silver medal at the World Championships. I got my jersey hanging up. I had to drag her USA Bowl jersey up beside mine. Otherwise, she wouldn't have put it up.

Oh, that's beautiful. There's a lot of guys out there who wish they'd only argue with their wives about hockey players. My wife will only watch hockey if there's a guy that's dating a housewife in the NHL. She'll be like, I'll watch that. Oh, Tammy's up on the housewife. like a housewife in the NHL. She'll be like, I'll watch that. Oh, Tammy's up on the housewife. I would say the two things that we don't agree on

are the housewives and the bachelor. I can't join her watching that stuff. Can't do it. Hate it. I enter in, and I just, within 30 seconds, I'm like, what the hell are you watching here? Seriously. I know.

I'm with you there, Ray. Well, Ray, we took up a lot of your time. Thank you so much. Quickly, before you go, I know Well, Ray, we took up a lot of your time. Thank you so much. Quickly, before you go, I know it's on the spot. Do you have a Stanley Cup pick? I took Tampa and Dallas. And I'm going to take Tampa. The one thing I will say is,

can you even tell the difference between most of the teams anymore? No. They tell us, you've got to send in your predictions. I call them guesses now. What's the difference between once you get past Pittsburgh, because they've won twice, and you look at a couple other teams, after that there's about 12 teams that are all the same. I mean, they're different, but they're all about the same.

And so I have an impossibility for me to, you know, oh, I really believe they're going to win. But I picked Tampa, Dallas, and then I picked Dallas. No, I picked Tampa. Sorry, I picked Tampa to win. And I think it's a great thing for the league to have that many teams that are equal. So we really appreciate you coming on, Ray.

We'd love to do it again. So keep up the good work. Thanks. We'll do that for sure. We've got to do this from a golf course somewhere. Yes, Ray. We'd love to do it again, so keep up the good work. Thanks. We'll do that for sure. We've got to do this from a golf course somewhere. Yes, yes. Maybe Ireland. That, I'm available, I think.

All right, man. I'll talk to you soon. Oh, you haven't set any dates, but I'm available. Yeah, I'm available, too, no matter what. Ray, thanks so much for coming on, man. We really appreciate it. You had some great stories, some great insight, and it's much appreciated. Awesome, guys. Enjoy. Good luck with everything. We'll talk to you soon thanks bud take care and that interview with ray farrell was also brought to you by helix sleep there are a ton of

online mattress retailers popping up these days with a one-size-fits-all solution with better sleep guess what one-size-fits-all doesn't work helix sleep off of something that doesn't exist anywhere else a mattress personalized to your unique preferences and sleep and style that won't set you back thousands of dollars go to helix sleep.com slash chiclets that's c-h-i-c-l-e-t-s helix sleep.com slash chiclets take their simple two to three minute sleep quiz they'll build a custom mattress that will be the best thing you've ever slept on for couples couples, they even personalize each side of the mattress, which is outstanding if you're forever battling for the covers, what you better have.

Everyone from GQ to Cosmo to the New York Times are talking about Helix, and once you try it out, you'll know why. Your custom mattress arrives direct to your door in a week, and shipping is completely free. Try it for 100 nights. If you don't love it, they'll pick it up and refund you in full. So go to helixsleep.com slash chicklets right now and you'll get $50 towards your custom mattress.

That's helixsleep.com slash chicklets for $50 off your order. One more time, helixsleep.com slash chicklets. C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S. Thank you very much. Chicken parm, Ray Ferraro. Great guy.

Pretty, pretty incredible to hear a guy play that long and have one bitter thing. And it beats it to not have a GM call you when you go trade. So that's pretty, I mean, to think that a GM wouldn't even give a guy a call. Yeah. Yeah.

That's especially, like I said, when, you know, they brought him in as a free agent that, you know, usually get a quarter guy, you know, there's other teams that want to bring him in you want him and you know i understand okay they traded him but yeah you don't even get the courtesy of a call and andrew brunette running a three on three league during an nhl season you know that if they had like they're probably minus four a lot of nights just they won 14 games after

they're like tomorrow morning i'm gonna light up three on three though like that was just what they live for that's classic stuff that was good so yeah exactly you bring on and you know brunette They won 14 games. After, they're like, tomorrow morning, I'm going to light up three on three, though. That was just what they lived for. That's classic stuff. That was good. Yeah, exactly. You bring on – And who did Brunette – who did he put a plate on? Andrew Brunette.

He put a bow on the career of Patrick Waugh in the 2003 – Game seven. Western Conference semifinals, overtime, bing, bang, boom. Yes. Fucking money line. Backhand. I've always – I remember the first time I met you, I think you told me you had the money line.

Series line, yeah. No, I remember because I had Minnesota and Anaheim. I bet the shit out in the first two rounds, and they played each other in the third round, and I sat her with the ducks. That's when... That's when they're getting jiggy with it. Yeah, right.

All right, what are we going to now? Are we going to All Right Hamiltons? All Right Hamilton. Sorry, baby. We got any good ones? All right. You know, we didn't have Are we going to All Right Hamilton's? All Right Hamilton. Sorry, baby. We got any good ones? All right. You know, we didn't have great ones this week, I'll be honest. I had to consult with R.A. before I picked the ones this week.

I got a co-producer. Okay. So, yeah, R.A.'s co-producing this week. So, Connor Blair. I love when we get a ton of them. Connor Blair asks, if you could have any current NHL coach be your bench boss for a new franchise, who would it be? All right, Hamilton.

Oh, new bench, new coach, new franchise. Man, that's a tough one. If you didn't call me, it wouldn't take. I was thinking Babcock. I'm going to jump in first. I like John Cooper in Tampa Bay, man. He seems like a coach who's really adept at coaching the modern athlete, i.e. millennials, who probably aren't the easiest for an old school coach to deal with.

But John Cooper really seems to get through to his players. He's great with the media. He just seems like a good shit. You know what I mean? And he's a guy I would build my team around. Yeah, he actually does come off as somebody who's like not not not a huge hard ass you know things like that i don't know i i just i think it's because seeing chicago in in the game so often joel quenville just seems he seems like a complete beauty i mean like he you know he gives

he gives he gives guys shit but he also gives it to the refs and you know he's he cares about his players you can tell like and i think they all know that um i mean i'm speaking for someone this is always so like i remember before i heard that guys in detroit didn't like babcock i thought they all loved them because they were so good i'm like they must love babcock and then you find out they don't so maybe guys in chicago don't like quenville i don't know anyone i haven't talked to anyone but he just seems like a guy that'd be fun to play for and i know that chicago before vegas even had a team they go they go to to Vegas once a year. They go stay over in, like, the middle of the season when they have, like, four days off on the road because Quenville loves gambling.

So he's a beauty. So that's kind of my pick. Just think, his mustache is awesome, too. I wonder what site he uses. All right. What about you, Grinnells? I'd probably go Quenville, too. It's tough to, you know, all I've known is Blackhawks winning, basically.

Results speak for themselves. Exactly. Phil Hosley could be a good one, too. I mean, he's somebody who's kind of worked with defense in Nashville, obviously, and now I think he's probably a guy who's not a huge hard-ass, you know. He's going to let you play. He's also going to keep you responsible. So, I don't know.

He's just a USA hockey legend. Yeah, absolutely. Maybe local guy, Mike Sullivan, too. Who knows? BU. Yeah. Nate Bowers asks, is there any one thing you changed that happened in your career? A stupid penalty, a misstep on the ice, got too drunk before a game, etc., etc.

All right, Hamilton. Wow. All right, this can apply to you, too, for your blogging career. Did you ever write a blog You're like oh shit You shouldn't have wrote that one You know what I don't know that I do Because I'm always like

Aware that when you put something on the internet Words are forever You think You think long and hard I feel like before you do stuff That's you being older I actually remember my dad saying When the internet

He's like hey Anything you write Will That's you being older. I actually remember my dad saying, like when the internet, he's like, Hey, anything you write will forever be there. And now I'm actually like at the point where like, I should kind of go back to beginning of Twitter. I definitely have some tweets. I remember I had a Serena Williams tweet that in now day and age would have me like, yeah,

being crushed by the Twitter mafia. So maybe I should actually go back and delete some tweets. But you know, like you, I think you're, you're a little older in that you knew I gotta be careful here. Yeah. by the Twitter mafia. So maybe I should actually go back and delete some tweets. But like you, I think you're a little older in that you knew. I got to be careful here. Yeah, well, I think I am a little older, a little wiser. But my motto was, you know, what the fuck, and if you're a cop, measure twice, cut once. Well, I'm a big, you know, read twice, tweet once.

Like, I, because I have tweets. I'll put it in a draft if I'm not going to feel good about it. But, you know, I mean, yeah, I'm sure I got plenty of tweets I want to do

of especially like early in my Twitter career, I guess you'd call it. But as far as blogs, no, I don't really, really have anything I regret. I mean,

I've been wrong a bunch of times, but like I said, I guess I always understood that there was a permanence to it. And I just like, all right,

you know, if you're going to say something stupid, make sure it's worth it. Well, my career, before I blew out my ankle for the last time in Edmonton, I was actually having a really good season. Our team was struggling, but I was playing really well. And for like two weeks before my ankle, I fucked it up really bad. It had been really hurting me. Like, and I was getting shots because it was this bone on the inside of my ankle. It

was too sensitive to even like touch. So you'd have to like punch out my skate and have a donut there and like get a shot. And then right when the shot were off, you couldn't even barely touch it. And I kept playing because like, you think it would go away. And who knows if I had, if I had stopped playing then, if I wouldn't have blown out my ankle because that part would have healed but it just makes to me it's like i had this horrible pain two weeks leading up and then something happened it's like that must have been doing something right so like sometimes i think oh i wish i'd like you know tried to get that first thing healthy before the bad one happened but at the time you're like i

gotta do anything i can to play and it's if it's fine enough when i shoot it up to play it's you know i why why would i stop playing you know what i mean so it's it's not really a regret it's just something i think back like i wonder if that would have happened if i'd just taken care of the other thing yeah now i think about it maybe when i had those stomach pains i probably should have went to get my gallbladder yeah exactly you tried to You tried to toughen it out. Yeah, exactly. If you're a hard guy. No career, zero regrets.

That's how I look at this. Fucking A, brother. Hey, that's just living. Mike Merritt asks, Game 7, Conference Finals, 30 seconds left, goalie pulled.

Who's the guy you're picking to take the draw? Has to be playing today. All right, Hamilton. Well, I'd say Bergeron, but he's wearing a non-concept jersey today,

but he's a current player. Yeah, no, no, no. You mean current? Yeah. Yeah, Bergeron comes into my head quick. Man, Taves is really good on draws, and Vermette is sick on draws. Yeah. So, like, you know.

You also want a guy who can win a draw and, you know, maybe do something with it. Yeah. Not that Vermette can't. But the first, Bergeron came to my head immediately. With all the Selkies and him playing center and him being notoriously amazing on face-offs, that's a no-brainer. Yeah, Bergeron as well.

A little Boston love. Bergie as well for me. This week's All Right Hamilton was brought to you by MyBookie. If you're watching the games, it's time to start making money. MyBookie is the industry-leading website that hooks you up for all your betting needs. And with their great odds, fast payouts, and decades of expertise, you can bet with confidence. Your team doesn't even have to win.

They just need to cover the spread. So what are you waiting for? Lay down some dough and win big today. Or if you know your team sucks, do yourself a favor and bet against them. Go the other way. If they lose, you make money. And if they win, you'll still be happy. Everybody's happy.

So where you bet is just as important as who you're betting on. That's why I'm urging you to make your way to MyBookie. I trust them, but you don't have to take my word for it. Check them out yourself. They have in-game live wagering and a mobile site that makes wagering on the go easier than ever. You can also check out their online casino if you'd rather just play a few hands of blackjackering on the go easier than ever. You can also check out their online casino if you'd rather just play a few hands of blackjack or roll the dice in craps. So join now, and MyBookie will match your deposit with up to 100% bonus.

Use the promo code SPIT, S-P-I-T, to activate the offer. Visit MyBookie.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid. The Bruins kind of don't look too hot right now. That road trip was... Actually, it's funny. We can go off of Allred Hamilton. A couple thoughts we didn't get to before Razor called, but

the Bruins, they look horrible right now. It's funny. They don't have Bergeron. We had the segue. We were talking about Vegas. I was going to bring up Malcolm Subban. His first two victories. Well, his first victory was against the team who couldn't hang on to him, lost him at the waiver wire after hanging on to him as their property for six years, drafted him, you know, groomed him, brought him along,

and it was like he almost was on the cusp. He almost shuts him out. He almost shuts him out. And then, you know, yesterday, I'm sorry, Tuesday, I'm sorry, Wednesday, Tuca had to be helped off the ice because he got banged into a practice by Anders Bjork. That's not good when your goalie has to be helped off the ice. No, like that's like wait, what? You know, Anders Bjork's

probably like, oh shit. I injured our star goalie. So your Rask, I mean, if he had to be helped off the ice Wednesday, probably isn't going to play Thursday night or last night. What's his name? Ryan Spooner. He's going to be out for a few weeks. I know you don't insert the, oh, what's he done?

Oh, yeah, joke. But he's still a veteran in the lineup who is on the power play. It creates a hole. I mean, yeah, it does create an opportunity for other guys. But the Bruins, yeah, they're easily one of those teams who can have the season get away from them quickly because they're still missing Bergeron. Bacchus isn't back on the lineup yet. He's going to be soon.

They just, you know, they got a lot of holes that they can't plug right now. And part of it is the fact that, like, you know, they got a lot of holes that they can't plug right now. And part of it is the fact that like, you know, when you think of injuries, it's just about like, who are they happening to? You just can't have Bergeron. You saw last year,

this is exactly what happened. He was hurt to start the year and then he came back. He was probably still hurt because he has to get out there. And then he was slow and finally we got healthy. They picked it up.

Now, granted, Julian got fired so it could have been something different in terms of when his offense got going. when you lose key guys it's just you can't really recover from it when guys are playing 20 minutes they're so valuable and especially centers and you know I think right to LA last night they lost Jeff Carter he got cut cut by a skate so I mean it's not weeks or I'm sorry it's not days I mean it's weeks or you know maybe a couple months you get these serious skate it's not days. I mean, it's weeks or maybe a couple months. You get these serious skate cuts.

It's like I wonder. I mean, this started happening way more, I feel like, five, six years ago, maybe a little more in terms of guys getting cut. And then people started wearing the socks to protect you. But now it's just like if you ever see a guy kind of stop or come up from a play and just like look confused down at his foot and they go off the ice, it pretty much always means they got cut now. And's scary to think of another like star playing in the league going down um by a skate blade just cutting them i mean i haven't seen the the replay of it last

night in in la but that's another guy now la who has had this great start they lose one of their top players and you get to see how they respond and you know look at how the bruins haven't played good without their top player but the good thing is for LA they've they've started so strong that maybe they can kind of ease off of losing him as opposed to the Bruins they just need him Beers Bergeron back as quickly as possible yeah and they're gonna go you know this is gonna be interesting because they're presumably gonna have to lean on Anton Hudobin as their backup now when you know I mean he's shown in the past he can be up to the task he struggled last year but i mean he was such a good backup for a while he earned a starting job for a brief period of time but you know he's one of those goalies who kind of straddles that they're you know a

backup guy but they're also capable of you know having a nice little run but uh it's just interesting because again they let subhan go he's won two games uh we don't know if he's gonna be a number one in the future but it's just kind of interesting the Bruins. I think they're big on McIntyre. I think that's what it is. Yeah, well, yeah, we saw him a little last year. Shout out North Dakota. Wasn't up to the task quite yet. But goalies, you know, they're notoriously late developing.

So another couple of notes. Welcome back to Eddie Ocek. Yes. He returned to the booth last night. Good for him. Very nice gesture by the St. Louis crowd to give him a nice ovation for getting back to the booth. Always like to see that. So he's feeling healthy now.

He said he's going to continue working as his health allows going forward. Honestly, I didn't catch the statement. I saw the highlight last night. I think he feels good enough to work right now. And he said moving forward he'll be working as much as his kind of body is telling him that he can do. So that would be great. Hopefully we see him a lot, and then we'll know he's feeling great. Yeah.

And one other note. My first pro coach or my first NHL coach. Oh, that's right, too. Yeah, when he was in Pittsburgh. This is to our Canadian listeners. Just a note of condolences to our Canadian listeners. Go down to the tragedy. Oh, yeah.

I wanted to ask you if you were a fan of them. You know what? And I mean this. I should ask Ferraro, too. No disrespect whatsoever. I really wasn't familiar with them. Yeah, I feel like a to ask you if you were a fan of them. You know what? I should ask Ferraro, too. No disrespect whatsoever. I really wasn't familiar with them. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people in America were. For some reason, yeah, they just, they were wildly popular.

It's just crazy that they could be so close to us. He had so far away in music taste. But, like, they just, they never trans, not trans, they just never were popular in America. And I'm not the most, like, up- up-to-date, recent music guy anyway. So someone asked one of the All Right Hamiltons, what was your favorite song? And I'm not sure if I replied, but no disrespect. I don't know.

I just wasn't familiar with their music. I didn't know them. And then when I moved to Canada, I quickly kind of got introduced to them. And the funny thing is they sound like a band that would be popular here. It's not even like music that I don't think would be popular here it's like it's not even like music that i don't think we popular in the u.s it just never caught on the same way but i know that the guys that that i'm friends with from from canada they loved the tragically hip yeah when when he played his last concert this year i think half the country watched it no shit it was like 15

million people or something it was amazing that's when when I really realized how big they were up there. I mean, obviously, I've heard about them. And you're right. I would hear their music, and I would be like, this isn't like avant-garde shit. It's not like crazy music that you can't relate to. It's just weird how they never were crazy popular down here like up there. But yeah, that concert when he had announced he was sick and wasn't going to be around too much longer. And the entirety of Canada was watching.

I was like, wow, this is something else, man. They have a song. It's actually my favorite song by them. Maybe we could play the episode out with it because I don't know the name of it off the top of my head, but he talks about at the beginning of the song what you were doing or what he was doing when Paul Henderson scored the goal in 1972.

And then, and then the next line he goes into, like, he's going off with some girl, like, and he brings up Bobby Orr's name. Not a big deal. Yeah,

not a big deal at all. My agent, don't worry about it. Uh, but I just remember that song as being one that you're like, this is Canada. This is like, you know,

I can't imagine how many, not only kids, but guys have memories of driving to the rink, like listening to that with their dad. Because I remember like listening to U2 with my dad going to games. I'll always remember that. And, you know, so I'm sure it's the same for kids listening to the hip with their old mans on the way to hockey or in locker rooms when you're younger. And so it was crazy to see how many people in Canada kind of were so gutted by the loss of this guy.

It was sad to see. Yeah, it was, of were so gutted by the loss of this guy. It was sad to see. Yeah, it was, like I said, it was definitely noteworthy. We know we have a lot of listeners up north of our country. We've got a great Canadian contingent of guys. We do. What a great country. Yeah, we've got a lot of Canadian fans. I love going up there and getting in one.

Top ten every week in Canada. Yeah, so we want to, like I said, acknowledge the loss of a huge guy to Canada and our listeners. We want to just give our sympathies for the loss you experienced this week. I think it's Bob Cage. We had a similar one, Tom Petty, a couple weeks ago. I mean, maybe some similarities there as far as everybody sort of liked that musician. I mean, you had to look far and wide to find someone who didn't like Tom Petty down here.

Yeah, exactly. What else? You got any other things going on? Nothing really, man. I'm golfing. I'm getting my golf in. Baby's coming soon, quickly approaching. A couple weeks, right?

It's nice out to when I'm not at NHL Network. I'm golfing. It's 70 today. It's beautiful. Go outside right after this. One other. I gave these guys an assignment on Twitter. Wink, wink.

It's on Netflix. Yeah, I know. Dude, I got to on Netflix. Yeah, I know, dude. I got to watch that. Actually, no, it's good. I'll give you guys the assignment, and I'll give our listeners the assignment to watch it. We can really discuss it next week. It's a documentary called Ice Guardians. It's about NHL enforcers.

Ice Guardians. There was one a couple years ago. It was called The Last Gladiators. It was very— A little darker, I think. Much darker. Focused on Chris Nyland a lot, his struggles. That was good, too.

It was very good. I thought it did show the dark side. I think Ice Guardian shows a lot more of the noble side. It actually gives some eye-opening statistics about concussions and where they come from and how fighting was basically a necessary thing for the NHL at the time and still today. So check out Ice Guardian on Netflix. We'll talk about it a little more next week. Definitely worth a watch.

I will be here next week. I'll be in person. I wonder, do the listeners think it's worse when I'm away? I know it's better when we're here together, but I hope it's not too much worse. Honestly, dude, I thought it was fucking... The last week's show I thought was hysterical. After we finished, I'm like, regardless of what we were all in different rooms, I think it's not too much worse. Honestly, dude, I thought it was fucking... The last week's show I thought was hysterical.

After we finished, I'm like, regardless of what we were all in different rooms, I think it's more what we say than... It's just a little easier to not... You know what I mean? You know when you're ready to speak. Yeah, we can read each other. We can read each other.

You're bringing up Juan and I. How you're rubbing my balls right now. People can't see that. Disgusting. Ask a millennial. I'll be right here oh my god

I don't even know ET yeah oh really how'd you know that was ET because you were doing the finger

the light up finger at the end I had to cheat with the finger alright well that'll be it I want to thank the listeners as always

and by the way we talked about some teams who are struggling if the Rangers don't get going the Rangers fans you'll be hearing about this next week. So don't think you're out of the woods.

Exactly. Well, listen, when we mention teams up and down, if your team doesn't get mentioned on a particular week, really don't cry about it. Sometimes we're going to get to teams. We can't get to all teams. You don't need to worry about it. I mean, we're going to get to you at some point. If we're talking about good teams, bad teams, whatever, just please don't need to know why about it I mean we're going to get to you at some point If we're talking about good teams, bad teams, whatever Just you know

Please don't cry We get to everybody at some point So be a big boy Put your big boy pants on Alright peace out Peace out If there's a goal that everyone remembers It was back in old 72 We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger

And all I remember is sitting beside you You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey And I never saw someone say that before You held my hand and we walked home the long way. You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr. Isn't it amazing anything's accomplished when the little sensation gets in your way? Now an ambition whispering over your shoulder

Isn't it amazing you can do anything? We hung out together every single moment Cause that's what we thought married people do Complete with the grip of artificial chaos Outro Music