Spittin Chiclets - Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 533: Featuring Jeff Marek & Bruce Boudreau

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

On Episode 533 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are pleased to be joined by Jeff Marek throughout the show as he takes us through a four nations preview, the Bruins firing Monty, and the struggles Nashville has been facing. Bruce Boudreau joined for an extended interview stocked with wild old stories about the crazy days in the WHL, getting pranked by Teemu Selanne and many more. But first, Biz had an insane brawl in a restaurant as he stepped in to serve justice to some guys that were acting like lunatics. Why anyone would mess with biz is beyond imaginable but we’re just glad he’s safe and relatively unharmed. With Ovechkin injured, when will we see the record broken? Will we ever see Crosby change teams? All this and more on this weeks episode. You won’t want to miss it. 00:00:00 - START 00:07:24 - Bizzy Brawls 00:21:31 - Monty Fired in Boston and Hired in St. Louis 00:56:20 - Nashville Predators are Struggling 01:17:43 - Jeff Marek Poses an NHL Rule Change 01:21:54 - Bruce Boudreau Interview 02:57:38 - Ovechkin, Crosby, and Thornton Talk 03:23:41 - Four Nations Preview 03:35:56 - Quick Hits SUPPORT THE SHOW: PINK WHITNEY: Take Your Shot with Pink Whitney Enter the sweepstake at https://pinkwhitney.com/nashville GAMETIME: Download the Gametime app today and use code CHICLETS to easily score great deals with the new Gametime Zone Deals! AURAFRAMES: Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://AuraFrames.com. Use code CHICLETS at checkout to save! PETER MILLAR: Check out the Holdridge family and the rest of the Peter Millar Holiday Gift Guide at https://www.petermillar.com/CHICLETS DRAFTKINGS: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app NOW and use code CHICLETS. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min. $5 bet. Max. $150 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets if your bet wins. Bonus Bets expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: dkng.co/dk-offer-terms. Ends 1/5/25 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Boston Sports. Our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Shave his head! Shave his head! Shave his head! Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, R.A., Mike Grinnelli, Spittin' Chicklets! What is up, folks? Wow, welcome to episode 533 of the Spittin' Chicklets podcast.

What an episode we have in store for you. So much has happened in the hockey world. So much has happened in' Chicklets podcast. What an episode we have in store for you. So much has happened in the hockey world. So much has happened in the Chicklets world. But you guys know, this is presented by Pink Whitney. And we're on the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Everyone knows that. And Pink Whitney is here to stay. I'll tell you, no one ever imagined,

no one ever imagined that this would happen, Biz. Pink Whitney just came out of nowhere, came out of thin air. And boom, now we got these Birdie Buckets. This fall, Pink Whitney is the go-to shot for a new generation of drinkers. They've launched the first ever Party Bucket, otherwise known as Birdie Bucket, complete with 20 50-milliliter Pink Whitney bottles in fun, convenient bucket packaging. Just add ice. That's what they say. Just add ice.

The Pink Whitney 20-pack shot bucket combines the excitement of shots with the convenience of a multi-pack format, making it the perfect accessory for all tailgates, fall tailgates, and game days. Pink Whitney will also be selecting one grand prize winner and sending them and a few of their friends on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a weekend of Pink Whitney-filled fun. Thank you. with Pink Whitney. Do I apologize for the long ad read? Nope. But boy, do we have a special episode in store here, guys. We got a sandbag of recap. We got Chicklets U going to Ann Arbor for Michigan this week. We got Black Friday, Cyber Monday promo,

20% off all the stores. And we got Jeff Marrick. Jeff Marrick, welcome to Spittin' Chicklets. And he's got a new show, The Sheet, starting up very soon on Daily Face off jeff how you been buddy uh boys i'm so glad to be joined with you guys today and uh coming up later on the star of the show le premier toile commande en francais gabby bruce boudreau okay i know we got a lot to get to just let me get a quick evaluation quick little tease put some cheese in the trap scale of one to ten

i go about 14 or 15. How good was Gabby? Oh, I could have talked to him for another four hours. And I think he could have too. That is one of the best storytellers we've ever had on the show. We just did it, folks. I think we went 90 minutes. And I was laughing the entire time. The WHA folding story.

I was like, my jaw fell on the floor. I didn't expect that from Gabby. The Gretz folding story. Like I was like, my jaw fell on the floor. I didn't expect that from Gabby. The Gretzky story, the Ovechkin nightclub story, the biz mode, my son's lawn story. Like honestly, like it,

it just, it was just getting speed bagged of great stories. He just sent me a text like two seconds ago. He says, seriously, was that any good? I'm like, I'll text him back after the show. I'm like, Gabby, like that was

a tape measure home run where the outfielder doesn't even look at the ball. It's like we all know the balls left the yard. We all know the balls left the stadium. Never mind the yard. Like Gabby was. That was, honestly, that was the best I've ever heard, Gabby. That was the best.

First of all, thank you for getting them on. Second of all, what a podcast to get you to come on and guest host. Obviously, you're launching your new show, but tons of news has dropped. Before that, how have you been? What have you been doing in the off-season, enjoying a little downtime?

Yeah, learning a lot of things, realizing who's in your corner and who's not. I'll tell you a story. I haven't told this one yet. You know who the first person that called me this summer was? You, Biz. I was in the ultimate team guy. When everything went down, Biz was the first.

It was the first. And I had no idea. It was like, it wasn't that long. And I was like, how does he know? And you know where I was? I was in cooperstown my kids baseball tournament and i'm on there that's like the second or third inning and i'm sitting there with my youngest summer watching my oldest boy play i think it was the we were playing either playing against i think it was boston we were playing against and there's my phone i'm like paul bison how the hell this biz like right away bam but i

gotta say like i was like hey you know any good weed dealers in toronto i'm uh i'm on the road right now can't help you man i'm gonna help you you know it's all legal up here now but as you yeah you want the uh you want the stinky stuff you want the the bts like you're in high school again with like the orange juice bottle and the and the and the marble kicking against your heel that's what you're looking for but now i've been you know what i've been real i've been real i've been real good i've been real happy and now that i'm at uh the nation network then the way that like i'll tell you something like just i don't want to get this too far into myself here.

Look, there's my navel. But like, for whatever reason, and I don't know why, the hockey, not just the hockey community, but like the online hockey community

has always been really kind to me. And I don't know why, because I know sometimes it can kind of be an echo chamber for assholes, but that's not been

my experience, like whatsoever. And you guys and this show have always been in my corner and full support. And I just want you to know but that's not been my experience whatsoever. And you guys and this show have always been in my corner and full support. And I just want you to know that that's appreciated from this corner. But new show launching, happy part of the Nation Network,

and I'm thrilled to be on with you guys, and I can't wait till you guys drop this one for the Gabby interview, man. I think that people are kind towards you and enjoy the content and all the stuff you've done in the hockey world because they know you truly love it. And when we got to know each other, when I came up to Sportsnet, I tell everyone, like, you really helped me out. Besides the one prank you pulled on me that we can't even talk about.

I love that one. Seriously, you showed me how it worked. You talked me through things. You were a big help for somebody who had no clue what was going on. I always appreciate it and i always told people like this guy you are a hockey geek you are obsessed with the game absolute nerd you love it you watch it every night and so that's why i forget like as a friend and a buddy having you on it's like this has been a great week to to catch up on all things nhl because no matter what, you were watching

and you were keeping an eye on all of it. There's a lot. And I'm sure we're going to get to plenty of it, whether it's NHL, whether it's NCAA, whether it's CHL. There's a ton going on, but not to play host because I'm going to slide it over to you. And by the way, you know what really sucks? Now Ryan Whitney's here hosting this thing,

and it's like now ryan knows that it's really easy to do my job like anyone who holds anything oh no no you don't understand it's so hard and all the janitorial work and the ins and outs when really all we say is oh that's offside and i think that's a bad pass and we'll be right back now whit knows the secret that my end of the business is really really easy but pass it along massive story to get to with yeah and and this is kind of uh all jokes aside like a really really messed up situation and thank god you're okay dude why don't you tell everyone what happened in the story and how lucky we are to be sitting here like talking to you right now after what could have been

uh yeah a crazy night still kind of trying to process it all um i i think i'm still still a little bit of tort all in me so i'm not really maybe feeling all the pain but uh so um i guess i'll just start from the from the beginning so uh we finish our outline call with mr jeff merrick slinging back all these ideas gonna be a great show and uh i go to this place called houston's it's a hillstone sister restaurant hillstone has a bunch of awesome spots all around scottsdale i think they're all over the country one of the best ran chains uh known to man very military like the staff is incredible and there's one on scottsdale road um like i said called houston's and i go there about three four times a week.

I'll just usually go in either with my buddy Joey Superstein. Majority of the time, I'm by myself, and I just sit at the bar. So last night after that outline call, I go over there around like 8, 830, and it was packed in there, as it always is. And there wasn't a spa at the bar, so I went and waited and then also put my name in for a seat in case that popped up first. And, uh, I've gotten to know the staff pretty well. And, uh, because it was so busy, actually the manager who I talked to sometimes, and even the assistant manager, who's a big hockey fan, um, they were both in there. So they're all running court, trying to organize everything, get everybody what they need. And, uh, eventually instead of the going to the bar,

I get called up to go sit down at my seat. So not at the bar area. And so I'm putting in an order for a salad. And all of a sudden you could just hear a commotion at the bar area. And the girl that I was, that was taking my order, like her jaw kind of dropped. And I look over and there's this gentleman in a red golf shirt along with about nine other guys and he's being asked to leave by the smaller assistant manager and this guy is just screaming in his face creating a ruckus the whole restaurant now is looking over there like what is happening so assuming that would have diffused everything the luckily that guy ended up walking out of the restaurant after screaming in

the assistant manager's face and then he starts making his way back over to where the other nine guys were where the the main manager was trying to calm these guys down and explain hey listen like if you don't have a seat in this area you can't drink that's just kind of the rule like i go there three four times a week even sometimes i can't i never get to do that. That's just the rule. So you could see that it starts escalating more and more. And like I said, these people are like incredible people. They're amazing and amazing every time I go in there. So this gentleman with a lime green golf shirt, who's kind of being the antagonist starts putting his finger in the manager's face and backing them up onto the backside of the bar so i'm kind of starting to look around and like nobody's really getting up and doing anything and probably everyone's watching this sorry everybody's watching at this point this is a commotion with

nine golfers that are drunker than maggots uh just like creating a scene and obviously don't like being told no like they want to get a drink. They want it now. They ain't leaving without a fight. So after about watching this for probably about 15 seconds of him getting in his face, and now the manager trying to remove this guy's arm from his face, I get up and I go over. And I walk over. I grab the guy's arm.

I said, listen, buddy, if you keep harassing and assaulting the staff here, I said, we're going to go outside and we're going to have some problems. The minute that left my mouth, the guy beside him starts throwing punches. And then next thing you know, there was about four guys swinging at me. So we're in the middle of the bar area and I am just throwing. And I'm eating punches. I'm getting pushed against the bar. My shirt gets ripped off.

And as I'm kind of getting pushed out towards where the main door is we're still swinging i was there's like a statue there in the entrance if anyone's been to this houston's there's like a statue towards the right side as you go to the bathroom and luckily i was able to kind of duck underneath that and make my way out the door well this pack should have never left right looking back maybe try to stay i don't know man i just didn't want to get cornered i wanted to be able to continue to be able to back out and like you said all these scenarios go through your mind once this is all said and done so we're all of a sudden now in the parking lot and they keep coming and we end up in kind of where the first rock area is where there's gravel and they get me down they're throwing punches punches. I'm able to get back up. I lose my shoe and you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm taking some and I'm given some. And I would

say about the entire time there was about five to seven of them, mostly five of them attacking. And I kept having a back pedal because if you get caught up with one and then you go down, then all of a sudden they're boot fucking you and you're done. So as I continue to back up and maybe involve with one of them, and I've talked, I've talked to a few officers, the videos are going to come out. They have surveillance, I guess, of majority of what's going on. And even towards the end, as we got to the CVS, like where it's on the same, in same strip mall but about 400 meters away that's where it kind of ended but I'll get back to where I was where as I'm about halfway towards the CVS I now see the gentleman who originally struck me he's a bald guy he's now assaulting the assistant manager

again he throws him up against a car and I'm saying I go to the guys kind of coming at me as I'm backpedaling I'm like what are you doing i'm like these people are good people like what the fuck are you doing and they were they they were seeing red and there was no stopping them and i just kept fighting away now we kind of rounded the corner where the cvs is and that ball gentleman who originally threw the first punch now starts making a beeline and sprints past all the guys coming at me and i catch them with a nice right and buckle them i was very very very very happy about that that seemed to ignite them again i make my way around the dumpster at the cvs and four of them got me they got me on the ground and like listen if you know if you're ever in situations like that if you get caught on ground, they're going to start kicking in the head. And if you go unconscious, like you don't know what the, you don't know what the consequences are. I ate three kicks, one in the neck, two in the head, um, was able to get up. And now at this point I have no shoes on. I got my pants, no shirt. And I, I finally am able to run in the CVS and then they didn't come in the CVS. And thankfully the cops were called right away

while the thing was going on in Houston's. And by the time the altercation was done, they were able to book five of these guys and they got them either, whether it was in county jail or the local jail and I'll get their names boys. And this is going to be a thing. Like I'll go after every single one of those fucks for not

only going after this unbelievable staff um that was the only reason i i maybe i felt more of a connection because i go to this houston restaurants three or four times a week and and these people are always so kind to me that i felt the need at that point to step in especially after looking around and it's mostly female staff members, right? And, and these guys aren't the type of guys who fight or are able to deal with this type of situation, nor did they do anything to deserve this type of situation. And yeah, maybe I bit off a little bit more than I could chew, but I wouldn't have changed one thing, one thing about what I ended up doing. And I know I ate a

few and I know that I'm in rough shape. I had to go to the hospital after. Um, I think the whole ordeal probably lasted about three, three and a half minutes, like give or take, you know, 30 seconds. I was pretty gassed and I just want to thank all the police officers, the, the, the ambulance and firemen who came over and helped me out, check the vitals and, and, you know, got me kind of back to normal for, to at least get home to sleep late in the night. And yeah, I was fucked up. Uh,

I know it's already out now, so I figured I'd might as well address it on here. But like I said, like I, they got the five, I think they actually arrested five or six guys. There's one guy who's that's still out there. Uh,

thankful they got it all on surveillance, but like, I'm so fired up right now i would be willing to waive every single charge if i could go behind a fucking barn somewhere and go in one one v one every fucking guy one after the other i'm gonna i'm gonna do what i can to ruin these guys lives um and they're fucking assholes and i just like i said i i kind of want my vengeance at this point and maybe things will change once i calm down but first time i'd ever been in a situation like that

um just glad i didn't get ko'd on the ground there because uh yeah they would have just probably boot fucked my head off and who knows right so fuck them i'm glad i caught that bald fuck who was the antagonizer and the one guy in that lime green golf shirt oh fuck me man oh what i would pay to to have them one v one what i would pay first of all our first concern is to you um i know you said you can um pain medication may be wearing off soon you'll find it where you're really in a lot of pain but how are you oh like i'll say like i i i joked with my uh with my with my buddy, Jeff Jacobson on the phone. I said, oh, I used to do this every Friday, Saturday night

and then have the bus to the next city and unpack my gear at two in the morning. I used to have Jeremy Oblonsky banding me in Binghamton, excuse me. But I'm just more shooken up than anything. I'm probably going to go back to houston's tonight to talk to the staff and just like the mainly those two guys who were getting uh who got assaulted and yeah it was just like i said it's it's more just like just pure shock and appreciate you guys you know caring and reaching out as well as all the other people who

did it's just more about getting my vengeance now than anything so a couple things so one you're something else dude like looking out for like the the the smaller people looking out for anyone that's that's getting treated like that like that's who you are this pisses me off like to no end like what an absolute group of scumbags to act like this then the fact that you you're fighting that many guys, you look like you do. I'd be in a full body cast, and you somehow like fucking survive this thing, knocked out one of them.

You're just, I feel so bad about this, dude. I feel like sick to my stomach that you went through this. Thank God it was you, because they could have killed someone. Like I said, I kind of have like taken my blows before i got kicked in the throat like my throat i can't like it's it's all fucked up i got kicked on the side of the head uh my ear was bleeding like it's still kind of is and obviously you could see like i'm like my jaw's swollen i'll have a black eye tomorrow on the other side like i'm i'm a little banged up but once again boys it was just like crazy night i figured i'd tell my side of the story i'm really interested to hear what their side is but thankfully there was there was witnesses who drove around by

the cvs after and were like we saw the whole thing from inside the restaurant we will take it we will do any police report as well as the staff who did it. So shout out to the staff at Houston's. And once again, to the police officers, the paramedics, and the firemen, they were awesome. They calmed everything down. And I'm just glad I got in that CVS, although the lady working at CVS is like, yes, sir, you can't be in here. And I'm like, ma'am, there is a pack of hyenas out there that is ready to attack me if I leave this door.

By the way, you guys have any good sales no no she's like no shirt no suit no shoes no service sorry homeless hey you're looking for discounts like uh do you sell pink whitney nips in here uh yeah it's awesome they're selling huge you know what i haven't been drinking but you mind if i get a few pink whitney nips but my last thing is it's it's kind of shocking that you're as this was going on and the whole restaurant everyone around is like watching this and you go over and then just other people see what happens like i i can't believe like nobody else like hopped in that is surprising to me yeah i would but like like yeah like basically like i said by the time we started the fight in the restaurant to the fact the time we were at cvs i would say that probably about at least two and a half three minutes like i said give or take 30 seconds had gone by maybe it was three and a half minutes but the good news is though is the

fact that it lasted that long um what gave the time for police to get over there and and like i said one of them one of them is facing felony charges he was in county jail last night i think the other four or five guys were just in regular jail they're still looking for one of the guys and uh like i said boys it's uh it's going to be very interesting when i get a hold of these guys names and we need names we need oh we we need to just ruin what what did the officer say to you uh biz they were just they were they just wanted to get the story right like they hadn't they they got on the scene and and we're at cvs not at houston so they separated me from the people who came over who were in the restaurant because they didn't want our stories to align like we'd like we'd had a

conversation or something which we didn't like that the cameras will show all that and they were just trying to get all the surveillance and what they could i don't know if there's going to be surveillance from inside the restaurant like showing this guy uh assaulting the the general manager for not getting him a cocktail uh which was probably the last thing that he needed or or a bump or whatever else they were on um and then uh yeah they like they just were worried about getting the paramedics but i don't really have much else or a bump or whatever else they were on. And then, yeah, they, they just were worried about getting the paramedics, but I don't really have much else to say, boys.

I appreciate you guys, Karen and crazy night, crazy situation. I ain't gonna, I'll be on the panel on Wednesday. I'm just glad they didn't take my chiclets out. Well, it's a, it's a wild story and I'll,

I'll, I'll just finish. Thank God. You're all right, dude. I'm interested to see the surveillance to see if it played out exactly how I remembered. Yeah, so I guess with that,

there's going to be a lot more news coming from that, and I think all Chicklets, the family of the fans of Chicklets are going to be looking to bury these guys somehow. So we could kind of move on. Glad you're all right. And I guess we have so many different topics. My week was still better than Monty's up until him getting the new contract. I don't know, man.

Monty got five years out of St. Louis, man. Yeah, but I'll get a Houston gift card. It felt bad for Monty for like a cozy five minutes. And then it's like, oh, St. Louis. Oh, okay. Yeah, hopefully the guys that got you get five years. It's just in prison, not in St. Louis. So I think we got to pump G's tires a little bit.

G had mentioned this down at Keith Yandles the day we were sitting there with Roberto Luongo. G, Mick down the Cape, this guy Mick, he broke it. I got to say that. I said it. He broke it. You knew. You knew. You'd heard from Joe Sacco's third cousin's wife that this was going to go down.

And sure as shit, it did. And I think the main thing that I heard and felt myself, and I'm talking Bruins fans, is they're like, all right, Julian, Cassidy, Monty now. They've all done pretty solid. What about the two guys that are making all the decisions, all the signings, all the draft picks? And a lot of times fans are ready for a coach to be let go.

With Boston, it really did feel like Monty's the scapegoat here. I don't know if you guys agree or G, where you want to take this, but that was my thought and what I was reading most online. I don't think this was Monty's fault at all. I tweeted this out.

I do think this kind of had to happen. You've seen the Bruins play better in the past two games. Something had to be done. And we talk about it in the Bruce Boudreaux interview. Back in the day, you used to be able to make a trade. Now, you don't really have that luxury. Something needed to be done, and firing the coach was probably the answer. But I think all of Boston can agree, this is Don Sweeney and Cam Neely's fault.

This is 100%. And I talked to you about it, Biz. The fact they have no guys right now playing on entry-level contracts on offense, that's a joke. You need to be able to draft and develop in this league, and they can't do that. It's the way they've constructed this entire roster is an absolute fucking joke. So you're quitting?

So you're done on them? No, absolutely not. I've, I've said from the beginning, I'm not worried about this. I'm okay. I said to you guys, posture knock,

isn't playing good. Swayman's not playing good. Marshan's not playing good. And this team's still above 500. Just wait till they start playing good. They'll make another run. I think, uh,

I think maybe partly too is like with everything that happened this summer with the, with the goaltending contracts and the, and the Swayman and Allmark stuff, maybe like the Bruins, based on the way they performed last year, Jeff, kind of got caught up in their own hype a little bit. And I feel like there was just a lot of energy wasted on things that didn't need to be. I mean, you already had Marchand dealing with what he had coming into the season. So you had that looming. You maybe had the the the there's a door of stuff early on the fact that he was having a hard time adapting to the systems and the comments from monty but i'll throw it over to you like what do you think like what do you think caused all of this to for their slow start a couple of things one um i agree with you you guys that whenever there's a coaching dismissal, you always ask yourself one question.

Is the issue coaching or composition? I think we can all look at the Boston Bruins and say the issue here is not coaching. They could get Scotty Bowman behind the bench. They could get the ghost of Toe Blake behind the bench here. It's not going to mitigate the fact that look like we've all marveled at how the boston bruins have been able to stay in the hunt for all these years and they've never had that major dip that all teams in a salary cap go through it's been remarkable what the boston bruins have been able to do, but slowly, but surely. And I wonder about last year, like is, was last season, the dead cat bounce. And then this year it's back to reality of, okay,

this is what life without Bergeron is like, right? Like you guys know this, like Patrice Bergeron covered up a lot of problems for the Boston Bruins for a lot of time. Like you think about it, like one of the greatest luxuries any team has ever had was having Zidane O'Chara and Patrice Bergeron on the ice at the same time. Nobody else touched the puck. Like nobody else touched the puck.

And they set like an expectation for everybody else in that room that everybody was embarrassed not to follow. You guys are gone now. Like eventually, like I think that i think the world of brad marshall i think the world of david pasternak i think the world of charlie mcavoy but at a certain point you can't overcome not having bergeron on the ice or in that room like no one's replacing them like the closest you can i always make the joke barkoff is finished for bergeron but that's the

only guy who's going to step in and replace uh patrice bergeron i wonder about and you couple it with biz to your point the situation with the net miner which goes back to arbitration you never want to see players get in that room you never want to see goalies get in that room like in arbitration you hear everything negative about your game mike milbury made made made tommy sallow cry in arbitration okay like saw like a like goalie the last person you want to feel bad about his game on your team is your goaltender and to think that the fumes of that didn't carry over into this contract negotiation are folly. He missed training camp.

There was a whole distraction with the contract. I think that's part of it. And again, you know, coaches don't get fired when the goalie is playing well. Like you look at the history of Jack Adams winners. What's the common denominator? Yeah, show me a good coach. I'll show you a guy who's got a good goalie. Yeah, right.

Alain Vigneault used to always have the great line. H line hockey is simple if your goalie is better than my goalie you win if my goalie is better than your goalie i win like and ned harkness in the 70s the red wings coach would say we need to rename the game from hockey to goalie because really that's all that matters if you have the goalie you win the the hockey game. To me, this is composition, but also in a lot of ways, too. It almost seemed as if it was inevitable, finally, for the Boston Bruins to finally take a step back. And I think that's where we're at right now. And I also think it's fair wit to mention our understanding

is that Monty was offered a three-year contract. And I'm assuming he was well aware of what was going to be on the table and we get into it with bruce boudreaux where you're told it's like yes i know this feels like the end of the world but there's going to be more money and more term on the back end usually for coaches especially ones that are wanted and monty was probably aware that plenty of teams had him on their list so imagining that turning that down left them a little bit sour along with comments from management saying that they thought that the training camp was a little bit too laid back and not on point so that was kind of the start and then one thing that kind of upset me though

is prior to the season beginning at the fact that Sacco was told that if they start out rough, that he's going to end up getting the reins where that almost puts like a little bit of bad juju out there. Like you're talking about a guy in the two years of him being head coach who probably had a better regular season record than anyone in the NHL to sprinkle that into the universe before going into his third year after you just handled the Allmark and Swayman situation that you did? Like, that's fucked to me. I think it was, if they lost, if Toronto scores an OT, he was fired then. It was the loss after the record-breaking season that all of a sudden it's like, I don't know. Like, that team could have won the Stanley Cup.

They're up 3-1. You blow that series. You make all those moves. They bring in Bertuzzi. They bring in Hall. It was all this, you know, they had the team. And they blew it, and they lost that series. And I think from then, Sweeney and Neely are like not really sold on them.

And then the next year, we didn't think much. So many people thought that last year was going to be the fall off. It was that no more Krejci. You talk about Bergeron, Jeff. Like, Krejci's there all those years. What a number two center to have. Because he wasn't cheating offensively either. He wasn't as great defensively as Bergeron, but he was still solid.

So last year was supposed to be the year. And no, they crushed it again last year. And I just look at this game now, it's goaltending, and it's your top players being your top players. And if that's not the case, like Jeff said, no matter who the coach is, they're going to look horrible. But for Bruins fans, I actually look at the team

and I see Lindholm, great player, third-line center on a Stanley Cup winning team. Maybe second line. I would say when he's playing at the top of his game, you have to assume he's a second line center. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough.

He signs a door off. Stanley Cup winning team, maybe the fourth guy. If he's playing amazing, he's top four. But he could, on a Stanley Cup winning team, if he goes a door, he's top four, but he could on a Stanley cup winning team. If you go to the door, I'll play in five, six, you're laughing,

but pause on his, the draw for one second. I just want to make one quick point here. You know, as the old saying fiddlers, fiddle and dancers dance. Like when you get a big contract, sometime you've seen this before.

Maybe this happened to you guys. You feel the pressure to live up to that contract. And you think I need to do something that i'm really not supposed to be doing 100 when nikita's a door off you know hits hockey players he's really good like go hit that man okay that's great you don't have to be the second coming of bobby or brad park ray bork like you don't need that that That's not what they brought Zdorov in for. See player, hit player. Nikita Zdorov. And I think there's times when he does

do that and you saw it in van and then all of a sudden what happens is every player knows you keep it simple, you keep it smart, make the easy play and then the offensive stuff starts opening up. You're like, oh my god it all comes from the solid defense. If he kind of started off and he's defensive, he's hitting, he's chipping pucks out,

sure as shit, you're going to end up finding your rhythm a little bit. You're going to get some chances. You can end up hopping into the play like you want. But instead of that, he's kind of been just like waiting that extra second all season. So these are the big signings that haven't played great. And then the final thing is Swayman. Now, on the bright side, Swayman's going to turn this around. I have actually no doubt.

Knowing him the little I do and seeing what he's done, he's going to find his game. I don't think any player could go through that loud of an offseason, that much breaking news, team calling out player in press conference. Who saw him having a good start? It was written in the stars the way the whole negotiation went down that he's going to struggle. He'll figure it out. They're sitting right at a playoff spot right now.

I wrote down of the top 10 teams in the Eastern Conference right now. You look. They are the only team with a minus goal differential. They're minus 19. It's like, that's going to change, right? I don't think they're going to score a ton, but they're going to score a little goal differential. They're minus 19. It's like, that's going to change, right? I don't think they're going to score a ton, but they're going to score a little bit more, and Swayman's going to stop letting in pucks

that he normally wouldn't let in. I don't think it's a Stanley Cup team by any means, but they'll end up getting better, and I think if Monti was there, it would have been the same situation. I just think it's crazy that they were playing 500 hockey and it came down to this it wasn't like they started like last year's edmonton oilers where it was that drastic of a situation

where they had to make the change but they look bad dude they didn't look good even in the winds understandable but you think things at a certain point could turn around especially with a coach who's got the pedigree monty does with what he did the last two years before gee i know you wanted to hop in you were getting a little antsy about your bees no I was just gonna say I want to jump in on Zdorov and I think it's really great to see from Sacco that already Sacco's bumped him down the lineup he's on the bottom pair now and you saw and Jeff I think we talked about this on the phone the other night where Mason Lorai I want to see a lot more of this guy he's an offensive talent defenseman.

You weren't seeing a ton of him with Monty. And Jeff, you were kind of explaining it to me that when he wasn't getting playing time because Monty knew he was on the hot seat. And when coaches are on the hot seat, they play the veterans they can trust. Not the 19, 20-year-old riverboat gamblers. So I want to see more of Mason Lorai.

He's on the top pair now. They've bumped Zdorov down. And I'd even like to see Lowry run the power play and maybe bump McElroy off. He's got unreal puck skills for a big guy, Jeff. Yeah. No, I agree. The weird situation, like sometimes this works and sometimes this doesn't.

You guys can speak to this as players. The assistant coach always has a different personality than the head coach. And sometimes it's tough. Listen, sometimes it works, right? But sometimes it's tough. When the assistant coach, who yesterday was your buddy,

inviting you over for barbecues on the weekend, hey, me and the wife are having a barbecue, why don't you come by? All of a sudden now is scratching you and he's the head coach. And he's making you stay late. And all of a sudden you're like, what happened to that nice guy

that was inviting me to barbecues? Like two weeks ago. Now he's a head coach and now he's an asshole. And now he hates me and hates everybody on this team and players kind of we've seen this before players kind of look at you and go like hang on a second here this is an act right this isn't who it's again it doesn't happen all the time and listen scott o'neill has made that transition great in winnipeg. But sometimes, I've heard players say, I never played in the NHL, you guys did.

I've heard players before say, it's tough because you feel like the new head coach, who was your buddy assistant coach, isn't his authentic self anymore. Almost like it's an act. Whit? I completely agree with that. I think when I bring up the top players not being the top players,

G's mentioned the guys who have struggled i know it's two months away but watch marshawn after the four nations watch mcavoy after the four nations yeah they need to get it going a little bit more before that tournament because it's not till february you're gonna see a ton of guys after that tournament light it up you're gonna see you're gonna see a lot of lynn that tournament light it up you're going to see you're going to see a lot lindholm there's they so you think they're just kind of worried and bogged in no i don't i don't think they're worried i i just think that when you get there and you've kind of had a season that maybe hasn't gone as you expected or hoped or as the fans expected you're back with the best players in the world you made the team it's that confidence boost we're like and then that hockey is going to be such a high level. Those guys coming back,

there are going to be guys who have maybe slow starts on these four teams that I think will light it up after. So the Bruins season, I don't think they're a Stanley Cup winning team. I think they're a playoff team. And we'll see what happens. But moving along with this crazy beginning of the coaching

carousel. I just wanted to hop in quick before we move on from the subject. I was I was I know I was tweeting and stirring the pot about how the Bruins are dead. I don't think that they're dead and you don't seem to think that they are worthy of being maybe in the top eight to ten

team as far as cup contention this year with is that a fair comment? Yes, I think I think if I know this I think if they play somehow play toronto this year toronto is going to work them i would agree with that so they're trying to avoid the leafs but i view the boston bruins even with this lineup and i'm sure they're going to make a move i view them as a team that makes the second round more so than a team that makes the or misses the playoffs would you have them either missing the playoffs or more likely to make the second round?

You can't pick first round exit. Do they miss the playoffs or can they make it to the second round? What are they more likely to do? I think miss the playoffs. Same, miss the playoffs. As we run through this biz, I'm like, ah, miss the playoffs.

Did you see them? They got by Toronto. They almost blew that series. Florida, now, Florida did it to everyone. Florida just that was not. It went to six because of Swayman. That was not I don't see enough offensive

firepower. I don't see enough creativity and playmaking game breakers on that team. I think that they're going to be able to grind it out. They'll have low scoring games. Swingman gets hot. Yeah, they can beat teams. But I don't see them making any sort of run this year.

Okay. And last question before we move on from this. We keep talking about how they haven't been able to get that first line center. Of anybody out there in the hockey universe who you think could be available for a potential trade who do you think that they could add to that roster in order to finally get that first line center and i'm gonna throw out a name for you guys no one's letting go of first line yeah first line centers and but but hang on okay throw your name out because the the big one is who's gonna who can

pay that price for a first line center but shoot it's a tough time to bring it up because he's on a leave right now but could you guys see maybe jt miller if i'm vancouver i mean knowing how inconsistent although he's turned it around a little bit here alias petterson is playing i do not want first of all he's a coach's dream. Like when you think about a hockey player in 2024, he up and down the ice, undercover Selkie trophy candidates. What does everybody want? They want skilled players that can play tough,

guy that can fight, can get a hundred points. Like when you have a player like that, why would you even, and I know that here we are like a player like that, why would you even, and I know that here we are like a few years after, you know, they, they actually did have, have JT Miller,

JT Miller available. But when you have someone like that, why would you even entertain the idea for a second? I, letting him go like, I mean, you guys know Rick Talkett. You think Rick Talkett for one second doesn't

want JT Miller in his lineup? No. He does everything. I don't, but you get to a locker room. I'm not in the locker room. I'm talking as a stupid hot pig talking. Well, it's been documented too, like that there's been some not so good rules.

Him and Elias Patterson, I think it's obvious, some yeah i'm talking to say him and elias pedersen i think it's it's obvious don't necessarily see eye to eye it is kind of odd that he he goes out and and i hope he's doing great i've met jt i think the world of him as a player great guy intense animal on the ice like yes dream teammate but but pederson to start lighting it up with him not playing it's like you you start looking at locker room personalities and and how teams gel together and i i i see where you're coming from their biz because like but but the thing is every team every fan base is like yes please please give me jt miller yeah give me the thing is like here's the question you ask this about hockey players hockey teams you ask this about

any business this is the question I always ask because we've heard this before about various teams do you have to like someone to do business with them? No you gotta respect them though you gotta respect them let me give you an example

inside of a locker room it's a respect them. Let me give you an example. Inside of a locker room, it's a little bit different. Let me give you an example. It is not a coincidence that when Serge Savard was with the Habs, Bob Ganey wasn't. And when Bob Ganey was with the Habs, Serge Savard wasn't. Not exactly a secret in Montreal. And these are two like Hall of Fame names. They did not get along.

Serge Savard and Bob Ganey, like that even spilled over. Like there's the great story about Gary Bettman's first manager meeting. Brian Burke is there with Gary Bettman. It's the first manager meeting

and Serge Savard was running the halves. I think Ganey would have been running the North Stars. Savard signs a player to an exorbitant contract, and it's going to cost every other general manager however much more money to sign their star guys,

and they get involved. And the next thing you know, and this is Bettman's first meeting, all right? First meeting of Gary Bettman. Welcome to the NHL. Ganey and Savard are taking off their jackets, and people are starting to clear out tables. And Berkey told me the story.

He said, Batman looked over at him and said, Brian, what's going on? And Berkey said, well, Gary, you're going to see a fight. And this is like, the career's over. Like, they're not in the NHL. And here's like two Hall of Famers as managers that are still can't

let it go and are going to throw down. But they won Stanley Cups together. It's like the whole thing about Scotty Bowman. 364 days of the year, everyone hated Scotty Bowman, and on day number 365, they got the rings. That's why whenever I hear this guy doesn't like that guy, I say,

why do we think that there's going to be 23 guys that get a lot? I 100% agree with you, and if you take JT Miller out of that roster, I don't think that they have that dog in the lineup that can help them win a Stanley Cup. But like I said, it just kind of went back to like, there seems to be some ruffled feathers in there.

And you hope that it's something that could be patched up and managed because I think that they're all better together. But that's why I just wanted to throw out that name. And I didn't know if you guys had any other ones as far as maybe where they could slot somebody in as a first line. So if anybody knows, like call Nashville, if anyone knows who that guy is,

call Nashville. What a dumpster fire capped off by the most classic, you know, things when it rains, it pours moment of putting on the ice the incorrect starting lineup against seattle and getting a two-minute minor to start the game that's a bad you have to bring it you have to put in your your starting lineup to the officials and then if you don't start those five guys those six guys including

the goalie you get a penalty it's like oh my God, Nashville. But with the Bruins and with Monty, it leads us into, and you'll hear later from Bruce Boudreaux who went through the same thing in Washington to Anaheim. Monty didn't have to wait long. And Doug Armstrong announces that Drew Bannister is going to be let go. He interim coached last year when Berube was fired.

He was signed to a two-year contract extension, be the head coach this offseason, coached 22 games. And what I really liked, and I think what Blues fans respect, is when Monty spoke to the media and addressed firing Bannister and hiring Montgomery, was that a better name, a better coach for us became available. I think it's pretty obvious that he would have hired Montgomery if he had the opportunity to this summer based on what happened. But I feel bad for Bannister a little bit. I don't know anything about him.

I've heard some guys didn't love playing for him. Now, you hate to, like, say that after the guy gets fired, but I'm just talking about what I've heard from different players. In a sense of he was a difficult coach, like hard on players or maybe like unorganized, maybe didn't have any structure. Like in what case? I was a little bit of a hard-o,

which sometimes you got to take with a grain of salt because if a player doesn't like getting shit on or told that he's messed up a bunch of times, that they can get sour on a guy. So I wasn't there. So it's not fair for me to say i i don't know i should say but i still feel bad because you get you get your chance you get the interim tag off you get hired and boom like it ends quickly well so jeff did mention i think army was pretty open about it in his press conference saying like we feel like our guy

became available and it's just more of a case of we find that he's, what's that? Happens with players. Like, I know it sounds hard. Like, this is a strange phenomenon. Like good,

first of all, good on Doug Armstrong for just coming out and being blunt and being honest. But I mean, this happens with players all the time. Yeah. You know what? This guy was our, you know, a second pairing right shot D,

but we found a better second pairing right shot D. So we got rid of this guy. Like it sounds, it sounds harsh because we don't really hear that honesty about why he made a coaching change, but in his mind, he just said like, Army just said like, look, this was our guy. We thought we had a better coach and I owe it to the team to bring, to put together the best possible team, whether that's a goaltender defenseman forward or in this case a coach like it does sting for drew bannister like i got to know bannister a little bit when he coaches hussein murray greyhounds of the ohl and help graduate some really high quality athletes into the national

hockey league but i mean this is a tough first go around for for bannister in the nhl behind the bench like i'm sure he'll learn from it, and it stings right now. But, like, that's the brutally honest part of sports. But you know what? There is one other thing to it. I wonder how many other teams would have been considering Jim Montgomery as well at the same time.

You know, for Doug, I'm trying to move that quickly. You know, if you think he's going to be your guy, there was that somebody else is going to get him if we wait someone else i was hoping anaheim would uh jeff before you keep going i hope i was just hoping it was a market maybe where he wouldn't be the wouldn't be like an original six or somewhere where he'd be right back in the limelight i feel like he can go to st louis right now and slowly work his magic and he doesn't have to be the center of the media universe. That's why I was also hoping that maybe in Anaheim, with that young crop of players, what he could have done over there,

and maybe they were even considering. But from my understanding, he does have ties to St. Louis. Is his wife from there? He was there before, yeah. And yeah, there are strong ties there. I'm firmly of the belief that there have been a couple of times where Doug Armstrong wanted to bring in Jim Montgomery.

I always thought like the succession program, again, like all this is about timing too, right? Like there've been a number of times where Jim Neal in Dallas has wanted to bring in Gerard Gallant. I mean, old, you know, with the old Detroit connections. But for whatever reason, the timing just didn't happen. I mean, you go around the NHL and ask any general

manager, you know, which coaches you always wanted to get, but the timing wasn't there for it. Either you had a coach in this case was Craig Berube, um, or in the, in the coach's case, he was just ended up somewhere else and it was locked into a long-term deal. Um, it happens, right? Um, but to me, this was okay. So the stars didn't align perfectly here, but all of a sudden the guy that you wanted for the last, however many years suddenly became available. You wonder about other teams and their coach openings or potential coach openings. And you think, you know what? Much like when the Chicago Blackhawks,

when Denny Savard was the coach, they did something in the offseason. They hired Joel Quinville as a scout and everyone rolled their eyes and said, give me a break. You hired Joel Quinville as we all know what's going on here. And was it the three or four games into the season? They fired Denny Savard and Joel Quinville, as we all know what's going on here, and was it the three or four games into the season, they fired Denny Savard, and Joel Quinville was the guy. I think Doug Armstrong wanted as quickly as possible to bring in Jim Montgomery as their head coach.

I know there's all this stuff out there about the next coach fired and all that, and I think people are wondering about Detroit, although I really can't see that move happening. Can we just have a quick conversation about the Red Wings? I know we're talking about Montgomery. Yeah, we're going to get to Nashville next, but let's talk about the Wings. I just want to make sure that I make one point here on the show about the Red Wings.

I know that there's a lot of clamor about Derek Lallone in Detroit, but the one thing I think everyone has to keep in the back of their mind here, the Illich family bought the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit. But the one thing I think everyone has to keep in the back of their mind here, the Illich family bought the Detroit Red Wings in 1982. Okay?

The Illich, again, 1982 is when the Illich's bought this team. Since they bought the team, they have never fired a coach in season. No shit. It's never happened.

Well, they had a wagon like 30 years in a row i understand that yeah and they had stanley cups and here's babcock and bowman and i understand all that but there was still some lean years too right um but they've they've never done it that would be the massive break with illich tradition and we all know how patient steve eiserman as well we know how patient he was with jeff blasho i know know some Mams Red Wings fans, you know, no, we got to make the move on the coach. That would be the first time in Illich Red Wings history

that they have done that in season. And from some of the stuff, like I think when we had him on the broadcast, like at the time, it was a few weeks ago, like they'd allowed the least amount of odd man rushes. So it seems like he's imposing some structure and good things for this young group of guys and also at that same in that same game i think the first line had just as many goals as the rest of the team so they're not even getting

secondary scoring so how much of this can you really blame the coach for again i don't see this a situation where you i don't think i don't think they're going to make playoffs maybe that was the hope from the fan base they're not quite there yet I'd probably say one or two more years so that type of drastic of a move I don't think is going to help them squeak inside of a playoff spot and they were one point out last year given the fact that they didn't have that even that good of a roster so he seemed to have been able to get a lot out of the team despite that now another name that merles threw out and you guys might have laughed at this well especially you jeff was federoff now from a nostalgia standpoint from an excitement standpoint i would be just as fired up

if not more that the fact that i learned brought in patty waugh now a lot of people were messaging us the fact that the iliches and fedorov have a bit of a gripe. Is that true? And why is that? Merle's was swinging for the fence. When I first heard Merle say that, I'm like, I understand why he's saying it, but you really got to understand the dynamic here. So, Compuware and Little Caesars have always had a very healthy battle between that. Carmona and Osanelich have always had a battle.

Like we all know that. Like the minor league programs? Oh, everything. No, dude. Like honestly, at every single level. Whittle will tell you, at every single level. Little Caesars, CompuWare has always been a battle. And when Carolina offers sheeted Sergey Fedorov,

like, have you ever not wondered why Fedorov's number is not retired in Detroit? It's because he signed an offer sheet with Carolina? Yeah, that was such a catalyst for the hatred of Fedorov. Now there's, as I'm told, there's more to the story. There is more to the story.

But, and it was just like when Sackick signed the Ranger offer sheet and then Colorado had to match. I think they all played off like, ah, it was all jokes and all that. And oh, it's all past us and we're all having a good. It was nasty.

It was real nasty. What was the offer? At a lot of levels. I can look, you want to look up the Federoff offer sheet? At a lot of levels. I can look it. Want to look up the Fedorov offer sheet? $38 million over six years. And that's 1998, guys. That is major bucks.

Oh, my God. You can't even adjust that for inflation. Sergey Fedorov was so nasty defensively. Forget the offensive stuff and how good he was with the puck. He was playing defense like the guy was a freak to have to not have 91 best players ever one of the next players 19 and it's like what are we doing here it's crazy um oh here's the kicker though was the signing bonus put in place there was a 14 million dollar signing bonus up front and about 12 million in bonuses that would be paid

throughout the remaining years of the contract. However, there was a caveat that if Fedorov's team reached the conference finals, he would be paid all 12 million up front. The actual salary worked out to only 2 million per year. So just a way to fuck over the Illich family from Carmanos, and I guess they've never forgave

Sergei Fedorov for signing it, which is nuts. They evidently matched that offer then absolutely they did so are they bitter that they actually had to pay him out or the fact that he would turn code on them and sign that like if he wouldn't assign it would they i'll tell you what i'll tell you what you guys will know this better than i will the history of players players signing offer sheets that end up getting moved is sky high and like i remember okay so i remember talking to this is an interesting place we got here so i remember having a conversation with with ryan o'reilly ryan o'reilly famously signed an offer sheet with the calgary flames

the colorado avalanche matched, I've always wondered about this. And O'Reilly said, and he wouldn't tell me who the player or players were. But there were players in that room when he went back who were very much of the mind that you quit on us and you tried to leave. I think that's bullshit.

Because they were so uncommon. No, no, I'm not saying you're lying. I think it's bullshit that they thought that. It is BS. I'm with you 100%. But there is that feeling. Like, you tried to leave, man. Like, you tried to leave this.

Again, like, separate business from team here. And I guess, from this point of view, I get it. And he was a leader on the team. But you're a leader on the team. And you signed an offer sheet. And you tried to go man and there were people in that room that were just awful to him that way when they matched the offer sheet and you had to go back to the avalanche and weren't then didn't their team suck too weren't there a bunch of bums there like what the fuck and then he he ended up you know

getting uh getting getting moved to the buffalo sabres. Before we continue, I need to talk to you about game time. We've mentioned the Winter Classic. We've mentioned our live show, and it's all coming up quick. End of December. It's at Wrigley on New Year's Eve, and we cannot wait to get out there. Game time is an enormous part of that. And right now with game time, hockey fans can save on tickets with a game time exclusive 25% off when using Zone Deals with GameTime.

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Well, interesting where that just took us. I'm now like we need 91 at the arena. We need 91. And behind the bench. And behind the bench, according to Merle's. But now that we've seen Montgomery let go, then hired, and his banisters let go, it's began the carousel. And every year you start hearing names pretty early the nhl's crazy with coaching now we talked about nashville quick like is is andrew

pernett possibly next i i think it's crazy what's happening i mean they're sitting they're sitting 29th out of 32 teams in the league i think they might be 30th actually. And all the money that was spent, the expectations. If, if any analysts or people out there saw this coming, I didn't see it. I never saw a report from any hot take people personality like us that said they were going to stink. Merrick.

I also think it's interesting that Ryan O'Reilly was on the St. Louis team that came back out of that hole when they had the practice fight to go on and win the Stanley cup. And then last year, the FU two F F the FU2 tour. So him as a leader, he's been, what do you want to say, familiar with these types of situations. So do you think they can dig themselves out of this

or have the moves they made in the offseason really pigeonholed themselves? I keep looking at the Nashville Predators and I say, how? Now, I think we've all focused on the center position, right? Like, we're all looking at this and saying, like, you need centers. Like, I think we all like Colton Sissons. I don't think we like how high up

in the lineup he is. I think we all like Ryan O'Reilly. I don't think we all like where he's playing in the lineup either at this point of his career. I like Yusuf Parson. I think he's going to be a really good center in the NHL.

I don't think he should be near a second-line spot right now. I don't think any of us do, but somewhere down the road, Yusuf Arsene is going to be a really good player. I know we're focusing so much on the center position with this team. I want to bring up one name. I want to bring up

one name. And that's Ryan McDonough. Oh, I talk about this guy on every other podcast. I don't think it's a coincidence at all. You look at how Tampa's going, and you look at how Nashville's going. Now, I don't know if Ryan McDonough was part of the recruiting process to get Stephen Stamkos to Nashville.

All I know is this is a Nashville team that is not anywhere near as good as it was with Ryan McDonough there, but this is a Nashville team that is not anywhere near as good as it was with Ryan McDonough there. But this is a much better Tampa team with Ryan McDonough back. Like someone said to me about Ryan McDonough. First of all, we focus on the block shots and guys love it. And it's really important. And he's fantastic. Someone said to me, you're sleeping on his main skill set.

I said, what's that? He said, there's no better defenseman. You can talk about this, there's no better defenseman in the NHL at getting back to position quicker than Ryan McDonough. He said, it's a skill that only players talk about. Oh, out of position? Nope.

Split second and he's right back to his spot. Whit, does that resonate with you as a defenseman? It does and then the times that he can't, he's eating a puck and he's putting his face, he's putting his face in the line. He's, you think of like tenacious,

like the guy is nonstop in your face. He's willing to do anything. And he's done it for so long that people kind of seem to think like, like when Tampa got rid of him, it's like, are they looking at it? Oh, he's, he's kind of reached the back nine. You're like, are they looking at it? Oh, he's,

he's kind of reached the back nine. You're like, how much longer can he do this? And then they realized we need to get them back. We need to back. We need to say also that they're willing to basically move off of Sergeyev as one of those guys, which also could be the same type situation there.

And I don't know, that's different subject, but yes, they, they, they, they, they,

they fought, they fought they they thought because you know Sergeyev and McDonough essentially switched spots and they thought okay you know what we can do this we can we can bump Sergeyev up one couldn't it wasn't there and it really wasn't there through conversation like people might fact check me on this but when you look at pivotal moments in games and the stretches through all those playoff runs, when goalies were pulled for the other team or any type of very, very important minutes,

he was out there and in most cases ahead of Hedman. Whatever team he was on. He was on the edge. Yeah, exactly. He was that guy. So he's not intimidated by playing against those top lines and those hard minutes and you guys are gonna you guys are gonna have a chuckle when i mention this name the fact that they moved on from keifer sherwood and they could have got him for a

million and a half dollars based on he how he played in the back half of last season in the playoffs the fact that when i was talking to rick talk it amidst that series where he's like are you are you watching this keifer sherwood this kid's a fucking play like alvin and him saw it they saw it how how do they let this guy go for a million and a half dollars the other night he recorded his fourth game this season with 10 hits at least 10 hits the rest of the league with one they have one other player in the league that has 10 hits in one game and he just got another one and one the other night he just got bumped up to the top line a guy who I was talking to Luke Gazdik he played with him in San Diego with the Gulls in college and

even in the AHL he's played on top line so he's not intimidated by getting bumped up the lineup and he also doesn't forget what makes him successful which is hounding pucks making sure he's getting it to guys like Petey and then getting open to take it back and then making another smart play with it so he he has added life him DeBrusque and Petey have found life together. And he's making a million and a half bucks. And I was talking to someone. I won't divulge my contact.

The reason was is they didn't want to pay him more than McCarron. Is it McCarron? Their four-line center? They didn't want to go above a million bucks for Kiefer Sherwood. Are you fucking kidding me? Are we even having... Are these guys even in the same realm? I think if you combined

Gretzky and McDavid, the city of Edmonton doesn't love the combination of those two as much as Biz loves Kiefer Sherwood. Kiefer Sherwood is in Biz's Hall of Fame. A lot of guys get in. He's a hell of a player. But even if he was on Nashville right

now, dude, I don't even think they're much better. I would let those guys boot fuck me in the head 10 more times if I could talk about Kiefer Sherwood every single podcast. That's how much I love this guy and what he brings to life. Undrafted, I think, right? True or false, he invented oxygen. Kiefer, say it now. Kiefer Sherwood invented oxygen, Biss.

This is a wonderful thing that we all share to keep us alive. Kiefer Sherwood invented oxygen biz this wonderful thing that we all share Kiefer Sherwood was in the CVS he helped him in the CVS helped him up put his shirt on you were talking on the call last night about so Sherwood's a fascinating guy okay like he's the guy that coaches like no one works hard like biz all the things you say about

Sherwood are 100% true interesting thing about Sherwood is as one former coach told me, he's allergic to everything, but he's used it as a positive. So he's like, under his gloves, he wears like, you know, surgical gloves, right, under his hockey gloves.

He can't like go near a fork or a knife that's been in the peanut butter, right? That's a tough way to go through life, man. That's exhausting. But here's the thing. Is he bubble boy? He,

but he kind of, kind of is, but here's the, here's the thing though, Whit. He's used that as a positive because now this guy is so dialed into his body and so dialed into what he needs, what he puts in, what he stays away from.

Like this guy's, this guy's like whole, as I'm told, this guy's game is so tight. Like there's not like one thing that he can be frivolous about. So he's like the super, like, yeah, if you have a team or a coach that's like loves like super disciplined play it the right way don't cheat on anything like sherwood's your guy well we talked to bruce about the lineup that's a coach's dream right dream it's a absolute dream and getting back to nashville um i think the two names that are always going to come up especially with the struggles is march of so and stamkos now i think they each had points or maybe even scored in their last game which they won but before that i i don't think that marches so had scored or had a five on five point um both of those guys traditionally

have played with line drivers and on unbelievable power plays like i mean guys i think i could get 20 to 25 playing with Jack Eichel. No disrespect to Marcheseau. But I don't think he has those line drivers to play with. And he's still trying to get acclimated to where he's going to get his touches and his shots in based on who he's playing with. And you go to Stamkos, the same thing goes for Kucherov

and all the rest of those guys, not only on that power play, but playing five on five minutes with them. Kucherov and all the rest of those guys, not only on that power play, but playing five on five minutes with them. It's elite level shooters that need somebody to get them the puck. And there was times, a lot of time in Stamkos' career that he would drive a line. But, I mean, they're both 34 years old. It catches up with you, no doubt. Buddy, they stand in the slot, they get ready, and they're getting passes from certain players that they've played with in the past they're burying them but they're not

driving a line and there's no center there to Forsberg can drive a line but you need more guys and and the careers that they've had Marcia so like in Vegas and Stamkos his entire career in Tampa yeah they would drive lines and they would have special players that were dishing them to them. There was expectations of them. Kind of similar to the Bruins with Lynn Holman's the door off. Maybe just not exactly what you envisioned when you signed him do they have left in the tank, if that makes any sense. Now, like I'm saying, though, if those guys are open and they got somebody getting them

the puck, I'm not worried about it then. But when you have nobody to dish it to you and you got to drive this entire play offensively, it's getting harder for both of them. It's funny, too. We keep talking about the future of hockey is positionless, right? We don't have center right and left. We have that at face-offs. But once the puck drops, those positions don't exist anymore. But, man, you need centers.

And, man, you need guys that can get you. You see it in, in, in, in Boston. You see it in Nashville. Like you need guys to carry it out of your own zone with speed through the neutral zone and create offense off the rush.

Look at all the great teams. Like, look at these guys. But, but the thing is, it doesn't have to be a center though. Like, you look at Nikita Kucherov, not a center, one of the most creative guys in the NHL, right?

Hands down. You look at Artemi Panarin. Like, Artemi Panarin to me is a great example of if you have a kid who's struggling, give him some, like, Panarin fairy dust. Just put him with Artemi. He's a great fixer, right? Just put him with Artemi Panarin. All of a sudden, boom, the guy's going to pop. Like it doesn't necessarily have to be that center, but you need someone,

you need players that can get these guys the puck. Like how long does Stan Coase need the puck on his stick? 0.3 seconds, but get it to him. Right? So it's the same way. Yeah. And if they have time around the net, they're waiting out goalies,

they're changing the angle on the shot, but that's all relying on somebody getting it, getting them the puck. I don't think, like, this sounds like bad. Like, if you haven't played hockey, watching the game, and when you see guys like Eichel or McDavid or Jack Hughes, like, it does look very easy to carry the puck through the neutral zone, get the offensive blue line, and make a play. It's not always tape to tape, but you're getting it into the offensive zone.

You're creating momentum. You're creating the puck on the cycle. When you go to a game live, you realize how impossible it is to actually do that. The speed you need with the hands and the vision and the hockey IQ and awareness to actually cut through the middle in the NHL, there are so few guys that can do it. And when you watch Nashville play, it's like there isn't really anyone making that happen. And we talked last year, Gus Nyquist, awesome career, had a huge season.

Like, was he going to repeat that year? It was like a bunch of guys had big years. And all on that run on the FU2 tour, like, is that all going to be able to be repeated? I never saw this coming i picked him to i think be second in the central or maybe win the division i'm such a mush but when talking about he for sure would being let go when we were going over the outline we're talking about his contract two years 1.5 for vancouver what a laugher and we were chatting about other guys

like best contracts in the league i actually texted biz about this because i'll give mine last i was watching this guy and i just looked up what he's making i'm like what so i don't know biz or jeff do you want to start with with right now maybe your number one top contract in the league uh are you are you looking at a are you looking at like a top line player no anything or anything like obviously it's got to be outside of entry level like that to me is what i'm looking Are you looking at like a top line player? No, anything. Or anything? Obviously, it's got to be outside of entry level. Like that to me is what I'm looking for. And I just view these bridge deals to be a little bit more rare now where a lot of these GMs are trying to like kind of predict the growth.

And then like I always use this one, especially as of late, like Owen Power power let's give him eight times eight and a half or whatever he makes 8.6 and he's going to be playing like an 11 million dollar defenseman when the cap grows and it's just like you didn't need to do that you could have signed him to a three year at three and a half or whatever it was take it or fucking leave it we're not a playoff team anyway if you don't want it stay the fuck home like who are the teams that have locked in these guys who have actually made that jump and have locked the guy into like maybe a three four year dear bridge

deal where all of a sudden voila it's like this is our guy so the last two years of that deal you're getting premium production for nothing you know you nothing. You know whose contract I really like, and I'm glad that he's popping right now? Because originally, he was rushed to the NHL. There were injuries, and he got ushered into the NHL way too soon when he was way too young. And sometimes that ruins guys. Like, you've seen this before so many times, guys. Oh, I know who you're going to say. Oh, this guy could have had a great career, but he was so rushed.

I know who you're going to say. Connor McMichael. Oh. before so many times guys oh i know you could have a great career but he was so rushed connor mcmichael oh connor mcmichael the washington capitals was when he first started was rushed way too soon force fed way two minutes and was on and that sometimes that kills players right that can totally crush players i am so happy to see what's happened with Connor McMichael so far this season at $2.1 million. Now, a lot of things are going right for the Caps. Like we get that. The Ovechkin thing really sucks, but like things are going well for the Caps. To me, the Connor McMichael deal at $2.1 million, one, because he's playing great, but two, dollars one because he's playing great but two he almost had his career totally stopped because we've seen so many young kids get ushered in real fast like look at the buffalo sabers like the buffalo sabers kind of might be the poster team of like get your kids to the nhl way too fast

and give them way too much money right that almost happened almost happened to Connor McMichael. It could have happened to Connor McMichael, but it hasn't. I'll take Connor McMichael. Okay, it's funny. I thought you were actually going to pick Dylan Strom. Because you said he had eyes. I wrote down some stuff about him, Biz. I forgot. Chicago just didn't even give him a qualifying offer.

Walked away. He had 60 points the last year in Chicago. It's insanity. I erased away. He had 60 points the last year in Chicago. It's insanity. I like erased that. What the hell? They didn't even qualify the guy and made him a UFA. Like what the hell happened there?

He's making five a year on a five-year deal with Washington. This is, I'm not saying that these two players are the same, but they're similar in one regard. You mentioned David Krejci earlier in the podcast.

Yeah. And what I always thought the brilliance mentioned David Krejci earlier in the podcast. Yeah. And what I always thought the brilliance of David Krejci was, you know, like take a bullet, for example. Like there's a bullet going through the air and then there's that vacuum right behind the bullet. Like that's where David Krejci played. And that's where Strom plays as well. And let's face it,

Alexander Ovechkin is not a burner, not the fastest guy in the world. But the combination of Strom and Ovechkin together works. And I think it's because there are two guys in sync with each other from as far as like a tempo goes. And Strom can get him the puck. He's a wonderfully creative player. But forget like this guy's a third overall pick for a reason. But kind of like Krejci, they play in that pocket behind the bullet. As the NHL is

fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, there's some guys that have success playing right behind the bullet. And that's Strome to me. Yeah. And now, Backstrom was never really that fast or known for his speed. He was very fluid. And he worked great with Ovechkin.

Yeah. Great with Ovechkin. Great call. So I messed up. The last year in Chicago when he wasn't offered a qualifying offer was he had 48 points, but it was in 69 games. He was the third overall pick. At the time, I think he was 24. It's just crazy to look back.

The guy I was watching the other night and shout out their team. What a good story so far after a heartbreaking summer with Johnny Goudreau and Columbus. Columbus is playing some good hockey. This Kirill Marchenko guy, buddy, he is a monster. He spent a little time in the AHL two years ago, lit it up, had a great over 20 goals his rookie year. Last year, he ends up popping off.

He's got 23 goals, 42 points at 78 games, but he's enormous. He skates great. He's got 20 points in 20 games. They signed him this summer. They got him three years at 3.8. I'm like, that is a move where the team's winning. The GM won that one, but what a contract.

The way he's playing, the way that whole team's playing. Zach Wierenski if anyone has a team usa roster without him on it he had five points the other night dean evason said i don't think i've ever coached a player as good as this guy like that team after what they went through and what's happening now but marchenko stood out to me when i looked up the contract i was like that is a bargain and that's these bridge deals business talking about. They probably looked at it and like, we could really lock them up, but maybe we aren't sure yet,

or let's keep them at this number and see the growth continue. Sometimes you don't want to give a guy something that might make him slow down and might say, hey, I made it. But this guy's a beast. And Columbus, they're playing good hockey for what everyone thought would happen this year.

Dangle the carrot a little bit. Now, I don't know if you guys had any other bargoon contracts. Just quickly going back to- Lucas Dostal. Lucas Dostal. What's that? Anything Anaheim does is because of Lucas Dostal.

Like, they're a goaltender. Like, to me, he's like- That's the way you're bargoons? Like, by the definition of MVP, anything, with all the respect to all the players, anything that this team is doing is because Dostal is keeping them in games. Jeff, do you think that we're talking about four nations coming up and that feeling and guys after that? Do you think that kid winning the gold medal, he was the goalie for Chechia, right? In the world championships? You know, that's that confidence. It's not all NHL players, but it's just something to kind of go on.

It is. And listen, it's hard. It's hard to be a goaltender in Anaheim. And it has been for a number of years. Teams like that can just kill you, can just kill your confidence. I think eventually everyone knew that Dostal was going to take over from Gibson and be the number one. I think Sudsy's done a great job with him there. The whole staff has, really. I mean, and we're all sort of waiting

for this inevitability that Dostal took over. But, you know, like, you're right. He's playing with the confidence and keeping this team in games that a lot of nights they have no business being in um like look anaheim is the story of you know the reminder of how long it takes to rebuild a team and the pieces you have to have in place and you have a great start if you have someone like ghost alinette because he's playing in the darkest time right now for anaheim give me another

tough season for ducks ghost al has been shining he been shining. He's been fantastic, man. I just want to quickly go back to Nashville. Could be a short answer. Do you guys think they can turn around this season? Like, do you think they squeak into playoffs? Or do you think they're too far behind the eight ball and you don't see enough in their lineup to be able to get it done?

I've asked myself that a lot. The thing I keep coming back to is, if Nashville makes it in, who goes out? Look at the central, man. Mini's not going anywhere. I mean, thank God Kaprizov's not too seriously injured for their team and fan base. But yeah, last year, nobody thought Edmonton

could do what they did, but they had McDavid and Dreisaitl. Like, it's not like somebody's just going to take off. Even if Forsberg gets real hard, or Yossi ends up at 90 points when he's below his average pace, his usual pace right now. Like, I think they're too far behind. Yeah, I would have said Colorado, but now that they're getting healthy and they got those top guys playing the way they're playing, they've all of a sudden turned into a contender.

Good on Jared Bednar. Oh, he's the man. What Bednar's been able to do is everything around him. And they still have the Landis God question that's out there and that cap hole. Man, I've always had a ton of respect for Bednar, but this first month and a half here, this has been real impressive by him. Two months, actually.

Two months has been real impressive by Bednar. Got to give it up to him. You said that on the call yesterday, or Friday, Marek blew your mind with this. And I was very intrigued as well with a possible new rule in the game. Oh, you like this? This is incredible. This is incredible.

And it goes back to creating more offense. The league loves that. The fans love that. In Jeff's mind, unless it's the opening faceoff of the game, a period, or after a goal, we'll never see a faceoff in the neutral zone ever again. Why would you put the puck there? Sounds crazy, but Jeff, I think I'm with you. Why would you drop the off in the neutral zone ever again. Why would you put the puck there? Sounds crazy, but Jeff, I think I'm with you.

Why would you drop the puck in the neutral zone? I'm in this conversation with someone not too long ago. Why would you have, why would you, again, like we get so married to rules and the history of the game and people tell you, oh, I'm a purist. I'm a traditionalist and all this. And you guys have heard me bark before about, you know, tradition is nothing more than peer pressure from dead people. You've heard it before out of me, but you know,

if the idea is to keep the puck hot and keep the puck in position to go in the nets, you go offside, puck comes back into your zone. D zone draw. Adam Oates is just hard as a rock listening to this right now. he's cranking himself hard right now he's got the lube out he's got it all he's got the feeding it like it owes him money like it owes him money

boy yeah um what do you like do you like that idea i just love it because like if you go offside and going back to adam oats he hates when people go offside so you should be punished for it now i don't know what the analytics or numbers will tell you but i know come playoff time last year especially the amount of goals that are scored off of face-offs because of broken down coverage and lack of face-off responsibility i think that this is a fucking genius idea it was almost like so obvious i'm like how have i never heard that before but it goes back to just like you said you don't have to tweak it from a hardcore hardcore traditionalist standpoint where i don't they won't like it that the traditionalists will hate it because they hate everything that changes

the game i think that if you make a minor tweak that much and if they're barking about it i would fucking scream from the mountaintop shut the fuck fuck up. We're talking about making the nets bigger a few years ago. No, that's something I'm not down with. We're shrinking goalie gear. They can't even protect their fucking knees anymore. But listen, I'm not only on board, Jeff. We could take this one step further. Okay.

We could treat it like an icing. You can't change either. It's going in your d zone the team who got the team who forced the offside that's getting an offensive zone draw they could put out anyone they want and if your numbers five and six d men are out there comes mcjesus and then yeah no offsides anymore okay take their water off the bench and their gatorade no water all that happens on neutral zone draws. The coaches have to go to the coaches room.

I think they should. I think they should do that in overtime. Get the coaches off the bench. Let the players have fun in overtime. Let me play Debbie Downer for one second. I can see the PA pushing back on it. I really don't like the idea of tired hockey players

on the ice because it can lead to injuries. Am I being Debbie downer about that? I'm just really sense. Like if you, if you go off side, the other team can change. You have to stay on the ice.

And I'm kind of like that. I'm going deep now. I'm going deep. Like, I don't know. Like, I don't like tired players being on the ice. Tired,

fatigued players leads that lead to injuries yeah and since i have love for the fourth liners you just you you maybe uh yeah you'd have to put the fourth line out there i think you should i think you should be able to change but it has to be the fourth line and biz i bet you 99 of the draws you took were neutral zone draws like you might have not got out i couldn't get owner offensive zone all't get you in our offensive zone. We're like, all right. We're right inside the blue. Go out there, dump it in, and change. Just literally stand there and just come back once we figure out what happens.

Whoever has possession. Great rule change. Blew my mind. We'll see. What else do we got? I think it's about time we throw it over to Gabby Bruce Boudreaux. I think it's time that we hear from this legend. So I hope you all enjoyed as much as we did. And thanks again to Jeff for bringing Bruce on with us. So right now, without further ado, Bruce Boudreaux. Before we continue, I want to talk to you about Peter Millar, the best golf wear in the world.

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We are now pleased and honored to be joined by a very, very special guest. Thanks to Jeff Marrick for getting this guy on. Coached over 1,000 NHL games. I don't know how many pro games. All the leagues he's played in. All the leagues that he's coached in. A true legend of the game from Toronto, Ontario, Bruce Boudreaux. Thank you so much for joining Spittin' Chicklets. Hey, listen, it's an honor for me to join this. All three of you guys, it's been great either coaching against you or talking to Jeff all these years. It's been awesome. It's great to have you. Hang hang on jump in then so what was it like

coaching paul bissonette and ryan whitney what was the game plan to shut these oh yeah here we go thanks a lot jeff here we go well i'll start with biz there was really no game plan because he never got on the ice so i mean if we saw him a couple times in the first period, you'd worry about him. But after that, we get a lead, and then you never saw Biz on the ice. Hey, no, Bruce, Bruce. You were telling your guys, hey, don't even fight him. We want him on the ice.

Well, I didn't want to go that far, but now that you've mentioned it. As for Ryan Whitney, for the most part, when he was in Wilkes-Barre, we always had to make sure that we had him covered because he was one of the better players in the league at that point. He could skate. He could shoot. He could do it all.

You could see why Anaheim traded for him. But I didn't play him out west too much because I was in the east. And by the time I did get to Anaheim, Ryan was gone. So, I mean, there wasn't real much planning about him unless we were in the minors. He got off easy. What the fuck, Bruce? Hey, Biz, I just won that thing by a landslide. I thought you were going to come in with like a, oh, put it in this corner.

He ain't going back first. He's going to let you win that race every time. He ain't taking the bump. I was going to let you win that race every time. He ain't taking the bump. I was just taking the high road for a second there. Like, I mean, it was all about, it was all about hit him and he'll give up the pot. I mean, that was the early days, right? So, I mean, just hit him.

By the end, he would just give it up regardless. Yeah. Put pressure on him or fake putting pressure on and you could look for it up the middle just work at him from the bench he'll poop his diaper and the shift will be over oh we were actually just talking about that before um before you got on because i think that at that time you were coaching with the hershey bears and even when i was playing in wilkes-barre you were still coaching there And you guys had that really good young core group. And Jeff kind of reminded us it wasn't very common at that time where AHL coaches would get the call up, where they were more just recycling all the old school NHL guys at that time.

You're actually very true there. I mean, when I got called up for about the next two years, a lot of American League coaches were called up and they were going in a new direction type thing. And so, I mean, yeah, you're right. It was always guys getting recycled, which I don't have a problem with recycling. You know, like, I mean, that's not a bad thing right now. But at the time, you'd be sitting there in the American League going,

what the crap, man? Like, I mean, they only go for these guys that have already been there. What about the new blood? Let's get some new blood in here. But you're 100% correct on that. Yeah. I love going back to the beginning. And you did so many great things as a player.

But I'm more talking about coaching right now. We'll get into the playing career. You got a year as a player coach. I love getting to chat. We've probably chatted with two or three guys and that was your first year technically coaching according to the internet tell me how that came about and did you know at the end of the playing career I really want to coach this is exactly what I want to do next well you know what my schooling isn't really that great

I gotta be honest and uh so I'm always wanted to do something in hockey. And actually, it was about 29 years old when I said, listen, I want what am I going to do when I'm playing? And when I'm done playing is I got to keep coaching because I didn't have anything that I actually wanted to do. So, I mean, when I signed with the Leafs initially, the second time around around it was like player assistant coach but it wasn't till fork wayne that i really got the title and the reason uh you could get the title back then i mean uh it didn't add any money or anything but it added prestige that you might want to coach down the future and you'd get the odd tidbits al sims was my coach i don't know if you guys ever had him yeah he he would give you the odd tidbit of information to make you feel a little bit more important but the really the uh uh there was no real responsibilities as an assistant the uh as a uh coach a player coach unless the players wanted to know what was going on,

you'd relay messages type thing. Wasn't Al Sims, Bob Yor's D partner, the years he went off where Al Sims was like a plus hundred or something? Yeah, I mean, he was, and he was Bobby Yor's defensive partner his first year. And thank God for that. It kept him in the league for about 10 more years

after Bobby left. Okay, let me jump in on this one because that you talk about that transition from player to coach once you made the full transition and you had a new perspective on players what would bruce boudreaux the coach have thought of bruce boudreaux the player oh my god you're asking me something that it's a funny thing because I went back. This was recently. I went back and they were showing a game where, as a matter of fact, it was a Pittsburgh broadcast. And it was a Pittsburgh broadcast of the Leafs in 1977 versus the Penguins.

And I'm sitting there going, oh, my God, they played me. I wouldn't have played me for more than one shift. I was effing brutal. I gave the puck away more than you could, like, just blindly up the middle. Like, I mean, all the time. And I'm going, I thought I used to be a good player. And this brought me so much down to earth because I thought I was to be a good player and this brought me so much down to earth because I was, I thought I was horrible after that. So, I mean, um, that's the, the opinion I, if you don't look

at yourself playing, you think you're doing pretty good. It's only when you start watching the video and you guys will, uh, recognize this. Do you think you play a good game? And then the next day you're, everybody's watching the video and you're going, oh my God, did I do that? Did I do that? You don't even realize how many dumb mistakes. For me, it was circling and cheating on the offensive end. But I mean, I hate watching video if I'm the star of the video. Same here.

Same here. It was a nightmare. Oh, Michael Terry and laser pointers for michael terry just wit sit down and get ready but i i think that like the way you say it's perfect because you think you'd have a good game you'd go in watch the video you're like oh my god this is ugly and you never thought you had a bad game and watch the video and it was good either it's just lose lose yeah and you know what the the one thing i did learn and i learned it very early in washington that of most of the games um it was alex salmon and alex oveshkin were the stars of the video because it's always about defensive mistakes

we don't really show a lot of offensive greatness in the videos so So, I mean, I would have to tell Alex, I would say, Alex, Ovi, I mean, I say, Ovi, come here. I just want you to know that you're the star of the video today. And I have to come after you because you're the captain. If I don't come after you, then nobody else will respect me. And he'd always go, okay, coach. Okay, coach. And then he'd snarl at me for the rest of the day but if i didn't tell him and i surprised him it would be a different story he would he would be all over me for embarrassing him this he knew and he wanted to take it like a man so he took it like a man that's unreal this interview could be like five hours it's going to be your careers it is sorry yeah we were just

telling you that now bruce but getting into that i have no life now so just whatever all right i love it hey we're looking for a coach for the big deal selects ball hockey team uh your name came up so we'll talk about that after the interview though but you bring up ovi and and so like we're talking you know not many ahL coaches get get the call up you do you come into Washington it's the year he gets 65 and and like now to see what's happening with him like go back to that season and the amazement and like kind of just like you being blown away must have been off the charts getting to coach him at that level that he was playing at well you know what when I got the call it's a crazy story in the first place but I get the call

and I'm in the room at 11 11 o'clock was practice so now it's 10 45 in the morning and I actually got lost going from Hershey to Washington I forgot where the hell I was I did I you know so many things are going on in your head but then George says I want you to talk to the players so I went in there and I'm talking to them as if, you know, it's the American League guys. I mean, we had a lot of guys that played in Hershey, the Greens, the Fleischmans, the Lakes, the Stackballs. There was the John Erskines. I had all of them.

But then I came to Ovi's seat and you look over and you see his name. And I said, holy fuck, I'm coaching Obeshkin now. And I lost all train of thought I had no idea what I was going to say after that as soon as I saw that uh and I said okay be on the ice in 10 minutes because I couldn't I didn't have another word I didn't know what else I what to say when I saw his name that I was coaching him I couldn't believe it when you look at what Ovechkin has done there's a few things that stand out certainly the goals, the fact that he's got the signature shot from the signature location.

Everybody knows it's coming, but no one can stop it. I mean, I was always taught or told my whole life, when you get to the NHL, you can't blow pucks past goaltenders. You have to learn how to shoot. And here's Ovechkin still blowing pucks

past goaltenders. What to you, and maybe it's the health thing. I can always injured now and it's awful, but he's basically been healthy his entire career. Like to you, Bruce, I mean, you've, you've been his coach. He coached against them, watched them for a number of years. What is the most impressive thing about Ovechkin to you? I tell you, and this isn't said too often,

but he knows where it's going. Like, I mean, when he's shooting, like, I mean, people think, oh, it's just the speed of the shot. But if you ever watch the All-Star Games when he was in the hardest shot competition, his shot's not that hard. Like, I mean, it's hard, but it's not that hard. But he could put a puck he always did the tone pull it and tone drag toe drag and he'd be able to put it through the defenseman's legs or put it through the stick and he knew where it was going yeah you very rarely i mean to me remember him hitting the goalie in the chest it It was always top corner, far corner, or one of these things.

He knows where it's going, so he's very accurate with his shots, like when he wants to be, when he gets it in that A1 position. Like he would shoot from everywhere, and it would go all over the place. Like he had to have 400 shots early on in his career in the year. But when he was trying to score, he knew where that puck was going. A quick follow-up. I remember asking Paul Maurice once, what was his welcome to the NHL moment? And he said it was his first practice and he called the guys to the bench or along the boards and he blew the whistle for a couple of hard laps. And he said, Sammy Kapanen took off

like a cannonball out of a cannon. It was the fastest thing he had ever seen laps and he said, Sammy Kapanen took off like a cannonball out of a cannon. It was the fastest thing he had ever seen. And he said, whoa, that's my welcome to the NHL moment. Did you have, Bruce Boudreaux, a welcome to the NHL moment where you're like, whoa, I knew the NHL was a different creature, but I didn't know it was like this? Well, you know what? I would say that my first, uh, the training camp in Washington

that year, even though they were ended up in last place, thankfully. And that, that's how I got the job is watching how fast they were. And me saying this, like the American league coaches are on, on the ice, uh, almost a lot in training camp and watching them skate and saying, holy crap, is this a lot faster than the AHL? And I couldn't believe this was a lot. I'm saying this is a last place club and we are skating 100 miles an hour in camp. And I said, the difference is really amazing between the American League and the NHL in

the speed of the game. I mean, individually guys, you can line them up. We all have known guys in the American league that, that could skate like the wind, but the pace of the game was so much faster. That was sort of a, uh,

like, and then I ended up going back to the American league, but that was sort of an all moment on how good this league actually is. I can't believe that Ovi crossing the sauces. Wasn't the welcome to the NHL moment for him. Oh, fuck. Voight-Gordon used to bitch about that all the time. He would take the marinara sauce scoop,

he'd put it on his pasta, and then he'd dip the same scoop in the Alfredo. Are you saying he dipped and then he dipped again? He double-dipped the chip. He double-dipped the chip. He double dipped the chip. He was double scooping. He was double scooping the marinara and Alfredo sauce. That would really piss me off, dude.

It really would. Because if you don't like Alfredo, you don't like that white on the red sauce, right? Like, I mean, it's just natural. Yeah. Would that infuriate you more than not having spoons for ice cream after that post-game meal because we heard uh was it Spurgeon in Minnesota told the story that you ended up there was no

spoons so you got so desperate you ended up scooping ice cream out with your hand no that would be both it I would have used the fort first if they had no fort then I would not have used my hands around the players. That's what he said. Spurge is one of my favorite all-time guys, too. So I'm going to call him later. But if nobody was around at home, I might do it. But I wouldn't do that where you get your meal after the game. Because they were already laughing at me because I'd have some spaghetti sauce on my tie or something like this

because I am known as being a fairly sloppy eater. Oh, no. They might have to strip him of the C there in Minnesota for lying about Bruce Boudreaux and his ice cream scoop. Billy G trades him. He's like, fuck this. I ain't having lies about Bruce. He'd be spread.

I was going to ask you, like, you had so much respect as a player and then an american league coach and then you finally get the call and there was a lot of personalities and superstars on that team and you mentioned ovi i believe seven was there how hard was it for you to maybe like not step on their toes yet like try to reinforce systems and and at some point some form of discipline like did you have to kind of ease your way into it because i know that you're very well known as a players coach and you get along with all your your your players but at a certain point obviously they have to learn structure and to play within a system in order to have success so how was that kind of encroaching on on that discipline well you know it's it's interesting I never had, I never thought I had a problem with that. I mean, um, I, the,

like the first, the first day that I went in there after the, the meeting with the players, I went back and I'd asked Dean Evason, right. I'd ask, um, uh, Jay, uh, Leach. And I said, okay, what do we do? Like, I mean, what's our system? Like, I mean, how do we play? And they would tell me, and then I went back in and wrote up a practice. And then I said, the hell with it. I'm just doing everything I've done in the American League because it's been successful, ripped up that and did it my way and didn't think about that. And, but the one thing I was always known, whether you're in the American League, whether you're in East Coast League,

if you're going to do something and you're going to get mad at somebody, get mad at the best players first. So the other players fall in line. The last thing, I mean, you know, you'd want to do is yell at the fourth line guy because he's not working or give crap to the backup goalie because he's not stopping the puck at the beginning. You have to gain everybody's respect before you do that. So I remember in the first practice, you know, giving Ovi crap, saying, pick it up, pick up the pace and that. But it wasn't affecting me because maybe my head was still in, I can't believe I'm in the NHL moment type thing.

But I mean, so, and then it morphed into, it was pretty easy. Once I got to know the players and once they got to know me, it became easy. And I used to know the players and once they got to know me, it became easy. And I used the players that I had had from Boyd Gordon to all those guys that I'd previously mentioned that I was sounding like a guy that was insecure. I would always go up to them and say, okay, how was that, guys? I mean, you guys know me. I mean, was this okay? Is this the, you know, is that doing okay? And they would all give me the answers because you know yourself when you're in the minors, you get to be a lot tighter with the players than you do at the NHL. So it was easier for me to be at the beginning to talk to those guys than it was to talk to the, to the guys that were the stars. And even Chris Clark,

who was the captain, I found it easier to get into the guys that I'd already had for a couple of years. And Dave Seckle I had in Los Angeles and Manchester and in Hershey. So it was easy to talk to those guys first. And they would give me not only good answers, but they would give me honest answers. So it was easy to follow up on that. You know, some of those players, there's one that I think of, and that's Matt Hendricks, who I know that you loved. You brought him in when you were in Minnesota as well. Were there other guys that wherever you went, you tried to bring with you?

Matt, first of all, Matt, I still love the guy. I mean, he's not dead. So, I mean, I didn't fall out of love or anything like that. Don't text me again. I'm not your coach anymore. I had him in Hershey. Then I brought him to Washington, which was interesting because with Matt, he had just got let go by Colorado and hadn't re-signed.

And he was a free agent and he'd had a good year at Colorado. He just wanted more money. And I said, Matt, come with me in Washington on a tryout. And if you come on a tryout, I promise you, you won't get sent down. And the first game we played was Columbus in preseason and he got three goals I was in Georgia's office the next day say see I told you this guy could play I told you this guy could play and would do that every day so they ended up signing him so the unfortunately um he got too good in in Caps land for like for his salary we had to move on. And so he went to, I think, to Winnipeg, and he went to other teams. Edmonton.

Edmonton and Winnipeg. And I traded him to Winnipeg. I'm sorry. But we kept in touch all the time. And then when he got to Minnesota again, I traded back to him. Paul Fenton was the coach, I think, all the time. And then when he got to Minnesota again, I traded back to him. Paul Fenton was the coach, I think, or the GM. And I said, Paul, we need this guy.

Unfortunately, it was at the end of his career. And so he would get hurt quite often. And he couldn't play every day. But I wanted him to play every day. But the assistant GM in Minnesota had signed JT Brown at the same time. And that was basically the same job. So every time I tried to get Matty in, they'd want JT Brown to play. So it was a little mixture.

And then he got traded to Winnipeg at the end of the year. He was unbelievable in shootouts for being a fourth-line player. You would have never known. What was it about him and maybe other players that you had a soft spot for like did you just like those gritty fourth line type players like who are the guys outside of him that you still maybe even contact to this day those are the guys you like coaches like guys that when you're in a meeting will stare at you they don't look at the floor they and they will they will do what you

say they will like i mean i had quentin lang i don't know if you remember him he was in norfolk when you guys were there and i had him in hershey i would go to bat for him all the time very non-skilled guy but he would block shots with his head his hand and coaches fall in love with those guys they unfortunately but at the same time fortunately because you need four good lines I believe to win the Stanley Cup and and these are the guys that make up the fourth line that'll end up helping you win but the Quinton Langs of the world the Matt Hendricks Dave Steckle followed him uh all the way from the draft all the way to he ended up in Norfolk and then with Anaheim. So it was, I mean, those are the kind of guys that you really,

really end up liking. I mean, just the guys that work their ass off. I mean, the superstars that don't work their ass off, sometimes you get really frustrated. You still like them, but you get frustrated with them. You know who the other one was? And you guys remember Jay Beagle. I yeah jay beagle was the hardest worker he pushed every practice i ever had and guys would get pissed at him because he's working too hard he's that guy that's worked so hard and they're saying there's yeah and they say exactly rudy say slow it down

slow it down you're making us all look bad and he never stopped he would just push practice to the limit all the time it's truly pathetic that I was the guy that was like cut it out Rudy and it's like

maybe if you had a little bit of that in you it could have helped you but my question is also about coaching for you is for people who are listening who don't know you were a super talented

like offensive wizard six pro seasons over a hundred points absolutely lit up the Ontario League. And when you get into coaching, do you think that helped you where you're like, I know I got to give the skill guys a leash. I got to give them the chance to make a play. Whereas there are coaches who come up that maybe didn't have that skill level that are like, I'm not willing. I don't want to see any toe drags.

I don't want to see any turnovers. Do you know what I'm saying? Was it easier for you to give them some room? It was, but do you know, the easiest thing was every time I got called up with the Leafs, and I think it was 15 times in the eight years that I was part of the organization, I got called up as a fourth line checker. So bullshit, you know, what I would know, no, it was bullshit, but it made me a better coach because I would know, uh, the defensive end aspect of the game. And I know how the, how the offensive guys felt. I didn't, so I'd know both ends. And I always, always thought that I was really good that like, I mean, if it happened, uh,

to you, I could identify with it. Cause it's happened to me as a guy that got sent down a lot, a guy that got sat out a lot, a guy that scored a lot when he, you know, in the minors or a guy that played four minutes a night. apologize for taking Daryl Sittler off the ice and go, sorry, Gerald, but the coach wants me to play right now. So if you can give me a minute, I'll let you back on the ice. And he'd always give me the, the, that shrugging and I loved him. But I mean, there, there was four guys in Toronto that we all hung out. It was Daryl, Lanny, um, and Jack Vallecat and myself would go to dinner all the time after a game. And Daryl and Lanny would say, I can't believe we're playing these fourth line guys that much. We should be playing more.

I mean, Jack and look at each other. So we're on the fourth line. What's going on here? So, I mean, and you guys know, when you don't play a lot, the, I mean, you learn, but you learn this. And that's why I think guys that are minor league guys and that have been, uh, that haven't been the greatest players make the better coaches because they've seen everything happen in front of them you know i

mean and you guys i mean there's there's not that there's well i mean rick cockett was a great player and he's and he's turned out to be a great coach but i mean the i can think of few and far between guys like like that right now that were great players and now are great coaches. You know, Whit mentioned how great a player you were. Let me jog your memory here. 1975 Memorial Cup, Sherbrooke. Bruce Boudreaux scores, wait for it guys, five power play goals in a game.

The record in the NHL is like a half a dozen guys that are tied with four. You scored five power play goals in a game. The record in the NHL is like a half a dozen guys that are tied with four. You scored five power play goals in one game. Bruce, walk us back to 75. We had a great team. I was lucky enough to be on two Memorial Cup winners, and that was one of them. And we played, I think we won 10-4 against Sherbrooke in the first game.

And I think I'm the only player ever to get five goals and be minus one in the game. Like, I think I'm the only player ever to get five goals and be minus one in the game. Like, I mean, that just doesn't happen. Like, I mean, it was five power play goals and then one goal I was on for it. It was like, oh my God, are you kidding me? A minus one tonight. So, I mean, I didn't know they even tracked that back then.

Well, I, you know what? I don't know if they did or not, but I know I was minus one because it was like, I did it, you know, at about 10 years later, 15 years later, maybe, um, no, it must've been a lot longer than that. I was coaching in the NHL where I talked at the Memorial cup and I told that story and all the kids, like, I mean, they laugh, but I mean, they go, who is this guy, right? Like, I mean, he holds the Memorial Cup record.

And 30 years later, and he was minus one, the fat little fuck. And I thought, this guy couldn't have played. This, yeah. This guy has to be a stunt double for whoever this guy actually is. Bruce, I always like to ask guys like what made you fall in love with the game like how did you end up becoming as good as you were as a player like where did your love and passion for the game begin was it on the ponds in ontario like where was it your father yeah my dad had everything to do with it i mean from the time i was three years

old uh um i would be getting uh a rink made in the backyard in Toronto. And, you know, I remember still one of the things he always brought up to me, he said he would ask me periodically what I wanted to do when I grew up. And he said, I never vary. I'd say I want to be a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player, NHL player every single time. And that varies. I mean, and right now I'm just a hockey nerd. I listen to, I watch every game. I do do, uh, shows on TV. I think hockey, I am still, uh, right involved in the game. And that never, never varied ever. Cause I mean, I was, uh, when, when we were playing in the NHL a week after the season ended, I would be, I'd played for the double rinks adult league and I played for the Wexford adult league. And then I'd play in the

Toronto ball hockey league. I mean, there was no such thing as vacations or anything. It was just always hockey all the time. And it never felt like a job. I mean, even my years when I lived in St. Catharines, I mean, the summer leagues were always in Burlington or Oakville, and I played in two of them. And it was always maybe a week, maybe even three days after the season ended, I would be on the ice back there. So I was always on the ice doing something involved with hockey. When you look at your career and the dominance in the AHL, the IHL, and then you'd get called up, you said you play fourth line minutes, but was there anything else in your mind that

kind of held you back from being able to do all those things offensively at the highest level? Was it more opportunity? If you'd been given a chance, you think it would have lasted longer? Or was there a deficiency in your game that you look back on now and say that that was the difference? Well, I'm sure there was a deficiency in my game. Bill O'Clarity, who used to be the director of player personnel for the Kings, he said, I mean, he really liked me when I was coaching in Manchester, but he put his arm around me. He says, you know what? You were small and you couldn't skate. That's not a good combination to be an NHL player. And I mean, I'd sit there and laugh,

but I'd be pissed at him automatically. But I mean, that was too in the day when big guys were prominent over little guys. But I mean, no, I think I should have played in the NHL, I mean, forever. I remember my one first year in 79 of playing a lot up there. I had, what did I have? I had 30 points in 40 games, and I never played the power play. And it was a plus player, and I just wish that, and I got, you know, it's funny because after the Leafs lost that in the playoffs there, I asked if I could get sent down because half the year was in the minors. And so I said to play in the playoffs with the American League Club.

And they did. And Mike Nickluck was the coach. And I remember him distinctly coming down and watching me play. We were playing the Maine Mariners. I was in Moncton. And I said to him, or he came to me after the game he says great game he says by the way he says next year he says it's uh we're gonna change things you're gonna be my second line center everything's gonna be great and uh and we'll have better players for

you to play with and I felt like a million bucks the next training camp came I started on defense and I was cut after four days so I mean that sounded like mine in pittsburgh yeah i didn't even get to go to ahl camp forget the second line center you were six defense and playing the offside me and mike kuzik you were on defense looking at each other going i thought we had a shot you know like i mean did they even have per diem packs back then i don't know but we wanted to play what they did have was if you got you got 200 bucks if you played an exhibition game. And that's all I wanted to do is get a couple exhibition games to get a little bit of money. But they wouldn't even give me that.

So what do you think happened? Do you think he just was lying? Or was it another? What happened there, you think? Well, I think it was, first of all, he meant it at the time. And then I think the Leafs went out and got Walt McKechnie. And that was it. Like, I mean, they didn't give me a chance.

And, you know, back then when you guys started to, I mean, if you were a young guy and you were a first or second year, you were getting all the opportunities. And chances. Yeah, and chances. The guys that were four and five year pros were almost not prospects they were suspects now so i mean you didn't get that chance like i mean i remember them sending me down saying hey we know what you can do just go down there we want you to get settled early so you and your family can have fun i'm going whoa i'm from toronto my family's settled in toronto if you don't mind i can stay here but i mean they never thought of

it that way they're like damn that was the worst excuse we could have thought of it was awesome there must be some crazy wild stories of playing in the minors throughout the years you were there like i mean nowadays i feel like these kids are pretty straight and narrow, not as much boozing. Like, are there any insane stories that stick out where you just found yourselves in these predicaments? Like whether it was a group of guys at the bar or, you know, late for this or anything that sticks out,

like as one of your favorite stories. Well, as a whole, when I, when I went to, um, I played played in europe in 84 but back then you could come back and play in the american league after as long as it was before the trade deadline it wasn't like december uh coming over so i remember coming back and playing for baltimore we had a great team we went to the went to the finals but the best part about it march about it, March 31st came and all the wives left. So all the players moved into the Holiday Inn. So we had from Marty McSorley to Bennett Wolfe to Andy Brickley to all these guys that knew how to drink. And I mean, we were all living in the Holiday Inn.

And I was living with, I was rooming with Greg Hotham, who's, who's a professional at that. And, uh, uh, so what they would do is they would close. We would come to the, come after the game, back to the Holiday Inn. Then they'd have last call at one o'clock. They would tell us to go back upstairs. And so we all went back upstairs and we were allowed to come back at 20 after one, everybody was cleared. And so we all went back upstairs and we were allowed to come back at 20 after one.

Everybody was cleared. So almost every single night, the whole team was in there drinking until God knows when, four or five in the morning. We'd be bringing people in off the street. And Gino Bracco was our coach. And we'd have to go to practice the next day. And we were horrible. They were so good. We, you know, we played.

But that was the most fun time. But every time was fun when you're drinking with the boys. I mean, it was great. Is that a lost, I don't know about art, but is that lost in the game now playing guilty? Or skating guilty, practicing guilty, playing guilty? Well, I kind of think it is. I don't know how much because I look at as a coach I didn't want when I thought a guy was drinking I didn't want to go near because I didn't want to smell them I didn't want to have to uh I didn't

want to have to say hey what's wrong here you know like I mean you try to avoid those things like you have to say a quick story about uh like curfews like George McPhee knew our team partied a lot when we were back in the day the young guys were young and everything else so he said i want you to start calling curfews and i said george it's the nhl i don't want to call a curfew on these guys and he says yeah start calling curfews so i remember having to phone mike knubel who's 39 he's got four kids at home and i asked him if he's in it hold on and i'm gonna tell i him, I apologize, Mike, I got to call you. But I remember that if you, this goes with the story that I was just talking about, but I mean, if you didn't know, you couldn't punish them.

So I remember phoning, trying to phone everybody or 10 guys at the night. And then the one night I'm phoning, I'm trying to get Alex in. Now, if you guys know Alex, there was a lot of times he really didn't adhere to curfews so i mean i'm phoning which one seminar or ovi well ovi sorry and uh um seminar didn't care about yeah i mean uh yeah you go out seminar but so so ovi ovi i'd sit there and there's five to eleven and i'm i'm calling ian i said ian we have to find ovi because i got a report back to george who's in and who's not in and he says okay i'll try to find him and there's four minutes got three minutes i'm going come on ian come on and then at two minutes to go, Ovi phones me. And all you hear is the electric music, the Russian electric music in the background.

I mean, there's so loud you can hear. And I go, Ovi, are you in? He goes, yeah, coach, I'm in. I says, okay, see you tomorrow. I hung up the phone. I didn't want to know. up the phone. I didn't want to know. He's at Tiesto's concert in D.C.

Yeah, we're spinning fucking. That's unbelievable. He's got Tiesto's headset on, hooked up to his phone. I could just picture him bootleg dancing. Yeah, coach, I'm in. See you tomorrow.

You know? Yeah. He's using storm's bumping. Yeah. Okay. But, but previous, previous to all this guys, Bruce played in one of the wildest, most personality filled leagues hockey has ever seen. And he played on one of the most important teams.

And one of the teams that was full of maybe the biggest personalities in the history of this league. And that's the WHA. Bruce, when I say Minnesota Fighting Saints, whether it's Harry Neal, whether it's Mike Walton, whether it's Billy Butters, whether it's et cetera, what comes to your mind when I say Minnesota Fighting Saints? What comes to your mind when I say Minnesota Fighting Saints? Nuts. Just nuts. I mean, I'm going to tell you a story that I'm not going to use the names because it could come back to haunt this guy.

But, I mean, we were a team that all they did, they were nuts. To the point a little before that, Bill Butters was a complete nut. I don't know if you've ever heard of this guy. Oh, yeah. He was a complete nut. Is this the banquet story? No. No.

Okay. I'll give you a story. He became a pastor or a priest. And when I went to Minnesota, he was their priest. And he kicked the shit out of me. He kicked me in the face in the bar. He came up to me, and I'm talking to a girl one one night and he says, do you ever see a number 11? And I go, no, what are you talking about?

And then he snots right on her. Like, I mean, like he was the grossest guy you ever wanted to see in your life. It was awful. So I'm the coach of Minnesota and he's the pastor and he wants to talk to me about something. And I wouldn't talk to him for four years because he was so disgusting. But the team overall was just a crazy, crazy bunch of guys to the point. I mean, and we had some of the greatest players in history. Dave Keon, Johnny McKenzie was there.

Like, I mean, all of these older, mature guys. Then we had all the nuts that were younger. And the one night we were in Cincinnati, and this is a true story. And we were told we were folding after the game. And the team did fold after the game. So one of the players says, you know what? If we're going to fold, let's not even go out for the pregame warmup,

you know, the 15 minutes before you, you play the game. So, you know, who am I? I'm a first year player sitting in the corner. Right.

And, um, so we all stand around and we open the door, the Cincinnati arena. And, and we're watching the fans walk by. And one of the players goes, there's omaha donna who used to be a girl that would follow the team okay so why don't you bring her on in here for the warm-up so uh so they bring this girl in you know where this is going and

oh yeah brings it in the dressing room this is you know 1975 and is going. Oh, yeah. Brings it in the dressing room. This is, you know, 1975. And all of a sudden, there's nobody going up for warm-up, but there's one player is performing. He's getting warmed up in front of the players. And the players are hooting and hollering and everything like this. And it's Bill Friday and whoever the ref was at the time bill friday officiated all those games by the way there's there's a knock on the door and uh and person opens up the door and without open up all the way and he goes and he goes hey

are you guys not coming out for warm-up and said oh we're gonna be there for the game but we're not coming out you gotta come out for the warm-up everybody wants to see there for the game, but we're not coming out. You've got to come out for the warm-up. Everybody wants to see you for the warm-up. And then the guy goes, okay. He opens the door, and Bill Friday and the other guy that's there, the other ref, oh, shit. And then they just, I'll see you for the game and shut the door. That is fucking insane.

Yeah, that's the kind of team this was. Harry Neal was the coach. He was a bit of a nut at the time. Glenn Sonmore was. What was her name? Omaha Dawn. Oh, my God. That is class.

Get her an ice bag. Yeah. Get her a heat pack. Why would they tell you before the game you were folded? Just tell you after the game. Well, we knew the – we were getting part of the – the reason we played was we were getting part of the gate. And so that was what they were going to pay us with.

And so they told us all of this stuff. And that's why – because we had to make a decision that we wanted to play because we wanted to get part of the gate. We were already in Cincinnati. So, I mean, it was, it really was a no brainer. We ended up winning the game seven, six. I mean, but it was, and the silly thing, they gave us the checks the next day and who was the last person to go to the bank was me who had nsf who could they ran out of money and i didn't even get my check cash the next day yeah well at least you got the show from omaha donna it was a great show she did she get a game check you mentioned a name there guys i want to see i mean everyone who who knew him glenn sonmore is no longer with us

um i cherished every conversation i had with glenn sonmore glenn sonmore had a glass eye and glenn sonmore had a lot of fun with that glass eye whether it was in the stands whether it was at the bars um do you have a glenn sonmore glass eye story well i had one point and if you're drinking and he was still drinking at that point is he would always take his eye out and put it at the bottom of his glass and start drinking when he was around people and he and he'd go oh drop something can anybody find and they'd look in the in the glass and there was the glass eye at the bottom of the glass. Like, I mean... And then he just chucked it right back in.

Yeah, and plunk it in a little wet, a little soggy, but then it would be okay. But he was the guy that loved tough guys. Like a Glenn Sommelier loved tough guys. And Paul Holmgren was on that team. And I remember my first game in San Diego, or one of the first games in San Diego. And then we played and I scored a goal. I got two goals and, and, but we had a bench clearing brawl and I'm a rookie with first round picked in WHA, get two goals. Nothing has said to me, but he congratulated everybody that got into a fight. I knew then I was in, I might've been in the wrong league or at the wrong time,

but I mean, it was, if we're telling stories, is that what I'm allowed to do here? Oh yeah. Put a quarter on folks. This is our dream. This same trip here.

Okay. I'd never been, never been that far out West. And I saw San Diego for the first time and you're looking over the ocean and you're going, man, this is beautiful. And you go in and you start telling the players how beautiful this place is. And they said, well, you know what? And he said, I said, I think I said, I'd love to go fishing out in the ocean. And he says, well, you know, it's your lucky day. And I said, what are

you talking about? He says, we're playing in Phoenix in two days and we're going tomorrow. And I said, what are you talking about? He says, we're playing in Phoenix in two days, and we're going tomorrow. And he says, we're planning a fishing trip in the ocean in Phoenix. And I said, oh, great. This is awesome. I'm going to go. And he says, well, you're going to have to give us 100 bucks. And we got to leave really early in the morning because the water is a little ways away.

And so we want you to wait and so i went to this store rented fishing gear and everything like this and at 3 30 in the morning i'm waiting down in the lobby for everybody the next day it's a true story and uh i'm sitting there and then at four o'clock comes and i phone and i i forget who i phoned and i said how come you guys aren't here yet and they said shut up rookie go back to bed like this so that was a that was pretty nice you're just such a kind guy you're you're you're gullible where you believe everything that everybody's telling you right yeah yeah so it kind of brings up a story that,

that Timu Solani told that we'll get back to the WHA. Cause there's more questions I want to ask about that. But he told a story where you idolize Wayne Gretzky and he ended up pranking you pretty good. It was, it was a good prank. I mean, I got to tell you.

And, and the funny thing was Wayne had asked me, um, I mean, next time you're on the network, ask him about this. He had asked me at one point about a player, Yannick LeHou. And I told my wife, I said, I can't answer the phone. It's game day nap.

I'm napping. Tell Wayne I'll phone him back. So I get up and I say, just turned down wayne gretzky what am i what am i a nut like this so a couple years go by and we're playing the second last game of the season in um in vancouver it's my first uh it's my first year in anaheim and you know it took over the team and we were in love you know in last place but we ended up doing pretty good by the end but we had they we had not made the playoffs so Wayne phones me and says hey listen I'm out to dinner across the street would you like to come out with me

and have a couple drinks and then I said well let me get back to you. I phone my wife. She says, okay, if you don't go out with him this time, I'm divorcing you. And so I go out with Wayne. We have a real good time that night. And so the next day at practice, I'm sitting there and it's an optional, but in my meeting, I sit there and I say, guys, I was out with Wayne Gretzky last night. It was the best time of my life. You're not going to believe this. We went, and this is who he was, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, like, I got Timu looking at me, Getz Laff, Zach McCoy, all these real, Corey Perry.

I had a lot of stars in the room, and they're going, yeah, yeah, big fucking deal, big, big deal, right? So we win the game. We beat Vancouver 3 to two or something and I I walk and I'm pleased as punch we're going into our last game we were like about eight games over 500 since I took over so I was really really happy and uh um I get in the plane I get a text and my eyes open up and I go holy jeez what's's this? And I turn to the guys in the front and I said, hey, I just got a text from Wayne Gretzky.

You're like a seeker. Yeah, I said, you're not going to believe this, but he said he had such a good time last night. He wants to meet us in Edmonton. He wants to go out again. Can you believe that? And they all snickered and laugh and everything. And I go, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I text back. Absolutely, Wayne. I'll see you in Edmonton. No problem.

Text back, sit down. I'm pretty pumped that he likes me. This guy likes. So five minutes later, I get another text. He says, Gabby, he says, listen, I'm really sorry. He says, but I can't get a flight into Edmonton tomorrow. He says, do you have a problem if I hop on your charter? No. And I said, hold on, Wayne. And I went to the team services guy. Hey, can we put another guy in the manifest right now? It's Wayne Gretzky.

He wants to come with us to Edmonton. And he said, it's okay. Ask Bob Murray. Bob was drunk in the corner and he said yes. And so that was fine. So I said, yeah, Wayne, come on. He says, well, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Hold the plane.

And I said, okay, great. I said, Wayne's coming on the plane with us like this. And I'm waving my hands thinking this is the greatest thing in the world. He likes me and he's coming on the plane because he wants to go out with me. And so five minutes later, I get another text. And he says, Gabby, you are not going to believe this. And I said, what? Like I mean to myself, I says, what?

And he goes, he says, I can't get a room in edmonton he says do you mind if i room with you tonight the story's getting better at that point i turn around and team who's got the whole team surrounded by him he's texting me saying he's wayne gretzky and i was like there was one day but i mean you know i know you knew you had the players in your pocket when they're doing that no wonder you fucking were healthy scratching them and playing them five minutes a game towards the end of his career oh my god no no no No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was Bob, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was Bob told me, came in in the game in Dallas. And he says, Bob Murray says, listen, you're losing the team. It's game four of the playoffs. I think we're up two games to one. And he says, if you play Timu tonight, I think you'll lose the team. You've got to sit him out team you've got to sit him out you've got to sit him out and i said i want to sit timu solani out and he says you got to sit him out so i sat him out i had to wait for him to he knew something was up and because he stayed on

the ice for a half an hour and i waited at the boards because i wanted to tell him the day before that he was sitting out and he came and i told him and, and like, he did not like me for, for a while. And, uh, uh, I think it was about a year later or two years later that Ryan Getzlaff told him what had really happened. And the next time I saw him, he came up and apologized, hugged me and everything. And, but he knew I didn't want to sit him out, but I was sold. I had to sit him out. Is that, is that the first time you'd ever been in a predicament like that where like did bob say don't tell him where this is coming for and like you're basically doing it to save your job kind of thing well i i think i yeah if i had a loss that uh if we had lost the playoffs and i hadn't sat him out i probably would

have lost my job there even though we had like 116 points or something during the course of the year. But because when we did finally lose, we won the division and lost in Nashville, or lost to Nashville in seven games that he did fire me. So, I mean, I do think that he would have fired me if I didn't do what he wanted me to do. Do you regret the way you handled it? Probably. I mean, I don't Do you regret the way you handled it? Probably. I mean, I don't know how else I could have handled it without throwing Bob under the bus right there.

And the one thing I knew, you can't throw the GM under the bus. I mean, and it had happened during the course of the year that you have to make up things because I was told at points to sit out Palmieri, Boleski, Maroon and where I didn't want to but this was the this was what was given to me so you do it and that's uh that's what happened so I mean uh like the I do regret because Timu was such an icon and and you, you know, and obviously one of the best players that ever lived to have to sit out

somebody of his ilk was not, was not a lot of fun for me. In your experience and talking to other coaches, what percentage of, of winning teams or what percentage of any teams are the GM calling or the GMs calling the shots like that, where they are making straight up lineup decisions for the coach? I have no idea.

I have no idea. Was it rare for you to have that come to you? George McPhee never told me one time who to play. Chuck Fletcher never told me one time who to play. I don't even think Paul Fenton phoned me one time, or Bill Guerin told me at any point in time that I have to play these guys. The only thing Bill Guerin told me at any point in time that I have to play these guys the only thing Bill Guerin told me at one one point was I want Jason Zucker on the fourth

line tonight and I said are you sure he's been playing good and he said nope being on the fourth line he didn't tell me why and he ended up trading him in about two days later so I think that was the reason why but that was the only the only time i'd ever been told um who to dress and who not to dress at any point in time chris bork told me a hilarious story he said i think before i don't know if it was game seven or it was in the eastern conference finals in the ahl hershey versus portland that you and kevin dean almost went toe-to- to toe at the pregame skate. Yeah, no, it was the day before actually. And what had happened was I phoned Kevin at the start of the series and said, Kevin, listen, can we make a deal where I won't watch your practices

if you don't watch mine? And he said, fine. So now we're in game seven. We're at Hershey Park and we're practicing. And I don't see him and his assistant up in the stands. And Bob Woods comes over and tells me, he says, hey, listen, because we were practicing a new something for the power play because the power play hadn't been working. And he said, Kevin Dineen's watching. And I said, what? And I looked up and we started an FU fight from about 40 rows up to the down and he came down and we almost got into it and thank God we didn't I mean because because if you've ever saw me fight

you know I wasn't going to win that one either but I mean it was uh it was it was actually pretty funny and and Chris probably told that story because I think I sat him out that night too because he was a rookie he didn't get the a chance to play too much in the playoffs that first year um just quickly Jeff before you up in going I want to go back to the WHA a little bit like what other legends did you get to play against because I feel like maybe a lot of that like old guard moved over because the money was so good so just like like was there a lot of situations because I know you didn't spend too much time in the national hockey league as a player.

Like who are you facing off against where you were like, Oh my God, these were guys I grew up idolizing and maybe just stories from that time. Well, the, the day we played, um, I don't know if it was Hartford or Houston, wherever Gordy was playing at that time. And, uh, and Gordy, because I played with Mark and junior and we were really tight and, and Gordy was the, and I'd spent, uh, and Gordy, because I played with Mark and junior and we were really tight and, and Gordy was, and I'd spent a summer weekends at the how residents that we're playing against Gordy Howe. And I'm sitting there, I can't believe I'm playing against Gordy Howe.

And guys were telling me, he says, you got to watch him. He's great with the stick in the elbows. You know, I mean, you never know. And all I remember was going through the sideboards near the bench the one time and he was following me and the next thing i knew i was flat on my ass looking up and he had the puck and i mean he gave me the little jab behind the legs and got the puck i went flying into the boards and no one's calling penalties on gordie howe at that time but i went man this guy is quick because at the same game, Henry Boucher said, I'm going to get that guy. And so I remember Henry was really tough, too.

But I mean, I remember them crossing the blue line and I didn't see a thing. And the next thing, Henry's on the ground bleeding. Like, I mean, Gordie was amazing. Like, I mean, he could flick the elbows get the stick up i mean he had every trick in the book but he was the the main guy that i remember i mean i played with davy keon followed him he was a leaf that i just idolized and everything so uh it was a lot of but every team had their players, but Jerry Chevers, you know,

I mean, all of these guys, you'd look at the mask and, and I would spend time looking at Jerry Chevers mask when he was in Cleveland. So, I mean, there was guys like that and there was,

and there was so many of them, but they were all over 30 at that time. Very rarely did a young player that could be in the NHL want to go to the WHA. It was all for the money that the older guys would go. You've been asked a ton about the movie Slapshot. And for those that don't know, Gabby's in the first scene, the first goal that goes in on Denis Lemieux. And I love the story, Gabby, for those that don't know it, of how you made sure you got in that shot. I don't know how many days you were actually on the ice doing the filming, but you went out of your way to make sure that you were in the movie.

Can you share that story? Well, I was a bit of a ham. And George Roy Hill brings all the guys. He's the director. He brings everybody over. He says, listen, we're going to start. We're going to show how bad the Charleston Chiefs is by just focusing on the goalie. All we're doing is focusing on the goalie and making saves. He's going to be kicking things out all the time. He's going to be swearing and everything like this.

And so he says, but it was five on five in zone. So you'd be going around. But all I did was go around the post around the post around the post and i stayed in in the i stayed in every scene because i was just skating around the post and through the crease around the post through the crease because i knew that's where they were they were focusing the camera on so it was so anytime anybody see i'm number seven in the in the green team there. And I eventually scored a goal. They actually, they don't give credit for me, but I know I scored it. So it was okay. That's unbelievable. guys on the bus that can do the movie line for line in character.

First of all, do you have a favorite character from the movie? And I'm sure you've had players come up to you and say, like, that must have been the coolest thing in the world being in Slapshot. Well, it was cool. And I got to know Jerry Hauser, who played Killer Carlton. And we kept in touch for a lot of years. And so he was my favorite character. And it's funny, when I got let go in Vancouver,

I got calls from four of the guys that were in the movie, Jerry and three other guys, that I hadn't seen in 50 years. I didn't even know if I knew them. But I thought that was so cool, because they'd say, Alan Nichols would go, I'm Alan Nichols. I was so cool because they'd say Alan Nichols would go, I'm Alan Nichols. You know, I was in the scene where the strip scene, they said, if anybody sees, only my wife should see this, blah, blah, blah. And so, and then I forget the other two guys right now, but I mean, there's four guys that texted me from that scene, how they got my number. I don't know, but it was, uh,

and every, every team you go to, everybody has seen the movie. If the, if you haven't seen that, if you've seen a hockey player that hasn't seen the movie, I'd have my doubts about him really wanting to play hockey. So, I mean, it's, uh, uh, it, it, at first it was a terrible move by me to go down there. Whereas I could have signed with the Leafs right away and started my career in Oklahoma City rather than waiting a year. But when you think about it, it's 48 or 49 years now past, and that movie still stands the test of time. And the thing is, the movie, as far-fetched as it is, was pretty true.

Oh, yeah. I mean, that's exactly probably what it was like in the minors at the time. And I mean, you joked about the girl going in a locker room, but they had the girls following the team around with the booster bus. And just going back to the movie, Paul Newman, at that time, I think he was like an international star or maybe not at that level. Were you guys aware of how big of a hit movie this was going to be at that time, I think he was like an international star or maybe not at that level. Were you guys aware of how big of a hit movie this was going to be at the time? Or did it just pop off like crazy after the release?

Well, I had no idea how big a movie was, but I didn't know how big Paul Newman was. He'd already starred in The Sting. He'd already starred in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. He'd already been in The Hustler and he'd already been in the one where he was the prisoner with Sidney Poitier. I mean, he was huge.

But he knew how big the movie was going to be. I had an opportunity one night to go see The Dailies with Dave Hanson, who was my roommate. And we sat there and I don't know why I remember probably because Paul Newman said it, he turned around and he said, I just made a movie called judge Roy Hill for the money. And he said, but this movie,

this is going to be a huge hit. And, um, and obviously it was, you know, I mean, and um and obviously it was you know i mean i don't know how many when you think about it i think it it lasted in the theaters in toronto for over a year and it just kept growing and growing and with the amount of players that play hockey now everyone has seen it so it's uh it's gotten huge you played and coached in so many different cities like Cincinnati Baltimore Mississippi Seawolves like Fort Wayne like all these random areas what was your favorite like was there one that really sticks out to you like I loved my time there in this non-hockey market it's a great question but my answer is I was a big proponent of making every place great because every place you go has the bar that you go to the guys that you hang around with and I played in some really ugly

towns Johnstown was not beautiful you know I mean by any stretch of the imagination I mean I played in Biloxi Mississippi where I went there they wouldn't know hockey from a bowling ball. I mean, and it was the first time hockey had ever been in a pro league in Biloxi, Mississippi. I had an incredible time there. I mean, everywhere I've gone has been a good place to me. I've had fun everywhere. So, I mean, you either, and my wife has always said this, say either, you're either going to make, you're going to make make the decision to be happy or you're going to make the decision to be a gripe and be shitty. And so, I mean, I've always chose the decision to be happy. You won the championship as a coach in Biloxi.

Like, even though they didn't know hockey, were they packing the arena? Was it a big deal in town when you guys got it done? We averaged over 7,000 that year all year huh all year and we had like 9 000 uh people in the building when we won the cup and it was it was as good an atmosphere because we won in triple overtime in game seven i mean it was as good a atmosphere as i up, up to that point, I thought I'd ever been in. And, you know, it's funny because I thought the hockey was really great. Then when I went to the American League, I went and watched a couple East Coast League games and I'm going, man, it's this slow.

It's the same thing as we went and then you go to the NHL and you go back and you watch an American League game, you can't believe how slow it is. Because that goes to show like the speed of the NHL game. But I have a question, if you don't believe how slow it is. Cause that's goes to show like the, the speed of the NHL game. But, um, I have a question if you don't mind. Sure. We love that. Wow. This is for biz.

Okay. Oh, here we go. I always, I always ask guys, Hey, do you got one for us? And they always look at me. Oh yeah. I know. I got one for you. I mean, you're a well in boy, right?

Yeah. Well in Ontario. Okay. Uh, you ever heard of the jailhouse? The bar? No. Okay. 20 years ago, 20 years ago, my son was telling me, do you know who Ben is?

My son? Ben coaches Niagara Ice Dogs in the OHL. Oh, okay, okay. Okay. So he, when he found out I'm on your show, he says, you tell this. Okay. I brought a girl into this bar called the Jailhouse or something 20 years ago. And she was my date. She was my date.

And the next thing I know is she phoned me from Biz's house the next day. It was Omaha Donna. And I said, I can't tell that story on this. And he says, yeah, you got to tell him. He was in Willam. Biz, you owe Ben. I cucked your son. I'm really sorry about that, Bruce.

I appreciate you still giving us this over an hour of your time now at this point. And now I feel guilty asking you more questions. Hey, when you said you remember the jailhouse, he's like no i think i think it was called the jail that's what he said the jail something oh my god uh the jail break or something no idea okay okay no idea it's good to deny i like that i mean but he he also said dan paez is assistant coach and he said to say hi to Biz because they're great friends growing up in Welland. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's got a Stanley Cup. He's one of the pride and joys of Welland.

I'm like probably seventh or eighth on the totem pole because Cal Clutterbuck, who you coached in Minnesota, right? He was there for a hot minute while you were there? No, he wasn't there when I was there, but he did come to my hockey school uh in saint catherine so that's right yeah dan gerardi's up there yeah matt ellis uh andre devoe jamie tardif we had a bunch of listen tell your kid i'm sorry like i i probably was he was laughing he was laughing his is he married now he was and he is but okay if he's single tell him i own one i think he married that girl eventually

and then um and she kept talking about you and so he had to divorce her i don't know if that's shut the fuck up bruce you're out of your goddamn mind you know you're out of your fucking mind right kidding there i'm kidding okay okay let me go on let me try to get this on the rails. Let me go on a fishing trip with Bruce. Okay. There's been a, and I've added Bruce has as always, and I expect him to say, no, I'm not going to tell you, but I, I'm sure I can get the story out of him, but he's not going to give any names. Tell us about the wildest dad's trip that you were ever part of in the NHL. Well, yeah, it had nothing to do with the fishing trip.

I can tell you that. The wildest one was when I was in Anaheim. And you guys will appreciate this, I think. I mean, if you've ever been on one, the players are all out with the dads. They have dinner. They're all drinking. And then the players go to bed because it's usually the night before a game. So we were in San Jose when we were usually the night before a game so we're in

san jose when we're in anaheim and we're doing this and i won't mention any names but the uh the next morning i come down and uh the team services guys says bruce uh we have a problem and i says what do you mean we have a problem he says i got to show you a video of what happened last night and i said okay let's see it And they're showing it and there is a bar. And then all you see is an altercation of people talking. And then one of our dads comes over and just pops the guy right in the chops. And then that guy's with about 10 people.

They get up and they start coming in. Deja vu. We have a dad's brawl. What the timing is this? We have a dad's brawl in the middle of a dad's trip. Like, I mean, they're all flopping on the floor, throwing punches. And I said, oh my God, what do we do with this now? Okay.

I think it was the last dad's trip. I know it was the last dad's trip we had in Anaheim, but I mean, I don't know if they've continued to go on there, but that was exciting. They must not have had freshly squeezed orange juice. Everybody was up in arms. That's unbelievable. I think somebody might have said something bad about the guy's kit, and that's all you have to do when you're drinking.

Like, that guy sucks, and he says, what do you mean he sucks? He says, listen, I watch him. He sucks. I'm a hockey guy. And then pop, and then their guy comes over, and then another dad comes over and suckers. It was now that it's like a few 10 years later, it's pretty funny.

Oh yeah. Um, uh, did you guys want to ask anything more about the past? We wanted to get your thoughts on everything going on with like the, the Montgomery firing and, and, and his record and how you thought that that situation was handled.

And Jeff, I know that you brought it up on the outline call about how difficult it is because of the salary cap. And before they used to fire coaches, they used to maybe make a big trade, right? Remember that, Bruce? Remember that? There used to be a saying before you fired a coach, the GM would always say, Bruce knows this, I owe the coach a trade. Before I make a move on a coach, I owe the coach a trade. Before I make a

move on a coach, I owe him a trade. Because of the salary cap and it's hard to make trades, that's gone. I've always tried to make the point, Bruce, that the one area that was affected that no one talks about by the salary cap are the coaches. Because you can't mix up the room with a trade, if anyone's going to walk the plank and we see it every year. It's the coach. Do you have a thought on that one? And as biz mentioned under the umbrella of Jim Montgomery. Yeah. And,

and the fact that his record was ridiculous and he ends up getting the ax, like that's gotta be one of the best records ever for a coach to get canned. I think it is the best record for, if you just take his two previous years, I think it was 62 and 47. So 109 wins. An average of 54 wins for those two

years. And then he gets fired this year. I mean, you can answer it a couple of ways. One, the GMs don't want to, for the most part, when they hire you, they don't want to fire you. So something obviously was going on there. I mean, but in the, in the same token, it's, uh, it's crazy because his name was on the chopping block before the first game. Don't you think like,

I mean, it was even said, it was said last year that if the Bruins had a lost game seven in the first round of the playoffs, the Leafs that he would have been, um, that he would have been fired. And,

and it's even funnier to me that the Blues made Drew Bannister the full-time coach the day after Boston won that first round. Because I think the Blues were waiting all along for this to happen, and then they could get Jim Montgomery as their coach. I mean, but I don't understand why, what turned everybody sour on Jim Montgomery as the coach, because, I mean, his record spoke for itself, and it's not easy to win the Stanley Cup or to win two rounds or three rounds in the playoffs. And I mean, I, you know, when you win 62 games and then are in second place

the next year, I mean, you don't change a lot going into the playoffs. I mean, maybe the players just weren't good enough, but in Boston, I guess they thought that was wrong. And maybe there's some underlying thing like when Bruce Cassidy lost his job in Boston we thought it was a shock but it was I think a lot was because the young players they didn't like and I guess in the exit meetings they voiced that opinion and that's why he got let go so I mean there's things that we don't know for reasons why he got let go but on the surface you're wondering what does a coach have to do to keep his job when you're when you're doing this well and the proof is in the pudding five days later he gets they realize he's a really good

coach and he gets hired for a five-year deal probably you know in in um st louis like jim pappan yeah who's's not with us anymore, remember telling me about two weeks before I got let go in Anaheim, he says, Bruce, don't you worry about it. You know if you don't win the cup, you're going to get let go. But you're going to make more money and get more years on your next deal than you are now. So don't worry about it.

But every coach always worries about it because nobody likes to lose their job ever. And you can speak to what Jim Montgomery is going to go through this year because in 2011, 2012, you were let go. And it's kind of a two-part question because some incredible teams in Washington, they end up getting over the hump after, but you were let go and immediately hired by Anaheim. So is it easy to get over the disappointment and the shock of the firing when you get hired that quick? And did you change as a coach at all when you got to Anaheim. So is it easy to get over the disappointment and the shock of the firing when you get hired that quick? And did you change as a coach at all when you got to Anaheim? Kind of take us through that whole season for yourself. Well, I mean, I think we'd had more

success than anybody other than winning a cup. And I didn't have very much playoff success in Washington. And it took them five years after that, by the way, before they won the cup. But myself, the way it all happened, I don't know how much time we've got, but the funny story, we were playing Anaheim the week before and we were down four to one and going into the third period. And then it got to be five to one and we came back and it was five to four. And I pulled the goalie and Ovi asked me, he says, where do you want me to go coach? And I go, I want you on the bench and you're minus four and you haven't done anything. So you sit this one out. And he turned and he said something derogatory, which by the

way, the next day he apologized and we were all fine again. But, um, that was the focus. We ended up, uh, coming back, tying the game and I put Ovi on for overtime. We scored the ball and he gets an assist and we win the game. So you're a week later, I get fired. Okay. And, um, then I'm sitting at home and it's a Monday morning. It's six 30 when I got fired. And just to show you George's class, he calls me and says, can you

step by, stop by my house before you go to work? And I've said, George, this ain't good, is it? And George is pretty smug and didn't say a word. So I go there, he answers the door in his pajamas. This is how classy he is. And, uh, and he says, hold on, Bruce. He went upstairs, he shaved, he got a suit on. I sat down, he came in his business tire, and then he told me he was going to let me go. And I, years later, I just keep thinking that that was so classy for what he did. But, uh, um, keep thinking that that was so classy for what he did. But anyway, I go home and I say, I'm not answering the phone. I'm not doing anything. So this is at seven o'clock in the morning at nine 30. I'm bored out of my mind because you're used to going to work every day and working. Right. So you're bored out of your mind. And, and, and I texted my buddy in Anaheim,

Rick Patterson. And I said, Hey, hey patter i don't know if you know but i just gotta let go so if you ever need a coach give me a call and uh so about 15 minutes goes by and he answers and he says hold on a minute and i went what and and he's and and about an hour after that george calls me and says hey bruce um do you want to coach in the NHL again? I go, duh. And he goes, and he says, an NHL GM may be phoning you soon. And I said, oh, wow, that's crazy. I never can't believe that. So Bob Marie phoned me that afternoon.

We struck a deal that night. And so, I mean, I got fired on Monday morning, got hired Monday night and was in Anaheim on Tuesday. And I watched Anaheim on Tuesday. And I watched Anaheim play, and they beat Montreal 4-1. And I'm sitting there going, is he going to change his mind? Because they just won, and he didn't. And I was on the bench on the Wednesday. So it just happened quick.

I played for Randy in Anaheim, and Randy could get on guys. And when you came in was it was it noticeable guys were on edge a little bit they needed to feel a little bit more free he won a Stanley Cup there hell of a coach but he was tough on you did you sense that and was it your personality probably helped those guys feel a little bit better about their game well first of all me and Randy are good friends we played in Toronto together in the minors together and everything so um yeah but our personalities are totally different and I think they wanted that kind of uh personality when I

went in there I mean it was a good change you know go from the from the the guy that tough tough ass guy to the guy that's more Claire friendly and I think they accepted that. And, you know, I mean, other than game seven of the conference final against Chicago a couple years later, you know, I thought we had tremendous team that was going to win a cup ourselves. Bruce, I know you said that Spurgeon was fake news with the hand scoop. Have you been texting him? No, no. Okay, okay. But I was going to bring up another one with a player that you had in Anaheim. Ryan Kessler came on the podcast,

and he said one time he was passing by the trainer room, and there was a connecting door maybe to the coach's room, and this is about 12 minutes left on the clock before you go out for the game, and normally coaches come in around the nine, eight-minute mark, fire the guys up, tell them who's starting, clock before you go out for the game and normally coaches come in around the nine eight minute mark fire the guys up tell them who's starting and he said that the door was peaked like pried open a little bit and he peeked in and there you are with a coca-cola and a bag of popcorn and you're having

a nice snooze about 12 minutes before you're ready to go out now were you the type of guy that could sleep anywhere yeah i was but it would have been a diet coke, first of all. And I was just preparing for the game. I needed to get into my zone. This is what I'm saying now. But I mean, that's quite possible because they would open the door and they'd see me and then they'd shut the door if I was snoozing quickly. And I went in with five minutes to go so i mean i had a still a seven minute buffer in that in that case so it was all

good bob woods would come in he says are you awake in there yeah let's go let's get her done you just gotta pass it off as meditation like i call it yes meditation getting in your sense i thought this is story was going to be that he cucked like a nephew a year as well there. I didn't know where that was heading. Stop. Stop. All right, so you finished the year 15-16 in Anaheim, let go, but then you're hired for the next season by Minnesota.

Was that just as quick once you weren't renewed or fired by Anaheim? Well, it's funny because it was the Saturday that I was let go. And I got called that night by Chuck Fletcher and Ottawa. And I said, I'd interview on Monday. He was going to be in town. I think they were interviewing Randy too for the Minnesota job. And so he was in town. So they interviewed me. And then I was supposed to go to Ottawa on Tuesday or Wednesday. And I remember telling them I can't because Wayne has invited me to golf at his club and I'm not passing the chance to golf with Wayne Gretzky just to go interview at a job in Ottawa. So I went on the Friday and I was hired Saturday night, um, in, um, by Minnesota

at that point. I'm always curious about coaches influences. Like you're one of the, one of the biggest personalities we've ever seen behind the bench. And I don't believe that that comes out of nowhere. When you look back at your career, who are

the coaches that Bruce Boudreaux said, you know what? I want to be a little bit like that? I'm glad you asked that. I mean, first of all, George Armstrong was one of those guys. Memorial Cup. But he was a guy that I remember if we lost a game, we were upset that we might have upset him because all the players loved him so much.

So, I mean, it was one of those things that he was tough, but he was so fair and so good to you that he would do things for you too. So I learned a lot from personality from him. Then Roger Nielsen learned a lot about tactics and just never leaving any stone unturned. And him and Andy Murray were very similar in that in that boat so I learned a lot from those two guys then I think any any player that becomes a coach picks up things from everybody that he's gone through it might be one thing with Larry Kish it was organized practices even though I hated him as a coach but he was really organized in practice. I mean, so, you know, you, you think of these things, Doug Carpenter was, and Gene, you know, was a tough ass and you remember that and you remember certain things he did in

practices. Alice Fims, I remember drills that he did. So I think you pick up everything, you add your own personality into it, and then that's what you become as a coach. You know, one thing I'm glad you mentioned, um, uh, George Armstrong there a couple of seconds ago, this one thing I've always forget to ask, like, oh, I forgot to ask Gabby. What was the story with his skate, like cutting your eye or something like that in 75, or you got an eye injury involving like his, what, what happened there? Cause you had like blurred vision, like,

or something like that for the remainder of the season or something. What was the story there? I actually had the blurred vision for a couple of years, but I mean, um, you know, you had the heel guards on the back of the skates back when you're growing up and, uh, I was skating in front of the net. He was skating behind the net and the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens was never the greatest. And I think I toe picked and I fell right on his skate, the back of it,

and it got me in the eye. And so it was swollen. I think I missed the last game of the season or something. But at the same time, I mean, I could have very easily lost my eye, and I didn't, and it wore a shield for the playoffs. But, I mean, it was a complete fluke accident. And he would have been the first one that put his arm around me, took me to the bench, made sure I'm okay,

and checked in on me every day about it. So, I mean, it could have been a lot worse. So I'm pretty happy that it only was that. So when you scored the five power play goals, you did it with blurred vision and essentially with one eye. And a shield, yeah. That's why he's minus one. Yeah.

Couldn't see his guy back door. Head on a swivel, Bruce. Yeah, at that point I was waiting at the red line for somebody to get me the puck. So, I mean, there's no way I would. You have five goals. There's no way you're checking. Bruce, we're going to have to get you back on

because it's impossible to go through everything. And I know we didn't spend a crazy amount of time on your time in Minnesota. But given the OV goal chase and the historic run he's on and he's going to pass it eventually, I was going to ask you for your favorite Ovechkin story, maybe like obviously one you haven't told. And then also segue that into you had these iconic series against the pittsburgh penguins and got to see some of the prime years of sydney crosby what was it like like battling against him with your team and and preparing your team to face off against probably by the time it's all said and done a mount rushmore type player in sydney crosby you know you know it's funny

whenever we played pittsburgh especially that-game series, it was different. It was different in the room. Alex wouldn't be, Ovi wouldn't be jumping up and down and being hyper. He was very quiet. He'd walk around like this is a serious moment. When they were on the ice, you could see, like back then, they wouldn't glare at each other, but they knew where they were all the time. And there was never like, let's have some fun. This is a serious, like I'm out to beat him. And I think that for 20 years has been every game that I've been involved or every game I watch with those two guys, it's a serious game because they want to one up each other all the time. And because they're that competitive, they might be good friends off the ice now.

I don't know. But I mean, on the ice, they wanted to compete and they competed so hard. And the best game was game two when they both got hat tricks in that playoff. That's going to go down as one of the most iconic games in history. off that's going to go down as one of the most iconic games in history and uh i mean and then them almost fighting on the bench at the bench uh going at it a little bit i mean those two guys i mean it was it was quite amazing i don't know if you guys were in wilkes at that time or uh where he is where he is were but anytime you would watch sydney against o, it was an event. It wasn't even a game. I mean, I remember him watching, walking around the room, just getting ready. And instead of,

you know, yapping it up with the guys, he might be taping his stick or something, but he had almost a scowl on his face. Like, this is how I got to get ready to play against the Pittsburgh Penguins. And it wasn't the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was about being better than Sidney. That's why in his goal chase, which was halted a little bit right now, and you can see where the Caps have lost 2-1 and 3-2, which is what their game was like last year without Ovi, Ovi adding that different spark. I still think if they say he's going to be out six weeks, I'm saying he's back in five.

And I'm saying that if he's working hard and staying in shape, that he's going to do it this year. I'd love to see him do it this year, which would just prove that he is Superman. And just quickly, do you have an Ovi story that you're like, oh my God, just embodies his personality that maybe some a lot of the time people don't see yeah i'm trying to i'm trying to think while i'm saying those things and the the only thing that comes to mind right now is if you when these great players and you guys have all played with great players good things always seem to happen for them you know like i mean good luck follows them and you're saying why can't that happen to me the first time we had uh you know the golf tournament before the season

starts um ovi sat in the one home got a hole in one never played golf before i've been golfing 60 years couldn't do that he gets a hole in one goes off a mountain hits a tree back back in like a happy gilmore type thing and then goes in the cup. And he goes, oh my God, oh my God. Oh, I remember him saying that. I've seen that video. Oh my God. Yeah. It went on.

That's unreal. When you ended up seeing Washington finally win the cup and years after you were gone, do you think he had changed as a player? Had he completely matured and changed his game in the playoffs? Or was it more so the roster around him and he remained the same? Because it looked like he was just more bought in that year. Yeah, well, I think when they finally got past the second round,

it became a different story. I mean, he hadn't been by the second round in all that time. And then he gets by the second round, and him and Nicky were different players. Because Nesov was a different player than you saw last year they all became hey this is real this is a chance that we have and uh the buy-in was already there i mean they had a great year and a great team but i mean it's uh i think they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel that we can actually win this thing, and they dug in just deeper. And they weren't going to be denied.

There was no way Vegas was going to beat them that year, no matter how good Vegas did. Bruce, did you make more money off Cameo, the Cameo app, or your most money made one year in coaching? And what was the most Cameos you did in a day when you're at the peak of your cameo and are you still doing it i get one every blue moon but i mean i remember when i was in van uh and like i get them once a week or something and i wouldn't get a lot of them

and you'd sit there and you'd wish a guy a happy birthday or something. And Patrick Albine comes in. He says, and by the way, this is the fifth day of camp. You can't do any more cameos. You do them, you're going to get fired. And I'm going, oh, okay. So I canceled them right away. Like, I mean, to me, it was such an innocent thing. I never said bad things about anybody.

I didn't use the F-bomb ever on a cameo. And I mean, it was it was just thought okay these are these are people are asking me for a birthday wish and uh and you do it so that's where that come from he probably just didn't want to see like a cameo you being like i promise we're gonna get her done tomorrow night edmonton like he's like we're gonna save everyone from guaranteeing the coaches board in the background it has their whole game breakdown yeah exactly leaking everything by accident to make a hundred bucks on the side he's making two and a half sheets from vancouver don't tell anybody in vancouver but i'm this is what our scheme is tonight no i don't think any of that stuff ever happened that's unreal i don't

have we've kept you long enough we'd love to get you on again bruce this has been such a treat and uh so many amazing stories i'm sure you have a million more as well and jeff thank you for organizing this uh just a a nostalgic pass through time only scratched the surface with bruce boudreaux when it comes to stories nobody like you know there are people and bruce maybe i'll close on this one like when I think of someone that I want to sit down with and hear that person go story for story like I don't think you could get beaten at a story for story competition but who comes close to you like whose stories do you like to hear the most? Well, that's a great question, but I like to hear anybody's. I like that was always enamored by the older guys than me that have played longer than me.

And they tell stories about the train rides and they used to tell how hard they'd work or or their the stories back in those days. There was even less. What's the word I'm looking for? Anyway, there was no discipline. I mean, they would get on there. And George Armstrong always had Johnny Bauer as a roommate. And he'd come in and he would tell every day how they would pull pranks on Johnny Bauer and things like this. And when I'd go to golf tournaments back in the day,

you'd sit and you'd listen to Cheevers or Billy Smith and all of these guys telling stories. Those are the things I like is the old stories that you hear because the young guys don't tell stories anymore. They don't want anybody to know what's going on. How many false teeth stories did you hear over the years? Oh, but the teeth being put in glasses, I've heard them from everybody. Yes. And George Armstrong used to do it all the time. When he wanted to get real mad at us, he'd take his teeth out and talk with the gums like this. None of us could stay without smiling, but he did what he wanted to do.

That was his goal. Bruce, that's so good did what he wanted to do that was his his goal bruce that's so good it's been an unreal interview we really appreciate it and like biz said 100% we do it again anytime guys you guys are awesome to listen to congratulations on your success and i'll be watching you everywhere you go guys it's wit and i want to talk to you about aura frames like a lot of people you know my parents sometimes are not the most tech savvy no shot at them and i could use this discussion about aura frames talking about myself i don't have it tech wise but that's why aura frames is so good it seems weird to get people who are struggling with tech and not tech savvy, a tech adjacent gift, but Aura's digital frame is actually perfect. That's because yes, it's tech,

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Thank you so much to Bruce. Thank you to you, Jeff. Okay, hang on. Can I jump in? What was the best story? The Ovechkin curfew, the Gretzky-Selany, or the lawn mowing? I think that if I ever hear or see a replay of Peyton Manning under center going, Omaha, Omaha. I'm going to laugh.

I'm going to laugh. So the guy was just classic. And what makes him is he can tell a story with the best of them. The way that he told stories is just classic. Can I jump in? hang on it's just classic can i can i jump in so bruce texted me after the interview and said tell biz the bar was in port deluzzi oh yeah yeah yeah port deluzzi that place uh it doesn't exist anymore they they there's like maybe a couple bars but they put a bunch of condos but that was a blast so if you gave me a nickel sorry biz if you gave me a nickel for every time i've seen

biz be like yo this girl's with this dude she's eyeing me right now i would be a saudi i would be a saudi oil billionaire like here are the guys and then he's like dude like this girl's game facing me like what am i supposed to do um i would say that i would say that the uh the escalation of the solani one and the fact that well first of all he's he's very self-deprecating which is awesome yeah he he'll he'll take the piss and the fact that he he tried to talk him into bunking together and he was okay with bunking with Wayne in his room, that was the icing on the cake to elaborate on the Timu Stetlani story who

originally told it. So, I mean, there's too many good ones to pick one, but that elaboration was the best. The way Timu told it undersold the whole thing. It was even better. It was even better. It was even better. And I guess, you know, we talked with Bruce about Ovi

and when he first got in the locker room and saw his name played above his locker, and we just got brutal news. I feel like it was the most disappointment the leagues felt about one player and an injury in quite some time because Ovi last year, he has this slow start. He gets it going. Washington, awful. They get into the playoffs. They look awful in the playoffs. It's

like, is this going to turn into the Ovi goal chase? But no, the Capitals, they have an amazing offseason. Guys are playing out of their mind and Ovi starts with 15 goals in 18 games. He gets a hat trick and then the next game in Utah, he's got two goals. Now, I tweeted when he got the second in Vegas. I go, Ovi hat trick coming. He gets it. I feel great. Sure as shit, I'm watching again.

I go, we're going to see another one. And he gets injured. I got buried by all these Capitals fans. I felt horrible. But to see him go down and then get the news. Now, I look at it like, thank God, that could be an ACL, right? Like when you collide knee on knee like that, it can be a disaster. Four to six weeks we're here and he's got a broken or fractured his tibia. Now, Bruce says we're going to see five weeks,

four weeks. It's going to be quicker than we thought. I hope so. I think the big thing that bummed everyone out was that, can you hop back in and stay on fire the way you were? That's hard to do. You miss time with an injury. I've always said, too, if it's an upper body injury, you could still skate. You get the legs. You can be out there skating after a couple weeks.

When it's lower body, it makes it more difficult. But what he had done leading up to the injury, it just had taken the league by storm. It started being like, you started seeing the future of how incredible it's going to be when he's like 10 goals away, 20 goals away. Because it's happening quicker than we imagined, and now he's going to be out for a little bit. So, Biz, your thoughts? Yeah, I think what's the most exciting part about all this is the fact that you mentioned

everybody's behind this. And I think the adrenaline of him knowing that everybody wants him to do this is what's going to want him to come back he's you know going to handle his business appropriately off the ice where hey I think he indulges a little bit in the offseason and sometimes maybe comes back packing on a few pounds I don't think that's going to be the case I think he's going to come back exactly the way that he was to start the season and get back right to where he was scoring goals and I think there's a strong possibility that the storybook writers write it where he ends up breaking it in game 82 against the fucking Pittsburgh Penguins and Jeff I don't think it's the worst thing that if you know maybe he does get close that the NHL

does have the off season to prepare to put this on a silver platter for him starting next season where they carry that momentum over and maybe a time where hockey's not the most watched. There are the doldrums when football is going on college football and, and other sports are taking a lot of focus off of what I think is the best game in the world where now all eyes are going to be on hockey based on the amount of people that are talking to me that never talked to me about hockey that are asking about this. That is what is firing me up that,

that hockey is getting national, if not world attention based on what's about to happen. Your point is exactly well made. And that is, this is a story that jumped off the hockey page. And, you know, hockey is still very much a regional sport, both in the United States and in Canada. But, I mean, we saw visiting fans cheer when Ovechkin scored against their team because they understand that they're part of something

that's greater than the game that they're watching. Like everybody, to your point, like everybody was getting behind this. Everybody loved this. This was like the hockey story. Every fan base got behind this thing. I want to share with you guys something, a conversation that I had a while ago with someone. I'm really curious to see what your reaction is to it.

So I was having a conversation with someone who said, you know, this ovechkin ovechkin chase kind of scares me i said what do you mean it scares you and he said well like think about it ovechkin is chasing gretzky what nationality is ovechkin i said russian i said he said what nationality is gretzky and i said canadian he said what's his heritage part of wayne gretzky's heritage is and he is fiercely proud and he said speak with this language of his grandmother ukrainian he said vladimir putin and all of this scares me that what is putin gonna do with the russian beating the Ukrainian Canadians record.

I knew you'd have a chuckle. Imagine Putin and Trump sitting in the box for the break. I don't know what's going to be. Putin's going to want to be in the ice to feed the pass. Like, you know those videos you see of Putin, like, He had 27 assists one game. Skating around, guys. Kim Jong-un's hole in one.

Putin's going to want to be the guy that feathers the pass. Come talk to me in the coach's office. You're going to be a health bomb tonight. We signed a new guy. You know how the whole team comes off the bench? Crosby's 600. We'll get to that. The whole team comes off the bench? Crosby's 600. We'll get to that.

The whole team comes off the bench and the door opens and you see Putin with his bodyguard shuffling under the ice and he's just hugging all the Capitals together. What do you think the probability that Putin is in the building when he breaks the record? 100%?

I would say 0%. Really? Yeah First of all When was the last time Putin was in the United States? Maybe it was like this year Well listen there's a new administration on the horizon Not to get overly political here

But there's a new administration on the horizon You think he's going to have a room in the West Wing That he just kicks it back? I don't think it's 100% But I also don't think it's zero. He's going to bunk up like Wayne and Trudeau. Or not Wayne and Bruce. No, Stephen Harper. Wayne and Bruce.

Oh, Wayne and Bruce. Okay. I don't know what made me think of Trudeau. If it was Trump, Putin, and Trudeau, they would just be giving Trudeau leaners. They'd be putting his bed in the elevator. They'd just be... Oh, no. Putin's last visit to America was 2015.

So we're coming up on 10 years. I don't know. Listen, we all know how he feels about hockey. We all know how he feels about Ovechkin. We all know how Ovechkin feels about him. I think it'd be ridiculous to suggest or think that this isn't going to be something that Putin Russia everyone there wants to hype up big massive well I I hope

not only because it would turn into this political story and all of that would overshadow overshadow Ovechkin breaking a record that for what what, 30 years, everyone has said that it would never be touched. So it's going to be one of the greatest moments in the history of the NHL for an individual. And I would hope that nothing involves Paul. Putin is that self-aware and wouldn't be shocked if he wanted to insert himself in all this and doesn't really care if the attention goes to him. At least wear Strom's jersey. Maybe he'd wear Strom's jersey. Interesting.

I'd actually be interested to talk to Wayne and ask him how he feels about what you just brought up. If only you had access to him. Yeah, I know. But it's like you said, it's such a sensitive topic right now. It's a total sensitive topic. Yeah. Of course it is. It's a total sensitive topic. Yeah. Of course it is.

It's a good point to bring up, and I mean, all eyes on Ovi. Yeah. So another legend. Again, the overarching story is here that this is one, I remember growing up, was there a stat for you guys when you were young that you thought would never be broken? To me, it was like, because I was a goaltender when i was a kid and i used to always marvel like oh man terry sarchuk had 102 shutouts that's never gonna get broken you know and then that was a little will chamberlain's off off off court or on court off court will chamberlain uh my dad used to say

like he was always he'd always talk about DiMaggio's hit streak. He's like, that's never getting touched. And as baseball's changed into just swing for the fences or strike out, that one might be safe. The Gretzky more assists than points, that will never be touched, I'm convinced. But yeah, the goal one was like, I've said this 50 times, but the first time I ever saw it was John Bucciaross.

And I think it was like eight years ago tweeted about the possibility of him doing it and how he and how he would do it in the breakdown year by year. So if it goes down, but but for Crosby to also continue his dominance and what a clusterfuck Pittsburgh is. But to see him get his 600th, I think that past weekend they lost combined in two games, 10-2, and at least one of them was his 600th. Beauty pass by Eric Carlson, actually. You got to see Sid's parents in the stands. You got to just see the celebration from him and the team coming on the ice. He was fired up when he got it.

I wrote down, or I actually looked up, with all the discussion about Cross being traded and all the people that are within the know and do believe to know that he'll never go anywhere, never agree to play anywhere else. There's not just his legacy in Pittsburgh, but he's 90 goals and he's 107 points away from breaking Mario Lemieux's record for all-time leader in goals and points by a Pittsburgh Penguin. He has more Stanley Cups. I think that that's in his mind and this guy would choose to win in a heartbeat over this individual stuff. But to do what he's done all this time in Pittsburgh, you can't tell me that he hasn't looked at or seen

that I could become the all-time goal scorer and points leader for this organization. I believe that. I think he's going to do that, and I think he's going to move on because I think it's going to get too bad. So the points will be next season. 90 more goals.

I don't know. What's that? That's a lot of goals, man. This year, another year, and then middle of the next year, if not longer, what's he get? What's say he finishes with 20 more this year than he 70 next year,

maybe 35, 40. So I think that the points one will be broken, but I, biz is adamant, Jeff, that, that we're going to see him somewhere else someday.

I mean, listen, uh, when he signed the contract, the idea, the, the contract extension, the conspiracy theory right away was, Oh, he's come in at a number that makes him movable. That if he wants to go, he's going to be able to move and the contract's not going to get in the way.

That was one of the big conspiracy theories that you hear right away. It's hard, though, when it's the only number he's ever signed for i know i know i get that like i understand the the symbolism of the whole thing just think about this though like how big of a waste though boys in the last year of his of his contract or even the last two that they what are you going to honor this guy when you're fucking out of the playoffs by Christmas? That's not how a Mount Rushmore guy goes out. That's up to him. But the thing is, what if that means a lot to Crosby to play his whole career in one place? That's what everyone says, Jeff.

That is what people say that no. He's won his cups. He's cemented his reputation. His place in hockey history is, like, the gravity around it is deep. They're already, like, writing the plaque on the Hockey Hall of Fame. Like, I don't know what more he can accomplish other than I just want one more of those things. And he still has this year's Four Nations and next year's Olympics as even a little extra.

It's just, it's just what we all hope for is to see him in the playoff. I understand. Trust me. I understand where that comes from. Right. Like I understand that. Like I always want to be competitive.

I always want to be in the, in the playoffs. Like guys are wound that way, but then other guys also are wound. Like, you know, St. Jude,

the patron saint of lost causes i know this is going to be hard but i'm not going to bail i know this looks that's what i respect about it where he he might be looking at this where he truly believes by the time his last year under contract with the pigsburgs up that he's able to kind of revive them and they're back to their winning ways where he looks at it like his biggest challenge yet because when he came in and even when they won those back-to-backs like you still had malkin throughout his prime you still had in in some cases flurry and then they got matt murray who was playing out of his mind and they had a team who could actually win

right they were and in some, they were expected to. Like every year they were going in, they were listed as a top five team where maybe that's the approach he's taken where I can go through this doldrum with this team and somehow by the time my last year or my last two years are up, we're back to being a winner.

Maybe that's the mentality. You know, let me share this with you guys. One of my favorite players of all time is Peter Forsberg. And towards the end of Peter Forsberg's career, when the skills

were deteriorating and remember he couldn't find a skate. Yeah, his foot was fucked. His foot was a mess. Right? But he never, he never quit.

And there was a lot of people saying, oh, he's diminishing his reputation oh leave the stage while they're still clapping nothing's worse than watching a actor take bows on stage when the audience has already left i fucking loved it i love the guy that said as long as i can get out there and play i'm gonna compete they are going to have to drag me off the ice i didn't want to hear anything about, oh, look at the point.

He went back in his heyday with Colorado. He's been these cups and these trophies and these points. And look at him now. He's a shell of himself. He's not even close. A shadow of what he used to be. I think I may have loved him more at the end because he never quit.

What do we always talk about? Don't quit. Don't quit. Crosby ain't quitting on the Penguins so far. That's why I loved forsberg he as long as as long as someone was good as long as the team wanted him he was not going to quit i think we should celebrate stuff like that oh no sports as opposed to just oh i want to oh how dare he do this to how i think of peter forsberg should only have to should only oh yeah, should only play like this. Like, fucking ridiculous.

That's what I love about Crosby. He ain't quitting. I've been beating that drum just because from a hockey fan standpoint, I want to see that. There's no doubt deep down I have so much respect for the way that he's approaching this. If he does follow through with the Penguins and if the last remaining years on his deal

are exactly like this one's transpiring. Like's gonna suck because getting to watch him in playoffs one more time chasing that would be such a hockey fan's dream especially doing it with his good friend nathan mckinnon but if that's what he wants then that's what he wants well we can move on to another legend it's funny you bring up Forsberg. Before we get to our next legend of the game who was in the news this week, I was talking to Sam Gagne this week. Gag's a great guy. We were just shooting the shit.

He's like, I still want to play. And I texted him. I'm like, yeah, dude, if that fire's still there. I think he's going to hop on the show in the near future. A catch-up with him would be nice. He's awesome. He's skating in Toronto, the show in the near future. A catch-up with him would be nice. He's awesome. He's skating in Toronto, right? In the West End?

Yep. And you talk about not wanting to give up. And then we get to see Jumbo Joe Thornton and his jersey retired in San Jose. Incredible. Incredible night there. You saw everyone getting really emotional, teammates of his. And Joe Thornton, while MVP winner, dominant, dominant player in his prime,

he had two, three years at the end where he's like, no, I just love the game. I know I'm fourth line now. I don't care. I want to be in the room. I want to be. This guy, all anyone ever says is he just loves the boys. The boys. And if you guys saw the clips or you got to watch the ceremony,

Doug Murray told an incredible story. Incredible. I saw it on Twitter that Joe Thornton called him to help a family move into an apartment that he had set up. They were a homeless family. They had nothing going. He said, don't tell a soul. And Doug Murray's telling the story about what Joe Thornton did,

and he's getting emotional. And you saw Patrick Marlowe say what this meant to him to have his number be up there with his in San Jose. It's just, I texted Biz Jeff that Joe's right there. It's like off the top of my head like Joe and Aguinla, like guys that should have raised the cup. Guys

that I picture, like they should have got it. There's a few. One of them works on television with Biz and that's Henrik Lundqvist. Yep, that's another good one. In my perfect world, would have lifted a Stanley Cup. I was a huge and still am Henrik Lundqvist fan.

The old school guy in me wishes that like Gilbert Perrault and Marcel Dion would have had a chance to lift a cup. There's a lot of greats, and now that there's so many teams, there's going to be a lot of greats that go their entire careers that don't win Stanley cups.

Like it's, man, it's, it's, it's harder than ever to win, to win one of these things. But the, the,

the Joe thing, like I used to always make the joke and I, it's not really a joke. Cause I mean it, that there's only two places in the world where they do ceremonies properly. One is Buckingham palace and the other is the Bell Center. And after that, nobody else does ceremonies properly. Kind of tongue in cheek, but San Jose nailed it. San Jose at every single level, that was one of the best that I think we've ever seen. I mean, it's Joe

and people gushing about him and it's perfect and he looks great and the family's beautiful and that hat is killer and like all of it and douglas murray's story i'm not sure where you went with with thornton when you first saw when you think about his his his playing career we think about how sublime a passer he was the past like the the only one who even comes close in his era is probably mark savard who i don't think we give enough credit to as being a magnificent playmaker. But Joe was on a different level. I'll tell you what. There was one moment that I want to get to. But one of the things that I thought about that doesn't get enough concert is how tough Joe Thornton was. He didn't do it very often.

But there was one game. Now, this one really caught him and hurt him. But there was one game. He's playing for the caught him and hurt him. But there was one game. He's playing for the Boston Bruins. He's a couple years into his Boston career. And he's playing the Rangers. And the Rangers, the faceoff is in Boston's zone. And the Rangers throw this out as a line.

Eric Lindros, Matt Barnaby, Chris Simon. Joe recognizes what's up. Right away. And on the the draw grabs Lindros now it didn't end great for Joe in that fight but they both stood and threw and then Joe kind of leaned over and Eric caught him with it with an uppercut happens whatever but just like at every single level joe thornton knew the mood joe thornton knew the right thing to do like you think about players that always are always doing that sort of that that right thing and you understand okay this is the situation and i'm going to react to it it may be a small thing but he sees who's coming over the boards and he knows exactly what the score is and he reacts as you would expect joel thurn to do we know that what's going to

happen here like hal gill went at it with matt barnaby i'm not sure who if anyone grabbed chris simon um but right away like thornton knew what the right thing to do was like to me he was always the perfect guy for hockey and he was better than everybody else. And I don't think we give enough concert to the fact that here's a guy that, if Ryan gets left in the playoffs, off the draw. So I was in that game. Ryan Kessler. Do you mind if I just, I was just going to say a couple things.

I just like, you want to thank Joe Thornton for just being an incredible ambassador of the game. Anybody listening to this, you have to go watch the whole ceremony and the way that he approached it and just the energy that he brought in that building as he did to the locker room every single time he stepped in it. I always marvel at guys who are able to handle that type of pressure and be that good of a player, but make it look so cool and easy while doing it like i i

he has more skill and talent in his pinky toe than i had my whole body and yet like it was hard for me to even manage it and you know be cool and a lot do all those things where he everywhere he went he was beloved and he had all the pressure of the world on his shoulders to perform and did it. And won MVPs and dragged that San Jose team into playoffs, playing with those great teams. But I just think that's like a special skill set in itself. And I just really admire when guys are able to do it and handle themselves and do it with a smile on their face and getting interviewed and joking

around and treating the rookies as they should be treated in a locker room so he just seems like the ultimate team cool guy and um fuck would have loved to have played with a guy like that for just even one season but uh just a fucking hell of a career and to piggyback what you guys said to see him win a cup would have been a gift to the hockey world but hey he still was and uh you know off to the hall of fame you know what i always liked about him and i don't know whether he did this as a tribute to phil esposito but this is what phil esposito used to always do old school boston bruins are going to know exactly what I'm talking about. The tarp off interview.

Oh, I don't know if he did it as a tribute to Esposito or what, but that is a, I, I would like to think I hopefully down the road has been Brian Reeves does it all the time. I love it. I think it's so cool. And I love the fact that Thornton did it.

And Espo had a similar type body to Joe Thornton. Neither gave a fuck. And they were out there with their shirts off every single interview. I loved it. Just loved it. Ryan Malone. One of Ryan Malone's lines he would always say

is love the game and it'll love you back. And that was Joe Thornton. You could tell he loved the game. He loves the game so much that he'll always give back to the game. Macklin Celebrini's living with him. He's probably like Boudreaux said, that's all I had. That's all

I knew. That's all I ever wanted in my life was to be a part of the game. My last thing was, I was on Anaheim when him and Getzlaff fought. They won the President's Trophy. We won in six games. I think it was game five back. No, it was maybe game three.

I think we won the first two games in San Jose. We come back, and off the opening draw, he just looked at Getzoff. He's like, we're going. And it's like it was two heavyweights. That was the best hockey, in my mind, Getzoff ever played. He had 91 points that year. He had 18 points in the 14 playoff games

we played and we lost to Detroit in game seven he was dominant and and Thornton realized like we got to get back in this series amazing tilt from two superstars yeah just it's an incredible career so like I I biz is right go check it out if you can uh online the entire ceremony oh another thing too I forgot to mention um to get to know a little bit more about joe and his family jason demers who's been doing a lot of media since retiring he went to uh to his hometown and got to hang out with joe's father um talked to his wife and how they met when he was playing overseas i think it was during the lockout right that's where he initially met her and uh yes that's why we always

thought he was going to go back to switzerland at the end of his career yeah and interviewed his his two beautiful kids so uh it's a really cool thing that jason demers and the san jose sharks did so go check that out as well and and give give jumbo joe his flowers guys he deserves it and like i said one of the the best ever ambassadors of our game. There is one, I'm not sure where you guys are on this, but I'm fascinated with the alternative universe of the NHL, like trades that never happened and how it would have affected the NHL. So think about this one. We talked about this on our call.

So Mike Keenan told me this one. So before Thornton went to San Jose for that package, there was a deal on the table. Joe Thornton to Florida for Roberto Luongo, one for one. Mike Keenan, who was the Florida Panthers at that point, told me the story that Florida pulled out of it because the owner, Alan Cohen, I believe would have been wanting to sell at that point. He didn't want to take any money back. Think of the cascading effect around the entire NHL. If that happens, then Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo,

or your two goaltenders in Boston, Joe Thornton is playing up the gut with only Yoko and in Florida is maybe no two caras to Boston trade because of that one. Like again, and then a bunch of other things that I'm probably missing as well. But that was on the table in Florida were the ones that, according to Mike Keenan, pulled out of it at the last minute. When I was at BU, we partied at this place on Boylston called Dad's Diner. And we'd go down in the basement.

I remember we used to give the bartender 20 bucks and then it was all you could drink. Best college setup ever. It was unbelievable. the basement. I remember he used to give the bartender 20 bucks and then it was all he could drink. Best set up, best college set up ever. It was unbelievable. But Thornton would be up at the first level, the street level and he'd be buying all of us drinks. He was like a rock star in there. Everyone's looking at him and he's that guy. Also like

Ryan Malone, he was always smiling. He had the biggest smile. Like who is that guy? Even if you didn't know hockey. So congrats on everything. Joe Thornton will be in the Hall of Fame very soon. Moving on. The four nations. We've brought it up.

I've brought it up a couple times in this show. We talked about Sweden and Finland with Tuukka Rask and Matt Murley. And we got a bunch of insight into those two teams. And now we're kind of on to Team USA and Team Canada. I think December 4th, the roster's announced i saw it's cool biz i believe usa and canada be announced on on tnt one of the nights you're working um so that'll be pretty cool to see jeff yeah what are your thoughts uh maybe maybe a worry for both teams maybe just your overall thought on on this tournament and how these two teams will go against

each other uh wait jeff quickly what did you make of two teams asking to expand the roster do you think that had anything to do with maybe a prior decision of announcing their original six members prob i would i would imagine so i would think so i mean i'm not i'm not surprised that they would have asked at all. Like, when you think about, like, there's a number of wild cards here now, right, for both sides, and a couple of biggies for the United States. We don't know when JT Miller's

coming back. We don't know Tage Thompson's health. What about Austin Matthews? So, we're wondering about Matthews this week against Florida or maybe probably a better day is probably Saturday against Tampa Bay. But again, like every year there are teams that hold their breath

at tournaments like this, whether it's the Olympics or this tournament, because we all remember, you know, Dominic Haschuk and his angel hair pasta groin getting injured at the Olympics. And all of a sudden, Ottawa is not going to win the Stanley Cup that we all thought John Tavares with the Islanders getting injured as well that year like it's happened before and I think it's ridiculous of us to think that it won't happen again like teams are going to hold their breath here and if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs how are you feeling about Austin Matthews going to this thing i don't think it's a bad thing i actually think given the time off he's had now lingering back issue not ideal the fact that he's

flying over to germany to get i don't know what he's getting done over there i'd have to get in touch with judd i usually don't dig on these types of things um i think that if he is fully healthy and they took the precaution to keep him out longer to get it a hundred percent, I kind of want them to get revved up a little bit before playoffs. And let's keep in mind here. It's a five game tournament. If you go to the finals,

right? Like, it's not like it's like, we're not talking a grind here. So what's the most important position then? You keep saying goaltending. Who's got the hot goalie. Who's got the hot goalie who's got the hot goalie like do you not think that's what this thing is going to come down to who's got the hot goalie

look at i i know that maybe i still have the fumes of 1998 watching hostick stone everybody on canada in the shootout but like again like you have the hot goalie in a tournament like this hellebuck gets hot sorry it's over as an Oilers fan, and I'm talking Team Canada, are you looking at Hyman's slow start and thinking, I don't know about him on this team, or is it more like, hey, McDavid likes playing with this? I look at pairs. And not just defense pairs.

I look at pairs up front, too. Don't you? Isn't this kind of like the way the, the way that sort of Canada has been constructing teams too. Like you're, you're looking at pairs and you're looking at how, how guys will like McDavid and Hyman is an obvious, is an obvious one. Like,

look like, you know, Nathan McKinnon and Mitch Marner skating together. Right. Like I think that the hot, the, the slow start from Zach Hyman I

guess could be could be concerning but in a tournament like this where I don't think you're going to have an NHL style roster construction like I may be wrong on this and maybe we'll see Adam

Lowry and Tom Wilson on this team and they'll want like a traditional this is how we build NHL teams and this is where we're going to send to the four nations but i think you want some players like zach hyman that aren't shy about getting abused just like i look at back ends too like i see some of the i see some of the lists specifically from canada and i say to myself you got five guys that can

run power play one but they may just leave out there for the two minutes you need some different identities back there you need some defensemen that can do some different things that's why Biz kind of scoffed when I mentioned Dobson on the team right like you're almost like I just I don't like Dobson at all

I would take Colton Perenco ahead of a guy like Noah Dobson someone mentioned that name to me last night. He's played great so far this year. I watched him from front row in the garden, right sitting on the glass. He looked phenomenal. He is so big and such a good skater for his size.

I actually was like, this guy, is he on Team Canada? There's just so many decisions to be made. I think that we can all agree the top two pairs are going to be shea theodore petrangelo and then kale mccarr and and taves continue to have those pairs as you mentioned and then it probably goes into the morrissey parenko uh mackenzie weger torts has been pushing sanheim but i don't think he's getting it who are the other two three names would you throw would you you throw Mackenzie Weeger into that conversation? I think he's had an incredible, yeah, and I think that he would fit in.

I think he would fit in good from like a leadership perspective, really know and understand his role. Yeah, I have no issue with Weeger too. I would say Perenco, Morrissey, and Weeger, and then maybe one or two other names is consideration for those last couple spots. Who else? Who are the other few names that you would have on D?

There's a couple of teams. I wonder about Evan Bouchard. No. Absolutely not. Hang on a second here. Hang on a second here. The way he's played this year, I don't know. I know he hasn't had the best of all possible games. Listen, I watched the Ottawa game too.

I watched what happened in that Ottawa Senators game with Evan Bouchard. But I don't know. I just wonder if you're looking for a major shooting threat from the point, if there's room for Evan Bouchard here. I agree with you with the McCarty take where put him out there for a minute and a half. Let him cook with with McKinnon

and yeah, and obviously McDavid. I wouldn't be shocked especially with Marner. I mean, he's probably a shoe in like you go for forwards 1D. I don't think that you're making a roster spot for a guy who defends that poorly. I'm not saying he's a bad defenseman.'t think that you're making a roster spot for a guy who defends that

poorly i'm not saying he's a bad defenseman i think that this year has has shown me a lot about why i wouldn't want him on that roster can he turn it around sure but he can't he's not fast enough he doesn't have those quick twitch muscles when you're going against the world's best where these guys are going to be buzzing around no thank thank you. Do you have Mark Scheifele on Team Canada? I would take Lowry ahead of Scheifele. And no disrespect.

Yeah, I know what you're saying. If you're making that traditional NHL, don't forget, Canada changed after Italy, after the Turin Games, Canada changed the way they construct teams internationally, where it used to be build an NHL style team. And then it changed into the motto skill adapts and just get the best possible players and assume that they're all going to adapt to their new positions and put their ego aside. Like to me, Lowry is is fast I'll take Lowry

on my everyone would take Lowry on their team any any day of the week I just don't know about a short tournament like this so who are your who are your surprise guys for up front like who are some names that you maybe people would be surprised who you pick I don't know surprise who I would pick um as much as who I who I might want to think about leaving off, and I'm thinking about Conor Bedard. Oh, you're saying he would not? No, I don't think that he would be on a lot of people's roster right now.

No disrespect to him. I just don't think he's deserved it with his play so far this year. And if you're looking about passing the torch on, I think that you would just wait to see how the rest of this year goes and then maybe next year and then consider him as like an extra for the Olympic roster

once he gets to 2026. Is Lafreniere definitely on Canada? I go back and forth on Lafreniere. I know I never say his name right, but I No, you know what, trust me there's a million different ways to pronounce the name. Canada's got some hard decisions.

As does the U.S. I'm more thinking U.S. I haven't seen many U.S. forward lineups with Brock Nelson in it. I think he's going to be on that team. You see Clayton Keller on some. You see Cole Caulfield on some. I don't know. I look at a guy that could skate like that.

You talk about a short tournament that can play defensive hockey that can also score. There's going to be surprises. Do you have Jason Robertson on Team USA? Yeah, I do. Hasn't had exactly the best start. I know, but, skill there the skill there and how good how good dallas is dallas has been money well i was just gonna say one thing that scares me about

robertson is when you get hints away from him like whether he's injured uh and not playing with that he just yeah but sometimes especially come playoff time he's not he's going to have with him. Especially come playoff time, he's not that guy. One player, quickly cycle back to Canada quickly. One guy that I am wondering about too is Wyatt Johnson. And is Wyatt Johnson on this team? I think that I would rather have him on the team than Bedard.

Than Bedard. I don't know how you put Bedard on this team right now. Maybe it's like, hey, he's so skilled he has absolutely no one to play with. His passing has been money this year, like even better than last year, maybe it's like, Hey, he's so skilled. He has absolutely no one to play with. His passing has been money this year, like even better than last year.

So it's like, Hey, his skill is that good, but you got it. You got to, you got to earn it a little bit more. No. Canada has always wanted to bring aboard someone for the next time.

True. That's true. Look. And, and, and this is as amazing as this term, it's going to be. And I think even though maybe right now you're not hearing a lot about it, as amazing as this tournament's going to be and i think

even though maybe right now you're not hearing a lot about it i think when this tournament gets going it's going to be phenomenal i think everyone all hockey fans are going to be into it but it is all about this is just this is an appetizer to the teams too for next year in italy jeff just to go back to your bedard comment the reason i would be excited about it is if he actually does get in the lineup i would be interested to see what he could do with players like him around him playing against the world's but i would be very intrigued by that storyline that's a fair point because he's probably so frustrated on who he's had to play with to start his career in chicago no disrespect to his line mates but i think at a certain point you got to put someone with the

same type of skill set and skill level as him and I think that he would get that there and maybe a lot of us would be surprised at maybe the the jolt that would give him and actually how much he can keep up playing with people who are on the same level neurologically from a hockey sense so who knows I think that's a fair point I think that's a fair point i really will we'll have a lot more to talk about when the rosters do come out guys we need to talk about draft kings we have to talk about draft kings and as the 24 25 nhl season still has a little bit of that new car smell on it the action is heating up at draft king sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the nh. From a spinorama in the slot to a glass rattling check into the boards, five on five or four on four, the NHL is the fastest game on the earth.

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Bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash ice. We're going to kind of move on to some quick hit storylines around the NHL right now. And I think Elliot's tweet this morning was surprising to a ton of Rangers fans. He says right here, he says that in the aftermath of their 6-2 loss in

Edmonton on Saturday, where they also got warped by Calgary two nights prior, the night before, the Rangers have... I added that in. That wasn't in the tweet. The Rangers have made it very clear that they are interested in making moves and shaking up their roster. Among the names indicated are Chris Kreider and Jacob Truba, although other options will be considered. And Truba, it was out there this summer that Chris Drury was possibly looking to trade him. He axed that. He had the right to do that with his no trade. Kreider's a shocking one.

He's on a 40-goal pace right about right now. He has no assists, which, I mean, he's on he's on a 40 goal pace right about right now he has no assist which i mean he's not paid to get assist but maybe more about like he's been there that long and and this team hasn't been able to get over the hump and something's off right now shisterkin has made them look so much better and and given them so many more points in the standings than they deserve this year their fans are really complaining that when they play good teams they're they don't look good and they're kind of feeding on these bottom-level teams. I don't know what happens in New York,

but I do think that Rangers fans are in agreement that something has to change there. These are hard deals to make, right? Mid-season, too. And mid-season, and he's on the $6.5 million AAV, Kreider that is specifically. These are really incredibly tough deals to make.

I always wonder about teams that, teams that don't mind that it's out there, that they're talking about players and whether that is, I mean, listen, we saw whatry trotz said earlier on this year like oh i made up their any mandated statements but about like we have to start the rebuild if things don't turn around and everyone kind of went like what what are you talking about you just you know you just brought in all these expensive hockey players at seemingly every single position

now we're talking about rebuild here i just wonder if this is an example of the Rangers starting to entertain conversations about these players in order to give the dressing room a jolt because these are really hard deals to make in season, guys. These are really, really difficult deals to make.

And again, show me the, I mean, will there be an appetite for either of these two players around the NHL? Yeah, absolutely. Now make the fit because until the salary cap expands, who's got the room to do it? Until I see what would come back, it's like I can't even give an opinion because, yeah, all of a sudden you see the deal go down.

You're like, oh, okay, this is going to switch things up. But if it was, you don't know. The thing, like, Rangers aren't throwing in the towel. No, that's my point. You would be a players have to come back this isn't like oh we got to get rid of this contract and the cap space etc and they know like this is like and we want we want we want players back for the for these guys well we'll see what happens in new york um they are still sitting in a nice spot so we'll see what see where they end up and if they do make a big move. There was an awesome story out of Minnesota. Minnesota native Travis Boyd, he had to get out of the car, guys.

He's trying to make his – play in his first game as a member of the Minnesota Wild, and they're in a snowstorm. He's with team services manager Dom Hennig. They had to jump out of the car. And the video that I watched, it was hilarious. There's fans videoing a guy carrying a stick, a player carrying a bag, walking in the middle of the traffic in a snowstorm. I'm like, what is this guy doing?

Is that guy on the wild? Travis Boyd said, Dom was carrying my sticks for me. I was running through the snowy stuff in a suit and dress shoes on with a bag on my back. It's funny looking back on now that it's childhood dream stuff but a classic video seeing him do that he looked like a he looked like a men's league player that was late you listen you guys played in the nhl and like you guys knew at a certain point of your career like you were going to play in the nhl how many

times have you had this is what my my first what i first thought about this when I read it. How many times have you had the dream you're about to go play your first NHL game and in your dream you just can't get to the rink? Mine was can't get the shin pad on. My skate lace keeps breaking. And they're going out to the ice and you're like, wait, wait.

Yeah, this is that nightmare for hockey players. I know. Everyone's had that, right? I think Utah. Yeah. Like, this is that nightmare for hockey players. I know. I know. Like, everyone's had that, right? I think Utah. I can't wait. Utah. Utah was in T.O.

Utah had to walk. Traffic in Toronto is awful. Like, Toronto traffic is turning into Montreal. It's bad. Toronto, you can't get anywhere. So Utah had to walk to the game. So funny way to see NHL players arriving, not in style, but on time at least, to an NHL game. Jeff, I believe you might have some breaking news.

I don't know what this pertains to. So I just want to get it out there because it seems to be trending this season. And Terry Ryan, or Senior, if you're listening, it sounds very much like we're heading in the direction of Newfoundland getting a junior hockey team. So not there yet. And I always have to be careful when I talk about stories like this, because until it's capital D done, it's not done. But, you know, Acadie Bathurst is and has been for sale for a long time now. And I reported about a month and a half ago that there was a Newfoundland-based group that was interested in buying the team

and taking them to the Rock. And there's all kinds of stuff online over the weekend about how the deal is done. There's going to be an announcement this week and I checked into it and the people that I talked to essentially said, like, look, it's not 100% done. I don't think the Q has had their governor's meeting.

That's scheduled for, I believe, early in December. So until that happens, unless it's, you know, happened secretly and no one knows about it, then it's not officially done yet. and is trending towards a junior team. They used to have the Devils there, a junior team returning to St. John's. First of all, I've talked to some people. It's hard though with the travel and the cost. Okay. That seems to be what keeps hosing them for keeping a team. I'm glad you brought that up.

So you're right, 100% right. One of the issues is how does the travel get subsidized? Now, when the growlers were playing and man, like Newfoundland took it hard when they, when they left, obviously, um, what they would do, I believe is they would pay for the flights in and then any other extra days a team had to spend in St. John's. Like in case of a snowstorm? Right. And that was paid by the growlers. I think in this situation, what people are wondering about, knowing how hockey is so crucial to the province, and specifically that city. And maybe the feeling

that, you know, the AHL is not coming back. The ECHL is not coming back. Maybe we messed up with junior hockey the first time around and we gave it to the wrong group. Is there a couple of different groups bidding for it? Maybe this is our last chance at big time hockey, at elite hockey, at any level. I do wonder if there is an element of, and again, this is just me speculating, guys. I do wonder if there's an element of provincial, like government, essentially government subsidy to help offset the costs of getting hockey players

and getting teams to essentially an island that's in the ocean to play hockey. What a time for them to do it because you've already heard about with all this breaking news and CHL players being allowed to go play college and guys leaving the BCHL. I was on Brian Yandel's podcast.

He told me there was a prep at South Kent. There was a prep player that went to the Quebec League. Guys are taking off. There's going to be more OHL teams. There's going to be more OHL teams. There's going to be more Quebec League teams. I've heard rumors about a Quebec League team hopefully being in Massachusetts because now you're going to see top-end players

at 16, 17 go play in the CHL and then go to college. Jeff, I don't know if you've heard anything with possible alliances between major junior teams and colleges. Where does this go? In fact, nobody knows is what's crazy. And quickly, Jeff, do you think that they would alter

the amount of games being played in junior? Because it's kind of weird that you go from playing 68 game or... Yeah, I know. I think some junior leagues might go 72 or... They're in that range, right? Not quite what the NHL is playing, but definitely more than college. And then all of a sudden you go off and then it's less games. Like, is that kind of an odd transition?

Yeah, it is. And I don't think any of us know what this is ultimately going to look like, but I have not heard. And again, not saying that it can't happen. I just haven't heard it, Paul, like that there would, that they would massage their schedule through all this. They might, but I just, I just haven't heard it, but I want to, I want to take this and you're going to think that I'm like super geek of all time,

but to Newfoundland quick, and then I want to get to the other stuff. As far as this lining up to be the perfect time for Newfoundland to get a junior hockey team. So they own the first round picks of Valdor and I think it's Gatineau, who, as I checked on the weekend, are, now there is a lottery, but still, they're the last and second last place teams in the queue. And two of the top prospects, one guy by the name of Benjamin Veach,

who plays at St. Andrews college and YSE. And another guy whose name is Quinn Norman, who plays with the Vaughn Kings and the GTHL are two of the top prospects who also happened to hail from Newfoundland. No shit. Newfoundland. They may have picks number one and two in the draft

and may have the opportunity to draft two Newfoundlanders. Fuck, I'll put some money in. That's the OHL? Newfoundland's the OHL, though? No, no, no, no, no. But they play in Ontario. They play in Ontario because they're essentially allowed to. They play in Ontario.

Dave Manning would have... Dave Manning would have recruited Benjamin Veach. I'm sorry. Yeah, because that's where they're from. So they're Quebec. Right, I see. So they had the chance

to draft one and two and could take two Newfoundland kids. Now, as someone told me on the weekend, watch what Akadi Bathurst does at QMJH All Trade Deadline and see if they start loading up on Newfoundland players, Newfoundland-born players that are in the Quebec League. Now, to the other points, it's a wild time out there right now between the CHL and NCAA. And you're hearing a lot of rumors to the point, you know, what you made the point about alliances.

to the point, you know, what you made the point about alliances. I think the teams are, I think, I think the colleges are already starting that, that are already starting the conversations about making alliances, whether it's with, um, uh, Canadian major junior teams, um, maybe with various agencies as well to try to start to create as quickly as they can pipelines of talent from major junior hockey into their college programs i don't think anyone is sleeping on this one i think teams i think colleges rather want to be as active as possible and make sure that they don't get left behind and that they have their pipelines open and their and then their talent profiles open open for players to join. One of the things that a lot of people are wondering about here is, as much as the CHL is, like in the short term,

they're getting a lot of players from the USHL and BCHL, and they're talking about, to your point, expanding, the Q's going to have more teams, the OHL will have more teams in the next couple of years. I reported about a couple of teams in the USHL that it inquired about joining the OHL Muskegon and Youngstown that is still a conversation that exists in the OHL I think the Western Hockey League will

probably expand to but one of the things that's sort of dicey conversation right now is do kids leave early to join division one. And I think a lot of people are wondering about Gavin McKenna will probably be the first overall draft pick next season is the Madison hat Tigers. You guys know this kid is an absolute star. 2026 draft though. Correct. Does he leave early

to join college high? I think it all evens out in the wash in a sense of what you're saying is like, well, would a team want to pick him first overall knowing they're only getting two years from him, right? That takes us to a

really interesting place. I wonder, and a lot of us do then too, if kids are going to leave early. Right now, the Western League has a 15-year-old draft. The Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec League don't. Which is stupid, by the way. That's stupid that they haven't changed that. But hang on.

Don't be surprised if you start to hear more conversation about the Ontario League and the Quebec League. That's crazy to me. Okay, so wait. So that's different. I think that if you are doing that and you are concerned about these kids leaving early, then why wouldn't they just back it up

where you made the OHL, you don't do overages anymore, and then you bump it back a year prior to where you're playing 15, 16, 17, and 18 as opposed to the other way. Like you have to look at it for like a prior development to then a handoff to college potentially and or you play three years a junior and then you go play in the NHL.

Right. And as one agent told me, what's going to happen to the CHL? Is it going to become, and here's the quote, is it going to become a super midget league? Like, does the CHL become a young, no,

right. But the thing is, does it become a younger league? I, but I also still think it becomes a better league because think about all the players that, that were waiting out and holding out to go to college. That will now be available for that league.

It'll be a strong, it'll be a stronger league. And then stronger league, and it'll develop them better to move on to college, which will make it even better in college. It could ruin the, not ruin the Memorial Cup, but it'll just be so different. Yeah, it'll be more young. And it'll also be, you got to think that like a talk, I hope the National Team Development Program

has something figured out or set up, because that's been going so well. But I would see all top US kids at 16 years old going to one of the three junior leagues. And for two years and then going as a freshman. It's what the USHL fears. I think it's what North America. Guys, it's what's best for the development, I think, of North American hockey

and I think that this is gonna do that like everybody was all worried like people say like oh the USHL like guys like I'm not really that concerned about no offense of the UCCHL when we're talking about advancing the CHL opening up to all those unbelievable prospects who would have otherwise not went to hold out for college. Like, turn the USHL into like a, even maybe make that a little bit younger. I think for the times. I think for a lot of American kids, I think there'll still be an appetite for the USHL.

We'll see what ends up happening with that league. But as far as Canadian kids, Adam Fantilli, Macklin Celebrini, et cetera, going to the USHL to keep'll see what ends up happening with that league. But as far as Canadian kids, Adam Fantilli, Macklin Celebrini, etc., going to the USHL to keep their eligibility open for college, you can just go to the Western League and the Ontario League. That's done. And do that now. The team that I'm sorry, the team. I keep saying team.

The college I'm told to watch out for, and Grinelli will tell you this all day long. The college I'm told to watch for is Michigan. In what sense? Michigan is going to be super aggressive. They have so much money.

Recruiting high-end CHL players. They have so much money. I think they all will. I just think that Michigan is going to be super aggressive here. And another thing, too, is with the fact that you can hand these kids off at 18 years old, maybe as opposed to 19, 20, outside of junior, if they do back up that age

by making it like a 15-year-old draft, is the fact that these kids don't have to rush to go play pro, and even in the American Hockey League, where on their salary, they're making like 65, 70 grand. A lot of these kids could probably make the same amount from these fucking NIL deals now

and get an education. And maybe that even makes more jobs available for like veteran players in the AHL where those have been decimated. It's like a development league now where it's like, there's like, if you're 28 30 years old

playing in the ahl you're a fucking dinosaur now where it almost got too young how the hell are you going to develop pro players when all it's all as it is is 22 and 23 year olds playing together so i was having a conversation this morning with nick alberga on leaf's morning take and carter hutton was on as well and we were talking about Easton Cowan, who plays for the London Knights. And like, you can tell, like Easton Cowan is at a point in his OHL career, the first round draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

If he was eligible to go play in the American League, that's probably where he should be right now. But now that there is, like if this all happened last year, Easton Cowan would be playing division one somewhere for that next step up, play with older kids and, and,

and play in, in, in, in that, at that level of competition, that's going to replace the conversation about like, remember the Taylor hall conversation? Oh,

you know what? He's outlived Windsor, but he's, is he really ready for the NHL? Should he be in the American league? We've seen this with a lot of players all along. Now there is that option. No doubt.

Now you have Division I for that player to develop through so you don't have to make that. Well, you know what? Eh, send him back to junior and cross your fingers and hope that he's going to be okay next year. I think 15 to 18 and then 19 is your overage year from a junior hockey perspective. And then college with allowing now the CHL players to not burn their eligibility.

I think this is going to excel the game in North America. I think it's unbelievable and they need to be more proactive about it than not. And all work together. The one thing you'll see as well, there have been a lot of European players that want to go the college route that have gone to play in the USHL, for example. I think what this will do is now there'll be more of an influx of European players

into the three CHL leagues. I'm very, I should say, I'm not jealous of kids who are 15, 16 right now, though, because this is like, it's just a tornado. And to figure out where exactly to go. And yeah, we don't know. Right. Right now, you're like, oh, yeah, I can go to the OHL.

I'm going to go. But there's just so much happening is so much unknown. I'm not jealous of kids who are having to make these big decisions for their own career at this point in time with so many unknowns. But hey, Chick chicklets fans we're gonna take a quick break for a message from one of our partners all right now back to the show jeff it's been unreal having you on um thank you so much for bruce budro again kind of before we wrap up i do want to promote uh chicklets you uh michigan wednesday at noon grinelli did a phenomenal job we're talking a lot about the wolver, so check that out at noon. The YouTube,

subscribe right now, please. Go subscribe to our YouTube if you're watching on that. If not, go ahead on over there. I want to promote the tickets to our live show, BarstoolSports.com slash events. That's in Chicago, right around the Winter Classic. Hopefully announcing some big guests soon. Kind of a

sad way to end the show, but we want to pay our respects and talk about how the league and players are mourning the passing of referee Mike Hasenfratz. He officiated over 700 NHL games from 2000 to 2013-14. Passed away. Our thoughts are with his family and his friends and the many colleagues and refs that he worked alongside throughout his career in hockey. So heartbreaking news. I remember him reffing a bunch of games I played in, and it's just tough to hear that news of a guy passing at a young age.

So tough way to end the show, but this was a great time. Jeff, we can't thank you enough, man. And for everyone, this guy, hockey encyclopedia,

this guy, and he has a new show, Jeff, the sheet, the sheet starting up very soon. Yeah. Hockey Encyclopedia, this guy. And he has a new show, Jeff. The Sheet. The Sheet starting up very soon. Yeah, December 2nd on our daily face-off YouTube channel, 3 o'clock Eastern, Monday to Friday,

and then available wherever you get your podcasts. Guys, you've always been so supportive of me personally. My career, you'll like this one. This past weekend, I had a conversation with one of my sons who brought up something that you reminded me to remind my kids of so many years ago as my youngest son turned to me and said, don't write, Dad. Today I'm giving out bad information when I'm on this. Bad information.

That the best players do. I always think about you. Thanks, pal. And biz, you're the best, man. And biz, you're an animal. You're an animal, biz. I'm sorry that happened to you, buddy, but you are a savage. biz, you're the best, man. And biz, Jeff. Heal up, biz. Heal up, buddy. You're an animal. You're an animal, biz. I love you, boys. I'm sorry that happened to you, buddy, but you are a savage, so glad you're okay.

No worries. You guys brightened up my day, and Jeff, it was great talking shop with you. We're obviously going to have you on again. Your new show, congratulations. Thanks, man. Another cool element is on every Friday, you're going to have somebody tell their favorite hockey story, which I thought was a great idea.

And I know we talk a lot about hockey and we kind of get into the weeds about, you know, how things should be constructed and lines and center ice, but the stories is what truly makes this game great. And I'm happy that you're back in the mix and you're going to be sharing a lot of those, my friend. You know what the best hockey story is? I'll end on this one.

This is a short story story but it's it's been around hockey for a long time and maybe you've heard other people mention this um once upon a time a little boy went up to his mom and said mom when i grow up i want to be a hockey player his mom smiled at her child and said son that's, but you can't do both. Hey, extended adolescence is what I call it, Jeff. Amen, brother. It hurts and helps you. We're always kids when we play or talk about hockey, boys. It might be the concussion, but it took me a minute to get that one,

but I got it. It did register. I feel bad, but it wasn't the concussion. It wasn't. We love you all. Thanks for listening. Everyone have a great week. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Thank you. I'll see you next time.