Spittin Chiclets - Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 539: Featuring Anze Kopitar and Eric Engels

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

On Episode 539 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by LA Kings legend Anze Kopitar to talk about playing in the World Cup of hockey, how his father prepped him for an intense style of hockey, and of course his cup runs. But first, as the World Juniors finished with USA coming out on top, what’s next for Canada hockey? The Eastern and Western Conference Wild card spots are in the air and the boys dive into several teams looking to punch their ticket into playoffs. Eric Engels, Sr. Sportsnet Columnist, joins the show to talk about the Montreal Canadiens in depth, what their keys to improving are, and just how good Lane Hutson actually is. This is an episode you won’t want to miss. 00:00:00 - START 00:00:25 - World Juniors 00:39:26 - Eastern Wild Card 00:49:02 - Eric Engels Interview 01:21:09 - Around the League 01:32:02 - Anze Kopitar Interview 02:19:30 - Western Wild Card 02:32:47 - Quick Hits 02:46:02 - ETC. Support the Show: PINK WHITNEY: Take Your Shot with Pink Whitney GAMETIME: Download the Gametime app today and use code CHICLETS to easily score great deals with Gametime Picks! TMRW SPORTS: Learn More at https://tglgolf.com RHOBACK: Use code CHICLETS on https://rhoback.com for a generous 20% off your first purchase through the end of this week DRAFTKINGS: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app 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. $200 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets that expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: dkng.co/dk-offer-terms. Ends 2/9/25 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK. BURTIE BATTLING CANCER ‘GO FUND ME’ - https://www.gofundme.com/f/burties-battle-bank-dig-deepYou 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 basketball sports. Our white whale, Sidney Crosby! Shave his head! Shave his head! Shave his head! Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, R.A., Mike Grinelli, Spittin' Chicklets! What is up, folks? Welcome back.

Episode 539 of Spittin' Chicklets. The boys are back. Quick little break for us this week, right? We record a little later after the winter classic. Now we're back at you. I went skiing this weekend. My favorite part about skiing is actually every time, and no joke here, fellas, people say,

Whit, Whit, I do wear a giant USA jacket. We'll get into that, World Junior, shout out Team USA. So maybe they noticed this enormous, giant, out of shape man with a USA jacket on. They say, hey, that's Whit. Also, I think I have a spitt spit and check this logo on my helmet. I could do it also. But Pink Whitney has shown to me they rip it out and they get wet

and they just show the pink wit. And that's why we're here, guys. Pink Whitney. They don't have the one point seven five liter bottle. Big old daddy, because right, you can't ski with that thing. It's too big. It's too fun. It's too heavy. But they show me the nips. So whether you like the big bottle, whether you like the nips, head on down to your local bar, order shot of pink Whitney,

or go down to liquor store, grab a birdie bucket. Boys, what is going on? Where do you put them in your jacket? And do you hand them out? No, I did that one year and then I started drinking them too, too often. So I was like, Oh, I can't do that anymore. But three Americans verse one dumb Canadian and we're the champs and you lost but first Keith how you doing? What's going on buddy? I'm great obviously flying a little high after that big big W for the team USA last night. I didn't look good in the first period when I was a little... Finland owned them at the beginning. Finland are a bunch of

dogs. Yeah, they're fighting off the hangover. As, as Barkov says it, a bunch of Finnish guys that play like Massachusetts guys. Um, but yeah, it was tough first period. I was a little worried. And then, you know what? The boys just came on a humming and the big boys showed up when they needed to. Um, didn't, didn't love, uh, Leonard's game all game, but they also drew the short end of the stick by playing the late game the night before and then have to play the night.

So I understand a little tired, but you know what, he showed up, he had his face in the fight all night. Absolutely loved that team. They just, you could just tell that there was no quit in them, right, Biz? Like there's no quit. Like you see the Canadian team, you could just tell that there was no quit in them. Right. Biz, like there's no quit. Like you see the Canadian team, you lose one, you just see the quit a little

bit in their game. You did not see it down here, assault of the border where you live. Back to back ships. You guys went back to back goals with Carl, who is now he won two goals at the world junior and a national title with Denver. So just a crazy rip. You got to imagine an NHL coach can offer, or NHL team, excuse me, is gonna offer him the bag.

We got a lot of problems north of the border, guys. I mean, our fucking- You got no prime minister. Our prime minister resigned after that loss to Latvia, then the checks in the quarterfinals. Now, back to back years, Canada's lost in the quarterfinals. All I could say about when I was like really dialed into World Juniors and like

When I was like potentially eligible and even for a few of the years following like the year when it Crosby in the Bergerons They were never losing to the Czech Republic Like are you out of your fucking mind in the quarterfinals? What? in the quarters in the quarter finals? What? In the quarters, in the quarters, Canadians were never ever not into the metal round. Could you ever have imagined back when we were playing Crosby's team, losing to Latvia on home ice,

that game would have been 11 fucking nothing. So I I've heard as many issues as to people being very upset about the accountability of Cameron and the staff, about the team he assembled. I know this might come off as like contradictory. We were talking last week about like maybe trying to skill it up too much, but this kind of came down to the lack of discipline and the fact that they left a lot of skilled players off of the roster. Now, I don't know how much people wanna nitpick that.

Then you see Don Cherry chiming in on Twitter saying, hey, don't go too hard on the boys, but he thinks that they should be having a coach in place the whole year, like the full year round for World Junior, which I don't disagree with that take. That way they could focus on that and just that, but hey man, tip your cap to the United States of America. BX has said it best on hockey night in Canada.

Every other nation's catching up. Like whether it's Latvia, whether it's Czech, whether it's anyone, they're having all these former players go back to where they're from, especially a lot of them settling in the United States of America. And all these youth programs are just getting better and better and better.

And given the amount of maybe politics or at least a little bit of it, some people, if you live in the GTA, might say there's a lot of it. I think it's taken a lot of the wind out of Canada's sails as far as developing players. Now, people will say Macklin Celebrini could have been there, Connor Bedard could have been there as far as eligibility. So the top-end talent

not so much but from a wider base I really think that Canada needs to look themselves in the mirror and think of new approaches about how they need to to approach the development of our sport. But the focus should be on the Americans back-to-back champs. Boys, congratulations. And you did it on Canadian soil. How does it feel? It felt amazing.

It felt like there's a bunch of things that you just said that I want to go into. The politics part of it kind of seems that it's gone completely out of control in Canada. It's always been a part of US. Keith, there was politics involved in you never making any of those teams. It used to be you'd play major junior and there was almost no chance of playing for Team USA. I'm sure there's still a little of that going on. There's actually a sick kid in the OHL, I wish I had his name right now, look it up,

that people say it's political, he's not on any of these teams. But Canada now, I said last episode, you have these incredibly skilled, high drafted players and you're not even giving these guys invites to the camps. It's just bizarre. In the point of Celebrini being able to play, he's eligible, that's true. That's no doubt. but Dard could be there But that's always been the case for Canada They've always every single year had like stud kids in the NHL at 18 19 that you're like This kid could have been playing world juniors and they dominated still so yeah, the access point was was dead on

The United States it was it was really a matter of time We have what is it, 10 times more people than you do? And as hockey grows, and you see these kids coming from all these different markets, where when Keith and I were growing up, I've said this, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York. I mean, that was kind of where you picked so much of the talent from. So it was a matter of time with the US, but what they've done and their model is so impressive. Also age groups change. This age group for the United States is a joke. Like Leonard, he's going to be in Washington's lineup, like probably playing on the third line, maybe the fourth line.

I love his approach about not jumping too quick. Not sure what the conversation was like with Washington, but playing this year, I mean, I'm seeing highlight clips of him at school, fucking scoring game winners and overtime winners like every other week. Dude, Matt Cater actually, I saw him after the draft, after we interviewed him, and I was like, or maybe it was after the first, it was after last year, I guess.

I'm like, is he gone? He's like, no, he wants to go back. He wants to win another World Junior gold, he, no. He wants to go back. He wants to win another World Junior gold. He did that. He wants to win a national title. They lost in the national title game last year. They're a wagon again. And what's the rush? And then you hop in and you play. It's genius to me. Now, I was saying this about celebrating. I get it. No reason to come back. Look at this guy. Future superstar if he's not already. But Leonard made a mature decision and this age group, like this Ziv Bouyam, I think we ranted and raved for 10 minutes about him after the national title game with Denver, BC.

This tournament, that game last night, him and Cole Hudson, they control the game. Like I haven't seen many young defensemen do. That Booiam is a horse. He's playing 30 minutes a night. He went 13th to Minnesota, still there. That's another kid. Okay, Perot. I mean, Gabe Perot, another kid who you thought would go higher. The Rangers got him.

Rangers fans got to be fired up. They've done this for four years now, under 17, under 18, World Junior, World Junior, and it's a very special age group. These two years, 2006s and sevens, I believe that are just dominant over the entire world. So the tournament was incredible. Keith, you said it best. They were never dead. It was three one.

I was, I was still confident. I don't know why I think just cause you've seen this team win the past two years, the way they do, it was so fun to see. And as a kid growing up, like I, I world junior is nothing like it is in Canada here in the States, you know that biz. But when I was 14, 15, you started learning about it was on ESPN2 at one time. And the US, like they never had a chance like you'd go there, they'd get into the quarters, they'd lose or they'd lose in the semis,

but rarely were they ever in the mix. And now growing up and playing USA hockey and like always dreaming of being one of the best teams, it's so surreal watching them dominate the entire world. And Four Nations is going to be different because you brought up the top talent and I'm, I'm, I'm ranting here, but so I apologize. No, this is good, man. You got say hockey deserves a tire pump.

It does. You're right. It does. David McKinnon, Crosby, McCarr. Yeah, top end talent. Canada has those guys. But man, with Matthews and the Kachucks and Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes, it's like we're right there. And it was a matter of time I said that. But it's just an incredible feeling like like seeing this now and seeing how good these younger kids are and seeing teams from Dallas come up and crush teams from Boston or teams from LA just compete nationally, top rankings. It's just awesome to see and so proud to have played for USA Hockey. And I think now it's expected. This is when the pressure mounts. This is when you'll see how they approach.

When you become a power, can you stay a power? But I think they will. Biz, I had a question for you, for Canada's sake. It just seems like the goaltending, the last seven years just hasn't been where it was. Like the last 20 years you had Brodor, Luongo, Yeah, there's not enough fucking going on in Quebec. Not enough fucking in Quebec where all the good goalies come from. I don't know, the fucking's down. The last 20 years you had Brodor, Luang, Patty Watt. Not enough fucking in Quebec where all the good goalies

come from, I don't know, the fucking's down. So they're not birthing as many kids there. And I don't know, that's where all the good goalies are coming from. That's why Trudeau left. No shit. Goaltending situation and the lack of fucking in Quebec. He said that, I saw it.

I heard it on the SCNN. They can't balance the books, they can't balance their pads. Like what the fuck is going on here? But I agree with you there was that that rain of like French Canadian goaltenders like the World Juniors They'd be shining and all of a sudden it's kind of went a little bit like oh like who's gonna be our guy and Since flower they haven't had a guy. I don't know I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that as BXA did say a lot of these guys who have now

gotten all the NHL training and spend many, many years playing over here have gone back over to their home nations. And now those kids are having the opportunity. Like, I mean, like this might be a small example, but Henrik Lundqvist goes back to Sweden every summer and like decks the goalies out with gear and does like a week or two camp with them.

Well that's going to probably spark interest over there and you're getting some of the best training with one of the best to ever do it. I think that that stuff matters and you're seeing it on a more micro and macro level so I don't have the answers as to why it's not working in Canada. I do think that it'll always go back to the fact that probably over the last 20 years, a lot of people have really been priced out in Canada.

So you might have a kid who's an unbelievable athlete, but the parents look at the price tag and they're like, I can't afford to put my kid in hockey. And then like, if I had to afford it, if I could afford it, I'd be working 80 hours a week and I wouldn't have time to drive them there. So it's just, it's kind of gotten a little wacky. And here's another thing, like this might be getting into the weeds too much. Like, Oh, uh, there, you saw even during like COVID and stuff or, or even after a little bit, like they're, they're shutting down all hockey games and pawn hockey games where it's like, what the fuck are we doing here? Like this is our, you're talking about this being our national sport. Well, people

would argue it's lacrosse, but I think we can all agree based on the amount of people that are viewing hockey night in Canada, that hockey is the national sport. The fact that like you should be able to play it at the foot on the Queen Queen Q and E W there in Toronto for fuck sakes if you want it to. But you think of like ball hockey pot outdoor ODRs pond. How many guys how many guys have we had on our podcast where that's where their career started. They're like oh I think it was it was Sean Pronger and who told the story about him and Chris like they would play with their neighbors And that's how they really got into it not saying they didn't play ice hockey But it means it was on their mind more and they were developing their skills talked to a lot of hockey players

They learned a lot about what they brought onto the ice from playing ball hockey in the street You might think I'm fucking crazy. You you might not understand situal awareness wit. Why are you smirking? Do you not agree? I agree. I think you'm fucking crazy. You might not understand situal awareness. Witt, why are you smirking? Do you not agree? I agree. I think you're making unreal points. Oh, first time for everything. I'm smirking because you're just crushing it. First time for everything.

You're crushing it. First time for everything. And if, go ahead. I was just going to quickly, Maya Culpa, to go back. I thought the call, the neying call, that put the checks on the power play in the last couple minutes was bullshit. Like I thought that was a brutal call I think that the the

officiating at these tournaments sometimes is the worst like you're talking about getting Axl Rose in your kids game they basically are doing the world juniors to gold medal game was sick though they okay one penalty on the US it was perfect it ain't like that the rest of the tournament though no no and those guys I heard in the broadcast are trying out or they're being on the US. It was great. It ain't like that the rest of the tournament though. No, no. It's a shit show. And those guys I heard in the broadcast are trying out or they're being judged and graded for the Olympics next year. I'm like, these fucking guys are going to be doing best on

best in Italy? I'm like, imagine the Nate dog just snapping on one of these guys after a horrible call. Also that's Sakura for Czech. I mean, like you thought he was dead and he was out there on the power play. That's my still my favorite thing about world juniors. It's like soccer, like diving and they do the replays over the replays where I, I don't have that much skin in the game. So I kind of think it's silly and it's funny to see. But, uh, yeah, but biz, um, well, at least none of them had a cell phone in their pants when they were skating around. Let me say one thing and I just want to know if you guys agree with this.

The, uh, I also fear in like the last like 20 years, maybe a little more parents have gotten a little bit more selfish with their own time. Like our parents went to work nine to five or whatever it was. And then it was all about the kids nowadays. I see it even too, with people like people will want to spend more time for themselves, whether it's, you know, go hanging out, going on a vacation, going out for dinners, as opposed to chasing your kid around the rink for, you know, 180 days a year.

So I don't know if that has something to do with it too. My dad used to drive us to gray Bruce like school night three and a half hours go play Drive back it gets goes to bed at like 1 32 in the morning up up at 536 o'clock to go work at the steel mill back in the mill my Camille B son that I love you buddy that he's the reason that I'm at where I'm at these fucking parents We used to have the 5 or six a.m. slot at the Welland, Maine, and we used to go, Mr. Tartuffe, he would drop off all the Joe Louis treats,

so he was up early anyway, so he would take us like an hour early so we'd have an hour free ice, and then my mom would come sometimes, and she'd read a book and sit in the stands, and then ended up driving us home. So just like the sacrifice, and like you said, with the private time of parents and maybe not being that invested,

it's wild that my parents did that. I remember all my parents did, like you guys just said, was drive my brothers and I, or me and my brothers everywhere. That was all my mom and I did. And my dad would drive like an hour and a half to work, work and then hour and a half to whatever rink I was at, he'd drive me home. And Keith, I agree. And I and a half to work, work, and then hour and a half to whatever rink I was at, he'd drive me home.

And Keith, I agree. And I'll say this, getting into it, you're like, wow, I am driving a lot. I'm going to the rinks a lot or going to baseball, whatever you're doing. And every single time I just like remember or think of like, but this is what you do as a parent. Like this is, this is what my parents did for me. And you're very, very happy and grateful you had the parents you did. And it makes you want to be like like them or even better than them if you can be.

So that's a good point with hockey and the sacrifice and all these sports that are specialized. And now it's just all year round, six days a week. It's bananas. You brought up the early skate biz that you had. I actually would love it if the kids I coach, they're probably a little too young, but maybe a little bit older, practice before school. I wonder what parents would think about that. It's 630, right?

Because you got to be done by 730 if you're getting to school. Depending on where you live. I think kids, when they do stuff in the morning, like skate before school, I'll do that with riders sometimes. It's they're like more awake. They're like ready to go. They're like, when they get to school, they're crushing it.

What's up, G? We would practice before school and high school for a few years. Did you not feel better at school? It was awesome. Everyone loved it. Cause you're bonding with the boys before practice. It's great. Reminds me of my 6 a.m.

workouts I got going on. Best line I ever heard. We used to have 5 30 a.m. practice when I was at Milton high and we were on the ice, whatever it's like, but we had to be up at five. There was say the practice was at six o'clock, seven halfway through practice, Boba Muse. Good, good Milton boy comes out to me. He goes, I just got my morning wood.

We'd been up for like three hours. We've been up for like three hours. Little delay. I want to bring that to youth hockey. Can I finish up a couple quick things on the World Juniors and then I have a bunch of questions for you guys that are a little off topic. Considering we were talking about like parent sacrifice and we kind of got into the weeds on the hockey Canada and what's going on and all the parents maybe not being that much invested. We got to bring up this story guys

It's been going around it was a I think in 2019 is when they dropped the piece originally and now I didn't know that surface. Yeah, that's when they originally dropped it but it's resurfaced is a One of the boys has now played his first NHL game with the Nashville Predators and did so in Vancouver It's Kim White and and her sons Ocean, Orca, Ozzy and Oasis Wiseblatt and I don't know how many of you have seen this video circulating around about a woman who's deaf and she speaks with sign and she has these kids and that was the first, wait I'll hand it over you, that was the first language they ever learned and she was able to

fund their entire careers growing up even moved to Calgary in order to sacrifice so they could play hockey at a higher level. And three of them ended up making the Western Hockey League and the first one ended up playing in his first National Hockey League game. So stick taps to Kim and just an incredible fucking story. It's unreal. And I think he's played two now because then he played in Calgary, his hometown. And they won both. And it's awesome. And I saw the video and I just was like, oh man, this is unreal. Watch the whole thing, retweeted it. And then people were like, yeah, that was five years ago. I'm like, oh, I had no idea. I'm like, Jesus, that's unbelievable. This kid hopped through the WHL two minutes in the show.

But just seeing, and you said she funded, I believe she had a ton of help. That was part of the video. Yeah. She wasn't going to be able to afford it. Well, earlier on, and then when they made the move, I think it got to be too much. Yeah, so G Wright here drafted 31st overall

by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2020 draft. Wise Blatt spent most of last season with the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL before being loaned to the Predators affiliate, Milwaukee. He produced a goal and five assists and six points in 16 games and the Preds called him up. And it's pretty cool that you see a story like that when you're talking about the expense

and how hard it is to play now and how ridiculously, people are outpriced, you can't play hockey. And this woman was able to do this while not even being able to speak. Like she's she's teaching her kids. I wonder how easy it is for kids to learn sign language as youngsters because they say it's so easy to learn a foreign language when you're little. If you're just talking it like when you're when you begin talking, boom, you got two languages. Murl's daughter, she speaks Swedish English to him nonstop. So maybe sign language. I wonder what it was like.

I mean, I think it might've said the piece, they picked it up sooner than a baby would be able to talk. What? Yeah. I want to say in that piece, it mentioned something of it. Yeah. Oh, I don't remember that.

Well, you know, babies do like those little sign languages, you know, like even in like a meet the Falkers with a baby's doing like the sign language. If they're hungry or need to go to the bathroom, I don't know what the signs are, but yeah, I would imagine that little kids pick up Cal just pointed at his bumper when he said he's like, he knows, clean up on aisle five, bitch. You ain't going golfing today. Motherfucker explosion. It's up my back. You ain't going golfing today, motherfucker. Explosion.

That backswing ain't gonna look that crispy. So just an unreal story. I don't know if you guys have seen that. Check that out. I figured I'd bring that up with. But I'll throw it over back to you about any other World Junior stuff. Okay, yeah. Two more things from me. Would love your guys' opinions.

I tweeted, is Cole Hudson better than Lane? People, Canadians fans are nuts. They're like, no chance. You're crazy to even think that. They're way different. And I think how quick Lane is and all that. He's just so nasty, beating guys one on one. It's his first step, his fast twitch. Cole's different, but I think this kid is going to be unreal. And the Caps have him and Leonard. And I think there's way more people. I think you're crazy if you can't even consider that this kid might in a different way be, be just as good, if not better than Lane.

I mean, it's a win-win for the Canadians and the, and the Capitals, but that kid was sick. I mean, he was so silky and for the Canadians and the Capitals, but that kid was sick. I mean, he was so silky. And people say you can't really judge, like you can't say, oh, a kid lights up World Juniors, he's gonna be an NHL superstar. It's a short tournament. But just seeing the way he plays

and just controlling the pace, and he had to puck on his stick the whole game, it felt like. So the cap's in a crazy spot there Keith Did you agree with what I'm saying about him? Yeah, I think he's one of those guys and like his brother too. They both dominate you you know when they're on the ice They're you know if you're playing against them you need to know where they are I haven't seen enough of both of them to say who could be better who's gonna be better, but

They're both amazing players, but they're both amazing players and they're both guys that when they're on the ice, you need to know where they are because they can take over a game. And I think Cole showed what he could do this tournament and I think that's all you can do when you're that age is dominate the level that you're at and he's doing it, right? And he's going to, it's like those kids nowadays, like he's going to get his opportunity to play in the NHL and to play, you know, power play minutes. And with John Carlson on the back nine of his career is he the guy that comes in

and, you know, he's, you know, feeding one timers on the, on the power play up top there. So I think that Washington's in a great spot, especially from what they've done this year with their coaching and developing young guys. But yeah, I think they're both going to be studs. And I think you're looking at the, you know, the next, you know, Hughes type brothers here soon. Um, was he the one that we watched at BU too? He was pretty dominant, wasn't it?

Yeah. Okay. So I went and watched it. Remember that hit? Yeah, that's kind of where you say maybe they're a little bit different where I felt like he was a little bit more of an maybe they're a little bit different where I felt like he was a little bit more of an aggressor, a little bit more of like a pit bull. Like where he took one hit, absorbed it good, but he was not shy of contact.

Let's just put it that way. Like he would in fact embrace it. Who were the other standouts in the tourney? It looked like that the defenseman for Detroit. I always draw a blank on his name. They always got the long ones with the high and Dean Pelica. He looked like unbelievable. I think he had a hat trick first game. Yeah, he got defenseman of the tournament and he was sick. He had a shootout goal against check in the bronze medal game. I saw it online.

It was filthy. I mean, yeah, Detroit's got him. We'll get into Detroit in a little bit, but he dominated. And then the Finnish goalie. What was the nickname he gave himself? Shit, G. Look that up quick. But it was like, he was standing on his head. I mean, he made these insane saves in overtime before they... That's Teddy Stigl. I think it was his first shot at the game. First shot at the tournament. It was of the tournament, I think it was his first shot of the game. First shot of the tournament. It was of the tournament? I think so.

I thought it was of the game, or I heard of the game. I thought it was the entire tournament. One shot in the tournament, and it's the gold medal winner. So oh my god. Yeah, Biz, we can't stop talking about him. Final question about World Juniors. David Karl, he's got NCAA title, year off, World Junior title, NCAA title, World Junior title.

Butchagross tweeted out, a team shut off from five years times four million, right? That's a nice offer. That's what a confident NHL coach is making now. Merle said it should be eight times five for him to even consider. There's like an argument. Do you stay in college and you know that you could coach their third years? I mean, how many national titles could he win?

This guy's an incredible coach. Or do you risk it or not really risk it? Do you get paid? What do you think he's making a Denver? I don't know somebody said like four hundred six to eight hundred It's a pretty sick living if you do it. No, it's great But it's also not like getting a bag 20 20 million if I was a buffalo if I was the Buffalo Sabres I would offer him five times five

And it's hard to say no to 25 million dollars You know you need back to college. A complete culture revamp. I would say that if I'm the Buffalo Sabres, I don't think that they're going to spend that type of money. But that to me is who needs it more than anyone, I think, right now. Anaheim. There's a part though that also would make me think he'd want to be in the NHL at some point because Keith and I were texting about this. He was an unreal player, a big prospect. Then he got to college and we talked about his story before and he had like a heart defect and he had to retire. And so to dream of, and his brother Matt was sick. He was filthy. I played World Juniors

with him actually. Hobie Baker winner stud. Defenseman? Who played for Tampa? Oh wow. Yeah, and San Jose. David Carl, he had dreams of the NHL and then to have this tragedy in your hockey life happen, to then get there as a coach, I would think that would be on his mind. G makes a good point here though in the the chat, like the way college sports is trending, I mean, how much he could end up making. He's going to have his own Nike deal.

They make a coaching suit instead of the Jordan suit, there's the Jordan shoe, there's the David Karl coach, like coaching outfit you can buy. I think that he ends up going at some point, though, in my opinion. Just to jump in quick to Carl makes $721,000 per year. It's public. Yeah. Oh no shit. Remember the Pete Carroll shoes?

Like the, the new, uh, was it new balance? The Will Comptons. We got to get the Carl's going. I think for him, it's like, I think you made a great point with like he, he never made it cause I was thinking Monte, Monte did play in the NHL though, in, in, you know, stuck around, but he's been gone from Denver for, I think seven years and he's lived in four cities since then. So like being an NHL coach is no joke.

Like you're going to get fired. It's a, it's only a matter of time. It's not, you know, the, the Pittsburgh Steelers where they've had three coaches their entire existence. So I think for him, like if he has a young family and loves it there, um, staying put wouldn't be the, wouldn't be the worst idea. I think for me, like you look at a guy like Jerry York, Jack Parker, those guys coached BCNBU for like 30 plus years, right, Whit?

Yeah. So it's like, you can make your money. It's just going to take a little longer, but I don't know, like, unless he really has like that dream of, you know, one day being in the NHL cause he couldn't make it as a player, which I'm sure he would have, um, you know, to coach in the NHL. I just, I just see like being a college coach, like what he's doing right now, especially nowadays, like the way you can recruit, get guys from Canada, everyone on the planet is going to want to play for him if you go through college. So I don't know if I was, if I was his wife, I bet I'll we're staying here, dude.

I know that it's a lifestyle happiness type thing. Agreed. The only thing I would say is, and I don't even know if they've announced who the coach for the Olympic team is, but I think it should be him. I think if they've already, it's salt. It's Mike Sullivan for the foreign nation to end the Olympics. Oh, but I think it should be him. I think it's Mike Sullivan for the four nations and the Olympics. Oh, he's doing both. Alright, nevermind. Wow. I like that call.

The travel too in college. I mean, Hockey East, you're just busing everywhere on the weekends. It's so easy. The summers as the head coach, man, it is a different lifestyle. Yeah, there's a lot more to consider than you'd think about just going to the NHL. But Biz is right, a team who has young guns that wants a winner, a guy who's won at big levels, twice now, on both sides, you're throwing the bag at him.

You're throwing the bag at him. And normally a time, a guy like that, you're getting like two or three years and you're getting maybe like a million and a half, two million, right? Where if you're telling me though, five times five, he would have to leave. That's gonna be a cool storyline to watch because you know

now people are gonna come calling. I mean, who knows? Denver could win it again. I think they're loaded. They got Boo-Yum. How many teams realistically in the NHL do you think that he would leave what he's got going now in in Denver? How many teams in the NHL do you think that he would leave to go and coach for the five times fives? I don't know, but man, Buffalo.

No, you don't think you would go to Buffalo. No, I wouldn't be dying to go to Buffalo as my first head coach. If I'm this prodigy coming into the coaching ranks Oh, let me go flip around the Sabres. Oh Imagine you may want project imagine you fuck you finish the drought You would just be they would have chicken wings named after you like they'd have a perfect you get lifetime bills tickets But yeah, no, that's Carl. Well deserved, man. He deserves whatever he gets.

Legend. Pictures of him at Niagara Falls. He's just a legend. All right. Ripley's believe it or not. The Lids headquarters. We kind of jumped. We kind of jumped right into the World Junior breakdown there. So there was a couple of questions I kind of had at the beginning before we right into the world junior break down there.

So there was a couple of questions I kind of had at the beginning before we got into the hockey talk. What were they? You've been working out at 6 a.m.? Like you're getting up that early? Well, so I just kind of started on that regimen. I was doing a little bit before the road got crazy. Skating kids. But over Christmas break and then yeah, like three times a week I'm

going to try it when I'm home. But going back to those, those like the morning skates, you feel like so much better after you're done. It's just as long as you can get to bed at like, I was in, I think lights out 10 30 last night. I can get up at five 20 alarm and I'm there by like five 50 10 minute bike and let's go six AM start with a.m. start. With a trainer?

With a trainer. I've been going back with that Sugar Sean O'Malley's guy. He helps with more of like the breathing component, not overloading, not going too hard. I get so sore if I just jump back in a weights where, you know me, L5S1, it'll start barking. So I like the workouts there. Have you seen when he does the breathing, Keith? He did it recently walking down the street. He does these really hard breaths and they help you out as though, right?

Yeah, because I don't get enough oxygen through my one nostril. So fuck you, why are you chirping me? You did it at Barstool Survivor too. Yeah, I was doing like, it's like a variation of like Wim Hof, like I'm not doing the full 15 minutes, but if you want to get a little bit more oxygen to your brain, is that all you want me to say Whit?

Oxygen to your brain? Barstool Survivor is back, by the way. Is it tonight? The paint party's tonight. Yes. Let's hurry this up. Oh my God. Do you ever do Wim Hof, like the full 15 minute video?

I had seen it on Instagram and then actually saw you do it. I've never tried it. Yeah. But you said apparently I would give it a go. Maybe before a big putt or something like that. Like if you're walking up to the green, like would it really calm your nervous system in a way? You'd still leave it short.

Yeah, you could do box breathing. You should try your different variations in how you line up the ball. Before we get on to the NHL hockey talk, what's your guys' New Year's resolution? I mean, considering you guys were always already chirped me for my box breathing in my oxygen to the brain. One of my big ones is to dial in the health component. Yeah, I'm hitting the big four oh this year in March.

Got to dial in the personal health. I need I need to be more like you when it comes to that. I need to start working. I need to work out at six a it comes to that. I need to start working out. I need to work out at 6 a.m. That's why I'm amazed you could do it. I just, I don't know why I can't get up. I remember when I retired, I'm like, I'm done setting alarms unless it's for golf.

And I've just really stuck to that. But you're better off getting up. When I sleep. I think the trainer helps because you don't wanna feel like you're letting someone down. You book the times and you're not gonna What are you gonna? You're gonna hit your you're hit your alarm and cancel. No, you're going to the fucking gym You're getting the workout done

And that's why you have to lean on a trainer at least to get it going in my opinion And if not, if you know trainers can get expensive Sign up for classes Even if you're a guy like starting out with these like hot yoga classes or anything, like just get the body moving. A lot of people, they get turned off by it because they start up again and they're like sore and everything's just like killing them

and they're like, and then they take a three, four day break and next thing you know, it's the new year again. You know? It's like fucking whoopsie daisy. I guess this is back on the resolution list. And also my goal is to not get beat up by six Irish travelers. That's my new, my also new resolution. That's your resolution?

That's my top one. That's one of the top of the list there. So that's why. I saw one of them didn't show up to court. That's right. Yeah, William Carroll, the one that I got. Yeah, in the left temple. He didn't show up. I am trying to overall improve the health to also dive into this. I'm going to

do like a film series where it's all combat training. I want to do some with Bugsy Malone who does Avery too. I'm going to go do it with Avery out in LA. Uh, the sugar Sean O'Malley's trainer, my buddy Brandon, he's hooking me up with his striking coach and I'm gonna go into the UFC ring with him hopefully and do something, that would be awesome. I would try like a couple boxing trainers. So just kind of try my hands and everything

to kind of get back in shape, train in different ways. And also those shirts that we were selling that Portnoy came out with originally, I think that we've raised over $30,000 for the Matt Shot Foundation, for the late Narcardo Foundation, and I think we're gonna divvy it up three ways where you're not allowed to donate

to like the local police department, but some type of affiliation, maybe it's like wounded officers or are falling off whatever it may be so we're gonna try to divvy that up so shout out to all the people that ended up buying those t-shirts and supporting a great cause so Lindsey Fry who is a former national USA team players helped me out with organize all that too. So thank you to her. Keith, what's yours? Uh, mine, the pretty similar to biz is just, uh, I want to get at least a sweat

every day, like just, uh, try to get in, um, try not to drink during the weekdays. Um, yeah, other than that, just be, be more active and be more, uh, you know, engaged in my health and getting things better. And I'm gonna start boxing again too, but so if you wanna come down here and get your head punched in, I'd love to do that. Oh yeah, are you fuckin', are you gettin' a little training in, cause the Boston Stranglers are gonna get their ass beat

in Boston when we bring the Chicklets Cup there in September, motherfucker? That's the other reason I'm training. I'm gonna be running fuckin fucking circles around you, bitch. No you won't. Or your one shift. Doesn't matter, however you gotta contribute. Hey, how about my buddy texted me earlier.

He was like, hey, wanna take the wives to dinner on Friday night? I'm like, yeah, sounds good. He was like, all right, I got a reservation at Houston's at 730. I said, I'm not going to Houston's till they give Biz a free card where he can eat there whenever he wants

for the rest of his life. For life. For life. Biz, Biz, Biz, but you know, or a meal named after him. It's kind of one or the other. It can't just be the Scottsdale one, it has to be at every Houston's on all the menus.

Even to get one where you get one a week. Like getting a card where you go in there every night. Imagine I'm just beating the pot where it's like, oh god, this guy again. You know he's coming in another three nights, so. They've given me a couple free meals, but I usually just tip the amount of what the meal cost. Class.

Class. That's it. All right, NHL. What do you got. Class, class. That's it. All right, NHL, what do you got for us? No, that's it. Did you, everyone's personal health, that's kind of a lame answer from everyone. I know, well, fuck, that's a good point. Well, a trip to Chicago really makes you question

your health and your wellness, so it's one of those things when you get back from a spit and check what's staying, especially my first one, part of the WACPAC, you kind of got to really dial in your health. The traveling circus. Yeah. It's hard to get back in the groove. All right, boys, Eastern Conference wild card race. It's kind of crazy to see, and this is Murls actually, who said this in the chat, that with how bad the Sabres have been and the Rangers in the past two months, that they're only right now, what is it?

Seven and eight points out of the second wild card spot. So everyone's alive. You already said that Columbus has impressed you a lot. Their home record's sick. I don't know if you want to talk about them or just where you want to head in this wild card race and how everyone's not dead somehow. Yeah, because I feel like we've talked about Pittsburgh

a lot early on and their struggles and how they've revamped ever since making that trade. Detroit, we will dive into them a little bit after the, they've been four, what, four and one since the McCullens came in. Yeah, four straight. But I feel like we haven't really given Columbus a lot of love and like, especially with what they went

through in the off season and having to deal with that coming in, losing such an important member to your organization. Like you wondered like, you know, how would they mentally reset? And Evanston's done such a good job there. And he's typically a pretty structured coach, right? So he's got him playing their fucking dicks off I don't think they're anywhere near where they are if they don't have

Wawrinski clicking at the rate that he's clicking I think that most people Would probably have him top five for sure norris voting if not top three based on the minutes that he's playing He saw defensively. He's got 12 fucking goals right now. He's leading their team in points playing. He's solid defensively. He's got 12 fucking goals right now. He's leading their team in points. So that's just been a huge boost for them. And also a contract that he had to live up to. He got a pretty nice one on the back. I think he's making 9 million bucks a year. So to see him playing to what they ended up securing his bag with is awesome to see. That Russian kid, is it Merchenko? How do you say his last name? My guy.

You said a few weeks ago, probably the best bar goon in the National Hockey League. He signed a three year deal. He's making like just a little bit above 3 million bucks. I mean, look at the production you're getting off of him right now. So he's kind of established himself as a power forward. Going to the other guy, Monahan. I think a lot of people with the injuries that he dealt with in Calgary maybe thought that he would be done. And then he goes over to Montreal and he kind of has that resurgence and he proved that he has a lot of game left.

Then he signs in the off season to go meet his buddy Johnny Goudreau and play with him. And I think that he's been everything is advertised man. He's a point per game player. And I just think they're fucking teams humming right now based on what maybe expectations were coming into the league in the season so I just thought I'd give him a little bit of a stroke off and and And the turnaround that they've had so far this year. Yeah, Monahan I didn't think a point per game player. It's it's awesome to see and and I think that the crowd there

I think we chatted about them last year. At the end of the year, these guys, the Blue Jackets fans keep showing up. Mr. Ice also went to town for an over. I don't know if you saw that against St. Louis. The game finally hit. He won. The Columbus Blue Jackets actually sent him a DM. Anything that we could help you with, let us know. He's like seven goals, please.

So Mr. Ice is a sicko. But the Metro, I just think Columbus is set up for like a long time. But this kid, all right, Voronkov, okay, Bez? He was drafted in 2019, fourth rounder. He's got 26 points, 31 games. You got to see his hockey DB picture. I'll actually take a picture of it. It's so classic Russian. But man, what if this kid pops off and and now you look all right? Fantilly, I mean I think that there's there's definitely he's had some drop off He's had some drop off but still like a great young player It's it's I mean they were they were able that Ken Johnson kids pretty nasty, too

He got he missed a little bit of time this year to a great prospect they have or on cough. Oh, yeah, he missed a little bit of time this year too. A great prospect they have. Larronkov. Oh yeah. Right? Just a Ruski, a Ruski that's playing. Smell him from here. Keith, who do you like in the wild card spot or who are you surprised to see where they're at? I just wanted to touch a little bit on Columbus too

with Wawrinski and Provarov. I think those two are lead the league and points together as defensemen. And, you know, I had a chance to play with Proby and I used to call him a one man breakout. He was legit the best defenseman I've ever seen breaking the puck out. And to play with a guy like Wurensky where I think in, in Philly, like the offensive, you know, he needed to kind of carry the team, he was playing power play. And I think he's got to Columbus and kind of just

been like, all right, let me play with this, you know, Wurensky stud and let me do my thing, break the pucks out and it's going to be all gravy. So he had an unreal rookie year, Denis Provarov. And then it just feels like it didn't really work out there. I know that he's, um, is recluse the right word. He keeps to himself very, like he's not, you know, not, not exactly the guy going out for beers all the time, but just, yeah, he, he, I don't even think he drinks at all, but he, he'd always go for

dinners. Good teammate. Okay. So he's a good teammate. Enjoy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I enjoyed him a lot. I thought he was funny. Um, his dog's hilarious on Instagram too, or it's like this dog's great, but, uh, yeah, no, he was a great teammate. What's the name? Also Dean, Dean Everson is he, I think is he part of that like whole, uh, coaching tree, like the guys that played in Hartford with like Dave Tippett and Quenville and Ulfie.

Like those guys, I don't know what they were doing in, in, in, uh, Hartford back in the day, but just turning out coaches left and right. So he's obviously came in there and got his message across and the guys have bought in because you know you look at them in the beginning of the year you'd think they were gonna be a bottom of the barrel team but I think what you know their management has done and the coaching staff bringing him in has been amazing to see like you said especially with what happened this summer. And going back to what you said with, like, I think the fans are just, like,

looking for a team to be proud of. And I think that that's what they found. And I think that that type of energy and what they provide night in and night out, I think that that could elevate them to potentially snagging a wild card. Like, they can go on a little bit of a rip here. Who's the scrapper? Olivier? Like he's got 10 goals this year. So they got a lot of bright stories on that team and just a team that I felt deserved a little bit of love maybe over some of the ones we've already been talking about all season long. Yeah, I think everyone would love seeing them getting in just because of, you know,

everything that happened. Yeah, no doubt. I would love that story. Detroit, Biz, they got a little bit of a pick me up here. They're kind of buzzing right now. Yeah, last four games. They're buzzing. But here's my issue. It's always the same guys. It's always Larkin, it's always Debrinket,

it's always Raymond, it's always Sider, it's always those four guys. So how sustainable is that? They're not getting any secondary type scoring. They did in one of those four games, one of the four game win streak games, they had a little bit of help from the secondary scoring, but it's so top heavy on that roster, they need help. They got a little bit of help. This Jonathan Bergrin, okay, so a few years ago, 15 goals. Last year was in the AHL, Swedish kid, had a sick year, came in really struggling, and then he had a meeting with McClellan.

So there's obviously an offensive talent there, and he's like, you just got to play free, and you got to open up a little bit. And McLean was talking about, I started saying play, like, I don't think he was talking directly about when he was yelling at the team, play hockey, play hockey. But in meeting with Bergeron, you need to play free. Now, a new coach comes in and you'd think, I actually can't play free. Like, I just don't want to make a mistake for this new guy, right? If this is his first impression of me, but he's like, you have to be able to play more free and make plays. He had a game winning assist, then he had the game winning goal.

I mean, he, I think he had four points in the last four games. So if that's a guy that they could get going, that, that would be huge. But I agree with you. It is like the main guys have to do it, but the main guys have lit it up. Cider has six points in the last five games. Raymond eight points, Larkin seven, Kane seven, Dubrinkat seven. So this is like- I forgot to mention Kane, but it just, it's been top heavy all season long.

And you got to imagine at a certain point, it's just like, oh God, like it just exhausts these guys where you're not getting any nights off. Where, you know, sometimes it's nice to get four goals from the bottom two lines in a five-two win and not have to fucking light the lamp every night. Yeah, well tonight, Tuesday night, they're playing Ottawa in Detroit. That's a big matchup, right?

Four point game. Four point game, division game. So, remember two years ago was when Ottawa spanked them two years in a row and then Iserman's like, I'm not making any trades at the deadline, we're not ready. So they've had a little bit of a rivalry I guess. They're in the triangle together.

And I'm curious to know how personal those guys in the locker room took the comments from Stevie Y in the press conference. Not to say he was personal by any means, but basically saying like, yeah, like it's evident we'd want to be a little bit more farther through this rebuild than where we are right now. So maybe they took upon themselves as well

with the coaching change to say, hey, let's fucking look in the mirror here and enough with these 45 minute twirl around skates, let's fucking dig in and compete and maybe break this playoff drought. Another team looking to break a drought and come out of the first rebuild they've had maybe in a hundred years, according to our next guest, Eric Engels, is the Montreal Canadiens. They're on fire. We interviewed him, what, an hour ago.

I think we throw it to him right now to hear about the Habs and kind of what's going on in Montreal right now. Before we continue, I want to talk to you about TGL. Presented by SoFi, this is not traditional golf. It's three-on-three match play in this incredible, what looks like arena is arena, where these guys are hitting off real fairways, real tee boxes, sand, they're going to the greens, they're putting on real greens, and then obviously you're hitting into the screen. We got six teams competing.

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So there'll be fans in attendance. So TGL, check it out starting January 7th. Learn more at TGLGolf.com. We are now joined by a good friend of the show, Montreal Canadians reporter for Sportsnet, Eric Engels. Welcome back to Spit and Chicklets Party. How you doing? This guy loves the Habs.

Loves the Habs. Loves the Habatans. He can't say it, but we can say it for him. I can't say I grew up Montreal, Canadians fan and got to work in this market, but it's been 17 years being a reporter. And I always say the same thing. Whether they lose seven games in a row or win seven games in a row, something's got to change because the story becomes

repetitive and I'm cheering for the best story possible. And like, like your buddy, Jeff Merrick always says, we don't cheer for teams, but we do cheer for players. And I have a soft spot for the ones who are kind of facing long odds or getting hammered in the market and they come out and prove people wrong. And those are the stories I love. I love that optimism coming in with. Well, you know what? Why wouldn't he have it right now? Because the Canadians are buzzing.

And I look at it like, wow, everything's coming together, solid forward group, question marks on defense. And then other people will say, well, it's kind of like them just coming back to where they should be because the start was way worse than people thought. What's your opinion on this team right now? What have you seen in the last 10 games? I think that's actually a fair assessment of them coming back to where they should be because I would have told you before the season started when they were out there sending the corporate message that they should be in the mix, quote unquote, which was quite general,

pretty smart of them in terms of managing expectations, which can get sky high in a market like this. This is where I would have pegged them to be. In fact, we have to make predictions on sports net every year, which I, it's an experience that I loathe because you always end up looking like an asshole. Um, I figured I'm really going to look like an asshole this time around. Cause I figured they would be in the mix and probably would not make the playoffs, which is basically right where they are right now, but instead I just predicted that they would make the playoffs and Marty

San Luis would win the Jack Adams because I love that. Maybe I'll end up half a season left here. We got half a season. Come on. Plenty of time. Plenty of time. I went on the one prediction that I did believe in that I was making prior to the season, which I did on 32 thoughts was that I, no matter what happens, I think the Canadians would finish ahead of the

Ottawa senators and I still believe in them. We'll see, we'll see where that ends up going, but look, this is a young team. They're two and a half years through, uh, the first official rebuild in a hundred years of the Montreal Canadians. And what everybody wanted to see was progress. And I don't think you look at what they've done recently and say, okay, they're world beaters all of a sudden, but you do see progress. And it tends to happen faster in a winning environment.

And I think that's the most encouraging thing for this group right now. That was the thing I was going to ask you about. We didn't even have them in that Viagra triangle and the Ottawa senators seem like the best team out of those three. So you had them making playoffs and or at least being ahead of Ottawa, excuse me. I think that if you look back to that Winnipeg game a couple of weeks ago, it was like, it was pretty dreary. You started hearing rumbles about people maybe not, you know, wondering if Martin St. Louis was the guy. Slavkovsky had, has obviously not had the start

that you guys anticipated. Like what do you think it was that has propelled them on this winning streak? And what is it exactly has changed that you've noticed from those back to back wins against the Detroit Red Wings and then that big one against the Buffalo Sabres? Yeah, I'll try and make it a short answer because honestly, it's not one thing. It's a lot of things. And that's kind of how the Canadians are built, right? Like they don't have one line or one player to carry them to wins.

Like the Toronto Maple Leafs per se are kind of built that even if they're not playing well, there's a couple of players that they step up, they win the game for them. The Canadians need everybody on board. They need everybody going. I think one of the clinching factors in them winning 10 of their last 15, so it's not such a small sample, is you, you, you get Patrick Laine back and obviously he came in, he's firing in power play goals at a ridiculous clip. He had eight, I think in his first 10 games or something like that. And you could just see the power play catches fire.

You get an extra goal per game. You got a better chance of winning. Great. But my optimism going into the season that the Canadians would be true to being in the mix, quote unquote, being close and hovering and playing meaningful games games towards the end and maybe they slip in was based on the way they're built in terms of their bottom six and what Lionel does coming in in a late summer trade to slot everybody in the right chair and get the best out of that situation. I think it's key that Lionel is scoring those goals, but just him coming back and

being in the lineup, put that bottom six in action where now other teams have to focus on the Suzuki, Caulfield, Slavkowski combination. They got Kirby doc who started to pick up his game playing with Alex Newak and Patrick Lina and whether they're up to par of where they should be or not. The other team has to pay attention to them. And the Canadians are paying too much money for guys like Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak to be bottom six forwards. But they can afford to pay them that based on how their salary structure is. It's not hurting them in any way. And this was meant to be the strength of their team where they could roll four lines and they managed to do that.

The last thing I would say about this and why they've kind of found what they wanted to have from the start is maybe they needed to lose games the way they did at the beginning of the season. Like lessons tend to sink in a lot harder and a lot firmer than, you know, when you go through those experiences and they're so negative and you're in a place like Montreal where you just don't want that to continue and you start to buy into the program where if you're going to feed other teams and give them opportunities and try and open it up, teams like they just played on this last road

trip, which was incredible, you're going to get slaughtered and it's not going to be pretty. And the fact that it happened right at the start of the season exacerbated the reaction to what was going on. You know, if I would have told you at the beginning of the year, the Canadians are going to have some stretches where they go four, seven and one, you'd have been like, yeah, it makes sense. Second, the fact that they did it right at the start of the year, uh, you know, that turned the atmosphere quite negative around them.

So it's a big change. Alluding back to lineages quickly. I think that that's probably why a lot of people had higher expectations. It feels like when they made that move, all of a sudden the hype went up and people were like, oh, maybe there's a wild card opportunity just to go back to what we were saying. What do you got? There's a bunch of different ways to like look at this team right now. I sense to look at St. Louis, like it's, this guy came from coaching younger kids, a legend Hall of Fame player, and now he's had to deal with adversity, right?

Like, he, as a coach, it's difficult when you have this team that's rebuilding, but you're new as a head coach in the NHL. How do you think he's approached the slumps? Like, has he been able to stay positive with guys? Has he had times when he's kind of flipped out on guys? Because it's different when you get in there and there's all this mojo and everyone's excited you're the head coach until reality sets in and the team wasn't playing well at all. How did he approach that? It's a great question and honestly with this season was a big growth

opportunity for the Canadians. Like I said, coming into year three of their rebuild, it was a bigger growth opportunity for Marty St. Louis who has had to be the guy encouraging everybody over the last two years of all these players knew it was going to be a lot of losing and getting them to play as hard as they did. Every night is hard. They were in the most one goal games in the league last season. Like that doesn't happen in places where you know you're going to be losing. Like it's, that's a very challenging thing to coax out of players,

especially veteran ones and the commitment they've gotten from those guys. And I think St. Louis was the driving force of that. Now you go into this year where the expectations raise a little bit, where line eight does come in, in the summer trade, and all of a sudden you have a better balance and more depth and you're supposed to be taking steps in progress. And he's got to kind of flip the switch where he's got to hold guys accountable. And now it's, it's not just development, the results tend to matter. And so I think that's a really hard transition.

You think of any assistant coach in the NHL that turns head coach in the middle of the season, that's a really tough transition. They go from being good cop to having to play bad cop a lot more often. And you've already built these relationships. How genuine are you going to come across to those players where you've been patting them on the back and now all of a sudden you have to kick them in the ass. Now it's been a transition for St. Louis. He's had to do that gradually as this thing went the way it did at the beginning

of the season and to kick it into gear to come into December and do what they've done recently. And I think this guy, look, he's, he's brilliant. I mean, he's, he's hockey's Aristotle. Look at that quote. Clip it G. As a reporter, it's, it's a blast covering. It's fun talking to him.

But as a player, like you guys have been around different types of coaches. You dealt with Michelle Tarrion, you dealt with whoever you've had. Like to have a coach that has been in literally everybody's situation throughout his NHL career and built that status as a hall of famer. Like how's he not going to relate to virtually everybody in the room. And now that growth that he's going through managing the bench and being harder on guys like last game, benching Slavkovsky towards the end of the

game to secure a win, that's not easy stuff to do, but you got to do it. If you're going to take that next step. And I just think my preseason prediction of all the Canadians will make the playoffs and Marty saying, we will win the Jack Adams. I was joking, you know, but I'll look like a genius if it comes true, but you look at Spencer Carberry or you look at Travis Green or you look at anybody else you want to put into that mix. If the Canadians actually make the playoffs, which I think, you know,

towards the end of November, beginning of December, they were in last place in the league and they're getting, and look at the last four games guys that they won, they beat Florida, they beat Tampa, they beat Vegas and Colorado, and they didn't just, they didn't like goalie them. They outplayed them. They deserve to win all four of those games and the game they lost against Chicago, they had 40 shots on net and got goalie. If all that happens and they make the playoffs, who's going to be a better candidate for the Jack Adams than Marty

St. Louis? That's my car. Barry. I would probably have carberry ahead of them just based on the full season. Like I don't think anybody expected what the caps are doing, but with the roster, with the roster still an unreal feat. Would you have, would you have McClellan as GM of the year? The GM of the year is like a bizarre award actually. That's a totally different discussion because is it actually like the best team of the year or is it the guy who set up his team for success in the future? The best you can look at that award, like all these different ways.

I think it's the guy who sets up his team the best, that does the best work in the summer and also the best work throughout the season. That's why it's voted on in the second round of the playoffs. But if I'm not taking anything away from Spencer Carberry, I think we can all agree the guy is what he's done with Washington has been incredible. I'm just saying if you were to if you were to put the onus on what Brian McClellan has done in the front office and bringing in the size and speed to compliment what they already had there and kind of revive in Washington what none of us believed they still had. Maybe it takes a little shine off carburet. He's going to have this every year.

There's always good candidates up for that award, right? Like it's going to be a great debate. He revamped that entire team. So yeah, we already mentioned slab. I want to get to this date, uh, Jacob Dolbash, cause you mentioned that four game heater in which they won Florida, Tampa, and then went out west to beat Colorado and Vegas. But Slavkowski four goals. Um, he heated up at the end of last season. I think it calmed down a lot of the noise. Um, I don't have a strong opinion on them, but from other players and guys who have played that I trust, they seem to maybe think there's a lack

of maybe hockey sense there. What's your view on not only the slow start, but also that watching them as much as you do? And adding onto that, why is he still on the first power play if he has four? I don't get it. I don't, and go ahead. Yeah, listen, I think if his play trends

as it has over the last couple of games, you'll see that change. But ultimately, right now, the way things are going with the four lines rolling, I don't see a lot of incentive for Marty St. Louis to start flipping switches and turning things upside down. The Canadians are not going to keep winning forever. They're going to lose games. They've built a template where they can keep themselves in games.

And that's a big improvement from what they looked like at the beginning of the season. As far as Slavkowski and how that's a big improvement from what they looked like at the beginning of the season as far as Slavkowski and how that's gone all the way through like I'm not taking I don't want to I don't want to Take anything away from the heat that he deserves for his play which has been up and down. Okay, like He has big expectations the number one overall pick and he needs to fulfill them as quickly as possible But I feel in general not just him like Lafreniere in New York, you can look at a bunch of guys who are picked one, two, three over the last number of years. They're coming to an NHL where it's almost

expected you automatically have to graduate into the league to justify these picks because the league necessitates having these players play at those ages from a salary cap perspective. necessitates having these players play at those ages from a salary cap perspective. And, you know, none of them have ever struggled before in their careers. Like at any point, Yoroi Slavkovski coming into the NHL with his size and the way he played, never had to worry about keeping his head up before he got to the NHL. So the transition from year one, which was limited to 39 games, like this kid has a hundred and something games under his belt in three years of playing. So he played half a season the first year, the second year, a really rough start and then kind of explodes in the second half with Caulfield and Suzuki.

And this year he's learning a regular lesson that most 20 year olds learn in this league that like it just it takes time to find the consistency. He's been great some nights. He's been bad some nights. And I think he's a guy who really holds himself to a high standard and it's difficult for him to understand. But I think back to like one of your oldest shows guys where Nathan McKinnon was on with you, where he was talking about how long it took him to realize that, OK, I'm working really hard, but there's a whole other level to get you. When you look at his first four seasons, you know, he followed up 63 points that first year with, with, you know, there was a lockout of bridge year in there and then he had 52

and 53 respectively before hitting 97. Everybody needs to take a breath when it comes to a guy like Yaroslav Kovsky, because he's on pace for 47 points this year. It's not exactly like he's horrible. Uh, he should score more goals. No question about it. He should do the things that lead to him being a better player, which is moving your feet so that you could take advantage of the size you have. Cause he's a monster, but I just think he's going through the normal type of growing pains.

It's just your feet out place like Montreal. Like, all right, more, more positive. We got to be more positive. I was going to go positive, but I did want to ask that question anyways, Biz. So I'm glad you did. And also- It's a valid question. It's a valid question. Also, if- and I know this is like a reach a little bit, but if this Demidov is his- and

I think he's going to be incredible is if he's as nasty as everyone's saying and what he's doing in the KHL and he comes over, then it's like, all right, maybe we have our dominant player here. And it's like, what was Demidov picked? Fifth. So all right, well, maybe the dominant player was the fifth pick and the first pick, he's not a first overall superstar, but he ends up being a really, really good second liner on a solid team. So it all works out if the prospects hit and Demidov seems like it's going to be outstanding. But on the positive notes, Jake Evans never had 30 points in his life. And you talked about rooting for the long shots, late pick by, I don't know who drafted,

maybe the Canadian. Yeah, the Canadians plays at Notre Dame four years. You never see that anymore. He's on pace for over 50 points. The fourth line's buzzing. And now you're like, is this guy gonna get resigned or do you trade him? Because that's a dude who a playoff team,

if the Canadians fall out of it, it's like, this is a depth guy we need and want. Oh no, they're gonna give up Lekkinen again. For nothing. Yeah, Lekkinen ended up being Alex Garrier. But it wasn't what it was supposed to be with Justin Barron. Look, Jake Evans. Good guy to supposed to be with Justin Baron. Um, look, Jake Evans,

Good guy to talk to. Good guy in the room. Oh, he's great. I like the busses too. So I don't want to, I don't want to blow up his ego too much, but he's having a phenomenal year and I asked him, I said, how long does it take before you really find your best self in this league, playing the role you've played kind of for a third line guy, center, reliable, defensive,

200 feet, chipping a goal here and there, penalty killing, he's the leading penalty killing forward in the league. And he told me it really only sunk in last year, you know, with 300 plus games under his belt. So why am I bringing this up? Because the Canadians are headed to a place where they're hoping to become perennial contenders. I don't know if that starts in a year from now or two years.

I think with Demidov coming, I mean, shit, you look at the highlights of this guy. It's, there's no question what he's going to be when he arrives. He's immediately going to be an impact player. But I just think you look at a guy like Evans and you say, okay, maybe we trade him this year for a first round pick and we have Owen Beck coming up through the ranks and he's a kid that he's going to project to be a perfect middle six, bottoms, bottom six, bottom two line do exactly what Evans does. The thing is, is you're trying to be a contending team.

You don't trust a 22, 23 year old player to do that job. Like it's, it's not how it works. It takes three, four years in the league to really nail down that role. And then the big question for Montreal becomes is if they believe in that philosophy and they're looking at keeping Evans who might be pricing himself out with how well he's played. And then the fact that he's shooting at a ridiculous clip, which I think everybody can keep realistic timing for him too, with that UFA here. A little off target value for sure, but I think the Canadians, the main evaluation will be,

who can we look at that's on the market that potentially replaces Evans? He won't necessarily play as well as Evans, but what will it cost us? Will it be within our range that we could pay for that role while we build Owen Beck up to be that type of player? But guys, they're going to lose Christian Dvorak next year. Like I'd be very surprised if he's back here. I don't know if he goes before the deadline. We'll see where the Canadians are at in the standings, but you lose one center.

You have some questions with Kirby Doc, who's found his game, but still has something to prove as he moves along here and he's coming back through a ridiculous injury situation. As you guys know, you talk to him. Like, I just think Evans' value is higher to the Canadians than what it is and going to shop him out on the market. And I think if you trade a player like that, you're looking on how you're going to replace him and you don't have an internal solution and you don't necessarily have an external one.

And that's good for Evans in terms of what he's going to do with the negotiation here. I think it's also good for the Canadians if they can get them locked in and convince them, Hey, this is your best place to be. This is where you're going to have the best opportunity. You're born and raised in this town as a hockey player, and you're going to be a part of us moving forward into that next phase, which is going to be a lot of fun. And I have to think there's a marriage to happen here between these two parties. But look, if he prices himself out and they can't come to terms before March and

they're not sitting in a playoff spot at that point, it's a different discussion. Divorce, not marriage, divorce, the opposite. Some teams going to come calling. All right. Also staying positive, also staying positive. I was going to say we've left them blue balled long enough. I think we got to talk about Gold Caulfield. No, the snow on four nations. I wasn. Oh, I was going to say we've left them blue balled long enough. I think we got to talk about goal. Cawfield. No, the snow. I wasn't going there yet. I wasn't. I wasn't going there. You can't leave the Canadians fans blue ball this long. Goal. Cawfield. Twenty one goals. No four nations snubbed. But having an incredible year for you guys. Probably your best forward. Yeah, definitely. Well, I don't know if he's Montreal's best for I mean, he plays with Nick Suzuki and that guy, if you see what he does, he's a shiny toy at both ends of the ice.

I'll say this about Caulfield. I think that was the toughest call for Billy Garren to make, except he looks up and down his lineup and sees Matthews and Gensel and, uh, Gensel's on that team, right? I'm not missing that. Oh yeah. Okay. And, and Kyle Conner has got 22 goals and you know, he may have looked at it,

especially in the early going of the season with the way Caulfield was playing. He was scoring a lot of goals, but from, you know, 200 foot perspective, not playing as well as he did last year. But man, over the last couple of months, like this kid's game, I think there's a lot of fans outside of Montreal who watch him and just see the goals. Like he is so much more than that. He is a really become an impressive player and he's probably one of, one of the biggest, uh, successes of Marty St.

Louis as a coach because he has convinced Cole to buy, I don't know how hard he had to sell him, but he convinced him to sacrifice some of those goals last year to work on the other stuff. And it's really paying off right now. I mean, you just see how determined he is as a smaller guy to win pucks back, to extend offensive zone pressure. The playmaking ability has got nearly as many assists as he does goals. He's leading the NHL or I should say he's co-leading it as we're recording this before

the Vancouver game with Jack Rossovich for the most five on five goals in the league. This guy's a hell of a player and if somebody goes down to injury, I got to think he's the first call for Billy Garan for USA and if he doesn't play at the four nations, which he's not scheduled to right now, I think he's going to get a look for the Olympics. And I would say the same for Suzuki. He's not going for Canada, but I think he'll get a look for the Olympics. And I would say the same for Suzuki. You know, he's just not going for Canada, but I think he'll get a look for the Olympics. So my understanding is he didn't call them back last year for, for world championships

and that, and they were like poopy pants about that. And then apparently they didn't give him a call to even let him know he didn't make the team for foreign nations. Is that true? I don't know. You know, I definitely know that not going to the world. I don't know. But I know that not going to the world. I don't know. Why don't I know that? I'm not sure. But I know that not going to the worlds was definitely a factor in the decision to not include him on the team. I will say this about Nick, you know, you guys think of all the Iron men in the NHL, like he has never missed an NHL game.

Is there a single one that plays through all those games unscathed? Like I would imagine he's pretty banged up season after season. I'm not making excuses. I don't know that he got engaged last summer. I don't know what he had planned during the summer that it just didn't work out that he didn't go to the wedding planning. Yeah. What you ever get? Did you get roped into that? No, God, no. I said absolutely no chance that we did a surprise wedding. We told everyone it was a, uh, engagement party. Boom. We got married. Nice. I like that. I said absolutely no chance that we did a surprise wedding. We told everyone it was an engagement party.

Boom, we got married. Nice. I like that. I like that. That's a lot less fighting. A lot less hard. Sneak attack. Well, I would have said yes to everything, but then I would have been like, shit, I got

to work 50 more years on checklists. I don't know if they didn't call him. I don't know if, if I can say definitively that it's a factor in him not making that team, but I don't know the circumstances it's a factor in him not making that team, but I don't know the circumstances that they were so pissed off about it that they refused to call him and tell him, Hey buddy, sorry, we're going with other players. Uh, I know one thing that, that kid knows exactly how good he is and anybody who

watches him knows, knows how good he is too. And he's a very humble kid. I don't want to make it sound like he's not. It's just, he's taken that snub, I think personally, and so is Caulfield. And I love that both those players are going to be in the mix for the deal. The Olympics Suzuki is sick man. A few words. We interviewed him. Um, not maybe the most talkative guy we've ever talked to, but he can play hockey. I think he might've beat Brian Noonan.

We interviewed Brian Noonan. He didn't say three words the whole time for 45 minutes. We got a new sponsor, Eric. It's Roback. And we got last question presented by Roback. Use code CHICKLETS on roback.com for a generous 20% off your first purchase through the end of the week. That's CHICKLETS, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S on roback, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. 20% off all hoodies, joggers, and more with code CHICKLITS.

My question to you- What a read. My question to you. At the end, I'm going to preface this. I probably watched, I don't know, 80% of Lane Hudson's games at BU over the two seasons. A joy to watch. You just love watching this kid play. He keeps you on the edge of your seat, literally his moves, his

one on one skills. It's crazy. At the end of the year, will he finish first or second? Is he going to be in the top two of rookie of the year, which means he's going to bump Matvey Mitzkov down to three because Celebrini is probably winning in my mind. But with what you've seen from Lane Hudson, would you be surprised at all if he ends up second and called a trophy voter? They don't take defense into account with just plays better defense than people think. I just fuck with you. I just fuck with you.

Unless you disagree, Eric, I don't know. No, dude, this could be the fourth prediction I get wrong when all of a sudden done. But I think he'll be in that top two. I do too. Honestly, the fact that he does play defense is a big factor in why he would pass Mishkov. I don't know if he can pass Celebrini as teammate at BU based on what Celebrini is doing right now. Cause he looks, he's unbelievable. But I will say this about Wayne Hudson.

I believed coming into the season that he would be a star and that he would quickly become a superstar in this league. And nothing I've seen so far has dissuaded me from that. And anybody who thinks he can't play defense should start watching some of his games. Wow. Okay. All right.

Here we go. He is elite at angling. He is elite at angling guys off the puck. He is really good with his stick. He is really smart and not putting himself in positions where he's going to get smoked. He lets a bigger player win a battle in a certain area so he can angle them off to a different place out of the danger zone.

He's this guy he's playing on a pairing with Mike Matheson who's a eight year veteran in the NHL and like, I'm not trying to take something away from Matheson there's a lot of nights where Hudson is the more reliable of the two. And Matheson scored 62 points last year. He's been a horse for Montreal. I just look at this kid and the attitude. I'll share one quick story before we go. I previously, for this trip to Vegas, I turned to Lane Hudson.

I said, you got your fake ID ready for this trip? You're going to Vegas for the first time on NHL team. He said, no, I don't have one of those. And I said, really? Like not even, you know, a drink here or there? And I said, nah, it's not really my thing. And he said, you know, you look at all the superstars in this league that really dialed in.

They don't do any of that. And it stuck with me because it's one thing for me to say he's a star who's bordering on superstardom in this league. The fact that he looks at himself as that in this future, that means everything in terms of the way he plays the game and he plays the game to win on every single shift. He wants to make the difference every time he's on the ice. And you said before, like the Slavkovskiy had to hit. I'll say this, Lane Hudson was picked 62nd overall in that draft and he might turn out to be

the best player in the whole thing. So it's a big win for Montreal because I think Slavkovsky is going to be a really good player too down the line. And man, him, Slav, Demidov coming. And the goaltending situation, there's Dobesh, Montembeau, he got Fowler. But I will say Grinelli just chimed in on the chat. Has he, has Lane not met Kutrov? Because he loves getting after it. I think oh I was gonna say the plot twist the story as he turned back and he goes

But I do get into the blow and he waved his baggy You want some troops Shit Right like the new school superstars like all these kids they're no, and I don't even know. I'm basing that on Kuch's celebration or G is also on, on after the cup. That's a little different. Oh yeah. Well, Montreal fans are pretty familiar and the all-star game.

Yeah. Yeah. Montreal fans. Jesus Christ. That's who is in Toronto at the all-star game. He was just pissed at the league for making the All-Star game that pathetic. Eric, Chris, you got anything else for him?

I think that's pretty much it. We covered everything with me. You just mentioned the goaltending and all the studs helping get it done. And Martin St. Louis changing things around. Cause I would say that probably three weeks ago, there was a little bit of frustration from the fan base and not seeing the anticipated results, but here are man an absolute heater and they've turned into a wagon so thanks for joining us and go Habs Go baby.

They made we're recording Monday late afternoon I mean before the season I probably wouldn't have cared much about a Vancouver Montreal game but now tonight I'm looking forward to watching this. Oh yeah. Vancouver's in a tough spot Montreal's buzzing buzzing. They're coming home after a nice trip, which is usually a tough spot. But Eric, we appreciate it. Love following what you do and thanks for coming on. I got one rollback question on the way out. Who's winning tonight? Make your

prediction. It's coming out tomorrow. What's the score? I don't know if it's gonna be Montreal. Honestly, Montreal 9-0. Going into Colorado, I would have given them as good of a chance as you against six people in a parking lot. Like it was, they were flying, they were playing back to back coming out of Chicago into mountain time, playing at altitude, line a sick, not playing like they had just gone back to back Florida, Tampa over to Vegas to play in the Pacific time zone, play Chicago. Holy fuck.

Come up for breath. It was honestly, it was the fucking craziest road trip I've seen in 17 years of covering. They play for Stanley cup winners on this trip where they're playing back to back and in four different time zones. Like it was pretty legit. I don't know what the schedule maker pretty legit explanation there. That trip is unbelievable. This guy's ready to hand him the Stanley cup and Martin St. Louis, the Jack Adams and Wynie the Con Smythe. Let's go, baby. I'm on the Habs wagon now.

Thank you. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. I'm drinking the Body Armor Kool-Aid. All right, Eric, have a great one, man. See you. Before we continue, I want to talk about DraftKings. NFL playoffs are here. Wild card weekend. Get in right now on the DraftKings Action Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Scoring touchdowns is key to winning in the NFL playoffs, and the key to you scoring

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Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling call 888-789-77777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resorting Kansas, 21 and over age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Voight and Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources. See DKNG.co slash audio. Thank you very much to Eric Engels, the state of the Canadians. I think I think some serious excitement is going to be going on there. I mean, he was just talking about Demidov after we recorded with him

saying that he's got sources or guys who work for other NHL teams saying you have no clue what's coming. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. I would at least, can we bump them in the Viagra Triangle and kick Buffalo out of the Viagra Triangle? Can we at least, so there's a new Viagra Triangle now. Okay? Post it right now, G, alright?

We got the Montreal Canadiens replacing the shitbag Buffalo Sabres. No longer is the future bright in Buffalo. If you're odd on the triangle, that's bad news. Enough's enough. The Montreal Canadians, you're on deck. I had one quick question for you, Whit. We didn't really dive into that ski trip

other than you getting the pink Whitney shout outs. Any craziness with Squanto, like any craziness with the family during the ski trip? I can't imagine it ran that smoothly. I mean, every time, you can't even go a regular night in your household without something going crazy. On that end, it did run pretty smooth. I mean, Cal doesn't really sleep. So, you know, he's waking up at like three in the morning crying for like an hour and then he's up at six. So yeah, you're not really sleeping, but Wyatt was in ski school. He was bombing down at the end. He was just ripping

down the bunny slopes. So he crushed that. Ryder was up on the slopes. He loved it. He was doing good. He had a little bit more turning necessary. I'm like, dude, you go straight down the mountain, you're done. I'm like, you got to just get the pizza turn going. What, what do you have? Well, you just said your Cal wakes up at 6 a.m., three and six? Or like one, and then he's always up at six, or five, 30. But there's always another wake up. Why not just do your workout with him when he's like kinda crying a little bit,

like almost like hold on, and you see those videos of like parents using their kids as kettlebells? Clearly he's never had a kid. You know, you're just like swinging the kid around, doing some shoulder activation, hold them up, do some front squats, put them on your back, do some back squats.

Hold them by his head. Yeah, just like, just shake them around as you're just doing a jump squat. No, no, no, no, there's videos of mothers out there who do these kind of- No, I agree. I totally agree. I've seen those. ...kettlebell workouts with their kids. And what you're saying is kind of what I'm asking myself or telling myself. You got to start getting up and getting up early, up with the men, right? See the sunrise. I actually was up very early this

morning, beautiful pink sky. But the ski... but buddy, skiing is something else, man. I drove, they were there for three days, I got to go for one, two nights, but just one day skiing. Buddy, there's 12 lifts, I was at the Sunday River, 11 or 12 lifts, there was one open. It was, I mean, and it's all ice. The skiing on the east, I see these videos of people skiing on the west.

I don't wanna ski, I don't wanna, Every year we go skiing one time. It's fun. We have a blast. It's great family time with my brother-in-law, Moose. It's just, we're having a time. The beer's after. The beer's at lunch during. It's awesome. The conditions are horrible. The skiing on the East is a disgrace. It's icy, it's closed lifts. Now granted, Sunday River, it was windy as hell, so maybe like, this is probably a safety thing, so we don't have these ski lifts flying off the handle. So I understand, but just not the skiing I'm looking for. When I see the West and the powder, I think I need to go do that. And of course, Keith, who has us, has us beat on every angle right now.

His kids are a little bit older. He's coming out of the madness of not sleeping. He skis out West. He does it right. Where do you go? I go to a Colorado, but we, uh, so ours is next, like a week from. Or the eight, so the February, but veil, is it their the February eight. It's not in Vail, is it? Their whole school goes, it's ski week.

They got one flight a year just for all these kids from Florida. That's unbelievable. So these Florida kids, so my daughter, my oldest asked me, which I wanted to ask you guys, she snowboards now, which I think is, I wish I could do it because the boots are so comfortable. Can't do it.

Whatever. Yeah, but what about getting on and putting your foot in and out? Does she like, does that bother her? No, she's good. I've, she figured it out. I don't know. But she was, uh, she wants to wear a hockey jersey over her. She thinks it's stye, but in, in, she was wondering what the coolest hockey jersey to wear over her, uh, you know, snow gear would be.

So I'm interested in to hear from you guys, what would a cool jersey to have? The Biz Bissonette Wheeling Nailers Jersey? I think doing a Hawks Griswold would be good. Ooh, the Blackhawks one? With the Griswold on the back, that would be a fun one. Oh, I was more thinking just like legit hockey player jersey, but you're going that road. I could see that.

There was a couple kids skiing with hockey jerseys on actually. There was a Postronach jersey out there. There was a Badar jersey out there at Sunday River. And there was another one too. I think it was a throwback actually, but I can't even remember it right now. You know what I would pick right now,

considering he's on this pod? The new Kings jersey, the black one, Kopitar. Buddy, there it it right now. You know what I would pick right now, considering he's on this pod? The new Kings jersey, the black one, Copetar. Buddy, there it is right there. That's nasty. That would be nasty. This guy's a first ballad all-favor. And it's black, so if you fall, it's not white, you're not blending in with the snow.

I like that biz, I'm gonna get that. There it is right there. You're right, yeah, the Kings, dude. Hell of a scene, and that actually brings us out West Kings are safely in a playoff spot right now. I mean are we gonna see I think we're gonna see Round four of LA Edmonton. I really can't wait. I can't wait. I Think it's gonna be different this year though. It's going seven wit. They're not gonna be as they're not gonna take as many penalties They're not gonna be as dogshit on the PK either. I don't care how good the power play is for Edmonton.

I think that there would be a different result if those two teams meet in the first round. You don't even have Doughty back yet, for fuck's sakes. I know, that's crazy. Like, Brant Clark's been buzzing. Adrian Kempe, I'm going to trump your Marchenko call. That is the best contract in the National Hockey League 5.5 million for Adrian Kempe and

I think he has next year left on it so he can resign as of July 1st I want to say he signed a 22 million dollar four-year extension so a perfect little bridge deal for him where he's like I you guys were arguing with me I think he's a ten million dollar player if you watch their games like power play. He's automatic He's got so much speed. He's got so much skill. He plays the right way plays defensively You can count on them in any situations this LA by the way Can we mention again that that Matt Murley called this team frauds? I was just going to ask.

Frauds? Like, okay, if they end up going to the first round and they do lose to Edmonton the first round, they're still not frauds. They could potentially win the Pacific division with a team like Vegas in it. Like if you're finishing top two in the Pacific, you're not a fucking fraud. I think he's saying fraud is in, not at all, a realistic Stanley Cup threat. I'm guessing that's what he's meaning.

Because, I mean, similar to the call about the Jets last year. So I don't, I would, I'm saying it'll be a sweep and I'll go with the sweep just because it's perfect order when it happens. But I respect the LA Kings more than I did last year right now. So their system's changed, right? They had that crazy system in McClellan. Now they got the new coach in there. I just think Kempe is sick. Avery was on the pod. He said he's the best player in the NHL. He's nasty. And $10 million though is. He said he's the best player in the NHL. He's nasty.

And $10 million though is just, but the cap goes up. I don't know if I argued with you in a sense that he wasn't worth it or more that if he was making a little less on a team, like if they could get him at eight and a half, that's a very nice situation for the team. I feel like you already took his discount deal. And the fact that soon Doughty and Kopitar will be off the books. I think Doughty's still making 11, but Kopitar's maybe only making six. So by the time that deal truly kicks in, you might have one or two years of Kopitar Max

left. And even at that rate, he's only making six million bucks. And at that point, Doughty's off the books. And I think they're prepared to offer Adrian Kempe that type of money to stay there as a foundational piece. I think they're going to be prepared to offer it to Quinton Byfield, maybe not to the degree that Kempe is getting paid, but as a cornerstone type deal, like a, like a eight to 9 million per year based on how the reins are being passed off. Like what, what, like, what was the deal that, what that Byfield signed though?

What did, when did. I think that he's got like probably four years left. Yeah, three or four years left. He kind of signed a similar one to like Kempe. Yeah. To get, you know, like a protection type deal, right? Yeah. But I, he know like, like,

if another team is going to offer him that much money, that's how good of a player he is. So LA can't fuck this up and not bring him back. I think he's got him by the balls and I think that he's a $10 million player. And let's not forget, he ain't gonna be making it next year, he's gonna be making it two years from now. So I think that he's a $10 million player. You see it?

Carl's gonna be making more than him next year, a coach and some other team. But I think Kempe, I think you're going to see him at four nations this year. And I think him and Kyle Connor are going to be my two guys that are, you know, cause if you're on the East coast, you don't see too much of the West. I think those two guys are going to be, you know, household names where people like, oh, my God, these guys are legitimately insane. Yeah, you haven't seen Kempe like, I mean, go on a long playoff run.

So casual fans, right? Not seeing L.A. if you're out East. I know what you're saying. There's just guys you don't get to watch much. And then you see how good they are, like seeing them play more often. But as an Oilers fan I mean Hallway and Broberg and st. Louis look good those already look like oh my god He didn't keep those guys Warren Fogel dude. He's playing awesome in LA. I think another Another player that people almost said I don't know what he'll be without

Playing with like McDavid or Leon and he's proven that he's a legit like option right and a guy who can score not in a point-per-game place but I think he's got 11 or 12 goals over 20 points it's a good team and being led by a true legend a guy who's gonna be in the Hall of Fame someday and we finally sat down with Anjay Kopitar a couple weeks back. I think we're going to throw it over to him right now and just hear about his story and what he's done in his career has been insane that he's continually producing points at the age he is shutting down number one centers in all over the league. So before we go any further,

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Game Time. We are pleased now, very pleased, Legend. And honored to be joined by two time Stanley Cup champion, a man who's played over 1300 regular season games, has over 1200 points and a complete legend in the game of hockey, future hockey hall of famer, Anjay Kopitar. What's going on, Kopi? How you doing?

What's going on, fellas? We appreciate you coming on, dude. Nice little start to the season for yourself. A little hat trick, opening things up. Yeah, not bad. I mean, uh, the game itself wasn't the greatest that we've ever played before, but hey, in the end of the day, it's the two points, right? So, uh, we'll take them and, uh, move on.

And you guys look good. Those new jerseys, I think those might be the greatest Kings jerseys of all time. Would you agree? It's non-negotiable. It's 100% true. I mean, we've had obviously quite a bit of success with the shield and the, or the home plate

as we called it too, but these new logos are sharp. So yeah, it's definitely been a lot of fun wearing them and hopefully we can make some more memories. Do you like the chrome buckets? Yeah, I didn't mind them. Yeah. Okay. It was a little out there, but a little fun, but I didn't mind them at all.

Kopi, we usually start with like when you're younger, especially your story is so cool, but I kind of have to start with like, I think you got maybe one training camp with Biz. Do you have any, like, do you remember this guy in the room? Like what's he doing here? Get him, get him to Manchester, please. Or Ontario.

Do you remember when he was around? Hey, you were always nice to me cause you knew I wasn't going to be there long. Just four days. That's not true. That's not true. Maybe. No, uh, you know what? I remember this, uh, I think the first time we kind of met or cross pass was in

our, uh, our gym and this was playing tunes and jumping around and doing all of that. I don't know. I mean, you, you got hurt quite a, quite. Oh my God. I was a bandaid when I was an Ontario all the time surgeries with the LA Kings but you know unfortunately but no we we didn't really hang around each other for for too much did we not not really just at

training camp and you're always so nice and just the way you carried yourself and then I was excited to get you back on and, and obviously talk about it all. But, uh, I tried to ask you before we started about the, get the craft spill game where we played the Oilers, where I got caught out against McDavid twice and I was minus two. And that was the last time I ever saw an NHL training camp. So that's what I knew my time was done. And that was probably coming off of bilateral sports or into surgery.

One of the, one of the times I was injured that you were talking about, but just going back, Ozzy, to when you were a kid, like obviously it was your father who got you into hockey, right? Like he played professionally, he coached as well, but obviously not the most popular sport in Slovenia. Uh, definitely not the most popular sport. Um, you know, and I mean, to be fair, it's a hockey is, it's pretty expensive nowadays. Right. If, if you want to play soccer, you want to play basketball, you go into a park, you

go to like a school, there's always, you know, there's always soccer nets or, uh, or basketball hoops and you can kind of work on, on your game there, I guess. But, uh, as hockey, it's very different. I mean, we're not a big country, two million people, but we only have seven ranks. So, you know, it's not very... ...orthodox, I guess I should say, you know, to have hockey players coming out of Slovenia.

There's been, I believe, five of us drafted and two, two of us that played in the NHL, so you know, that itself, it's, it's pretty, pretty remarkable really. Since, uh, you know, you look at every little small village in Canada, they have two or three hockey rings and 10 to 15 NHLers, so it's, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's different, but, uh but yeah, I got it from my old man. It was honestly the best thing when he asked me to go to his practice and I was a rink rat and hanging out with the boys and obviously

you guys have been around the locker rooms. I mean, it was the best thing ever. So got hooked and never really looked back. Because of how small hockey was there, like was the NHL like even a dream? Was it on your mind or was more what your dad was doing as your kind of goal as a young kid? Like I imagine you didn't really have any NHL heroes from your home country to look up to. So I don't know if that was even on your mind when you were younger. No, I mean, everybody's dreaming about the NHL, right?

But this is, we're talking, you know, 25, 30 years ago, and streaming was not a thing. So you can't just, you know, pull up highlights left and right and watch your favorite players and all of that. And, you know, and even if there by some miracle or chance was a game on TV, it was at three o'clock in the morning and my parents would never let me watch that. So, you know, it was just kind of, yeah, looking up to my dad and hoping that maybe one day I was going to be a professional hockey player, maybe not playing in Slovenia the whole time, maybe go around Europe. But I guess it worked out.

Do you think that like your dad being a player is like part of the reason you're such a two-way player? Like maybe, you know, knowing and learning the game from somebody that, that had played that long, like did he teach you about the defensive side? Because even when you came in as a rookie or drafted, it was always like, this kid's not just like offensively, you're cheating. And your hockey IQ was something that people talked about. Yeah, I mean, a lot of credit goes to my dad for sure. I mean, even when he was not my coach, you know, he was always watching our games and, you know, he was always kind of coaching me,

I guess, in that regard. Charging you. Yeah, two-way player. I mean, two-way player, Yeah, it's, you know, I played in Sweden before I got to obviously to LA and Sweden, as we all know, was always a bit more defensive minded league. And I think that helped me a lot too. And then just the work in LA really, it's, you know, Dean, Dean Lombardi and Mark Crawford, who was my first coach, and Terry Murray, you know, they just set me down and really wanted for me to play the 200 foot game and, you know, I hop, obviously, all over it and it's been working.

When you went over to Sweden, did your father go with you? And like, what was that transition like? I noticed the first year you started with the junior club, played a little bit with the senior team. And then the following year you played the full year with the senior team, correct? Yeah, so actually my first year in Sweden, I played the under 18s and under 20s because I was 17. And that year was actually the lockout. So we got the chance to actually watch some of the NHL players live. And, you know, I got to hang out with Oli Okenan, which, you know, to me, that was the greatest thing ever. And then, you know, Scott Thornton was there, Kyle Calder, who were my

teammates later on in LA, which, which. Grease. So, yeah, so that was, uh, you know, that was very interesting, obviously. And then after that year, everything's pushed back to draft this push back. So, you know, I get drafted and then I get the invite to, to come to, to training camp and then I'm, I'm seeing all, all of this unfold really. And it's, uh, you know, it's fascinating really, because you're, you're skating with at that time, Jr and Sean Avery.

And I mean, you know, I played my first so-called back in the day we had with, and you guys know that we had like a HL game and then NHL game, everything in one day, there wasn't a split squad. There wasn't anything like that. So I played my first so-called NHL game in Phoenix and I, I actually scored on a penalty penalty shot against Kujo, which I mean, come on, Kujo, right, of all people. And so I was in heaven, but then went back to Sweden and then developed for another year, came back the year after.

And, you know, just, just kind of stuck and never looked back. Did you know after, after your first experience of camp and then just getting that much stronger and, and more sound as a player that that next year, like, I'm here to make the team, I believe I can make the team or were you almost expecting time in the AHL? Like what was told to you at camp, maybe getting you ready for that first season over here? I mean, they, honestly, I think the team wanted me to stay there the first time around, but I, like,

Oh, really? Chosed. Yeah. But I mean, it wouldn't be, I don't think it would be in the NHL, maybe a couple of games here and there, up and down, you know, but I felt really comfortable in Sweden. You know, we, we had a pretty good team and I knew the environment because, you know, going back to Slovenia, you're, you're coming. My, my town was maybe 5,000 people, 6,000 people. So then you're going into, you know, to Sweden, different country, different language.

I mean, I spoke English pretty well and so did everybody in Sweden, but it's still a bit of an adjustment. And then, you know, fast forward to, Angeles or Manch Vegas, for that matter. It would have been completely different, you know, for me. So I just felt comfortable in Sweden. And I thought that was kind of like the best thing for me to stay and develop and get stronger and all of that. And then the next summer, you know, I just, honestly just worked my ass off.

And, uh, I knew I came in into a rookie camp and I had a good camp and then I just honestly just worked my ass off and I knew I came in into a rookie camp and I had a good camp and then I just carried it over and made the team. And that was it. Did you live with anyone your first couple of years, like any of the vets? Patrick O'Sullivan was, was on the team too. So we were rooming for the first year. We got an apartment down in Hermosa beach and it was fun. It was good. Oh, I love I play with them in Edmonton He would get so miserable some like though in a funny way. I hope he like he'd just be bitching

But he just crack you up. Oh my god, that guy made me laugh. You know, it's slowly was great to me. I mean Like I said before, you know coming to the States, I didn't know much about everything, let alone LA and the South Bay and the, you know, the humongous city that we were in. So he helped me out a ton and this simple is just, he bought a car his first year. So I was with him the whole time. He was like my ride all the time. So everywhere he went, I went, which was cool for me because then we hang out all the time. So everywhere he went, I went, which was cool for me because then we'd hang out all the time and become good friends. And yeah, it was, it was very nice

for me to have somebody around at all times. Was it an easier time to develop? Cause I would say that there was not as much pressure on the team when you were there in your younger years. I feel like there was kind of this like young core coming out, coming up and they were trying to figure it out. So maybe the expectation to win wasn't there, but yet you were able to get the good reps in early where the expectations weren't there. Yeah, for sure. I mean, our team wasn't good, good at all first couple of years. I mean, we didn't have a whole lot of like middle-aged guys. You know, we had some veterans that were, you know, great for me, showing me the ropes, you know, teaching me all the stuff and everything, but it was really,

I mean, me, Brownie, you know, Sully and Cami, Michael Camilleri was there. That we were kind of like so-called the young guys, right. And, but everybody else was closer to the 30 plus really. So, you know, it was something that, you know, especially when Dean obviously came over started to building our team and build a couple of championship teams, which yes, at first you don't feel as much pressure really, because you're, you're trying to build a team and the expectations are low and then the expectations in that are low in LA it's like totally different stuff, right?

Because you got the Lakers and you got everything going on around you. So nobody really pays attention to you too much. But then once you get going and once the team was set, you know, maybe the pressure was just a little bit greater because your end end of the rebuild phase. And now, now you got to prove something, not just, not just playing the NHL. It must be crazy for you. Like you get it to the league and Rob Blake's, uh, you know, a future hall of fame or you're playing with him. Now he's running the running things there. Like, was he one of the guys that kind of took you under, under his wing?

Like, was he solid with the rookies and looking back on it, it must be just weird. Like, oh my God, this guy's like, I'm talking to him now about. Now he's negotiating my contracts. Doing new deals with them. Yeah. I mean, like you're watching these guys on TV and at that time they're something like they're gods to you pretty much. And then you fast forward a couple of years and you're sitting in the

locker room next to Rob Blake. I mean, I remember first couple, first couple of days of training camp. I was so scared of Blakey. I wouldn't even say hi to him. So I was like, I was walking literally the opposite direction, which is kind of crazy because now you think like me being as a older guy and, you know, rookie comes up to you and like literally walks in the other direction, not say hi'd say it's a little crazy but I've I've done it I lived it and but yeah it's it's kind of surreal how you go from a moment to

where you're looking up to these guys and then you're trying to beat them and then now he's your boss and it's it's just like a funny circle life yeah cave hole circle no rookies. Okay. Cool. But get your feet moving out there, buddy. You're like, what the fuck? Where's my eight times eight bitch?

Get working captain. It's the times have changed a little bit. Yeah. What was it like having to change coaches a few times so early in your career? Like, do you think that that like hurt you from a development perspective? I mean, Mark Crawford was my first coach, which, uh, it was, it was good for me cause he would play a ton of minutes. I, he would play me a ton of minutes and.

You know, he would, uh, we always from the boss and all that stuff, which, hey, it's okay, you know, but he would, you know, give it to me and let me know. But he would also play me at time, which was great for me. You know, I wasn't, I guess, intimidated by it. And then Terry Murray came in. I think Terry. Put a structure into, into place for sure, for everybody, not just myself, you know, for the team and then that kind of, I guess, ran its course.

And then Darrell came in and pressed the right buttons and then we won. That's what it was. I mean, it was, you know, I wouldn't say there was any setbacks. If anything, it was just kind of like a progression of everything or an evolution for me personally and as a team. I think when you say no setbacks, that's interesting because you look and your first two years missed the playoffs Then you guys make it lose in the first round But boom you lose you don't even make the playoffs the next year It's followed by a Stanley Cup, but for you the first three years

It's probably I want to play in the playoffs you get there and then that next season you miss again Like probably kind of a moment with the organization of like well, where are we going? What direction are we headed in? Yeah, that's what I was talking before. You know, it's like no expectation at first, but then once team has said, and it's like, you, you gotta deliver. Right. So it was, uh, there was some pressure, obviously not Canada type pressure or anything, but, uh, you know, we, we felt it and Dean was always.

You know, demanding a lot of us and which he should cause he, he put the right pieces in place and, uh, you know, we, uh, we delivered after all, but, uh, you know, it, uh, at some point it was a little bit stressful and, uh, you know, maybe a little bit too much pressure, but we got it done. And that's all it matters. What was, uh, Darrell as intense as they say that he is, like, I'm, I'm sure that's the case. And obviously Crawford probably prepared you for Daryl. Like it's almost walk before run here where I mean, I saw a little bit of in training camp

where we were playing an exhibition game. And I'm like, are we in like game six of the Stanley cup finals in Vernon BC here? You know, who prepared me for that too, was my, was my old man. He was an intense coach too. Okay. He, uh, it must be all the old school guys that are kind of like that. Right. So, uh, I, I grew up with it, so it wasn't too unfamiliar with that, but yeah,

there, I mean, Darrell came in and I remember Scott Thornton saying one time, you know, when he had him, I believe in San Jose, texted Thornton, me and Brownie texted Thornton and said, you know, how's Darryl and this and that. He goes, you know what, you don't have to be best friends with your coach, right? And that's all it's stuck, right? So Darryl came in and I mean, we had, we had a strong room, obviously. And, uh, you know, I think that was the biggest thing. And he knew it. And he started pushing buttons right away.

And he pushed the right buttons. It was maybe not as fun as 100% of the time, but 98% of the time it was fun. And when you win, all is well and all is forgotten and, uh, we celebrate it and, uh, you know, we love, love the guy and, uh, he's been great to me, to my family, to, to the organization. And, you know, that's, that's what you do. You, you want to win.

So was there like a good cop to him being the bad cop? Was there an assistant who would kind of try to lighten the mood a little bit when, and you mentioned the buttons he was pushing. Are you saying like he knew he knew the guy, he knew, he knew the guys who could take it and who were those guys who could take it and maybe even give it back a little bit? I think it's, uh, like I said, we, we had a really strong room. Everybody took it, but then I think collectively we all just want to kind of like stick it to him. Really? That's like, okay.

Like let's just show the guy that we're made for this. Right. So it's like one of those, but he knew exactly what he was doing. That's why, that's why we won a couple of times. And, uh, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if there was very many like good cop backups because you know, I think Darrow itself is, himself is pretty intimidating. So when stuff went down, I think everybody just kind of, you know, lower their head and

work the little extra harder. The good cop comes in the room is like, who's bad today boys? Fuck, I'm out of here. So you, I think we played you the year that you guys went off to win your first one and that year you guys got the eighth seed. So it just catching lightning in a bottle at the right time too. Like with that group of guys, I feel like you guys had a couple guys on your bottom six who were entry level guys, like Nolan and King who just came up at the right

time and contributed the right thing. So everything just kind of seemed to just come together. Yeah. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, what about 20 games left in the season? We're very much on the outside looking in. It's not like we, you know, we're kind of cemented into that seven, eight, eight slot by any means we were like, we were down, down on like 10, 11 place. So we knew we had to win 14 out of the last 20 games.

But the funny part was we we all thought it was very doable right and then if we did it we knew we were one of the hottest teams coming into the playoffs and that's exactly what happened I mean we were we were up three nothing in every series so it was kind of like you know I'm not going to say it was walking apart but being up three nothing in all four rounds, it's significant advantage. And you guys are adding the series so early. And from my understanding, you guys had a pretty large group of guys who were going out and celebrating for like two or three nights after each series win.

So kind of like not, that doesn't really happen in modern day NHL where you guys were just on this absolute heater on and off the ice. And you're probably rubbing elbows with all these celebs who ended up getting picked up along the run with you. Yeah. I don't know about celebs. We kept it in the South Bay pretty, pretty contained, you know, even if we did something or when we did something.

But yeah, I mean, you know, the first series was done in five, all the other series were going. So it was one of those things where, I don't know, we went out and celebrated a little bit and then you have a day off and then you have an optional skate and then a skate and then, you know, things started to go again. So you have time and you know, this is 12 years ago, we were all a little younger and we could do it. Recovery was a little bit faster than it is nowadays.

That's unreal. I got to ask about, about Drew Doughty. I just remember the 2010 Olympics and everyone, the hockey world. Like, I think that was just like, holy shit, like his spinoramas. And and you saw it up close and personal as he came in. I remember when when he was drafted, a scout told me like, this kid is so insane. Wait till you see him. So you must have saw it right from the, right from the get-go.

And then like his, his personality just seemed so like, um, easy to get along with. He's fun, but could you tell right away how special and like a possible hall of famer here? Oh yeah. Yeah. The right away. You could tell right away, you know, and I've, at that point I'm, I'm in the league for a couple years.

Yeah. I think it was league for a couple years. Yeah. I think it was, it was two years and then he comes in and he just made it seem so easy at 18, you know, you, you see the place where it's like, wow, like the confidence and he's going to be good and confident and his charisma, his, his character, you know, his laugh, everything is just so contagious. So as soon as, you know, we brought him in, it was like the energy level went way up and the skill level way up too. So it was obviously a great pickup and I've been witnessing this for 17 years now.

As much as he wants to score goals and produce and be on the offensive side of things, I think he actually takes more pride of being a good shutdown guy too, you know, and, uh, you know, he loves shutting, shutting guys down and, uh, you know, he's, he's been doing that for years and years. And, uh, I mean, he, in my opinion, he has to be a hall of Famer. He's won everything really. I mean, he's won the opinion, he has to be a hall of Famer. He's won everything really. I mean, he's won Olympics, World Cup. I think the only one is missing is world championships, but that's

just cause he never goes. And it, and like, it just goes to show too in preseason, he's going a hundred miles an hour competing for a puck, right? And then I'm sure it's killing him. He's out of the lineup right now. And, but you guys have, you guys have really responded well. I noticed that you guys are playing with an unreal pace in your first few games. And you guys got to be happy with the way you've came out despite that adversity.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's obviously Drew going down. It's, it's, it's a big loss for, you know, for our team. And, uh, I'm sure everybody, every other team would love to have Drew on their team. Right. So, you know, it's a big loss in general, but then again, we, every team or we do, we talk about death, right? So, you know, it's a big loss in general. But then again, we, every team or we do, we talk about death, right? So when somebody goes down, somebody's got to hold

a little extra weight or everybody's got to do it. So it's not ideal, but we'll do it where we're going to play and look ahead. And hopefully he comes back sooner rather than later, but you know, we'll get him back when he's ready. And we're, we're going to be extremely happy to get him back. Biz and I have talked kind of often more recently about like how, as you get older now, like training's changing and, and you're 37, but like haven't slowed down two huge years offensively the past two years. What has changed for you in the summers? Like, because I think you being so big has probably helped out as you're aging, but I don't know if you've been changing workouts, you've been changing nutrition

and, and what have you had to kind of adjust as the career has gotten this long? Yeah. I mean, you know what, just adjusting kind of year to year, really. I mean, once you go over over 35 sometimes you realize that rest is actually better than anything else you know so the way they're not yeah not overdo it too much really obviously you got to put in the work and everything and you know you got to take care of your body but sometimes rest is the biggest thing really so yeah nutrition is a big part of, uh, you know, everybody, not just the older

guys now and, uh, taking care of yourself. I've, I've been doing this for a little bit. So, so, you know, your body, you know, what you gotta do, you know, what has to get better, you know, what, you know, just slide the adjustments here and there and, um, you know, I've been pretty durable throughout my career and, uh, you know, it seems to be working well. Going back to the first cup run and even the second, I mean, we talked about you first line center, we got Drew Doughty, every team needs a number one D man.

Jonathan quick, like he was lights out. I think he won the con smite in that first Stanley cup run where, I mean, he was one goal game. That's all you were getting from him. Um, when did you know he had that hit factor and that he could be that guy in that? I mean, honestly, pretty early on too, when he came to LA, really. I mean, my, I think my first couple of years in LA, I think we swapped over 10 or 11 goalies in two years, which it's unheard of.

And then, you know, he got called up and really never looked back. I mean, you see it. He's an ultimate competitor still to this day, even though he's, you know, we're a bit older. You know, he does, does this stuff and, you know, he makes, he makes saves that that's all it comes down to. Might not be the most, you know, sound technically maybe with, with all the angles and everything, but he stops the pucks. That's all what really matters. And in 12, he was an absolute monster. I mean, we didn't give him too many or did him too many favors with goal or run support as they say in baseball.

You know, but if we got two or three, two points or the win was pretty much inevitable. What was crazy is like Jonathan Bernier was such a high pick and then he came in it was he was kind of the future goalie the Kings and I imagined, you know quickie such a good guy, but he's so competitive like do you remember their relationship? And almost the media talking about how like quicks almost taking the job or what? Was it more just as the team like whoever's in there helping us win you guys weren't worried about it too much I don't know exactly but I think quickie had really good relationships with all the goalies, you know, really. I mean, yes, he obviously played the majority of the games, but I think everybody or every goalie that was backing him up was, you know, fully on board and they knew it was Jonathan Quick.

So it's like either you're on boards or you're probably going to get pushed off, uh, you know, off the roster really. And, uh, you know, I think. Quikki and Bernie, I think they had a good relationship obviously. Uh, but as a team, really, you don't really care too much who's back there or not at all, as long as they're making saves and we're winning games. So that, that was, that was the name of the game. And that's how it was.

You've been around so long. You've seen so many guys come and go. But when he was traded, it was obviously pretty difficult, I think, for him. And I guess for you, like, that's one of the core guys. Like it's it's Daudi Kopitar and Quickie in terms of all those those two cups. Like, was that a hard day for you? Do you remember chatting with them right after? Was it was it just talk to you soon?

Yeah. Uh, actually, well, you know what it was? It was actually, we were in Winnipeg and I just scored four goals that game. Oh my God. After the game, Quickie gets dealt. Oh, Paul. Talking, talking about going from an absolute high to an absolute low, right? So, uh, yeah, it wasn't just like a talk to you later.

It was, you know, it was a lot of emotion, you know, frustration at first, just like, you know, every other guy in, I guess, King's organization too, and all the King's fans and everything, but it was a weird day. You know, it was sad and you know, I gotta say I was happy that it worked out for him too. Obviously going to Vegas, winning another cup, and now playing for his childhood dream. I mean, you couldn't really script it all that better too, but you know, obviously Wish,

he would have still been with us, but, uh, it is what it is. And, uh, everybody, I think at this point has, uh, slightly moved on and, uh, keep working towards that way. Um, so you win that first cup. So you brought it back home to Slovenia, obviously, right? Yes. That must've been like, was that like a national holiday? And what's it like being the most famous person from your country?

That's fucking insane. I'm not most famous person from your country. What do you mean? When I Google that you're the first face I see. Luca? Oh no, Luca is way, way bigger than me. Now listen, no, it was fun. I mean, honestly, brought it home. And then I remember standing quite literally at the airport right by the

airplane and then when the cup came like down on the belt like I just ripped the case wide open and I was like carrying the cup around like it was my baby which at that time it was right so at one point like all the all the, all the workers in, uh, at the airport, like they all stormed over and everything. And then one of the security guys, he goes, Hey, listen, like, I know you guys are really enjoying this, but all that, but the airport is literally on, like on a standstill. You got to take this couple ways so we can actually like do some work. So the planes are not late, which was, which was kind of funny, but, uh, yeah.

And then it was about, I want to say like four or 5,000 people right at the airport. I don't know how they found out the Cubs coming, but, but they were there and it was, it was a lot of fun. I just remember when you guys, you know, you trade for Mike Richards, such a big deal and Jeff Carter gets dealt to Columbus. I remember the whole league's like, Oh, poor Carter. Holy shit. His buddy gets to go to LA,

but then Carter comes over, right? And like, I imagine having those two guys with how close they were, they made such a difference. Richards in the playoffs, such a dog, but do you ever remember like chatting with him and him ever thinking that Carter could come over there that season? Was there a discussion there or just had no idea?

No, there was no discussion, but I know Mike uh, Mike. Enjoyed that lay a little bit more than, than carts that Columbus. So, you know, but, uh, yeah, I mean, I don't think it was in, in, in their wildest dreams really to, to, to have been reunited that quick at least. Right. So that was the move that, uh, arguably move that arguably put us over the edge. And, you know, Karts was a big part of, of obviously both Stanley Cup runs.

And, you know, he's been a big part of the franchise and in the community and everything, and I know he enjoyed his time in L.A. And I think on the second cup, the story was Mr. Game 7 and Justin Williams and what he did. Like, I mean, talk about him as a teammate, because that was probably the main difference in that second run where you saw this guy just catch on fire at the right times.

He was always there when we needed him, really. I mean, all the Game 7s and we played three of them, all three on the road, and he was always a factor in those games, you know? And it's what you need in the playoffs. If you wanna win, that's what you need. You need. If you want to win, that's what, that's what you need. You need guys like that stepping up. You need the core guys to perform.

You need your, your goal tending to be at absolute top. And that's what we had. And you know, we were, we were playing hard. Obviously we, we had some, uh, we had some injuries, you know, but then we acquire Gabby, uh, Gaby at the deadline to Foskey out of there. John, it was 13 goals. So, I mean, it was just kind of the, the pieces were falling in place and, uh, you

know, we, we got the job done. Was that the year San Jose had you on the ropes? Oh yeah. You guys are down three in the first round. Oh my God. That was first round and the first two games were not even close. I mean, the first two games, I think it was eight one and seven two. Like it was, it was a snooze fest on our part.

And then they, they win game three in LA in OT. It was kind of a fluke goal, you know, good wind off. I think it was going off and then it kind of ricocheted into our net. And then it was like, all right, we're down three and, uh, you know, managed to, managed to come back. Something had to be said. Was there like a meeting or like what changed down all three, somebody that got that team meeting? I remember a story of you guys, you guys sending Darrell off the ice and having an only team, like just the players meeting. No, it wasn't.

Honestly, it wasn't all that different, really. I mean, we always knew we were, we were a solid team, like just the players meeting. No, it wasn't. Honestly, it wasn't all that different, really. I mean, we always knew we were, we were a solid team, right? We're always very proud team too. So we weren't getting swept, you know, we like, it just wasn't going to happen. The big game in our eyes was game five in San Jose, because you guys have played in San Jose, they come buzz and call it. It's crazy. The building's loud. The playoffs, it's extra loud. Everything, I mean, and we came out and beat them in game five.

And then you're coming home for game six. It's like, you're not really going to lose the series at home, right? After you just want to take game five and then game seven is a game seven. So we went on the road and beat them. And, you know, at that time, before even game seven, you know, now we've won three in a row and all the momentum is on our side and we keep rolling. We're feeling good. Maybe they're doubting themselves a little bit.

Then, you know, we, we got the job done. Did you face another elimination game in that playoff run? Like, were you ever down three, two or in the rest of that? Yeah. So then, so then we go into Anaheim and win both games in Anaheim. They come back when three in a row. So then we're all facing elimination. Then we got to win two and then, uh, was it Chicago that third series?

You know, it was Chicago. Yeah. And then we were up. What a run. I think we were up three, one on Chicago and then they came back to us. So it's like, yeah, it was, it was wild. That playoff run was, I mean, compared to the 2012, like complete, complete opposite. Yeah.

You can't script any different. Was the other cup at home too? Yes. So that's pretty cool, right? My God. What do you do? Are you in the locker room until 3 a.m.? Like what's the night after like winning in LA?

Yeah, actually. Well, the first one, the 12th was like, everybody was still kind of not fresh, obviously, but not too exhausted from the actual run. So we, yeah, I mean, the cup goes Cubs goes to the locker room and then we, we, uh, we went to one of the, the restaurants and Staples Center, uh, upstairs on the concourse level and just hung out and party there. And in the 14, I mean, it was like all the game sevens and everything. And it was just like draining, like physically, emotionally, everything. Over the course of those three years, really, we played a ton of hockey

and not a whole lot of rest. I mean, we, we still party hard, but it's, I don't think it was as hard as, as, as 12. Out of those two cup runs, if you would go back and play one of those rounds, which one would you have played just based on the, the swings and like the, the, the, the, maybe the impact that you had? Like, I remember that Chicago one being unbelievable. Crazy.

Like back and forth, like which one would you like to go back? You might say none of them because you're so exhausted even thinking about it. That Chicago one was exhausting. And I mean, they had a championship team too, which obviously they showed. And we had that battles those three, four or five years. We, we had a ton of battles. So it's like emotionally as stressful as they come, I mean, but it was arguably

one of the, the best series, you know, played in a long, long time. Right. So, um, I mean, that was really like the ultimate, right? Because whoever, you know, won that series, definitely no disrespect to Rangers, but we had a good chance of winning the cup, or whoever came out of the West was, they had a good chance of winning the cup.

And then maybe the other series that I would point out is just the 12th series against Vancouver. I mean, they come off a president's trophy. We come as an eight seed and then waxed them five games. Right. We go into Vancouver and we're in both games. Yeah. So it's like, it's almost like us as a team evolving and taking that next step

for majority guys, that was the first, you know, playoff series win. So it felt special and it kind of got the ball rolling. Obviously you're a dog, like a first line center going against all these beasts round and round out. Did you ever have like a sports psychologist that you worked with to like get to that stage? I know you said your father was very hard on you. Like, what did you do off the ice to prepare or maybe sharpen those tools?

Or did you just do your thing at the rink and then you left and got your escape and you just figured it all out? I mean, early on, you know, for every young guy, it's, it's hockey all the time. Constantly. Right. And then once you grow up a little bit and you get a little older, you do realize it's not just, it can be just hockey 24 seven. You got to get away. You got to, and I picked up golf, which was great. I absolutely love it.

And I'm addicted to it. Sam Bagger, you got the bug. You got bit by the bug. I mean, you just got to find a way to get away and disconnect a little bit. You know, you can't tank hockey all the time. So then, you know, you grow up, you, like I said, you go play golf, you go. And in LA is a little bit easier because you go down to the beach and you lose yourself there for, for an hour or two, which it's good for, for your brain and, and for your mind, you know, then you have kids and then they run your

show and you know, it's busy and everything. So it's, you know, I think it's just a fine balance of everything, obviously being prepared and everything, of course, but then at the same time, it's like when it's time to disconnect, you have to disconnect, you can be all in 24-7. Did you remember in either cup run, and I guess the first one was easier, but do you remember a speech that anyone gave? Did you ever address the team or was it more kind of like every night we're doing the thing? I didn't know if there was something very memorable, maybe a pregame speech or a night before speech you sometimes hear from players. In 12th, it was before game six in LA. So we're playing, we're playing Jersey and Willie stood up and he said, you know what

guys, I really do not want to go back to Jersey for game seven. And he finished off, I don't know exactly what the, what the speech was, but he finished off the, you know, I guess what he was saying is like, I'd like to us to be remembered as champions. And then that's all that it was said. And obviously when, and won that, won that game. And, you know, I think that one was a memorable one. And then 14, I think it was just like, everything was happening so, so quick.

And, you know, like I said, with, with all the long series and everything, we had a great room, a ton of leaders, nothing really needed to be set. We all knew what we have to do. So it's just kind of like head down, grind away and make sure we get it done. I know that the international hockey is so special to hockey fans and we're getting back to best on best and just unfortunately, Slovenia is so small with hockey. Like, but you got the chance to play in the World Cup, and I think it was maybe 16, but it was Team Europe, right? So like, that must've been cool for you, getting your one chance for playing the best on best.

And you guys surprised, like it was a pretty sick team to watch. It must've been fun. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, we were one of the teams that was, it was kind of like a throw in, right? You and the young guns. Yeah. But then you, you, you realize that now I'm playing with, with Chara, Hosa, Yossi.

I mean, all these superstars, right? And you actually have a chance going up against Canada. I mean, I've played against Canada with Team Slovenia, but we got bombarded. You know, it was like early on, it was double digits. They're like, we're going to need you playing center on all four lines. Good luck. Yeah, and a lot of PK too,

because we took a lot of penalties. But anyways, you know, now you're playing with all these guys and you're going best on best. And yeah, we made it to the finals. Unfortunately, lost to Canada, but it was a great experience for me. What about a world cup or like a four nations, but make it bigger where maybe they had a bunch of like odd countries. Like we just talked about, is that something that you would want moving

forward or be open to at the fact that you're not getting to enjoy this one coming up? Yeah. I mean, Oh, I'm going to enjoy this one, but from the couch, you know, when you're not getting to enjoy this one coming up. Yeah, I mean, oh, I'm going to enjoy this one, but from the couch, you know? From Hawaii. When you're at 37, you can take it back. Fair enough. You take all the days off that you can.

So no, I mean, I think it's great. I think hockey needs best on best for sure. I mean, Olympics are coming up again too, so that's going gonna be fun. I don't know how you expand it and make it super competitive just because of the smaller countries. You know, we're just not that competitive.

That's just the sad reality and I don't know how you make that better, but I think this one is gonna be fun. We're gonna test the waters, obviously, and see where it takes us. As an older player, now you're busy with kids. Do you watch a lot of hockey? Like, have you been a fan of the game or is it more on your off nights? You're watching something else.

Like some guys watch it, some guys don't. Very rarely. Yeah. I mean, my kids are the older ones. She's soon going to be 10. The younger one just turned eight I got a figure skater and a hockey player. So I'm at the rink all the time So I don't really have time really to relax a whole lot, you know

it's you know family time at the rink and I'm putting in some hours at At Toyota Center there. So, you know, maybe not ideal, but we do it as a family obviously with wifey we're trying to you know bring him anywhere to all the activities and then being active and I know it's your question not a whole lot to watch any Who's your son's favorite player? I'd like to think it's me. There's no way like there's no way. No he likes Kempe on, on the Kings. Nice. Which I can't blame him.

No, no. I play with him. I play with him his first year pro and, and, uh, in Manchester, he helped us win a Calder Cup, man, this guy was a raw talent right from the beginning. Oh yeah. Yeah. He's, uh, you know, obviously it took him a little bit, but, but that's the way it is. I mean, he's a, he's a 40 goal scorer and nobody can argue.

Nobody can argue with that. So you, you're addicted to golf and I don't know if you know, we do these sandbaggers, their YouTube golf matches. So we got to, we got to maybe, maybe get a commitment right now from you. That you grab a partner. We talked to Doughty too, but I don't know if you want to. I don't know if you guys are ready for the bright lights like that. Like I know Stanley Cups is one thing, but. I haven't heard of sandbagger before. I haven't know if you guys are ready for the bright lights like that. Like I know Stanley Cups is one thing, but I haven't heard of Sandbagger before.

I haven't seen any content. It's only on Instagram when we drop one the next four days. Only everywhere. Yeah. I mean, I think stuff can be arranged. Yeah. Okay. On the golf.

Okay. Business game face is on. Witt's going to negotiate the strokes. I'm the stroke master. Well, I think that's it, right? Yeah, dude. Witt's gonna negotiate the strokes. I don't do that. I'm the stroke master. Well, I think that's it, right? Yeah, dude, we appreciate this, man. In the midst of the season two, I know you guys have big aspirations for this year.

And I was gonna ask you one last one about Quentin Byfield, like just a phenom. I think he's gonna be a superstar. What are your thoughts on him playing with him and what kind of a guy he is around the room? He's great. He's awesome. I mean, he's as goofy as they come and as serious they come when he needs to be. So it's yeah, he's took a big step forward this year, grew into his body a little bit more. I mean, he's got a big frame. So he's going to be a force for us this year and going forward. Then he's going to do some damage around the league for sure.

Well, congrats on everything, man. It's been an incredible run watching your entire career. And we appreciate you joining the show. Fans are going to love this. Yeah. Thanks for being nice to me at training camp for four days. The A.H.L. guy. Thank you, fellas.

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Thank you very much. The legend, Anjay Kopitar, nasty. Biz Wild Card out west where LA's not even near. It's getting interesting. Vancouver sits in that second spot. They got this big road trip coming up. St. Louis, you like them for making a cup run. I saw that clip that was posted. I forgot you said that. No, I said it could be a dark horse if they sneak in.

I know, but they kind of- No? Do you disagree? Yeah, but they hit you on the clip. I felt like more like there's a chance they could win the cup. But I actually agree with you. I think they, I would actually love to see them get in. Utah continues to be right there. But the biggest team in the West that I want to talk about is Colorado. They're exploding now. They switched around the goaltending

like we talked about, which is so hard to do midseason. They got Blackwood and Wedgwood in there. Crazy scenario where Scott Wedgwood was injured on that Zach Benson goal. Did you see all that? Bednar was losing it. Yeah, and I think he had a right to. It was crazy. He got injured and he's down there and then he gives him time and Benson buries. I couldn't believe they didn't blow the whistle. I don't really know the reason

why they wouldn't unless the guy's about to, as he's tapping it in, he gets injured. I didn't get that at all, but Colorado is flying. McKinnon leads the he gets injured. I don't I didn't get that at all, but Colorado was flying McKinnon leads the league in scoring I don't know if you if you consider them now like back on top as a true Stanley Cup threat biz I think they got to make one move and And and and they got a they got a cup contender no Kadri bring him back I think I think bringing him back if you could have that type of player, that would be the perfect

mix. Like that's all you need right there. He's a gamer, big game player, plays the middle. Although, Middlestad's had a great year. Like I just don't know come playoff time in the Western Conference, if you're putting them up against the center ace that the Vegas gold Knights have. Like they're way more stacked down the middle. So if you have a Codri there as a second line center and then all of a sudden middle stats,

a third line center, I just think that's such a healthier balance and they're not as overall strong on D they have Kale McCarr. They got the goal tending now, but you got to you got to win the battle somewhere. So the fact that Landy skating, that would be a fucking dream if he could be back to his old ways for them come playoff time because his work below the goal line, that net front presence that he provides, it's kind of like anybody else that they have in their lineup. I know that you can score on the power play and I know he's not shy to go to the blue paint, but to have that net front guy who's setting screens who's winning those pucks retrievals keeping power plays alive and just also that just that leadership in the locker room I think that unless

they make a big move if they don't get Landy back and they don't make that big move I just can't see them getting it done do you do you think if they know he's gonna come back they won't make a move? Or you still think that they're going to go out hard and try to get a guy to fill that hole? No, they understand that this is their window right now. And I think that they're going to try to fire on all cylinders. Like they have, you can't waste any more time. They went out, great move with McKenzie Blackwood.

Talk about the turnaround this guy's had in the last 18 months. Like I know Pasha could probably allude to more of it. We didn't talk about it during the Eastern side, but I want to know about Pasha's thoughts on that fucking road trip the Devils just had. It's still going on. They got Seattle tonight. We keep hearing about looking under the fucking hood.

How about the hood of your car, motherfucker? Warning, the following statements are about to be made by a deranged Devil's fan. The views expressed are his and his only. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt because remember he is a deranged Devil's fan. What a team can't lose four in a row like you're acting like they've lost 14 row like the Sabres. Hey yeah a couple things Pasha you you you see snuck up just he slid right up next to me at dinner and he's like you know that that that that like year break or year window I thought that the Devils would have to go through of a heartbreaking late playoff loss before they won their cop

I'm like, yeah, he's like I'm willing and ready to take it back right now They can go to the cup final this year and win it and so he's just like so cocky about them and so Delusional every hit and I at the DraftKings Sportsbook, I was to say, fuck him. And they're playing Carolina. They beat Carolina in Jersey. They went down to Carolina and played back to back. And I was like, fuck, I'm hammering the hurricanes right in Pasha's face. And I got a win. And just to hear him like every play, like,

oh, they're getting screwed by the refs. And then, and then, by the way, Canada loses to Latvia. I announced it walking into the 7-11. Pasha's like, good, yeah, yeah, I'm not even rooting for Canada. I'm like, this guy, I know, I know. And I'm like, this guy, the devils need to just, they just need to get a little slap because I like them being good,

but Pasha's really making me, it's hard for me to root for them. I'm gonna sit down on Sherry on you. Equally how deranged I am pro devils, you're equally as deranged anti-devils. They could go 16 and 0 in the playoffs and win the cup and you'd be like, oh, you know what? That was a fluke. They shot.

I have said, oh, buddy, you're wrong. I've told you a million different times about how nasty I think they are and how I think they could like compete for cops for the next eight years. And I really like Fitzy and it's a fun team to watch. You are now switching my opinion and you're in my brain and you're making me go to the other shoulder, the shoulder that has the devil on it.

Actually, no, the angel, because you are the devils and I just can't watch games with you, I guess, is what it is. One last question for this delusional maniac. Do you think with Landy in the lineup that Colorado beats New Jersey in a seven game series? I think it'll be a hell of a series. I think it goes seven and anything can happen in game seven, but they'll give them a good run for their money. How you think the Nate dogs losing to those fucking guys? I think Nico Hescher will put the Nate dog in handcuffs and just completely smother them out.

This is exactly what I wanted. This is why we have this is why we have these discussions because you can't you're probably came on here and like don't say anything crazy. Don't be the delusional lunatic that everyone knows I am. And you still said it. I mean. Well, it's crazy to say that Niko Hescher, one of the best two-way center in the NHL,

could shut down Nate Dogg. That's not that crazy. Who could? Nobody shuts him down. You don't think they have shut down center in the Western Conference? When has he ever been shut down? You guys lead the league in scoring.

Well, he's never played in the series against Niko Hescher. He's... Wow. I think we've heard enough. Get him off. You think? Get him off. You think? Get him off this guy. But that's the hottest team in the league right now.

Colorado, or one of them, excuse me. And I understand why Bednar was so mad too. They've had six goalies this year. It's January 6th or whatever it is. Like you see your goalie get run through, you just go out and make a trade. You solidify the goaltending position and you've already played six goalies.

Like I'd be fucking pissed too, if I was him. So. Well, it's almost like they kind of like, they looked back on New Jersey last year. They ended up trading for Jake Allen, but they never solidified the starting role. The fact that they've went and gotten Wedgwood and, uh, uh, Blackwood, like this year, what a fucking, what a, what a play by the organization to go sniff all that out and address it right away. So talking about a complete 180 in the goaltending department, I think their saved percentage combined before these guys was like 860 or 870 at that point.

So Colorado, anybody else from the West we need to talk about that we haven't? Colorado, anybody else from the West we need to talk about that we haven't? Well, yeah, I mean, it's the weekly or daily Vancouver Canucks drama. I thought this was over. I keep thinking it's over, but it's never ending. I feel like the media is going to make it, and we're part of the media. So we are making it something that it'll be something until one of them is traded. They'll either, they'll probably either have to both start lighting it up and the Canucks will go on a run like a 10 game heater and it'll kind of end or one of them will be traded.

Do you think it just disappears now, Biz? Like, Elliot Friedman talked about that apparently they're listening to offers on both of them. That's just boom more news Well, that makes me feel less bad about kicking up dust on this podcast about it I don't know if it's kind of like a chain effect of the fact that we just won't let it go So it kicks up more dust, but after the comments last week that we talked about Pettersson I mean, this is fucking crazy. It's the never, never ending rollercoaster ride. Jans, what do you make of it? Yeah, I don't know.

I saw some comments too, by, by Pettersson saying he knows he needs to be better. He expects more from himself. So I don't know. I think it's just one of those things where, you know, you have two superstars that, you know, may, may not get along. We've all seen it before.

And one of them struggling or both of them are struggling at some points in the season and people are trying to make it more than it is. I don't, I really find it hard to believe, and I don't know Pedersen at all, but I really find it hard to believe that it, it can't, they can't get past it. Right. I know JT Miller, great guy, great teammate. I don't know. I just, and especially with talk as the head coach, like a guy that's gone through

it all, I just don't see how, especially what they did last year too, right? Like they were, you know, we're talking about them as they could, they could have won the cup last year if they had healthy goals. You're saying you can't believe they can't just look past it and move on and like continue to win together. I'm surprised too. The fact that they're talking about trading one of them, when you have two they can't just look past it and move on and like continue to win together. I'm surprised too. The fact that they're talking about trading one of them, when you have two studs that are young enough to like, the fact that they're even talking about it

or, you know, us as the media are talking about it, I think is crazy. And you know, as a ex player, I imagine they're in their locker room with, you know, listen, are on their way to the rink, listening to this stuff. I'm like, what are these people talking about? We have, they have no idea, but I don't know. I really find it hard to believe that they can't just get past whatever they were, they beefing about if they had beef or if it was all magic. They should go on a scooter ride together.

Huh? Hey, imagine being like- They should go on a scooter ride together. If you're all Vino and Rutherford, like those are the two, they're the two ride together. Hey, imagine being like on a scooter ride together. If you're all Vino and Rutherford, like those are the two that are like, can you please just figure this out? I think it's crazy. But what I said before is true. If the next 10 games, they go eight and two and they both have 15 points, like the story goes away. Whether whether that happens or not, I mean, it remains to be

seen. Ovi's a machine guys Alex Ovechkin, he's one goal away from joining Gordie Howe is the only player with 20 consecutive 20 goal seasons Gordie how had 22 in a row. I Think some fans or or or people who watch hockey think 20 goals is like easy Maybe as an ex-ex player. I'm like 20 goals is a lot of goals. He's done it 20 years in a row. Playing 20 years in the league is one thing to produce and play it all is another thing and then to get 20 goals every single season with a bunch of them. And playing back then? When you had guys

fucking hacking your wrists with lumber with tw bunch of them. And playing back then, when you had guys fucking hacking your wrists with lumber, with twigs like this. And like skating by you in the pucks like 30 feet away and just drilling you in the head with an elbow. Yeah, so the longevity perspective of it, and probably playing through immense amount of pain, it's just, it's squirrely. It's squirrely to think about.

And I was talking to Jeff about it, and he brought up a good point. Like kind of the doldrums now from game 41 to 60. Now the old ovies back in this race is gonna pick up some steam. So it's coming at a perfect time and fuck man, the way things are going and the amount of empty netters this guy cleans up with,

this thing might be fucking done by game 72, not 82. I don't get how he's doing, how does he continually do this? He stands, the one-timer goals like he's doing, how how many times have we talked about like nobody can just stop it you know it's coming. It's wild to see that it continues. I think, I don't know what like five six years ago it was realistic to think, I don't know what, like five, six years ago, it was realistic to think like, oh, he's gonna slow down at one point. He's played too hard, like coming up on year 16.

Nope, continually just goes out there, out muscles guys, is a farm animal, scores goals, celebrates like crazy. It's just nuts that he continues to do this. And if he breaks it this year, I will stand by the fact that that's the best storyline. I went against you, you wanted to happen next year to battle football. On a Sunday, you want it to happen, I believe you said. Really take the NFL down. So, Ovi's just ripping it up. That's where next year's winter classic is. It's the day of the Super Bowl in Washington

to celebrate his greatness and achievement. Mario's gonna be there, Wayne's gonna be there. Same start time, same start time too. We're gonna get Tenfei to sing the halftime show. It might be torn. I knew I'd get a trickle out of you guys. That's all I got. The Bruins, they signed Mark Castellic

to a three-year contract extension. 1.567. Bargoon! Yeah, 1.567. G loves the deal, Biz, you love the deal. He personally guaranteed it. With his own fucking money. I love it just for the pure fact that you can now trade Trent

Frederick. I think Trent Frederick comes extremely expendable. Mark Kostelik is younger. He's done absolutely everything that you've asked Trent Frederick to do. But Kostelik's done it better this season. Frederick's been virtually invisible. So maybe having to be relied upon less in the fighting department can potentially help

Frederick evolve. But I agree with what you're saying. I would love to see a lot more spiciness to his game that we're seeing. And how do you pronounce his last name? Castellac? Castellac. And I love Frederick and I think it would be awesome for the Bruins to re-sign him, but it doesn't sound like they're anywhere close.

And you know a playoff team would love to add a guy like Trent Frederick Right before a playoff run, so I don't know I I love the deal But I think it could be time to to part ways with Frederick Wow I mean, I mean he's not he's bang on with everything that he says on his podcast I don't think he's missed this year. He probably knows the fucking trade right now. He got Monty fired, dude He's a bad guy. He's a bad Bruins fan. Gee, I mean, Frederick had 17 goals two years ago, 18 last year. I mean, yes, he's only has six through 42 games this year. But it's just like I said with Monty. If you're not close, then you got to get

rid of them. I feel like they do this with all their guys because they're such cheap fucks. Didn't this happen with Jake DeBrust too? They just drag it out. Like fucking Bruins are like headline hog drama queens, man, I'm fucking done with the Bruins. Is anyone shocked Jeremy Jacobs is a cheap fuck? Like wasn't he the reason for the NHL logo? Just fucking throw another 200 seats in the arena

and sign Frederick for fuck sakes. That's what I'm saying, but if they can't come close to a deal by March send him off What do you think Frederick's asking I think Frederick four point five five mil I think before this year He's probably asking for a lot more this year has been tough for him with 17 goals 18 goals I mean he can fight that's a that's a four and a half five mil player Yeah, I think he's a four and a half five year milk milk player, But the Bruins aren't gonna pay him that that's the issue, right? Yeah, that's a good Is he is he four and a half? Yeah, the last two years No doubt tough to have a year like this right now, but he could also turn it around great guy play golf with him

This summer awesome, dude, so I do love the way he plays. Yeah. I mean, the Bruins, they do. They do really every fucking time. Everyone by the way, I was told the Bruins were the and gee, fact check this for me. The Bruins were the only NHL team that didn't have one player playing in the world juniors. Yeah. Yeah, that's correct. I mean, come on, Don's tweeny. What are we doing here? That's not great. Bring up that draft. The three first, the three first rounders. That's correct. I mean, come on, Don Sweeney. What are we doing here? That's not great. Bring up that draft, the three first rounders. That's what everybody always goes back to is how dog shit they're drafting and developing has been since like this regime has taken over. That's tough. Not one guy.

No. And if you're parting ways, if you're going to part ways with Don Sweeney at the end of the season, which there are rumors that could happen, don't know if it will, but if you do- Oh, if you're going to part ways with Don Sweeney at the end of the season, which there are rumors that could happen. Don't know if it will. But if you do, but if you do part ways with Don Sweeney at the end of the season, how do you let him handle this trade deadline? Do you know what I mean? Who's the new Bruins GM? I'll be like this bartender, the greatest bar, Rick, he's a solid dude.

He always knows what's up with the Bees. Jamie Langenbroeder would be an interesting name. I think that's a name I want to keep out there. Jamie Langenbroeder. It's happening. It's happening. Sweeney, come on down. It's your turn for the headline. You're done.

We've got to remember this also, like in the future, if it doesn't happen, because we can't just have this appearing if if if that actually went down. He's clipping at seventy five percent this year, I'd say at least. True, true. How about Keith, your boy, Frankie V, Frankie Vetrano from Springfield. Leonard's going to get that Springfield tattoo, by the way, soon. If people don't remember, Keith, is it the skyline of Springfield, Massachusetts, that the guys from Springfield who've played in the NHL

all have? Yeah, and it is not a great skyline. It's like the Welland skyline. Welland's got a couple nice bridges there because we have the straight canal for the regatta, so it's actually not a bad skyline. God, what were we just talking about? Overtrannied.

So this deal, like is this going to revolutionize the way that deals are signed moving forward here? Is he the first ever hockey player that's deferred money like this and the craziest component to it? Are they saying that the deferred money is not going against the cap? So the cap hit the cap hit is way less based on the deferred money. That's fucking crazy. I'm so... So Seth Jarvis did it on his new deal.

Gee, look up the numbers on Jarvis and what he deferred. Votrano did it. Now, totally different scenario with players like Age and all the things that go into signing a deal. I'm so confused. a deal, I'm so confused. I guess, but Toronto would probably made a little bit more based on the cap hit being lower and the money being deferred. So I get that. If he loves Anaheim, three years, 18 million bucks. Now, 9 million of it is coming in 10 years from now. So the cap, it's 4.57, which helps the team. All right, quickly, Jarvis signed an eight year, 63.2 million dollar contract.

This contract that ends in 2032, this contract will save the Hurricanes 400,000 a season against the salary cap because Jarvis has agreed to defer money each year. That deferral will be paid as a lump sum of 15.67 million upon completion of the contract Wow, okay, so done that it is is Vitrano's the same way or is it being trickled out year over year? My understanding is he would get a payout of nine hundred thousand a year year over here ten years. Yeah, I

just The reason why he's doing it is for the taxes in California. Well, that's obvious. I'm just surprised as to like, is Jarvis is also not going against the cap based on the deferred money? Like that to me. Well, it saved him $400,000 a season. So not book of Toronto.

How is that possible? Like I don't, like that is such a cheat around the salary cap more so than LTIR. I know. Teams like Toronto could say Matthews we're going to pay you Otani type money to keep you for the eight and eight and we're going to defer it all where fuck dude he's from Arizona why the fuck would he want to get paid in Toronto? This is going to happen. No, that's a scenario where I agree you could see something like that happen, but players,

for the most, I would think, I don't want to defer the money because that money is not, in 10 years, $900,000 isn't going to be what it is today. Now, whatever, it's still a lot of money. But if you just invested that money and you got your, you're going to have way more of that money, like come the time that your deal, your pay, your deferred money payment ends. I agree with you there too. But I'll tell you this on Marner's new deal, we're deferring fucking money and he's going to be living in the Cayman Islands in fucking 10 years. I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck. I don't fuck. Marner's having the most boss like you a year after getting dog. If he does, if he plays like this in the playoffs,

he might make 15 million a year. But he's he's going to be living in a shift on the PK against Philly on Sunday when he's going to be living on my book, he's going to be living in my bunkhouse in Jackson, not paying state tax. He is actually I saw another clip of him in warmup. He's doing, he's figure skating, like axle. He'll do like a double axle, no problem. He doesn't give a fuck, dude. Yeah, he's feeling it.

He ain't fucking nervous about a contract here. He's doing it with Matthews being out for a lot of the, he's missed some games this year, right? He's carrying the load for that team. It's impressive to watch watch he's gonna get paid the same amount as Matthews now we've talked about players like when you when you sign a big deal the pressure that ratchets up and then oh you're traded from a small market to a big market like it's a different ballgame they have

three dogs in Nylander Marner and Matthews at least in their regular season in the regular season right now That they are straight up lighting it up with all the pressure in the world on them Like it's pretty impressive to watch these guys. They don't give a guess what's gonna happen to Matthews I'm gonna go on long term. I are Why five points in two games and And it's two games back, back to back. Oh, I thought he was out with the back still. He came back, buddy. Oh, no shit, hey fuck, well I did take

a little bit of a weak break here. Last two games, you're the Leafs guy. I know, I'm about to be out too. And I'm telling you that American hero Austin Matthews came back. I took a break, I took a break. He had a goal and two assists against the Bruins biz, and then he had two assists against Philly. Hey, hey, you know what? You're preparing for the spring. You're taking a little break. You're cruising through the regular season.

Well that and beat the wheels off the Boston Stranglers because I'm fucking training at six a.m. every morning. What are you doing to win a ball hockey championship, Keith? Huh? What are you doing other than eat? Once a day, once a day sweat. Once a day is that. How do we get there? But Toronto and his deal. Oh, yeah, it's revolutionary and we're going to see it a lot more moving forward.

Let's just put it that way, unless they cock block it in the CBA negotiations. That's the only thing that could potentially happen here. What does Otani get on the deferment? Isn't it? He's making a million a year and he signed like a billion dollar deal. I think he's gonna get 600 million. Oh, I think it was 600 million deferred.

Holy shit. I mean, won't they still go after the taxes? No, you move to London or, or I think London's actually where you, you could do it with like a stock. London, England? Yeah. There's a lot of people who go to London to evade paying tax. I think it has to, I think it has to do to, well, England in general, but they, a lot of them end up in London because they would rather live in London, especially if you're making that much money. But that has to do with the way that you quote, unquote are hiding it. There's other places where you go to Cayman Islands and I think it's just a

lot easier. You just have to go, I think Costa Rica another one, where you don't pay any type of tax. So I don't know where Otani is going to be living at, but it ain't going to be in LA. I mean, Otani also, while deferring, it's 680 million he deferred. He's making 2 million a year. And then he deferring his money though, I think he makes 70 million a year on endorsements, say 50. So it's like, he doesn't give a shit. He's still that guy, an insane, insane athlete. I actually like watching baseball when he's in it. I used to like the Red Sox. Now it's just a bummer watching them. But Otani must watch. The New York Rangers guys.

Arthur Kaliyev picked up on waivers by the LA Kings. New York, I kind of like this move. I actually remember first seeing this kid at World Juniors when he was on Team USA. I don't know if it was one or two years. He was a sniper playing in the O, but I guess hasn't really had a chance, or he's had a chance in LA, but they've kind of fell out of love with him, I guess. So I was surprised to see him on waivers. I don't know if you were shocked or surprised to see him get picked up. The missing piece, as I call it.

Yeah. I did. He did not sign in the beginning of this year. Did he kind of hold out for a little bit? I have one point he might have G you need to look it up. I don't know. I thought, I, I thought he, I skated with him before the season started and I thought he said he hadn't signed his deal yet, so maybe they were kind of a

little mad at him about that and, you know, not giving him the playing time, but he has one of the hardest shots I have ever seen. It's like Patrick Lyon a type. He shoots it like Lyon a does. So he's got an absolute cannon of a shot. And I think he could be one of those guys who put him in the right situation. He could, he could score you some goals. Um, yeah, I think the Rangers right now just trying to do anything to stay afloat and find ways to win some games.

And, uh, you know, it does, I don't think it hurts when you, when you're picking a guy up off of waivers who, you know, hopefully can score you some goals and get you back in the, in the wind column. I agree. The missing piece, the piece, the missing piece and get you back in the in the win column. I agree the missing piece the piece The missing piece 825 Tyler Johnston Keith. He did sign in late September. You're right. You're right Uh, khl guys

It's russia. That's how you describe it. It's russia. Um Nikita dynak dynak His phone fell out of his equipment in the middle of the game during shift. I was, oh, the part where the ref skating over to the bench and I'm like, Oh no, is somebody going to claim that thing? And then, Oh, the look on his face. He was just so embarrassed. So dejected. I will say though, did you see the post game presser where he explained what happened?

He was very believable in his delivery and had some funny things. He said, you think he's full of shit? I think he seemed pretty, uh, pretty genuine, pretty genuine. Actually, I didn't want to make it. I don't want to make the league look bad and stuff like that. I thought that he went from being funny about it to then like saying, Hey, like this league is not a joke. I'm not trying to treat it as such. I hope that the, the, the, the higher ups have leniency on me, on me based on like, he thinks he probably gets suspended or at

least fine from the, the whole ordeal, but just a crazy situation. Then we got murals chiming in in the group tech saying that he thinks he was, he said he played with a guy who was dealing with a breakup and he had, he brought his phone on the bench during the game where he was kind of going back and forth, trying to salvage the relationship. That is fucking crazy. Yeah. I never heard that either.

I swear to God, I used to see you on the bench setting up parties for after the game. Yeah, well that was part of my job. But the coach knew, he let you do it. That was part of my job. I was tweeting in the, I was allowed to tweet in the third cause I could untie my skates cause I knew

I wasn't getting a shift. Live from the bench, Biz Nasty. I think it's unbelievable. Where's the spot tonight? If that was my phone and it fell out of my pocket and the refs skating by, I would have grabbed it and thrown it in the stands and been like, who the fuck has their phone out here?

And then like, hopefully they don't look at the back screen and see my family. Oh my God, that would have been like, who the fuck has their phone out here? And then like, hopefully they don't look at the back screen and see my family. Oh my God, that would have been, imagine Michelle Tarian if your phone fell in the middle of the game. I think you're possibly, like yeah, suspended, suspended. Keith, you were telling me earlier, Biz, I don't know if you've ever told me this,

that the John Scott year of him being voted into the All-Star game and then like the story came from it, that was happening for you prior to that at one point and the league shut it down? Yeah, remember they were voting? Yeah, because you could vote in, they had the fan vote and you were like at the top and the... I don't know if it was... I don't remember that. No? No.

I think that I was getting some like sympathy Ah, I don't remember that. No? No. I don't know, maybe I just thought it. I think that I was getting some like sympathy votes, I'm sure, and people were trying to make a joke of it. Yeah, yeah, that's what it was. It wasn't for real. I think it might have even been the year after that that all happened. And I was like, no, no, no,

we're not doing this again kind of thing. So no, that never happened. I think what he's meant was, is I was a two-time ECHL all-star baby back to back. I was a Looking like all my car out there on the ECHL ice much like you saw on the ice with Connor Bedard at the Winter Classic That's what Keith Yano was talking about the same guy who's gonna show up to Boston at the Chick Classic. That's what Keith Yando was talking about. The same guy who's gonna show up to Boston

at the Chicklets Cup and light your ass up, boy! Are you ready for this? It ain't gonna happen, but as you're coming on my soil, you're already fucking scared, texting me on the- I'm gonna reverse fucking World Junior, you bitch. You came on fucking Canadian soil and take a World Junior from us? and take a World Junior from us? You take a World Junior from us on our turf? I'm coming back for vengeance, bitch!

Chicklets Cup, I'm coming for you, Keith! Watch your neck, motherfucker! I might even get a Canadian goalie just to show you that it's not the goaltending in Canada. Joey DeCourt, I think it's still up in the air where he's actually from. No, he's from Boston. Guys, I would, I would just like to say Keith was not wrong. I'm reading an article about this right now and I can read it to you guys if you want, but it says Paul Bissonnette or he's as he's often referred to as Biz Nasty. And this is on Howlin Hockey has found himself in the center of an online campaign for getting him to the all-star game, though he has stated via his Twitter that he'll be the first player ever made

to be a healthy scratch for the All-Star game, I don't think this will stop fans from trying to vote him on to the team. This sounds like it was pretty legit. Yeah, what in John Scott was John Scott got voted on to the All-Star game. I think he was on the coyote. So it was way after we were there. This this was 2010. So we were doing chiclets when John Scott was voted on. Okay. So this was five years. And maybe it came in and Batman came in and he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Maybe it was a side show at the game.

Imagine maybe it was in the season where I was a top 10 player in the league at points per 60 minutes, which is nothing to do with your play. It had absolutely nothing to do with your play. It was all had to do with your following on words that just came out of my mouth. Need alcohol looked all starish. Thank you. The dump in after and then the broken stick part of the shift after and like that probably didn't look legit all-star-ish. Thomas, I'll vote with when he found out. I don't control my ice time. I never have. I'm a team player. Top 10 in the league in points per 60 minutes played. Which one of you have that on your

fucking resume? Huh? Tell me. Go do some research. Go call vote which one he found out. Go call Jazz from TNT to look up some numbers for you. Top 10, baby. How quick can Jazz get a stat for you, Biz? If you were to text him, is he just like lightning getting stats back? He doesn't sleep. Yeah. Three minutes. He knows every sport, too. I was talking about every sport. He's watching them all. Animal. What's your next TNT game, Biz? I have this weekend off.

That's why I'm taking a little break, a little, you know, get back in the training regimen, do a little me. I'm moving into my house kind of slowly but surely have a lot of things to clean up on. What do you- Office is coming together. Office is coming and guess what showed up? My twig. Oh.

For those of you watching- our Spittin' Chicklets YouTube channel. Show the down the line view of the curve on that thing for the follow-up. Sure, and for those of you who are listening to this and not watching, you can check it out. I don't know what the fucking timestamp will be, but it will be on a Spittin' Chicklets YouTube channel.

370,000 subscribers now, folks. Another big deal. And here is what Gretzky's Hespler looked like. So you kind of caught it, right? I'll hand it over to you. You were like, no, I think he was using ultralights in last year plan. I just remembered him using like, yeah, an Easton that said Gretzky on it. And then we were looking at the pictures of like, I just Googled Gretzky's last year in New York images and he had all the Easton and then boom, there was a picture with the

Hespler. That's stick. So we were both right. I don't know if we, did we talk about this last week? I forget. We did. We're going to mention it again though. We're at the back half of the pod.

Some people might've missed it, but he purchased the company Hespler and On his last game on Canadian soil, which was in Ottawa he used eight different twigs that he taped up and and had as like artifacts and Wayne was was great for nice enough to surprise me with one at the live show now I'm gonna hang it up behind me, and then this is what else I have getting hung up underneath it. The Gretzky.

Yeah, the OG one. It still has the tape on it. Like, or the sticker. Wait, that's the one from your birthday, Christmas? No. No, no. I told that story, and a guy who has a shop in Halifax

whose buddies with Steven Dixon. Steven Dixon texted me. He goes, hey, that guy heard your story and he's seen the photo and he has one of these around and he's never used it, never opened it, still has the god damn sticker on it. For 29 bucks. $30.

For a one piece, or a two piece hockey stick back then with the blade. That's how cheap hockey twigs were back then. That's the blade that you put over the stove, put over the fire a little bit and curve it up. Keep it on. Oh, heat gun it. That thing, so you're going, yeah,

you're going right one on top of the other. So this one will be below, or no, sorry, that one will be below and on the bottom left will be a picture of his last year where he's using the ultra light, but then a photo next to it of him with the Hespler to explain the story. And then top, there'll be the stick on the right top side.

And then the picture of me when I was a kid, right there up there. And that'll be my little Gretzky's basement. That's a backdrop right there. To fill it in too, I will give you one of my sticks from when I smash you in the Chicklets Cup. The stick that I use to beat you. I will personally sign it and give it to you and you can put it right next to that Wayne Gretzky stick. Buddy, I'm going to be bringing this wood one and you're going to be leaving there with no front teeth. That's what's going to happen. That thing will be gone from, that thing will be gone from and sold in, in three minutes

at this Chicklets Cop and Boss. Oh yeah. Three minutes max. I'm actually selling it to afford George St. Pierre to come down to put some of your, your, your teammates in arm bars and neck bars. How do we get in touch with George St. Pierre before we go to Montreal for Four Nations? Maybe your Sugar Sean guy has some sort of... Oh, you've you chatted with him. Maybe we could do all those training videos, those

fighting... you have to do a fighting training. I'll be the ref. I'll be the ref. With Kettlebell Cal. We'll do a full three-hour workout. I don't have much else. I don't know what else was in the other one. No, no. The last thing's, it's kind of tough news, but we want to shout out somebody in the hockey world that's going through a lot. Rapid City Rush's head coach, Scott Burt, the Rapid City Rush play in the East Coast Hockey League. He underwent emergency brain surgery on December 6th, and he will start chemo Thursday after a recent tumor diagnosis and he needs help so we posted the GoFundMe. Just kind of really tough news to see within the hockey world and if you want to you know help out there's a way to do that. Cancer is the fucking worst and everyone everyone

knows that and and right now a person in our world's hurting so just wanted to bring up his name and wish him the best and Yeah, kind of a tough way to end the show, but we're thinking of them And I don't know if you guys had anything else yeah to piggyback that with another brutal email We got today from Dave Portnoy regarding a barstool employee as well. I can jump in here and talk about Stanko. I worked a lot with him and behind the scenes, he's a guy who, he helped us out a ton. Every stream we do, he's there. He's part of the most hardworking team at Barstool Sports, which is the control room guys. Every late night stream, every football game, every Sunday, these guys, they're always in the control room, always making sure we get on air.

So, Stanko was always, a lot of those Bruins playoff streams we were doing at the Barstool office in New York, Stanko was always the guy behind the scenes helping us out. So, it's awful, awful news. It's rocked the Barstool office. And yeah, you know, our thoughts are with, you know, he got married this summer. Oh, brutal.

Yeah, so our thoughts are with, you know, his wife, his family, everyone, really. It's just it's it's horrible, horrible news. What happened? Stomach cancer, stomach cancer. So it's it's just it's another reminder for everyone out there to go get checked as well. Like any opportunity you have, go to the doctor, go get checked because it saved your life. Yeah, just horrible news.

Saw that email. It's just, yeah, Dave said it's, you know, something this first time, something in the Barstool family, like something like this is happening. You know, we've lost somebody. And just just the times I was able to meet him so friendly, so helpful, like you said, just married. It's like, oh, yeah, that's a horrible news. So we're thinking of his family and everyone else out there. Yeah, hug your loved ones and appreciate every day. So it's a tough way to end it. But I hope everyone out there has a great week and we'll see

you next week. I don't know any other way Even enough to go away I don't know any other way This feeling is so hard to break I'll get you someday