The Athletic Hockey Show - Alex Formenton turns himself into police, vibes are low for Blue Jackets, and can Matthews reach the 70 goal plateau this season?

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

Ian Mendes and Mark Lazerus discuss the latest news on the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal, with former NHL player Alex Formenton becoming the first of five members of the 2018 world junior team to turn himself into police. The guys talk about the Edmonton Oilers 16 game win streak, Auston Matthews reaching the 40 goal mark in his 46th game and the mess of a season in Columbus with Patrick Laine entering the NHL/NHLPA Assistance Program, David Jiricek voicing frustration at his AHL demotion and Elvis Merzlikins requesting a trade for a team that had brighter prospects before the Mike Babcock incident derailed their season before it even began.Eric Loh, NHL on ESPN Programming & Acquisitions Senior Manager joins Mark and Ian to chat about the broadcasting landscape in sport, new innovations on the horizon for ESPN, growing the game and he takes listener questions.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome to it, everybody. It is your Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. As always, it's Ian Mendez here sitting in one of the co-host chairs. And it's Mark Lazarus doing a little pinch hitting for Julian McKenzie here. I think, did we give you a pinch hitter name? Like, what was the pinch hitter name we gave you last time? I think I chose Lee Mizzily because I wanted to wear the tight pants.

Lee Mizzily, that's right. There we go. Mark Lazarus stepping in as Lee Mozilla and anybody under the age of 38, 40 is like, who the hell? It's almost too old a reference for me, frankly. I was like three years old when Lee Mozilla was a deal. Exactly. So the two of us are with you for this Monday edition of the pod. We're excited to have a little bit later, Eric Lowe, who works with ESPN in programming and acquisitions.

And for anybody watching us live here on YouTube, if you have any questions related to Broadcasting in the United States, ESPN, the cable package, all that stuff. Fire it in to us. We can try to get that over to Eric. We're looking forward to having that conversation. But I think, you know, last, we probably should start with the most, what's the word here? I guess newsworthy story of the weekend. And full credit goes to the Globe and Mail newspaper up here in Canada.

They were the first report about the five players from Team Canada's 2018 World Junior Hockey Team team that would be charged in London, Ontario. Alex Formington's lawyer sent me an email, Las, on Sunday, and I'll just read it out verbatims, as quote, the London police have charged several players, including Alex Formington, in connection with an accusation made in 2018. Alex will vigorously defend his innocence, ask that people not rush to judgment without hearing all of the evidence. That is from Alex's lawyer, Daniel Brown, sent that via email. So what I want to get into, though, is the column you wrote last week, because when you wrote the column last week, Laz,

we didn't quite know exactly who the names were. We know at least one of them now is Alex Foremanton, his lawyer has said, he's been charged. And I want to go back to the crux of your column because I actually think not all columns, Las, translate well into podcast form, but yours does because it was opinionated. It came from a thoughtful place.

And I'm wondering for the people that didn't have a chance to read it, what was your message that you were trying to convey as it pertains to Hockey Canada? You know, the fact that we're getting names put to this, I think changes the way it's perceived, right? It's been very easy for hockey fans to kind of pretend this is something that's going on in the background, that it's not a current story, that it's not something they need to think about. But now it's going to be, I mean, we kind of know the names, but we don't officially know the names, right? obviously, Formington's the first to become official. But when suddenly it's someone whose jersey you own, when suddenly it's someone who you've cheered, when it's someone you know and watched on TV,

it becomes a little more real, right? A little more tangible. It's not this esoteric, you know, you know, thing off in the distance in the back of your mind. It's much more front and center now. And that's going to really, I hope, I hope. And I, you know, I was openly wondering in the column because I don't have a lot of faith in this sport sometimes.

But I'm hoping that that reality will, kind of force and compel some of the changes that we've that you and i and a lot of people have been talking about for a long time about fixing this broken hockey culture where we raise these boys into young men who who feel they're above the law they're they're treated like gods in the time they're 11 years old they're they're put in these insular locker rooms and they never have they never mean anybody outside their own team the same coaches the same teammates for years and years and years they don't go to a regular high school they don't go to college and and at 18 19 years old they think they're just untouchable and privileged.

And they do horrible things to each other, to other people, to women. And I'm hoping that maybe the reality of this, when it's names you know, when it's NHL players and the math says there has to be NHL players here, right? Five players charge only two players on that entire World Junior Team Canada did not make it to the NHL. So these are names people know. And I'm hoping that that reality will kind of be the wake up call of this sport needs to really make some changes in the way that it goes about particularly raising young hockey players.

You know what I, and it's so well put, right? Because there is an institutional issue at play here. And it's hockey Canada, obviously the governing body for hockey in, in the country that I live in, that there's a culture of silence.

And I think it was the perfect kind of storm of power and silence. And, you know, all of these things came together. And I'm hoping, like you said, that we can detonate some of those. Dan Ropeson put it perfectly in his column the other day about how it's just time and time and time again. Everyone in power from hockey candidate to the government to the police, none of them stood up and did the right thing. And this is what we saw with the Blackhawks with Kyle Beach. Nobody had the fortitude, the moral authority to stand up and do the right thing.

We've seen this in hazing incidents in the past. We've seen this in other assaults in the past. it's just this like you said the culture of silence is a really good way to put it yeah we protect the team and not the people the team is hurting and you know it's important that Monday February 5th so exactly one week from today seven days from now the police department in London Ontario will host a press conference and last I mean you've you've covered you're like me you've covered sports and you've been around you're kind of a bit of a news junkie like like I am have you ever seen an entity and in this

case, the police department, announce a press conference basically 14 days in advance. Like I don't ever, like for something newsworthy, I don't think I've ever seen this. And I think it speaks to the magnitude, the public interest, all of these elements that are going to come to the forefront on Monday. I don't think I've ever seen that. It's really, usually it's like we're calling a press conference in an hour or tomorrow morning, two weeks in advance. It's crazy.

I don't know if that's because they want to give the, the, those being charged time to surrender, time to whatever it is, but it's a very unusual way of doing business here. And all it does is just amp up the speculation more, right? You got two weeks of speculation. Everyone's trying to figure out who it is. You go into the comment section of my column and Dan's column and everyone's name and names because it's just, that's the world we live in on the internet is there is no patience for these kinds of things.

So it almost, it feels like one more misstep, doesn't it? Like, let's just add fuel to the fire for two more weeks for no reason at all, right? Yeah. And, you know, I think it's interesting. So I wrote a piece on Formanton that ran Sunday afternoon, and the comments section was disabled. And that was a direct. And I'm okay to have these conversations. I think transparency is the key.

And I'm okay with that. Like, I'll be honest with you. I went into your comment section and Dan Robson's. Yeah, the comments were open on Dan's too. And I just thought, wow. Like, what are we doing here? Like, as you know, Twitter or X or whatever if you want to call it. That's essentially one big comment section, right?

That's all that is. And I don't know where, like, I don't know where I stand on comment sections because I don't want people to think that I'm like, you know, suppressing your right to express your opinion. It's not that. I just don't know what we're adding sometimes on comment sections on these types of stories. Now, you want to talk about, you know, Chicago and why, like, just from a hockey perspective,

Connor Bardard in the Calder Trophy, you want to have the comments open for that. so Minnesota fans can jump in and say, no, no, Brock Faber is the guy. That's okay. It still turned into a set full of comments about other topics, too. Anyway, when you do that. Yeah, but I think in these cases, I don't know where you stand on this,

I'm okay with the comments being turned off. I really am. The comment section in almost everything I write is such a waste of space now at this point because of all the various things that we touch on. I think you experienced this to some degree too. But I guess if I put my editor hat on right now, if I go back to a previous life,

And if a topic, my column was a column. It was an opinion piece, right? And if I'm allowed to talk on it, then so should our readers. Whereas yours, that particular one was a news. Straight news. So if you're writing a news piece, it doesn't require the comments. We don't need to comment on the facts, but you can comment on my opinion. You can comment on Dan's opinion.

I think that's probably the way we're looking at it. I haven't talked to anybody in the company about it, but I feel like that's probably the logic behind it. And there's some, that makes sense to me. you know, if you're writing an opinion piece, not just here is, because you don't want to have people commenting on facts and trying to spin them their own way. You wrote a fact. Yep. And, you know, I wrote an opinion.

And you've written plenty of opinion columns and you've seen what the comment section becomes. But I think that's the idea that if we can talk about it, then they should be able to talk about it too. Yeah. And that's absolutely fair. And, you know, so I'm working with Chris Johnston on something for this. Like, we want to look at, you know, instances where what happens when NHL players have been charged criminally. Like what,

what is history say? And you know what, when we were digging up the story? You know what I completely forgot about? Was Samian Varlamov. Right. With the avalanche was charged with kidnapping. And I think it was third degree domestic assault or domestic violence.

Yeah. And the NHL allowed him to travel and play with the avalanche for two months while the charges were like he had been charged. Charges eventually got dropped. But I think it just shows you that was 11 years ago. I don't know what the NFL's reaction is going to be to this. I would just say I would be very surprised if any current NHL players, if they are charged criminally by the London police on Monday,

I don't see a path to them playing in the NHL this season. I see a suspension. But again, that's my opinion. That's an educated guess, right? Yeah, I mean, you know, we like to think that we move forward and that we get better at this. Patrick Kane played during his whole while his whole, you know, sexual assault you know,

investigation was going on, right? That was a civil trial. Was it not? Right. It was civil and not. The Blackhawks took a lot of criticism for that for allowing him to play during that and trotting him out during training camp to big ovations and stuff. The optics were very bad on that. And it's something that every team, you know,

the league has to weigh now, you know, as we move toward a society who, you know, thankfully is starting, to believe women more. You need to let the justice system take its course. And sometimes that means sitting someone. And I know there's innocence until proven guilty, of course. But there has to be some rationale behind whether you let a guy play through that or not. Well, like I said, throughout the course of this week and in the next week,

we will certainly have a lot to handle with hockey Canada. And we will be on top of it with the athletic. As I mentioned, Eric Lowe, senior manager of programming and acquisitions. The NHL on ESPN is set to join the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. So I think we got him. There we go. We got him. Eric, welcome to you.

Mark, good to see you. How are you today? Hey, we are great. Thanks for taking the time because, you know, I was just saying the lot, like, Lazz and I are both kind of, you know, we're news junkies, we're hockey junkies. I grew up, like I love that old NHL on ESPN theme song for back of the day. That was my ringtone on my phone for like 15 years. Was it really? Oh, love it.

So we're super happy to have you on because, you know, we want to pick your brain on some, you know, broadcasting topics. And I'm going to start with this one because, and this is going to be my Canadian bias coming through. But I'm curious, Eric, if you look at the NHL right now and if you ask people who are, you know, two or three of the biggest stars in the game, I think. the answer would be Connor McDavid and Austin Matthews. I think they're certainly in the top five, those two guys. Hands down. Yeah. So how do you guys as an American network balance? We got to showcase the biggest stars of the game, but uh-oh, they play for Edmonton and Toronto. How do you,

how do you guys navigate that as an American broadcaster? Well, it's certainly a balance, right? Not having the home markets here in the U.S. certainly plays a factor in terms of viewership, but that doesn't mean we ignore them all together. They are electric players. They're the faces of the league. They'll certainly be on display this weekend in Toronto. And from our perspective, the way we treat the Oilers and the Leafs in particular is we always try to identify their dates when they travel here domestically. Earlier this year, when the Oilers made their trip through the tri-state area, they took on the Devils, the Islanders, and the Rangers, three games and four nights.

and seemingly they haven't lost since they came back against the Devils in Newark. You know, we try to identify those opportunities to showcase the high-quality talent that these guys are, especially with the Maple Leafs, we picked them for a game when they took on the Capitals in October, when we did the first ever frozen frenzy. And the Maple Leafs at the Capitals in the 6 o'clock window for us was the most viewed NHL game involving a Canadian team on cable since 2017. So the name and brand recognition of both McDavid and the Oilers and Matthews and the Maple Leafs, I think is translating for US TV audiences. We just need to be strategic as to how we pick those games and where we slot them on the schedule.

Why wouldn't you be able to put a Maple Leafs Oilers game on American TV? Those are the two, and Austin Matthews being an American star and all that. Like, what is it just, there needs to be a floor with a certain audience. Like if you have the sabers, if you have the Bruins, if you have the Rangers, if you have the Blackhawks, there's a certain floor to the ratings. Is that one of the factors? Do you think you would, I mean, would it be a disaster if you put two Canadian teams on there? No, it wouldn't be a disaster.

It would be great hockey. I think the, um, the thing we're always balancing here at ESPN is we have a wide variety and a huge portfolio of, of content rights. here. We're the worldwide leader in sports for a reason. We cover seemingly every sport there is. And finding the availability to get a game on TV that syncs up with the NHL calendar can be a challenge at times. For us, we're always trying to figure out those opportunities. And on ESPN Plus, for us here in the States, we have a product called NHL PowerPlay on ESPN Plus so that if you're an American fan that wants to watch the Oilers against the Leafs,

it's a blackout free national telecast on ESPN Plus at the tip of your fingertips. So would we love to get them on TV? Sure. But do we have options for fans to be able to see it if they really wanted to see that matchup? ESPN Plus is that destination for fans here in the United States. In that same vein, how do you balance the need? for having known commodity teams. Like, you know, your predecessor, NBC Sports leaned very heavily on Chicago during those glory

years and the Rangers and the Bruins and the Caps, Ovetkin, Crosby, all that. And the need to develop fan interest in like Florida and Dallas, two are the best teams in the league that probably are not terribly attractive to a TV, a national TV audience. Well, I think it's twofold, right? The Panthers last year went on a absolutely magical run and they captured audiences here, especially game seven against the Bruins in the first round, I think it topped over three and a half million viewers for our friends over at T&T with game seven on that Sunday night. And developing those brands, I think, you know, the Panthers for us are a team.

We're obviously keeping an eye on. We have them in prime time against the Rangers in March on ABC for an eight o'clock game that we're certainly excited about. Matthew Cachuck has certainly turned himself into a star, a good American-born hockey player there, and developing those names and turning them into household names and achieving the brand recognition between them and their franchise as part of the promotion process for us. So we're obviously always keeping an eye on those new and up-and-coming stars. Connor Bedard for us with the Blackhawks certainly helped elevate.

opening week for us where we had the Blackhawks and the penguins on opening night in the eight o'clock window. That was the most watched indoor regular season hockey game on record. So for us, it was perfect, right? You have him going to an original six market. But yes, to your point, getting those brand names to elevate the called middle tier of franchises for U.S. hockey audiences. That's obviously part of our promotional process here as we work through the second half of the regular season. You know, Eric, something I've always wanted to ask a network executive when it comes to hockey is,

I've watched how Major League Baseball has really embraced the wildcard play in. And it's sort of, it feels like it's made for TV. Sure. And I'm wondering, what's the appetite or is there, has there ever been a push from ESPN or as you call them your friends over at TNT, to maybe push the NHL towards,

guys, it would be amazing theater, play-in games, made for TV, game 83. Is that something that would be palpable for ESPN? Well, look, any sort of scheduling-related conversations about adding games to schedule is obviously a league and an NHL Players Association conversation. You know, from our perspective, I think the regular season in the National Hockey League is great. The 82 games,

every point matters, is a big part of the drama coming down the stretch. Last year, we all remember, Pittsburgh had to beat Columbus and Chicago to get into the postseason, and they failed to do so. And as a result,

you had one of the most magical wild rides ever in Stanley Cup playoff history with the Panthers upsetting the Bruins in the first round and going all the way to the cup final. I think what we did look at in the offseason heading into this current year was implementing this frozen frenzy concept where you had 16 games scheduled on a night where every team was in action and you stagger the

start times to create a mini hockey holiday for fans not only here in the U.S. but in Canada. And I think it was met with tremendous fanfare and it's something that we're looking to continue to work towards maybe doing it multiple times next year to try to innovate the scheduling of the NHL regular season without having to go down adding more games to the schedule. We all know it's a grind for a lot of the players, 82 games. It goes over the course of six to seven months. I think the frozen frenzy is something that we can maybe continue to innovate and build upon to create those mini tent poles that drives casual fan interest throughout the regular season.

And I'll also add, I think, the in-season tournament on the NBA, which is kind of what everyone's comparing it to. I think it solved a problem for the NBA, which was guys were kind of taking nights off for rest issues. And as you guys know, in the NHL, it's a badge of honor to play every game. And they really try to make sure they're in the lineup for every game, regardless of it's game 7 or game 82. And I think the in-season tournament on the NBA solved an issue there that I don't think there's an issue in the NHL. You mentioned staggered start times. That is a real sticking point for, you know, the sickos.

out there that like watching every hockey and not just their own team. The ESPN plus surfers that every game starts at the same time so they all go to intermission at the same time. How much influence does ESPN and I guess TNT have in maybe massaging that a little bit? Because I know that that's decided by the individual

teams. The Blackhawks one year went to 7 o'clock starts. I loved it. The fans who live in the suburbs complained about it and the 100 level was half empty every game so they went back to 730 starts, which I hate it. But how much influence do you have on that? Can like nudge the nchl in that direction or not well we made a strategic uh for a strategic approach and

decision on our nchl uh on espm plus exclusive games this year where as you guys know there's typically a gluttony of seven o'clock eastern time zone games that all begin at the same time and the first and second air missions all hit at the same time and you're kind of sitting there wondering up is there another game on and there isn't so for us when we're doing an eastern time zone game exclusively on ESPN Plus, we specifically put that game time at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time to allow for the fan who is a subscriber to ESPN Plus to be able to bounce around from game to game so that there's nonstop hockey action. And early returns for us are showing that people are staying within the ESPN plus ecosystem longer and watching hockey longer than they were last year as a result of that decision.

So for us, we think there's a way to work with the game times to allow for more continuous hockey action to happen. We also work with TNT and our friends north of the border at Rogers when it comes to the first round of the Stanley Cup playoff schedule where you have upwards of four games per night. If we have a double header or TNT has a double header, we try to stagger it so that it's game times at 7 and 9.30 Eastern time. and then the other network will have them at 7.30 and 10, which allows for that ability to go from game to game and keep up with all the live action. As you guys know, the hockey in April is so much different than the hockey in October.

On the other head, I will speak for the entire central time zone. We hate, hate those 8.50 p.m. local time starts. Hate them more than anything in the world, just so you know. I recognize it. He's got it. Don't worry. Good for everybody else in the country, but we hate them. them. Actually, Eric, we've got a couple of questions from our viewers here who are kind of watching

along with us here. This one comes in from a username, Apress. And the question is, can we get rid of the live sports audio that plays on repeat during commercial breaks on ESPN Plus? Now, being in Canada, I'm not privy to this, but Laz is laughing. It's seared into my brain. He knows what it is. So here we go.

It seems like the promotion's working. No, I think, look. To be honest, there are some heavier users of ESPN Plus than most. And as a result, there are some times where the commercial inventory can max out. And as a result, you end up with that audio and that slate that comes through from time to time. So I appreciate the fans watching very much. And we'll certainly look into trying to make sure that it doesn't happen as often in the future. For the record, I watch a lot of MLB.tv and it's the same thing.

They don't show the local commercials, so you just get these kind of like either the same two ads on loop or like the same promotion on loop. And it just becomes white noise after all. We'll we'll survive that. Yeah. Okay. We got another question here from Michael who's got a broadcasting question. He says with the Bally Diamond sports situation and all the games being available on ESPN Plus, do you see this potentially, Eric, leading to the end of blackout restrictions? I think it's too soon to say.

The media landscape continues to evolve. seemingly on almost like a daily basis with with regards to these RSN situations and I think it remains to be seen. I think there's certain RSNs that are obviously thriving. There are other RSNs that are kind of going through the process here. And I don't know if I can say definitively if they're going to go away or not. Okay. We're going to sneak in one more question from a viewer last.

I got one too. That's all. Oh, let me ask this one on behalf of Riley. who says, I love outdoor hockey, Eric. But the NHL has seemed to drop the ball with the winner Heritage Classic Outdoor Series. How can the NHL get U.S. interest in big events like that? Well, I think, to be honest,

I'm really looking forward to our second half of the season where we actually have two outdoor games this year happening within 20 hours of each other, where the stadium series is at MetLife Stadium where you have Flyers, Devils, and then Rangers Islanders on consecutive days. You know, fingers crossed, we get a good weather weekend in New York and New Jersey so that we don't have to worry about weather delays or anything like that.

But I honestly think that the more outdoor games that take place, it only helps fuel the fire for additional outdoor games in the future. And I would think that over time as the, and I believe you guys saw it this year, at least here in the U.S., TNT picked up the Heritage Classic and just, distributed here in the States on, I think it was late October on a Sunday night here in the States, which I don't think has happened previously. So I do think there's interest. We know that the outdoor game, outdoor regular season games out deliver the norm in terms of what a regular game would do. So from my perspective, the more big viewership events we can get on TV, the better

off we are as an industry. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't sports betting fall under your purview a little bit as well. A little bit, yeah. How do you, how do you about like, like I am, I love gambling. I'm a big table guy. I don't bet on sports. I haven't since I was younger. Sure. How do you balance the, the need to get all this out there and it's a big part of the business. Now, we partner at the athletic with, you know, with, I think it's a at MGM. Yeah, make sure I get that right, MGM. And you guys have your own thing going on now. Like, how do you balance the need to promote all that and to put all the odds and not turn people off? Because a lot of people are just like, I don't care.

I don't know what this means. There's a lot of people that don't understand what a puck line is. Sure. And they feel like they're being bombarded with it at all times. How do you walk that fine line? I think to your point, it is a very fine line. You don't want to alienate the viewer that just wants to watch the game itself. But because of the way it's evolving here in the States with over half the country now,

having legalized sports betting, I do think there is an inherent educational process. that needs to take place so that people do get more familiar with it. You know, over in Europe, it's old half. Right. They have it on during all their soccer matches and it's on during golf and it's just a part of the culture and we're still in its infancy here in the United States. And I think, you know, early on in the process, it's all about awareness play for brands of draft kings, ESPN, bad, fan duel, et cetera.

And I think over time it will start to normalize a little bit and people will start to understand it a little bit more. I think, but to your point, Mark, it is, there is a fine line. The last thing you want to do is turn people off from the beauty of live sports, which is destination viewing for a lot of people. What you want to do is turn people off because you're not actually talking about the actual who wins and loses. You're talking about what the guys in the desert are saying who wins and loses. And that's sometimes a vastly different equation. That's the Al Michael sneak, you know, that's what we call that. you know the out micha's the the uh the late touchdown a lot of people were real happy about that last

yeah that's overwhelming yeah exactly um hey got one more question from a a live viewer here eric and sarah wants to know who do you think could be some of the most marketable players in the united states you know you had mentioned matt kachuk earlier sure who are some of the players the i hl right now you feel like you know what with the sp nspan we can market this guy or these guys to our audience to help grow the game. Jason Robertson. Jason Robertson. Well, Jason Robertson was going to be on my short list. I think Jack Hughes is another one who, and obviously his brother Luke and his other brother,

they're everywhere, right? The brothers seem to be taking over the NHL. But I do think Jack in particular in New Jersey, he's a special player. He's definitely going to be part of that franchise for years to come. And I just can't help but think that he won't be, you know, once we get to 20, 26 and we'll see if the Winter Olympics were to come to be with the NHL participating. There's no doubt that those two guys, including and then Jason Robertson on top of those three should be front and center as part of Team USA moving forward. I know it's kind of hockey tradition. Always look at what international rosters would look like should it come to be.

and, you know, it just, it feels like we're on the, at least here in the U.S., we're on the precipice of like the golden age for, for U.S.-born hockey players to get on the ice together, suit up together, potentially go win a gold medal together. Yeah, no, it's going to be fun. And that right now, I think if you did best on best, boy, it's hard not to say the Americans wouldn't be, wouldn't be the same. We got the goal-tending. Yeah, absolutely. And the offense and the defense, everything.

So, hey, listen, Eric, before we let you go, I grew up a huge Montreal, Canadians fan. Las was a New York Islanders fan. I can tell in the way that you speak, you're a hockey guy, you're a hockey guy. Who is your team growing up? Who is your team? Who is your guy growing up? You know, at the start of this interview, Laz and I were getting along, but I grew up a Rangers fan. I'm matured. Don't worry. I'm getting better. No, I grew up a New York Rangers fan grew up outside of New York City. My dad has been splitting partial season tickets since I was in diapers. And growing up, I played hockey and I had the opportunity to play at Madison Square

Garden as a mite before a Rangers game. The Rangers played the Blackhawks that night. And I still remember being up in the stands, watching the game after playing on the ice that afternoon. And it just stuck with me. And I'm a Rangers fan at heart now. Hard thought that. I can't argue with that.

That's pretty cool. So it was like Brian Leachier guy? Who was your guy? Brian Leach, Mark Messier, Richter. I mean, we could just run down the entire roster. These are all like, four-letter words in my brain still. Yeah, I was going to say, Las just, yeah. Yeah.

That's it. Oh, boy. Kovalev, Nemchinoff, Jay Wells. We'll just go down the whole roster. I saw Sam Rosen was in Ottawa on the weekend. And I just see, and I just love that voice, right? Because you just think of Rangers hockey. All, are playing all.

Yeah, it has been now working in the business. You know how hard some of those play-by-play guys and analysts work behind the scenes. It is a treat to be able to see Sam Rosen calling Ranger games for as long as he's done them. And he still has his fastball. It's a power play goal never gets old. Yeah. No, it's awesome. It sounds great.

Hey, listen, Eric, thanks for dropping by. It's always fun to have these conversations about the state of broadcasting and, you know, ways to grow the game. all that stuff. So we appreciate you dropping by the podcast here. Appreciate you guys. Have a good one. All right. You too. There goes Eric Lowe. He is the, make sure I get his title right here as I think about. What did I say? Senior manager programming and acquisitions, NHL on ESPN. This TV people always have the longest job titles, I swear.

Yeah. But that was great. And you know, you could tell, you could just tell right away. I'm like, yeah, this guy's a hockey guy. Like, you can tell. Like, and that's why it was like, I want to pick his brain a little bit on on who we grew up watching. So if, you can only sell that about ESPN. I know ESPN gets a lot of flack from fans for, you know,

they only cover the NBA in the NFL, but everyone I know at ESPN is like a huge hockey. There's like this hockey culture inside of ESPN that's been waiting to come out. And it's been fun for it to watch them actually get hockey and have all these people have an outlet for it now. So if you were, if I, Laz, I told you,

you could cobble together your best, all time play-by-play team. So I'm going to give you your play-by-play and your analyst. If you want for fun, you can throw it a ringside reporter. But I'm going to give you, and I'd love to hear from our listeners on this. If you're watching, give us your dream team that you would put together. I mean, it's Doc and Eddie. It's always going to be Doc and Eddie.

I grew up watching Devils games just because I could in New York, just because I wanted to listen to Doc Emrick. Like he is, he is the number one guy. He is the Vin Scully of hockey. He's the, you know, John Madden of how, whatever you want to call him, he's the voice of hockey to me. I'm partial, Eddie's a friend of mine. I'm incredibly biased in there.

So that's, but I think Doc and Eddie had that chemistry together. Eddie's got the right mix of knowledge and goofiness that you need in a color commentator. I'm a big Ray Ferraro fan. I think he does a really nice job in between the benches. It's, I mean, at the top of my head, I mean, that might be my trio. I know it's modern. I grew up with like Jiggs McDonald and Eddie Westfall, and I'm very partial to them. but I think we were really spoiled for a long time with Doc and Eddie.

Man, for me, it's Bob Cole. Bob Cole in his prime. Yeah. Give me late 80s, early 90s. Like that was, you know, into my childhood. You didn't pass his prime. He brought such a like a big game field to everything, you know? Oh yeah.

Even calling this the gold medal for Canada at Salt Lake City, you know, maybe as Eric just said, maybe he didn't have his fastball. But he was like Greg Matt. at that point. He could still, he could get by with the 87 mile an hour. And I'm with you. I love Ray Ferraro.

I love, like Chris Cuthbert is unbelievable. Yep. I think Gore, you know who's really good is Gord Miller? Oh, absolutely. Gordon Miller calls an unbelievable game for somebody,

like for somebody who covers the NHL like I do. If I watch a Gord Miller broadcast, he always teaches me something, which is, you know, I'm not trying to say I know everything, but I'm like, I learn something off. of of Gord Miller. But yeah, I'm a big Ray Ferraro guy.

We're in a good era. I mean, play by play guys. You got, you know, down here in the States, you got like Brendan Burke, who I think does the Islanders games now. He does national games is phenomenal. John Forsland, who's at the Cracken, he does national games. Like, there's not a lot of, like, who's going to be the next Doc Emrick? There's so many candidates right now for people that could eventually kind of graduate into that number one clear, you know, voice of God of hockey a cheer. There's so many good names out there, right now. Yeah. It's funny because Sean McDonough does games, right, for ESPN?

Yeah. Yeah. And, but I remember Sean McDonough from the early 90s CBS, uh, Major League Baseball. Like he was the voice of Major League Baseball. Like when the, when the Toronto Blue Jays won their two World Series, uh, the first one in 92, uh, over Atlanta and the second one in 93, it's Sean McDonough on the call with the Joe Carter home run with the, uh, Mike Timlin, uh, fielding

the button from Otis Nixon. Like, that's Sean McDonough. Now 30 years later, he's doing the NHL on ESPN. Yeah. And it's just, it's just funny to hear the different voices to do it. You know, it's just, I enjoy watching the Canadian broadcasts because I feel like the, the tone is different. It's almost like it's taken more seriously.

It's taken more objectively. There's not the homerism that I think permeates a lot of hockey broadcast these days in the states. There's like a, there's like a reverence to it in these, in the Canadian broadcast. I really like tuning into the sports net and TSN broadcasts. Now, in the United States, I'm going to give you a vote.

Like, in terms of the most, like there's not very many guys who can call hockey. And then they, like I said, McDonough did baseball. Like in terms of versatility, is there anybody better than Kenny Albert?

Oh, God. And anybody who works harder than Kenny Albert? I don't think so. Kenny Albert, all of those Rangers games on, you know, the radio, but then also does what?

no, sorry, TNT, right? Is Kenny Albert? And then, you know, for years he's done the NFL. He's done, like, he, boy, to me, Kenny Albert for versatility, it's hard to be. I don't think people understand just like some of these broadcasters that do local and national, how hard they have to work, not only just to like, to speak knowledge will be about these teams, the amount of homework that goes into it,

especially these multi-sport ones, like, you know, Adam Amin doing NFL on Fox, but also he's the Chicago Bulls play-by-play guy, and he fills in in college sports, does everything. But these hockey ones, like Eddie Oldcheck and Kenny Albert, they fly like 140 times a year. Darren Pang, who's now the Blackhawks color commentator, you know, he's, I'll see him on TV in Washington one day, and then he's with us in Seattle the next day. Like the amount of miles these guys log, it's really, it's a lifestyle to be one of these

national slash local. It's one thing to be just a national and do like a game or two a week. But people like Kenny Albert who do both, and Darren Pang and Eddie Olchek, it's an extraordinary commitment to the sport. And you gotta really love it to do it that much. Yeah. And by the way,

our producer, Jeff is telling us in the chat that Kenny Albert's got a brand new book out. He does. Called a Mike for All Seasons. So. Give it a read. I feel like there should have been about,

like if his name was Mike, I think that would be, I feel like there's a better pun or something that, you know. Yeah, I feel like we would. could have done better than a week. I think we could have done a better than a better than the content is really good. The title

I can speak it from experience. Sometimes the publisher has a little more say in the title than you think. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I want to talk about some things going on in the NHL right now. Listen, the Edmonton Oilers, they do it again. They beat Nashville on Saturday, right,

to run the winning streak to 16 games. So I got a question for you. How much would you want to spend the day with Jay Woodcroft right now. Like, like, not in an evil way, but it's really funny. You mentioned that I was just in Edmondson with the Blackhawks just like three days ago. And I asked a couple of the beatwriters, I'm like, has anyone talked to Jay Woodcroft about

this? And apparently he is completely on radio silence. Like, he's a guy who was very accessible and would respond to text and would take calls and stuff from reporters. He is completely underground right now, probably out of, you know, partly because he's probably upset about it, but also probably out of respect. and I'm sure he wants to work in the NHL again, so he doesn't want to ruffle any feathers,

but he's got to be just bleeding from the bottom lip from biting it so hard at this point, because we all saw this coming, right? We knew that the Oilers weren't as bad as they were in those first 12 games. These teams to go through cyclical nature. And yes, the defensive structure is better now than it was before, but also they're just getting goaltending. If Stuart Skinner made a few more stops in that's first couple of weeks,

Jay Wickruff might still have a job. So it's got to be really difficult as a head coach to see, especially a successful head coach, see the team do this well after you get fired. Yeah. Like I, I've always thought that would be such a fascinating story to talk to a coach or like, because, you know, you're split, right? Because on one hand, you want to see the individuals that you coached be successful.

Sure. Yeah. But the other side of human nature is I wouldn't mind if you face planted because then you'd see it wasn't me. I'm not the problem. Exactly. Exactly. Like, who is it that got fired for Craig Barubei?

in the blues one. Was it Mike Yo? Is it Mike Yo or Davis Payne? Yeah, yeah, I don't know, Mike Yo. Like, how's that got to feel when you got them in last place? Someone else comes in and they go and they win the Stanley Cup. That's got to be a blow to the old ego a little bit. Oh, yeah. Michelle Tarian got fired midseason.

Dan Bilesma came in and took them to a cop, right? It's funny, though. You're talking to, I mean, this is Edmonton media, so take it with a grain of salt because they're never happy. But, you know, they're like, yeah, but they're not really dominating. They're kind of like squeaking these winds out. They're not really, you know, destroying these teams. It's like, really? Oh, my God.

In a row, man, come on. Oh, man. So they have a chance to tie the NHL record of 17 consecutive wins set by the 93 penguins who got David Volick out of the play. They sure did, baby. They damn right. They did without even Pierre Turgeon because of Dirty Dale Hunter. Yeah. Ray Ferraro setting up.

David Volick on that play. So they've now tied The 20s. It's a bad time for the break for the oilers, isn't it? Yeah, they get a break and now they come out of the break. They get Vegas, so that'll be an interesting game. But they tie the record of their one shy of the all-time record, but they've now tied the Czechs notes,

2016 Columbus Blue Jackets. The Columbus Blue Jackets in 2016, 2017, reeled off 16 consecutive victories. Uh, from November's, yeah, I'm just double checking the dates. November 29th, 2016 to January 3rd, 2017. I'm not trying to be facetious. I'm not trying to be cruel. I'm not trying to be mean.

I'm just being honest. I don't remember a single thing about that winning streak. And I said to you guys earlier before we joined the show, I'm not sure Aaron Portsline remembers that winning streak. He, of course, covers the Columbus Blue Jaggins Force. I am asking, I am begging the listeners who are either you're paying attention to us live, drop into the comments, or send us a note afterwards, the athletic hockey show at gmail.com. Give us one like distinct memory or something to jog our brain to recall this winning shoot.

Look, Les, you, Columbus is, I mean, geographically not far from Chicago, not in the same conference. Do you have any recollection? I remember it happened. I couldn't tell you any details of it. For me, it's like, you know, my first 24 games on the Blackhawks beat, the Blackhawks didn't lose. They went 21-0-3. I remember everything about that street because I was covering it. I was involved in it.

The Columbus one, I do not remember. I mean, I remember it happened, but I couldn't tell you, I couldn't even tell you who was on that team right now. But this is the thing about the NHL, the NHL, the NHL regular season kind of like this. Someone was showing me the stats the other day. The Oilers have won 16 games in a row, and they've made up eight points on the Canucks, eight, because the Canucks keep winning too and it's just so hard to make up ground in the league. Remember, the, what was the Buffalo Sabres?

Just a few years ago won 10 games in a row and they missed the playoffs. Yeah. Like this, the, the difficulty of racking up points in a loser point system is that these things become less memorable because these teams don't run away with it. They just, they just kind of fade into the, the, the, the, the, the ups and down to the regular season. So I'm looking at the 16, 17, Columbus Bluejack. and like, like they're statistically, like they didn't have a single player get more than 62 points. Their leading score, Cam Atkinson, 62 points. That's it.

Was that a Tortorella team? It was a Tortoella Bobrovsky team. Bobrovsky in 931 safe percentage. Oh, that'll do it. And I believe he won the Vesna Trophy, right, that year. Well, that's what Torderella did, right? He just, he just coaches you to get to overtime and make sure you get at least get one point out of every game. So you're not, you're not going to score 120 points playing for John Tortorella. No. So the jackets, they win 16 in a row. The penguins, as I mentioned, they got David Volick out of the playoffs by the penguins. The jackets, they only won one playoff game. That's what I'm saying. The regular season is not a barometer for success in the NHL. The Boston Bruins just came off the best regular season ever, and they lost in the first round. Like this is what we see in the NHL time and again.

So, you know, I know Oilers fans are always waiting for the other shoe to drop on them. I'm sure they're not getting. carried away, but don't get carried away. Right. So what's the, what's the cutoff now, if you're an Edmonton fan? At what point do you want this to stop so that there's like a reasonable reset for the playoffs? Like, you don't want to go into the playoffs having one 39 of 41 or something. Do you? Like, I don't think that's going to end well. Well, you always hear about peaking at the wrong time, right? And, you know, January is not the months to be peaking. You know, they needed this obviously because they started out the season so

horribly. So like this was, this is one of the more significant long winning streaks I think we've seen in modern NHL history because they needed it. This was a team that was almost dead in the water until they had something like this. But yeah, you want to be peaking in May and in June. You do not want to be peaking in January. And it's just, this is just not sustainable. I don't care how good you are. I don't care how many of the best players in the world you have. You're not going to win at this rate forever. You're going to regress to the mean. So yeah, I think if they come out of the break and you kind of want the record. That'd be cool.

Go win a couple of games and then just have a normal three to one loss and then just go and win at like a 667 win percentage the rest of the way. You'll be fine. So they tie the Columbus record, 16 wins that are all the one that we don't seem to remember. But Columbus was in the news this weekend for different reasons and more serious reasons, Laz is Patrick Linae. Thereforward, the team announced he is entering the NHL,

LPA player assistance program. Line A posting on Instagram after careful consideration and discussion with my support network and team, I have recognized the importance of prioritizing my mental health and well-being. Hockey has been my passion and my life, but I have come to realize that in order to perform at my best, I need to take this time to focus on myself. So Patrick Lina is going to step away. You know, it's so strange less, just not a week ago.

I told somebody in the press box in Ottawa, young reporter named Alex Adams, who covers the senators for the hockey news. I said that, and Alex's a big Winnibeck fan. I said, and we're just talking about Lainey. I said,

you know, Patrick Line seems to me like a young man who just, he needs to step away from this game. Like something, something is off. And I'm so happy that it feels like now there's the space for guys to do that.

I don't think, Las, even six years ago, seven years ago, you could do this. But this young man, I think he just needs to step away. He just needs to step away because there's a tremendously talented, charismatic, confident player there that isn't being able to be himself right now.

Well, being rich and famous does not prevent you from being human, right? And everyone deals with mental health, you know, struggles from time to time. And, you know, depression, you know, does not discriminate. Whatever, whatever he's dealing with mentally, whether it's just a confidence thing, whether it's an exhaustion thing that you see a lot of people go through. I mean, there's a lot on the mind and on the body of a professional athlete. And like you said, I'm glad that we're seeing more players willing to acknowledge that and to prioritize their own mental health over, you know, got to do it for the team,

got to do it for the team. Because it's better for the team in the long run if you're better in the long run. So you're right. Five, six years ago, you know, we would have heard how soft he was, right? Yeah. He's just, he's not mentally tough enough for this league. and yada, yada, yada. We don't hear that as much anymore.

There's still some meatheads out there that'll talk like that. But I think we have a much better understanding of, you know, the universality of all this, right? And so we're seeing more players step away, take care of themselves, do what they have to do to get themselves as right as they can be, and then come back, hopefully, feeling better and playing better as a result. So good on Patrick Linae for acknowledging that. It's really difficult in any walk of life to acknowledge that, but let alone when you're in the public eye like you're a professional athlete.

And, you know, what a time in Columbus, right? You get the line A story. Like we said, I think this is the right thing for the young man. Just step away. But you have their top defensive prospect there, David Yerechak telling Aaron Portsline, I'm an NHLer. And he's looking at while you cover Kortinski, right? And he's like, look at him.

He's getting his playing time. Other people are getting there. Nemich is getting his playing time. I want my playing time. Elvis Mursleekins is like, I got to get out of here. You go back to the Mike Babcock situation. It's like a monkeys, Paul went off when they hired him, isn't it? Yeah.

And so, I don't know what happens here now in Columbus. Obviously, the season is a write-off. What happens now? I don't know what happens here, but I think Yarmal Keck Alignan at some point has to be held accountable for this team's perpetual failures to some degree, right? Like, it seems like, like, there are some markets where the G. is never blamed. And, you know, he went out and he hired Mike Babcock.

And he started this kind of snowball here. So I don't know. I don't know if it comes to that. I think, frankly, what Eurocheck is doing is kind of great. I'm glad to see a player advocate for himself like that. And, you know, not have his agent do it, but do it himself. Just talk like a grown-up and say, look, I believe in myself. I believe I should be playing in the NHL.

He didn't throw anyone under the bus. He wasn't whining. He wasn't complaining. he's saying, I know I can do this, and I want the opportunity to show that. And I think I want to see more players do that. I don't think that's selfish. I don't think that's an ego trip. I think that's someone who believes that he can help this team and believes he belongs

out there. I like seeing a player advocate for himself like that. So this isn't all terrible, but it's a lot of drama right now around a team that is also awful. And when you have drama, like when you have drama around a good team, it's kind of fun drama. when you have drama around a bad team, the vibes are real low right now. We got to trademark that. The phrase,

drawful, when you're dramatic and awful, drawful. You don't want to be drawn. I don't know anything about that in Chicago. Or Ottawa. That's right. I don't know what you're talking about.

No clue. Just going to just the drawful podcast. Yeah, exactly. It's fine because the guy, Lina is always, you know, taking second overall in that draft in 2016.

You always get compared to the guy thinking first overall. And in his case, Austin Matthews and Matthews is having another signature season 40 goals you get the 40 goal plateau over the weekend in 46 games is 70 and like is 70

now like the what's the word I'm looking for the target is 70 the new 50 exactly that's what we're going to be telling ourselves in about 20 years from now 21 I guess 23 years from now be like 70 is the new 50 but but like he's got

40 and 46. 50 and 50 doesn't, like, I mean, boy, he'd have to score 10 goals in his next four games. It's doable, but not likely. But is 70 goals a realistic benchmark now for Matthews? I feel like it has to be, right? That's got to be the target because if you get 60 right now, it's like, well, yeah, of course he got 60.

Like, he was always going to get 60. Yeah. 70 is like, he's got to keep this up for a full year. He will get 70. He's on pace for it. So if he can pull that off, I never, ever thought we'd see a 70 goal score again in the modern day NHL. Goleys are too big and too good. Defenses are too good. Coaches are too smart. But Matthews,

you know, he can, he just has this uncanny ability. It's not just his shot. It's the savvy that he has around how to use that shot. That's what we're, we're starting to see with Connor Bredard. Like he could be that kind of a player where he can create a shot from anywhere, but not just a shot, but like a great shot. But Matthews is that guy right now. And I'd love to see him get to 70 because it's just incredible. We have 150 points from McDavid last year, 70 goals possibly from Austin Matthews. I just never thought we'd see these numbers again in the NHL.

Jamie Ben won the scoring title with 87 points nine years ago. 87 points. I think Kutrov said like 86 right now. Yeah. And it's not even the All-Star break. It's just, it's incredible what these guys are doing and I love it. And they're doing it against, you know,

very big, gigantic, padded goaltenders. It's kind of incredible. They're not doing it. Like, I love Mike Bossy. Don't get me wrong. But he was shooting against a different kind of goalie than these guys are right now. So what Austin Matthews is doing is absolutely, it's just extraordinary. So here's what I want.

Okay, I want Matthews to get the 70 goals because I think that's cool. Like with you, I didn't think we'd ever see that again. I wanted to get the 70 goals last, but I don't want him to get to 100 points. Because I think that would be awesome. You get a guy young that way. 70 goals and like 27 assists. And it's not out of, to the realm of possibility. He's got 40 goals

and 18 assists right now. Who was it? Was it, was it Brandon Peary on the Panthers a bunch of years back had like 24 goals and two assists? Yeah, he was the Sayyang, right? Everyone was like, yeah, it's Sai Young, 24 and 2. Don't you think that would be pretty cool if he got to 70 but didn't get to 100 points? It'd be pretty

funny because then someone in Toronto would be like, he's a selfish player. He's not a good team player. He's a locker room cancer. Get rid of him. Send this American back to America. Send this. American back to America. Like I,

he should, he shouldn't be passing. He should be shooting every single time the fuck is on his stick. Because he could score from literally anywhere. He should be shooting. The, the unselfish thing for Austin Matthews to do is to just keep shooting. He's that good.

Yeah. He like, like to me, he's the guy that like, I wonder if, if, you know, if he does get to 70 or whatever,

if at the end of the year, he's going to be closing in on 400 goals. I wonder if, if when we start to have the kind of Ovechkin kind of talk about he might take a run at the all-time goals record, right?

Like, I think we're going to be there if he gets the 70 goals, right? I mean, yeah, I mean, he's still so young right now that is so far off, but he's certainly starting his career out of pace. That's going to put him there. That's going to put him there at a pretty young age too. Like, I mean, we're talking mid-30s. He could be starting to

threaten this if he keeps this up. Now, that's a big if can anyone score at this rate? Is he always going to be on a team that's with so many great passers, so much talent around him? Is the NHL going to kind of regress back defensively the way it did in the 90s and 2000s? Well, injuries play a fact. There's a million things that prevent him from doing it, but it won't be skill. He's got the skill and the ability, the talent, the desire, the motivation, all that stuff to become maybe the greatest goal scorer we've ever seen. And just a little fun fact for you and the listeners. I mentioned Matthews. It'd be Awesome if you got the 70 goals and not to 100 points.

Three players last in NHL history have scored 60, 6-0, goals in the season, but didn't get to 100 points. Okay. Any guesses? 60 goals and not 100 points. Not 100 points. So obviously fewer than 40 assists. Pavel Bore?

No, but that's a fantastic guess because he had back-to-back kind of using that 60-goal range. God, I don't know. A bossy? Nope. All right. Nobody wants to listen to me guessing. Okay. No, no, I'll give you one hit.

There's one active player. One active player. Active player was 60 goals. 60 goals and not 100 points. And must be Ovechkin then, right? And it's not Ovechkin. Oh, for God's sakes. And it's not Matthews.

Stamco's? Yeah, Stephen Stamco's. Oh, there we go. Oh, producer Jeff just got that in the comments too. 60 goals, 37 assists for Stamcoz. Selvish player. Terrible teammate. Can't win with him.

The other two guys, Reggie Leach with the Broad Street bullies and the Flyers, 61 goals, 91 points. I was not going to guess that. And a moustachioed Lanny McDonald. Wow. 66 goals, 32 assists 98 points. So even if Matthews. 60 goals like candy back in the day, man. Yeah.

So even if Matthews gets to 60 and not 100 points, he'll join McDonald-Leach. Which is really incredible is Matthews, is doing this, and he's kind of only on the periphery of the MVP conversation this year, right? Because of what Nathan McKinnon is doing, because of what Connor Hellebuck is doing. Like, we're not really talking about Matthews in the heart race, and he might score 70 goals. What a year this is proving to be. Man, you know, somebody in Toronto should write, Austin Matthews, is he underrated? Do you imagine?

Oh, my gosh. Oh, God, the backlash. I want to make sure comments are open on that story. Yeah, that's right. We'll make sure the... We enable the comments. Hey, before we go, I want you to know, Lazz, there's only one, count them one game in the NHL on Monday,

and yours truly will be there. You lucky man, you. It's Ottawa, it's Nashville, and I can't even... I was trying to think of a great tagline. I'm like, I... Whole rest of the league is in Mexico right now, and you're going to be at Nashville, Ottawa.

What you lucky bad. Oh my God. Ottawa, Nashville. Coming your way this week. Now, I know just before we let you go, you are all-star bound this week. Am I right? I am.

Yeah, I'm not there at that morning. So if you don't mind me, just give us a little tease here for the audio. Like what kind of, well, giving everything away? But like what are you hoping to accomplish when you go down for, all-star week? Well, I love going to All-Star Week. I go almost every year because the media day there,

you get these guys in a relaxed setting. Now, nothing's relaxed in Toronto, so this might be a nightmare. Yeah. But like in South Florida or Vegas, it's very relaxed. You get these, you know, all the best players in the world and you can ask them anything, all the stupid stories that I love writing about, you know. Like, this is my time to shine, baby. I got some dumb questions for you guys.

Why do you use? Why do you use the tape you use? Like, this is the time to do it. I love it. This is exactly what. So that's what I love going. I'm really hoping. I was in Columbus in 2015 the last time they did the player draft when everybody got really, really, really drunk.

They got so drunk. And that's what I want to see. I'm excited about the revamp skills competition. I think it will be a lot more interesting. These guys will actually care about it this year because a million dollars is still a million dollars. But what I really want to see is if the NHL lets these guys get drunk again. Because if they don't, it's going to be the most boring thing any of us have ever seen. No, they won't. They won't let them.

You know it's going to be awful. The only reason to do this is because it was really funny in 2015. What's the, like, does the NHL have a partner beverage? like white claw or something. Like it's going to be. You're just drinking out of red solo cups that entire time in 2015. Yeah, but they're going to. They didn't even make any money off of it.

Yeah, they should be having like, you know, Bud Light or Molson or whatever. What's the individual players hands? They probably have some official seltzer of the NHL. This is, you know, not to get like, look at my old guy yelling at clouds here, but hockey players don't really drink anymore, man. They sit there and they drink their bio steel and they go to bed at 8.30 p.m.

to make sure they get a full 10 hours. Yeah. Like this is like 10 years ago, guys were to, you'd be out and about on the road and you'd see the players at the bars all the time. Now it's not, they don't do that. They go and they have their like, you know, grilled chicken and brown rice with sweet potatoes and then they just go to sleep with a warm cup of milk. Like, I'm not even sure they have these guys drink that'll be in the All-Star game.

Oh, man. And that's their cheat meal. That's the worst part. Exactly. All right. Hey, listen, safe travels to Toronto. We look forward to catching all your coverage there. Thanks for pinching, pinch hitting.

Las Mazziol. There you go. Pinch hitting. There you go. I'll take it. Okay. We'll take you for the hour. That was awesome. Listen, thanks for doing this. Thanks everybody for listening to this Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Our guy, Jesse Granger, will drop by alongside Down Goes Brown, Sean McAdoo on the Tuesday of the Athletic Hockey Show.

We'll get you then. Thanks for listening to the Monday show. Leave us a rating and review. You know we would appreciate that. You can follow us on YouTube at YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. And right now get a one-year subscription to the athletic show. or $2 a month when you visit athletic.com slash hockey show.