The Athletic Hockey Show - Brady Tkachuk ready to lead the Ottawa Senators back to the promised land, Tampa Bay Lightning get back in the Stanley Cup Final and Alex DeBrincat must be traded this off-season

Episode Date: June 21, 2022

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm joined by Sean Gentile and, oh my gosh, do we have a good show for you today? It like maybe our best yet. John, fair to say. I mean, we haven't recorded it yet, but I'm projecting. I mean, the part we have recorded is Brady Kachuk. Yes. So that already gives us a leg up.

If all Sean and I do is intro Brady Kachuk, and then. and talk about it for five minutes after. It's a great show. It's a 10 out of 10. So at this point, all we can do is make it worse. We're just going to sit up here. And we're going to try. Yeah, we're going to argle, bargle for the next 25 minutes.

I hope you're listening to this on 2X on your favorite podcast player. Brady Kachuk is our guest. And as we continue to do a lap around the Kachuk family, of course, it's America's, the first family of American hockey. that's trademarked by Keith. That was the hat he was wearing that he refused to throw onto the ice. I think.

Actually, Sean, asked that question. We get to the bottom. We got to the bottom of a lot. We got to the bottom of the hat. We got to the bottom of what was the video that he had watched of his Claude Lemieux quote. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh.

First off, we taped this last, in full disclosure, we taped this a week ago. So it feels like it happened last month. I've already forgotten the questions that I've asked. All low of those many years ago that we spoke to Brady Kachuk. But now, he's, I mean, he's fun. They're all fun. We're all fun.

We're better off that they're around. Yeah, he was, we talked about the Gilbert Godfrey reading his quote as Keith. He sounded very excited about it. He sounded very excited about it. It's all, it's all fantastic. So just bear with us for a minute. I'm not going to recap it. I'm just excited about it because it was so good.

And but there are, there's some topics you want to get to. The second we hung up with Brady, Sean's like, oh, we should have asked about Nick Paul because he would have a great insight. Like it's the only thing we didn't ask him, I think. And then, of course, Nick Paul last night got through a win for the Tampa Bay Lightning. back in the series. So we want to get to some off-season stuff because there's some really interesting things happen.

But let's start there. Tampa did what they had to do last night. And thankfully, the series that we all wanted is going to be a series, we think. I guess. We need some more good games. Like, it's sure it's 2-1, but a 33% rate on actual enjoyable,

watchable games isn't great. It's something that we just saw it from the NBA, right? Yeah. Like, Warrior Celtics was fine. And it's a six-game series. One of them was actually, like, memorably entertaining, like, maybe one and a half. So I'm a little worried that that's kind of the route that we're headed here.

But in a vacuum, I don't think, I mean, that result last night wasn't much of a surprise. And we talked about this on the Monday show, too. I think a lot, maybe sometimes too much, gets made of series changing. changing venues because everyone wants to act like line matching is always a big deal and that's not necessarily true like sometimes it just matters less than others but given cooper the opportunity to get who he wanted out there when he wanted them out there is is a big deal and um you know i think it is a big deal what got why do you have why are we downplaying the ability to get the player you want against their best players like i'm not i'm not down they were it was like they were 14

one, these two teams at home going into that game. Like, there's a reason for that. With these teams, with these teams, it's a thing. Not with, not with all of them. That's just, that's just the way it works. Like, some coaches don't just care less about, about matchups. George, go on. Like, he doesn't.

It doesn't matter to him. Like, you're going to get who you're going to get out there, out there at a given time. So it's not necessarily an important thing. I just got, just, I think Jared would go out probably. The Rangers were in the Stanley Cup final. he would have thoughts on who is playing against McKinnon. I bet you he would consider that. I'm not knocking him.

Like he's, he's pretty open about it. Like he just, he wants guys that go out there and succeed against, against whoever, right? Like, it's just, it's a tactic,

whether you agree with it or not. I, the biggest thing to come out of last night, though, aside from maybe Vasilevsky getting back on track. Because this is like, this is sort of what we saw from him against New York, right? First two games are duds, finds a stride in game three.

You know, that's that as far as his performance is concerned. But the biggest thing to me is like, yeah, is Darcy Kemper a problem? Like, to the abs, are they going to have to, are they going to have to do something here? Because there were plenty of moments last night, in particularly against our buddy Nick Paul. Great as it was that he gutted it out. And, you know, awesome as he looked for 90% of that move that he made on Kemper on his goal. do we have a goalie controversy for a team that's up to one in the Stanley Cup final because it kind of feels like we do it does that's not i mean that like that's the worst case scenario here like that if you're colorado because they come out house of fire and you're like boy there is anybody going to stop this team and and now all of a sudden you've created that some doubt is creeping in and um and that's i mean that's that's that's the big advantage Tampa has in the series right? You have the best goalie of its generation.

Like we can say that now. Unless you want to argue that too, Sean. You probably do. Probably you want to be like he's got a one-thard cut or something. No, but like you can't, I'm really trying not to repeat myself from yesterday, but this season- Nobody listened to yesterday's show. That's, it's true. Oh, my God.

People, you know, people just thought I was going to be Mendez and tuned out. I mean, this season has a. He hasn't been his, like he hasn't been, he wasn't at his best in regular season. He's had five or six duds mixed in throughout the course of the playoffs. So we're not seeing great as Vasilesky is. I think it's fair to say that he's not at his peak. So that's why you need to take advantage of games like, of games like one and two. Yeah. Right. Like he's going to, he's going to put it together at some point. And I think the difference is that the abs, you know, the abs aren't the Rangers and they're not, you know, and they're not the Florida Panthers. They're

they're better so so they're more apt to take advantage of Vasilevsky not being sharp but yeah I mean that at the end of the day whether we're seeing C plus Vasilevsky or whatever it's still Andre Vaselowski versus Darcy Kemper like that yeah that's that's a mismatch that favors that favors Tampa and it's much less of an issue when it's too yeah when it's two oh this game four is this is such a dumb thing to say but it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, next goal wins a series kind of thing. Next goal wins the series. Yeah, yeah.

How long, because like, I don't know if you can, I don't know if you bench Kemper for game four, but like, no, you can't. I mean, you don't. I do you, is he on a, is he on a leash in game four, though? Yeah. I think he's on a leash. He is. But you don't bench him in game. No.

I think, to me, the good thing about last night's game, even though it wasn't great, um, is that this avalanche. Avalanche team had a feel like that King's team that just steam rolled their way to a Stanley Cup. And the cup final never felt like it was even a thing. And in this case, you're like, oh, okay, the avalanche aren't going to just roll their way. Like, there's, you know, they bleed, right? Like, it's like when, you know, Rocky cuts struggle. It's like, okay, hey, all right, we're going to have, this is going to be a battle here.

I mean, look at who they're playing against. You know, it's foolish to write. right off Tampa at any point. Right. And look, do I think... I was ready to, though. I will say, like, it is foolish, but I was like, oh, man.

I was like, well, it was a heck of a run. I truly had to stick to my guns before game three. Like, I pick them to win on our daily picks. I pick Tampa to win. Yeah. And it, it hurt. Like, I was like, this doesn't... I need to...

I have a principle here. I believe, I don't believe that this is going to be a sweep. Yeah. We're back in Tampa Bay, all that stuff. But it hurt. Like, I was, I was as close as I've ever been and just being like, yeah, stick a, stick a fork in these dudes. You know, it's not, it's not where we are, not yet. All right.

I want to hit on a couple issues outside of the series. One, I know you talked about it on the Monday show, but Pete DeBore, I know we have a lot of Dallas stars listeners that we know that's your other American team besides the flames. for those who only tune in to hear the Tuesday American Edition, what was your Pete DeBoer to the Dallas Stars conclusion? How are we feeling about that, Sean? On a lot of levels, he makes sense because Dallas, we say it every week, they're trying to win for better or worse every year, and there's no bigger win now coach than Pete DeBore, right?

Like, he's had recent success. Oh, I feel like you're setting this up for something. Okay, yeah? Build it up, build him up before. I'm worried about him with Ottinger. How could you not be? He just turned, and he's responsible for the Vegas goalie situation, whether, like, he has to wear that one.

He's the head coach. We've just watched a two-year-long car crash in terms of who starts when just goalie management, personality management. He had two goalies, two-year-old. years ago and now and he managed to piss off both of them and run one of them out of town. Like that's, that would make me nervous because Jake Ottinger, you know, maybe he's not the franchise, but we saw something special from him.

Yeah. Down, like, whether it was down the stretch, certainly against Calgary. And that would make me nervous. Like, I, who, because, you know, I'm, I'm not trying to slag DeBoer as a coach in general. Like, that's not even it. But like, to whiff on on Mark Andre Fleury and Robin Leonard and just turn that into as much of a mess as it became. He has to wear that one.

And whenever you have... Did he go out and acquire Robin Leonard? Like, is that, I'm the coach? Like, that, I mean, it would have been easy just to... He chose Robin Leonard over Mark Andre Fleury. Who is, like, we saw it. Who was the, the Alan Walsh Photoshop? Like, the sword didn't symbol.

is Kelly McCrimmon in Flurry's back. That was for DeBore. And then look at it. I don't think there was any symbolism. If I remember correctly, it literally said beat DeBore, sword. That's a lot of subtlety there. I know some of our listeners aren't smart enough to decipher the next level, you know, metaphor that was used there.

But I don't know. It just makes me, it just makes me nervous. we'll see what happens with the rest of that roster. We know that there's going to be more changes, changes on the way, because that's just how, that's just how genuine roles. But I don't know.

I'm not, I'm not sure I would hire Pete DeBore to shepherd my young franchise goaltender and into the next phase of his, into the next phase of his development. Are we far enough removed from the Flurry Photoshop where Alan Walsh would give us like the behind the scene story of like, who actually created the, you know,

the debate, like, hey, I'm sure you had to clear that with Mark Andre. Like, you're not just posting that. Are you? I don't know. I think the story back then was, I flurry didn't really know it was coming. Alan's got his own podcast for that. If he wants to, if he wants to share it.

Does he submit? Can I go on a comment section of the Alan Wall show, Agent Provocateur and ask a question? Co-hosted by Julian sometimes, I think. All right. We would like, we'd like to submit a. mail big question, Alan. We have the full backstory. We're, it's, we're far enough away.

It's been long enough. Nobody's with that. Nobody's with that. Who did the Photoshop work on that? Name some names. All right. Names. The other thing I want to get to before Brady is I've been enjoying Scott Powers and

Mark Lazarus just debating. And you can see like, it's like, boy, this Alex Debrinket, this idea of trading a great young player when you need great young. players to rebuild seems so contradictory and yet I think it was

Las who finally wrote like here's yes I understand why this isn't makes sense here's why he's going to be traded I don't I don't think we're talking enough about as a hockey collective the fact that this star goals

goal scores on the market like if this kid was in Toronto that's all we would be talking about so let's talk Alex DeBrinke good American kid who is going to traded, it appears. I hate saying this because I'm like always Mr. And I think part of this comes from paying attention to baseball for for so long is fans, media, whatever, you get in these cycles where you accept, you blindly accept the rebuild, right?

Where you're like, well, okay, we don't have, we don't have a chance, you know, time to, time to hit the reset button and hope a window opens up. three or four years. And I think that's a destructive way to think about sports. Like I don't like, I, and I think there is some level of like prospect derangement syndrome that sets in with people where amassing assets and amassing assets and amassing the chanted assets and all these things, that becomes as important as winning games with the guys you have. And it's, and I, and I hate it. And I'm coming at this, because again, I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where we've just seen it happen with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where it's just, you know, the window shifts and keeps shifting. And I think it breaks people's brains. So I'm very, very cognizant of that.

Because if you're not trying to win games with Alex to Brinket or if you're the Calgary Flan, or Johnny Goddrow or whatever, like you retain these guys if you can, because. if you're not, if you're not trying to win while you have them, what is the point in any of this? Yeah. Right? But all that being said, it bums me out in the case of DeBricket because they should trade him. That is how badly the Blackox have blown this situation over the, and we're not talking about Kyle Davidson. We're talking about the end of the Stan Bowman era.

Like, it's Kyle Davidson's job to dig out of, you know, the mess, the mess that he was left on and off the ice, but in an on-ice capacity, they are paying desperately for the unexpected swerve we saw from Chicago last off-season where they go and they trade for Seth Jones and they trade and they trade, you know, they move other guys away. It's depressing. It's depressing to see that the prudent move for a franchise is moving a 24-year-old 37 goal score or whatever Alex to bring. it was this past season. And it's going to be the right move.

That is how badly the last administration bungled that roster. And it's depressing. They should trade him because they're going to be bad, bad, bad. And they have no use for him. So the case for trading him can be boiled down, I would say, to three points. One, you're paying Seth Jones 9.5 million until 2930. So for a long time That's like

That's like flying cars and whatnot When that contract is off the books So Hey, imagine how expensive A case of gas Oh my God A case of gas Is that how you buy your cats?

In Pittsburgh? Give me that yingling in a case of that A get a 30 rack of gas in a funnel I sit there and Yeah So in the future So that contract's on the books, 9.5 million. Point two, Alex DeBrinke's qualifying offer after 22, 23 is going to be 9 million.

So now to sign players long term, you're going to have two, at the start of a rebuild, two players making 9 plus at least over a long stretch. It makes zero sense. So you're not moving Seth Jones. No. Also, the third part of the equation is Alex DeBron. who basically over the course of his career scores every other game. Like you can pencil him in.

I think he's at like point four something goals per game. He's a 40 goal score. Like those are really hard to find. Also, do you know how old he is? Because you think he's older, I'm guessing than he is. So I'm 24. He's 24. You looked up.

No, no. You know that? Okay. I know everybody. Oh, you know everyone's ages. How about everything about everything? How old is Nick Paul? All right.

Nick Paul's 26. Is he? Maybe. How old's Ian Cole? Anyways. 33. No. Ian Cole?

He's younger than I am. Wow. Is that the... Like, how old are you? He's a couple years. He's a couple years younger than I am. It's probably 33. Is that how you start?

Like, how much younger than me is Alex to brink it? I'm an egomaniac. That's like, that's my frame of reference for everything. Jeff says he is 33. Oh. Producer Jeff, I'm trying to make a point here. So Sean does know everyone's ages once he runs them through the equation of how much younger than me is this player. So Alex Abrick gets 24.

He's too good for rebuild. I think that's the other part of this equation. If you're going to bottom out, you can't have a 24-year-old 40-goal scorer preventing you from a shot at the number of. one pick next year. And I don't think that's a primary reason you trade them. But I think these are all part of the, and also you have to get, not to worship at the altar of assets, but the Blackhawks don't have a first round pick this year. So, you know, if you are rebuilding, you do need some assets. So this is, it's painful. So all those reasons where you're at first, you're like, he's coming into his QO season two. It's like, sort of similar to what we've seen.

seen from Matt like the situation that Calgary's facing with Matthew Kachuk. Yeah. Where it's like, this is it. This is the time it trade. And here's the other thing. And we, that we don't, I don't think we,

uh, consider this enough. It's like, why would Alex de Brinket want to play for, like, why would he want to resign with the Chicago Blackhawks? Long term. Why?

Why would he want to be there? Seriously. Like after, like, after next year, whenever Cain, whatever happens with Kane and Taves, like things,

there's a lot of stuff with that organization that's in flux right now. Yeah. Everybody just assumes that hockey players want to stay wherever they are in that they have no autonomy or,

or, or ability, or even the, like, the desire to maybe go do something else. People just assume this, this level of, you know,

this level of, uh, of, um, I don't know what the word I'm looking for is. Like inertia, basically. Yeah, yeah.

Among guys. I think there's a level of truth to that. Because you see here, there is because we, I mean, and it's learned, it's, it's learned for a lot of different reasons

because we do see guys resign. That doesn't mean that everybody wants to resign with a trash team that's only going to be, that's only going to get worse for the next five years. If you're Alex to Brinkett, do you really want to spend

the prime years of your career dragging around a bunch of dudes on Chicago from the time you're 20, 26 to 32. Like, why? Why would he want to do? I always find it interesting where guys would, the inertia, again, this is another,

but where guys are like, I could never leave the flyers. And then once they get traded and they really, like, you break the seal, it's like, I'll go anywhere. It's like, it's this weird thing where you're so settled into your life. But once you get past that, you're like, you can, you can kind of make a decision with it. And it drives me crazy because, like we said, part of it is, part of it is, it's understandable. Because how many?

100% Because like we're going through, like we're watching it happen with Johnny Goodrell because he's the rare case of a guy who's a, who's an elite player who's about to hit UFC at 28 years old or however old he is. And he's going to, he has the option to leave. And it happens so infrequently that I think people just always continually,

whether it's fans of a team or media covering it, people just kind of assume that these guys are going to stick. Even when they. get even when the choice is on the table in front of them. It's because it happens so infrequently because it's like, oh, such and such is eligible for an extension this year. And we just assume he's going to sign it because eight times out of 10, because eight times out of 10, he does.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't account for the rare instances where maybe somebody wants something else. Yeah. It reminds me of a, I remember talking to Marion Hosa, his contract year. That was when he was in Detroit, that one weird year. And I said, would you consider a hometown discount? to stay and he said, what's my hometown here? Yeah, right.

He's like, why would I... Slovakia. Yeah, I'm not from here. I'm not from Detroit. I'm not from wherever, Ottawa, Atlanta, all these different places he played. He had no hometown. People are talking about Johnny Goodrow. He's about to give three different teams hometown discounts.

Right. Calgary, Philly, like Jersey, because he's technically, he's from, I know, it's Newark versus South Jersey, but like, how many hometowns can one guy have? Yeah. Did he also think you're going to, you're like, yeah, maybe you should sign with like the Brutish Lava team? Yeah, that's what I was asking you. Yeah.

Would you give a hometown discount to your team back? Like, literally, I miss Marion. He was awesome. All right. Brady Kachuk coming up next after the break. The second chapter in our Kachuk novella. And Brady was great. It is worth the list.

and thank you for making you through segment one. You are the best. We will be right there. We are now thrilled to be joined from St. Louis, Missouri, Brady Kachuk, captain of the Ottawa Senators, and as we work our way through the first family of American hockey, the Kachuk family, Brady, how are you? Good, thanks for doing this.

Thanks for having me. You enjoying the off season so far? How's it been going? I mean, from what we've seen anyways. Yeah, no, it's been good. It's been long so far. So, you know, a lot of time to, you know, heal some, you know, nagging things that were going on throughout the year.

But, yeah, it's been good. Of course, I bet you guys saw the fun at the start. So, yeah, I had a lot of fun. David to travel a little bit. So it was good. It was fun. We weren't even going to bring it up. I'm mad that it was like I even alluded to it.

I want to like start out. Like, we thought the fact that it even became a bit, we were like, oh, come on, everybody. Let's just let everyone have fun. Yeah, no, it's good, I guess, showed some personality that usually hockey players don't show, but of course not chasing the spotlight because never wanted to be a distraction for Matthew, but I think people just enjoyed kind of the scene of it. And I know it was good.

That's all I care about is what Matthew thought and wanted to make sure it wasn't a distraction for him, but he was like, this is what everybody's expected. Now this is what I expect. So you got to do your part at the stand as I'll do. try to do my part on the ice. So he loved it, which is pretty much all I cared about. It was like,

it was like people had never seen someone drink beers before. Like that was like, that was like, that was like, that was like, that was like, people had never seen anybody, like,

rude for their brother or put beers in their pocket before. So congratulations. You're like, you're like some kind of trailblazer now. No one, no one's ever done that. Yeah. Hilarious.

So, Oh man, do we have a laundry list of questions to get to? So I want to start here because we did, we had, we had Matthew on. And so we always like to give people in the opportunity to plant questions, A, because we're not good at coming up with our own. I mean, that's, that's the long and short of it. And so let's start there. He said, so he said, you know, we said, what should we ask Brady? He goes, well, you can start with his new house.

He finally, he gets a contract. he gets uh he's out on his own and he he bought a home and he's like finally out of not not living with family anymore how's the how's the new home going for you can you give us it's good honestly i so i bought a place in ottawa and i'm actually not quite figured out what what to do in the summer so i'm considering this the last dance of my parents place this summer so oh man that's that's the theme i've gone with the last dance so um you know what it's still trying to figure out you know the summer you know, where I want to spend summers and stuff like that. But, yeah, I mean, not much to complain here.

You know, my mom's, you know, a great cook. My dad does a lot of, you know, grill on too. And, you know, they do my laundries. I mean, there's not much to complain here. So it's a perfect, perfect setup. But I think the time, the times come after this summer. I'm going to have to figure out where I want to be. What's big waltz go to on the grill?

I can see. I'm trying to think. It seems like a steak guy, but I don't want to. Yeah. Yeah. well we try know we have so much steak during the year so we honestly have had a lot of like salmon you know chicken chicken breast chicken thighs uh steak once in a while but i try to you know lean out a little bit as you know chicken chicken breast so um a little different varieties in that aspect yeah i feel

like thighs are them move for oh they're so good for grilling most of the time right yeah now barbecue um no chicken thighs are they're tough to beat here um all right we're going to the food topic just because this came through Peter Boz at Media Day at the Stanley Cup Final and Pat Maroon who is also a proud St. Louis, like very proud St. Louis guy listed his food wrecks in St. Louis.

Says Charlie, is it Charlie Gitos? Have you ever heard of that place? Yeah, I've heard of it. Yeah. Carl's Drive-In and Tonys and Vangles. How would you say he did in that list? Yeah, I mean, he did a good job. I know I know of a couple of those that have been there, but, no, there's some good spots,

and there's some, you know, good spots, no, off the list, too, that, you know, our family really loves to go to. And he's, what's your number one? I think our number one's, Paul Manos. It's kind of a little outside the city a little bit. It's not, so not many of the, you know, visiting teams know about it, but, you know, locally it's, it's legendary. And that's where whenever we all come back, you know, the start of the summer,

Before we leave, before my sister goes to school, that's usually the place we celebrate up. Okay, so what I feel like this is probably a restaurant or a bar or something. What was on your dad's hat, the one that he wouldn't throw? Because I was trying to see, like, what the logo was? I wasn't sure if it was like a name of a restaurant or what. What was that place? Yeah, so it's a place called OB Clark. So it's a pretty popular bar.

No, definitely, you know, a great sports bar now in the city that, you know, everybody goes to watch either, you know, the blues or the Cardinals and place, come playoff times usually pretty busy. And, of course, you know, everybody loves the Cardinals here too. So now place is, you know, pretty legendary amongst, you know, the locals and, you know, amongst our friends. It's no fun place to go. I did I don't want like Ottawa fans to feel like we had you on and didn't at least touch on the team a little bit You guys you know you go through your first exit interview as a captain was it did you feel any responsibility to I don't know convey any messages or what was that process like for you this year going through exits Yeah um no of course I think you know we have you know a pretty no great group and um you know a lot of fun know, that group consists of, you know, as players, you know, the staff, you know, the trainers that are behind the scenes every day that's, you know, make the team tick. And now, just want to take care of them. And, you know, I'm really close with all of them.

So, I mean, there's nothing like out of ordinary that, you know, exit interviews went. It's, no, everybody's, you know, pulling in the right direction to, you know, take this team to the next level. And I think that was, you know, the message for, you know, everybody is that, you know, we're ready to, you know, take that next step and have that belief amongst one another. But with any other, you know, messages or there wasn't really much more. It's just, you know, the season ended and, you know, just talking to a bunch of the guys are already excited about next year. What does the next level look like for your group? Like, is it, are you putting numbers on it? Are you putting specific stuff on it?

Or is it just about improvement? Yeah, no, I don't think there's, no, to put any, no, numbers, any, you know, placing the stand being, it's just right now we don't want to put no pressure on ourselves, but we want to just, like you said, just keep improving, keep being our best selves. And now we're showing no glimpses of what our team is going to be down the road and the potential we have. And, you know, it's every day what's great about our team. It's just exciting to come to the rink every day. and, you know, so many of my best buddies, you know, get to play with.

And we have, you know, so much fun at the rank, away from the rank, you know, on the road, everything. It's a pretty special place to play, and it's a special group as well. So there's a lot of speculation. I mean, the draft is going to be here before you know it. And I think there's some people that are like, hey, this is a good time for Ottawa to add to the current roster versus picking with that pick. Do you have, are you like, are you on team? I have a long vision here. Let's add a young stud.

Or you're like, hey, let's help the lineup now. Where's your head at that? Honestly, that's, you know, not my,

no job. My job is just, you know, going to the rink every day. It's smile on my face. Oh, Brady. I know.

I know you guys. We want like, we want like actual names that you want, that you want, that you want to get in for the seven. Yeah. Like, go get to give you guys and,

you know, less than 10 guys. No, it's honestly just come to rank, just smile on my face and just, and just, get to work but you know all that other stuff is you know out of you know us players control and it's just um whatever group we have is to be as tight as tight net and and uh everybody needs

pulling the right direction so i think that's just everybody's focus going into next year and and that's what's so exciting about um you know this year's not even done done yet but you know everybody's trumped up a bit to get ready for next year if so many of you guys are in that same age range too like there's so many guys who were you know in that 12. 22, 22, 23, 24 kind of space. And then you look at the guys you have coming up, you know, the prospects coming up as well. Is that something you guys do in the roster when you see the sort of the sort of talent you guys have in the pipeline? Do you look down towards that and you say like, all right, we got we got dude X or dude Y coming up?

Or is it just more about the guys, the guys with the group right now? No, obviously, you know, keep in touch with, you know, guys, whether it's there in juniors in college, you know, when it's time, world juniors wishing them luck. And of course, just, you know, everyday life, it's tough to, you know, keep tabs with guys like that. And, you know, whether it's, you know, day of a game, traveling, it's just, you know, life gets pretty busy during the season. So, no, of course, when guys, you know, do sign, you know, congratulate them and let them know that you're excited to see them and I'm excited for them to join, you know, our group and, you know, to make this team move over, or make this team better move forward. So, yeah, I don't think there's, no, because, of course, their season gets busy too with, you know, whether in college, it's, you know, in school, practices and juniors just games all the time. So just try to be there for them when they need it. That's what the message we try to, you know, give those guys.

If they need any help, any advice, just they can always reach us. One of the things we can talk about the draft and building that way and the way you all have done in Ottawa, there's fan bases that now. I think of Chicago and some of the other teams are like, they're like, hey, it's time to tear it down and let's do that. And you're at the point now where you're coming out of it. But sometimes people say, you know, look at Ottawa or look at Sydney's at Buffalo. It takes a long

time to turn that corner. What if in that process, what have you found the biggest challenge to kind of breaking through once the young players are in place? Yeah, I think, no, it's definitely, you know, a tough process. And, you know,

of course, everybody goes and each year wanting to win and wanted to make playoffs and want a chance to compete for, you know, the Stanley Cup. And of course, you know, our process, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, we've gotten a great group out of it. And, and we have a, you know, very exciting future out of us. And, you know, for me being, you know, part of it kind of right from the start, it's, I got to play with some pretty amazing people and, and, um, players that, you know, I just, when I was, you know, a couple years we've just tried being a sponge then and be a sponge now to, whether it's a guy who's been in the league for a while or a new guy,

try to learn from them and try to, I think that's what's good about our group now is that we've played with a bunch of different people. And I think we all have absorbed different things from different individuals to kind of get us to where we're at today and create that drive to get us better each and every day. Does draft night 2018 feel like yesterday or a million years ago to you? I'm not sure where I land on that. Like it's like a little bit of both.

It's like it was such a whirlwind of a day. So that kind of feels like forever, you know, talk with people, meeting people and just kind of people coming in and out. It's that kind of feels like forever ago. But from then on playing, it feels like yesterday. Like, you know, my first game was yesterday. So it's like it's one of those mixed feelings that, um, And of course, it was so memorable and never forget it. But it feels like it just lived it, but it was so long.

It's just one of those weird feelings that's almost like in this gravel. How sure were you that it was going to be Ottawa? Like I remember that, like I'm just thinking to that draft. It seemed like one and two were that was not being debated. And then it got kind of wild at three. Like for you, when did you know? Honestly, I didn't know anything, really. I knew right before

Otto went up I kind of knew them before they announced it you know, my agent tapped me and then while they're making the selection, you wish you were staring right at me

the whole time. So I kind of knew then, but that day I know I remember at meetings since, you know, could be anything because I remember that draft like you said one or two is pretty solidified.

So from three on it could have been pretty chaotic. So I was excited. I remember being really nervous for it. And I was nervous that I didn't want to split my pants going up to the stage. I remember thinking that. I'm like, you better not toe pick up the stairs or split your pants. And then that, that'll be fine. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. What's, is there, this, this might be a cop-out question, but is, is there, is there something about the season that you just had? Because there, there was a lot to like about it. But is there one something that sticks out to you in terms of, you know, what you were, what you were most proud of.

I mean, is it just hitting 30 goals or is there more to it than that? Yeah. I mean, individually, that was probably what I was most proud of. And I wanted to prove it to know myself and to everybody else that, you know, it can always get better. and I want to get better. I want to get to that next, no, I want to just keep improving

and just try to get to that next level as a player. And, and, but no, I mean, team-wise, I just, what I was most proud of is how everybody got better. You know, our young core,

you know, older guys, everybody got better. And we started dictating towards the end of the season, you know, our play and we were able to play, you know, that game against,

anybody. We got that confidence towards the end of the season that we could beat anybody. And that's what I was most proud of. And like, I know this has kind of been the common theme of Leibbinson, but it just makes me so excited for next year and to kind of get started again, even though it's a couple months away, just to see the guys and, you know, already missing the guys and just come out swinging next year. That's what I think most excited about. All right. I had two more things I want to touch on. when when um you were doing your contract your last one matthew spoke up on your behalf and i'm he said i'm going to read the quote because i went back and found it it's a family business

nobody wants to deal with the kachucks in this we do it by a committee and then there was more that wouldn't be on that as i'm sure you remember and i think it helped probably got you an extra million a year i don't i don't know for sure yeah if you asked him he i did but i don't know at the time. I don't know if it was the best, but who is? What do you do? You're not helping the cause. So I just wanted to present.

I wanted to give you the floor, Brady. I mean, you have your brother's going to be going through it. So if you want to make the case for him or stump on his behalf or do some negotiating with, by all means. Yeah. Yeah. No, he definitely, he did. Well, it was nice things to say.

But, of course, he's always got my back. And, and, uh, we don't. Of course, we don't want to hear those, though. I know. He's always got my, let's go. It was in that crunch time of, you know, negotiations. So it was, it was good and bad, but of course, he has my back always. So I don't think we ever, no, Matt had ever saying that.

Of course, no, he didn't really care. But he just knew, he just wanted what was best for me. And, of course, I don't know if you wanted to put the pressure on. That's why I did it for them or what his thought process was. was. So, no, it was whatever. They were just like, oh, nice, perfect. Like, and then, you know, try to put the fly out a little bit. But, no, it was good.

But now with him, definitely, of course, going through it last year, but he's in a little bit of a different situation. So, yeah, just, well, if he ever asked, you know, me for, no, opinions or or what he thinks, of course, I'll give it. But at the end of the day, he's going to do, you know, make the right decision for him. and of course, whatever happens, I don't know. So I'm excited for him and excited for what the future holds from. And of course, I've got no clue what's going to happen unless now he tells me.

So I'll be there for him. Do you believe he said you're not as cutthroat as he am? Do you believe that? Like, do you, your personalities is, or what do you think? Yeah, you know what? Like the big joke is now, and of course, I'm going to say it, say this before I say it, is that, I love being in Ottawa. I know a lot of fans there.

And but like the, the big joke between us is that, you know, he was calling himself the holdout because he missed a couple days in camp. And we always joke that I actually missed a couple regular season games. He was like, I could never do that. So he was always like,

he's always like, you don't have what it takes to, you know, miss. And I was like, I mean, okay, I guess.

And that it eventually happened, like the way it happened. So we had a pretty good laugh over that. He was like, I can't believe you did it. So he was. You had the stomach for it, it turns out. Yeah. Well, I don't know if I had the stomach for it, but it definitely missed being with the guys during, you know, camp and stuff.

But that was kind of like just a joke after it all happened and be able to get back and get play. And that was what kind of were laughing about it. Where does Terran stack up on the on the cut throat meter? Because I see, I see you wearing, you're wearing the UV. year shirt like we like we we saw her hanging out where is where is she on the scale who she's uh she knows so much about hockey so she's right there in the opinion she's how do you think she said i think you should do that it's just like hilarious so so she's she's on the committee she's she's on the negotiation yeah she'd be uh she'd be okay yeah i think

she did no she was she was good she was just happy for both of us um yeah it was funny today it's just a little thing, just we're always reping UVA. So me, my dad, my brother, we're all wearing UVA shirts we didn't tell each other. So it's so funny that happened. That's amazing. Anything you can share from, because we heard talking to Matthew, you guys were in Nashville for your dad's 50.

I mean, you happen to be in Nashville for your dad's 50th. Anything you can share from that night for the, with the general public? Yeah, I mean, well, we got to, so, we celebrated his 50th, you know, the next day played. and then we actually stayed the night in national, so I was able to hang out with them after.

So, I mean, a funny story that involves him and actually Barrett Jackman, who came and, you know, celebrated my dad's 50th to go in there at the game. And the night before they were telling me at dinner, you know, it was a full Broadway shift for them. And so I met them out for on Broadway and then dinner.

And they're like, when you score tomorrow, you got to give the Barrett Jackman, X, the big X that he does in that playoffs over a big goal. So happen to be, you know, able to score that game and game one of the X's. And I know him, my dad are pretty pumped over that. And I think that was the perfect excuse for him to have a big night on Broadway. So I think they're pumped at that. They got a couple. They got a couple nights worth of Broadway shows. I think that's, I think,

I think that's enough. Those guys, those guys are getting old. They can't hang for four or five days. Yeah, I don't know. They're a different breed, I guess. Yeah, oh, for sure, for sure. All right, this is it for me. Have you ever seen?

And I was not aware of this existed until today. And that was, I mentioned to somebody that we were talking to like, you got to see if you've seen this. The late great Gilbert Godfrey reading your Brendan Lemieux quote. I actually have seen that, yeah. It's unbelievable. Tuck Chuck was furious. This is the one time I'm going to answer this, said Toc Chuck.

It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do. This guy, you can ask any one of his own teammates, nobody ever wants to play with him. This guy is a bad guy and a bad teammate. He focuses on himself all. the time. The guy's just a joke. He shouldn't be in the league. The guy's gutless.

No other team wants him. He's going to keep begging to be in the NHL. No other team is going to warn him. He's an absolute joke. I can't even wrap my head around

it. People don't even do this. He's just a bad guy. Yeah, it's pretty funny. Just even how he says the last name. I remember what it all happened. What it all happened. My dad said to me, he's like, you don't even know this guy's a legend.

So. And we're laughing. And, yeah, it was a pretty funny video. It was unbelievable. Shawna, you got anything else, my friend? We can let Brady go back to enjoying. Okay. So how hot is it in St. Louis right now?

because I'm in, I'm in, I'm in Pittsburgh. I was just watching the, the Pirates Cardinals game, and they were, they were cooking cheese on the, on,

on, on, on, on, on, on the surface at Bush Stadium. So what are we, what are we looking at here? I think today it had 100 or 101.

And it, like, and I, I was watching that too. I'm like, because it's a double header tonight, right? Yeah,

right. So it's like, so, and then, like, 615, it's still going to be 90, 93.

It's just like, it was so, hot today. Like we went outside, a little workout outside like nine. It was just like unbearable even at nine. So it's, yeah, it takes a lot of,

no, support to, I feel like watch a game in the heat like that for three hours or even being in uniform for three hours out there. You got, you got, you guys just camp out in the game room or the, or the TV room or whatever. Just stick

out some real estate at the house. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Pay it forward. Do you want to, any good questions to plant when we get your folks on? I think it's our season finale. Yeah. Well, that's a big, big episode. I got to give them something good. Oh, man, that's a tough one. I should have prepped you earlier in the interview and said we can circle back. That would have been the pro thing to do. I mean, the easiest one is just say, what was their favorite game to watch this year out of the kids?

Like, out of math. You know, what was their favorite game? game. I think I already might know it. I was going to say, do you have a, do you have a hunch here? I'm, are they going to be, are they going to be honest? Yeah. That's a, that's the question. I think they'll be honest because I'm more thinking it's going to be game seven or game one of game seven of Dallas game one event. But they've also had been able to go to like a game in Nashville, Florida's. So I'm interested because they went to a lot of our games on the road this year, what, what they enjoyed. the most and had the most fun out.

Yeah. Do we secretly know who their favorite is? Like, you know, I don't as a parent, but do we suspect anything in there? I don't know. I guess this answer is going to give you that. Yeah, that's true. I don't know what they're, I don't know what they're going to say about. It's going to be a lacrosse game.

Yeah. That's what the answer. That's the, that is. Yeah. Yeah. Probably. We did have a couple fun games of that. Perfect.

Awesome. Well, Brady. Thanks for doing this. It was fun, as always. And enjoy, enjoy your offseason. Appreciate it, guys. Enjoy the Budweiser sponsorship. Oh, yeah.

I'm glad you got that. All that sweet Budweiser money. I appreciate it. Yeah. Enjoy the product. I feel like everybody's been saying that. I was like, all right. We'll take it.

And then the response to kick of a year. Yeah. Too funny. Well, thanks so much for having. I had a lot of fun. Yeah. Thanks, man. Thanks, pretty.

See you guys. This is the only good segment on the show. It is when we go into the comments section on our episodes, and I'm telling people how to get there themselves myself this week because Craig cut me off like a jerk last week and said that, you know, maybe people are listening this for the first time and they don't know what you're talking about, which turned out to be true. We heard from one of our buddies on social saying like, hey, this was the first.

first time I listened. Thanks for, thanks for doing that, Craig. I like how quickly that that person went from, I've never listened to the show to our buddy. It's because I forgot his name. But you go to the athletic gap. We are our best friends, by the way, with that person. Yeah, he's moving into the third bedroom over here.

Yeah. Long story. You go to the athletic gap. You tap on listen. You scroll down until you see the hockey puck on the, blue background with no names on the front of it as of as of a few as of a few weeks ago. And you find our app. This is, or you find our episodes.

This is from last week's as versus lightning is a Stanley Cup final we all wanted. Whoops. Here's the shortcut hack. Just look up the guest. So Scott Wheeler was last week's up guest. Look for the title. Yeah. Look for Brady.

So look for Brady Kachuk. Click on that episode. Click on details. answer the flip the coin into the fountain answer the questions three and it's a riddles three the riddles three and then you may ask a question which 30 of what 31 of you which we always i love it i love it is we're the only day of the week that is conditioned people to do this and what it does is it stops us from having to think about this last segment whatsoever we just put all the onus on you we read these we read these cold and say it's

a bunch of nonsense in response. Thank you. Brandon L. asks, does this avalanche team have a shot to be the best all-time have a shot at the best all-time conversation in five, six years? Brandon, I think we got to walk before we run on that one.

I'm gonna, I think they already are, Sean. They're already like in the, in like, they're probably inching against the cut. If they were to lose this, how about this? If they were to lose this series, they would be in the discussion with like the OTS early 2010's Caps teams as the best teams to continually choke in the postseason. Oh, wow.

So you're going to go opposite. This isn't an all-timer. This is an all-time choking team. Oh, they're too early. Come on. That's ridiculous. You go up too low. They didn't choke those.

Oh, geez. Yeah, they did. They joke last? Oh, no. Whatever. If they blow this, they would be in the discussion. I think they would have to win to be, we'll say, like, in the best all-time conversation, like in the expansion era.

There was no qualifier from Brandon L. I know. This is like, he wants to talk like Montreal Canadians. Montreal. I would love it. They got to rattle off like 14 out of 17 here maybe. You never know. Bob M says since you brought up West Mifflin, Sean, hometown of,

town of Logan Coolly, hopefully the first pick in the draft, but we'll see. He'll be the first pick in the draft or the second pick in the draft, but not the third. He'll be the first pick when we redraft in two years. When Corey Promin goes, looking back at the, you know, there's this 2022 draft, we're redrafted. It'll be Logan Coley. I love it. I love it. Since you brought up West Mifflin, Bob asks, what's the best ride and or food at Kenneywood?

I don't really go to Kennywood anymore because I don't have kids and I don't like, I don't like being outside. Is Kenneywood like a gas station? You have to get some perspective. Kennywood's like, Kennywood is like the regional, um, the regional theme park. Like there's,

they have some good, they have some good roller coasters there. It's like, it's like six flags, basically. It's like an independent version of six flags here. Uh, best rider food of Kennywood though.

I do love potato patch fries. I'm a mark for those. Um, and the best ride is still the Thunderbolt. Thank you, Bob. Well, guys, Lucas says, it's now or never, it's Memorial Cup time. I want to hear your Memorial

Cup champion predictions. I think everyone does do it for Canada. No, we're not talking about the Memorial Cup. I don't even really know what that is. Memorial, is it like Memorial Day? I don't know. It happened already. Fourth of July Cup. Hey, I like that Michael Kay. Shout out to the Sioux City musketeers winning the USHL though. That would be great. Denver winning the Frozen for it. We talked to, we talked to, um, we talked to Troy Terry right after, right after Denver's run there. That was, that was nice. Uh, Kyle H says, how do the Blackhawks not get brought up more during the best team in the salary cap era discussion? In a three-year stretch, they had two Stanley Cups in a game

seven in the Western Conference final that seemed to determine the cup between them and the Kings. Very true. Plus the first cup in 2010. I think just because of how the last few years have gone. They've been irrelevant for it for too long a chunk of time. And I think that colors people's discussion them, especially when you have, especially when you have, you know, the penguins still quasi irrelevant. Like they, they end up winning the crown until, until Tampa takes it from them. You know what? Also, I don't want to like glorify the Blackhawks at that era. Yeah. That's just the reality. Sorry, Kyle. You're not wrong, Kyle. Like those teams were as good as any I'd ever seen play when they were playing at their peak.

Yeah, I mean, it's, I just, I don't want to sit here and, like, I'm just being real. It's human nature to sit here and not, and not talk about how great Joel Quinville and. Right, right. And Stan Bowman and Duncan Keith and Jonathan Taze were during that stretch. Who wins a final four of peak penguins, kings, Blackhawks, Lightning? Oh, man. In the cap era. And which penguins team are you sending out there?

This sounds like an Apple podcast, audio plus subscriber on the episode. Save that one. We're saving this one. Think about it for the next two weeks. Definitely not the one with Ron Hainsey is the top pairing defenseman. Not that one? How did that team win? That might have been Mike Sullivan's best moment.

That was Matt Murray. Oh, okay. Craig says he's a sucker for people writing books, says Jen F. Is that limited to hockey books, nonfiction? Some types of fiction? Or does he embrace all bookwriting endeavors equally? I'll take this one. Yes, you should.

It's for you. That was the joke. Jackass. I love all books. Actually, right before this podcast, our family is doing a summer bucket list. We all had to write down what we want to do this summer. And I wrote, I want to read 10 books this summer. I don't read hockey books.

I read the game. I've read because I had to. proofread my own book behind the bench. Don't talk about hockey books. What are, what books are you reading right now? What's the best book you've read in the last, in the last year?

I am the best book that, well, I'm reading, I'm reading Catch and Kill right now, which took me too long to get to by Ronan Farrow. This is the Harvey Weinstein book. So it's, I mean,

that's, Welcome to 2018. I know. Look, it's a pile. That's really high. And, and like, this one hits everything for me because it's investigative journalism. It's writing. It's somebody passionate about a story and finding a way to tell it.

It's exposing the barriers people have to tell to tell the truth in our industry. And this is, now I am on the soapbox. And this, we've seen it and we've lived it at times here. and the I like I don't I know I don't I wouldn't have had the the perseverance and the guts to do what he did like I'm reading the saying this is where I would have given up this is where I would have would have tapped out like really like being real and so I admire so much people that have that conviction and I look at our staff in some of the work like Brit Jorley is doing and of course Katie Strangh Brits unbelievable um you know the coverage of the hockey hockey. Canada stuff right now. That's exactly. I was about to say everybody go, everybody go check. Check out Katie's work on, on the, and Dan Robson and Ian Mendez, their work on the, on the, not just the hockey canada stuff, but that, the piece they put together a couple days ago is, uh, quite a, quite a feat.

Yeah. So it is. And as, as is written, like, this isn't a Canada thing. Like, this is a hockey culture thing. And I'm, you know, the more you dig in, you're going to see it exists in every country. Like, to the point where I'm like, you know, we joke about USA and our, how we like bleed red, white and blue. But there are things that I'm like, oh, I'm going to be just as disgusted, right? Like, it's a, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's

we're dropping the veil for a second here. I think there's times where like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, where we've brought up USA hockey in the past. I'm like, yeah, everything's, everything, everything's great over there, right? No complaints. No. That is. That's part of that.

That's the tough part of the gimmick with this podcast is that it makes it seem like we sign off sometimes on structural things within, within the game. And that just couldn't be, it couldn't be further. It couldn't be further from the truth. Yeah. And, and we'll continue to support and dig. into journalism that exposes anybody in any organization. Like, I, I'm passionate about that.

And I'm proud of the work. And so that's, so you, to get back to the question, and again, this is top of mind because I'm reading that book. But that, that's what I, that's what I enjoy. I, my preference is nonfiction. Then when I'm on vacation, I do like to just check out. And like, and I think the writing and fiction is better generally. So, you know, as a writing nerd, I like to read that kind of storytelling.

and I'm trying to think of the best fiction book I read this year. Honestly, I was like, I wasn't expecting this to turn into like a journalism discussion. I thought you were just going to be like, oh, yeah, the new Bordane like travelogue book was great. I read it. I read it at the, I read it at the cottage last week. Oh, sorry. Today, I'll stop. Yeah, don't talk about serious things.

How dare you? All right. E&M says, I think I found the winner of the Cuss and Gentile Award for Satisfactory American presented by Manscaped. it's Derek Ryan. Ian makes his case very well here. He's American. He makes between two and a half and four million season.

Average salary is 2.7. Average point total in the past four years is 23. Gets no power play minutes but plays a major role on an average P.K. Oilers were 13th. Played in the World Championships in 18 and 19. Those are some checkboxes there. Runner-ups, runners-up include Nick Benino, Ryan Donato, and Vinnie Hino and Vinnie Hino-Hinistroza.

Derek Ryan's a really, really good one. Jack M., how do you guys view dividing the cap area to pre-and-post 2013 lockout? I've always done that in my head, though that might just be biased since I didn't want as much hockey prior to the short season. Would that convince Sean to crown the lightning? Why would we use a lockout? I mean, there's a lockout every, whatever it is, six years. So that would constantly be dividing your eras unnecessarily, I would say.

I think the cap is, the game didn't fundamentally change coming out of that lockout, Jack, in my opinion. So the cap fundamentally changed the game. You can set the terms of the discussion to whatever you want to set them out. I'm fine. I'm fine with that. Like, I had someone, you know, kind of ticked on Twitter being like, you know, well, like, yeah, it's of course you set it of course you set the discussion as the post cap era like pretty convenient at the year before that Tampa won the yeah temple temple temple in the cup I mean

for your argument Sean yeah I whatever then then move it back unisei since the turn of the century you want to say since and then you whatever you know if you go back to 1991 guess what the peopins get two more cups like set the terms of the discussion and then and then we can have it. If you want to, if you want to say, like, who is the best team since the short season lockout, I'll give that, I'll give that to the Tampa Bay Lightning. That's fine. But that's not the discussion we're having. Sean, if, I don't know, for those new to the show, Sean wants to look through everything through the lens of the Sydney Crosby era. So that's the only era he wants to debate. Are the lightning, the lightning the best team of the Sydney Crosby era?

Yes. It benefits the penguins that the salary cap era directly coincides with the Sydney Crosby era. So when for the time being, those are both still running. Cony Crosby is still an elite player. So until Crosby's done, like those are going to be synonymous. Yeah. Sorry. I mean, you call it the Alex Ovecunera if you wanted.

Yeah. He's not as good of a player as Sydney Crosby. So, Crosby wins out. Best American goalie under 25. Oh, I think we know that one. Oh, it's Sean's best friend. Get your hands off and Pete. Stay away from, stay away from Jake Oger.

Pete DeBoer. Do you have a different, do you have a different pick there? No, it's Jake Gottinger. Who's not 23 years old. He's 13 years younger than Sean. That's what he is. That's right. I just tried to do math there.

I'm an 86 to put it in hockey terms. Best American goalie on a terrible team. That's Michael Kay's suggestion for our award show, and now that happens. The Connor Hallibuck Award. All right. I mean, that's going to be. Might just go to Connor Hallibuck.

If you get for the third straight year, the winner of the Connor Hellebuck Award, Connor Hellebuck. Yeah, we'll add that one in, Michael. This is... I love this. I love this from Jesse. Jesse W. Another suggestion for the Tuesday Bullies Award show. Best USA, best American GM who should be making USA hockey decisions instead of John Van Biesbrook. That's good. I agree. Great. This is this is on topic too. I don't know. Pick one. Any of them. Any of them. I'll go with anybody.

Maybe not him. Like, I would say, um, Nothing. You say something there? Nope. That was some in real time editing. I will say best USA GM who should be making USA Hockey GM. I'm a, like, what about Bill Zito? Had a good year.

I'll say Bill Zito. Friend of the show. Perfect. Yeah, we'll see it. We'll see what he ends up doing with that coach. That's a good example. Like, come on, USA Hockey. I mean, everyone knows where we stand on this.

But like, let's, let's, let's. Well, we had that discussion. We had that discussion whenever Van Bsbrook got the job for the, for the, you know, the, um, no NHL Olympic team. Like, you're serious? Like, this is, like, this is the guy? Yeah. Like, does nobody, Google them. Right.

Look what, like, come on. Chet B, we said that, Craig, this was very funny. You called the 1940s the heyday of five. foot eight defenseman. Shots fired at Quinn Hughes because he's on a Canadian team. Listen. He's not five, babe, babe,

he's five, ten. We like Quinn Hughes. Yeah. I don't know if Quinn Hughes likes you. Oh, man. Probably not. The problem is, well, well,

oh, I like this one from the, we are you, okay, so just to reset again for the fifth time, we ask people to give us American awards for our award show, which will be the final show of the, 2022 Athletic Hockey Show Tuesday edition season. We're going to give out American awards. These are all really good.

But keep them coming because we're going to gather them. And at the draft, we're going to have our award show. We're not, we're going to stop going through these on air because we're going to end up stealing from a future show. But just know that we've seen these if you guys have sent in suggestions and we're going to get back to them. I swear, because these are really good.

Perry G says Lou Lamarillo Award for most surprising. American person in hockey. What did I just say? We're not going through the categories. Let's talk about this one. Okay. All right, fine. Keep going.

No surprising American person. Is it surprising that Lou's American or surprising that he's accomplished? What's surprising about Lou? I think the implication is because his name ends in a vow that he, that he's, you know, maybe, maybe. Oh, is Italian? Is Italian? Lou Labarillo.

All right. There's some other good ones. Honorary American. The honorary American is a good one we will do. And the honorary American team, I think we know the winner, but that will do. I hope I got to start taking notes. Mm-hmm. Okay.

What's your take on teams allowing clearing, slash clearing injured players to play in the playoffs is from Bruno L. I understand the teams want to win, but there's no way that Dryside should have been medically cleared to play. Yeah, okay, I've got two thoughts on this if you want to I get pulled in different directions here because I look at tricytel and I'm like, okay, he's got a terribly sprained ankle and that to me is different than, you know, we always, we always bring up Bergeron here.

Bergeron was the pivot point in 20, whatever that year they lost to the Kings was when it was just the laundry list of all the things that went wrong with him. And he's getting feted and cheered for it, especially back then. And I was like, no, wait, this is, this is bad. Like, how does this happen, right? Were concussions a part of that at the time? No. That's where I draw the line is with the concussions.

I'll let players play through ankles all day. Like, what's, you're going to tell Leon Drysale, he can't try to win a stay on the cup because of his ankle? I think it's tough because you have to, on some level, you want to protect players and not force them in a situation. that they wouldn't, you know, because I think that is people, hockey players are compelled always because of the culture and because of the moment to maybe do things that aren't in their best interest. But I think you also have to give players some degree of autonomy over their own bodies. Like if they understand the risk and they know like, hey, Leon, like, you're going to be a terrible pain here and you're playing on a high ankle sprain that if it happened in January, you'd be out for a month.

you know, if they understand their risks in, in one of, in one of gut through it and it's, and it's joint stuff or extremity stuff, not internal injuries, not head injuries, I have a hard time telling those guys that they, that they can't do it. Like if they don't have, if they're not setting themselves up for, for major damage down the line, if they understand the risks in their mentally, you know, and they're not dealing with like a brain injury or whatever, then I, then I'm I that might be that might be caveman shit for me but I think you should let those guys decide what they want to do and if they're good enough to play and if a coach decides that they're good enough to that they're not too injured to to trot out there and good enough to help I think

they should be allowed to do it because I think that's part of that's part of the sport and it's part of the draw and I think you need to let people make choices about their own bodies when it comes of that sort of stuff that well said I agree no what um Matt can't Hey, is this another Pittsburgh? We don't want to do that one? It is. You don't have to worry about that one. All right. But he's saying the de brinket erasure on the American show is sad.

I would agree, Matt Kay. You called us out. We fixed it. We fixed it and we're going to treat him like it's Mitch Mariner on the trade block because it is. You know what I mean? Like if Mitch Mariner was on the trade block, it would be leading every episode of Leafs Lunch or whatever is going on. Yeah. Myrtle and Jonas would be writing about it three times every day.

Yeah, we're going to, if I wrote, I would write about to Brink it every day, this soft season. Nicholas Kay, I'm not terribly surprised that Craig was infuriated by Sean using advanced concepts. Like three is more than two. He went to a school that focused on cows for Christ's sake. Okay. Is that, so that, that is the deal with Michigan State. I didn't realize it was a farmer school. Look, it's like, stupid things Michigan fans say to like to try to downgrade.

the Michigan State has the best, you can name it, business, journalism, whatever you're, because I'm going through this with my son, who is of age to go to college, you can pick, pick a topic in Michigan State as best in the world or in the conversation, in my opinion. Because, so, country's first land grant university. First. Yeah, proud of it too. I'm not ashamed of cows. And farming is a noble profession.

Nicholas K. I wish I was a farmer There's still time There's still time Every day Every day I wish It has a history of agriculture That I'm proud of as well

So But math I don't know Math has never been my strong suit That being sad That being said I hate math I'm not good at it I said three is more than two

A dozen times last week So we won't go on it again Yardin is back with a style guide update Good. Three Zs. She'll take recommendations for other entries, but the Zs are non-negotiable. The next meeting for Style Guide amendments will be held at tipsy mixed aggers. As for hockey, Sean's Pittsburgh bias really showed on the question of the lightning being a dynasty.

Then again, maybe that's just my Tampa bias talking. Look, I'm not saying that Tampa is not a dynasty. I just don't, I think they're number. I think they're second because, say it with me, Craig. Three is more than two. you're done us all right you're not wrong in fairness of pronman says west macar's skating might be only above average we talked about this last week corey is sticking stick into the assessment that kill macar's an above average skater as opposed to an elite but the way macar moves on the ice

isn't skating it's magic which is which is true i i think that's sort of that's sort of the distinction the distinction there is magical skating i like beautiful peter bah god bless them just wrote a Another deep dive into Cal McCar today. Like backstories to Cal McCar. Like, how many are left? Cal McCar is 21 or whatever. He's got to do this for the next decade, Peter Ball. Good luck.

I mean, you need to have this conversation with Pete. Like, do you keep some in the chamber or do you just empty it now that they're on the run? That's a tough, that's a tough strategic choice. Can we read Tom B's award idea because it's good? Yeah, yeah. Tom B, how about an award for Best American Rookie? You could call it the Little Tuesday Urban Achiever. I love it.

We're doing that, and we're not going to talk about who the best rookie is. The best American rookie is here, here. But that is going to be engraved on the plaque and sent to whoever ends up winning it. I do like this. Best American Theme Tockey Podcasts. We will be handing that out. It's weirdly not us. whatever Chris Peters is doing probably

Oh, for sure Thank you guys for doing this every week It's a lot of fun And it just gives us an opportunity to sit here And speak against temporaneously Right? It's fun It's the best segment for a reason

And it's because we're not in charge of it The users are I also like that we have a cat I want to like get all these people together At tipsy McStaggers Mm-hmm Now we have like friends of the show I feel like we're like, this is like peak 90 sports talk where it was like the same people

weighing in. Yeah. Oh God. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like Jim Rome would have like the person in Pasadena or whatever that was sending faxes. All those guys. I think I know who that was, by the way.

But anyways. Some of those guys on Jim Rome got shows of their own. Some of the, some of the go-to guys who were calling in J-T. That's Jesse W. You might have your own. Be careful. Michael. Are Dennis going to have a row podcast on the up.

Can we just give her Thursday? She could have Thursday. Thursday show. We can move Thursday to Tuesday. We don't longer record. Yeah, we don't do anything. That we don't have to do a thing. We just license.

We just license this out. It can be the Cousin Tintillian Memorial Tuesday. Judd Brackett joins Mike Russo this weekend straight from the source. Mike who's out there not only writing about the wild but covering the Stanley Cup finals like a champ. Rob Pizzo, Sarah Sivian, and Jesse Granger doing the Wednesday roundtable, as always, we're not trying to remove them from the equation. I was just trying to get out of work.

It's great. Listen to it. You're removed from the equation. Yeah. Make sure you, if you enjoy us, and only us, leave a review and mention Sean by name in the review and make sure it's five stars. Wherever it is, you listen to podcasts. It really helps us.

and the more people that listen to us, the more you have to listen to us. And sadly, the show is gaining in popularity. I look at the numbers because I love math, as I've stated. No, actually, I love number. I like looking at like ratings and stuff.

And it's going pretty well for the old Tuesday show and the Athletic Hockey show. And thank you for that. Subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast to get all the bonus content from our entire network, including the one where we just talked about that's coming up in two weeks. Start with a 30-day free trial, then just 99 cents a month after that.

Right now, and right now only, get an annual subscription to the Athletic for just $1 month for six months when you visit theathletic. com slash hockey show. And then you can go leave comments and become a friend of the show. And possibly do more free labor for the athletic. You never know. Just consider it. Just consider it. Yeah.

Pay us money to subscribe. Right. Right. That's the first part of this equation and then provide content for us. Right. If you end up hosting the Tuesday show, we should be clear here. You will not be paid for anything. Oh, yeah, no, no, no.

We will. This is on a volunteer basis. But you do have to pay us to have access to help. You will not be getting a free subscription either. No, no, no, no. Let's be clear about that as well. Next week, Max Baltman, everybody's favorite, is subbing for me. on the Tuesday show.

I'm glad. I need a max week here. Yeah, it's good. It's been on. It's been around for too long. What are we going to do at the draft you and I? That's the question. Do we do a live show in the app?

We'll do whatever you want, Sean. I'm only there for like a day. I'm in and out. So we're going to, I know, don't roll your eyes. I just, I got to go to. Vacation. No, not vacation. I'm going to Vegas for the NBA Summer League.

to meet with some writers there. Oh, just good, good for you. Good for them. Good for them. Really. It's their,

their pleasure. So Max subs in. Also, of course, use the hashtag TH, THS Tuesday Boys with 3Z on your Denna's call. Not five.

Thank you to Brady Kachuk, of course, for joining the podcast and being such a good, great guest, up for anything. Thank you to producer Jeff for pulling

this all together for making this such a fun show. And thank you to the users who ask questions. Thank you to everyone who subscribes the athletic. Thank you to my family. Thank you to my friends. I like to think. Bye. Thank you to Craig's dog. Burley. Burlington. Thank you to the Amazon man who's probably due to show up. Yeah. I think the Amazon man is my favorite extended universe character here when he comes in. I've been watching my win. I've been watching my window, like, as we wrap up, we somehow threaded the needle between Amazon deliveries and Burley getting all worked up. So, it's, get the hell out of here before something else happens. All right.

Bye, everybody. Bye.