The Athletic Hockey Show - Brian Boyle's chance to win with the Pittsburgh Penguins is now, Patrick Maroon says the game is 'going' the wrong way and can Auston Matthews reach the 70 goal plateau this season?

Episode Date: April 5, 2022

Sean Gentille and guest co-host Max Bultman welcome Brian Boyle of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boyle shares how he has fit in with the powerhouse Pens, being teammates with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins commitment to Acai Bowls. Plus Brian offers his opinion on the controversy this weekend between the Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes involving Jay Beagle, Trevor Zegras, Tory Terry and Coyotes broadcaster Tyson Nash. Sean and Max marvel at the play of Auston Matthews and ask, can the Arizona product reach the 70 goal mark this season, and has he cemented the Hart Trophy away from Igor Shesterkin and Johnny Gaudreau? We get into how bad the Detroit Red Wings have been this month, Patrick Maroon's frustration with how officiating is changing the game, for the worse and Sean and Max take a look at a record amount of messages left for Sean and the vacationing Craig Custance in our latest instalment of The Athletic Hockey Show USA's best segment of the week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm your host, not Craig Custin's Sean Jantilly. Here with Max Boltman, we needed at least one Detroit area member of the athletic on this show. Craig, like the dirt bag he is, has bailed on me this week. He's on vacation with his family, at an undisclosed location. So we brought in a the person that Craig called such a bad person on the air last night or last week or whatever that was Max Bolman what's up buddy not a lot man I was just deciding between one of two retorts to the intro and it was between why you're not on this Cussons family vacation as usual you would usually attend their vacations they put me they put me in the dog rumbulls

with with Burley that's that's typically that's typically that's typically my my spot. I'm going to the back of the station wagon. No love for Uncle Sean. Okay. Or I was going to do something about the second that the podcast starts on Tuesday, to people hear it's your voice. There's like a six second countdown for them to figure out who the guest is before

you introduce it. It could be me. No, it could be Granger. It could be Ryan Clark. It could be anybody. I mean, it's probably. It's probably going to be you.

Let's get real. I'm a lazy. I'm a lazy man. What's new with you, buddy? What's new? What's new in Detroit? Well, a lot of goals are going in the net. Different ones than to start the year when it was a little sunnier around here.

I don't know if you caught the 11 to 2 game a couple weeks ago, a couple five goal, five, two, not five goal losses, but five two losses to Ottawa over the weekend. So not the, not the brightest of moods around the LCA lately, to be honest. I watched one period of the Penn's Red Wings game. That was, my God, this is more than a week ago now. And I was like, okay, I'm good. It was 5-0-0, and then I think I flipped over to, I flipped over to the Oscars, I believe, or whatever. Hoops.

Just in time? Did you make it just in time? I just in time. I don't know. What are you talking about? Did something happen at the Oscars? What did I miss? What I should have done at the top of the show here was just done the, done the Craig thing,

where I just read whatever, whatever is on the show sheet in front of me. we've established, he doesn't. Like, he comes in completely cold. Like, you can put anything in front of him and he'll Ron Berg into it. So I should have just not looked at anything and, and straight up, and straight up read down the show sheet. Austin Matthews will score 60 this season, is 70 out of reach? Like, that's what we're talking about.

We're about Austin Matthews here. And we'll get to that in a second. But if Craig read that, he would be seeing it for the first time. But, I mean, look, I know we joke about. about it all the time. We're loath to talk about Austin Matthews on the show because good Arizona boy that he is plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs they're not

an American team. Same goes for Johnny Goddrow. Good American boy that he is. He plays for the Calgary Flames, who while almost an American team as we established last week are still unfortunately located north of the border. They both had big games last night. Gadrow scored twice for the Flames.

But man, much as we like as we would like to avoid talking about the maple leaves here. When you have awesome Matthews scoring a hat trick, putting himself on pace for damn near 70 goals on the season, we got to address it, right? He's going to, he's going to score 60. The question is if he's going to, if he's going to score 70. But man, what did you, I don't know, Maxie, what did you, what did you, what did you think of last night? Hanging three on the, on the, on the Tampa Bay Lightning is still, is still something. He's pretty good. It's definitely something.

That brings him, I believe, to 47 goals in his last 47 games, scoring at ridiculous rates that just, you keep thinking, you don't really think he's going to slow down. But that level of scoring is crazy. And it's frankly, you say can he get to 70. He's got 13 games left. He would need 16 more goals. Yeah, that is the James Myrtle. But I got the schedule up right now, Sean. It's not impossible.

Yep. They got a game against Detroit. They got a game against Philly. They got one against Ottawa. They got one against Montreal. He just got a hatchet against Tampa. They got another against Tampa and it's an ESPN game. I assume Austin Matthews gets up for the ESPN game.

I mean, like the good American that he is. I don't think this is crazy. I mean, of course. I don't think he does it. I think he probably, I think right now the pace is 65. I'll say it gets 67. I think that's the question is like, what's the over under on this? But I will say it's not impossible.

possible. He's in a goal per game in his last 47. If he wouldn't have missed that time, it sounds insane. I think, I think you'd almost, you don't almost have to bet on him to do it. And if he, if he throws up another haddy at some point, then it's real. Then it gets, the watch is off. It's, it's, it's very real. Like if he, if he comes out, and we're recording this on Tuesday morning. If he comes out tonight against Florida, who good as they are, I mean, they give up goals. That's, that's an offensive juggernaut there. Not the tightest offensive team. It's still Bobrovsky. He's still capable of self-destructs, like self-destruction in any given point. And then Dallas is Dallas and in Montreal. I mean, whatever. They're the

worst team in the league. So if he comes out of these. next three games and he scores let's say six goals or five or six goals in the next in the next three games i don't know man i don't know if you bet on it but i think i think you can say that it happens the better question is like what's a realistic over under here for him is it like 66 and a half 65 and a half yeah 65 and a half or 64 and a half is probably what it would we could probably check this i'm sure we have some sponsorship that we could probably go consult uh and and there's probably an actual answer this question but it's more fun if we don't right it's just i don't want to be the guy there's a bar debate and i'm the guy who pulls out his phone just has the answer we got to just hash this out between do we have do we have odds on that from our friends at bet mGM the official betting partner of the athletic i'm not i'm not Sign up at bedmgm.com. Sign up at bedemgm.com slash the athletic. I hope they have odds, but if not, if not they should.

The other question, I think, after last night is, and I do this every week where we end up awards watching, but it's just that, it's just that time of year. He's going to win the heart. He's going to win it. That's where we are at this point in the schedule. It's a mix of Toronto bias, pro-Trono bias, which is a real thing, no matter what anybody says.

And people are just, people are sick of voting for McDavid. And Johnny Goddrow just hasn't, the charge is happening too late for him. The round number thing for Matthews is going to be a huge part of this, right? Like it, it does remind me of kind of the dry sidel. Not that that wasn't deserved, but the dry saddle from a couple years ago, the round number milestone helps you. When people, when people look, and this is, And I'm not saying this is a bad thing because numbers count.

Milestones matter, especially on this sort of stuff. But when people look at that goal column and they see a number starting with six in it, they're not going to be able to turn away. And we can sit here and we can talk about, you know, how great Johnny Goodroo's five-on-five numbers are and how he is a better even-strength player than Austin Matthews is. And how he's going to – and Johnny Goodroo is going to finish with well. over 100 points, this and that, I don't think people are going to be able to, people aren't going to be able to look away. Like, and how do you? How do you look at a dude that scores 66 and a

half goals or whatever, or whatever we're putting them at for the season and not, and not give it to them? It's going to happen. It's funny because I kind of had felt like, at least like a week, as of a week ago, Schisturkin was starting to get some separation on it. And I don't, I don't, I still don't know that I would say he's not the favorite. But I do agree with you on the round number thing. I guess I said it. But you were leading me there. The 60 thing does.

Like, it's going to play into this. And if he, I think he's going to get there. Obviously. I don't know. To me, like, Schistarkin is the difference between the Rangers being a two or a three seed and potentially out. Is he not? We can talk about this.

How do you personally, as, a voter and someone who's had votes the last the last couple years. Because this is something that I've never really been able to, oh God, I've never really been able to work through it on my own. It's tough. The goalie thing is tough because goalies fundamentally are more valuable than skaters, just by definition. So, and I've had, I've had goal is on my ballot before and I'm I can't I'm I'm sure I'm sure I had carry price on it on it at one time or another but I'm definitely I lean in is it this is this might be this might be bullshit on my part but I lean towards leaving them off like it's it's tough and that's and that's

not fair but I do feel like I feel like it has to be something above and beyond just because of the nature of the position relative to the other ones to actually put a goal that high. And I think that's where we are with Shasturkin. I mean, like, he's, this is, it's not just what he's done. Max, you sort of said this. It's not just what he's done individually. It's what he's done in the context of the, of the team he's playing for. And how badly they needed him to be that good for, you know, basically the duration of the season. So I don't know, man, it's, it's, it's, it's tough. It really, it really is. There hasn't been, and this is a team with Artembe Panarin on it. Perrin's been on my MVP ballot at least once in the last two or three years.

So it's not like this is a team bereft of talent. Adam Fox obviously won the Norris last year. But there hasn't been a game a week this entire year, right? I didn't think he was there far and away, but most important, best player. They're a bad five-on-five team. Yeah. That's just it. Like you can, I mean, Adam Fox, great.

He's going to be top four in the Norris, let's say. Worst case, again, Panarin. Great. Chris Kreider has, speaking of, he's going to hit 50. He's going to be the second American to score 60 goals this season. It's hilarious. He's 60 goals and I think 95% of them came on the power play. That's a good team, obviously.

There's some really talented pieces on that team. And I think they're set up for success down the line better than they have been at the start of the season, right? Because they're much better with Andrew Kopp and Tyler Mott. and they're a better team now than they were last month. And weirdly enough, with Shasturkin, there was a stretch of his two weeks ago, basically, where it wasn't like a dip, but it was a mini lull where he got chased in one game and then it was sort of so-so and in a couple other ones. And now he's, you know, now he's back.

Now he's back in God mode and he, not single-handle, he beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in one of those games, but close enough. That, by the way, will be discussed by our. guest, which we should have teed up, I should have teed up at the start of the episode and forgot. Brian Boyle is fantastic. We'll talk more about him later. But Schisturkin's back, she's back into form for sure. I just think, I just think the goalie thing's going to come back and bite him in the ass, because it is. It's logistically tough to parse, because the way I feel like it, if you wanted to, you could have a heart ballot that was just five goalies every

single season by the letter of the law and then you do that and then move on but i mean i don't know it's tough you could i historically have have not had many goalies on i i do feel chasturka is a special case and i will make that case to you because i know you've been hanging out with dom a lot using some numbers kind of i don't know i wouldn't say we hang out or more workplace friends i see a lot of uh a lot of screenshots of texts for the power rankings i think the influence is real And that's good. Dom's great. But if you pull up the goal saved above expected numbers for the entire league's goalies this year.

Shasturkin is actually number two very narrowly by Freddie Anderson. But that's, I kind of, and this is probably so analytically undisciplined of me. I just throw all the expected goals numbers out the window for Carolina because there's something. Yeah. Like they just, they're amazing. And their goalies managed to have this. I think the Dukovic was like crazy and gold of saved above expected last year

too. Was he like, he was top three in the league I think, yeah, he was third in the league. So I just, for whatever reason, I just disregard Carolina. If you do take Anderson out of it, which I realize I'm already through one hoop here. But it's like, just circons up by like almost double. I do have a question for you. Why is nobody talking about the Carolina hurricanes?

Freddie Anderson should be, should be the rightful heart winner. But I mean, Anderson and Chasturkin are at 33 and 32 goals they don't expect it. The next closest goal is at 18. That is like far in a way. It's crazy. I don't think I...

You know what, honestly. The Cains were already this good when they didn't have Freddie Anderson. And the Rangers, when Chasturkin was not doing this, were not. So that to me, that's the whole thing. I think that's the, and that's the argument, right? Is that without Chisdurken, the Rangers probably aren't a playoff team. Are they better than the Islanders? I don't think so.

I don't think so. So it is so egregious, like you said, with the importance that he has of that team and the effect he's had on him over all of it. I mean, I'm not sure. I'm not sure where he sits on my ballot. And I still personally, I still don't think he's going to win it just because of, you know, the Toronto effect and the in the sixth. It's going to be next to Matthew's name. but man that's

it's going to be a factor it's going to be a factor um but i i love god we could spend the next hour and a half talking about awards vS and i'm sure we're going to

talk about it a ton going down the stretch because it's fun everyone everyone likes doing it the other the other bit involving a great American in the last 24 hours is our postgame quote

from pat maroon via our buddy last week's guest, Joe Smith. The long and short of it is that Maroon and Wayne Simmons in the Leafs Lightning game last night, both got 10-minute misconducts, kind of preemptive 10-minute misconducts. Pat, after the game goes, the game is going the wrong way.

I guess you can't chirp each other on the bench now. I guess that is illegal. I guess it's better to watch 19-80s hockey when guys are chirping each other, but I don't know why they did that. I don't know why they did that either. Do we have a good explanation as to what, as to what these officials are doing and why they're,

you know, they've moved on to preemptively calling this stuff? It's happened twice to Simmons in the last, in the last 10 days. Like, are they just that, are they just that terrified of, of fights? It seemed like that might be the deal.

It's weird. I mean, these are two heavyweights. And if they, if they did want to avoid the really dramatic outcomes in a fight, And one hand, I guess you could say these are two guys who can, who could handle each other. But they're also two guys who are, you know, this is the upper echelon of the league's potential scrappers. So if you wanted to avoid this fight, just to be safe, if you wanted to say, we're not, we don't need to do this. This game's, the game's over, right?

I guess I could understand that. I wouldn't support it. I don't think that that's, I think that's a bridge too far. but I guess I could understand it. I give up Maroon saying to a certain point, I think it is kind of ironic. Yeah. I think it is kind of ironic coming from him who's one of the few guys left in the league who, you know, does play, does play like it's the 80s and he's been compensated, you know, pretty

well for it. And he's found a lot of success. He's a folk hero in Tampa because of the, because the game he brings. I just, it's just a funny line. And it's one of those things where you see it, you see that he said it and you kind I roll your eyes, right? Like, that's, you're just, all right, let's see. This is just, this is just whiny, you know, whiny stuff from a, from an older guy who's, you know, look, looking back and wishing things the way that they were, as I do all the time, because I think me and Pat

Rune are the same age at this point. Um, but I think there's, I do think there's a kernel of truth to it. Like, there's something about preliminary misconducts just for guys, for guys, for guys, for guys talking shit that I just don't. It just, it just rubs me the wrong way. And I don't know if that's, you know, it's kind of easy to look at it. And after seeing the response to the J. Beagle, Troy Terry, Trevor Zegris affair of a couple nights ago, which, by the way, had some national penetration, I think, in a way that a lot of NHL stuff doesn't. Like I saw, I was at a bar yesterday and saw I'm talking about it on PTI, like.

It's getting attention that hockey stuff doesn't get, right? And of course, we're talking about Trevor Zegris, kind of blowing up on Jay Beagle after Jay Beagle. I don't, how would you characterize what he did to Troy Terry? Did he punch him and keep him on his feet so he could keep punching him? Is that what happened? Is that fair to say? That might be it. Yeah, I mean, I think you went too far with Troy Terry for.

sure. Like I think at that point, you know, I do realize that Troy Terry went in there of his own volition to, you know, stand up for, for Trevor Zegris. But there's, you know, I think that fight was over. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. And it just, it brings us back to that discussion, which I feel like he's gotten, there's, there's two, there's two ends of that conversation. And Brian Boyle, by the way, was, was great on this. I thought he, I thought he brought a lot of, understandably he brought a certain amount of perspective and a certain amount of nuance to it. But there were two ends of that situation, right? The first one was, and Boyle alluded to this, he basically said the ducks are,

the ducks definitely have a reputation for just talking shit during games, right? And if that happens, when you're down that much and then you take maybe a borderline poke at the goalie, like stuff's going to happen. Where it, which I don't do you, what do you think about that? I don't mean to put you on the spot, but what do you think,

what do you think about maybe Trevor Seagriss or Troy Terry, not getting like one punched or suckered or knocked on his feet and dragged around? But what do you think of them having to answer for, you know, gum flapping and potential borderline pokes on the goalie, like late in blowout games? because I don't know

functionally if I have a problem for that. Like if you, if that's, if that's the way it's going and you're going to be mouthy and chippy throughout the game, maybe, maybe pay a little bit of closer attention. And we're,

we're going to get the overall pointer. But that is, that is the, that is the first end, I think, of the, of the discussion there. My,

okay, so this might be just the stupidest thing I've ever said. My first reaction was, I'm not actually sure that the, the first, the crossjack to Zegris actually had anything to do with anything out. Like that happens five times a game to anyone,

whether you're a skill guy, whether you're a grinder, you dig around the goalie's hand when he's trying to cover a puck or has covered a puck or whatever. You can argue that. That is the outcome that you expect to happen, right? Tyson Nash turns it into a culture war thing

with his commentary. But I will also say, Do I think Jay Beagle enjoyed that opportunity a little more because of who it was? Was he ready for it? Absolutely. I'm sure he did. I'm sure he did, right? And you could probably apply something similar to the Tritory thing, although I don't, that one I really think was just kind of, he came in and.

It's a bad outcome. It went, yeah, exactly. It's a bad outcome. It's the stuff that, but again, it's stuff we see not every night, but that's the way. That's the way it goes. That's the way it goes in these games, especially at the end. And the outcome, the outcome was terrible. And Jay Beagle is a tough dude who's been in the league for a long time.

And Troy Terry was not ready for it. He wasn't ready for the smoke. He got clocked in the face, however many times, got punched more times than he should have. Like 100%. That should have stopped. There was no need for any of that to go down. So that's, you know, whatever, not particularly necessary. The stuff that happened on the ice is understandable to varying degrees.

And honestly, frankly, stuff that I'm okay with to varying. I don't have a problem. Up to a point with Terry. Up to a certain point with the Terry thing. But before the second, third punch is Detroit Terry. I don't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with Trevor Ziegers taking a poke at what might be a loose puck in the crease. I don't really have much of a problem with Jay Beagle coming in, coming in and cross-checking

them in the back a little bit. It was one time it happens. It's hockey. Everything after that was, is a little bit fuzzy. What it turned into and what the dialogue ended up centering around was what Tyson, was what Tyson Nash says. And that is completely apart from the discussion that was probably, from the motivation of the guys on the ice. And I think Brian, I think Brian Boyle kind of spoke to that. I don't know that those guys were mad about Troy Terry and Troy.

Trevor Ziegress, scaling it up at the end of the game, I think they were probably mad about them talking shit and potentially taking a poke at the goalie in the crease. And to have Tyson Nash turn it into, you know, whatever, some, a cable news audition where he was, you know, he was 15 minutes, 15 seconds away from blaming, from dropping avocado toast and blaming millennials for not buying, homes or whatever it was, for him to go to that mode was just crazy. And that is what people

reacted to. And that, I think, is a separate discussion from what actually, from what actually happened on the ice. It seemed like there was a conversation he wanted to have. And he saw an opportunity to kind of, you know, jam it in there and start it. That is the question. How long did Tyson Nash have that one in the hopper? Like at what point during that game, Did he look at the stuff that the ducks were pulling and just decide like, I'm saying this at some point. It doesn't, it doesn't matter when. It could have been when the Michigan happened. And he's like, this guy gets, you know, he gets away with this and then later.

Because, okay, so look, he could have been watching ESPN Plus like the, like the rest of us whenever, whenever, whenever, whenever, whenever, was like, I'm taking a dump on this dude. It's at some point. It could have been. I mean, and, okay, I should, uh, expose. bows myself a little bit here. Like when I was, uh, which game it was the Red Wings, I think it was Red Wings and senators, but it might have been the game before that last week. The Red Wings had a play where they had a guy digging around Nadelcovic's hand. And I tweeted like how that

guy just does that and no Red Wing steps into him for it is beyond me. Right. So I'm, I am not above like, no kind of criticizing some of this stuff and like there needs to be a physical response to us. It's hot. It's hockey. That's what it is. That's how it's always been. And And that's not the best justification. You poke at a goalie's hand. Someone's going to try to knock you on your ass. That's the way it goes. There's nothing wrong with it.

That's the sport. I don't think people were mad about that. Yeah. And if he had just said, like, you know what? Like, you go around a goalie's hand and you're going to pay a price or whatever. Like, no one, this would not have made it to Twitter, right? No. But he took it to the skilling it up thing, which happened much earlier in that game.

Because I think it was probably a conversation he was ready to have. You know, like I think, and we're all, by the way, ready to have. Like, everyone, that's why it went as viral as it did, because everyone on Twitter was ready to have it too. We're always looking for a way of the litigate us. It's one of those things where it's just like, it's red meat. And it's red meat for all of us because it is, I mean, skill versus grit is just generally a through line with, you know,

Twitter discussions at times. So to have it blown out into the most, like, purely diametrically opposed ideas, which is like Trevor Zegrois, who's the skillsiest, newest age dude. Fun. The books. And he's fun. And he's like, I mean, you can watch him out there.

I mean, Boyle clearly was speaking from a place of experience, right? Where he was like, yeah, those guys, like those guys, those guys talk. They talk a lot. And then on the other side, you have, you know, Tyson Nash saying that everybody should get punched in the face for, you know, for being too good at hockey, which is 100% what he said. Like there's that is yeah Which is again it's very funny because that wasn't even that doesn't even apply to the to the play

To the play. I'm still the skilled play of poking at a goalie Yeah everybody everybody knows it's like it's like you got you got the Michigan and you got the Foresburg And then you have the poke at the glove in a in a in a in a five one game those are I've seen kids trying it and peeway I was going to say have you everybody everybody who's who spends like a significant amount of time with with with with with with uh you know around around the kids game is saying you just see it you see it constantly my buddy is a coach he's he said you'd be amazed the poke the poke baby they practice they practice their michigans and then they practice their practice their goalie pooks that's the way it goes um that's not that's enough of us talking

about this though i i think i think the guy you want to hear talk about this is brian boyle and it was again. Oh, buddy, it was a good, it was a good interview. We went long with him. Like, we were, we were prepared to let him, you know, get the hell out of there. He's, he's renting, he's either renting or borrowing J.T. Miller's house. I don't know if that, I don't know if that came up on the record or not. We're, we're about to let him go, but he was, he was so good.

He just, he hung up for a while. He talked about nutrition, what it's like being an old guy in the league, you know, what it's like joining, joining the penguins, you know, in the particular spot that there and I think he was, I think he was great. And he's coming up next. And you can enjoy that. And then we will be back to shutter down with the only good segment of the show. We are thrilled to be joined by Penguin Center, bottom six skeleton key, Brian Boyle. But also, most importantly, I saw last, was it last week, two weeks ago, you were a power forward on whatever the penguins like pickup hoops teams are.

I saw you throw, I saw you throw down at the, at the Settled-A tournament came. You got up, it was fine. Is that what it's called? Does that a throw-down? It was, uh, I mean, you didn't get.

That was ice cold wearing tight, it went in. It went in. Yeah, you were, you were wearing jeans. I need like a 20-minute warm-up before I do something that stupid again. I mean, so were you, were you like, were you like a three-sport guy in high school? Is that part of the bad?

Played football and baseball. Yeah. Also, along with hockey. Tight end. Offensive line. What was the football position? On the varsity, I was in, I was a safety, which was, I was like 190 pounds of 6.5. It wasn't ideal.

I was going to say 6.7 safety. Were you 6.7? That was about 6.5, like sophomore year. That was the beginning of my shoulder issues. but I was a backup QB too. I played some quarterback. I could throw it, but I just didn't have any idea

how to read a defense or learn the plays. It wasn't, it was fun in middle school. It wasn't as much fun in high school. Yeah. I mean, we're catching, we're catching you guys at a weird time on the schedule, too. It's Monday.

You've had these two days off. In between the abs games, obviously played in Denver on Saturday, I'm sure by the time people listen to this, the Tuesday game will have already gotten, we'll have already gotten down. What is that? That's such a weird scheduling thing when you have a home and home against a Western Conference team with two days between. Obviously, it's the abs, it's the penguins, two legit contenders.

But, I mean, how do you go into a quirk of the scheduling like that? I know it's later in the season, but it's a weird kind of deal to have to. to have to work through in April. Yeah, I mean, we got it with the Islanders. We'll get it with Boston, um, closer to Easter Boston, like five days in between.

So it's kind of, right. I mean, it is what it is, right? Like, especially after the last couple of years, you can't really,

I mean, it's not even, it's not even a topic of discussion in the locker room because it's just like, yeah, we fly back and we'll see him again on Tuesday. And this is, we'll watch the video and this is what we're going to do.

And I'm sure we'll watch our penalty kill meeting again, even though, even though I didn't have to use it. It's like, you know, you just, it's a good opportunity. I mean, it's a really good team. I find that like earlier in the year, you kind of knock off some of the road trip games. You play, you know, usually within a couple weeks, you'll play a Western team, and then you'll go out there and find yourself playing against them again.

It's rare you play one early in the season and then again late. I think that's just kind of how they bunch the schedule up. This is different. I certainly haven't seen three home and homes that I can remember. But that is what it is. Does it carry any extra weight given that it's the abs? You guys lost on Saturday, but Mike sounded like he was pretty happy with the process, at least, if not the result. When you're playing against a team that's that's that good, you know, you look ahead to May or June or whatever, does that change anything?

I think you want to try to play your best game, obviously, and against a team like that, when you make, if you make, mistakes that, you know, you might not think are as big of a deal. They cause problems and it could lead to goals against. You can kind of realize how important some of the details in our structure is. It's a good reminder of that. You get to see the pace that different teams play with. Why have teams had success? Where are they at?

How do you feel when you're on the ice? How does it look on the video after? It's a great opportunity. And it's great that, you know, you get to play every team, at least twice because of that. But, you know, it's, that's kind of the mindset you have for every game. But then you get, you know, you don't get that McKinion,

rantin in every game either. So it's like you have to understand and pick up on things like that. That's what you understand who you're out there against. It's just more reps against a quality of opponent that you think would, you know, is probably built for success, has expectations for success as we do. So, you know, you want to. see how you measure up.

Hey, Brian, I'm curious. You had some long runs, some teams that go on long runs with New York and Tampa earlier in your career. At what point in the year do you start to kind of know that the group you're on is capable of something like that? Is it something you can know early? Is it something you even know by this point? Does it have to wait until the playoffs get going? Well, you want to be as healthy as you can be. But you have, you know, you want to see how you're up in the standings.

I always said that you are what your records says you are. And we've shown signs where we can be a really elite team. We've had some stretches where it's been tough. But I think for the most part, our hardest part of the season was kind of early on. And if you look back at what we had to deal with, you know, we're missing Sid through injury. He was coming back from surgery.

Then we had a bunch of guys with COVID. And Sid got COVID. And so I think, you know, that was our, we were tested then. And then, you know, we got embarrassed recently in New York. You kind of see how we respond. And, you know, there's things like that that you can take. out of a season to see kind of where you're at. I look at how we practice.

I look at how guys are in practice, how competitive they are. You know, we practice that power play every day and our penalty kill wants to shut them down. It's things like that where guys want to get better. It's really encouraging. And there's that feeling of high expectations

that we had in New York, we had in Tampa that makes it a really exciting time of year. I mean, that's our goal. That's what we're pushing. for and you know every team will say that and every team probably believes that this is exciting press you mentioned sid i feel like we got to ask everyone uh who's in your situation that comes on here what have you learned about him as a teammate that you never would or what surprised you about him that you never would have guessed about him as an opponent playing him all those years

with sid yeah oh i mean it's uh it's it's so cool that you know i get to be his teammate I mean, chasing around, yelling at him, trying to get him off his game, which, you know, didn't really work all those years. You get to be on his side now. And just watching him, you know, everything he does, he does it with a purpose. If there's been a lot of games, the way he practices, the way he, you know, what time he comes to the rink on a practice day, how long he stays on the ice after. If there hasn't been a lot of hockey, if there has been a lot of high, everything is calculators. And it's, it's not just for that day. it's, you know, the week prior and the week after probably.

And I'm, that's my guess because I'm trying to figure it out too. You see how great he's been every single year. So, you know, I want to watch him and see what, you know, what's the secrets are. So obviously he's gifted, but there's a lot more to it. It's, uh, and I don't know if it's even surprising because I kind of came in with that expectation and there's the reputation he has for how hard he works. You know, the genuine interest he has in his teammates as well. And the way he includes everybody is, you know, beyond what I thought it could be.

Because, you know, obviously he's pulled in a lot of different directions, being who he is. He makes time for a number of people, but especially his teammates who, you know, he obviously cares about. it's really a thrill and a privilege to get to be on the same team as it. I mean, you were in kind of a weird situation, well, an interesting situation with him because he had the wrist surgery, and he had COVID shortly thereafter. And then by the end of November, that's like when he, it seemed like, you know, from a production standpoint, he rounded into shape.

He kind of hit that next gear. So did you feel like you got to see him, you know, kind of ramp it up after a weird off season and after a weird start to the season. And by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, it was like, all right, this is, this is standard, this is standard Crosby stuff. I mean, I watched him skate and non-contacts, you know, with basically one hand. And I looked over, you know, our skills guy, our assistant coach, Ty hit us. I said, looks pretty good to me.

Probably using him tonight if that works. But he has his, he has his process. He expects a certain level of play from him. himself. And he, you know, you saw it. And he got the COVID. He didn't really get any game reps. And, you know, this is a hard league. But it didn't take very long after that for him to just say, okay, I got this and go be Sid out there. Right. You mentioned that, you mentioned the Rangers series. And I mean, we should bring this up because it seems like you guys are on a collision course with them for whenever the playoffs were all around. What did you take out of those

two games? You said there was stuff to learn. I mean, what, what, what, what, What were the takeaways? Because, like, again, the odds that you guys see them again here coming up are pretty good. Yeah, you know, we'll see them a lot. We pay attention. I'm sure they watch us. You know, after the game in New York, it was less about on the ice and more about how we were going to handle it off the ice. So because we got embarrassed, really.

I thought we played a better game the next time we met, but it's their good team. They have great goaltending. They have a lot of speed. skill they've added. So their depth and their lineup is better as well. And, you know, they want to play a fast game. That's, you know, that's what they're built. That's how they're built, rather.

And they obviously have, you know, good special teams, good co-attending. And they can put the puck in the net. So it's, you know, that's a pretty good recipe for them. We have to combat that with the way we play. Yeah. There's more to it than just like try to be Chester. Because he's been unbelievable and try to keep him off the power play because they've been they've been unbelievable there. They're an interesting team as far as as far as all that's concerned.

Right. Like what have you seen from Chesterkin? Because I mean, whatever, from our standpoint, he's, it seems like night and night out. He's been the best guy in the league this year. Yeah. So what you've seen from him, I mean, we all, you know, I don't scout the goalies that much. Right. Like he can kind of, it's almost like.

and Johnny Quickway where he just kind of hovers over and, you know, you're not getting to get anything for free. So he can play the puck really well too, which is, I don't know if that's talked about that much. He's a huge asset for a team. So you try to keep it out of his hands. But it's, yeah, he's, he's given them, he's given them obviously a ton of great games. He's, he's been a pretty incredible story this year for them, how well he's played, how

consistently. I know he's played a lot of minutes. So it's, yeah, I can't figure out goalies. I try not to look at them too much. I don't try to look past them. But it's, you know, that's what you need. And I think the teams that are in it, the teams that are having success and climbing. And there's a lot of teams in the conversation right now that could do some postseason damage.

And they all have great goaltending. And we're one of them as well. I'm curious individually. Like, what were your individual expectations for yourself this season? look at it, you know, I think you're playing about 11 minutes a night, already nine goals coming off of where you'd been. Like, what were your expectations for what this year was going to be like for you? I want to play more. I mean, it's, that's, you know, I, I, I trained really hard last year. I tried to stay in shape and because there was a belief that I could still do it.

You know, I, it wasn't because it's just what I always did, so I want to keep going. I thought that I could do it. I thought I could help a team. and I wanted another chance to win. I've been close. You know, and there were times this season where taking that year off, it kind of hit me in different ways. And if it was the schedule or whatever it was, you can kind of go through lulls.

But I think the last, I don't know, a couple months, didn't play great in a game in Buffalo. Obviously, didn't play great in New York. I don't think anyone did. But, you know, I've been pretty happy with my game. I want to keep... kind of growing and getting better and better. I think team concept wise and, you know, penalty kill wise,

I think I, you know, have a really good grasp on all that. You can kind of simplify things once you start to really understand how your teammates play and how what you're expected of in the system. It's a little bit less to think about when you can get those things down. You can go up and play and react. And, you know, I'm just really thankful for the opportunity that, that Hexie and Sully have given me because, Like, you know, I didn't know why.

I wasn't getting one last year. I thought the year before I got injured, but other than that, I was playing. Okay. I came back in the bubble and played all right. I thought it played pretty well. So it's just, you know, take the opportunities when you can get them. I'm not going to say, like, oh, I'm just happy to be here. I want to help the team pin, but I am thrilled to be here.

I mean, when Ron and Mike brought you in on when they initially signed you to the PTO, It was like, oh, of course they're going to bring in Brian Boyle. They talk so much about, you know, adding the kind of stuff that you provide, whether it's size, whether it's, whether it's physicality, whether it's, you know, that kind of stuff you bring in the game. It seemed like a no-brainer for them for them to bring in someone like you because they were openly like, this is what we're looking for. So over the last couple years, though, I mean, I know whatever, last year, last year was what it was. But before that with Florida, with the Devils, did you think that that was something that they lacked? as a team, like that sort of, that sort of, you know, the sort of presence that you bring on the bottom six, because they were trying to add it. In Pittsburgh?

Mm-hmm. I'd be honest, I didn't really, I didn't pay as much attention. You know, and when I thought of them, you think of the, you know, the two big guys up front and the guy in the back end that's running the power play as well. It's like, you know. He's fine. He's fine. Yeah. Depth isn't really, you know, you weren't pretty much.

Well, 87, 71, 58. Like, it's, it's, it's, uh, and then if, you know, you focus too much on them, you get against, you're rusty. These guys have turned into, you know, incredible players. But, you know, obviously getting cards last year, he provided a spark right away. I think, uh, and how Teddy has kind of come along as, as that, you know, shutdown guy. That's, that's great depth.

I think right down the middle. So I didn't think too much of it, but that. I just thought, like, if I can get, if I can hook on and provide something, I'm going to. And if I get a chance to him, I try and seize it. I wanted to ask about Teddy specifically. You've been really complimentary of him, I think, over the last few weeks. I mean, last month, especially when he was hurt. He's a guy who doesn't get a ton of credit, right?

He doesn't get a ton of attention because of the role he plays. But, like, what do you think has made him effective, really, for the last few years now? honestly, he's a good player. And I don't think a ton of people are aware of that. Well, I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to, you know, get your name in the headline, I guess on the team we're on because of what we have. And what those guys' roles are, the top guys, I mean, and they provide it, obviously. So that's, you know, that's what sells tickets.

That's what makes me. That's what I want to watch too, right? But, you know, there's times in the game. If those guys are playing one third of the game, you get two thirds of the game where you have to be affected. And he really, I mean, any D's own draw, first penalty kill, like we're throwing Teddy over there. And he is getting it done.

And the guy competes like crazy. But he's on the ice every day trying to get better offensively as well. He's working on his skill. He's watching video. The guy, you know, he's consumed in the game to try and get better and better. I don't think there's if there was if anyone went and said hey if you do this you'll get better he's going to go and try it right he's not going to pass up an opportunity and he's so effective with it and then when you know we can get into the offensive zone he wants to make plays he wants to contribute offensively as well and you know I say a lot like when you start 200 feet away from their net most of your shifts it's it's hard it's a hard league and you know he can do it and he can get down and create things and it's discouraging for the other team because of how competitive he is. And every shift you're going against him, you're going to get his best.

And it's not easy to play against, which is a, it's a huge asset to our team. So I want to take you back to your between the legs goal a couple months back against the coyotes. Obviously, the kind of the topic of the week right now in the NHL is this idea of skilling it up and what you need to be prepared for when you pull a move. I know yours is a little more in flow and a little more. That was probably your best shot at that goal. But where do you kind of stand on this idea of this? Like, you know, should guys have to worry about a little bit of retribution when they

pull a Michigan goal or when they pull some of this stuff out of the bag? I don't know. I think you've got to try and stop it, right? Like, look, it's creative. And, you know, I'm not the fastest guy. So I get around the net. I got to think of different ways to put it in, right? I work on reflections and that one kind of iconopassity, kind of hand.

cuff behind me. So I used my leg as a kind of a to block the stick of the other player. And that was my only shot. I had to get it up quick. It went in the net. I took a quick glance around, though, because that was, I think, the six-fold game. You know, it's just like, you can be ready. And I think with the skill of up stuff, I mean, if you're going to go poke a goalie when you're up five-nothing after you've already done that and your mouse-flopping the whole entire game, uh, every game you play, you got a lot to say to everybody at one point or another, people are going to get upset. Guys are competitive, there's pride.

You know, how it was handled after that. I don't know. I saw it quickly once. I think if a player goes down, that's probably enough. No more punches thrown, but I think it's just, you know, guys have pride.

Guys want to, this is a hard league. You know, if we got one goal and it was on a bad angle shot when I was a younger player, you're going to get yelled at by the other team's bench and they're going to finish you. So, you know, it has changed. And I understand that.

And the skills phenomenal. And kids are trying it. Kids are going on the ice trying it. They want to get to the rank and do it, which I think is a huge positive for the game. People want to go to the rank. People more eyes are watching the game, which I think is a huge positive in the game. I play the game because I want to win. And if someone on our team does that in a playoff game, I'm going to be the first guy to cheer him on and say it was unbelievable.

Well, it, you know, that's the stuff that I think matters the most, trying to win games, trying to win championships. You talked about the difference between when you were young and how some of this would have been. Where do you see the biggest differences between when you came into the league and the league today? Has it been a huge shift? Does it just been little specific things or does it feel pretty much the same? Well, every year, it gets faster. Every single year, it gets faster. And, you know, that's great.

Guys want to get better and bigger and faster. Then you see things that, you know, collisions happen and guys could get hurt because they're going faster, different things like that. That's just going to happen, really. I think guys get on the refs a lot more, but again, the game's moving a lot faster. Things are, it's difficult to see. You know, obviously there's less of that stage fighting. I think the competitiveness and heat of the battle, that's always been there. I think that should always stay because, I mean, that's part of it.

you don't want to give an inch. I don't know why there's so many more 5-1-5 goals this year. That's interesting to me. I don't, but, I mean, that's a stat and it's up, and I think goals are going to sell. So, you know, you can't be upset about it, but it's, I'm not sure. I mean, I think if that's the way it is and there's more 5-15 goals

and you're playing even right up and the best team wins, like that's what's better than that. You're playing a fast game and in-your-face game, there's still plenty of physicality and you see it ramping up still. Look what teams did at the trade deadline. You know, it's, you know, I love where it's at. I love being a part of it, but watching it too, I watch hockey every day. It's just, it's awesome to see.

Well, to me, that's what makes the skill stuff so amazing is that it happens in this tough, hard environment, right? Like, it's not as impressive if it's, if there's no threat of like, you know, someone's coming for you while you're doing it. well yeah i mean that's that's yeah if you see uh guys are going to go to the middle of the ice they're trying to get to the middle of the ice there's been some big hits with guys going to the middle i hope trouba had a couple of them early in the year and people it sparked a discussion there's no discussion here that's uh that's how you're supposed to defend and come to the middle of the ice with your head up and if you don't you're going to get knocked over and if you want to keep coming to the middle of the ice you need to pick your head up but you're going to get knocked over right um

it's just, you know, that's, if anyone wants to argue that, go ahead and go ahead and do that, but don't talk to me about it because you're an idiot. It's like, that's how hockey's playing. So, uh, I love it. Yeah, I mean, that's something Matthew Shane, he was, we had him on a couple weeks ago and he, he talked about that a lot. He said he's, I mean, it's crazy talking about Matthew Shane this way because it feels like he came in the league yesterday, but he's, he's 30 now. And he's, he's talking about seeing different cycles of the league. And he said he feels like there's a change over like every four years. It feels like there's like kind of a new,

a new, a new, a new, a new, uh, like new elements to get added. So I, I don't know. I, I thought that was interesting. And like, you're, you're, you're, you're in your 15 here, right? Like, you've, you've been through, you've been, you've been, you've been, you've been, you've been, you've been through a lot of it. It's crazy. Well, yeah. I mean, I think we're in Dallas and guys just congregating in the hotel lobby. We got there early enough in the day where somebody, maybe we're going for lunch or something. I kind of popped my head over and said what they were doing. And it was six, seven guys.

Oh, we're going for an aside bowl. I was like, okay. I never had one. And I said maybe a few years ago when I would come over to this conversation, guys would be talking about going somewhere, but it wasn't going for an aside bowl. You know, you have a couple beers, you have your dinner, you get some rest and you go play.

Like that was a little different back then. And now it's, I mean, guys, treat their body so much better. It's, uh, not that they didn't before they worked hard and, and try to combat it with even, you know, you know, skate harder in the morning or whatever you have, but with all the information that we have with technology and, uh, understanding how our bodies are going to work. Uh, that's one big part of it. Um, the nutrition, the nutrition stuff is, is, is, is what's crazy. I mean, like, you, you hear guys, you, you, you hear guys how they eat now versus like 10 years ago. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's wild.

Yeah, it is. I don't understand even some of the stuff that they're eating. And I can't believe how many people have gluten and dairy intolerances. It's amazing to me. It's magic. Everybody's got the intolerance. Two or three of these string cheese is a day that I bought for my kids. And they don't even live here right now because they're home in school. And I'm still buying them. But no, you go to the rink.

Everything is, it's just, it's not only it's really healthy. It's really good. And we got, you know, three different chefs that are unreal. So it's just like you don't have any excuse. It's on you. Is there like, is there like a go-to meal now that you weren't that you weren't eaten 10 years ago? Are you, are you, are you doing the Pokey bowls and the fish and all that? When we do Pokey bowls for lunch, I'll get right into that.

It's delicious. I always like sushi. I always ate fairly healthy, but like now it's, now it's less pasta the night before and I'll just have a steak. I got to cook it myself. and that's, you know, I enjoy it. But it's not like, I'm not going to get, you know, Fittuccini Alfredo anymore with six breadsticks. It's a little different.

Yeah. I mean, it is, it is crazy because, like, for years, it was like pregame, like pregame pasta and stuff, right? It just seems like that's, that's like what I left. I stopped doing that like five or six years ago. I started having to sweet potato as a salmon. I mean, I must have had that meal 400 times now. But it's, you know, my stomach feels good during the game.

I feel like I got plenty of energy. That's the only reason. It's not like, I don't eat it because I enjoy it. I just, it's just what works. It's necessary. Yeah, I'll try things in the summer. And you don't have a belly full of a belly full of Fetitini Alfredo. Right.

When you're trying to skate, that probably, that probably does help in hindsight. Like that's seen in the office where Michael Scott's running as 5K or 10K. I have never, I have never drank less water. and eating more Fetuccini Alfredo than I have today. Classic. Brian, we appreciate your time, man. We're going to let you go. We've kept you for almost a half hour here.

But thanks for it, man. And good luck. Good luck with the rest of the season. And good luck with those with those as eyeballs. It's very, very important. This has been nutrition with Brian Boyle. I'm very new to it. Yeah.

We'll see. My wife has them. She knows how to do it. She brings me home to green juice every day. from her when she drops kids off. She gets a green juice and she'll bring it home for me. So fortunately, the penguins have them in their room.

So I can. If she's got to come back from Disney World so she can get you back on the, back on the regimen. Yeah, I know. They'll be back here for Easter. My son, I get a little school break. So I'm looking forward to that.

Yeah. That sounds good, man. Congratulations for a pretty, pretty solid season so far. And good look. Good luck. of it. Thanks so much. Appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me. Thanks, man. All right. Take care, Brad. Yeah. Yeah, that was great stuff from Boyle. Uh, my big question for you coming out at, Maxie,

are you an Asai bowl guy? That's what the world knows. I've never had one, and I would not even know, I don't know what's in one. Should I have one? A sigh. Idiot. What is that? I don't know. A fruit? Wait, let's look this up. A side bowl. I'll have a fruit bowl. I like, I like, I like, I like, I like pokey bowls, poke bowls whenever, however you want to say it. Yeah, it's fruit. It's like, aside and what?

It's not just like a fruit salad, right? Assai, blueberries, frozen strawberries. There's like some kind of green in there, isn't, isn't there? I don't know. Okay, it looks like some bananas. That looks good. Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'd eat this. I'd eat this for sure. So aside the base.

The fruit. Kiwi. The aside fruit is the base of it. And then you throw other through other vegetables and fruits into the mix. I'm not a huge granola guy, but I think I would just eat this with just the fruit and maybe some like seeds or something.

I don't know, man. I tried being a smoothie guy for a little bit. I bought a blender and all that. I just can't. I don't think I can. My dad's a big smoothie guy. Mr. Boldman. You should bring them in on the aside train.

All the old guys love it apparently, except for me. but he's probably already on it to be honest is he really i don't know but he loves smoothies like we bought him um we bought him like a really nice blender for his birthday a couple years ago and he he mentioned it for like a year straight i did i bought him i bought a ninja blender on amazon and it have barely it's pathetic well anyways wherever brian boyle is i hope he's enjoying a lovely a sye bowl with uh whoever we should have asked who he was who who the who the culprits were on that team.

Gensel doesn't strike me is one of those guys. Marino? Latang's a Nutrition. A Tsai might be might not be healthy enough for him, honestly.

He might be he might be ingesting some other hyper-nutricious glop. But now we should ask, maybe next time. Coming up, the only good segment on the show.

We're back. Max, you're an iPhone guy, aren't you? Oh, yeah. We text with a blue bubble. You're not one of the dreaded green bubble, folks. Have you left a comment with your phone on the Athletics podcast page on your episodes? On your episode. On my shame.

On anybody's? I have not. It's a disgrace. It's probably time. Go do it. Buddy, there are 47 comments on our last episode. We have, it's a mix of like, I don't want to say training people. It's more begging them to go leave comments on our pages, especially now that iPhone

users, for the most part, seem to have the ability to leave comments. And you fund folks are coming through. Because 47 comments on an episode of this podcast means that whoever is hosting, whether it's me, or Craig or Maxi, or the very, very mysterious Corey Bronman. That means we almost have to do nothing. You guys just, you guys just tee it up. This is as easy as it gets. So we appreciate you doing our jobs for us. The checks are, the checks are in the mail. 47 comments. Unbelievable. Max, this is from Alex B. Max, when he was on the Monday show, this is a direct quote. Somebody is, somebody's transcribing you now, buddy. The shoes on

the shoe is on the other foot. The Tuesday show, I'm loyal to the Americans. You can't get me on that I ride for the Americans now that's coming from Haley. That is, I do remember saying that. That is Haley Salvin trying to bait you into some kind of, you know, whatever, nasty, nasty answer about us. I appreciate to seeing that, even though Craig comes on in bad mouth, yeah. Yep. Michael K. offended you here. He said, you expect better from Craig. He's just jealous that Max went to an actual university instead of a farm school. Wow. We got the Michigan, Michigan State.

stuff bubbling at the top, absolutely. Joey N saying, you guys need to bring Craig's kid back on for a live performance of his music, said you completely talked over the whole track last time, making it unlistenable, which is true. Which kid was this, Cal? Cormick. Wow. Cormick is doing like, Cormick is learning how to, he's like, whatever, 10.

He's learning how to make loops and stuff on his computer. And he wrote a song and we played it at the end. and it was months ago. So in the meantime, in the meantime, people have been unable to leave comments. So we got Joey N here talking about bringing, bringing Cormick's, Cormick's, uh, fruity loops thing back or whatever. I support this. Mm-hmm.

Um, here's a good one. And you're, you're better equipped than me because you're, because you're, because you're beeping on the road more. Josh R says, this is a question I've had for months, but way back in November, December, Haley was talking about the press dinner. She had the night before and how it was above league average, which made me wonder. wonder what is the best press meal you all have had and where was it uh okay i think detroit's is one of the best it's a huge buffet line that has uh there's always two on two to three

entrees two to three sides a carving station chicken tenders potato wedges or fries uh full little caesar's buffet full salad bar nachos and hot dogs so which is like it's the biggest selection for sure you can you can debate the, you know, but I think if it's, if, if I'm going to take the shirt out of it, because I didn't have that meal on the road, right? Yeah. I think Vegas's is really good. I haven't. See, I've, I've never been to a game in Vegas. Vegas is good things. The Kings is really good. The L.A.s is really good. I got the popcorn and stuff. Yeah, oh, the popcorn is a staple for sure. The snacks, the snacks, the snacks, the, the snacks are always great there. I'm trying to remember what it is in Nashville. I think I liked it in Nashville.

But I don't remember if that's just because I know someone who works for the, Nashville, like I grew up working with someone who works for like the Nashville catering people. So I just maybe just had some good vibes around it. They always have. But I think those would be my top three. They always had, they have good stuff in Nashville. The key, the key is to try to cover a cup final or two because they really bring out all the stops like at the local, at the local places there.

I remember in Boston, in Boston years ago, they had, they had a full, I don't even know. I don't know if it was actually legal seafoods or what, but they had a full seafood spread. You'll get like local, local favorites. They really pull out all the stops. during the final. So I'm, I'm psyched, and I'm psyched at the thought

that maybe the hurricanes will be involved with it because we'll get some, we'll get some tough-ass barbecue, baby. It was a Tex-Mex is what it was in Vegas, but I know he asked for it for what was it. It was a Tex-Mex. That's great.

Michael K. Max, he has a question for you specifically. He said he can finally ask you some win questions. Loved all the Sweden stories, Michael says. What's the general feeling from fans there about Edvinson and his play? and did you see any upcoming Swedish prospects not drafted yet? He was wondering if Matthias Havlid would be someone to watch for a second round pick.

Do you have any idea there? How into the Sweden stuff are you? I know you wrote a wonderful set of stories from over there that everyone should check out. I don't know Havillet, but I can ask Corey about that on the Friday show next time we have one. I don't think I saw any of the draft year guys while I was there. Um, but Edvinson's really good. I mean, I, I saw him three games. I thought he got better each game and was pretty good to begin with.

Um, but I thought by the end of the week that I was there, like, you know, and they were coming off a long way off. They were coming off. I think it was almost a month of no games because there was a COVID thing in the league. And Edvenson had been hurt right before that. And so the first game back, it was like he didn't, you know, he looked good, but he didn't like have a massive impact on, on the game necessarily. the second two games that he had a huge impact.

He was breaking up plays defensively. He was transporting the puck up ice. He was aggressive. It's kind of interesting because I think in his draft year, there was this idea about him that he was kind of almost like a chaotic player. And I can't really speak to that because I didn't watch a ton of him in his draft year, but that is not at all what he is in the Swedish hockey league. He is definitely an aggressive and assertive player,

but he rarely looks scrambled to me, really poised. Obviously, skating is tremendous. super long and when he has the hands that he does, that's a crazy package for a defensive player to have as a puck transporter to bail off of pressure from four checks, to recover and get back defensively to break up plays. So I thought he was really good. I didn't talk to a ton of like fans over there to say what fans over there, I think, but certainly the people at Ferlunda were, you know, over the moon with how he had done. I always love hearing the prospect evaluations from guys like you and Corey and Scott Wheeler because that's just like that's a that's a club I don't have in my

bag like I just don't I'm I'm not I'm not good at it so so to your folks that are actually good at it it's always I would not come as you good at it that was just an easy one like that's whatever whatever false false modesty we all know the ego maniac that you are buddy um Steve N says really enjoyed the Matthew Kachuk interview thank you it was a lot of fun he was he was great my pet pee with hockey media media in the Kachucks is that St. Louis gets too much credit for being their home. Their Boston kids through and through that just happened to be born in St. Louis while their dad was playing there.

I don't know if that's tongue-of-cheek, Steve. If so, it's very funny. But Matthew Kachuk is a St. Louis dude. That's home. He was talking about the cards last week. He's, he's, his Walt's a Boston guy. Brady and, Brady and in Matthew. are not.

They're St. Louis fellows. I feel like there's got to be some kind of, like, there's probably some, like, you know, if you're, right? Because it's like, if you're an American citizen and your kid's born, not in the U.S., your kid's a citizen. Right. So if you're a Bostonia and your kid's born somewhere else, like, they always have the Bostonian, you know.

Well, in the other thing, I think this is a good point. This is the kind of kernel of truth that Steve is getting out there. There are a lot of guys, and this is the nature. of hockey, I think, in this country. There are a lot of guys who, you see that person X was born somewhere and sometimes they leave. Sometimes they go elsewhere

and don't spend as much time growing up there as you think, right? I don't think that's, I don't think that's necessarily, I don't think that's necessarily the case with Matthew or Brady. Jesse W. says, hey, Craig, when the full six he went on hiatus, he said it would come back in a different format eventually. I have not seen anything.

It was my favorite hockey podcast. Well, Jesse, this is the full 60 now. I hate to break it to you. The interviews are half the length, and he's got a jackass talking about him for the rest of it. Mark, Mark Ard says, Great show, Deshaity. It might be the best interview I've heard all year.

Great job, Sean specifically. I did, thanks. I am great. Since the abs are not going to be able to keep that second line together, which team is going to give Cadreya a massive contract this summer after the crazy season he's having? I don't know, but I think it's worth noting. how great Nazim Cadry's been this year.

He's... The popular opinion is the Flyers, right? I mean, that's the... Cadry is such a... He's a Flyers player in a lot of ways. His stuff would play well in that city because he's got that edge and he's got that, you know...

I'm saying this all positively, because for the most part, except when Cadry's getting suspended in the playoffs, which is he's due for another one in about a month here. He's a blast to watch. And he would fit really well in Philly on that level. The reason

you should either be excited or concerned about that if you're a Philly fan is that he kind of fits from the, from the, he fits the blueprint of what they're trying to achieve here, right? Because they are whether you, whether you agree with it or not, they are not out to rebuild. They are out to spend money

and, you know, add some quote unquote in their prime players. I think that's, I think that's a great call. But man, has he been, he's been great this year. I mean, Look, you have McKinnon's been hurt. He's been in and out of lineup a couple times, you know,

not to take anything from him or rent in because they're just unbelievable players. But who's leading the team in points? Yeah. It's not as much as much as he's got 83 points in 65 games. Oh, man, I can't. I can't wait to see that contract. How terrified, though, like, would you be? So he's 20 points over his career high already.

And you're talking about a guy. who's going to be 32 on or around opening night next year, going from Colorado to most likely, if the team has enough cap space for him, a team that is not. It's not nearly. If you have enough money to give Cadre the kind of deal that he's, you know, on track to get,

odds are you're not going to be very good to begin with. And you're going to take him away from, you know, again, I, yeah, we need to start adjusting for this. I was like, we adjust for whenever, whenever players go to the canes. We need to adjust for people ending up on the abs. Like, they just go in one end of the machine and come out and their numbers are better by X percent. And that's, and that has a lot to do with it.

But man, he's having, he's having a great year. Also, the shooting percentage is not, is not completely out of, out of control there. No, it's like, it's, that's what's wild. He's, he's not, he's not over his head there. Like, he's, he's an 11% shooter in his career. What's the on ice? Let me look this up really quick. The on-eye shooting percentage is 13.2.

And that's where it's been crazy. That's it. Because guys are, because guys are synchum. It's the assists. Yeah. So it's the assists that are inflated. He's throwing,

he's throwing lobs. And that's okay. But man, he's, he's going to get paid and God, God bless him for it. Chris Jay. Summer Pod idea.

Have the Kitchuk brothers on the same podcast and no interrupting, which I don't know if that's possible for me or, or Craigger's. Long show. Honestly, with the amount, with the amount that those dudes talk, we might not even have to have the opportunity to interrupt, which would be good for everybody.

Also thought the interview with Matthew that Craig sounded like he was underwater, which is true. I'm going to throw Craig onto the bus here. He forgot to plug his microphone. I don't know if I said that on the show last night. Got a new mic, forgot to plug it in for the interview, and he sounded like he was, yeah, buried in sand. That's completely his fault.

Not producer Jeff, not me, just Craig. two things from Jonathan O, he says, just Jerry, Jerry made her Calgary into the U.S. Ding Dong done, which is true. They're very nearly the official American team of the Canadian portion of the league. He also was complaining about Craig's audio. As I said, all his fault. Adam P. had a great question about the anchorman brawl that we didn't get to, that we didn't get to last week. We should say it here because we have, we have another,

we have another host on this show. Since I assume my encamanned brawl question last week, wasn't fit to discuss, I'm going to leave my, my thoughts on what would happen here. Even if you don't read this on air, I'll put it for your own enjoyment. I'm reading it, so whatever. Monday and Thursday would be mainly doomed by Ian split loyalties. This is, again, if there was a brawl between all of us. Monday and Thursday would be mainly doomed by Ian split loyalties. That won't work. Haley would be trying to tell everyone, Can't we all just talk this out together? No.

Adam P. That is your first mistake. That is not what she would be doing. She's too nice to actually hurt anyone. Also, also false. McIndoo would also get distracted by a compulsive need to spout facts about some legendary line brawl deep in the annals of 1958. That is correct.

That is, you have Mac and Dupeg there. That's just you would end up talking about, you know, something involved in the Toronto St. Patts or something. Tuesday would be a total wild. cards until it would absolutely be Steve Corral running around with a late grenade in his hands. That's right. Craig would do decently for himself, but have issues getting his teammate to strategize with him, given their track record preparing for interviews.

That's right. We don't know what we're doing. Friday is the Dark Horse. I think Corey would be an extra sneaky ninja and no one would see him coming. That's correct. Very mysterious. Max would help draw attention away from him before Corey goes to the knockout because they're a great combo. That's right.

You're the best team out of all of the... I love this. I'm glad I was here to hear. hear this. But this is again, Adam P's winner, Wednesday show. Not only do they have the numbers advantage, but I know I would absolutely not want to face Sarah in a fight, nor would I. Very, very small, but very, very tenacious. Jesse's a goalie. You don't want to fight a goalie

because goalies are crazy. And Rob is a battle tested veteran who would know how to get the job thought, yeah, that's fine. That's true. This whole thing hinges on who gets Sarah's boyfriend, who is a childhood dear friend of mine and a professional hockey player. So whoever he sides with, and it could be me. I don't want to rule this out. I mean, is winning. You're saying that because you're making, you're making the run at buddy there. You want him. I'm campaigning for it for it right now. You want him on, you want him on the roster. Will we ever to be able to stream video recordings of the podcast? Hopefully not. You guys don't want to look at us, especially early in the morning on

on, on, on, on, Sean has a half gallon of coffee. I just want you guys to know. It's literally. It's a half gallon of coffee. It's a storebought. It's like a full-on. How much is this? I guarantee you that's a half-gall. It's 32 ounces. Okay.

So it's a quarter. It's a quarter gallon. It looks like a half-gallon. Is that what a court is? I don't know. But oh, man, everybody, everybody go look at the comments. We're going on too long. These are, these are unbelievable.

Taylor 8 says, I'm the head coach for the Baltimore banners. Our founder director, Noel Acton is the only American. finalist for the NHL Willio Re Community Hero Award. Can we get a shutout? Of course. Absolutely. And then Taylor went corrected himself and said Meredith Lang is from Minnesota. So Meredith Lang, Noel Acton, let's shout out to them.

They're both finalists for the NHL's Willio Re Community Hero Award. And I think that's a good note to tend on, right? Like we're trying to do something other than BS about what day of the podcast would win in an anchorman style, bro. I think that dude. had his pin though. That's definitely true. It just Haley has him fooled. Other than that, he's spot on.

That was the only, that was really the only thing that he was wrong about. And again, egregiously wrong. Tyson Nash level of of incorrectitude from from Buddy over there. But you know, can't win them all. He was, he was right on about 90%

of it. That was great, buddy. I always love talking to you. Absolutely. No. A blast. Shout out to Brian Boyle. Fantastic stuff from him. He's the best, man. And again, you should just come back next week because Craig's not pulling his weight.

As always, we want you to remember that this is not the only show of the week, much as we pretend it is. Everybody else does much, much better and more professional jobs than us. Nick Caprios joins Arthur Staples on the Garden Faithful. Arthur's, Arthur's the greatest, isn't he? I love, I love his show. Chris Johnson is the guest for Jonas and James on The Leaf Report. So CJ's always, my God, he's, that's a five-tool player right there. He's always bringing good stuff and he's with, he's with Siegel and Myrtle This Week.

So listen to those, listen to our friends on the Wednesday show, who, again, are the presumptive brawl champion. And follow us on your favorite podcast, platform to leave a rating and review. Only good ones. Only 5.0s. We don't want 4.0s. Subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus, also on Apple Podcasts to get all the bonus content from our entire network. This week, Ian and Julian McKenzie provide the bonus content. That'll be good. It's good to get Julian on another podcast. Start with a third day for your child, then just 99 cents a month after that. And right now, you can get an annual subscription to the athletic for just $1 a month for six months when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show.

Julian is also on the Wednesday Did they get Did they get Julian in the in the Wednesday? No He can't That's not right That tips is that They may have

They may have twice as me If they do then you meet Craig and Corey Or our ally We're out That's that's it All right We need you to take We need you to take Julian

Because you guys are You guys are in the same age bracket I think I think I've aged out To being able to fight Julian I don't know if I ever could But we're there I can't fight but I am I'm large so that's what we got

going for us. You can fight. I've seen you. Max. Noted, noted barroom brawler. Me and you. Are you out here telling people that you've seen me fight? I fight. No, you and I have fought. This fight. Tipsy McStaggers. Oh, that's right. I forgot that's a bit on this show. You guys run that into the ground. Everyone hates it. Thanks again, buddy. Great sliders.