The Athletic Hockey Show - Don Waddell likes his Carolina Hurricanes, but hopes to add another piece to the puzzle

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

Don Waddell, the President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes joins Craig and Sean, 18 days ahead of the NHL trade deadline to discuss his plans to replace the injured Max Pacioretty, if he's willing to part with his first round pick, the Hurricanes overall performance this season and how much the franchise is looking forward to this weekend's stadium series vs the Washington Capitals at NC state. The guys respond to your comments and questions in our third segment, and ask the question, is it wise for General Managers to publicly speak before a trade deadline? Craig is all for it, Sean, isn't convinced. Setting hockey a side for a few moments, Craig and Sean try to make sense of the senseless tragic shooting at Michigan State University that hits close to home for Craig.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowGo to http://grammarly.com/tone to download and learn more about Grammarly Premium’s advanced tone suggestionsThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit http://BetterHelp.com/nhlshow today to get 10% off your first monthTry Peloton risk-free with a 30-Day Home Trial, New Members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at http://onepeloton.ca/home-trial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Tuesday American edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I'm your host, Craig Custence, joined, as always, by Sean Gentilly, co-host, good friend. Let me just, you want to say something, Sean, sorry. It always sounds condescending, co-host, good friend. How is it kind of descending? You know.

You know how it does. Pal and co-host. So if you're a regular listener, you know I'm a Michigan State Spartan, proud Spartan, graduate, a lot of connections to the school still. So if there's not, if you're getting low energy, Craig, as I was once called by the commenters, that's why. Just reeling right now over what happened last night at Michigan State. my thoughts and are with the students with, I just texted, you know,

a professor that I'm close with. I don't know how she's like, I can't, like, I'm just, it's really hard. And so, I'm just thinking about everyone there that I was dealing with this, you know, the sad thing about the American edition of this is we,

you know, this, we have to talk about these things way too often. Sean, I mean, we both have kind of, now this is my, I guess, a version of hitting really close to home. Yeah, and it's, I think there's something about collegiate shootings, too, because it's a Michigan State is, it pulls from, it pulls people from Michigan and Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland and whatever.

So everyone has, the, the connections are a little bit farther flung, right? So whenever this, how, whenever something like that happens, I think of you, I think of your family, I think of Allison and Nick Cotsnika who signed and go, you know, just friends of friends and colleagues who are closer to it than you may be individually. And it's impossible not to, right? And we've said, we saw it. It was going back to the Virginia Tech shooting. Like, you know, campus stuff, college campus stuff has a way of leaving, you know, a larger footprint. And I think people's, you know, you have this impulse where it's like, oh, my God.

Gosh, I know someone there. I know someone who went there. I know someone who's a little brother goes there or whatever. Right. And it personalizes it, I think, on another level. And I think that's what we're seeing today from a lot of people. So, yeah, I'm, you know, all you can do is, you know, send your best to whoever's affected by it and start the process again. Yeah.

What really got me in, Sean and I were just talking about this. This is, there was, you know, someone said, hey, you know, we don't know what the victim count. This is, I mean, going through it in real time last night where you're texting people on campus and my son's next to me, texting his close friends, who's my son's a senior in high school, making sure they're in their room and where, which dorm are you in? And you're listening to the police scanner and you're hearing, you know, shots fired at this dorm where I was at, like, where I lived for two, you know. It's, you know, it's, it's unlike anything I've ever experienced, to be honest. Like, again, this isn't, like, it was close, but didn't, you know, people were safe. I was, you're just checking in, hey, how's your son? How's your daughter?

How's your good friend? But, you know, there's going to be whatever, you think of the victims, and then you're like, oh, there's 40,000 kids there. including also Sandy Hook, Survivor, including survivors from Oxford. If you're, you know, those who are watching the local news,

there was somebody with an Oxford strong sweatshirt, leaving the door, you know, taking cover. Yeah. That just kills me. It just kills me. Yeah.

It's, it's the nature of, it's the nature of the thing where it's, you know, on some level it's coming for everybody at one time or another, where you're going to find, yourself in these kind of concentric circles that pop up, you know, around one of these,

around one of these shootings where it might not be, it might not affect you directly, but you're going to be one degree removed or two degree removes or three or three degrees removed. And it's, it's a, it's something to commiserate over. And it's, and it's, uh, it's sad. That's, that's, that's the most horrifying part of it is that it does turn into a weird, um, bonding experience, I think. It's a, or it's a, it's a, it's a shared bit of American DNA at this point where you know you're like what's the where you could go person by person and say like what is the mass shooting that you were closest to right right for you and for people close to you and for a lot of people in the state of Michigan and elsewhere like they have a new answer now and

it's it's a morbid thought and it's a it's a sad thought and it's an infuriating thought you know because like I said the process just starts again you wait you wait you wait for another one One thing, I don't know if I realize, the amount of misinformation spread in real time, again, because there's an active shooter, we're also, now we're on Twitter, we're listening to the police scanner. Even, like, you can't, the police, like, there was so much bad information on that alone. That's a single, by the way, not to interrupt, but, like, that is for, for journalists, for media folks, for hobbyists who listen to police scanners, like, it needs to be said consistently with regularities. Don't tweet the police scanner. Don't tweet the police scanner.

That's a rule. So wrong. Like some, like, I mean, they weren't wrong. They were just reporting whatever they're hearing. But it was like,

yeah. And it's like, and there is an impulse to, especially if you're in the, you know, if you're in a, if you're in a spot where you're covering something like that. And unfortunately,

I have been. Like, you do have an impulse to share every bit of, everything you hear. You know, you hear people because there was a synagogue shooting here in Pittsburgh that I covered a few years ago and like I ran up, ran up to the site

and you're walking past people that are saying shit. Right. There's people out on their lawns and there's people at stoplights and there's media staging area where there's everybody and it turns into this horrific game of, you know, telephone, I think, in some spots. And the impulse that we have, I think, in the job that we have, is to, like, reflexively, you're like, oh, share this.

Like, this is important information that people need to know and whatever. But that's not the correct one because a lot of the time, it's a lot of the time the information is false, right? Yeah. But the scanner, the scanner thing is crazy. The scanner thing is crazy. I worked at a newspaper for years. Like, we knew where the police scanner was. We knew the people who had police scanners in the, in the, you know, you know, you.

in the in the newsroom and even on stuff that's a lot less serious than school shootings and mass shootings there's wild misinformation that comes across there so it is like kind of a pet peeve of mind to see yeah to see that trickle out because it because it because it shouldn't and that that should be like a truism of anybody who has access to a police scanner or works in a newsroom or covers courts and cops and is a position where they have to be listening to it like people need to it need to be told and it needs to be drilled home. Like, don't just pass that shit along without any sort of, without any sort of vetting or any sort of oversight because it's dangerous and harmful.

Yeah. Anyways, I didn't mean to tell I derail that right there. No. But it is. Like, last night was it was a big, big time example of it. Huge. Like, just the amount of misinformation and, you know, people, because they're just reporting, you know, they're talking about explosives.

and all this stuff. And if you're just tweeting it out, you would have just, you're just creating even more panic around, like that, you know, yeah, I mean,

anyways, that's not, you're all not here to listen to us, talk about police scanners and, I mean, whatever. Like, like,

maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe,

this is just one of those days where it's like, you just cut the shit, right? Like, I don't, we don't need to talk about Adrian Kempi's scoring last night. It's like Vladimir Teresenko score and blah, who,

who gives, who gives, who gives, I don't care. Like, I don't, like this, it's tough for me to care

about that stuff on a normal day, let alone, let alone a day like this. So we can just drop the, seriously, we can just drop the bullshit. Like, drop,

drop the act. Like, this is, this is more relevant, more important than, you know, going over, the,

the, the, the, the, the, is this, is this the end of, the end of their little mini run

towards a while? I can give the shit. It doesn't matter. I mean, I like the sabbers. I do like the sabbers. No, no,

Good guy. Great team, Alex Tuck. He's very, very nice to us. Tage Thompson, very nice to us. I need to know. Like, it would just kill me. The dispatcher on the, on the scant, like these people trying to be like,

have some sort of control over the situation or communicate or she was unreal. And she kept saying stuff like, hey, I appreciate you all. Like, as she's giving instructions to the people on the scene, the first responders, whatever. It was just, I don't know,

I'm just like crushed by. at all. I don't know. Like, I was, every time she would say that, I was just like, of course you are, man. Like, this is, you went there. I don't. Like, this is, like, this happened and this happened in your, in your community. Calvin's got friends there and all this, all this stuff. Yeah, he's going to Central next year. It's completely, it's, it's inevitable, you know. Like, we were just talking about the Oxford kids, a year off for COVID, a school shooting, then you go to college and you're like another one.

We're just talking with Calvin. Like these are the kids that were raised with shooting drills. Look, I mean, I don't, like, we're not going to get anywhere with this. It's just, and so I'm like, okay, be prepared for this in college now. Like, what do you, like, I felt so, like, useless as a dad. Like, what do you, he's like, is this, yeah, this is just how, what I got to deal with? Like, yeah. Like, yeah, you know, we can vote differently.

I don't know. I don't, nothing's happening. Run hide fight, buddy. Run hide fight. That's it. Like that's it. Yep. Um, we recorded Don Waddell yesterday, thankfully, because it's good.

He's our second, he's our second segment and we'll get to that probably quicker than we normally will, should. But, um, so, you know, we're in good spirits. Don's a Michigan guy. So like, you know, he would. so if you're wondering why we're yucking it up, that's because we recorded on Monday. I always like to get, and I'm going to try to get to the interview here

in a proper fashion, I like to get, not just talk about their current situation, I mean, you were kind of probing on what the hurricanes might do with the deadline. Yeah, yeah, it was. You were, even in code.

How well you know, Mike Greer? you'll be a shock to hear that Don knew exactly what I was doing I didn't even pick up on it I'm like of course you know my career as Sean he wasn't boring yesterday it's because you're in boss mode is that way? Yeah better things to do than worry about trade deadline minutia Mr. editorial director

Um but I do like Don I like talking philosophy Why don't you give up Why didn't you allow GMs to talk to the free agent Before you trade for them We asked that And it's Because he went through that You know with Marion Hosa

I don't I don't believe He allowed teams to talk extension With I think With Marion's camp at the time There's a funny moment There's a funny moment too Where you ask him Because he was talking about

You know Rentals Rentals And the idea that The care Every NHHL team Values rentals less than they did 10 years ago

but certainly certainly the hurricanes do. You asked him specifically. Also, I know we talk constantly about how much Craig is, you know, Craig covered the thrashers for years, but he covered the thrashers for years and knows Don Woodell well and was around that team closely. So like, of course, that was top of mind for you, right? You're like, well, Lexi, Jitnik.

It's the Braden Coburn trade, which was a rental that backfired. I don't know if that's probably not the one to bring up. well but what is funny is like so I wrote up I wrote up the bits from the interview and did some did some whatever some 10 cent analysis on the stuff don said and what it means and try to contextualize it a little bit further for what it means for the trade deadline at large and whatever that's on the site now um and somebody within minutes of that going up was like oh no rentals huh what about shitnik for Coburn because I didn't like include that part of the interview like in the in the

write-up got him got on you can never accuse us of not asking the hard questions um I covered the thrashes for a year and a half I always say years too it was you were in it Atlanta for a little bit longer than that too like in in the a lot of happening that year and a half yeah yeah so Don's great it did leave to a conversation Sean and I Sean said if he was a GM of a team, and I disagree pretty strongly about it with this. If he was GM of a team, he would never do a media availability. What's your brand? You guys, you guys don't even know how strongly Craig disagrees with it.

I said this. Like, he's not getting, he's not getting across here. He swore at me. Yeah. He was furious. He said he would do, like, that he would never do a media session like Don did. What are you afraid of letting something slip? Not never.

You said you would never ever in that it's, it's anybody who does is probably, it's some sort of malpractice. I think you're a loser. Hey, this is entertainment, Sean. Like, this is a fun time. Fans are engaged. Hurricane's fans are into it. They got an outdoor game we talked about. They've got hooting the blowfish coming to town.

They're the biggest. They're in first place. Like, this is, he should be out there talking trade and getting. them getting the hurricanes in the front page of the paper. It's true. And I was talking to someone from Mattine about this morning. So it's fresh on my mind. Like,

the risk reward is just, I don't see it. Like it, you can, it's dangerous. Here, that's probably, that's probably the way that I,

that I'll put it. And I, as a coward, would be terrified that I would say something, you know, they would kick off a news site. or piss somebody off or whatever. Like,

there's a way to, there's a way to do it. And I think Don totally threads the needle here where you give us a little bit, right? Not that much. And you also use it for, because, like, we're talking to him about the stadium series game, which is happening there on Saturday.

Yeah, just pumping up a few other things going on. We don't, we don't care. Like, we don't care about that. Do you, do you care about, I don't care that the,

that the caps in the, in the, in the hurricanes, you know what I love, the stadium series. he stayed football. I don't give the shit. I don't care. But like, um, but we ask him about it. And that's a big part of Don's job too. He's the president of the organization. He's got a lot of skin in the game when it comes to, you know, promoting things like that and, and working on the

business side. He's, he's pushing hooty and the blowfish concerts that are sold out, by the way. We dropped that nugget at the end. So good job to everybody. He's got really good at all that. He's everybody with her. But like, we included that stuff too, right? And we, like, we don't care. This, that doesn't matter to us at all. But, but somebody out there might, and that is part of the job is like, you know, which I understand, right? I get it.

You're selling other things. You're recognizing that you have a larger responsibility on behalf of your organization and the league and whatever to build interest. Yeah. Whatever, whatever form that take. So I get it. I get like the, I get it, I get the overall point, but as a rhetorical exercise, it is, it's a tough thing to wrap my head around where it's like, you know, it's a tough needle to thread. And I think if I were in that chair more often than not, I'd be like, ah, I'm good. I need to go on with these two assholes and talk about, talk about whatever. Here's, here's my answer to that. I think it's market dependent. So Don comes up to Atlanta. I mean, came up through Detroit, but, you know, GM in Atlanta.

GM and Carolina Brian Burke was always really good at this in Anaheim or whatever it was You have to drum it up sometimes And you have to you know You have to get You're competing with space in non-traditional markets If you're Kyle Dubus

I mean Kyle if you're listening to Kyle What you are You have a standing invite To join Sean Amide anytime you like But Kyle He knows He's not trying to drum up interest in the Leafs At Trade Deadline

Oh who cares The opposite. He's like, I've talked to him. Like, I've grabbed him and I'm like, hey, you know, you want something back when I was trying to get stuff on the record and trying to get some least news. And he's like, Craig, if I talk to you, then I got to talk to Star, then I got to talk to. And it's just like, it's a waterfall of complaints. Why did you do Sean and Craig's show? And it doesn't, it doesn't push the needle.

It doesn't do any good. The needles maxed out. The needles already, he's trying to get the needle to go a little bit the other way. The petals on the floor. It's already buried. Like, no one's going to care about the Leafs any more than they already do. And I get, like, the math for- So I think it's market-dependent.

The math for a guy like Don or an organization like the Keynes is different. And I'm glad that they behave in such a way, right? But, man, there is part of me that's like, like, when we're talking to him and he's happened with Rutherford all the time. He's another guy. I mean, Caroline, like. you're like, why is he telling me this? Like, why is he saying this?

Like, what is that, like, what is the, what's, what's the, what's the, there's a certain point where, where the, where the, where the risk, like I said, exceeds, exceeds their reward. What's the risk? What, that Lou Lamarillo won't deal with you because you're too chatty? That's the only risk. Like, you might sabotage a deal in some way. But who, like, there's no risk. I get it if you're Kyle, like, the risk is, it just make, you, you have more.

demands on your time and that's a pain. I think it's just the idea of making my job a little bit more difficult because if something goofy I say in a podcast is like, I'm like, no, no thanks. If talking to in some bizarre universe where I'm talking to like the universe Y version of Craig and Sean and I'm the and I'm the GM of a team, if I, if I'm, create one extra phone call of work for myself coming out of an interview like this. No, not worth it. Never again. It's the guys like Jim Rutherford and Donnie Waddell and Ken Holland, like they get there's this is, you know, it's an entertainment. You're selling tickets. Here's what I'm saying.

Here's what I'm saying. A big part of that, a big part of the reason those guys talk to us is to butter us up and make us like them. So there's some element of benefit of the doubt that they get. So when you're writing your hot seat list, the GM hot seat, you're like, that they, right. I move down my doubt down to 30. It's human nature to want to be nice to people who are nice to you. That's like just the way it is.

And I, and those guys recognize that. And I think they can get there by throwing. This is a very like circular way of saying, like, just, hey, if you work for a team, Just find me. DMs are open. Just give me a little bit. Give me a little kernel. Oh, this is you.

This is your? Throw me a crumb because that's all it takes. You don't need to come on and do the whole dog and pony show where you're, where you talk to us for 20 minutes or a half hour and actually have to answer pretty direct questions about your deadline plan, which is what Don had to do. Don't even need to do that. Just throw me a crumb. That's all it takes.

I hope you break something because of this conversation. Agents. Hey, listen, agents, listening. Agents, uh, DM, something good. Front office people. DMs are open. That's all I'm saying. You don't need to come on here and do the whole,

the whole rig and marole. Anyways, it was a good, it was a good show done. It was. You're right to say he, he does a nice job of, um, and he's always done this of like, not giving you anything, but giving you enough, like, to rights. So an example of that was kind of talking. talking about how, yeah, there's the names everybody's talking about. And then he kind of did the

bit where he was like, but, you know, there's also those other names that other people aren't talking about. Like, there's some secret. That was, truly, that was the moment where you're like, who's he, this is the homework of an old pro who's, who's doing the, the quid pro quo, scratching our backs a little bit there. Because like, you, you never know. Could be somebody that that never comes up. Oh, there we go. Who is the player with term that may hit the market that was otherwise unexpected? Let's figure it out.

You can take that one little quote and then you can write 10 names. See, this is all. Yeah, what do you think I'm doing today? Oh, yeah. All right. So let's get to that conversation. We'll take a quick break here. We'll come back with Carolina Hurricanes GM.

Don Wadale. We are now thrilled to be joined by Carolina Hurricanes General Manager Don Wadale, who I think this puts them in the three-timers club on this specific podcast, Don. Although, I've lost track. Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure. That gives you official friend of the show status. So, congratulations.

We'll send you a jacket. We have a nice green jacket that goes with the mugs. Lots of mugs. Oh, busy time, Don. I mean, we're going to obviously want to talk about trade deadline because that's really fun for us. And maybe not this fun for you. I don't know how it is from your perspective. But let's talk outdoor game in Carolina.

It's funny. Sometimes the second one nationally doesn't have as much buzz, but I know how big a deal is, especially at the local, you know, people starting to get really excited. I've seen, you know, seeing stories pop up in the papers there. What's the buzz like going into this one against the capitals this week? well i think it's uh outstanding and you know we've been kind of sitting on this for over three years because we're supposed to have it back in covid here that's right uh pushed back so people have been talking about this market for over three years and you know we're filing that final week of it and it's been incredible you know i truly think if we'd had another 10 or 15 000 seats we would have

them all because the way the interest was right off the bat. And I still have a list on my desk here of people that are still looking for tickets. So you got my text then. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah. A lot of excitement going on, you know. And, you know, the whole thing for us is, you know, we've been building this market, particularly the last four or five years with the team being in playoffs every year.

But we're going to expose this game to a lot of people that have never been to a hockey game. And that's the exciting thing for me. you know, whether they live here or live in the area, they come back a couple times a year. That's new fans that we inherit. So I think that's the, what we're looking forward to is getting a lot of people

that have never experienced NHL hockey in an environment that I think it's going to be outstanding. I know it's been on the books for you guys in one way or another for, like you said, three or four years, but what, what's that process like?

I know you're involved so heavily on the business end of things. Like, lobbying process there still, or is it just something that, you know, you guys that landed on your desk, you're like, great. Or is it something you have to, you have to push for it to to bring the outdoor games to the market? Yeah, we definitely did. You know, I got to give a lot of credit to Tom Dunden because when he first put the team, it was one of the first things he said, we want to get an outdoor game. And it was almost a year in works. We had to supply a lot of information. And I'm going to be honest, NHL was a little bit worried, you know, where we were

with our franchise at that point and how we were going to sell, you know, 57,000 tickets. And, you know, but is Steve Mayer who runs the event side for the NHL who's on site now, he says, boy, this is totally changed everybody's view of this market and what we're doing here. And he's also said, now let him say it directly, but this may be one of the best venues we've ever played in because the football stadium, you know, I've been over there every day. There's not a bad seat in this place. And even their sidelines, you know, they have a wall and the seats start up 10 feet higher than a lot of places. But their sidelines are so narrow. You know, they have, you go to some of these college and NFL stadiums where they have 50 yards

on each sideline, you know, they have about 20 yards on each sideline. So it's very tight building. it's going to be a great excitement around the area. We have lots going on all week with it building up to it. So now we're just looking forward to it, and hopefully the weather will cooperate. That's always been one of the nice things about Carter Finley because I've been there a handful of times. Like it's a big football stadium.

You get that sense of scope, but it's also there's some minimacy to it. It's not as big as, you know, whatever, some of the Big Ten stadiums or what have you. is there how much of that is a selling point for the for the crowd like are you like is that part of the process where you're like all right we're going to do a tailgating thing we're going to come in it's going to be like nc state versus you know unc or whatever is is that part of the push like is that part of what's helping you move that many tickets well tailgating is big here for

every sport whether it's hockey basketball or football so you know we have the great setup for that. So that's an extra bonus. And then it just put down a fan fest that day where people can donate even tickets to the event can come to the fan fest. You know, so we have a big one going on on Friday downtown. It's shut down downtown for us. So I just think overall it's all one big package. You know, not one thing is driving, you know, the seating capacity, I think is great for people that are actually going to be able to see the game, see the puck, the whole thing.

But, you know, there's been multiple things that have been drivers for why the attendance will be what it is. But I think the most important thing is, which helps is, you know, we've got a pretty good team. We're playing a good opponent that we have a great rivalry with. And the game matters. And I think all those things, when you put all those things together, I think it's going to be, like I said before, a great event. You know, I mean, you mentioned the interest in this game. I think it does help that you're sitting on top of the metro. And Sean and I were talking beforehand.

You made the comment when Max Petruetti went down that that was as kind of down as you'd seen that room. And the team has really responded. What have you seen in that stretchy games since that injury from your group? Yeah, well, first, I don't look at standing, so are we still in first place right now. Yeah, you are, you are. You have 76 points as we speak right now. It's 6-1-0 since Pati already got hurt for the record. I did check on that.

You know, what I feel bad about is, you know, this guy we trained for him came in here, obviously got injured towards Achilles. Then we watched them every day come into the room and work out with our guys and prepare. And, you know, that's the hardest thing. And watch it play five games and end up with the same injury. You know, yes, the team, we lost the player

that we were calling on for the second half of the year. But more importantly, as a human being, that's the part that you really feel bad about because you know the effort and time that went into, him trying to get back. And then to see that happen. So, you know, the locker room, we won that game that night, obviously. And after the game, when I was down there, it was as somber as I've ever seen it.

And I was worried about it. So a round night to talk about it because, you know, how's that bounce back going to be from there? And, you know, we got right back at it. And, you know, we were able to win a few more games after that. And now we'll continue to strive toward the most important date for you guys, March 3rd. And then get you up for the playoffs. Just us. Not you.

Just us. Yeah. Just us. Well, I mean, the flip side is now you, I mean, you've got cap space now to work with. Is that, I mean, you could, in theory, replace the whole salary. Is that how you're going to approach this? Because you still need everything he brings to the table that while you brought him into the first place, right? Yeah.

Yeah. You know, like I said, you know, we got a good team. Obviously, we've played all year and able to accomplish what we've done so far. but, you know, we are out in the marketplace looking to see what's available. You know, we don't have a great history of spending a lot of assets on rental players. We want to make sure we are smart about it. You know, we got a good team. We want to add to our team, but we also don't want to, you know, ruin our future for the next few years.

So it's a balancing act, but, and a good thing about it, we have Tom Dunnan, who, you know, We have a salary cap, but, you know, our salaries will be the 90 million range after we get through with this if we add players because of we still have to pay Patrick. That's right. Yeah. So, you know, people forget that. But Tom's committed to winning and, you know, there's a deal that makes sense for us. We're certainly not held back from that restraint. Does the space that you guys occupy right now?

And like we said, you're six and once as Pat Geretti's injury. your team looks night in night out strong. Does that change the approach as far as, you know, we know what you guys look for. We know you're not typically in the market for rentals, like kind of have an idea of what a Carolina Hurricanes player, you know, historically has looked like over the last few years. But does the circumstances of this season and the way things are going and the way you've kind of behaved over the last six months or nine months, does that change the calculus? Like, are you more willing to look at rental players now than you have been in the past? Or is it still term valued over other things? Well, you know, never is a long time.

You know, so I don't want to say never. You know, I think if you're looking strictly at Reynolds that's probably closer to the deadline, you know, we're going to exhaust all our efforts at what players that potentially could pick up. There might be guys that people aren't thinking about at this time, you know, when you're willing to give up some good assets that they get a player that's got some term left.

So, you know, we all know the usual names that are out there, but, you know, we may try to look at some other players, you know, and the tightest teams with draft picks and prospects that like to move to. But, you know, as we sit here today, we like our team. We don't want to distract from our team, but we would like to add to our team if that makes sense. Yeah. So I want to talk generally kind of strategy because, you know, we saw with the Boehraubat trade, he gets, he gets an extension after that. that. I'm always curious, and you've been on both sides of the equation here where teams will or won't let that kind of player and their agent talk to, you know, Lou or yourself or whatever it is. What's the thought process that goes into that, whether or not you'll allow your guy to talk?

Because I know you always want to know what's going on, right, on the other side of that deal. I think it's, you know, every team organization has different thoughts. But my thought is, you know, you don't want to make it a carte blanche because then, you know, the agent's going to control where the player goes. If you open the door and say, okay, these five teams, you know, I've said before, and I've been in that situation where if trade players, that, you know, once we agree to a deal, then I'll give you that opportunity to talk to the agent, but not before because I think, you know, again, we want to control the process.

The team we're dealing with wants to control the process. We don't want an agent to have that much saying that, especially a lot of these players don't have any limitations where they can be moved. Right. So you want to make sure that you get your ducks in order first. Again, I've seen it both ways. It's worked both ways. You know, some teams, you know, the cost certainly is critical moving forward because of cap,

which we're all concerned about. But it's not necessarily something that I don't think there's a yes or no answer for it. I think every situation, you know, especially on a rental player, it's probably get more value maybe if you give. somebody of the opportunity to talk to them. Obviously, I think Vancouver trade worked out well for both teams. And so that can happen. But, yeah, I could look at it from both sides.

Were you in on that? How close to both were that? No, we had some conversations. But, you know, I knew what Patrick. I've talked to Patrick. Patrick and I worked together for a few years in Pittsburgh. Oh, that's right. He was trying to get.

the highest first round pick that he possibly could get. And he was right up front about that from the start. And obviously our pick's going to be hopefully someplace in the late 20s or so, 30s. And, you know, he set out with that as a mission and a goal and he accomplished it. So I give him credit for that. So is it fair to say you have your first round pick this year and last year? Obviously, 2022, that wasn't the case because of the Kotkinemi deal.

is that first round pick something that you're open for business on? Are you willing to part with that potentially for the right guy? I think so. You know, we have different philosophies in this organization sometimes, but I think right now that is particular for looking at players that do have termed. Again, the rental thing, I don't want to say never because you never know. We still got to play. I think it's, I looked at the other day, I think we have nine games between now and trade deadline.

Like, you know, if something happens bad, you know, you might have to adjust your thinking and, you know, go a different course. But, yeah, to answer your question, yeah, I think our first round pick would be plenty of sure. And when did you, I mean, you used to be pretty willing to trade for rentals. As we know, when did the, I mean, I must be, you know, Carolina, you guys, there's a lot of conversations that go into it. And Tom has a philosophy. You've got a collaborative staff. when did that now it's like Carolina would never it's it's become this bit right like we know Carolina's M.O. And I'm like, huh, because I remember Don doing a few of those deals in the past.

I made the one big one in Atlanta when I traded for Kachuk. Yeah, that one. How about that? Zittnick, was that? I mean, we're going back a few years. That wasn't a high, it was a pick, but not a first round pick. It was a, it was a, it was a, that was, that was. That was, that was Cobra. But I mean, I think philosophically, I think people are realizing, you look at what like Julian Breezeba was doing in Tampa, like there's, there's a lot more. It just seemed like it was like, okay, there's all these UFAs and we're going to move a first. And it just seemed like, I don't want to say autopilot, but it was a different time. And then there's been this evolution where it's like, okay, we've got to manage a cap here.

It just seems like there has been an evolution there on that front. And you just mentioned, you know, like we look at our cap five years out. Yeah. This next summer, we're in pretty good shape. we're in a really good shape. And then, you know, after that, we have, you know, Sebastian, Pahoe, Brady Shea, we have four or five guys, Martin Nekash. You know, so we got to keep, you know, our eye on, you know, what the future looks like.

And we all know we're going to need some young players. You're going to need some young players coming a roster. And so, you know, picks are important. But saying that, you know, if you can make your team better short term and maybe potentially long term, you've got to look at those situations too. You mentioned neck ashes there. He's been phenomenal this year. We saw him went on a tear.

I don't think coincidentally before the All-Star break after that mess. What is clicked for him this year? Because we've seen flashes from that from him in the past, certainly. But man, just the end-to-end production really from the jump with him has been fun to watch. Yeah. Yeah. We had lots of conversations last summer, his representation, you know, And what I give a lot of credit to Marty is he realized last year didn't go the way he wanted to go.

And he took some responsibility for that. We also have to take some responsibility because he's still a young player in developing him. But he took and I know when he came to training camp this year, you know, condition-wise, never an issue. But he had a mindset that was much different than he's had in the past. And we saw it right from first day of training camp, you know, until continue as we speak here, that, you know, he's committed to be the best player it can be every night, every ship. You know, he's not going to play great every night.

None of your players going to, but he's put a work ethic in on a regular basis, which has got noticed by the coaches and myself. And I think that's a big difference, the commitment that he's made to try to be the best player it can. So I give him all the credit in the world. You know, he's done everything we've asked him to do and he's performed.

So, you know, we'll hopefully keep riding in the rest of the year. Well, Don, I know it's a busy time. So we appreciate you hopping on here. Good to see you, as always. Enjoy the outdoor game. It's such a fun event. You know, it's fun. What I love about it, you get to see the players and their families come out and they get to skate.

And it becomes, you know, even a team bonding event, which is cool, too, which, you know. Yeah, we got the crazy week this week. We go to Washington today. we have to father's trip. Oh, father's trip. How's this batch of dad? It's pretty good. Anticipating any issues with this one?

They're always issues. But, you know, but we have the same issues with the mothers, too. So I don't want to be flies here. But, you know, we got that. Then we come home and Thursday, we thought it'd be a good week to do it because we thought all the families would come in town for the outdoor game.

And Thursday night, we're doing our first Hall of Fame night. We're camping more being inducted into our Hall of Fame. It's going to be a great week here And looking forward to next Monday To be honest with you I know Okay well so it does We track the chatter just like anybody else

I mean is this is this poorly time for you guys It is a busy week on that on that end of things Like are you like I'd rather I'd rather be at my desk Working the phones rather than dealing with all this other All the more extracurricular stuff No you know we talk about it all the time and, you know, you've got to manage your time, you know. Actually, then we throw in, because we run the building here,

I always see the building. We have food and low fish on Friday night. That's a big show. That was the Hampton Tour, and so we sold that out right away. But you know what? It all goes, and you just got to make time, you know, you make time for the people you need to reach out to and talk to from a hockey standpoint.

No, I wouldn't have it any other way. He'd rather be busy than keep the option, that's for sure. Is there a GM you would estimate you've talked to more in your career than any other GM? Just on the trade front. Like, who's your go-to? Oh, on a trade front? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always love to know who'd be.

Yeah, you know, there's a couple guys that obviously I talk to David Poyle, Kenny Hall, quite a bit because we go back so long. But, you know, the guy that we all talked to the most, I think all of us would say this is probably Doug Wilson. Yeah. I missed talk, Doug, because Doug, Doug was very active and very aggressive as far as staying in touch with everybody. We all miss talking to Doug. So, you know, the league, the GM has changed. You know, a lot of younger guys, I don't want to say newer guys, but younger guys.

And, you know, it's the dynamic. And the league's getting big. You don't have, you know, as much time to talk to 32 guys. So it's different. But, you know, after the, after we get through the trade deadline, we have our GMEs down in Florida. That's the time that we all can have an opportunity to have a glass of wine together or whatever you still choose and get to know each other better. We saw Doug work. We saw Doug work in San Jose for so long.

Have you fostered a relationship with Mike Greer with the new guy? Have you been on the phone with him at all? Mike, the GM there. Obviously, I made the Burns trade with Mike. I've known Mike for a long time, actually, a class guy. He's going to do a great job there. And, yeah, I'm getting to know him a little better these days.

So this comes from Jeff to Met. He said, could you mention the GM meetings? Any appetite of changing the playoff format or the overtime format? Overtime might be for you guys, might be an interesting one. Yeah, well, I think we leave the league in overtime games this year. I think we're 11 at 9 or 11. and eight or something like that. So I don't know.

I mean, there's lots of talk about these things. They're all, you know, when you talk about playoffs, it's a CBA thing. And, you know, obviously the union's going to go through a major change here here soon. You know, I'm sure lots of things will be discussed at times. But, you know, we're just happy that we're going to be able hopefully clinch a playoff spot and kind of advance. Oh, you're just worried about your own team. You gave me the, you're only worried about your own team, Dan.

Come on. Well, it's a classic. It's a classic for a reason. We're just worried about playing Washington on whatever. Yeah, our games, you know, and the truth be told, I mean, you always look to tweak things, but our game's in a great spot right now. And, you know, there's obviously all of us have things, ideas that, you know, you like to see down the road. But, you know, right now, I mean, attendance is great.

great everywhere. Things are going and we've got to make sure that we don't mess that up too much. Yeah. I mean, the phrase you hear the most of the GM meetings is always unintended consequences, right? Like you put in a rule or whatever and you never know there might be something you're not anticipating. So no, I hear that. Well, Don, good to see you. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, always a pleasure, guys. Enjoyed it. Enjoy hooty and the blowfish. Absolutely. Absolutely. we'll see you all right guys thank you thank you thank you don't see sean aren't you glad that don made himself available and didn't follow the sean gentilly rule of hard media blackout for a month before

the trade deadline i retract everything i said in the previous segment you want to you gms you want to come on let's go it's a good time to plug jim nil will be on the uh mike russo jessie granger rapizzo round table Jim Dill another guy. Now Jim is really, you know him for a long time.

I've known him for a long time. All these guys, I'm old. Like the nicest guy in the world, but not his forthcoming. Like, I'm sure it'll be a great interview, but he,

you know, he's, Jim is not going to give you, he doesn't even, I don't even know if he'll give them a crumb to, to try to go down a path. He'll play a few cards like, our trade deadline move was some move we made in the summer.

or some guy coming back from injury or, you know, there's a bit of that. But I would encourage you to listen because he's really, you know, insightful and smart. And maybe Mike will do a better job than I ever did, getting, you know, Mike's actually really good at that. They might be the best team in the Western Conference. I think they, I mean, they're at the top of the, at the top of the standings at the moment. Yeah. If you're in the West, aren't you like saying this is wide open? Maybe, maybe that's what I'll say.

And the stars don't need much either. They need stuff, but they don't need anything big. They've got the big stuff taken care of. So they're going to be fun to watch because I think they have a certain kind of player that they like to acquire that they're very good on their own right now. But they also need stuff. They need like another maybe not top nine, but certainly another viable bottom six guy. even if it's just someone who they can reliably slot in on the fourth

to help, you know, keep the puck out of their own zone, you know, when those guys are on the ice. They have things they need in addition to being very, very good. All right. Well, make sure you listen to that. And make sure you come back after the break because the best segment in sports is coming up next. This is the only good segment on the show.

So, let me go into the comment section. Jump through the hoops. Pay the troll. Descend in a great glass elevator. It's a literary reference, Greg. To Charlie in the Chocolate Factory? Yeah, it is. And also Charlie in the Great Glass Elevator.

That was the sequel. What's that in the eighth grade reading level? I think you can probably, if you guys smart fifth grader, they can probably knock that one out for the same. If the eighth is really,

I overshot for sure. That's a third grade. Can I also say, just finished... Who are these eighth graders that are turning around? I don't know. I was scrolling through the comments

while I was commenting to you. Just finished the Saturday Night Live oral history. That brings me up to, I think, seven books. You did. Something like that in 2020.

For those of you following along in the Good Reads Reading Challenge, my 75 goal for the year. It's a good one. It's a good book. That was great. It made me want to do an oral history of something. So listen, email me.

I'm serious. This is listeners. I like to write. I mean, you wouldn't know it by the last couple years. I don't know about that. Craig at the Athletic, give me a good, it's got to be a book length oral history that I'm interested in. possibly one that I can help out with. I would do a book with you, Sean.

Yeah. Let's do it. That easy. It doesn't need to be tough. You hear that Simon and Schuster? We can do it. Oh, big one. You went for one of the big ones, huh?

I've got something to announce on that front, hopefully soon. Yeah. Yeah, I know what it's going to be. Okay. So, better be a hard cover. That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, I got thoughts on that too. It will be, first of all. And so is the first one event. This is the annotated Tuesday boys interviews coming out in 2026 on via Penguin Books. Here's what I would say also book publishers. The full 60 library should be like a book. Those are some great interviews of.

some very prominent people in hockey. And it would be an easy lift for me. All right. All right. Hey, you never know who's listening. The SNL book is a great one to just kind of have like out in your living room or something. Like I just,

I have it like kind of on a table because people pick it up and read like a little bit like, oh, this is great. It's really good. It's really good. And I mean, the ESPN was good. James Miller too, same author. But I think this was better. Oh, definitely.

It's more interesting. So I got to give me some wrecks too, those of you who are, we're now best friends in good reads. That's, I think we're like 15 or something since we started talking about this. I need some good wrecks because I'm currently without a book. All right. I'd like to respond to the first comments. So we had to go back a couple episodes to the Ryan Miller episode because mostly

the comments on the round table last week, Sean, I didn't see, but you said the people were just complaining about. Except for the one. There was a lot of comments about the athletic NHL. 99 roundtable, which thank you to everybody who listened and everybody who read and everybody stuck with that series over the last year. Honestly, you should take a victory lap.

That's not, I don't care about that. I'm glad that people read it. I'm glad that people, some people enjoyed it. Some people were infuriated by it. And we got a lot of comments and a lot of, you know, it served its purpose. And I'm glad for the most part, you know, people, at least if nothing else they enjoyed complaining about it.

And that's really all you can ask for it. That being said, I am done talking about it. I don't, I don't need to revisit that at all. But Jason K. left one under our last episode in our last episode. Hey, boys. Hashtag Tuesday, boys, three zes. Should I have destroyed my TV during the Super Bowl when Canada and Crown Royal infiltrated on our most sacred of days?

short answer to that Jason is yeah you should have because I did it a very heavy very heavy like it was a rocks class like an expensive one too and I chucked it at my TV and it broke good

you know I don't stand for that because I hate Dave Grohl I just felt I love Dave Grohl and it just seemed wrong I know you do I know you were so I'm going to read a couple more comments is this this actually boiled over to Twitter Carmela La Covey 23 wrote us and said I expect

to hear a full rant about a thank you Canada commercial during the most sacred of American sports days. Can the Tuesday boys boycott Crown Royal? Is it Royale? Royal. Royal. Royal?

I don't drink it because it's swill. How could they do this? Yeah. Full boycott of Crown Royal. Crown Royal. You don't have one of the purple bags that the bottles come in that you use to store coins and shit. I do.

My brother got me one that has my name on it, the Crown Royal. There was a point, so I don't hate it that much. But I will from now on hate it. Every time, still, and I drank my fair share of Crown Royal over the years, it's a great, great thing to get at a wedding, by the way. It's a great wedding drink if you're at a bar. It was a great, I mean. It was. No, it's not.

but every time truly even when I saw that commercial every time I see crown royal I think of when I was a little boy I was five or six years old one of my uncles got married his wife comes from a huge Italian family you can connect the dots pretty easily on what I'm saying there there was an old guy at the wedding who had a purple crown royal bag that was just full of like silver dollars and 50 cent pieces and and quarters. And me and my cousin were the only little kids at this wedding. It was a no-kid's wedding except for the two of us. And this old dude just sat there. And I'm not even going to name who it was. Like, there's a Wikipedia page about this guy. It's probably the most I'm going to say.

Wow. And he just sat there and threw change on the dance floor for me and my cousin. And we were just swoop in and scoop it up. And I probably walked out of there with like, you know, $30 in quarters and quarters and and 50 cent pieces. And the guy was carrying it in a purple crown royal bag. And there is some kind of sense memory that happens for me every time I see a purple crown royal bag where I'm like, yep, Uncle Billy Neander's wedding.

Yep. I would suggest for those who want to participate in the boycott, the Kirkland six-year blended Canadian whiskey from Costco is a good alternative. This is, okay, this is a, this is a sign. Costco is a We are fans of They're a friend They're a friend of the show

This is just a sign of like One sign of least Of Michigan superiority Is that you can buy whiskey at Costco Because I can't Oh that's it Thanks Quakers PA liquor laws

Stop me from being able to buy Wine at Trader Joe's And booze at Costco I mean There's like five odd It's glorious at Costco You get the wine is really good Really good wine selection

Dude we couldn't buy I couldn't buy I couldn't buy beer in a grocery store until a couple years ago. The Kirkland, anything, like I work, you'll be surprised to hear this. All my wardrobe is like Kirkland hoodies and athletic hoodies and Kirkland. Shocking. It's good. The food is good.

It's either stuff that got sent to you by work or things Cassie picked up while she was buying, things Cass picked up where she was buying like toilet, like toilet paper in 48 and 48 roll bags. I'm like, oh, there's a $11. Eddie Bauer or running pants. That's what literally happened this weekend. Sorry, guys. Robert S. writes, I would like to respond to this one directly.

Is Custin's being one quarter Canadian the reason he misses one quarter of the shows? No. Also, why was this not revealed earlier? We demand accountability. Peek behind the curtain here. We're trying to schedule something for next Monday. It doesn't even matter what it is. Craig is saying a personal day, well deserved, but it just so happens.

It is also on something called Family Day in Ontario. It's a real, real coincidence there, buddy. You're taking time off and fake, fake Canadian holiday. Canadian holiday where I'm like, I will gladly. I'm a quarter Canadian. So I get both holiday sets by law. You can't be a quarter Canadian. That's not how it works.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, my grandma was born in Moose. I don't think that's how it works, man. If my, I'm trying to think of like... Elizabeth Beattie, named Brown, born in Moose Jaw. You can look it up in the public records. That makes me a quarter Canadian,

and I get health care in Canadian holidays off. So if my, if I had a grandmother that was born in Michigan, in neither Mary Beagintillie, North Carol Sisk were born in Michigan. They're Pittsburgh folks through and through. If one of them was born in Michigan, could I say that I was a quarter Michigander? Yeah. We'd allow it. It's bogus.

Bogus. It's math. Like, this is the stupidest hill for you to even climb. I'm a, yeah, I'm a quarter Clevelander. Like, it doesn't make, it doesn't make any sense. If your mom was from Scotland and your dad was from Germany, wouldn't you be like, oh, I'm half German, half Scottish? And they came over on, they somehow met on the boat.

I'm going to fight a losing battle here because, you know. You would do that. That's how you, that's how everyone goes, oh, yeah, I'm, I'm not. this and that. It's all just white people, dude. That's all it is. I'm not saying anything. I'm not saying anything controversial here. My grandmother was born in Canada. My other three grandparents are American. That makes me a quarter Canadian. Do the math. That's, it sounds insane. One eighth Canadian. Oh yeah, was that what it be? I'm one percent Ashkenazi Jew. Can I claim that?

No, everybody is. Everybody is. Do you want to read one of these or do you want me to read? No, go. Okay. Brian F. writes. I'm not on the right page. Sorry. Okay. This isn't our Ryan Miller. This is in the Ryan Miller show. Right?

Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm, I got one. You can find the next one. Brian F. And again, we're just, I'm reading this. I've never read this before. I don't know where it's going, but writes, I would think that if the Greenfield Hall of Fame were located anywhere, it would be big gyms. Hope one person got that reference. And Sean's plaque, was this, like, was this your cousin who wrote this one? And Sean's plaque should definitely be hanging in there next to Mike McCarthy's in the, air quotes, fancy dining area, off to the left.

Dude, next time you're in Pittsburgh, we have to go to Big Jim's. It's like an extremely old restaurant in the neighborhood where I grew up, in the neighborhood where Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys grew up. Mike's dad owned a bar across the street from Big Jim. in the run. Shout out to the run, aka Lower Greenfield. We could talk about,

we could just go into Greenfield lore for the next 15 minutes on this podcast. Not necessary. Won't do it. But who's we? Me. Me. The Royal.

The Royal. No, I'll get some guys that come on as, is guests and we'll take it over. Yeah. But yeah, the Greenfield Hall of Fame. That wasn't missed if I'm missing.

Family Day episode is going to be me talking to, you know, Charlie Lynn Grant or Phoenix Copley or whoever and then just a bunch of dudes from Greenfield talking about, you know, drinking 40s, some of the bleachers at McGee and smash them on the concrete. Hey, is this where you want to put in a request for goalie questions? Because we've got some goalies coming up. And it was fun asking Ryan Miller about masks. And I think sometimes we get so caught in the moment or hey, it's trade deadline this week that we don't think, hey, like what is something if you just always ask a goalie, what would you ask? So I think you had a great idea.

Sean. This is the benefit of having a guy like Jeff who sets us up with this stuff like while in advance where we can actually plan things out if we, uh, if we have the presence of mind to. Like Craig said, got some goalies coming up. They're both especially, Charlie Lindgren especially, he's a really good talker. Anything you wanted to know about goaltenders, send it along and we'll pick those guys' brains because goalies, because he's, because The goal are weird. They're great. They're great and complicated.

And I think people who aren't goleys are always trying to better understand goalies. So we're going to have some first and experience. So if you folks have, you know, stuff you want to know or stuff that's been on your, been on your minds, send it along. Put it in the in the comments section of this episode. And we'll do our best to pass stuff along to whoever it may be. Great. Kevin T. writes This Sabers fan here

and I I'm a Sabres fan here and I love the interview and this is in reference to Ryan Miller. Of course. The best part was when you guys looked at pictures of masks and talked about them. Not great for an audio. I will concede that to Kevin T. Hopefully in future episodes you can maybe discuss

vacation photos. Hey, do you have a slide projector? That would be sweet. I think at one point I actually realized like how so I started like trying to describe them which is almost worse it's almost worse to be like

all right well what we have here is like a blah like what do I what do I know? I'm not that's not my bag describing you know the aesthetics of goalie masks it almost made it worse there was it reminded me of when we went to like 15 minutes with Keith Kachuk on the stuff behind

or one of the Kachucks. Like they all do it from like the interview. They do the interviews from like the Kachukes basement that has all the photos. And Keith Street, you may say, yeah, here's a picture of, you know, whatever, the Matthew and Thrasher's mascot. And we just were going through all this stuff. I'm like, oh, look at that statue. And I'm like, oh, yeah, this is terrible. Kevin's joking about us going through vacation photos with people.

Well, guess what? We've done it. We literally. It's like, oh, there's a photo. There's a nice photo of Keith and Keith and Chantelle and in the boys at the beach or whatever. Come up with a new idea. Slide projector is a great idea. My parents have one in the basement.

My, yeah, my grandpa had like a real to reel like thing for showing superates and stuff. It was very cool. We have more green filter references. As one of Sean's seven local listeners just pointing out, he did a very Pittsburgh thing by referring to the Greenfield Cogos, which isn't a Cogos anymore. It's not some other random brand of convenience store. Craig, I don't know if that's a thing like in Michigan, but it absolutely is the thing in Southwest Pennsylvania where it's like if you give people directions, it's like you go,

you go down the street towards that place that used, it used to be a school, but it's not anymore. And then you make a left and like it's that spot where, you know, it used to be a McDonald's. but now it's like a such and such. It's a weird compulsion that people have here that I absolutely fall into very, very frequently. And I did it again. Have you ever seen the, this is like when you get lost in the internet. So the slideshow of old, I think it's either red lobsters or pizza huts that are now different things. So you're like, this is now a, used to be a hodge place.

It's, you know, a hoagie house. And you're like, it's unreal. Like I could sit and there's a Taco Bell version of that that's now a, for those you live near me. This is in any Troy or Sterling Heights. It's a Taco Bell that I used to go to as a kid that is now selling, I don't even know, like some sort of subs. Oh, it's selling subs.

I thought you were going to say that it was selling like vape stuff or something. I feel like that's what a lot of those places have turned into as well. No, this is a call of the House of Rubens or something. And it's clearly a Taco Bell. House of Rubin. Holy shit, man. I'll be there in five and a half hours. to the House of Rubin?

We could do the after party when we do Tipsy Mixedggars, Meat and Greet. Late night food after the live podcast tape. Is it House of Rubens? Corey E. said never had more respect for Craig than the revelation that he'll throw integrity out the window to five-star his book. Kudos, good sir.

Thank you. Fine, one person understands. Integrity to appoint the Craig Cousin's story. That's right. it sounds really it sounds really horrible Craig is a mountain of integrity to a point with me

is that it are we done I don't know there's people mad about the NHL 99 in here we're done with the NHL 99th you want to go back we'd get it a whole hour and a half

a lot of hey everyone who's shouting out the Ryan Miller interview I would appreciate Emily L had some nice things to say about it I appreciate that because he was great It was like so honestly like go if you didn't hear it go back and listen to that for Ryan's sake because he was awesome.

He was just like chill and like we said if someone starts with the story like five seconds in like they're not just answering questions. They go, oh, that reminds me. Let me tell you about this time and you're like, oh yeah. Let's let's go. Sean asked us to rank the All-Star games. We're probably not the people to do that. It's a McIndoo thing. It's not a McIndoo thing.

He ate that thing as much as a. I do. Miserable a couple weeks ago. If you want to know where I stand on the NHL All-Star game, when I would go to All-Star weekend, I would fly out. I'd fly home the day before the game. So I would go for four days leading up to it, do all my work. I remember that.

And come home the day before the game because at that point there's nothing else I can do that's relevant. You did that in, or no, you left. You didn't fly out. It was in Columbus that one year where everybody got stranded because there was like snowstorm that rolled through. Not you. I was out of Dodge.

I'm not staying for the game. The players don't care. Why should I? Why should I? You go to talk to players, the media people, you know, the league people, it's a great event to get a lot of work done from our perspective. Not a great event to cover the games. Or a watch on TV, unfortunately. So, Sean, I, I'm not like going to be the person that, you know, reigns on the All-Star game because I think it has its place.

Like, kids, like, you know, kids or whatever, love it. Like, I don't, like, whatever. But I'm not going to like that. I think kids don't. I think that's a problem. I did as a kid. I did as a kid. I litigated more than enough times.

Yeah. All right. Goodbye, Chris. Do you want to plug anything? We already plugged the weakest link. Goodbye. Oh, gosh. Hey, don't forget to subscribe to the athletic hockey show on YouTube.

YouTube.com forward slash at sign, ampersand, exclamation point. Pound. Tilda? It's a little up. It's a little up arrow called. I'm just looking at my keyboard. Carrot, I believe. I don't know, just Google.

Just search on YouTube for Sean Gentilly. I don't do that. T-I-L-L-E. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a rating and review. Right now, annual subscriptions to the Athletic are just $2 a month for a year when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. And next week, Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren, talking outdoor games, taking your goalie questions if you have them.

send him to Sean because we know it's a Canadian holiday because of course it's Family Day so Craig won't be here Happy New Year everyone

Hi Happy New Year's really funny