The Athletic Hockey Show - Early Season NHL surprises, salary cap to rise dramatically and a grateful Tripp Tracy bounces back

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

Rob, Jesse and Russo discuss surprise storylines this season including the unbeaten Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars and the brutal start for the Minnesota Wild and the Vancouver Canucks.The guys debate video replay, the controversial hand pass in Toronto, Evgeny Kuznetsov's one game suspension for high sticking Kyle Burroughs and the salary cap potentially going up by 4 million dollars next season.Tripp Tracy, the analyst for the Carolina Hurricanes on TV joins Rob, Mike and Jesse to talk about the Hurricanes unbeaten start to the season, and his battle with alcoholism, the slip he had last spring, the support he has gotten from his family and the hockey community and how hard he is working on being the best version of himself today.Get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3BKz27u Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another amazing edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, the Wednesday Roundtable Edition. I've got a lot more words to describe this fantastic show before we even do the show because it's always just puts us on the right path. I am Rob Bezo from CBC Sports and the band is back together after a week off. Jesse Granger is in Vegas.

How are you, Jesse? Doing well. Hockey season is back. This is the best time. year. How are you, Rob? I'm doing good. And what about Russo? Mike Russo in, you're at home, right, in Minnesota right now? Yep, yep. Doing well. Hockey season is back, and Minnesota wild fans need to be talked off a ledge. So that's typical wild season. Usually they wait to the first round for that, not three games since the season. You know, this is in every single sport. Baseball drives me even more

nuts because there's 162 games, but seeing fans lose their minds a few games in is one of those things. you just want to smack up in the head and go, I understand you're a fan, you have a right to be angry, you have a right to voice your opinion, but can we wait until at least a week into the season? I mean, Leaf fans were brewing the least this week. To Wild fans' defense, though, I'm not the one that usually is good enough to talk them off a ledge because I'm not exactly glass half full guy ever, even when things are going well. And right now, they have a major goaltending crisis, so I get why Wild fans are a little worried. We're going to hit everything today.

We've got a lot of things to talk about who's off to a good start, who's not, some controversy as far as replay goes, a whole bunch of stuff. Also, in the second half of the show, Tripp Tracy is going to be joining us, not only to talk about the Carolina Hurricanes, obviously, but his life over the last six months has been kind of played out online. He's been going through some tough times, and it's, I for one, say it's great to see him on the other side now back doing things, and we're going to talk a little bit about that with him in the second half. So be sure. Stick around tune into that one. But let's get right

into it, guys. We had eight games last night. We got three games tonight. As we mentioned, it's not right into the season where most teams have played three or four games. But we've seen some pretty interesting things so far. Individually, I mean, our Tommy Panarin with 10 points in four games has just been, you talk about getting off to a good start, Stephen Stamco's six goals and seven games. You got Carolina, Philly, Dallas, and Calgary still undefeated. What's really jumped out to you guys? One, weekend, one of the things that kind of made you say like, oh, wow, look at that. Jesse, we'll start with you. Yeah, for me, it's the Rangers. I was one of the people that was kind of down on the

Rangers going into this season, and I'm not going to overreact the other way and say, wow, they're three and one. They're the best team in the East. But, I mean, last year, the Rangers weren't good. To me, that was not a good hockey team. They were like 25th in the league, and basically every five-on-five stat you can come up with. They were just bailed out by the best goal in the league all year long. I expected a bit of a step back from Shisterkin, not in terms of how good he plays, but you're just not going to be able to sustain those numbers as a goalie. It's not scientifically possible. So I figured, okay, a team that's below average, they're going to have a step back in their goalie. This team could miss the playoffs.

Just the eye test, you mentioned Panarin has been phenomenal, but just the eye test, this team has been really, really strong. I mean, they obviously went on that run. I thought that that was more of just some young kids going on a playoff run, having a really good month not taking the step forward and this is what they're going to be moving forward. So far, it's only been three, four games, but I do think that they look like a team that has taken that step forward. So to me, when I watch the NHL every night, that has been the biggest standout to me is, wow, the Rangers are actually a legit contender. Like this team has looked very, very good through four games. What about you, Michael? Yeah, I totally agree with you. I didn't

think the Rangers were going to take a step back. And one reason why I absolutely love them right now is the fact that that kid line now looks like they are all scoring every single night. Heidel's been awesome. Capo Cacco looks like he's taking an absolute monster step in Sama Lofrena. Then you have the most well-balanced blue line, I think, in the NHL. I mean, you know, between grit, mobility, offense, everything that they could do, that entire blue line. Keontre Miller is going to be a star. Ryan Lindgren is tough as nails.

Schneider on the third set is going to be a stud. And then you got the goalie. And then obviously one of the best top sixes in the league. I think if that kid line takes that step this year, they're going to be a, as good as it is in the east. Boston has surprised me. I thought they were going to take a step back without Marshaun and McAvoy. Clearly they're, what, three and one right now and not getting in the greatest

goaltending, but yet they're right there. Detroit off to a great start under Derek Lalonde. Buffalo's look good. Dallas has looked good in the Western Conference. Your Vegas Golden Knights, three and one, Logan Thompson, one-nothing shut out the other day. You know, there's a lot of teams on the positive side of ledger that have been extremely positive, and then there's been unbelievably negative things. Obviously, Ottawa gets their first win last night, but Minnesota has been a huge, huge disappointment.

Vancouver has blown four multi-gold games in a row. I mean, Vancouver and Minnesota, Bruce Boudreau and Dean Eveson going mono on Thursday night. That is a lot of pressure on both those head coaches right now, especially Bruce Boudreau. And it'll be an interesting Canucks Minnesota wild game. Another team that's been on the negative side is Tampa Bay, what one and three right now. A couple games into the season, I heard Vancouver fans asking for consistency. We need consistency out of this team. They are getting exactly what they asked for.

Consistency. I've never seen a team blow more multi-goal leads more consistently than Vancouver has. You're right. You haven't. You know why? Because it's never happened in NHL history. They're the first team to ever start four straight games to start a season, blowing multi-goal leads. And it's always, you know, we have coaches who are on the hot seat going into the season.

we talked about this, I think, two weeks ago and Bruce Boudreau was definitely on that list. The one quote that he had after one of the four Flo Moss leads was, I think right now, mentally weak would be a good assessment. Yeah. That's on the coach then. You know, like that's basically saying,

I'm not doing my job. I don't know how you don't automatically have him on your power rankings of hot seat coaches right now. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, again, you have a team first time in NHL history blown multi-goal games, multi-goal leads in four games in a row versus a wild team tomorrow night that's given up 20 goals and three games. That's the most in 32 years in the first three games of the season. This is going to be, this might be what must-see TV against two coaches that don't exactly love each other, by the way, that were on the same staff for many years in Washington and in Minnesota and don't have a relationship at all anymore. So that's going to be a really interesting one.

By the way, the common denominator between the lightning and the wild, disappointing starts, Joe Smith. I heard he also brought the cold weather. I saw Joe joking on Twitter that he's like the White Walker from Game of Thrones. I was laughing out loud in my house, reading that, cackling, reading that comment. Every time, every time Joe walks in from walking his dog and says, oh, my God, it's so cold out. I said, well, hey, welcome to Minnesota. This is going to be a warm front come like March. I say we just blame Joe for any bad thing that happens in our life.

What do you think? Wild fans of blaming Joe for everything. We might as well as well. And you know what? Just along the lines, though, with the Vancouver blown leads, I know it's early, but we've seen a lot of it. I mean, last night we saw six games with multi-gold leads blown, regardless of the winner. Some of them ended up winning anyway.

I've always been a fan of that sort of thing. I mean, I harken back to the old days where, you know, in the dead puck era, when a team would go up to nothing in the second period, and you're like, well, lock down, this game's number. I love the fact that a team could come back at any point. It's just bad hockey. I mean, it's this, it's early in the season. These teams haven't, they haven't structured their defense the way they want to.

It's, it's a mess. It's fun. You're such a goal. You're such a cool. But it's bad hockey. I mean, this isn't a case of like amazing offensive performances. Like as much as it is just these teams are a wreck in their own end right now. And they can't lock it down.

They want, they get a two goal lead. They say, all right, let's pack it in and lock it down. But they don't know what they're doing. It's, it's been bad. hockey. Yeah, Jesse, to Rob's point, you should have covered the league in the 90s in the early 2000s when if you went up 1-0, pretty much, I mean, it used to be robbed like something like 78 of the games that scored first one. It felt that way, at least. At least the teams that I covered, I mean, in Florida or Minnesota and those early years of me covering them, went up 1-0-0-0-A-Dios,

you know, in the Jacques-Lamere. I was going to say, thanks, Jacques-Lamere. Jacques-Lamere was the reason for all of that. But, yeah, it's fun now whether Jesse likes it or not, because he's got to goalie mentality. I like seeing it. I love seeing a team go up three-nothing and suddenly it's three-three. It's a lot of fun. It may be the first week of the season, but we've already seen a little bit of controversy guys. And it came in one of those weird games, Leifes Coyotes, and the Coyotes were up three-two in Toronto, which is that alone could be something we can talk about. But they appear to tie the game in the last minute and they score, but then it gets called back. And it was reviewed not by a coach's challenge. It was a,

was the final minute of play, coaches can't do a challenge, it's up to the situation room, and basically it was ruled that there should have been a stoppage of play because Morgan Riley gloved the puck to a teammate. Sean Gentilly spoke to Dave Jackson-law, a tie referee, and if you didn't read that piece, go to the athletic read it, it's fantastic. They break it down. But I'm wondering how much you guys like the non-coaches challenge in the last minute. The fact that anything in the last minute is reviewed, especially with something like this, because people are still slowing this thing down, trying to break down whether his glove actually hit it

or was it Keller's stick, should have been reviewed. What do you guys think of this rule? Bruce, we'll start with you. Well, I mean, I'm for it just because of the lack of, you know, the fact that you need a time out. And if there's no time out left, you know, should be you be penalized in that last minute. You know, I think you see in NFL in places like that,

all scoring plays are reviewed. That happens in the league in this league too. But just for certain things, you know, just actually good goals, not good goals, but not going back and something like this. So I actually, look, this is the rule now. I've covered, I covered playoff series, the 2014 series against Colorado, where we're winning goals by the avalanche, which scored two games in a row in the last minute by them being offside.

And the wild, you know, back then pretty much got screwed. And so then the offside challenge came in and I'm all for that. You know, this is just the rule that it is now. the last minute that you have to do this. Now you can break down this play in particular and whether or not it's chinty and whether or not it's exact that they got it exactly right. But in terms of the league taking the last minute and overtime reviewing things, that's the rule I'm for it.

The reason I like it so much, I'm a big fan of having the last minute reviewed one. You just want to get everything right in that last minute. Like Mike said, whether they got a time out or not. But for me, it's the fact that if a coach challenges it and gets it wrong, it's a penalty. It's a minor penalty. You've got a two-minute power play. You've got to kill. There are so many judgment calls in this league, like goalie interference. We love to joke. Like, it's a roulette wheel. They spin it and we'll see where it lands. Who the hell knows what's going to happen on this call. For those kind of calls, I would like to see them just be reviewed.

And a coach doesn't have to risk his team going on the penalty kill for overtime or for the last minute, if whatever it is, because they had to challenge it, whereas this way, it just takes that out of it. We're going to review everything. The coach isn't going to get, this team isn't going to have to kill a penalty for the first two minutes of overtime because of a crazy goal interference call that none of us can figure out. I like the league just doing it on everything in the last minute and coach is not having to risk that, have to weigh that risk reward on plays that, like on off side, if you're wrong, you're wrong. But the goal of interference, there are other things that are definitely subjective.

So I like the last minute review. Yeah, and that was brought up in Chintilly's piece with Dave Jackson. You know, they talked about, you know, an offside's an off side. But like you said, with goalie interference, sometimes you could show 100 people the same goally interference call. And 50 of them will say, absolutely. And 50 of them will say, no, that's a good goal. So, and forgive me, I forget who was reffing that game, but he made the announcement, he said, the –

Kelly Southernman. Yeah, it was Southern. That's right. from the situation room. And, you know, you could tell he was like, please, for the love of God, don't kill me for making this call. I thought it was a good goal. You know, it was them to call us.

That was a referee that was walking back to his hotel like all those refs do in Toronto. And he was like, you know, don't blame me. You could go next door to the situation room that's actually attached to your building and blame them. But I wonder, too, because honestly, honestly, you know, what, what's been the most in style thing over the last five to ten years in the NHL, shitting on refs, right? Yeah. Referees have had a real tough time over the last five or ten years.

Some people say rightfully so. Some people don't. But at least this, the most important decision of the game, like we said, the last minute, he could say, wasn't me, it was them. Yeah, I agree. And I'm definitely oftentimes guilty of ripping on the refs. And I actually like, you know, and respect all these guys, you know, And the one thing as sports writers is you actually grow, you develop relationships with a lot of these guys because we stay pretty much at the same hotels, you know, the brand.

We see each other in the concierge lounge. I mean, there's not a referee in the league that I don't know and know well. And this was one where clearly the situation room to control the situation and called it back. And Kelly wanted to make sure that everybody in that Air Canada Center or whatever it's called now up there. You guys change naming rights at a arena. Scotia Bank Arena. Yeah. They changed the rights, but there are only three.

brands and they just rotate. I know they just Rogers, they're all the same. You know the other thing on a totally similar subject, but different, you know, more so on the other side. Let's go now to the Department of Player's Safety, who same thing. I've sat in with them four or five different times, including this past season in New York City at their incredible new facilities. And George Peros came in to actually sit with me during that. And I love Damien and all these guys, but man, I do not like the Kuznetsov play. I mean, this guy literally took a baseball bat swing to Kyle Burroughs face and he gets one game. I just don't understand the justification in that.

And, you know, that's one where to me, you know, like, it's just, I don't know, it's unfathomable that they came to that decision, in my opinion. It's the hardest thing in the world to judge. You know what I mean? Like, I saw the play and I'm thinking, if he doesn't get three games, I don't know what the hell is going on and I'm with you. So, like, that to me was, you know, and his contention that, well, I didn't mean to hit him in the face. to hit him that high. Well, you did. And you did it not because on a follow-through or not because you didn't see him, because you were swinging your stick like a baseball bat. I don't give a shit if you meant to or not. Exactly. And to me, the other thing is, is that, you know, it's still, whether you

not, you baseball swing them in the neck or the high chest, if that's what you were aiming for, it's still technically a high stick. It doesn't have to be in the face. And it was a vicious, vicious play by a guy that's lost his temper that's done it before. He's he loses it on the ice sometimes with a stick work. I've seen it a million times. And I just don't understand in that situation how you could as a department of player safety, you know, see a somebody used a stick as a weapon in a guy's face. I mean, you know, what if that was tragic? You know, it's just, that one just doesn't make sense to me. I don't care what his intention was if he meant to put him what he was doing. It was not a battle. It was a retaliatory, vicious play.

The rule is you're responsible for your stick. And if, and if, and if you can get a four minute high sticking penalty just from trying to stick lift and missing the guy's stick and accidentally hitting him in the face, that can be ruled. You know what? We know you weren't trying to hit him in the face, but you were trying to stick lift him. You missed it. It's your fault. You're responsible for your sick. So if that's a, if you can take that reasoning, I don't understand how you can get to, well, he wasn't trying to baseball swing him in the face. He was trying to baseball swing him in the high chest. So, like, that's bullshit.

Like, if you can get in trouble for trying to make a hockey play and accidentally hitting someone in the face, then you using your stick as a weapon and accidentally hitting him in the face is, I totally agree. One game is ridiculous for that. And it doesn't deter it enough. Like, that is like the most dangerous thing

that can happen on the ice. And him getting one game, to me, doesn't send the right message to other players who could lose their, temper later. Like, you know, like it.

And again, the one thing I want to interject is that I have, I have sat in with these guys a lot. And I'm telling you, they try to get it right. There's no bias against teams. I mean, I've,

I've been in there at least five or six times. This one, I think they got wrong. You know, this one I don't get. If Kyle Burroughs played for a player on, you know, played for Minnesota,

I'd probably be writing a story about it today that they got it wrong. You know, that's just, it just, I don't think. get this one, but I will say I'm one of those sports writers that I know it's, it's so appropriate for fans and sports writers to rip on that department a lot. I think they try to do a good job, but this one just makes no sense to me. And I, as you just said, you know, to me, you just made

the perfect point. If you can get essentially a more excessive penalty for an accidental play that just happens to, you know, get a little blood on the guy's lip, you know, this one was a vicious, intentional act of violence. And to only get one game, it makes no sense to me. But I've always, I've always been a big believer that intent should come more into play. And we don't, we don't see that, right? You know, the other thing that always bothers me, and I know it is a rule, but you hear it all the time in their explanations, well, he was not injured on the play. So what? You know, if there's a vicious play with really bad intent and the guy doesn't get hurt, we should just count ourselves lucky that so-and-so didn't break his neck,

but the guy still deserves a penalty. Then you have other times where, well, he's been injured, so we have to take that into account. I think when the intent is there, and Kuznetsoff's intent was there. It was a vicious slash. So he didn't lose an eye. Thank God. You know what I mean? But he could have. And that's, that is the exact point here, is that, you know, he gets one game, but you know if it was a Steve Moore outcome, if it was a Brian Barard type outcome, if it was, God forbid, he's on the ice convulsing type outcome. You know, because Netsat's probably not playing again. And, you know, to then, just because he walked away, you know, making sure that his jaw felt okay,

just to give him only one game is just insane to me. Here, here. Before we go to break, guys, let's talk a little cash. We've been talking about the salary cap a lot over the last couple of weeks. That report came out that the salary cap was going to be on the rise. Those reports had the cap next season at $83.5 million, but the board of governor's meetings were going on. And the league announced that the escrow debt by the NHL players could, even when I'm looking at my notes, I have could underlined because it's not 100%, but could be repaid in full by the end of the season. And if that were to happen, we could see the cap rise by at least $4 million for next season.

You think a lot of teams have their fingers crossed with this news kind of coming out. Jesse, we'll start with you. Yeah, if you're real quiet, you can actually hear Bill Foley cheering right now. I live about a block away from City National Arena. I actually have a one-on-one with Bill right after this podcast. And I thought you were going to say that you live a block away from Bill Foley, which I was going to be really impressed with. I definitely do not. Yeah, it would have to be on the other side of the fence from that neighborhood if I live that close. No, but yeah, I mean, there are tons of teams out there that are absolutely pumped if this happens.

The Golden Knights being probably the number one team. We know this team likes to press against the cap. They are already, I think they have, I think they're more than 10 million over the cap right now. If you count their LTIR guys, Robin Lennar is expected to be back next year. That's $5 million that they don't have. So yeah, the Golden Knights. are absolutely hoping this happens. A lot of teams around the league. We've talked about it. It feels like half the league is in cap trouble right now. It's good news for the league. It's good news for the offseason is more fun when the good teams have money to spend. These last couple off seasons, it's felt like you look at where all these big name

players have landed. They aren't with the contenders for the most part because the contenders are, Tampa Bay has been selling pieces off for three years now because there just isn't any money. I think the league, the cap going up makes the league more fun in the summer. Yeah, guys like Match Charette won't be traded for free, you know, things like that, Monaghan. By the way, Jesse lives in the block away from City National. He actually lives in the penthouse, the Red Rocks Hotel, which is very impressive. Beautiful.

Hey, I bet you Bill Guerin would have loved to know this about two months ago, though. Right. You know what I mean? You know, all year long, you prepared to. trade Fiala because he's like, I can't afford him. And I'm sure if he knew that he'd get a four million dollar window potentially next year, that might have changed some, some things inside, you know, Washington headquarters here in Minnesota. But yeah, I agree with Jesse. I mean, this has been, you know, and also the other thing, you know, the one thing I will say is I'm going

to contradict what was about to go through my thought. My head right now is that I was going to say, you feel bad for the Sam steals, the Phil Kessels, the Sunny Milano's, all these players that have had a way to the end to get their money and they're getting cheap deals. I actually don't think that this will change anything for those type of players. I always say the top guys still get their money and that's where that extra $4 million is going to go. It's going to make things a little easier for teams, but it's not going to affect the middleman or the lower salaried guys. It just never does. I've had this conversation with you guys on here before about debates that I've had with players all the time about the salary cap era. And it's like, you know, I don't care

If you have a cap or a no cap, the big guys are still getting their money and the small guys are still getting squeezed. And I don't think that will probably change too much. And just for some of our listeners, in case you missed Gary Bettman yesterday, his availability with the media, I can get sum it up with this. Business is good. And he wasn't trying to hide it at all. And that's why they're in this position looking to rebound after a pandemic type period where a lot of money was just evaporating. Stick around after the break, we'll speak to Tripp Tracy, so don't go anywhere. Well, Hurricanes are off to a 3-0 start to the season.

That has to have Keynes fans extremely happy. And something else that probably has them extremely happy is our next guest back with a microphone on the broadcast. Trip Tracy joining us on the Athletic Wednesday Roundtable Show. Thanks so much for doing this, Trip. Hey, Rob. It's great to be with you. and Michael, Jesse, love your show. Thanks for having me on.

Thanks for coming on and thanks for a loving on the show. I keep saying that we do these fantastic shows. It's nice to hear somebody actually say to us on the show. We're going to talk a lot of hockey, obviously, Tripp, but I want to start with you, the hockey world, heard about your struggles. You've been very open about it online. You know, the last six months, obviously,

has seen some ups and downs. Like I said, it's great to have you back doing Keynes games. but I guess long question, let's make it really short. How do you do it? In a word, grateful. Yeah, I was given a gift, a gift of surrender and acceptance in New York City in late April. I needed to be smashed down to recognize that I have a disease. And that was a gift.

I did not know at the time I was prepared to accept that I'm an alcoholic, whether I lost my job or not. And the gratitude through the roof to the moon and back, the amazing support I've received from the Carolina Hurricanes, huge Kaniac fans, the great National Hockey League people in so many capacities. and, you know, it's a simple solution if you're willing to do the work a day at a time. And I was prepared with that gift of surrender being beaten down. And I try to open that trapdoor and remember it every day. I did a podcast about it on my digging in platform. I tried to be as honest as I possibly could because alcoholism and addiction touches virtually everybody, whether it be personally, family members, friends they know. And I didn't know if I

do it or not, but an opportunity to help others because virtually everybody can identify with it. But that's in the rearview mirror. I know what I have to do to maintain that on a daily basis. And now I'm back and so fortunate to be with the way the hurricanes have stood behind me, Valley Sports to be calling hockey games and talking to you guys from Edmonton as the Hurricanes are off to a superstar. And getting us on the siren as well must have been a good way to kick off the season. Yeah. That was, man, when the Hurricanes asked me to sound the siren opening night, what an honor,

the 25th season in Carolina. And then the reaction from the fans, I guess there's no way I could ever. properly quantify what it meant to me in words last week. The best way that I could reflect upon the hurricanes asking me to do it. And the reaction is just to say I'll simply never forget it. Yeah, Tripp, you know, I have a ton of questions. And you and I have known each other a long, long time. But, you know, one thing that I was impressed with right away is, is, look, you're, you know,

you obviously had this incident in New York City. But if you don't say to yourself, I'm going to accept that I, have a problem and go take care of it. Nothing's going to get better. And I know right away, you went right into going back into 90 meetings and 90 days. I know still to this day, you're getting up every single morning for meetings. You're getting a dog, I hear. I mean, you know, like it just feels like you have absolutely committed to sobriety. Michael, I was, that's what I mentioned. I was given the gift of acceptance and surrender. I fought it for so long. I mean, at one point I had five and a half years sobriety.

I was insecure in a relationship and I thought I'd be more James Bond desk and charming with the ability to have a drink. And I didn't place my sobriety first. And, you know, I'm just so darn grateful and blessed to be back where I'm at seven years later when I gave away those five and a half years. And Don Waddell, I mean, I can't tell you. the only way that I can repay his loyalty in me, the compassion right from the get when I first got back from New York, putting his arm around me, is to do the necessary

things that not only I need to do, but want to do a day at a time. And just some of the opportunities that I've had, Michael, and I'm coming up on six months here October 27. So I'm an early sobriety. And I fortunately built my early. sobriety, brick by brick. I canceled all my plans this summer. That was the right thing to do. It's a day at a time gig. But I've had some private opportunities in the hockey world and outside of it to be of service here, even in, you know, less than half of a year. It's, it's, I'm just so darn happy and grateful that I don't have to to fight it because I fought it so hard. And it's the only thing I can think of. You got to, you have to surrender to win. And, uh,

and that's why I keep playing. pointing back to that night in that New York City hotel room that I was a distraction. The night the hurricanes clinched the Metropolitan Division, but I was given a moment of clarity that this not only wasn't working for me, but it stopped working a long time ago. And I just, I'm astounded by the support once again. And, you know, I was in the booth in Seattle on a Monday night in the pregame show and the lights. I mean, for the TV there, they were so bright. I felt like I needed some SBF, so I couldn't see beyond the lights.

And the blues are playing there as we take this tonight. And a guy came from behind the lights that was there early to scout the game just to put his arm around me and tell me how happy he was to see me back. It was Doug Armstrong. The game of hockey is great because of the people in it. I'm so fortunate. I just finished riding the bike with my dear friend Rod Brindamore, who dug in for me to the end.

ends of the earth, just like the hurricanes have and the fans have. So gratitude with a capital G. And the good news is that I know precisely what I have to do to be teachable a day at a time and follow the guidance of those that have been able to achieve long-term sobriety better than me. But you know what? I think we should transition into some hockey because this is what people listen to you for. It's great to have you back in the boost. Let's get right to a trip. 3-0 obviously is the start you're looking for and I don't mean to diminish it but those wins came against Columbus, San Jose, and Seattle. You mentioned you're in Edmonton. How much are these two games in Alberta coming up going to tell us about this Carolina team? Rob, they have found

the first two games they found away. They gave up the first goal in both games to Columbus and San Jose and they had belief in their game. They got very timely goaltending from Frederick Anderson in game one and then Auntie Ranta in San Jose and then they played their most complete game in Seattle and they were terrific. Some really good individual stories have been an outstanding start and a bounce back year for Martine Natchez who played his first game here a few years ago in Edmonton. Andres Fetchnikov, I think privately wants to show the hockey world, I'm a superstar. And he's had a rip-roaring start touching virtually every fan. faster the game and then Yesbury Kokonimi,

a big time role with the departure of Vincent Trocheck. That line has been very good that Yesperry centers. Ajo was a star like he most often is in Seattle. So bringing that into the Edmonton Oilers, who are coming off a tough loss last night to Buffalo, they've had some slow starts. The team won't have trouble. Rob, getting up for it.

Historically, it's pretty remarkable if you guys, as well researched as you guys always are. If you look at Sebastian Ahho's numbers against Connor McDavid, of course, Aho in the second round of that 2015 draft, Sebastian is so humble and he lets his play to the talking, but he has repeatedly risen to the challenge against Connor McDavid. He's outperformed it in the games they've played. And, you know, you have to worry about, of course, Leon Drysidal too,

but Ajo has been fabulous in the games against. Edmonton. You look at it, Carolina, the last couple of years has gotten better goaltending in the games against the Oilers. And then Jacob Slavin and Pashy, because they've been here the longest and the last couple of years, Brady Shea and now, again, the first look at Brent Burns in the top four against Edmonton. The hurricanes have a group of defensemen that I think, especially the top four, that they can match any in the league, but they can skate. So I think they're well suited to to be able to battle with the weaponry of Edmonton. It's going to be a gauntlet here in Edmonton and then Saturday in Calgary.

The hurricanes were able to win both games here in Alberta last year. If they're able to do that again and go to 5-0, take it one game at a time, they'll really be on to something. But they are coming off. They're without question, most complete game in three in Seattle Monday. Tripp, I don't know you as well as Michael does, but I admire your analysis and you're a goalie. So I'm always appreciating the goalie's perspective.

Rob will be shocked that I'm going to ask you a goalie question. You never do that. I feel like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I rarely go down that road. To me, I've watched Freddie Anderson. You mentioned the early goals against, but they've really bounced back. I mean, his stats are stellar.

Obviously, the competition factors into that. This hurricane's team has been good for quite some time. And I feel like they haven't had bad goaltending, but they haven't had the elite goaltending in the playoffs. And to me, that's kind of what's held them back. How impressed have you been with Freddie Anderson? And do you think, I know he was hurt last year, but do you think if healthy, he's the guy to really put this team over the top in the playoffs?

Jesse, I, first of all, if he's healthy, in my view, his regular season has proven to be, and certainly was in Carolina, going to hover somewhere between very good and elite. I mean, before he got hurt in Colorado in March of last year or early April, I mean, he, I don't think he was getting enough attention for the Vesna Trophy. His numbers period, I think some of it had hurt that Carolina has such a good team that people don't point to the goaltending, but not only were Freddie's numbers sparkling, I think he had beaten Vasilevsky twice, head-to-head. In Alberta, he had beaten Jacob Markstrom.

He beat Shostorkan twice, I believe, or certainly at least once on the road at Madison Square Garden. So, I mean, he had done everything that you could ask of him to be a true Vesna candidate. He's back healthy. I know that missing almost six months, it surprised him in the preseason how good he felt immediately in the third period in particular in Seattle Monday night. I thought his movement was outstanding. It was economical.

It was less as more. Everybody talks about his calmness, but simultaneously, this is an ultra intense guy. So you look at Freddie and Ranta, who came on in the second half of the year and was just super. And then until the last home game against the Rangers, which of course everybody remembers, he rose to the challenge against Boston at home and the Rangers at home had some trouble on the road. but Auntie Ranta just got more and more comfortable as the year went along. So when healthy, I think you have an elite tandem. Then you also have a guy that I have full trust in and Peotro Cochettecough

in the American Hockey League if you were to run into injuries. With all that being said, Jesse, many months from now, hopefully if the hurricanes have qualified for the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year, the conversation is going to be had. A, hopefully Freddie's healthy. B, can he carry that into the postseason? I'm going to tell you this. Physically, he has the tools, and I can't remember a guy in a long time.

I mean, we're in the town. We're in Edmonton native. Cam Ward beat the Edmonton Oilers in game seven, won the Khan Smyth, is rookie year. You know, the hurricanes have had some fine goaltenders over the years, but I don't remember a time that they've had a guy, if healthy, if ready to grab the moment, if ready to crash through the playoff door that is suited to provide that elite mono-e-mono-goaltending that you need to win a playoff series and win 16 times to go deep. I'm right now just focusing on the regular season, and then my hope will be that if healthy, Freddie grabs the moment and just plays the way he has

in regular seasons. I know Don Waddell's good friends with Bill Guerin, maybe he could spare one of those goalies and send them this way because the wild sure need it. Trip, let me ask you about somebody I know really well, and that's Brent Burns. You know, Brent always fascinates me. I mean, he's, you know, it's funny. The first time I ever sat down with him in 2006, it was right around the corner here at a place called sushi tango, and he had one tattoo on him that was in honor of his grandfather, and he had another tattoo on his back that was a Minnesota Wild tattoo.

And I'm like, I'm like, what if you're ever traded? And it was like dawned on. I'm like, wait, what? I'm not going to spend my entire career potentially here. And now he's on his third team. He fascinates me because as you look at him, he's somebody that seems to crave attention. But yet when you talk to him, he actually wants nothing to do with the attention, at least from the media. And yet he goes back to San Jose the other day.

It's a beautiful homecoming for him. And he goes now to Carolina, being willing to go there, wave is no trade. And it just seems like he could be a player that could really, really fit in with the hurricanes. Bruce, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed my brief snippet of getting to know Brent Burns. I just always admired his play, of course, probably the pioneer of getting pucks to the net quickly with velocity. He's the George Washington of that, probably that development recently over the last many years in the game. I mean, I knew about the outdoorsy nature to Brent. I had no idea that he was as curious as he is and that he knows the league as well as he does.

I mean, I could think about it years ago when I did a playoff series with John Foresland. And really, Michael, when I first got to know you, because it was Minnesota against Colorado. And, you know, Western Conference teams, and I was doing my homework to try to prepare for that series. And, I mean, a lot of great players don't know the rosters that well, you know, throughout the National Hockey League. I mean, it's no big deal, but I think it's, you know, yesterday everybody did. Brent Burns knows the roster is inside now.

And I've enjoyed that. I've enjoyed that here you have an ultra-fit professional in his late 30s. I mean, ultra-fit. But simultaneously, in all the right ways, you have like a reenaction of the movie Big with Tom Hanks, that you have a genuine grown-up kid. So you have that professional maturity, yet that authenticity that I just watch bring positive energy to every practice. Kids when they're in the building, I mean, it's real when Brent is talking to him.

So it's a perfect mix. Speaking of Minnesota, when he first, when Don pulled off the trade with Mike Greer, Brian Ralston, I played with virtually my entire youth career. So I reached out to Raleigh. Raleigh loves Brent Burns. And then Sean Hill was on the team when I had my cup of coffee in the NHL. He said it best. He said, Rousie goes, don't let the costume fool you. And I thought Sean Hill, who played with Brent early in his Minnesota career

and was amazed more than anything about his curiosity for the game in wanting to be teachable and wanting to acquire information. I thought, don't let the costume for you was really well said by Sean Hill. Yeah. So, Tripp, you know, that was one offseason acquisition, and, you know, fans are always looking at what pieces are missing. And more times than not, they focus on the big pieces like the Brent Burns. I look at someone like Paul Stasty.

I mean, I know it's never going to be front page news signing a 36-year-old to one-year-deal. But with someone like him, that's the type of piece of missing piece. that a lot of teams need to make those deep playoff runs. When they made that signing, I said to a friend of mine, I can see Paul Stasney scoring a double overtime goal in the third round of the playoffs in game two that is such a huge win and a momentum changer. He's that type of guy, isn't he?

Yeah. A couple of really cool things jump out to me, Rob. First of all, because I'm in Edmonton, I, of course, remember the Stanley. Cup year 2005, 2006 in Carolina. And the Hurricanes, which I thought was a major asset, had a bunch of guys that had gotten close but hadn't won, whether it be the captain, Rod Brindamore. I think Glenn Wesley had played the most playoff games without winning a cup at that time. Brett Haddickin, Ray Whitney, Doug Waite, the list goes on and on. So now they

have some guys, some veteran guys that have been really close but haven't won. We'll just I think is fabulous. Paul Stasney's one of those guys. He, I mean, his hockey IQ is obviously always been through the roof, egosless. I mentioned how meaningful it was to me on Monday night in Seattle that Doug Armstrong stopped by the booth to tell me how happy he was that I was back. I ran into Doug at the gym in Seattle the next morning before we left and he said to me, hey, Trip, make sure you say a Lotus Das. I wanted him. And I mean, here's a guy that always puts the team first, a true pro. I usually get over to practice, whether it be at home or on the road quite early. He's always over there a couple hours before practice. So far, he's played on the wing with Jordan Stahl

and with Esper Foster. I know you guys just had a great Nino Nideriderider on in Nino's spot. will he stay there? I thought that line had their best game in building something, last game in Seattle. It'd be great to see him build upon that, even though you don't have last change on the road to see how they'd factor against whether it be McDavid or Drysidal. But Paul, I would certainly assume the more he gets comfortable, whether it be wing, whether it be center. His value is just going to go like this. But just a great person, his hands, his hockey mind. If he stays on that wing, and it's a fluid situation, and then you got Max Patch Ready coming back at some point, too, but that's down the road. He stays on the wing.

It's a bit of a different look for that line that was so good last year. Nino, need a rider, size, hard to play against, A to B hockey. Paul Stasney's, you know, he's a playmaker. You know, guys like Jordan Stahl and Esper Foss, the ability to, to, to, to, you know, he's a playmaker. to be ready to play a game of give and go. But it's been a pleasure after calling his games throughout his career to call his games as a Carolina hurricane so far. And I would just certainly assume he'll just get better and better.

And we will wait and see. And I think, as I said earlier, this two-game trip through Alberta is going to tell us a lot about this team and some of those new acquisitions. Trip Tracy, one of the bravest guys you will ever meet for so many reasons, if for anything, because he actually goes to the gym with Rod Brindamore, which By the way, that is a tough one.

That gym at the hotel that trip is staying at is like the nicest gym in the NHL. So it is insane down there. I would go nowhere near Rod Brinidad the gym, though. I don't care how nice the gym is. Like that guy would outwork anyone. Well, he, he, we just happen to get off at the elevator at the same time. And, you know, I've known him for a long, long time. He'll carve me.

I'll carve him. And, you know, I was playing my tunes and he said, will you please just get some headphones on? And then the bike, then the bike between us, I was going to, we had, I had a bike between us, just a little time and space, but my bike wasn't working. So I had to, you know, I had to move right next to R.B. And he's just, he is everything that is the Carolina Hurricanes. Thank you for having me, guys. I'll tell you, we're playing, the hurricanes are playing in Calgary on Saturday. night and then off day Sunday in Vancouver and I'm going to fly with Rod. It's going to be my first trip to Campbell River to see his mom. Wow. His mom, Lyndon, his dad, Bob, who has, I mean, Bob

Rendemore has one of the great personalities of all time. And so I'll finally get to to see where Rod the Bod is from in Campbell River and hopefully go to that waterfall where he, right after the cup, where he shirtless with Mike Commodore, uh, took. a picture with the cup, like trying to look like they weren't posing, but posing, uh, underneath underneath a waterfall in Campbell rivers. So he's, I am so blessed to call Rod one of my closest friends. And my gosh, what an exceptional coach. Hey, Tripp, I don't know if you're a great writer. I assume you are because you're the Ivy League man. But, uh, you know, the first thing that you, that I thought of when you said this is like, we need to dive into the

athletic freelance budget and hire you to write a story on this experience that you have coming up because this would be a story that I think everybody would want to read. Well, I've, Rose, I am not. I've been told I'm an okay writer. My roommate at Harvard was now Buffalo Associate General Manager Jason Carmannis, and he is brilliant. And I just tried to go into his room and we were both history majors and try to lean on him. But I will keep you fully abreast. I can't wait. I remember the first, I remember the first

dad's trip with Bob Brindamore. And he was instantaneously called the mayor. He had a, he had a significant stroke several years ago. He is, and his mom, Linda, who is extremely academic and just an exceptional woman. They're like family to me. And Rod's one of those people that he's there for his friends, loyally and unconditionally. And it's interesting because the night before things started for me in New York City in April, I had dinner with Rod and two of his kids. And we were talking and one of his kids, they live in New York.

And one of his kids said, do the guys ever go out on the road? And Rod goes, well, I don't know. You know, he said, I just have one simple rule. if you throw the ball over the fence, you've got to go get it. And little did I know that the next couple of days, I'd hurl the ball over the fence. And thanks to extraordinary lifelong friends like Rod, you mentioned Don, what Ellen is in relationship with Bill Guerin.

I've been given the opportunity to walk towards over the fence to grab the ball. There just isn't a better person on the planet. and I can't wait to see where the bot is from in Campbell River Sunday. Yeah. Well, Tripp, hey, we're proud of you. And I'm also proud of the Carolina Hurricanes because, you know, when I did that Mark Parrish story, I remember his biggest stress when he went down to Arizona for rehab was, all right, what's going to happen in my future?

Is NHL network going to stand by me? Am I going to ever be able to work for the wild on Valley Sports North? And all these people were there for him at the end of that road. and for the Carolina Hurricanes, for as much equity as you brought to that organization, you've been the face of that franchise on TV forever. And for them to stand by you, I think that says everything about you as a person. And I think we're all proud of you. Thanks, Roos.

It says everything about the Carolina Hurricanes that they gave me this opportunity that I have every intention to make the very most of, and hopefully help others. Tripp, thanks so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. We really appreciate you being so candid as well. And like you said, it's all. a path to helping other people and helping yourself. So thanks so much.

And I think I speak for the entire hockey world when I say, great to have you back. Thanks, Rob. Thanks, Russ. Thanks, Jesse. Thanks, Tripp. Stick around after the break. We'll talk Uber eats drivers, romances,

and, yeah, vasectomis. Trust me, you don't want to miss it. Okay, boys, ordinarily, we do rapid fire at this portion of the show, but we're going to skip that this week because you both wrote something that I wanted to talk about because I thought they were both awesome to tell you the truth. I'm going to compliment you guys and I don't do it often enough. Jesse, we'll start with you.

You're Logan Thompson piece. And the intro line just, it hooked me right away, which is I guess your job, right? Four years ago, Logan Thompson was sitting on a couch in St. Catharines, Ontario, playing video games and honoring a potential job as a food delivery driver. I thought this whole thing was great. You know, I love a good, feel good story. I know some people were on Twitter were debating whether it was an underdog story. which was just ridiculous. You know, is this one of those things where you started digging, you started talking,

and you started hearing things like video games and Uber drivers, and you're like, this is a great story. Yeah, it was. This was a fun one. I think we all kind of knew Logan Thompson's path to the NHL was ridiculous. He played university hockey in Canada, which when he played last year for the Golden Knights, he became the first goalie to start an NHL game after playing college hockey in Canada. since 1990, which is seven years before Logan Thompson was born. So we kind of knew that part of it.

But then once I started talking to him, it got like, like you said, he just kept giving me better and better stuff. Like he, I was like, so what at what point did you, like, I know you always believed in yourself because you don't make it to the NHL without believing in yourself. But there had to be points where like you had to start thinking about like, what am I going to do with my life? Like other than playing hockey. And he mentioned he's like, yeah, I was sitting in my, in my apartment, sitting in my couch.

playing video games, drinking beer, doing the college thing. And I was like, man, I need a few bucks. Maybe I can drive for Uber Eats. But he had a rear wheel drive infinity. And it was the middle of winter in Ontario. And he's like, they wouldn't even, like, I couldn't even work for Uber Eats because the car could not drive on the icy road. So you literally go from, I can't work for Uber Eats to starting goalie for the Vegas Golden Knights. It's a pretty insane story. I got into all the different teams he was cut from. I mean, he took. He took. He took. so many chances on himself. There are a lot of guys that they go to the university level and then you can get, like he mentioned like the East Coast, ECHL, they will give you contracts, but are you going to give up on the schooling part? Because he was going to school to be a manager. He went, he mentioned, Logan Thompson mentioned, Kyle Dubus went to Brock and became a general manager. He, that's the path he saw for himself. I want to be a manager in sports. He gets the ECHL deal offered to him. And like, it's very easily, most guys probably turn that down. They say, yeah, the East Coast

League doesn't lead to a long NHL career. I'm just going to, you know what, I'm good. I'm going to, I'm going to try to do my schooling, get a career. He took that chance. And then he got cut from the ECHL. And then he got another chance. And he took advantage of it. I mean, the guy, he just kept betting on himself. And he eventually, I mean, he was the best goalie in the ECHL, then he finally got up to the A HL, he was the best goalie there. Last year with all the Goldenites crazy injuries, he finally got his opportunity. He played incredible down the stretch for a guy that nobody expected much of. And then obviously the Robin Leonard surgery in the off season put him in the starting

crease this year. And so far, he's been phenomenal. Michael brought it up at the beginning of the show. He got a shutout in the home opener. Last night in Calgary, the Golden Knights, they had their first loss, but Logan Thompson was the best player on the ice for either side. I mean, he was just incredible. he made some ridiculous saves.

If he's good, I mean, we've all kind of been, I've been saying the Golden Knights are down this year. If he's like a good NHL goalie, not just an average starter, like if he's above average, this team has a chance to be a contender again. Nobody really expected that. But he's done a whole lot of things that nobody's expected. So maybe we should start expecting it. Yeah, be sure to go read that piece.

It's just great. Like I said, it almost felt Disney movie like, you know what I mean? If you saw this in a movie, you'd go like, oh, shut up. Like, come on. He's doing this. He just keeps betting on himself suddenly he's in the NHL. And Russo, you tease this story at the end of the last show, the Karel Caprisoff and Matsukarello bromance.

And I think a lot of people, a lot of fans don't understand how important a relationship like this is, the mentorships that happen a lot of times in the NHL when you've got a young superstar and someone else on the team who's been there, done that, and puts them on the right path. Every major superstar that I've ever seen has a story of, hey, when I first came in the league, so-and-so took me under their wing and showed me how to be a professional. And that's kind of a lot of what your story was about.

Yeah, absolutely. Amico Koeva when he got here. You know, he looked up to the Brian Ralston's of the team and the, you know, the Nick Schultz and people like that. And that's what this is about. You know, Coral Capricef comes to North America. He knows nobody on the wild. He knows no English.

and he immediately, you know, developed this relationship with Matt Zucarillo, who's from Norway, that speaks a little Russian because he played during the lockout in 2012-13 in Russia. And so right away, they hit it off. And then, you know, Matt's during this story says, you know, maybe we wouldn't be as good of friends off the ice if we didn't have as good at chemistry on the ice. But they see the game the same way. They sometimes aggravate the coaches because they only look for each other. But it's a really sweet story, too, about Carill and just, you know, going over. over to Matt's house all the time for taco dinners and, you know,

FaceTiming Matt's every single night to sing lullabies to his daughter. And it's a really sweet story from that standpoint. And if you've gotten to, you know, listen to interviews with Carol Capri Soff or watch him off the ice, he's the most jovial, you know, guy around. And so this relationship that they have, it's a true mentor, protege relationship. But, but Matt scoffs at that. He says it's more of a brother, brotherhood and that they're going to be friends for the rest of their lives. So it's a really, really cool story.

And hopefully everybody reads it. You know, I will say, you know, the Logan Thompson story is absolutely awesome. It reminds me of this feature that I'm going to write on Jake Middleton at some point on him bricklaying and, you know, his first year pro and in San Jose sleeping in the dining room of a teammates house and all this stuff that he's done to get to this point to being a millionaire hockey player. I probably won't write it right now because I don't think wild fans want to read a fluff piece on a defenseman. to show you now how much they don't want to read a fluff piece, I just got this tweet from a guy named Nate that says, I'm literally sitting in the recovery room after having a vasectomy, and that wasn't as painful as the start of this wild season.

So wild fans, I don't think are going to want to read that Jake Middleton piece right now, but that will come out at some point. Maybe I'll wait after one victory. How the hell am I supposed to transition from vasectomies to like telling people how to subscribe to our podcast? You tell me, I know I get paid to be the host of this show, but I have no idea I'm going to do that, but I'm going to try. The athletic hockey show, yeah, better than a vasectomy.

Yeah, all right, yeah. So that's how we'll do it. All right. Well, I'm going to cut you off there, Russo and tell everybody how to subscribe to the athletic hockey show because we're on YouTube as well now. Be sure. Check us out on YouTube. You can follow us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a rating and a review.

You can subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast to get all your bonus content from our entire network. You start with a 30-day free trial. Then it's just 99 cents a month after that. And this offer still stands. You get the annual subscription for just a dollar a month for six months when you visit the athletic.com slash hockey show. Athletic Hockey Show continues Thursday with the Mendez and down goes ground.

For Russo, for Chessie. I'm Rob Bezo. The roundtable returns next week. We'll see you then.