The Athletic Hockey Show - Nick Suzuki named captain of the Montreal Canadiens, Bauer’s Mary-Kay Messier talks Girls Hockey Bill of Rights, Evan Rodrigues signs with the Colorado Avalanche, and more

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

First, Ian and Hailey talk about Hailey’s new role at The Athletic covering women’s hockey and the NHL, her trip to Denmark for the Women’s World Championship, and her new weekly show on The Athletic Hockey Show feed, and discuss the Colorado Avalanche signing Evan Rodrigues to a 1-year deal, the Montreal Canadiens naming Nick Suzuki team captain, Ian’s Dallas Cowboys looking bad to start the season, and more.Plus, Vice President of Marketing for Bauer Hockey, Mary-Kay Messier joins the show to talk about Bauer’s Girls Deserve Equal Ice initiative and the Girls Hockey Bill of Rights, the 2022 Women’s World Championship, Hillary Knight as a pioneer for Women’s hockey, the potential for a Women’s pro league, and more.Sign the Girls Hockey Bill of Rights here: https://www.bauer.com/en-US/Girls-Hockey-Sign-Petition.htmlAnd, right now, you can get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back, everybody. It is a Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Ian Medis, Haley Salvean, with you for the next hour or so. We're going to have a quite a bit of focus on women's hockey in this episode of the podcast, Mary Kay Messier. From Bauer is going to drop by, chat about some of the initiatives that Bauer has in regards to women's hockey, trying to develop a professional league. Talk about the women's worlds, which, of course, Haley was that. We're going to hit on that.

A little bit of news to digest for the National Hockey League. regarding Nick Suzuki, the Montreal Canadians. Evan Rodriguez has a brand new home. So we'll get to a couple of those things. But Haley, what's your body clock at right now? What time does Haley's body clock say it is? Because you're back from the women's worlds overseas in Denmark. And you've only been back for what?

Not even 48 hours. So you're a skew here. You're awesome. Yeah. Uh-huh. I'm a little, I don't even know how to describe it. So I got back on Saturday. But the travel day was very, very long.

I think I left my hotel at like 9.30 a.m. to get to the airport. And then I didn't get, like, done my day until probably 7.30 p.m. Eastern. which would be what? I'm not good at math. Like 1 a.m. Yeah. So it's a six hour difference, right? Yeah.

So wasn't great because my parents watched Bono. So I went to Niagara on the lake after the flight. So it was a long travel day, spent most of the day Sunday just sitting watching football, which I would have done anyways. But it was nice. So I don't know, I'm, I host, I've been guest hosting, uh, on the radio station in Toronto Sportsnet 590, which starts at six. So you kind of add the jet lag with a 430 wake up call for, for morning radio. And I'm like, I don't know what day it is and what time it is. I've been awake for hours. It might be 6 p.m. in my body right now. I don't know. I think the, the touch of jet lag.

was great for the morning show, though, because it didn't feel like four in the morning when I woke up. It was a little bit later. Not quite 10 because I'm like, it's Monday. I got back on Saturday. You know, it's okay. But it didn't feel like four. I fear for tomorrow, though. Yeah.

But Denmark was good. I was there for a while. Yeah. You were there for like, what, 10 days? 20. 20 days? I did a little vacation in Copenhagen after. So I was in Herning.

for two weeks. Yeah. And then I did five days in Copenhagen. It's a little vacation. I had enough Marriott points from this season to, I didn't have to pay for a hotel. So I just kind of stayed in Copenhagen and touristed around. Is that a word?

Touristed? Touristed. Hmm. Yeah. Touristed. Absolutely. Yeah. The tournament was, I felt like I had got hit by a bus for the first couple days from the jet lag and the travel.

And then you start to recover from the jet lag and then the tournament gets really busy. So then you're just exhausted. So the vacation was really nice. It was nice to just have a couple days to just hang out and not do a whole lot, check out a city in a country that I'd never been in before. It was nice to not, you know, finish the goal. gold medal game and then hop on a really long flight right after. So it was cool. Yeah.

I liked it. You know, and one of the reasons, I don't think you and I have done a podcast in the last couple of weeks, or at least since you've announced or the athletic announced that they've got a brand new kind of role moving forward here. So you've left the Calgary Flames, beat job, and moved over to kind of a more national role in which you'll still be writing about the, I want to stress this, you're still going to be writing about the NHL. and probably some cool features, you know, things of that nature.

You're not going to be restricted to just covering one team. But a good chunk of your focus is going to be on women's hockey. And I think what's important about this, and correct me if I'm wrong here, are you the only person in North American media in a kind of a, we'll call it mainstream media, working for a mainstream media entity that is dedicated a significant portion of their job to this beat women's, women's hockey? I mean, it's a good question. I think there's a lot of good women's hockey content creators out there for sure.

And there's a lot of places where people have their full-time job and then they commit a significant part of their time to covering women's hockey. I don't know how many, you know, kind of national women's hockey writers are out there that are being paid by a mainstream media company. I know it's the first one at the athletic. Again, I know there's a lot of people who commit a really significant amount of time to women's hockey and coverage of women's hockey at the international and European and professional level with the with the PHF.

So I don't really want to say that I'm the only one that has this kind of job, But it is, I think, unique in the sense that it's something that the athletic created. I think you look at somebody like Meg Linnehan with our soccer coverage. And that's kind of the roadmap for the kind of commitment and coverage to women's hockey that the athletic in the New York Times is looking at here. So it's a significant investment. And it's all a blur. I don't – we already spoke with Mary Kay Messier. That's coming up.

I think you promote that already. And I don't know if I said this off air, if I said it on the show. But again, just the commitment by the athletic to send me to Denmark for two weeks for this kind of tournament. Like that is not lost on the people who are at that tournament from the coaches to the directors of the team, the PR staffs, the players. You know, you're in the mix zone. Mary Philippe Poulin just won her third gold medal in the last calendar year. And she's like, thank you for coming. Thanks for being here.

And she's saying it to, you know, myself and Donna Spencer. and Christine Roge, who were the three North American media people at this tournament. There's three of us at a women's world championship who traveled from Canada. And there wasn't any American media there. So three people from North American mainstream media at the women's world hockey championships. Can you imagine if only three people showed up for a men's world championship? Yeah, or Stanley Cop or a big, you know, major event. No, it's like great.

It's the best player in the world. She's in the mixed zone. It's not a giant scrum. She talks to each of us individually because there's only three of us. So why not just do a mixed zone where you talk to Radio Canada, you talk to the Canadian press and you talk to the athletic? And then she thanks you all for being there and then goes to celebrate in the room. It's, it's, again, coming from covering even the Toronto Marley's in the American League, working in junior hockey, covering the sands, covering the flames.

It's just such a unique and different media atmosphere. I would go to practices and I went to the team USA practice. I was the only one there. What are we doing? There's nothing to do in Herning, Denmark, then team skating before the gold medal game tomorrow. Nobody's here. It's just, it's totally different world.

So you're, as you said, you're relocating. You're leaving Calgary behind. That's right. Now you left Ottawa by. Now, I need to know from a city standpoint, which one was tougher to say goodbye to, Ottawa or Calgary. Calgary. It was such, it's such a beautiful city. I loved living in Calgary. I was there for longer. And the first year was tough because there was the pandemic. So I didn't really get to experience the city as much. But I loved that it was a big enough city that everything, you can get to

everything you need. You know, you're not strapped. You know, there's enough to do, but it's not maybe as overwhelming and busy as summer like Toronto. You're a 30-minute drive to the Rocky Mountains. If you had a good day, you're at Windport, you could see the Rockies in the distance. It's just such a beautiful, wonderful place to live. I think living in Western Canada was something that I'd always wanted to experience. I'm so glad that I got to do it. And that's not a knock against Ottawa. I just loved Calgary. I think it was exactly, I don't know, my vibe. Like, I loved it. It's a great, it's a great city. Alberta was awesome in that sense. It's just so nice, the Rocky Mountains. I drove to BC with my best friend once, and that was really cool,

driving through Alberta and going through Glacier National Park and in British Columbia and then going to Vancouver. It's just that part of the country is great. I loved it. So we also want to tell our listeners that, you know, with this change, you're getting a bigger platform on the athletic hockey show

with your own show. You're punt. Basically, you went to the management and said, look, it's part of my new deal. I'm done with me. I'm done with this guy. We're done here. But this is super exciting because you're going to have an opportunity on a weekly

basis to kind of carve out your own niche on the athletic hockey show and have now we're going to be a five day a week offering. Right. Because for the most part, we were Monday to Thursday and now we're Monday to Friday. Right. And that's you. And sometimes even more than just that because we'll have the prospect guys popping in. Yep.

Popping in. Whenever Prawn Mendes. Besides, he wants to work. Lazy Corey Pranman. Lazy Corey Pranman. Yeah, I think it'll be cool. I think the, so there's going to be a change up to the lineup. There's me more shows, some different hosts, some different things.

I think, have no fear. The Tuesday boys are back. Craig Custin's and Sean Gentilly. Yeah. I think they're going to have a show still. They're fine. They're sticking around, despite what the ratings would suggest. You know what, though?

Here's the thing. So the Monday show, I will continue to. So I also do Thursdays, but down goes brown and Mondays. But the problem is, so I went back to look at my contract. My contract says the Monday show, I have to have the co-host as the beat writer of the Calgary Flames. Yeah. That's what it says. So it was you that punted me.

I punted you. Julian McKenzie, who's taken over the Flames beat for you, is now going to slide into the co-host chair on on Monday. So this is going to be a lot of fun. Julian's done a lot of podcasting with us on the athletic hockey shows. I mean, I think he's got like five podcasts going at once. So he's fantastic.

But that's basically what it's going to be. He's literally going to assume your life. He's taken over as the Flames beat reporter and the co-hosts of the Monday Athletic Hockey show. So he's become you. Yeah. It's very sweet to have a fan. Yeah.

And so then on Fridays it's going to be. Sean Gentile and myself. So that's going to be the Friday show, which would be nice because I think oftentimes on Monday mornings, we would have to look back and say, okay, what happened on like Friday, Saturday, Sunday because the last NHL focus show was on Thursday. So it'll kind of bridge that gap between, you know, yes, there'll be a Friday show with the prospect guys, but they're not necessarily talking about something that happened on. Thursday night or whatever.

Thursday night, Friday morning. So that'll be kind of something that'll bridge the gap from Thursday to Monday is Sean and myself on Fridays. So I think that'll be super fun. Sean Gentile, one of our national writers. This really has nothing to do with me and it has everything to do with, you know, everyone just clamoring for more Sean Gentile on the Athletic Cockney show. So he got his own show. Julian kicked me off. I thought it was good because I thought I was the only guy, the only person hosting two times a week on the athletic hockey show.

And now here comes Gentilly. Yeah. He can lay the same claim. Right. Are you offended by that? A little bit. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But I don't know. I think the plan was actually for him to take, it was supposed to be Sean and I on Mondays and Fridays and you were only supposed to have Thursdays. Oh, okay. Well, we can do that, like for sure. Let's go ahead. You're talking to you there's less work? You're down to one show.

I'm pretty sure everyone just wants to hear me as much as possible. I'm just kidding. Yeah. No, but this is going to be great. Nobody needs to hear me talk that often. It's everyone will be fine. Everyone will be fine. But it's great because, you know, next week we're going to start as we get kind of ramp up to the training camps.

And that's when the stories really start to go is next week. So it'll be some stuff today, but let me tell you. You know what? Why don't we start with that? I'm worried that the Colorado, the avalanche just got themselves a steal. Evan Rodriguez, who was very effective in a bottom six-year, 19 goals for Pittsburgh last year. It signs a one-year, $2 million contract with the defending Stanley Cup champion avalanche. And my question is, was he like just a classic victim?

of the flat cap world because it's often those sort of middle class two and a half three million dollar players that there's no no one can find room for them this is a great deal for him and like great opportunity i should say for him and a great deal for the abs yeah for sure i was banging i was banging the evan rodriguez to uh calgary drum like the entire off season i think he's a impactful, effective player at worst. He's probably a third line guy. I think he showed flashes in Pittsburgh of his offensive upside. He had a really weird season, though, because he went very, very cold.

Like, it was a story of two seasons for Evan Rodriguez, and I think the question for the abs is, which version are you getting? Are you getting the beginning of the season? Evan Rodriguez, who was, you know, on a really torrid scoring pace, who looked like, he'd unlocked that offensive ability, or are you getting latter half of the season, Evan Rodriguez, who's scoring rate dropped off? Are you getting something in the middle? Something that's, maybe he scores 19 goals again next year, but it's a little bit more evenly spread instead of really hot and then pretty cold. I think he's a good player because even when he's not scoring, he's

reliable in all three zones. Like, he's just that guy that you can kind of put on your third. He's probably on the Colorado Avalanche, if they're going to try to make another run at this, if we believe that there are going to be another, you know, cup contender once again, trying to go back to back. On a contender, Evan Rodriguez is probably on your third line. I don't have the ab step chart right in front of me, but that's probably where he slots in. Maybe he's on the second line. He's not going to be out of his depth in that spot, but he's an impactful player. He's not going to, you know, make that big mistake that loses you the game.

You know, he's reliable. He's good on the defensive side of the puck. Again, he showed that offensive upside. I like Evan Rodriguez. I like players like that. I don't know if I would say that he's, I wouldn't confidently and completely say that he's a cap casualty. Again, I do think that there may have been some of the,

well, I scored 19 goals. And I don't know this, but I would imagine a guy who scores almost 20 goals in a season is probably rating himself a little bit higher than general managers, who are constrained by the cap, who could come back and just say, yeah, well, you did it in this period of time and then look what happened with the rest. It's not like he's an arbitration, but it's almost like you kind of have to strike that middle ground of, yeah, it was basically a 20 goal score last season with, yeah, but look at the way you did it.

And look at how much cap space we have. I think it's kind of a mix of both. But again, I think that's a good deal. It might end up being really good value depending on what he can do in that Aves lineup. I think Rodriguez is one of the ones I've kind of looked at in the similar vein of Zach Asson-Reece, Evan Rodriguez, Sunny Milano, Tyler Mott, like those kind of useful depth forwards that are versatile. Maybe they can swing different wings.

Maybe they can play center. They're good in the PK. They have good five-on-five play driving numbers, good defensive guys. good, useful pieces, but like you said, Ian, that you maybe don't have three or four million dollars to give them. You have one or two. Right? And that's why I was so annoyed when the Calgary Flames. I feel bad, but why did you sign Kevin Rooney to a two-year $1.3 million contract? This is a guy who's never made more than $800,000 in the NHL. I know you lost Johnny Goddrow. You want to do something on free agency day. But can you imagine if the Flames had that $1.3 million open still?

A lot of flexibility. You have more flexibility to get somebody like Zach Ashton Reese, who signed a PTO with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Maybe you have money to dangle in front of Evan Rodriguez, Tyler Maude, a sunny Milano. Very weird, because there's some good, useful debt players out there. And we're seeing some of them go off the board because training camp starts in a week and some of them don't have contracts. But that was a weird one for me with the flames. Like, why did you do that? Especially in hindsight seeing these guys still on the.

market. Yeah, it's PTO season. PTO season. Yeah. PTO season coincides with pumpkin spice. PSL meets PTO. Yeah. Other piece of news that came out on Monday, the Montreal Canadians have named Nick Suzuki as their new captain, Haley. Yeah. How do we feel about that? Yeah. Brendan Gallagher and Joel Edmondson will serve as alternates. Suzuki is clearly the face of the franchise moving forward in that he's got an eight-year deal at a cap hit of $7.87 million. Man, I mean, look, there's a lot of pressure on this young man just with that contract. But now the burden of inheriting the sea on your sweater of arguably the most iconic franchise in the sport.

Yeah, how do we feel? Like, is it a lot? Too much pressure, added pressure? Does it just kind of go in line with the contract? Like, I'm curious how this plays out. Yeah, I am too, honestly. And I think it's always hard to know, especially, I mean, the Canadians have had such, I mean, just look at their offseason, everything that they've done from having the draft. And, you know, is, is Carrie Price going to play this year?

It's not looking great. They get Sean Monaghan, Nick Suzuki, he's the captain. Like, I feel like you almost need to zoom out and kind of take inventory of everything that's happened with the. organization this summer because it feels like it's been a lot. Maybe we should have got Arpin on here to talk about it or Mark Antoine. However, I don't have a problem with it being Nick Suzuki. Like I would need to hear somebody's elevator pitch or they would need to sell me on why he shouldn't be. I am sure that there's people who might have thought, you know, it should have been Brendan Gallagher.

He's a heartbeat guy. He's been around longer. There won't be as much pressure on a guy like Brendan Gallagher to perform and be, you know, a good captain maybe in that sense. Like I could have seen Brendan Gallagher being the captain of the Montreal Canadians. But I think it makes sense. I think when you look at captains in the NHL now, so often they're going to young star players, guys with term on their deals too.

Nick Suzuki isn't going anywhere for eight years barring something completely unforeseen, right? Like, unless something goes terribly, terribly wrong and we're on the darkest timeline, Nick Suzuki's locked in. And he's going to be a very major piece of the core of the Montreal Canadians for a long period of time.

So I think it makes sense, especially when you look at, you know, some of the, you know, they're going to grow. He's going to grow a lot. the team, some of the younger pieces will grow with him too. I don't know what to make of what the Canadians are going to look like this year, which is part of it, right? Like, is this a transitional year for Montreal?

I know I saw Edmondson said, you know, we're going to compete. Is that something we see as realistic? No. You know, so this feels like a transitional year. Sean Monaghan is one year left on his deal. You've got some of these older aging players. You've got young big pieces like Knicks as you. I don't know. I don't have a problem with it because I don't think there should be a pressure on Nick Suzuki to come out this year and lead the Canadians to Stanley Cup or something.

It's him and Cole Cawfield going together with some of the other young important pieces on the Habs. I don't know. The thing I wonder on Gallagher is, you know, there's a lot of people. How much term does you have left? Yeah. Sorry. There's a lot of, no, this is exactly. While you look this up, this is perfect. there's a lot of people who feel like, you know,

Brendan Gallagher played the game or plays the game with such a reckless abandon that, you know, at some point the physicality will take a toll. And there's some people who think, you know, Gallagher's production has started to decline. Would he potentially be a buyout candidate after this season when... Oh, yeah, he's five years left.

He's got five years left. If you make somebody the captain, it almost makes them in a weird way buyout proof. you know what I mean or tougher to buy out right it makes it a little bit more complicated i still think Brendan Gallagher's got a lot of tread left on the tire but the guy played the game in such a fierce way goes to the blue paint without a thought um at some point it'll catch up with him i wonder if that's part of the thinking that 18 months from now what if we feel like Brendan Gallagher and his contract is no longer reflective of the salary and or of the production and you know

Does it make it awkward? Like, I wonder if that... I mean, he's one of the highest paid players on the team. He's making it a $6 million. He's a cap hit, right? 6.5. Yeah. And he's got 7.9, so just under 8% of the cap, which is the second highest.

We're not looking at Carrie Price here because he's on the injured reserve and could potentially go on LTIR. But if you're looking at guys who are on the active roster, according to cat-friendly, it's Nick Suzuki and Brendan Galger of the highest cap hits and the highest percent of the cap. It's interesting looking at this roster because, yeah, like you've got some interesting young piece. I mean, your ice love Koski is slotted in on this roster on cat friendly, Cole Caulfield, Nick Suzuki, obviously just got named the captain. And then you've got that kind of middle ground of older slash young players. Like, you know, Kirby Doc, he is 21.

Christian Devorak. And then you've got some even older, I mean, Michael Matheson's like youngish. He's 28. He's my age. He's very young then. Are you calling yourself youngish? Is that what you're doing?

We're enjoying our 20s, Mike Matheson and I. And then you've got some of those older players in their, you know, 30s, 33, etc. It's a really interesting roster to look at. And I honestly don't know if I see anybody who I'm saying, like, that should have been the captain. Like, I have no problem with this going to Nick Suzuki at all. The only one for me would have been Gallagher. I'm sure there's people who love what he brings to the Canadians and loves the passion. I mean, he's, you look at someone like Brady Kachuk, you know, the heartbeat of a team, drags him into battle, reckless abandon the way that he plays.

he's got some term on his deal, but Nick Suzuki's 23 years old, he's your highest paid skater. Makes sense to me. Yeah. I'm curious to see how that younger, some of those younger pieces kind of all grow up together and what else the Canadians do

to either insulate them or take them to the next level in the next couple years. Very interesting team, the Montreal Canadians. Oh, but like, I know that, I think there, here's my question on them. Do you think that they're, they have enough talent on there that they won't be in the running with, say, Chicago or maybe Arizona in the Conor Bidard sweepstakes? Or do you think, no, you know what? They are a mess. They will be in the, they will be in the running for the first overall pick.

I don't know. I think it depends. Like, did they do enough this summer to get themselves out of the, out of the bottom? Because a lot of these pieces are the same. I mean, you've got Mike Matheson who had a really good year in Pittsburgh last year. He's only 28. He's living his best life. He's very young.

Very young man, Mike Matheson. Emily Matheson's husband. There you go. Olympic gold medalist, formerly Emily Falser. Just to keep it on brand here. But I don't know. I don't know if I think that they did enough to. To get themselves in contention.

I don't know if they're going to be as bad as Chicago. Jake Allen and Caden Primo are your goaltenners. Are your two goaltenders? I can't help but think that that right there is going to be enough. Yeah, it's tricky. I just have a hard time thinking that teams are going to be as bad at Chicago, but we'll see. Yeah, no. Chicago, it is a absolutely, it's like a controlled, no,

dive. Like they are, they are absolutely. Control all delete is what I thought you're about to say. Oh, control all delete. No, this is a complete, like we are taking this right into the ground.

Mm-hmm. There's no, there's no two ways about it. Yeah. There's no, oh, are they? Whereas the HABs, there's just enough talent on the team. You're like,

yeah. I can kind of see how they maybe. Like basically how far is Nick Suzuki and Cole Cofield and like your Islav Kossi and Brennan Gallagher. Yeah. Matheson going to take them. But then there's like Josh Anderson and Mike Hoffman and like some guys that have been. Oh, I feel bad for that guy.

There's been some 20 goals. Not that he's in Montreal. I just. Just randomly feeling bad. Oh, poor of getting daddanovs in Montreal. It's not what I meant. Yeah. Don't yell at me.

Anyways. I'm super curious. This is one where I'm like, I don't know what's going to happen until you see them on the ice. Because Martin Saint-Louis looked like a good head coach last year. What's he going to do to build off of? that as a bench boss and how are the players going to build and grow under him. Very interesting. Yeah. Well, I... You know what's also interesting? That you were optimistic about the Dallas Cowboys before week one started. Why did you feel good about that franchise? You know what? They've got so many

problems on that dang roster and they looked terrible even before Doc Prescott got hurt. I was having a good time. See, the problem was they played against. This is the final show. I'm not letting you off. Yeah. See, they played against a quarterback who's the same age as me. You're talking about you're the same age as Mike Matheson. I'm the same age as Tom Brady.

Right. That gave me some optimism. I thought maybe they could take the old guy down, but they couldn't. I don't know why people keep thinking that. How many times are we going to do the Tom Brady's toast thing? Just to be violently humbled by Tom Brady. It's bad. You know what?

They, I had this really interesting thought. And I didn't talk about it on the radio this morning because that was very tired. It's what to do it right now. It's a athletic hockey show, but we're talking about the Cowboys. We can all turn this into a football podcast for five minutes? You know what's really good? This is going to be like a natural plug. The athletic football show is great.

Yeah. I listened to it this morning on my way into the studio and I was like, this is the best prep ever. Because they do it late on Sunday night, right? Yeah, they do it after the games. It's an analysis. So many stats. It's so good. It was awesome.

But the thing about the cowboys that I was thinking of, and I've had this thought process about hockey teams too. So maybe that's our segue back in sport. But is it Dak Prescott? That's the problem. Or is it the fact that the Cowboys don't seem to be doing anything to help their franchise quarterback? Like if you look at the Kansas basketball. city chiefs. They've got the best quarterback in football, right? We all agree that Pat Mahomes is the best quarterback in football, right? There's some Buffalo fans yelling at their podcast device right now,

yelling Josh Allen's great. And I think everyone was so focused on Josh Allen's supremacy that we completely forgot that Patrick Mahomes is that guy. And then he threw five touchdown passes. And week one, and everyone's just like, oh, Pat Mahomes. Wow. Anyways, they go out. They lose Tyree Kill, they go out and get Juju Smith-Schuster and other players. The year before, they have issues protecting Pat Mahomes, so they go out and they beef up the offensive line. They have the best quarterback in football, and Kansas City is ensuring that they are doing everything

that they can to set him up for success. Why are the Cowboys not doing anything? You mean Green Bay, right? Green Bay does do the same thing with Aaron Rogers. Didn't set him up for success. Let Devante Adams walk, and now you saw it in week one. He doesn't have like a good, he's, no wide receiver one.

You got nothing. And he was yelling at everybody. He didn't look happy. He didn't look good. And I think there's a lot of problems in Green Bay, but the cowboys looked bad. I know, I know. You know what? I always say this.

Being a Dallas Cowboys. C.D. Lamb, that's your best skilled player. And I mean, Zeeke's not the same. You got nothing. Terrible. C.D. Lamb is the best. I think it's almost like, I heard David Hellman talk about. this. He's with Fox now. He used to work for the Cowboys. Very good. Does good work. Do you follow him

if you're a Cowboys guy? I don't follow him. No. You probably should. He's great. I know. I met him at a wedding this summer. Very nice. He was like, it almost seems like they're setting DAC up to be the scapegoat because it's like, well, if things go wrong, it's Dax's fault because he can't. He's a $40 million guy. He should be able to get it done. Like, who's he throwing the football too? Yeah. He did look bad though, so I don't know. That's been Cowboys Corner. Cowboys Corner. You know what?

Being a Dallas Cowboys fan is the closest thing to being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. To me, you have this iconic franchise that either people love or hate and every year there's all this bluster that this is the year

and then it just, they always lose and it seems to be in heartbreaking fashion and comical fashion and everyone loves to mock us as Dallas fans. I think everybody loves to mock Maple Leaf fans. Right?

Would you not agree that Dallas Cowboys are the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NFL? I think in the sense of the like, not again. Yeah. Why did this happen again? It's like the dude in the hot dog suit. Like, we're all trying to find out the guy he did this. And it's like, well, it was the front office for not addressing the stagnant offense for the Cowboys. And with the Leafs, it's like goaltending or depth cap management, whatever people

decide to. I feel like everyone, I think different factions of the fan base have different things that they point to when it comes to the Leafs. Whereas the Cowboys, it's like, it's either Dax Fault or it's Jerry Jones. Yeah. I love how it was it was Jerry Jones who gave the media the update that by the way, Dak Prescott is out indefinitely. Can you imagine any other professional sports team that the owner is the one coming down? Well, and he's the one that came out and was like, we're committed to Ezekiel Elliott. He's our guy. We believe in Zeke.

Yeah. It's like, yeah, anytime the owner comes in and is that hands on, it really works out well for the organization. Yeah. Anyways. All right, Haley. You know, you're just back from Denmark, women's world championships, and terrific job covering that. We're going to

talk a little bit more about some of that here with Mary K. Messier from from Bauer. And, you know, it's great to have Mary Kay on here on the pod because I think we do really want to take a moment here to figure out, like, how can we use our platform in mainstream media to help amplify women's hockey and, you know, probably nobody better to help us start that conversation than Mary Kay Messier. So first of all, thank you so much, Mary Kay for joining the athletic hockey show here. Thank you so much for having me, big fan of the show. Obviously, big fan of hockey. And we are at Bauer's. are huge fans of girls and women in hockey. Yeah. And listen, as you said, I'm going to peel back the curtain for our listeners. Before you, we started recording,

you just took a moment to thank Haley for everything she's done for women's hockey coverage. And I think it's important that, like, the athletic, Haley is now a full-time dedicated, I mean, she's going to write some national NHL stories, but a big part of her focus is going to be women's hockey, trying to cover the stories that we don't tell, which I would imagine, you know, from your perspective, this is a great turn of events.

Yeah, incredible commitment on your part. This is what it takes, really. We talk about how important exposure is and just the work that Haley's doing to bring these things to the attention of hockey fans everywhere and to help broaden the audience. So like I said, big fan of yours, Haley,

and really love your messaging and everything you're doing to drive equity in our sport. Oh, thank you. I mean, Ian, you didn't have to do that. Now I'm all embarrassed. No, I will say, you know, I've said this before. I was doing morning radio today over at Sportsnet. And one of the things that I said, you know, when I was asked, what was it like in Denmark

and what was the vibe there? It was so nice to go and see just be there in person and the reaction from players. It's always, I don't even know the right word. like humbling or I don't know it's a different level of appreciation. Ian, like when we walk into an NHL arena to cover a game, you're just going about your day job. Here we are. There's a bunch of media there, whatever. I was, I talked to Hillary Knight.

She's like, it is so good to see you. Oh my God, you're in Denmark. Like, thank you so much for being here. You know, Kendall Coyne Schofield congratulated me on my job. And they just, they understand the importance that media brings. in a different way. And it was just so nice to be there and get the FaceTime. And Team USA didn't win.

Team Canada did. We're Canadians, Ian and I. So it's, it was, it was just so nice to be there and, and see some of these athletes and show the commitment that the athletic has to women's hockey because they see it. And it's just so important. I don't even know a better way to describe it than, you know, some of the best players in the world being like, oh my God, thanks so much for being here. They're focused on trying to win a gold medal and they're just like happy to see a media person.

It's like jarring after being in the NHL for so long. Isn't that amazing how when we think about the women at the highest level, like the world's best athletes, you know, they do really recognize the importance. And to your point, they are just so humble. They're also involved at every level. They are the game changers. They're driving equity in the sport, not just in the way they play the game, but in what they're committed to off the ice. Most of the women all have camps, clinics. They're all trying to introduce girls to the sport.

And as you referenced Hillary, like broke the record, amazing milestone, but also an incredible leader for equity. I mean, she drove a charge with USA hockey for equal pay and equal rights and resources, right? So it's amazing how you could take a lot of these women at the very top of the game and talk about how much they are doing. not only really for the women at the top, but more importantly for the next generation, that's really what it's all about for the women playing today. Yeah, I talked to Taylor Heise, one of the young stars on Team USA, and she told me,

she's like, you almost catch yourself sometimes when you're around people like Hillary and Kendall, like you almost feel like, should I be thanking them more often? Because, you know, Hillary Knight is, what, 33, 33 now? when and if there is a professional women's hockey league for the best players, for everyone to go play. And if the PWHPA gets what they want, Hillary Knight's going to reap the benefits of that, but not to the same extent that these young players are. And she's, you know, taking time off and what was and could still be the prime of her career to fight for something. And I think just speaks volumes to what these athletes are doing, not really doing it for themselves.

They're doing it for the next generation and for the betterment of the game. So a lot of really impressive people in women's hockey for sure. Yeah. And I think it's important, too, as we talk about growing the women's game, you need media partners. But it's clear that there's a need for corporate partners to step up. And obviously, I think what Bauer has done here,

and I think it's a great opportunity for us, just to chat a little bit about the program that was kind of launched in conjunction with the women's world championships that took place earlier this month in Denmark. because, you know, Bauer, I remember a couple of years ago I did the story about, you know, Anthony DeClair had the customized skates and it was all about trying to, you know, just be a little bit more open-minded in a sport that has been historically not very inclusive. It's refreshing to see companies, iconic companies, like Bauer step up and do this type of thing.

But maybe you can just tell us a little bit about what Bauer is trying to achieve when it comes to women's hockey and girls hockey right now. Sure. Well, one, you mentioned we were very instrumental and took a big part in the women's worlds. We think it's an incredible platform. It's also, to Haley's point, it's a global platform to launch our latest campaign, which is girls deserve equalized. And it's really rooted in the vision to create a hockey community that's more equitable and inclusive. In this case, girls deserve equal ice.

It's really symbolic and it represents the equity that needs across the sport. So girls need equal access to ice, training, facilities. They also need equal access to exposure, marketing, you know, opportunities for professional league and also career opportunities. So as a leader, we feel an obligation to really drive this positive change in the sport, you know, not only for the girls and women, but for the betterment of the sport overall. So I'm curious, though, how this works like, when you're talking about Bauer

and I know that, you know, Secret, for example, the Deodoran company, they've been very prominent in terms of, you know, putting money. Like, when you're trying to convince your company that we need to invest in women's sports and professional, like,

what does that look like internally? Like, how do you, like how do you present a plan that, I guess, shows that, hey, this is something that's underserved. And it's sitting, it's a gold mine waiting to be monitoring. Yeah. Like from a corporate perspective, what, like, what does that look like?

Well, I think luckily, we've had great support from our leadership all the way up to our board for quite some time. I mean, this isn't new to Bauer. We launched last year. We launched a new brand position, which was really rooted in, you know, first of all, an acknowledgement that the sport needs to change. We need to evolve the culture to make it more inclusive and diverse. So that was, that was first a state. but then how do you back that up? And it's really about making a commitment not only in terms of your messaging, but in what you're doing. So like let's take, for example, at the elite level, we started a few years ago really adding elite women to our athlete of rosters,

our elite athlete roster. And it started first with showcasing these women shoulder to shoulder beside their NHL peers and global campaigns. That's really important, that level of exposure. It's kind of evolved to campaigns that really stand to question stereotypes to really set them on their ear and also make important statements about what needs to happen to the game, which is really important in this girls deserve equal ice campaign. It's about how do we get together as a collective and drive meaningful change. So we get more girls playing and we have more women across the sport, which drives unique perspective. brings a different type of energy to the game.

And hopefully the long plan is not only more kids playing, but more people falling in love with the game. So we don't just see support from girls and women anymore. It's dads, it's uncles, it's brothers. It's, you know, the entire hockey community, I think, is more ready for this and understand that it's critical. And when you get right down to it, girls represent growth in our sport today. So back to your original point, it isn't just the right thing to do.

There's a real business case behind this that is sitting there waiting for someone to grab it. And that means making girls feel more welcome in the sport, providing more opportunity, and the most elite level providing more exposure and the opportunity to play a professional hockey. I think it's great. I mean, you know, just what you're saying about having the women's elite players along with the men. I mean, you just scroll through the Bauer Hockey Instagram. feed. And, you know, one of the last things was, you know, a picture with Amanda Kessel,

Hillary Knight and Nick Suzuki, with the Bauer-Lemond collaboration throughout the whole feed. I mean, there's another one for the new Nexus stick, and it's Abby Rock and Kale McCarr and David Pasternak. You know, this isn't just Abby Rock's, you know, her version of the advertisement. It's, you know, one of the best women's hockey players along with the men. And I think it's such a simple thing. It might seem really simple, but it does seem like it's really important because they're, it's, you know, it's social media and it's a social feed.

But I think, you know, that's just, it's such a small impactful thing, but just putting these women there. I think that's an excellent point. First and foremost, it was one of the things that our elite women athletes said to us, like we would like to be seen equal with our male counterparts. We would like to be in these big global campaigns. Bauer alone has access to an audience of over a million. So it's not insignificant in the hockey space. But as importantly, we've received incredible support from our partners like the NHL, who also has a big audience that understands the importance of driving this content,

which is really impactful and engages consumers in a way that they love the sport. And so to your point, we can't go on and do these one-time initiatives. It's how do we change overall? How do we show better representation? Because that really matters. Girls need to see women in these global campaigns. And their stories are so impactful. They need to be told knowing that we're trying to develop a future of the next generation of players

and also ensure that we're increasing participation. We launched a first shift program, which is really about. about, you know, making the game easier access, making it more convenient, but most importantly, a focus on fun. We partnered with the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association. And, you know, we just broke the 40% milestone for girls, which is two times the national average. And we really think because of the girls that girls represent, this should be a global goal that we should be working towards to get girls participation up to that 40%. and keep driving that up into the 50%.

And then, you know, these are the ways that we make the game more inclusive and more equitable. Some of the women that are, you know, forgive me, signed with Bauer that have partnerships with Bauer. You know, we're talking Abby Rock, Amanda Kessel, who had a great women's world championship, Mary Philippe Poulin, who is, in my opinion, the best player in the world. And Hillary Knight, we can see behind you, have a Hillary Knight jersey. You know, I wrote a story looking at, is she going to go down as one of the greatest of all time?

I think she's already in that conversation at the very, very least. But can you just speak to the impact of somebody like Hillary Knight and working with her and the platform that she has? Because I think in many ways, Hillary is a public figure. She's, again, one of the best players in the world. And she's really taken on, you know, I was speaking to Megan Duggan. And she was saying like when you think of Team USA, you think of Hillary Knight. And that's something that she did. She built a brand.

She does a lot on the ice. She does a lot off the ice. She really seems to understand the importance of brand partnerships with brands like Bauer because of the visibility it will bring to the game. Sure, it's good for her. But it's more than just Hillary Knight signing a deal with Bauer. It's visibility for the game as a whole. She's just a complete pro.

I mean, there's no two ways about it. She's more than just where you provide the content. And, you know, she's asking, what can I do? How can I be involved? She comes to us with ideas. She's unbelievable on social media. As you said, she's developed a real following. And she really makes the difference.

I think you also mentioned Marie Fleck-Plin, who I would to agree with you is at this moment, you know, the world's greatest player on the women's side. And she does it in a very different way, you know, but the combination of the athletes that we have on all sides and we also have athletes in different international markets as well is they really are willing to stand side by side. Like you think about the fierce rivalry between Canada and the U.S., right? And yet we had the best players on both sides at our at our shoot this summer. And, you know, you've seen some of those images, you know, of the U.S. players and the Canadian players standing shoulder to shoulder for girls deserve equal ice. Because that's where I think it's so incredible how selfless these players are, how they have put the mission of providing better opportunity of driving equity in the game ahead of even their own careers.

really focusing on the next generation. So I think that these women have been required to do so much because the game on the women's side is so young compared to the men. So it isn't just that they're world-class players. It's everything that they're doing to increase participation, to grow the game, to provide additional visibility and exposure off the ice. And I can't speak more highly of the women that we work with and what they're prepared to do to make a difference.

It's incredible, really. I love seeing how heated the Canada U.S. rivalry can get and then seeing them, you know, come together at a PWHPA board meeting. Or as you said, you know, I saw some of the, I saw that I think Hillary posted like a TikTok and it was her and Abby and Amanda and Renata Fast and they're in their Canada U.S. gear and like they're about to go to the women's world championship to compete for a gold medal and they're just hanging out and doing stuff together. It's, it amazes me how how these players can hate each other so much.

I don't even say that as hyperbole. It's one of the heated, most heated rivalries I've ever seen in hockey, male or female, obviously. And the way that they come together off the ice is it's really, it's nothing I've ever, and nothing I've ever seen before. It's, it's really interesting and cool. Well, it's that mission that transcends the game, right? That bonds them together. And to your point, we have this footage of Hillary and MP in the locker room, you know, when we're filming for girls deserve equal ice. And the director's giving it, you know, hey, MP, can you just pass the tape to

Hillary, but of course, she kind of passes it like she's going to elbow it, right? And, you know, and it catches Hillary off guard and the two of them just totally break up, you know, laughing. And it's just great to see that they can put it all on the line when they're out on the ice and then be so committed to driving this change that they can work together as partners. And for Bauer, we're just, we're happy to be able to provide that platform. We are super excited. We are super excited about driving change in the women's game. I mean, part of the campaign is really this, you know, getting to a girl's hockey bill of rights. And it's really centered around this whole initiative that, you know, we need to do more at the youth level to make sure that girls are

welcome into the game. And it really outlines changes that need to happen to really drive that equity. It's something as simple as safe locker rooms, which surprisingly don't always exist. exist. It's access to prime ice times, which can be really difficult. And importantly, for girls that play on boys' teams for a number of reasons, they need to be included in the environment where they're part of the pre-game or on-ice situation, that preparation that happens in the locker room. And as importantly, they're part of the post-game celebration. Today, that doesn't necessarily exist and most of our elite athletes have talked about experiencing that same disconnect. The problem is while they went on and, you know, became these incredible world class

athletes, too many girls drop out. And that's why we really need to change that. So we're asking people to sign a petition for the girls' hockey bill of rights. And we're up to 9,000 signatures. So we're hoping people will go to Bauer.com this. week and help us get over that 10,000, you know, signature mark. With that, we can go to the governing bodies. We can go to rink owners and operators and really advocate for the changes that need to happen at the grassroots level to, you know, ensure a more welcoming environment for girls

to play hockey. You know, you mentioned that, you know, you want these girls to grow up and you want them to be the next Hillary Knight or Marie-Philippe Poulan. But one of the issues is they only see them every, you know, four years really on the Olympic stage. And the women's world championships are certainly broadcast and televised, but not to the same extent. The question then becomes, how do you create a viable league so that somebody, six or seven-year-old girl in the United States or Canada can grow up thinking, I can do this for a living year round. It's not that I can just do this every four years and I'm going to have to scrape to get by as an amateur athlete. I can do this as a professional athlete. And I'm curious, like,

what that might look like here in the next five or 10 years. Like, is it viable for that to happen? I do wholeheartedly believe it is viable. And we have a lot of proof points to support that. If you look at the Olympics, where the women are actually marketed appropriately and the games are televised to your point, people come out in droves and there's extremely strong support.

when you look at rivalry on ice. The rings are jammed, the arenas are jammed, great exposure, great visibility. And even last year, we made some great strides with the PWHPA, you know, in the U.S. Madison Square Garden the first time women had ever played at the garden. Billy Jean King involved, televised. You know, we brought in the big networks on the Canadian side, the same sports net, jumped on board. And, you know, I think if you get the best women in the world together, it's an incredible product on the ice. And that's what a truly professional league will be

able to provide is that level of compete, that level of performance that is really engaging. So you have a platform, you have the best women in the world. And now to your point, you need brands to get on board and you need the networks to get on board. As a brand, I can tell you from a Bauer perspective, we see not only, again, that this is the right thing to do, but it's financially the right thing to do. And the reason why I say that is more today than ever before, consumers care about brands that are aligned with their values. And people today care about equity. They care about inclusion. And women really represent this opportunity in hockey, as well as some of the underrepresented communities.

we have seen incredible engagement from people all over the world in terms of what we're doing to change the game to make it more diverse and inclusive. And I think that opportunity exists for brands to get involved and really support the women's. And we've seen it in other sports. So we have some models to look to. You know, you're looking at stocker. You're looking at the WNBA. They're ahead of us.

So we have work to do there. But I think brands understand the importance of it. They understand the equity that can be derived. And I mean, the more you get to know these women, they are incredible ambassadors and incredible brand ambassadors. So not just for the sport, but incredible people to work with in terms of representing your brand at the highest level.

Well, Mary Kay, we really appreciate you dropping by the Athletic Hockey Show chatting about, you know, women's worlds, potential for a women's professional full-time league. Bauer's kind of involvement in all of that. Appreciate you dropping by. Thanks for doing this. And like I said, Haley is now full time on this beat.

And I'm sure you're going to be crossing paths with her quite a bit in the months ahead. Absolutely. Thanks so much. You know, this is part of it. This is the exposure getting into a show that it's so mainstream in hockey and being able to talk about these issues that are so important. And really how we can move forward. So I really appreciate the opportunity.

opportunity and look forward to more conversations in the future. Yeah, thank you so much again. It was great to have you. Thank you. All right. Yeah, great stuff with Mary Kay Messia. I think they're doing some pretty cool stuff at Bauer. Like I said, during the pandemic, they were the ones really pushing customized skates

for players and trying to bring a little bit more kind of, I guess, inclusivity and open-mindedness to hockey. So always love having Mary Kay on the show. This is it for us, Haley. This is the goodbye, the emotional goodbye. Because you and I, you know what, when we think about the athletic hockey show, like you and I actually hosted, we co-pilited the first ever episode of this show back in what? That would have been January of 2021.

So 18 months ago. Yeah. Sorry, something's playing for my phone. It's fine. I was just setting the mood. Yeah. We hosted the first show. and when it first launch, it was just you and I on Mondays,

and then you and McIndoo on Thursdays. Yeah. How we've grown. How we've grown. And then I went to management and said, I don't want to do another multiple choice Madness Monday. Yeah. Ever again.

Ever. I'm done. Yeah. So you better not ask me anything. No. See, I won't even. No. I kind of did ask you one earlier about what was tougher to leave Calgary or Ottawa.

And you said, just to paraphrase you said Ottawa was hot garbage and Calgary was amazing. You know what? I still think fondly. When I was in Calgary, I often thought about the farm boy, the train yards. Yeah. My favorite grocery store. There you go.

I think of their hot table often. Yeah. The memories. That's great. You lived here for a year and a bit. You covered this team. Two years. Two years.

And the most fond memory you have is of a hot buffet at a grocery store. What else am I supposed to think about? We tried to be your friend here and you were like, no, I'm busy. I'm good. So you know what? Take your little Friday show and move along. So that starts next week though, right? Correct?

I think so. So we still got another. I hope so. I'm not podcasting again on Friday. Yeah. So you got a few days to go. Two shows? Yeah. Not for me. That's for you and. And Gentilly. Two days. Yeah. But listen, we'll, we'll leave it there. But maybe our paths will cross again in the podcast role. Maybe there'll be like some special crossover episode or maybe somebody will be sick and they'll be like, we need someone to fill in and they'll put us back together. Or maybe not.

I can just see your face. You're like, yeah, no, no, I'm good. I'm good. Do it. 18 months of working with Ian was enough. That's not happening. Yeah. It's written in my contract.

There we go. Anyways. Talk to you later. Yeah, there we go. I hope that the listeners got the true sense of the chemistry there. But look, I'm looking forward to listening to your Friday show when it launches. Thank you. I always wondered.

if people think I'm just really mean, or if they catch on to the deadpan sense of humor, that is kind of... I think it's 50-50. I think 50% of people get you and the other 50% are like, man, she's cold. She's kind of mean. Cold and detached.

Saad, our Dallas stars writer, Sod Yusuf. He told me that before he met me, he was kind of afraid of me. And he was like, do you watch parks and wreck? I was just like, yeah. You're April? Yeah. Yeah, 100% that you are April.

He's like, before I, like, knew you that you're like nice and very helpful. Like, I can be a warm person, but he's like, you are Aubrey Plaza. Yeah. In parks and recreation. 100%. I was like, thank you so much. That rocks because she is very funny and kind of mean. Yeah, you are.

Yeah. Gentile is Andy Dwyer, for sure, by the way. What's what we're going to do? We're just going to name everybody. Do you know? We should start doing that. Who are you? By the way, you can't call me Tom.

You can't call me Tom Haverford. By the way, that's not going to fly. Yeah, who would be Ron Swanson? No, I don't think we have anybody that, no, nobody in this. Craig Custons. Custance with his voice, maybe. Like if you didn't see him, you'd be like, this guy has a deep voice. Yeah.

That's funny. I feel like somebody needs to, like, do you remember when somebody asked about, like who would win in an athletic anchorman style brawl. We need somebody to tell us who every host fill out the rest of the parks and rec roster. In parks and rec. I think I might be Leslie Nope. I could take that.

I'd be happy with that. Is there somebody with seven podcasts to be Julian? Yeah. Yeah, we'll figure it. I think you calling Sean Andy is really funny because my core memory of Andy in that show is like the first episode when he just keeps falling in that hole. All was in the pit. So stupid.

Anyways, let us know who you think everybody is. Yes, there we go. And I promise I'm not mean. Just to Ian. Just, yeah. Man, I wish I had tapped into this April thing earlier that we could have played that up. If only we had figured this out 18 months ago. If only you knew me, Ian.

If only I knew you. Yeah. Yeah. While you lived here for two years. Anyway, we'll leave it there. This was a lot of fun. And I'm sure, like I said, I'm sure we're going to end up doing some stuff together. Maybe we'll collab on some written pieces, too.

Some Sen stuff. Some Sun's stuff. I'd love to offload some Senator stuff to you. Absolutely. I miss my Sends fans. They are very fun. Oh, this is great. We'll collab on some stuff.

And again, Haley's new Friday kind of edition of the Yenel is, Athletic Hockey Show. That's going to start next week. So kind of whatever, 12 days from now, you'll hear that. Thanks for listening to this Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and review and a list of the Parks and Rex characters we might represent to.

We would appreciate that. Subscribe to Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast. Bonus content from the entire network available to you there. You'll have a 30-day free trial. It's just a 99 cents a month after that. And right now, great deal with you. with the athletic a dollar a month for six months when you visit theathletic.com

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