The Athletic Hockey Show - Ryan Miller ready for his next chapter. Crosby to the Canadiens? Bolts and Panthers attract new fans and Brad Marchand leads Bruins

Episode Date: May 18, 2021

The debut edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, Tuesday edition with Craig Custance and Sean Gentille focuses on the NHL from the south side of the 49th parallel.Recently retired goalie Ryan Miller, the all time US born win leader joins Craig and Sean to discuss his career, and what he has in store for the next chapter of his life.Craig and Sean take a look at the action on the ice in the first round, highlighting new hockey fans in the alligator alley series between Florida and Tampa Bay. We recap games from Monday night in the series between Colorado and St. Louis, and Brad Marchand leading the Bruins over Craig Anderson and the Capitals in game 2. The guys turn the page to tonight as the Penguins will need better goaltending tonight in game two vs the Islanders. Plus the guys dissect the article from the Globe and Mail which asks, is it time for Sid Crosby to leave Pittsburgh to become a member of the Montreal Canadiens, wait, what?Finally the guys add their two cents, and stick tap the electric crowd in Raleigh for the Canes and Preds from Monday night, and ESPN's decision to hire Leah Hextall to do play by play for their NHL coverage beginning next season.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, this is Craig Custin's of the Athletics NHL team. I don't know what my title or responsibilities are anymore or else I would give it to you right there. And I'm joined by Sean Gentile, also part of our NHL group. And we are excited to launch today the first ever. I'm assuming I don't know if this is first ever for sure. Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, unofficially the American version, because we read your reviews at the Athletic. We listen to subscriber and listener feedback.

And boy, let me tell you, do I agree with this point of view, the athletic hockey show? Until today, Sean, it's been much too Canadian, much, oh, way too Canadian, I would say. You can say that about so many things. The Canadian, the Canadian dominance over pop culture and sports must end. It must end. We need stronger American voices across the board. That's where we come in. I know. Seriously, it's about time we get some Americans in media.

So, look, you may think this is just us trying to crash the party and Ian Mendez and Sean McInto and Haley Salvean and Scott and Pier. They all do, they do a great job with the athletic hockey show. But if we were to check passports, a lot of Canadian passports. That's all. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it's heavy. And so as we review, and this is, you think we're making this up. I've got some actual reviews and feedback from listeners. And this is all true. And this was not me and Sean, though maybe one of them was. This is a review.

The Monday show has a lot of potential, but suffers from a Canadian bias that too frequently takes the show into some bizarre dead ends. Like Josh Norris and Jack Eichol, 20 minutes on Sam Bennett, which we can do 20 minutes on San Bennett now, which is, which we might actually. A discussion about whether Vancouver's three to two win over the Leafs is the most memorable moment of the 2021 season. I mean, come on. Did we really say that? I would like to note that my dad is one of seven. So some of these reviews may have been left by aunts and uncles of mine. When they start demanding for Sean Gentilly to be more intimately involved with the podcast process, I know that sounds a little suspicious.

But yeah, that's where we are. All right. This next one says, this podcast is for hockey fans in Canada, which is not true. It's for everybody. But this is the review. about 80% dedicated to those seven teams and their national team. Did he even talk about hockey Canada too much? Oh, gosh, just so you guys wait.

Which is fine, but this isn't TSN. It's not. I expected better from the other. Oh, my God. We've got the disappointed mom vote cornered here. Oh, my gosh. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

Oh, my gosh. This is review number three. Then we'll stop. And you guys, I'm sure, at this point get the point. With the writer covering every NHL team, why does every podcast here, and I'm sure he's excluding the full 60, why does every podcast here seem like a retread of any other podcast coming out of Toronto? Ah, so true. Five minutes covering a league wide topic followed by 55 minutes of the North Division coverage, ad nauseum.

We're about to get a bunch of people who are really frustrated with an over-emphasis on the Pittsburgh Penguins in Detroit Red Wings. That's just going to naturally happen. And in defense, you know, not that they needed of all those great colleagues of ours. You can't, you can't, you can't help it. Like, if you live in Toronto or you live in Calgary or you live in Vancouver, you're right in the middle of it. You can't avoid, you know, the environment that you come out of. It's Canada heavy. What's important is to have a counterbalance.

And that's what this is. It's very important. All right. This last one, I'm just reading it here, word for word. Enough Ian Mendez, everybody. What I need is Sean Gentile. Way more Sean Gentile and Craig Custin's. Uncle with the Ian Mendez.

Holy cow. If I have to listen to E. And don't even get me started on Scott Burnside. So welcome. This is the Tuesday show of the Athletic That last one was obviously fake. Ian is a pro. He's like, he would never do this.

He's the nicest guy in the world. He would probably say, oh, I take this feedback seriously and then do an entire podcast on the Chicago Blackhawks because Ian's the best. Not us. We are not above running colleagues down to get our own episode of the athletic hockey podcast. I do want to say real quick, Craig and I did a possibly one of the first NHL podcasts in history like a million years ago.

That's true. at a place we used to work. And this is directly in line with the vibes he had back then, which was making a joke and then apologizing for it over and over. Well, I did not want people to think Ian Mendez is getting ripped in the comment. I mean, this is not a joke. Craig is maybe the nicest person I've ever met in my life. I've known him for, you know, 12 years now or however long it's been.

My only complaint is you got to let the joke. breathe. Everyone, everyone knows you were kidding. You don't have to apologize. You're not Canadian, dude. You're not polite like that. It's fine. Sorry. You can, like, I'm almost, I feel like I'm almost like an American Ian Mendez in how nice and thoughtful

I am. You could see. You could say. Completely. Completely. Many, many are calling you, the American Ian Mendez. So we've got, there's so much to cover on the show. I don't know how much time they're giving us. We probably already blow, they're probably like, the Americans get like 10 10 minutes because that's how it is. But I don't know what the exchange rate is on podcast times.

But we've got a great show. I mean, the start of the show, we sat there and said, okay, we'd like, we're going to have a guest every week. And we're like, we want a good American, like, who says America best besides us, of course? And we said, you know what? The winningest goalie in NHL, American goalie in NHL history, Ryan Miller just retired. I had one of the greatest runs in American Olympic history. Who knows how it ended? We can't say for sure.

But we wanted to celebrate his career, get him on here, talk about what's next. So we've got Ryan Miller, who is awesome. We even talked about, you know, the ESPN deal and whether or not he'd be interested in going into media. It's such a great interview. And what I liked about it, Sean, he's like, like, Ryan, if you've listened to him in interviews, he's very, like, analytical. And I don't want to say dry because he's not dry, but he's just thoughtful. And he even made a joke.

He's like, yeah, TV's looking for somebody who gives long, drawn-out answers. He's their man. But he's, I like because he thinks it through, and he answers the questions, and he's honest. Like, he was great. He's a really smart guy. He's certainly much smarter than I am. You can tell by his answers compared to the questions, right? But yeah, I thought the stuff he said about the ESPN deal was particularly interesting.

Like, I think whatever happens, for him next. And he talked about, you know, his plans moving forward and what he wants to do and what the immediate future holds for him. I mean, I think he's going to be good at, you know, whatever, whatever route he takes. But yeah, it was, it was interesting stuff from the standard bearer for American goaltenders, which I think is what Eric Stevens called him in a really good career retrospective piece. There was, there was nobody better to start this out with. And I'm glad he gave us the time. Yeah. All right, let's jump into a little bit of last night's action. And I don't know, because this, you know, I want this pot. I don't want it to be too looking back. But the Bruins come back and tie that series up.

Carolina, you know, Nashville played it tight for a little bit, but Carolina is so good in Colorado. Like what I liked about last night's games, Sean, is I thought Colorado and Carolina established themselves early on. Like everyone's talking about them as favorites. They were, you know, tier one in my annual state. Stanley Cup tears. And you come out and you make a statement in game one. And like that Colorado St. Louis game could have been, like, Jordan Vittington was good. Like that could have been way more. I thought it was a pretty big statement by those two contenders. I think for Colorado, that was a great illustration of the process for them. Like the result wasn't, I mean, yes, they won.

It was closer than it should have been or could have been or would have been under most circumstances. But I think if you haven't seen them that much, and that's definitely true for a lot of us, not on national TV all that often. And when they are, it's, you know, as part of the second leg of a doubleheader usually, it's tough to stay up until 10 o'clock for a lot of people. As I'm figuring out, as I rapidly approach middle age, they're a blast. They're a machine. Me and Dom gave them the robot emoji on our weekly power rankings for a reason. And I think that game last night was a pretty good illustration of that. Yeah, the goals, the goals weren't quite there.

And they came a little bit later than they would have liked. But that's a powerhouse, dude. And I think, yeah, I think it was a good, it was a good, you can say the same about Carolina, right? Yeah. They're procedurally such a, such a solid team. And I think they showed that. In the Nashville game, which I actually watched, of those three games last night, that was the one I watched the most of.

Like that's that's the one, especially in the middle there, that kind of held my attention for longest, which I was kind of surprised by. I've always felt, and I've said this, the toughest series for the consensus contender is always that first round, right? I think there's so much pressure, especially if you have, and I wouldn't say either these teams necessarily qualify for that, but if you have this history of losing,

like if you're Tampa last year and you, you know, coming off that Columbus series and like all of a sudden there's all this pressure on or if you're in Colorado a little bit if it's like okay you've been kind of corn what is it coronated is that the word when you're like crowned fair uh yeah like you know they've been crowned the favorite um at least here in the states i don't know anyone in Canada is saying about those teams up there but Colorado is far like that's that's the favorite even though i i picked Vegas like so they have to you have to get out of this first round you don't want to give the the other team any like hope and I just feel like they've both teams effectively did that.

They smothered them. Especially if you're the blues, right? Like, I mean, Jordan Bennington was, was great and credit to them there. But I mean, I think, I think that, that in a way was the worst way for them for them to lose. If you're St. Louis is where you get lucky, you get the potential stolen game from the goaltender that everybody looks for in these, in these, in these kind of loft side in matchups and it's still, the results still didn't go their way. So that is,

that's a, if you're St. Louis, that's a pretty backbreaking loss. And if you're Colorado, you, you said, great, we came away with the win.

You know, the finishing wasn't there, but the process was, what, was exactly where it needed to be. Yeah. The Bruins get on the board, huge win in overtime.

Both of those games have been awesome. It's like, going into that series, it was, hey, these two big body teams, it's going to get physical. It's everything you'd expect in that series. And it's funny.

You watch, you know, you can talk about all these great new players. And, you know, we're excited about the youth and everything in hockey. And, of course, it's like, it's Brad Marchand scoring. Like, it's the same cast of characters who step up in these moments. You know, huge win for the Bruins. I like them to come out of that series. You know, it's two really good teams. But I was definitely sweating it.

Like, I'm like, you can't drop the first two games. in rally, even if the first two games were closed. And also, part of it was the Marchand line wasn't playing, I'm calling it the Marshan line. Like it's, like it's, right? Yeah, that's right. The Bergeron-Marshan-Pasernak line was not, it wasn't, it wasn't clicking, right? Not likely become accustomed to.

And then what happens at the end? It's Marshawn score on the backbreaker, right? So, yeah, I think, I think that's a bullet dodged by Boll. You don't want to go down 2-0 to the caps. You don't want all these sort of what's going on questions to start to start circulating about Craig Anderson because it's like he's, that's an early storyline, right? Where you have a guy who's about to be 40 in five days or whatever it is. He was the last team to beat Boston in the first round of the playoffs, by the way, which I saw Macon-Doo tweet. Like, we were right on the verge of people of people starting to freak out about that, I think.

but the result was where they needed it to be. And yeah, I like them to come out of that series and I liked them to come out of that division. Like, you can already see it. Like the momentum going on the Craig Anderson thing and the post-mortems of, oh, they ran into this great storyline. And Craig Anderson revived for one last, hurrah. Craig Anderson, his playoff numbers are ridiculous.

And, you know, the thing about Craig Anderson, he's always been on the precipice of one of these goalies who kind of was never one of the league's best, but kind of always underappreciated, right? Like, whatever that weird spot. Like, if we're talking, to keep it within the theme, American Olympic goalies, like, during his peak, it was, you know, Ryan Miller and it was Jonathan Quick,

and then you're always like, oh, don't forget about Craig Anderson. He's really good. No joke, I can remember you doing roster projections and all that stuff for years. It was like, Craig Anderson, pretty good number three, right? He's had a hell of a career. It's just been a, you know, a four or a five-year gap between him playing high-end hockey and really, I mean, whatever.

That was his fifth start last night. But you know, you know what all this kind of reminded me of? And him coming in in game one, I'd completely forgotten about that series in 2015 when it was senators and it was Andrew Hammond and the Hamburgler and all this stuff. I mean, he was like, he was the toast of the league for a little bit. He comes in in those first two playoff games. and kind of, you know, the clock struck midnight on him. And then Craig Anderson comes in and he's got, you know, whatever, a 970 save percentage

and a sub one GAA over the course those last four games. And it wasn't enough. The whole had been dug. But that was also on the verge of being some insane, insane run where he enters a series after the start of it and does something crazy and almost pulls it off. So, yeah, I think, I mean, we're repeating ourselves now, but I think that was. a necessary win for Boston just to kind of head that off at the pass. I feel like, wasn't Craig Anderson good every other year?

There's some weird anomaly. He's like, he's like in the Mike Smith. He's like in the Mike Smith category of like, is it, is it an even year or an odd year? Because that apparently is going to dictate what kind of play you're going to get from it. Oh my gosh. All right. So I want to look ahead to tonight's games. And like, I'm not even going to make a Calgary, Vancouver joke, because that is an actual game tonight.

How many more of those they have? It's like, it's like seven or eight more, right? There was, it's, it's the perfect lead in because that Florida Tampa game on Sunday was unbelievable. One of the, like this, it's not hyperbole to say it was one of the best playoff games in three or four years. Like it was, it had everything you wanted. And for that, like, for that to go to, from that game to the Calgary, Vancouver was, was,

like, it was comical and sad. Like, the NHL finally has this moment. where, hey, these two Florida teams are playing, it's great. And that's like, oh, yeah, by the way, we've got this other thing going on. And it reminded me a little bit of, like, you know, when you're in the fall and you're watching, this happens to me, like, you're watching NFL Sundays. And, like, NFL, it's crazy and it's great. And then there's kind of like late playoff baseball or whatever, and you flip back and forth

and it's boring. And this is, I mean, I love baseball, but it's just like the kind of the contrast is huge. That's how I felt about these two games. and Sean the Florida series which is going to be awesome I think you went and found people that

somehow that was their first hockey game it was amazing and it was a tweet there were tweets doing numbers during that game they were basically saying you know oh my God imagine if this was the first hockey game that you ever saw and it was like oh I mean that's got to be true for some people so yeah

I just I just like hammered different search terms on Twitter and tried to find a handful of people who were either watching their first game on TV or attending their first game or whatever it was. And yeah, I was, man, it was, it was, it was so great to talk to, to talk to these people because, because we're in it. We've been in it for our whatever, if not all of our lives, certainly the majority of it at this point. It's easy to forget how, how great playoff hockey is. I think, I think we do kind of take it for granted, or at least until this year. There was something so special about that Panthers Lightning game, because it wasn't just

new fans either. I think it was people who hadn't really seen a true playoff atmosphere in, you know, two calendar years at this point. And it was, that was the reminder for everybody like, oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. This is how it works. Because the fans were crazy. The action was crazy.

It had every element of hockey that. you know, that, that makes it a compelling sport kind of, kind of on display. So it was great, it was great for the veterans, right? It was great. It was great. It was great for the old guys like us. But there were also a lot of, a lot of 19-year-old dudes or 22-year-old people in, in South Florida who just watched it because, you know, basically the heat had nothing to play for. That's what, that's what most of these folks that I talked to were saying were like, yeah, yeah, the heat already had their, had their playoff seating lined up. So I, so I figured, why not? And they watched it and just got hooked immediately. It's pretty amazing to me. And I don't

know if this is a good thing that here we are in the year 2021. And we're still talking about fans in Florida discovering hockey. And I'm, you know, there's always going to be that in every market. But the fact that the Panthers are still still on some level establishing themselves. I mean, they've had their moments. But like they really have, you know, you need more than one great playoff. They haven't had. They haven't had sustained success. That's what it comes down to. You just can't. And I said this to one of the guys that was, you know, I interviewed for the story.

I think it's something that we don't quite want to admit about even established hockey markets. That if you have five down years or six down years, I don't know in Pittsburgh, let's say. We don't know what that looks like because they've been successful for, you know, 35 years. I think we do. I think they go to Kansas City. Absolutely. Absolutely. But even then, even then, that was like, people talk about the dark ages of the penguins.

And it was, it was two or three seasons, right? So if you have a protracted length of, you know, irrelevant crappy hockey that takes place over five years or six years with, we'll leave the arena deal out of it, right? If the, oh, I don't want to, but go ahead. I'm saying like now. Oh, in Pittsburgh? I thought you were talking about Florida. I want to talk about them. Oh, God.

Yeah. We'll talk about that in a second. But if you have a team that's on somewhat steady financial ground and doesn't have the arena, the arena threat hanging over their head, like, I don't, there's more markets than we want to admit that are four or five years away from something pretty negative happening. And the Panthers have never had, never had consistent success. they have an arena that's, you know, on the back end of a mall where nobody actually lives, that's a, that's a huge thing. And still, I know it's crazy. It's been, you know, 30 years almost since, since the Panthers, you know, entered the league. But there, that's a market where culturally, it just, it just, it just, it wasn't there for, for a bunch of different reasons. So if you don't have a good team and if you don't have a centrally located arena that people are actually cool,

going to visit, then you're going to have problems. So yeah, on some level, it is wild that we're still talking about people who are like, oh, God, but there's a there's a hockey team in South Florida. But if you, if you think about it, it makes a little bit more sense. Was there a comment or a story from that reporting that set out to you in terms of like, the one was, I laughed about there. You're like, oh, nobody goes out there unless they go into them all. But, you know, was just in terms of the impact one game can make, kind of potential fan? Was there one that jumped out to you?

There were two different, two different guys who were second or third generation Cuban Americans, who just, you know, their dads and their grandpies didn't care about hockey, like completely understandably. But two of those guys specifically were like, I'm all in, man,

like I'm having a family party. We're doing the barbecue. It's on the big TV in the living room. My dad's in, my grandpa's in. Like, we're, like,

they've got our, attention. So I think that's, I hope this series is good. Right. Like that was, that was, that was my, that was my big takeaway. Like I like whatever, whether the Panthers win, whether they lose, you know, if, if we get a six game series or seven game series with end to end action and in all this sort of stuff, I think if nothing else, you're going to have a chance to start converting people in South Florida like we saw happen in Tampa. over the last, you know, 10 years or 15 years, right? Where where people get kind of locked in.

I think it's got that potential for a lot of different reasons. So, yeah, man, I'm rooting for more good games because it can only lead to more good things down there. In talking to Florida management, you know, they've got the new group there. And I know they very much want to make that a destination. And at some level, Florida has always been a free agent. Like they've gotten their share of free agent, you know, the handles and the, like, they sign their guys.

But like, you know, I think of what the lightning, you know, what they did last year with the jet skis and the boys are back and all that stuff. Like that, like, that established some, like, they're having a good time playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning. I thought that was so important to, you know, it made me want to play for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida hasn't had that moment. And I know they're very, like, conscious of it. They want to, like, they want to do, like, events from, you know, a boat out in the ocean. Like they should completely just go all in on, hey, you want to have a great time and a great hockey career. Come down to Miami.

That was what a few different people said, I think, about the way that they've, it sounds like they've changed the way that they market the team and just been more, like a little bit more aggressive and in the way they use social and all that sort of stuff. Not to get too far into the weeds with that. But there is, there's good stuff going on there. Of course, of course, it's always going to be easier on some level for teams like Florida and Tampa to attract free. agents because the weather's great and there is no state income tax and that is an actual built in kind of baked in advantage whenever you're talking about multi-million tens of millions of dollars of deals like you like that's a that that that's a whole hell of a lot of money over over the course of a long-term deal yeah like ask sergey brawowsky how much more money he's going to have in his

pocket by not by not having you know not having that that that tax element element to worry about and and like it or not disagree disagree with it you know uh whatever. Ideologically, ideologically or whatever, that's just the way it is. That's why athletes are based there. That's why Tiger Woods lives in Florida,

and Ken Griffey Jr. lives in Florida, and Charles Barkley lives in Florida. Like those guys, when you get into that bracket, it's a major, major, major concern. The question is, is it going to be a series? I kind of laughed and I agreed with your tweet yesterday. You're like, we were all just like going Gaga over game one, and you're like, yeah, lightning and five.

Right. It does have the feel of like had Florida won that game, I could be much much more convinced. But if you don't beat the lightning on game one when Kuturoff hasn't played in a year and Stamcoast has been out, then I don't know. Are you going to beat them? That's my only concern about that series. That disallowed goal. And then the swing back nine seconds afterwards was just, that's back breaking stuff to happen that early in the game. And yeah, they battled back. And yeah, you know, it was, it was tied as late as it was. But that's one of those things, again, when you see a heavy underdog and you see like some bounce, some bounces go against them in a game one, in a game they easily could have stolen. I mean, that's, that's when you're like, how was this, was this their chance?

Did we just witness them, them blowing their best opportunity to to actually take the series? Again, it kind of, it kind of feels like that happened. But I don't know, man. I hope it didn't. I'll take six more games of whatever we saw on Sunday. I'll tell you that. I think here's this chance. You know,

the hottest take I saw in any conversations I had was a scout saying Barkoff is as good as McDavid or Matthews if you just put him on one of those teams. Now, I know we've been saying the Barkov is underrated for years. This is taking that to a whole other level. I'm not saying, but his point was he's been carrying around four guys.

And I don't want to diminish, you know, Anthony Declare and some of his linemates. Like they've had great seasons. But Bar, like, here is this moment. Okay, if we're saying, boy, we're worried the lightning are going to take the series over. Kutrov is too good. And he is, like, that's just a reminder how good he is.

Here is an opportunity for Barkov to really put the gauntlet down. Going back to those three or four or five people who I talked to, who had never seen a Panthers game, right? Barkov jumped off the ice for them. There were three guys who were like, Barkov, that's my dude. I'm going to, if I get a jersey, it's going to be him. He's a beast. So yeah, this seems like, this seems like if it happens,

you know, if this does turn into a situation where, you know, we're doing the show next week and we're prepping for a game seven or whatever, it's going to be because it turned into the Sasha Barkov show, right? Like that's what, that's what's going to happen. All right. One last thing before we go to break. I wanted to run, because you're in Pittsburgh. And I am not a fan of like, hey, I'm going to read somebody else's column and we're going to would take down of the writer because we all, you know, we all have our opinions. We are, like, I'm sure people listening to this have read stuff I've written or had seen opinions and thought it was outrageous.

Cathal Kelly. Disagree. You've been right 100% of the time in your career. Oh, I have. Okay, good. Thank you. There was like 500 comments in that last one before. I wouldn't even go into that section.

I don't even go into that section. I don't know. But Kevall Kelly from the Globe and Mail wrote a story about Sidney Crosby. And I don't know if this was the case of the headline probably not doing him any favors because here I am already trying to be all the writer out because I don't love but hold on I'm gonna try to pull up the headline

I'm trying to I want to let you talk yourself out of this one it's gonna be what that it was a I read I read the column and the first thing I will say is that it was not an incendiary headline that was that was directly that was that was directly in line with the with the tone of it And that headline was Craig.

Crosby's time in Pittsburgh has been epic. Now please make it stop. Possibly by trading with the Montreal Canadians, please. And that was a conclusion. It's time to trade them to the Montreal Canadian. Not the conclusion, but that was one of the suggestions. As if Pittsburgh and an American hockey market can't have a superstar player for the entirety of their career. That was the conclusion, you drew?

Absolutely the conclusion. It was kind of a backdoor way at getting at it. But that was the kicker, right? And I was waiting for it. Like I'm, I was scrolling through it. I'm on my phone, you know, whatever from bed on Sunday night or wherever it was. I was just waiting for the hammer to drop, right? I'm waiting for waiting for the Canadian's suggestion to happen.

And yeah, it was, it was, it was right there at the end. Wait, you thought the whole time you're like, at some point he's going to suggest a trade to the Montreal Canee. A hundred percent. that's what that's what we've seen it's it's kind of in line with a bunch of stuff we've seen really throughout this season especially in the middle of the year and it was you know it was guys like guys i'm not i'm not doubting i'm not doubting their reporting because that would be insane for me to do but guys like guys of gellate freeman and daren dregor and you know the the the the canada-based guys there was stuff percolating i think in in the middle of the year whenever or towards towards the beginning of the season whenever stuff was on the rails with Rutherford and the penguins were six and six or whatever it was. And then the speculation, understandably, starts being like, is Crosby going to want to be there for all of this? Like, what happens at the end of his deal?

What happens if it's two years from now and they're actually in a rebuild? Like, how is that going to work? Would he be interested in playing in Canada? He's buddies with Nathan McKinnon and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. the dots were getting connected pretty heavily there for about a week

in the early part of the season. So I was fully expecting that. And it's understandable on the part of Canadian reporters and Canadian fans is you want Sidney Crosby who's a civic icon at this point to find some way

to return to one of those teams, one of those eight teams and you know play out play out the remaining years of his prime. I get it. I get it. But taking us back to Sunday night, just a wild, wild ride from Kathaul Kelly, wildly timed. And it was exactly what I was expecting. And it really delivered there by the end.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. So I think we should spend the rest of the show talking about Austin Matthews returning to the Arizona Coyotes in the year 20, 24, 25. We'll see, we'll see, that's definitely going to happen, though. Oh, my gosh. Do you think, so we've got to wrap up with a segment, but on a scale of 1 to 10, how concerned should Crosby and the Penguins be down 1-0 to the Islanders? That's a great question. I think you look at the process of the first game, and it was generally there.

It was two really, two really strong periods from them. They had their chances. It's about as good as you can play a Barry Trots team in the playoffs, I think, to some extent. A couple different things go their way. I don't know that we're having this conversation. But the fact that the fact is the reason they lost that game is because at Tris and Jari. He played horrendously. They allowed, they allowed four goals all ranging from soft to atrocious, right? And that is a concern. It has to be because A, he's been almost remarkably inconsistent over the course of the of the season. I think you see his home road splits. That's a, that's a great example. Not that

home roads splits mean all that much, but it's like a nice little postage stamp kind of example on the kind of swings that that guy is capable of under normal circumstances, right? And also, he's dealing with some kind of injury. It's some sort of upper body injury. You can guess as to what it is. I mean, the guy was having trouble raising his arm. So, you know, whatever, fill in the blank there. That should be a concern. And I, and I think that, it's kind of the playoffs in a nutshell. Process can be great. You can pick a team to win a series because they're more likely across the board in any

number of ways. But if your goalie's not there, it's not going to matter. And that is why they lost that game. And that's why the concern level, you know, if the concern level should have been a three going into this series, it should be somewhere north of five now, I would say. Right. I mean, we shouldn't be the islanders and Barry Trots and that crew. Like this is what they do.

Kyle Palmary, you know, who still hadn't established himself after the trade deadline. Like one of my, I don't want to say criticisms, but concerns for any team that made a major move at the trade deadline was this year is so condensed. It takes guys in a regular year a long time to make the adjustment. So if you're giving up huge assets for a rental, I thought it was a bigger risk than ever this year. And Palmeri, you know, if they win the series because of those goals, you can say, okay, Lou Lamarillo, that was a great. trade. And I also, I'm going to have a Mia Koppel here, and I saw Dom do this with Sam Bennett, who Florida gave up to essentially two second round picks, picking a player to acquire, and he was great. Man, was I wrong about J.G. Pajot last year at the trade deadline? I hated that trade.

It was a lot. Just because they gave up so much for a guy that I'm looking at kind of aging curves and what you should expect from them. And then give him a huge contract. I think I literally gave them like a E or an F in the, you know, some sort of grade thing. And like, if you're if you're a contender and you're trading for guys that are good in the playoffs, that's exactly the guy you want in your team. That's part of the fun of this job. I know people. What, running down people's trade in?

No, no. No. No. Yeah, right. Is going back and having all the answers a year after they have. No, what, I mean. All we can do is pick these series and pick, you know, project player performance or pick winners or whatever.

All you can do is pick it based on the information at hand, right? Like, you want to be analytical about this. You want to use data. You want to use precedent. Like, that's all, that's all really important. And over the long run, like, it's going to work itself out. But not, but not everything works itself out. Like, like, we, we should, we should enjoy the outliers on, on this sort of stuff.

I think Dom in particular is really, really good at that because he's, because he's, he's got this, he's got this, these models that he's developed. He's got a lot of, he's got a lot of skin in the game, right? Like from, from his own reputation, you know, again, without, without going too far in the weeds. But whenever, whenever, whenever teams buck the trend or players buck the trend, you know, the caps are a great example. Dom's model does not, does not.

not like the caps, but he's not out there, you know, like rooting against them just to be proven, right? Being right 70% of the time is fine. You enjoy the outliers and enjoy the craziness, because if you could easily predict all this stuff, there wouldn't be any point in playing the games. Right, right. We are very excited to be joined by Ryan Miller, who retires with more wins than any other U.S. born goalie. That's a great intro for the rest of your life, Ryan, that I'm sure you will get. That's got to feel

okay. How are you? See how long it. I'm good. We'll see how long it lasts. We've got a fair amount of exceptional American born goalies climbing the ladder here right now. Do you know who's behind you? I'm curious. Now I'm going to Google this as you answer this.

Do you know how close anyone is behind you on that record? I mean, Quickey's got to be close. I'm not sure exactly, but he's got to be pretty close. He has to be. I'm looking up right now for the record. Are you, Sean? Yeah.

Okay, good. I'm glad somebody. We're doing that. On the fly research. Our prep is, oh, I didn't know we're going to go down right down this fast. So congratulations, Ryan. Like, has it all settled in yet? I'm sure this is what you're getting asked a lot.

But I'm always fascinated about that moment. You know, the announcement comes. I like how you did it. We got to enjoy, you know, it wasn't like. we were getting a press release from the PA in the middle of the summer. I thought it was well done. Is it sinking in? Yeah.

Yeah, definitely it's sunk in. That's kind of the idea of doing it with some season left for me and was to have some closure and be able to say goodbye. I'd talk to a lot of guys who had retired. And a common thing that kept coming up was, you know, they felt like there wasn't that closure, like that chance to say goodbye or even have any kind of fun with it. It was just kind of like, well, that just stopped.

And I didn't really want to do that if I could. You know, it was a COVID situation. And the abrupt stops the season the year prior. I was kind of concerned that's how everything that's going to kind of play out. And I was really happy that I got a chance to come back and play a season where I kind of knew. and I was still having fun coming to the rink, but I kind of knew this would probably be it, so I could have fun with it

and try and just check off a few more things on the boxes. And I was happy the fans could finally get back in in California, so my family could be a part of some of that stuff. And then my parents, obviously, were able to come to Minnesota. So it was just kind of nice to have, like, a few little things, say goodbye, and then I have this kind of, wrapped up, buttoned up, and I don't have to be thinking about it through the summer. I mean, it's saving me time. Did you think about announcing it any earlier than you did? Like,

was there, was there any strategy with, with, with, with, with, with particular time that you, that you, that, that you actually made the decision public? Well, I had in my head that I was probably done after the season and I wanted to enjoy the season. And then when it became apparent, we weren't going to have a chance to push or make a playoff push. I thought it was appropriate that I could say, hey, I'm going to retire and I'd like to say goodbye. And it was really our Sadrisham Maharaj, our goalie coach, Sudzy, and even Bob Murray, our GM, I had touched on it with them a little bit. And then their encouragement was, hey, you should announce it. Yeah. And they kind of pushed it a little bit. And I was just weighing that against

other people I was talking to and, of course, my wife and my family and everyone just like, you know, this seems like, you know, a good way to do it because you get to actually say goodbye and not a lot of people get a chance to do that. And it was a unique opportunity. And when it became apparent that I wouldn't be a big distraction to the club around a playoff situation, then obviously I was willing to, you know, willing to do that. If it was a different kind of situation, I definitely would have just kept it, you know, a little closer to the vest and and let things kind of play out. But I was glad to get the chance to say goodbye and, and hear from a lot of people who had been a big part of my career. And also, you know, I think that as the summer

plays out, this is going to be, you know, how I'm able to kind of acknowledge those people, be more personal because I'll have time and the ability to do that. Who did you hear from that you were maybe surprised or who was the coolest message you got and all that? I mean, I heard from tons and tons of former teammates and some coaches and general managers. And I mean, everyone, it was great to hear from everybody. And, you know, the Ducks even kind of gave me a little bit of a surprise in that when I was making my announcement, they had gathered a lot of people to do a personal video about my career. and some guys, you know, just offering congratulations.

And that was a little bit put me on the wrong foot for that announcement because I thought I was going to get a chance to speak. And they're like, well, you're going to listen to this video. And then you're going to talk. So I was kind of wrong footed on that one. I got a little bit emotional. And I thought that just seeing that and hearing from people over the next, you know, a couple weeks has been more than I could have hoped for because, like I said, it's the chance to say goodbye

that a lot of guys I talked to never had a chance to do. And a lot of them felt kind of bad about it in a way. I think they've all put it to bed. But even talking to my brother, Drew, you know, who played a long time in pro hockey, had a great NHL career. And, you know, he finished his career by going over to Europe. You know, he was even telling me, you know, he feels like he has more closure now because I did it in that way. Like, I'm done.

He's done. We went through this experience together. and he felt like that was helpful for him even. I had a couple other buddies, you know, say the same thing, guys I grew up with. I kind of joked. I just like, I didn't know I was the one kind of holding on for everybody else so we didn't have to admit we were getting older than. You're 55 ahead of quick, by the way.

It took me, it took me 15 minutes to find that. But yeah, so he's coming up behind you. And I mean, are you ready to kind of say. settle into that phase is like the elder statesman of American goalies because you're you're a model, I think, for guys coming up that maybe you didn't. I don't know if you had that when you were coming up. When you have guys, even like, even like Quicky, he's six years younger than you. I mean, you were the template for guys like him and him and in John Gibson and whatever. So it feels like you've started something that maybe wasn't rolling before you necessarily.

maybe in a way. I mean, but there's always guys I was looking towards, I mean, even going back to when I was just starting and, you know,

the Olympics were still in the amateur ranks. They were watching the guys represent the U.S. and, you know, I think like Dunham or like even like Ray LaBlanc and like just anybody who put the jersey on. It was like, whoa, they get to play in that tournament.

That's so cool. And I remember being at some hockey camp or tournament. I can't remember. but like trying to just tune into the radio to see how the hockey game was going in like 1992. You know, like, it's just like, so yeah, I think it's cool. I got to wear the jersey and I got to play a long time in the NHL. And I always just kind of thought, if one one game or one moment or part of my career has inspired somebody to carve out something for their own life.

I mean, that's pretty cool. Because I know a lot of, you know, a lot of doing things in life is actually just seeing somebody do it. Like, if you can see it, you can do it. And I had a lot of that influence through my cousins who came, even just my family and my grandfather paving the way to come to college in the 1950s, Michigan State, his brother being able to do. do it, my dad being able to do it after them, then my great-uncle's sons being able to do it,

and then play in the NHL, and then we got to watch them. It's just when you're able to have that connection and be able to see it and believe that it's possible, and things just become not easier, but it's just makes sense. It's not something so foreign. And I just always recognize that very early in my life that if my family members were doing it, I should pay attention because it's going to be helpful and just watching them train and watching them accomplish was really helpful. So I think that what you're seeing with Americans as far as, you know, even specializing in certain positions, you know, goaltenders, skill forward, skill defensemen, whatever, you're just seeing a lot more now.

I can actually say, okay, I can look to that and I can improve on that. I think that's what we're going to see. I'm happy that I was able to push the position as far as I could push it. And, you know, I'm pretty content and happy with what I was able to do because, you know, I was just enjoyed playing the game. But you're going to see you guys come in now, and they're going to push everything even further, and they're going to be, you know, much more highly tuned athletes. And they're going to be much better goaltenders, much better forwards, much better defensemen.

It's going to all start happening very quickly. I think in terms of having an impact where you see it the most is when you reach the audience outside the hockey world. And to me, like that the Olympic. the moment in Vancouver where it's no longer, you know, Ryan Miller, NHL goalie, it was Ryan Miller, you know, U.S. Olympian and superstar. Like, it just seemed like it was in a whole other place. And was there a moment for you in that run where you were like, oh, man, this is beyond anything I imagine in terms of your reach or your fame or your impact?

Not until that tournament had passed. Okay. Not until time it passed. I mean, we kind of knew. I mean, the funny part is, like, I mean, I just looked at it. Like, I grew up playing weekend or one-week tournaments as a kid. You know, you play college hockey. There's a challenge tournaments or small stretches within the season.

Even in juniors, we had all-star tournaments. We had when I was in the North America. hockey league was kind of a different setup. But we had North American League versus USHL Challenge Cup. We had USA hockey had a junior challenge cup where

we pooled the kids together, went to Lake Placet, played against like Sweden, Finland, maybe Russia, all around the same age group. We just didn't have the same setup they have now. And they would get creative at how to do things. And in all those tournaments. I just

you're so into that tournament and I just kind of approached it like that. Yeah. Like okay I got two weeks. I think I can get hot for two weeks. Let's see what happens. And you know we got close and it was you know

it was probably one of the better hockey games that you know we could have hoped to be a part of and you know it's it sucks to be on the other side of it but I think as a group, I still see the boys who are on that team. You know, we still feel pretty good about what we were able to do. We all have a little bit of that what if about it. But, you know, there's still enough pride there.

And there's a connection to that group of guys still whenever we see each other. So for me, that the answer to when it reached some other level, I remember somebody calling into CNN and posing as you. And I don't know if you even were aware that was happening at the time. No, we, yeah, we remember. It was like, MSNBC? Oh, was it MSNBC? Yeah, it was somebody that's not right, Miller.

That was, that was, that was me, actually. I had, I had, I had some free time and a really good idea, so. Yeah, that was pretty funny. We thought that was pretty funny, too. We heard about it. I just want to imagine that team getting together at like barbecues and stuff for the next, like four decades and talking about. it. So I'm glad to hear that there's, because it was such a moment of pride for this country and

it was awesome and whatever happened at the end, I forget. But I think that I'm glad to hear that you guys look at that back and say that was pretty incredible. Yeah, we have a certain respect for it. I think I, David Bacchison and we were on the golf course the other day. And I don't know, he just mentioned something about like he was checking on his house and or something of like, I don't know, something out came up just like, you know, what did you ever do with your silver medal?

And he's just like, oh, it's just, I got it in the safe. And I was like, yeah, I had mine a sock drawer for like eight years. It's just, it's,

and, you know, it's just something where we're all just that competitive, we're proud of what we were able to do. We acknowledge that it's not easy to, first of all, make an Olympic team. and then get through the tournament that year was exceptional.

And to come within a, you know, a breath, you know, if Staz could just hit the, hit the net, you know, maybe it's different. But I'm glad we know who to pin it on. Yeah. Yeah, no. I know. Just trying to have some fun. I don't think anybody really remembers Staz, you know,

just kissing the crossbar, shooting it back across the net or something. And so it's like that game was so close to go in any direction. And, you know, we still have, you know, as teammates, you know, we still feel good about, you know, how we represent ourselves. We have Paul Stasny on the call, actually. Here, here he is. Yeah, yeah. There was a point. I've actually, sadly, watched it many times.

I think Phil Kessel hit a post or so. There was another, there was an overtime over two that it was. Yeah, it ended up going a little bit more back and forth after overtime settled in. And it just kind of, you know, then they got away from us. All I remember is that went over Canada. That's what I, so I'm one of those guys that saves newspapers like a complete dork. And I bought the Vancouver newspaper that had like after you guys beat Canada and what was it, five two or whatever, like convincingly. And it was, I mean, they were, the headlines were amazing.

Like, whoa, Canada. And all like the, like, it was awesome. As an American to see that, them so upset was fun. So that's the game I remember. That was awesome. Yeah, I mean, we were serious about the way we prepared for that tournament. And they built the team to match up against who they projected the lineup to be in Canada. I mean, that was kind of the idea.

It's like our group, if we built it the right way and the guys played it their strengths. that, you know, that particular style team could maybe beat Canada at that tournament. And we did beat them the one time and then, you know, we pushed it to a point where we almost had the best chance possible. So, yeah, it was, it was kind of cool to see how USA hockey thought through all that and even just structure the narrative so that we had the freedom to kind of go figure out who we were during the early part of the tournament and then see if we could push for the gold medal. Before I get to the Michigan State portion of the conversation and lose Sean completely, I do want to talk a little about your future.

And I know you had mentioned during that call, you see yourself, and I think this is a great spot, you know, in a front office. Before I get to that, I do want to ask, you know, Chris Drury while playing with them and, like, how do you see him in that role? kind of came in a weird way or it was kind of a shocking move, but ultimately, you know, smart guy, how do you see him in that role? And what's, is that

the GM spot, is that the ultimate end game for you? Yeah, I mean, at some point I'd like to build the teams. I mean, that's what kind of interests me. It's all aspects of hockey. I think the preparation and the strategy and the execution altogether has always been about how I crafted my own game. That's why I kind of think I am in a

you know, if I want to use my hockey knowledge to try and make a living after this, it's probably more useful, you know, in the player development and management strategy kind of department. I think I feel comfortable coaching. I did it as a, I coached a lot as a teenager. And as a veteran player, you kind of do end up mentoring and coaching a lot. I mean, that's kind of a role I've been in the last four years, not even so much. so much for Gibby.

Like, maybe is just a natural and kind of just need to, you know, be his partner. But for other guys on the team, actually, I'm not strictly, you know, hamstrung to being a goalie kind of coach. Like, I think I see the game and I see situations. And I've been trying to convince my six-year-old son, you know, dad knows a little bit about goal scoring as well because I need to know about what every single guy in the NHL does well.

So I think I know how to help you become a better player no matter what you choose positionally. So I think that's where I can go hockey-wise. I think in the short term it's going to be a lot of family time and getting used to a different schedule. I don't think putting my family back into a hockey schedule

is going to be all that fair or the smart thing to do. I don't think I can handle it. So, you know, in the short term, it's going to be a lot more trying to find unique ways to stay close to the game by reaching out to like USA hockey and all set my conversations with, you know, other people I know in the game and seeing how I can kind of stay close, but not in the full-time capacity in the short term. and then I'd love to be tasked with a challenge of crafting, you know, a plan for a team or an organization at some point. And getting back around to Chris Dury. Yeah. Chris is one of the most competitive people you're going to meet in your life. I mean, in a different way, if you watch that documentary, the last dance with, like, Michael Jordan and the Bulls,

I mean I mean he it would be different than Michael Jordan but there'd be a lot of similarities it's just his competitive levels just even in practice like where he would take it with with things and then

in games as well like he was pretty clutch player and he demanded to have the opportunity to be in those situations and but he crafted it all in practice, you know, practice was, if there's a break in practice or there's a lull,

it was either him or Danny Breyer wanted to figure out how to do, you know, an angle breakaway, full breakaway, you know, like they had a play in mind. But it was a fun, and it was a fun situation. Like, it was a challenge. And, you know, he'd seek out the guys who wanted to be challenged. So I just see him as being very diligent in the job. And the fact that he's already got Mike Greer, his buddy with them is going to be great. You know, those guys together are a lot of fun, but they're also super competitive. And I think that any organization is always going to be top down.

And, you know, just the kind of attitude they bring to the rank and the kind of respect they command is going to be, you know, beneficial to the New York Rangers right off the hop. Did that competitiveness manifest its off the ice like Jordan too? Like were you guys betting on whose luggage came down on the carousel first or throwing nickels in the hallway? Like was it was it was it was it across the board like that?

I think there's some small stuff like that for sure. I can't remember for sure if there's any thing like that. But he's he always wanted to be pushing guys and he had he had fun with it. And I think that that was, you know, I think that's at the heart of everybody who's competitive and can make it in very difficult circumstances, you know, in pro sports and be successful. Everyone has a little bit of that edge. Chris just seemed to stand out a little bit. So I think it's really cool that he was patient. He went about it the right way and learned and crafted his style. And he waited for the opportunity that he wanted. And it's great to see that he

he's going to have that opportunity. I know fans in Buffalo were already clamoring for you to take a job there. My request to you would be to look hard at USA hockey. I think there's a huge need kind of in the leadership roles there. And this is not a, I mean, I'm not running people down that are there. I just think there's an opportunity. Like, there's more need for somebody, you know, that gets today's game that is in it, that understands things that's smart.

I just think that there's, it would be really cool fit there. Well, that's interesting. I haven't put much time into their structure. I do have some buddies who have kind of been moving up over the years and becoming a little more involved. Some of them have since moved on and to different organizations and some are kind of finding their way. But yeah, I mean, it's ever evolving with USA hockey. You know, the hockey world has gotten so much bigger now. There's a lot more job opportunities. So, yeah. It would be interesting to see kind of what is available and what really is, you know, their management style. My interest in that was kind of like they have those shorter opportunities where you don't have to commit a full. Right. Full-time job is like, okay, you got six or nine months leading up to one of the premier tournaments, like under 18s, World Juniors. You know, possibly in the future we have another World Cup. coming around. We have world championships. There are always things going on, but they are very

finite. They're not going to be long term. And that, for me, with just retiring, that kind of interests me. Yeah. And in the meantime, too, American TV networks are looking to staff up, too. is that, does that, does one of those jobs with ESPN or TNT or anybody, does that have any any kind of appeal to you to doing media work like that? Yeah, if they want some long-winded explanation, I'll take it. That'd be great. Yeah, I'm not the most concise interview, but if I am in a situation where doing more analysis and people are willing to listen, I'll stumble my way through some hockey talk. But yeah, I know, I'm curious about it because it's,

I think it's kind of insane that my entire career went by without us being on ESPN. I played 18 years of pro hockey. It's a crime. I know, it is because, I mean, I grew up with NHL tonight and looking forward to like Tuesdays. They could just get some highlights before, you know, the kids these days, you know, they don't know the pain of. Absolutely not. Having to wait. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, as far as ESPN in particular is concerned, I, you know, I, I think my stance on it is that it would do them well to kind of focus on the American viewer and kind of make it like tailor it to the United States about as much as they could. Yeah, I agree. And who better, honestly, like, who better, nobody has more bona fides than you when it comes to reaching a wide audience in the United States. I mean, we had someone, you know, we just said you were impersonated on MSNBC.

Like, my mom, my mom knows who you are. That counts for... Is that the litmus test? That counts for a gentilly. That is always... That's always the litmus test. Like, does my mom know who this person is? And she knows you.

So you should be on ESPN. It's that simple. Yeah. I mean, that's the power of the Atlantic movement. I mean, people pay attention. And that really is what, you know, you want in entertainment is somebody you recognize. And, yeah, I don't know. I think I'm interested, but I'd also.

So these are things like to hear what they have to say and what the requirements are and what the setup is going to be. I think that hockey can definitely benefit from a change as far as broadcast. I don't know how to word this the right way, but the production of it, just the way you're absorbing the information. I think that basketball, football, they've really figured out what their fans want to consume. I think hockey needs to be checked more into that direction. You really figure out what works for a hockey fan. Is there anything specific that you see on broadcasts or stuff that you'd like to see? Do you watch TV and say, like, man, I wish they would do this or that or focus on anything in particular?

I really haven't watched the analysis that much. I mean, I have games on a lot, but they're kind of background at that point. You know, if it's in between periods and I'm home or do anything, I'm trying to encourage my son to eat or do something else. If I'm really paying attention, maybe it's on the road and I am also spaced out doing something else in the hotel room, like crossword puzzle or getting caught up on work. or that needs to get done for our household to run. So I don't know. I think that definitely a little bit more fun is needed. I think, you know, when you look at, you know,

Shaquille O'Neal and like some of these guys, you know, the personalities I can't even match. I can't obviously match that personality and that presence. But I think it'd be great if hockey started thinking along those lines where it is all about talking about the game in a fun way, And there seems to be a response for a lot more banter and kind of like a lot more fun just in general and in the way people are consuming their entertainment. So I'd like to see it. Is there who on the 2010 team would make the best TV guy?

Like do you have a do you have an like this? Is it Bacchus? Well, I mean, we've already seen it. I mean, Witts is, you know, Ryan Whitney is. it's obviously a great entertainer. We knew that from him and Ryan Malone would just get everybody going. You know, most of it was just, you know,

most of the locker room was just letting wits get things going. And, you know, that caused a lot of fun and a lot of good memories. And, I mean, obviously he's become an entertainer completely in a new and different kind of way. I wonder if he would separate himself a little bit to try and do some of that. But I mean, pretty much without hesitating, you know, it's not hard to say his name.

Yeah. So. Well, Ryan, I know you've got to grab lunch. You've got all kinds of family things going on. So we'll let you get back at it. Enjoy that time. And I know your family's probably eager for it, but we're looking forward to you back in the mix. So thanks for doing this, man. And congratulations.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah. important to me and and I don't think I'll be a way too long. I want to keep myself involved and I just have to figure out the right way to do that. Yeah. In the meantime, I don't think anything will feel too different until we get to a training camp next year and then it'll occur to me that I haven't worked out enough. And then us, us, us neither for the rest of us. Yeah, join the rest of us. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks, Ryan. Take care.

Thanks for the chat. Yeah. All the best. See it. He was good, Sean. I, you know, he's funny because he's right. The media stuff was really interesting to me because he would be great. But he's also, he's a thoughtful analytical.

I mean, you just listen to him. We heard him. Like, I don't know if he does sound bites or if, you know, like, I don't know if you want to pop into him for 30 seconds. But I, he's, I want him somewhere. He's clearly smarter than both of us. I think that goes with saying. I was really trying to get him to endorse Phil Kessel as a media personality.

You did keep after it. I was wondering if you had an answer in mind there. You really were, you really like two or three follow-ups. Let's make it happen, baby. Five years we can slide Phil into the Barclay roll. It's going to be awesome. Oh my gosh. He did say he's interested.

I feel like we got a little news out of it. I was not expecting him to say that. I thought he was pretty much locked in on the front office route. So, hey, give him. Give him a call. He can't, he's, I'll take him over over Gretsky in that, in that space, that's for sure. I would. I would.

And no, that was great. Like, and I really believe USA hockey, and it doesn't sound like that's something he would want to do full time, but having somebody of his caliber at the executive level would be, I just, it's, I feel like it's been the same cast of characters there for a long time. There's a lot of people stuck in their ways and it would be really cool to get somebody from that generation. Is that, is that not something he could. slide into just immediately in whatever capacity he would want just being like the dean of

American gold tending like he could just you know run run that program for whatever six in those six months nine months chunks kind of that he was that he was talking about I'll take that a hundred times out of a hundred absolutely I keep coming back into this scene it Raleigh last night there was something there was something so great about that and I I know Civi Ceres Sivian posted, you know, video of the crowd at Hurricanes Predators last night. Unbelievable stuff. It's starting to feel like life on some level is returning back to normal. And we're seeing it each, seeing it each night, right?

We saw it in South Florida. We saw it in North Carolina. There's something special about having 9,000, 10,000, 15,000 people in these buildings. And there's something special specifically about the crowd noise, Craig? I don't know if you, I don't know if you were as taken by that last night as I was. I don't know if I forgot what 10,000 cheering people sound like. I don't know if it's just a difference between piped in crowd noise or all this stuff we've heard over the last, over the last year or so. But man, there's something special and great about hearing all those people.

Yeah, it was awesome. And the storm surge, like, you forget. that was the big thing last season and then they have to go in the bubble like this cool like was that last season or two seasons ago now i've lost track of the storm surge time has collapsed upon it's all my gosh i'm you know forgive me for not knowing the storm surge origins but i do know like it to see them do that for their home crowd in front of actual real human beings was awesome i i love that and um like i'm i'm leaving tomorrow to go to tampa to see a hockey game That will be my first live viewing of hockey with people in the building.

It'll be my first live viewing period because Max Baltman got our one credential at Little Caesars here in Detroit. Max. Max. I didn't want to stop on. Max, God. Oh, what a pain. Yeah, so I just, I can't wait. Like, it's going to, I've had all these steps back to normalcy, including, you know, a beer at the local pub the other day.

But that's the one I can't wait for. Game one, game one of Penn Islanders was still. It was still a pretty limited group. There were, I think, 5,000 people in the stands. And they were all really spread out. Tonight, game two, which I'm covering for us, the limit has jumped. I think we're back up over 10,000.

So, yeah. Wow. I couldn't help but watch the last couple, the last couple days of games and just get really excited for what's to come. Because it's a special scene, and it's something we've we've gone without for for for for too long. I wanted to, we talked a little bit about ESPN. I wanted to give a shout out to ESPN for hiring Leah Hextall who she will be doing play

by play for their national coverage. Like just a historic hire. I, you know, I worked with her a little bit in 2016 at the World Cup of Hockey. You know, you've seen her do the marathon college hockey games. Like just completely earned. She's been, she's been added, I think, 17 years and gets this opportunity for ESPN. I got to say, I was, there was like 20% of me that was concerned ESPN was just going to roll back. We're going to be like, all right, we got the thing back, and it's 1994, and hey, Gary Thor to be, bro, roos.

And there's going to be some of that because we all like nostalgia. But this was, I thought this was a great first, or not their first hire, but it's just a great hire for ESPN. It checks all the boxes, right? she's got she's she's she's fantastic at her job uh and it is and it's it's it's it's important from from a representation and and and diversity level to to have to have a woman in in that in that role it's it's it's it's it's it's fantastic there's there's nothing there's nothing not to like about it yeah it was like ryan miller was talking about something completely different but when he was saying hey you know when you see an american goalie as a kid growing up

You think, hey, I can be an American goal here. He saw his brother, you know, he saw relatives at Michigan State, you know, like, that's, you see something doing what you want to do. You can do it. And like, like, there's some things, you know, when I got into the business, like, there was some things that were just completely foreign to me. And I'm like, well, that's something I can't do. I've never, you know what I mean? And like, it's, it's awesome. And even, you know, it's great.

I love that. And a huge shout up to ESPN. It was, it was very important to see for you to see. men from Michigan succeeding in the hockey riding profession. Yes. Well, like for me, it was I came from a family of teachers. So like everybody, my parent, my brother's sister. So like people on TV doing sports or I would open up the newspaper and like,

and I'm reading, you know, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Like that was like another world. I'm like, well that, I don't do that stuff. Like nobody, you know, my family were teachers. And then, you know, then you go to school and maybe one of those people speaks to class. and you're like, hey, these are just normal people that are just decided to do this. Yeah.

Again, I'm not comparing it, but it's important. It is, it is. Like, I come from a family of Teamsters, right? Like, my grandpa and my uncle's delivered newspapers. They didn't actually write for them. So it was, it was a weird kind of adjustment for me to make, too. Yeah. All you can, you can't overestimate the importance of having, of having people to, to model yourself after.

I think Leah is just going to be such a great example of that, of that in action here soon. Awesome. All right. Well, before we wrap up the first ever Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, I do want to plug that another great American, Don Waddell, my first ever GM as a beatwriter of the Atlanta Thrasher's. Now, of course, the Carolina Hurricanes GM is going to join Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun. On Wednesday's edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, there's a Zhearts. the two-man advantage.

I'm also excited. Sticking with the... Oh, my God. Long live, the Southeast Division. The South... This is heavy Southeast Division. My guest this week on the full 60

is my old friend, Aaron Andrews, who I met when I was covering the thrash and she was working in the studio at Turner doing Braves and Thrashers coverage. This is the season finale of the full 60 because we're going to be doing this, and I only have so many podcasts in me. But also, we're shutting it down to run back a revamped new narrative style full 60 for next year.

It's going to be unbelievable. And it's going to take a long time to do all the interviews. I can't wait for that, for you guys to see the plan for that. But Thursday's edition of the full 60 is the last one, the season finale for this year. And Aaron Andrews was, it was great to catch up with her. It was, we had a lot of laughs. And it was really cool to get her perspective of her career. And also how much she still is involved in hockey.

She's great. And last thing, because you know we listen to your comments, the existence of this show is proof. You can leave a comment for this show in any athletic podcast on the athletic app. And we always appreciate if you can rate and subscribe to the athletic hockey show on Apple. Leave your review there,

especially if it's good because we do want your feedback. We want to know maybe we need a, maybe we need one more show. Actually, we've got one more show. We've got an idea for one that I want to tease a little bit for another day of the week. But leave your feedback. We appreciate it. We like it. We want to improve this every day and we can't do it without your input. So review on Apple, comment on the podcast or on the app. And if you're not a subscriber to the athletic, If you go to theathletic.com slash hockey show, you can get in for $3.99 a month. Can't beat that deal. Sean, this was so much fun.

It's like riding a bike with you. It's like riding a too-man bike. A tandem bicycle with a little bell on the front. That's exactly what this was like. No, this is great, man. It's going to be a highlight of my week moving forward. I couldn't be happier than the, couldn't be happier to do it than that. Thank you.