The Athletic Hockey Show - Stanley Cup Champion Nicolas Hague likes hanging with Stanley, Quenneville & Bowman scheduled to speak with Bettman and Erik Karlsson on the trade block

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Stanley Cup Champion Nicolas Hague of the Vegas Golden Knights stops by the roundtable with Rob Pizzo, Jesse Granger and Michael Russo to discuss the Knights magical season, the unforgettable Stanley Cup parade on the strip, partying in Montana at Owner Bill Foley's ranch and looking forward to bringing the Stanley Cup home to Kitchener Ontario later this summer.Rob, Jesse and Mike discuss the report involving Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville who are scheduled to speak with commissioner Gary Bettman in early July about being allowed to return to the NHL, Peter Laviolette's vow to give more on ice opportunities to Alex Lafreniere and Kapo Kakko, Flyers GM Daniel Briere's challenge to drastically change the Flyers, Erik Karlsson on the trade block in San Jose and an imminent extension for Sheldon Keefe in Toronto.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ NHLSHOW and get on your way to being your best selfSign up for a Chime Checking Account today to link your paycheck. It only takes two minutes and doesn’t affect your credit score. Get started at chime.com/nhlshowHead to factormeals.com/nhlshow and use code NHLSHOW50 to get 50% off your first boxFor 15% off MudWtr go to mudwtr.com/hockeyshow and use code HOCKEYSHOW to support the show and get a discount!Stay cool and dry all summer with Birddogs and get a FREE Yeti-style tumbler at birddogs.com/athletic use promo code ATHLETIC at checkout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Athletic Hockey Show, the Wednesday Roundtable Edition, which hopefully everybody has recovered a little bit from our Stanley Cup runs, whether you're a player or a reporter. It can be exhausting, one more than the other.

I'm Rob Pizzle from CBC Sports, joined as always by my line mates, Mike Russo in Minnesota, Jesse Granger in Vegas. First off, Mike, how are you, sir? I'm doing great. Can't wait to talk to our guest today. Our guess, yes, Nicholas Hague of the Stanley Cup winning. I have to throw that in there now.

I can't just say Vegas Golden Knights. Stanley Cup winning Vegas Golden Knights. And I don't know when you guys think it's official, but when there's a parade, a drunken, hilarious parade, to me, that's when they are officially the Stanley Cup champions. And our one and only Jesse Granger got to enjoy that parade. We have to start there, Jesse. I mean, I was following you obviously on Twitter, seeing what you're posting, read your people, on the athletic, but what was it like to actually to cover that? That had to be a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a lot of fun. I had never attended a championship parade.

When I was six years old, I think, I went to part of one for the Broncos when I was in Denver, but that's like, it wasn't even the championship parade. It was like the people just celebrating after the win like that night. So no, I've never put into a championship parade. It was incredible. I mean, the amount of people down there, especially in the Toshiba Plaza area in front of the arena where the rally was at the end was absolutely insane. The visuals of it were as good as I expected them to be in terms of going by the Bellagio fountains and all of that was pretty cool. And the best part about it was it took a while for them to get down the street because that allowed them to really take advantage of the adult beverages that they had on board. William Carlson, no, no one did it more than William Carlson. And his speech was, I'm ready to, I think it's one of the, I think it's one of the greatest

speeches ever given in human history. If we're going to, if we're going to limit it to just, we're going to limit it to just championship parades. It's definitely the best speech ever given in championship parade history. But I think even when you expand it to just words spoken by human beings in our existence, William Carlson's speech is right up there. I mean, it was incredible. One of the greatest moment in franchise history.

Yeah, I just loved how slow he spoke. He was so deliberate after falling down the stairs. You know, I don't know about you guys, but like when I go, like, I was thinking about this today because I was writing this story. I did the story on like Alex Ovechka and the Panthers trying to draft him at the 2003 draft. And I remember, I think about these like bars in Nashville. And I don't know about you guys. Like when I go to the like bars in Nashville, like, When I'm around a bunch of drunk people and I'm not drunk, it is extremely uncomfortable.

Like, you know what I mean? And so, like, the one thing I was wondering during this entire parade, Jesse, is that you had to write, so you were sober. Like, what was it like sort of being the sober guy watching just all this mayhem by the thousands around you? Yeah. I mean, I think it's different when you're, I agree with you if you're just like hanging out and you're sober and everyone's drunk.

It is kind of awkward, but because I'm working and like I fully expected everyone to be drunk, it was pretty normal. Yeah, it's a funny story about working, actually. I filed my story. Like, as soon as it ended, I ran over and I sat down on the sidewalk and with my back to T-Mobile arena, like leaned up against the arena so that I could get on the arena Wi-Fi with my laptop and types the story out. And as I'm typing the story out, like I'm writing like color about what the parades like

and everything that happened. As I'm doing that, the, like, it's kind of ending and everyone's filing out and people are just walking by me and like a few of them recognize me and these drunken people are just like, I'm, and they're just like, so I was getting color for the story, like literally sitting on the sidewalk as I was writing it. It was quite the experience. I will never forget the first championship parade I ever covered. It was, it was pretty awesome. They did it great. Like, I mean, like you expect, Vegas is over the top. The pregame ceremonies are over the top. So this had to be, they had fireworks. They had drones flying in the sky in the shape of the Stanley Cup.

It doesn't, that technology blows my mind. Like I know their drones, but I still can't fathom that they can program them to fly in that like perfect unison to make a Stanley Cup. And then a second later, they're in the shape of like 2023 Stanley Cup champions. It absolutely blows my mind that drone technology. It was pretty cool. every year there's a William Carlson first off but like if there is uh about Rushmore of that that's actually a piece one to you two should write just rank the top tense because there's always i mean Patrick Kane was good i remember court coffer two i don't know we always kind of judge

it by who swore the most but no like as soon as tarps are off they're slur in their words you're like this is going to be good and and that was good it wasn't even it wasn't even the curse words it was that he's like, he went all the way back to the first game in franchise his in game one, we played Arizona. And I had no points, but that's okay. Yeah, we kicked the shit out of them. Yeah, we kicked the shit out of them. I had no points, but that's okay because that first year, I was pretty effing great.

Yeah. Rob, by the way, I think you gave us a genius story idea for the athletic. I mean, that really is a genius story. Like top 10, like, NHL parade, you know, speeches. It'd be genius. The one I always remember too, Lindy Ruff, they had the parade even though they lost in Buffalo. And wherever he goes, I leave you guys with two words. No goal for the Brett Hall goal with the foot and the crease.

But yeah, parades are just man, oh man. I've only been to, I've never been to an NHL or a Stanley Cup parade because I've been the Toronto area and I'm not a thousand years old. I did go to the Raptors parade though, just just not as a reporter. Just as my wife convinced me, she's like, let's go. We had a baby at the time. I'm like, we're not going to lug this baby to the. And I'm so glad we did.

Even just, just that experience is just awesome. So even just like, Rob, like even just like world championships, like one of the ones that just popped in my head right away was when Finland won the world championship like 10 years ago. And the Miko Koevoo grabbed the president of the country and started dancing with her and then like just gave her the hugest kiss. And it was just the hilarious. Like it was just, I don't know, those are fun. One day, one day I'll get to cover the second round here in Minnesota. I'll tell you what that parade's like. And now they have a summer of celebration after that.

And it's, I now thank God for social media because this is when we get to see some real fun stuff. So I'm glad to get by the way. Our guest today went viral, by the way. Our guest today went viral. We'll have to talk to him about that. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. But we do have other stuff to get through, guys.

So we're going to go through this somewhat rapid fire style because we do, have a lot to go through. As always, Russo, I'm looking at you when I say that. We've talked a lot about Joe Quinville and as possible return behind a bench in the NHL. One of the things we know after that scandal with the Chicago Blackhawks and everything that came down, that he would need approval from Gary Bettman in the league before taking a new job.

And it looks as though meetings are set between those two in July. And I should mention that in clear. Bollman as well. I've asked you guys this a few times, guys, but now that we keep having steps move forward, we see Mike Babcock, you know, reentering that people who we weren't sure we're going to get jobs again. Your thoughts on these meetings taking place. Russo. Well, Mike Babcock, to me is a different story. Like, I'm just saying people we weren't sure we're going to come back here or not. No, no, absolutely. Like, to me, like Babcock is like a different story. Like he was just like, like he basically like the way coaches have been for eternity,

he just didn't adapt to this new way that you should act and conduct yourself. Quenville lost his way. He lost his scruples. This guy put winning a cup over over morality. And then to compound it, writes a like letter of recommendation for how good this, this, this slime ball was, the video coach there in Chicago. I just would be shocked if Gary Betman lets that slide. I understand why you've, you know, you're giving him his time. He's one of the greatest coaches in NHL history while you're going to let him sit in front of you, let Stan Bowman sit in front of you. But in terms of like Quenville, I just, I don't know. I don't know how that would be such a black eye and then taking this story that the league clearly wants to bury and making it a story again for months.

I just would be, I just would be surprised if the league, you know, kissed and made up with that. I agree with you, but also, like, you were there when, when Bettman spoke in Vegas and he was pressed on this issue pretty hard. And he seemed pretty open to it. Like, I, I thought that was a good chance for him to kind of take the side that you're taking. Like, okay, I'll let him. I'm going to hear him out. But at the same time, this was really bad. And I don't see a way into it.

But he didn't say that at all. I thought he had a chance to shut it down and he didn't. So that tells me that he's legitimately considering it. The only thing I'll say reading that and covering Betman for now 28 years is that he's lawyer first. And I think that he was just basically saying, like, I am not going to prejudge anything. You know, like, I think he always is thinking about the potential lawsuit that could come after if Joel Quinville accuses the league of essentially being, you know, blackballing him from the league

and keeping him from being employed. So that was the way that I read it. But we'll see. I could see, and we wouldn't never know if this actually happened. I could see Gary Betman saying, not yet, eventually, but not yet. You know what I mean? Like it's just too fresh for him just to say, come back. But again, that's something we would never know because we're not going to be a fly in that room.

So we'll have to wait and see. A couple things we need to get through. Let's start with the Rangers and Peter Lavillette. had his introductory press conference as the new head coach of the Rangers. And one question that people keep asking is two of their top draft picks over the last five years, Alexei Lafranier and Capo caco. He said, quote, you're talking about a couple of players who are coming off, I think they're best years, but they're still really young players.

There's growth that goes with that. You certainly would like to see them take the next step. More minutes, maybe a little higher up in the lineup, maybe more power play time. is there something that we could see Peter Lavellette doing with these two that we didn't see with his predecessors to put them, you know, where they should be for where they were drafted not so long ago. I mean, I don't want to call these kids busts. I don't want to say, but this is the point of your career where you're expecting them to get

over any kind of hump. Jesse, we'll start with you. Yeah, I mean, it's up to them to play better to earn those minutes. I don't think the coach should be putting them, okay, you're going to be on the top power play unit, even if you're not one of our four best forwards. The Rangers were pretty good last year. If you're a bad team that is not going anywhere that's trying to develop a young player, I think you're in the position to, okay, let's just like put some more on these guys' shoulders and let them grow into it. But the Rangers are a playoff team. They are hoping, they're expecting to be a playoff team this year.

To me, it's on the players to prove that they deserve more. time more higher up in the lineup playing with better players. And so far they haven't. So we'll see what they do. Yeah, you know, I do think a lot of this is on the organization. And we see this so, so often with teams that like to go out and spend big money and make big acquisitions is that they essentially block their kids out. So when you're, you know, obviously you have Crider and Zabinajad and all that. But when you're going out and signing Panarin to eight year deal or seven and eight year deals and acquiring Teresanko and Kane and Trocheck and some of these players, you just don't give that opportunity for the Gittles and the, the, the, the Lafraniers

to get that ice time. We saw that in Minnesota forever, where a lot of the young kids, the coils, the Zucker, Benito riders, they never really hit that peak, the Grandlands, because they were always being, you know, cut off from the Eric Stalls, the Coyvus, the Peresies, people like that. And I think that's a little bit of what's going on with the Rangers. So it's easy to say they, you got to give them more ice time, but Zibinajad's getting his, Crider's getting his, Panarin is getting his, you know, we'll see what happens with obviously Terranco, Keynes obviously not coming back, things like that. But these guys seem to be blocked out of a bit. So it's easy to say we're going to get a more ice time, but how do you go out and do it?

And I think that's part of the problem with these guys is that they're just not able to get that next step to be on the number one power play at times or top, top, top minutes. And, you know, we're seeing that right now again here with Minnesota. It's like Marco Rosi, everybody's like freaking out that he hasn't produced yet. Well, he started on this season playing fourth line, you know, getting like five minutes a game and no special teams. So it's like what, what do you expect them to do? And I think that's a little bit there. So, you know, I'll be interested to see how Lavie Lett deals with this. If he wants to get a more ice time, all the power to you, but I don't know if Panarin and Zabinajad and

Crider and these guys are going to be super happy now suddenly seeing their ice time trim back. All right, boys, from New York to the city of brotherly love, Danny Breyer, the new Philly GM, of course, already made that three-team deal with the Kings and the Blue Jackets, says he's ready to shake this team up. I've been hearing that with the Philadelphia Flyers for years, but, you know, according to a lot of reports, pretty much everyone is up for discussion. Names on the trade block, Kevin Hayes, Scott Lawton, I mean, DeAngelo, Carter Hart, even is, his name's been thrown out there. You guys are going to be at the draft. This is going to be a very interesting first draft for Danny Breyer to get himself in a room with a bunch of other GMs and see

what he's going to do. Jesse, what do you think? Are we going to see a very active Danny Breyer running around that room? Yeah, I mean, I think all indications are that it will. It's going to be fun to see what happens. I agree that there needs to be a shakeup. I agree that they can do themselves a lot of guy. I mean, they've already got two picks in the first round in this draft. I think they can probably get some more in the future first rounds if they want to move all these guys. The one that I would be cautious moving as Carter Hart. And it's like, he's 24, which for a goalie might as well be 18 years old. And I feel like if you were trying to rebuild a young team, like, that's the piece you want, right? Like a young goalie that can that can learn behind this team and you can build

around. He's going to be good for the next 10 years. Like I don't see the logic in trading Carter Hart. The rest of them, I can, I can wrap my head around. I can get it. I think you can get you some future assets to be better down the road. But I think Carter Hart should be the guy they're building around. But other than that, I like it. And I think that we started to see Hart kind of dig his way out of the quagmire this season, where the last two years, he was just absolutely got awful, where this year, you know, he was the least of their issues. I'll just be interested to see how he navigates this. I mean, they're obviously in a, they're clearly trying to, you know, tear this thing down to the studs. You know, that is extremely clear. Keith Jones, I did that story on him

last month he was super candid in the fact that that they're going to have the fans are going to have to be patient here that they are in a rebuild situation. Um, but they're going to have to get out of some contracts like they, you know, you know, we're putting Kevin Hayes really high on our trade board. Well, good luck with that. You know, I mean, who's taking them? I mean, maybe Columbus, but, uh, it's not going to be easy. It kind of reminds me of the trade deadline when everybody's like JVR, JVR, JVR, and they were unable to even trade them for like a mid to late round pick. Um, they've got some issues on that team and it's just going to take a. bit. Speaking of being really high on a trade board, but good luck moving that contract.

Eric Carlson. Carlson, his reps, the sharks, they all agree. We should try to trade you. And after 101 point season for a defenseman, that's usually, you know, where your, your, your, your value is very, very high. But he's got four years left at 11.5, guys. So this is going to take some some gymnastics as far as making this deal go. And he's got an old movement clause. too. So ultimately, he could ax anything that happens. Where are we going to see Eric Carlson next year? Is he just going to stay put? Yeah, I mean, that money is huge. That contract is huge. I'd like to lose 40 pounds. It just doesn't happen with a snap of the finger, right? I mean, it just, that's the way the world works. That contract is going to be an albatross here, despite the fact that he's a Norris contender

this season. They're going to obviously have to eat some money. There are teams, there's, I'm sure, teams that would line up to get them. to take on that contract is just massive. And so, you know, and look, he had an unbelievable bounce back year, but he has been erratic for many years. He was still a minus 1,000 this year, despite the fact he had 90-something points, which is pretty impressive. It reminds me of like OV back in the day when he would get 50, but me like be a minus 30-something.

You know, it's pretty hard to do. So I think it's, my gut says that he's still going to be on that team at the start of the year, but I'm wrong more often than I'm right. I'm with you. And I look back to the trade deadline. And to me, he was in the middle of this incredible season, this heater. And I feel like if there was going to be a team that was going to trade for Eric Carlson, it was at the trade deadline when you see like at that point, you realize if you're a contender

or not. The contending teams realize, okay, we have a legitimate chance. And you've got this defenseman who's probably only going to get worse as he gets older and that contract's going to get worse. but it might be worth it for this two months to win a Stanley Cup with a guy that is clearly one of the best defensemen in the league at the moment in this very moment in time. So to me, the trade deadline was a much more likely time for him to get traded. Now that everything is kind of settled, he's had his hundred point season, you look at it logically and you say, is he going to do this next year? Probably not.

So if you didn't want him in the middle of the hundred point season, who's going to trade for him now, now that you kind of take a step back. and you're like not in the moment anymore. I don't know. I feel like it's less likely gets traded now. We've been wondering what was going to happen in Leafland after Kyle Dubus was, well, parted ways. I love the way they still use that parted ways with the Toronto Maple Leaf. So it looks like Sheldon Keefe is going to be back.

The reports over the weekend that Keefe and their new general manager, Brad Trill Living, were interviewing new assistants because that that spot is open. We talked about this a couple times, guys, but your thoughts on Sheldon Keith back behind the bench. I kind of think once Dubis left, this was inevitable. This was what was going to happen. But that's just me. Bruce.

Yeah, I think, you know, because we're always picking up this team apart and how they haven't won a cup since 1967 and things. And, you know, we like forget all the things that they did achieve this year. And they were still one of the top four teams in the NHL. They still finally got past the first round. They were still a quality team. and he is a quality coach. And I, you know, I do sometimes, like part of me respected Barry Trott's that he went

into national and said, you know what? Eventually, I'm probably going to fire John Hines, so I might as well pull the plug now. But I also respect the fact that Brad Tree Living is not going to go in there and just make a blanket change just for the sake of doing that, you know, give him his shot. I think sometimes GMs do waste time like that when you know you're eventually going to make that move. But, but to me, you know, the Maple Leafs are still a very, very good team. and it looks like that a lot of that core is going to be back.

We'll see what happens. I think Nealander is the only real question mark, but it seems inevitable that Austin Matthews is about to sign big time money at potentially much more term than a lot of us thought. So let's see if Keith can run it back. We love to talk about how the Leafs haven't won in 60 years or whatever, but that has nothing to do with this coach and these players. Like this coach and these players have failed a couple times.

Stop bringing in logic into this conversation, Jesse. Come on. Like I just wrote the. story of like when the Golden Knights won the cup that night. I wrote about how this is how teams win cups in the NHL. Tampa Bay. They failed and failed and failed. And eventually, if you give yourself enough chances, the things fall all your way in the playoffs and you win. It happened for Colorado. They couldn't get out of the second round. This team is so talented. What's wrong with them? Should they fire Jared Bednar? They finally got through. Golden Knights have been right there so close

to it for six years. Things finally went their way. They won the Stanley Cup. To me, I'm not saying Toronto Maple Leafs are absolutely winning to Stanley Cup, but if they can just keep this core together and keep putting together really good seasons, eventually it happens. Eventually could be a very long time. Stick around after the break. Nicholas Hague, Stanley Cup champion,

going to be joining us on the athletic hockey show, so don't go anywhere. Well, guys, we've mentioned this a few times. The Golden Knights have always from day one done things their way, and that includes building a Stanley Cup championship team. They go out, they get the pieces they need. But they don't always look like a Stanley Cup champion

in the end. The Vegas Golden Knights had one player that they drafted on the ice during the playoffs. And that player is joining us now. Nicholas Hague, Stanley Cup champion, Nicholas Hague, I got to put, that's always going to be preceding your name from this point on. How good does that feel? Yeah, it's, you know what? I feel like it's just kind of started to sink in right now. We've, the last of this last week's kind of been a blur, like seeing a bunch of people, friends. My family was in town. We're obviously celebrating quite a bit. And now it's kind of, I feel like we can take a deep breath. And I'm looking back at pictures now and watching videos.

Just, it's, it's pretty cool. I feel like now it's like, wow, we actually did that. And now you can kind of enjoy it in a different way. Nick, we all saw the parade. I'm curious, like outside of the parade, what's been the most fun celebration you've had? So I don't know if you went up to Rock Creek with the guys to Foley's Ranch in Montana or what's been. Favorite part about the celebration since the night you guys won? Yeah, I could name a long list.

We've done a lot of cool things kind of in the past week here. To me, the dressing room, like right after the game was one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. And then we went to Montana, right? We love it up there. Our whole team loves it in Montana. So that was a nice little getaway. and obviously pretty cool, Bill, to set that up for us,

especially on such short notice and just make it all work so we could go up there. We were just out, you know, golfing. We just kind of, it's so chill up there. You hang out with you golf, you kind of do whatever you want. It's not really drive golf carts around and just, you know, hang out.

It's like all with the guys, and we had our families there. So that was pretty fun as well. And I think the parade was just a, parade's got to be up there for one. the coolest things that's uh that's happened like it like thinking about it now it's like we shut down the strip like it's like one of the coolest streets in the world um and we just went out there and and and that was really cool for me just see the turnout and all the all all our fans and uh everyone that just like was a part of it like it's it's so big for this entire city and to kind of see it all come together in that parade

it was that was a cool feeling we had a we had a lot of fun that day kind of celebrating with the entire It really is amazing how the NHL has taken over Vegas. I mean, the all-star games there, and they shut down the strip. They do all sorts of events on the Belagio Fountains and things like that. And from afar, watching that parade, Nick, I mean, there's a lot of players that went viral that day. Bruce Cassidy dancing. William Carlson, obviously, his speech and falling down the stairs.

But you went viral, too, with your incredible line. And I saw a clip from your defense partner. Zach Whitecloud on spitting chicklets where he said that his mom told him that your mom was essentially feeding you food all day that day just to keep you from basically really turning over. You know what? I saw that clip this morning as well. It's not exactly how it happened. It was more like I'm going to have to have a word with why do you both out. And that makes me seem like I couldn't handle myself and I it was more so

we went in in the morning and we did like a team photo with the cup or whatever and then and our like our family's with us all day so yes my mom is around all day but the the food thing didn't have it was after the parade and we went back into the rink and we were kind of just

took like a brief moment before going out on the stage and I went down to the family rooms kind of hanging out with everyone I sat down and talked to my dad And it was more just like, mom's like, hey, like, she should probably like eat something. Oh, you haven't eaten all day. Like, like, you know, and she went and grabbed me a plate full of food, like chicken tenders and, uh, and whatnot. So show was looking out for me.

That's the mama bear right there. That'll probably never stop. We talked about this in our first segment, Nick. Uh, there's always one. Uh, and this year, William Carlson was the one with that speech. Just, just one you're always going to remember. And then usually. it's the same guy, but we see

throughout the summer just that guy partying in ways that we didn't know was possible. Is it going to be, is it going to be Carlson or is there someone else that you've seen over the last week that you think, this guy's going to celebrate this Stanley Cup right up until training camp? Who's going to party the artist?

It won't be, it won't be, it won't be well. He's got a young boy at home now, so I'm sure he's probably trying to settle down a bit. There's a handful it could be. I might toss myself in that list. Like, we're going to, and it's not going to be an all summer thing.

Eventually, we're going to have to start training again. But I think for right now, it's been really cool to just, you know, a lot of the guys were kind of, like, no one, like, got out of town right away. So we've all been able to kind of hang out with each other all week. And we've had some fun nights. I feel like there's a new guy every night that kind of, you know, is the guy. But when I say it's been, like, this whole week has just been a dream. and we're enjoying every single second of it. And every time I see the cup, it's just like to see that thing and just like,

you know, be able to have it around all the time. It's like it really takes your breath away with that trophy. And so we've been enjoying it and just trying to, you know, spend as much time with each other and with Stanley as we can because, you know, we worked hard for it. And it's been fun to kind of share those moments with each other. You mentioned every time you see it, but like I remember talking to Jack Eichel on the ice right after you guys had won. And he mentioned when they bring it out of the tunnel.

Like you guys are kind of celebrating on the ice. Like it's so fresh. He mentioned the moment when they bring it out of that tunnel, how special that was. Like, do you remember the first time you saw it on the ice after you had just won? And like, what was that like? Yeah, it was, yeah. I mean, we all kind of huddled around there. And we're watching it get brought out.

I think the anticipation is just crazy, you know, and then Gary gives his speech and Stoney goes up there. There's a lot of cool for small minutes, I'd say, the first time you see it. And then it's, you know, when Stoney lifts it off the table, like that to me was like, you know, it's, that's like, it sends chills to your body. And then, and then I was, I was honestly a little bit nervous for like when it got past to me. Like, just like the buildup of it. Like, this is like that is like the moment that you dream about. right there is you know, get the cup and you just throw that thing over your head as high as you can.

I didn't want, like, toe pick, fall, like, you fall with it on, you know, like, all these things. So there's been a lot of cool first moments that we've, that we've shared. And that cup is just the first time I really had a chance to, we had to went over to Martinez's house, like, the next day after the game. Cup was just, like, kind of casually chilling there in the backyard. I like took a moment I just like kind of sat down on the grass with it and I'm just like reading like the history behind it and everything

and it was just cool to kind of be able to you know we're just like hanging out with this trophy all the time and I'm like reading like names on it you see like Wayne Gratzky on there all these players the list was on all the cool history behind it and the players that have won it and just kind of really

you know take a moment to like appreciate appreciate what what we were able to do there So absolutely cool. Nick, you know, as Rob mentioned at the very beginning, you're the only draft pick on this roster. And I ran into a couple of your amateur scouts during the Stanley Cup final. And they call you their pride and joy because of the obvious. How like obviously, you know, you have six players on the roster that were there at the very beginning from expansion. But you again are the only draft pick. Like how prideful is that for you that this organization that was just an infant. six years ago that you you get to this point and played such a huge impact on such an incredible team. Yeah, it's, it's very, it's very cool. I mean, I've, I've been around, you know, since day one, let's call it. Not actually, like, you know, playing all the Golden Knights, but just to be drafted and

then what are we six, seven years later now and to be able to be a part of the team that brings the first Stanley Cup to Vegas. It's really special for me. I think it's, you know, we've all worked so hard to get at this point. Like the draft, you can call it the beginning or whatever it is, but just to, you know, to be around here. And, you know, I've got to know a lot of those guys really well over the last seven years and playing with them and training camps and whatnot. You know, to be a part of that and to, you know, share with, you know, the group that we had in that room. and to just know that I was, you know, to be around since the start,

it's that special for me as well. I said it to a couple of guys. I go, I feel extremely lucky almost in a way. I'm just, you know, very grateful that it all kind of, you know, worked out the way it did. I mean, it's a draft, right? Like, I could go anywhere. I end up going to Vegas and then, you know, work to go back to junior work,

all this stuff, work to make the team, and then just, you know, get myself into a position where, you know, I can be a part of, you know, this team, this winning team. That to me is something that I'll never forget. Nick, last one before we let you go. When a player wins a Stanley Cup, we hear all about their hometown. Your hometown is Kitchener, Ontario. And you are a Stanley Cup champion.

Jamal Murray, hometown, Kitchener, Ontario. And he is an NBA champion. Kind of crazy. You've got to share the spotlight. but any plans on doing something with Jamal getting together with them? Because it's not very often that a city in Ontario has two champions in two different leagues. Yeah, it's pretty cool. First off, I'll say, you know, the support, I know that I felt, I'm sure Jamal feels the same way,

but the support from back home throughout it all was pretty cool. I was getting tagged and, you know, tweets or whatnot. People reach out all the time. So yeah, I mean, Kitcher, like it's two different sports, too, it's kind of crazy. It's, I don't actually know Jamal at all. I've never met him. We went to different high schools. And then we both kind of, I think we both, like, around grade 10 left Kitchener, right, to go to go elsewhere.

He went to go, you know, pursue basketball. And then I went, I moved away. I went to junior and all that. So I've never actually met him. I know we have, like, mutual friends, I know. but I haven't reached out to him, nor he to me. I think the mayor, I think, wants to try and plan something, you know, when we eventually do both get back there in the summer.

So, you know, it should be pretty cool. And I think it's exciting for Kitchener, too, right, to have two champions. And it'll be fun to go back home and kind of, you know, share it with the city a little bit. Maybe get keys to the city. You each get one on the same day. I got a text here from the mayor. I got to get back to him and see kind of what he's thinking. And then, yeah, we'll go from there.

But if we could do something, even if it's something quick, right, to get together and just kind of, you know, have some people come around. I think that'll be pretty cool. Well, thanks for taking the time out from speaking with the mayor of Kitchen, Ontario to speak to us. Congratulations. Keep enjoying it. No better place in the world to celebrate winning a Stanley. Cup than Las Vegas. We appreciate you taking the time, man. We'll talk to you soon. Yeah, thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Thanks. Nick.

Stan the Cup champion, Nicholas Hayek of the Vegas Golden Knights. Rapid Fire coming up after the break. All right, my favorite time of the show and yours, Rapid Fire. You got me and Jesse Russo had to take off and we're going to start with topic number one. Sean Monahan signing a very team friendly, one year deal with the HABs, $1.98 million, six goals, 17 points and 25 games last year with the HABS before you got hurt. Your thoughts on this deal, Jesse? Yeah, I mean, I think if he can stay healthy, it's a steal for the Canadians. He's obviously very productive when he's in the lineup. He hasn't been in the lineup a lot lately, but I think you can see why he's not getting a bunch of great offers because he's been hurt so often. But if he can stay healthy, this contract's going to look

phenomenal for them. We've talked a lot about the Buffalo Sabres throughout this year. Everyone is looking at them as a stock that's going to go up. Rapid Fire topic number two, Zegmus Gurgisons, a one-year contract extension with the Sabres, $2.5 million, 10 goals, 18 points, and 80 games for the Sabres last year. Thoughts on this one? Yeah, I think it's another kind of like the last one, a solid deal, a guy that is not one of their young up-and-coming stars that everyone talks about, but I think he's kind of a glue piece to this team and you need those guys. So, yeah, good deal. Topics that you love to discuss, goaltending. Topic number three, a goaltender, you're very familiar with.

Aiden Hill, according to Pierre LeBron, who spoke to his agent, Jerry Johansson, he said this, quote, we're obviously going to give it the big college tried to get him signed in Vegas. I think that's always the goal when a guy likes a spot.

We're keeping an eye on everything else too, but if we can make it work in Vegas, that would be the best thing, right? End quote. I don't trust anything an agent or GM says, but what do you think of this quote? Do we see Aidan Hill signing an extension of banks.

Yeah, it sounds a lot like what I've heard from Barbashev and basically all their UFAs. I mean, you win a Stanley Cup. Obviously, things are going well. Everybody'd like to come back, but they don't have the cap space to bring them all back. So they aren't all coming back. They probably all would like to. But I think more than anyone, Aden Hill probably sees that his best future path in the

NHL is with this team. Bruce Cassidy runs this goaltender-friendly system. We saw how it worked all year long. Every goalie that went in there had a great year. That's not to take away from how well Aden Hill played in that, but I'm pretty sure if he goes somewhere else, his stats are going to go down. How much that's up for debate. But I think that if you're Aden Hill and you want to continue playing your best version of yourself in the NHL, I think playing in Vegas is probably the best way to do it. And finally, rapid topic number four deals with the Canucks, Oliver Ekman-Larsen had the final four years of his contract bought out by the team.

making him a UFA as of July the 1st. He had $29 million left on that contract. I'm not a huge fan of buyouts. Never have been. But your thoughts on this one, and I don't know where we could see him. We've got to get scrapped away until July 1st. Right.

So the obvious is that it screws up the Canucks cap situation for a long time for eight years. The funny thing to me, though, so like here in Vegas, the coyotes have been catching strays, like Bruce Cassidy mentioned that you wouldn't have beat them in February if you play like that for no reason, just clapping on. William Carlson was ripping them in his

drunken parade speech. And then they're catching a stray in this buyout. The coyotes now have to pay this. They're retaining his salary for Edmund Larson. So they now, not that they're really trying to reach the salary cap ceiling, but you only have three, you can only retain three players' salaries at once. Like you only have three slots for that. And one of those three slots is now filled for the next eight years. for a decision that they had nothing to do with.

Like, they had no part in deciding whether or not to buy him out. So I just think it's funny that the coyotes are always catching strays. Those poor coyotes. This poor, poor coyotes. What do you got working on other than trying to recover from, you know, parade stuff? Yeah, got some free agency prep. We just talked about Aden Hill. He's obviously a big one.

Ivan Barbashev. We're getting ready for the draft in July 1st, the Golden Knights. Have most of their roster locked up going into next year, but they do have a couple key free agents that they're trying to keep of their own. So just writing some stories prepping for that, kind of what the situation is with the salary cap and what we can expect. And packing for Nashville, right? Get ready for that draft.

Yes, sir. Thanks, Jesse. We will talk to you next week when it will all be about the draft. I want to let everybody know. If you want to see our ugly mugs, subscribe to the athletics YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash the athletic hockey show. And of course, the athletic hockey show continues tomorrow with Ian Mendez and down goes brown.

Big thanks once again to Nicholas Hague for coming on. As I mentioned, next week, all draft all the time. So be sure to tune into that. Scott Wheeler will be coming on who knows more about all this stuff than all of us combined. So looking forward to that. For Russo and Granger, I'm Pizzo. We'll see you next week.