The Athletic Hockey Show - Stanley Cup Final Four is set, Carolina Hurricanes collapse and Doug Weight on John Tavares, Barry Trotz & the magic of MacKinnon vs McDavid

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

Craig and Sean return to preview the NHL's final four with matchups involving Edmonton facing Colorado and the New York Rangers taking on the two time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.The boys welcome US Hockey Hall of Famer Doug Weight who has been working with NHL Network as a studio analyst. We discuss Barry Trotz being fired by Lou Lamoriello on Long Island, Julien BriseBois has the Midas touch in Tampa Bay, stories about the Tkachuk family, John Tavares and the Maple Leafs and who Doug likes in the Stanley Cup Final Four.Plus the guys talk about the face plant by the Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs, a goaltending duel between Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Eastern final and Nathan vs Connor in the Western Final. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, happy Tuesday, final four in the NHL playoffs. I've got Sean Gentilly, live from Calgary. You don't know where I am. Do you not like what I mentioned where you are? Is that make you uncomfortable? We can edit all that out. You want an address? The address, like, whatever you want.

Just docks me. Okay. You want my social security number, bro? I'll give it to you. Wow. I don't care. Get a lot of bad student debt. Do you?

Bad student loans, yeah. I thought we wiped all that out. Didn't we agree to do that? That's a country. We could talk about that after the show. Okay. This is, of course, the American edition of the athletic hockey show where we only talk about the American players, American teams, never once mentioning Canada unless we're

referencing where Sean is randomly. Also, the most important thing about today's show is we have a great all-timer in the American hockey, USA hockey legend. Doug Waite to talk playoff hockey, talk some Oilers. Hopefully, you know, we'll talk to him about, he's maybe could give some insight into what very Trots is going through. Lots to talk to Doug Wade about. We can even bring up the Kachucks. He knows that family well. You know, we can't go an episode without talking about the Kachks is in the bylaws.

Everybody is two degrees removed maximum from not just not just the Kachucks but I think being on the family tree in one way or another. Oh, yeah. Like the, I mean, the Fitzgeralds are like on the first branch. That's what I'm saying. There's Fitzgeralds and hazes and. Oh, that might be a good. Like, can, like, it's the, uh, it's, what's the seven degrees of like, how quickly can you

tie yourself into the Kichuk family tree? I bet you a Doug way could. At the minimum, he has some story, like, about babysitting Brady when Keith was going out to get beer or something. Like, there's some story that we can dig up. But, Sean, let's start with the final four. It's been good as Down Goes Brown wrote, it's been a good playoff. It's been fun. We can't even, like, complain about scheduling.

We have four teams. We have four teams with, like, exciting players. We're not even sitting here going. No, no McDavid, no, I mean, there's no Matthews, but that's fine. Like, we have, we have like superstars on D and goal up front. Like, it's exciting. I said that I wrote it last night in a little blurb for the, for our staff third round predictions, because everybody, of course, is still predicting.

I don't know if it's literally everybody, but it's close. Everybody's still predicting Tampa versus Colorado. Yes. So the question from Jake, one of our, one of our NHL editors was like, if that happens, would it be an all-timer? Colorado versus Tampa. And like, on paper, like, sure, why not? But I think the overall, one of the through lines for me is that we can't go wrong with the cup final match up here. I don't think for it.

Like, yes, everybody would love to see Colorado, Tampa, because it's. you know, mini dynasty slash actual dynasty, right, versus the up and coming team sort of that finally broke through and star power would be unbelievable. Like there's plenty of reasons to love Colorado versus Tampa. It's built mainly around the quality of those two teams. But everything else, like pick one out of the hat, pick one in a lot. Would anybody be upset if we got Rangers oilers here? No.

Of course not. No. And that's the benefit. That's the benefit of having Connor McDavid involved too. Because you can throw him against whoever and it's going to be compelling TV. So, yeah, we, you know, Colorado Tampa is an all-timer. Who knows? Let's, maybe we'll see.

But I'm happier just that there's no duds because those do exist. We've all lived, we've all lived through it, whether it's been the actual matchup. up that's taking place. Yes. Or the one that's on paper in the finals where you're like, oh, boy, I hope that doesn't happen. Yeah, if this team sneaks through, it's going to be a disaster for ratings or whatever. Ratings or or content in general. Yeah.

Like, we've all, we've all had those, right, where you cross your fingers and hope that for work-related purposes that Team X doesn't sneak through. But that's not where we're at this time at least. So, I mean, we're going to have a lot of time to talk. about these teams. I do want to see if you wanted to bury Carolina any further. We, you know, we watched a game last night and not a great performance in a game seven at home by the Carolina Hurricanes. What are we supposed to do with this team now, Carolina? I mean, how many times did you and I say it alone? I feel like it came up several times where it's like

this is their last bite at the apple before people start asking real questions about, you know, what comes next for them, I think. Like, they're, they're in that phase of their development now where it's not quite analogous to, you know, the abs maybe coming into this season, but at a certain point, and this happened with every team, at a certain point, teams like what, teams like Carolina or whoever else, they stop being fun. They stopped being scrappy. The narrative shifts to can they actually get this done.

And I think the way that series went, and all credit to Igor Shisterkin and whatever else, right? Like, he's the Trump cart. He's, you know, the equalizer. So there's no shame in failing to beat him. But they also just, they also just blew the series just because the way it shook out, right? 2-0 leads are too like I'm sorry I don't care if you're playing Igor Shisterkin or or Gump Worsley or Patrick Waugh or whoever else

pick pick some goalie from the past if you were up to O and somebody you should beat them and they did yep so what are you doing are you what's what's your gut reaction that needs to be done in Carolina it's not the coach like we like the coach it's I mean obviously goal tending was has been a bit of an issue there. I guess. I don't know if I really want to crush Antironta for the way he played down the stretch. He was, he was, he was really good. He's why they beat Boston. Like he he more than anything else is the reason they beat the Boston Bruins. And you look at the

way they lost those games down the stretch. And I'm, and I know I was having fun on the on Twitter with this because I said this during the course of the regular season. I raised the question very, very gently in... I didn't... I guess I didn't realize, so this is the backstory. Like, Carolina fans have been writing Sean because he mentioned somewhere along the litway in power rankings, whatever, that he questioned Carolina's depth and that became a bit of a thing.

I don't think I'd ever seen... I just took it... I never saw the actual text until you tweeted it out yesterday. It couldn't have been a more, like, tepid... Measureed? It's... It's... It's...

Almost bad writing. It was like, hey, folks, look, maybe this isn't an issue at all. I'm willing to concede I'm wrong here. I just want to slightly raise the possibility that perhaps maybe it was so couched. And you were like, oh, I thought you were like railing on them based on the response. No, no. And Siv did me dirty on that one because she published an overnight column where she made fun of me and Dom in the lead. As one does.

Well, what are you going to do? those are the breaks of the game I suppose but I mean people were pissed in the comments going into that it was a thing where it was like we published on a Friday they had a good game on a Saturday or they scored you know where it was a Saturday night and they scored five goals or something so it turned into this like people were mad and it is it is so funny going back and reading this

I said here's the actual tax actually I was trying to figure out why I'm slightly slightly I set it off with M-dashes and everything. Exclamation point. Slightly cold on the hurricanes and I think it comes down to scoring depth. Everyone loves Ajo, Teravanan and Svetrakov, but they probably need a bit more consistent help if they want to make a true run. I mean, pretty prescient, Sean.

Yeah, but like how many more adjectives can I throw in there, honestly? Did you say slightly twice? I emphasize slightly deliberately. Yeah. A bit more. Consistent help, true run. Those are three just like weasel word, like gutless kind of ways to couch it. And I wish I would have, my only regret in all this is that I wish I would have come out harder.

I wish I said, these guys are going down unless they can find another consistent scoring threat. I was already proven right because they went out and traded for Max Domi, who comes through in game seven against Boston. If they don't go out and get Max Domi, they're home in the first round. And then they score six times and four losses. And that Max Domi trade came late in the deadline. That was like an afterthought. Nobody was saying, well, Carolina did it.

It should have been. Like, who really cares about Max Domi? But like, he's why they got out of the first round. And now you're looking at them and they lose four games where they score six. six goals total in the four losses. I don't care. I don't care if it's Igor Shisterkin. Like it was a concern.

It should have been a concern. I should have been harder in my original take. And if anybody out there who's a Keynes fan who was crying in the comments and annoying me on Twitter for the last six months, if you guys want to apologize, you know where to find me. And that, of course, is Calgary. Maybe. Or maybe not.

There's no way to say where I am right now. Go ahead. You know I am actually? I'm at Pierce Cottage. Of course you are. Of course you are. Yep. Because it's a cottage season.

It's open early. It's not early. It opened a Queen Victoria Day or whatever that was last week. Yeah. Let's talk about the Rangers because I did, I enjoyed like whatever Dom's tweet about them going 14 and 1 against backup goalies or whatever. not wrong but you know Shisterkin finding his way

has been you know they're good I want to be the first person to congratulate you on Chris Kreider playing in an Eastern Conference final Chris Crider my younger brother your little bro made to the Eastern Conference final he I mean you've been talking about the season he's had

and how underappreciated somehow in New York you know somebody putting up a monster season has been, Criter had a great year and then just shows up in the biggest way in game seven. That second goal,

I mean, just, it was amazing. It wasn't like a tip. I mean, not that any goals are easier than that. Like, this is a guy that just like pounced on a moment

and just ice to win, you know. And if you wanted to feel old, all the stats that came up after about like how many career playoff goals he has in game seven goals. Those are horrifying, horrifying. Horrifying.

Because we were both on the series when they brought him up. Yeah. That was against the devils maybe. I feel like it doesn't matter, but doesn't matter. I remember both of both of us were there. That looks like Chris Kreider, the grand old man of Metro Division hockey. Like, Jesus Christ. I mean, yeah, this is another another dub for me, honestly.

I'm on a winning streak here. Crider, Keynes go down. I would read at this point a 10,000 word story on Jacob Trupa. He has become such an interesting person. He's always kind of been on the periphery of the news, the trade requests, and, you know, always up to something, then disappears for a while after settling in New York. And now he's become, if they continue this run, he's already, like, hated in Pittsburgh, disliked in Carolina. if this continues into a Stanley Cup final run, he's going to become the game's biggest villain.

If it's not already. It's, it is, it's wild. It's not his fault. Like, I, to an extent, I think the anger there is that he's, you know, involved with all these borderline hits, not getting punished really for any of them. Yeah.

Which is, that's a problem of the system and not the player. Like, if you're, if this stuff continually happens and you're not actually, and you're not actually dinged for it, then can you blame, I think that's the interesting question. Like, can you blame the individual player when the systematic stuff doesn't actually, doesn't actually, you know, punish them for anything like this? No, what's motivating him to change anything?

Nothing. There's no, there's no reason. It's working. It's working. It's been great. It's been great for what, what happened yesterday? It worked. Um, so now we go from them playing backups to them playing the best goalie of the last decade,

or what we want to call Andre Bazalowski, who is, is, you know, riding some ridiculous shutout streak. The, like, after the set, it's something happened to him at the second intermission of game six against Toronto. Yeah. That's like when, that's when the light ball went off. And now he's at 970 in his last in his last half. He just decided I'm not losing. Never mind, actually. You guys, you guys, you guys had your chance to Toronto and that was, and that was that.

So best goalie of the last decade versus the best goalie of this season, it's, I love this. Like now, not that we don't find anything about the Rangers, but now we find out about the Rangers. Yeah, man. Louis Doming ain't walking through that door. This is, this is a different situation. I think we'll see how all those all those intermittent issues that have cropped up for them, like the streaky five-on-five stuff, whatever, getting out shot in most games, that flies when you're going against an HL guy, right?

And I guess it worked down the stretch against Ranta, but this is a horse of a different color. So yeah, and that's, and that's, and that's storyline one for that series. right? Is Vaselowski versus Shastirkin? Like that's the no doubt lockdown. If you wanted to give somebody one reason to watch that series, you're like these are the two, these are two of the most interesting,

you know, effective goal is on Earth right now. It's been fun. And every playoff run, a player emerges that everyone falls in love with. I feel like Ryan Lingren has become that guy with the right, like watching him blocks. There was a moment in that game yesterday. Ray Ferraro goes, no one gave Ryan a memo.

They were up four goals or whatever. You know, just out to just laying out. I'm just glad. I'm just glad he didn't end up. He didn't end up believing the game again. There was that stretch in the Pittsburgh series where it was like, I feel like, it was every other game. It's like, oh, Lingren's gone to the, gone to the dressing room.

We got hit in the face with another park. It was like, it was a, it was a black night situation where it's like, oh, it's just a, it's just a flesh wound. The arms falling off. the legs falling off. Yeah, I mean, it's, he's, he's, that's, that's why we watch, I think, in a lot of ways. We don't need to, we, we don't need to obsess over how good Ryan Lindgren has played or, or, or not played. The fact that he's in there at all and having this happened to him continually and, in putting himself in harm's way is, that's why that's, that's, that's the fun. Um, all right, let's take a quick break and get to Doug wait,

excited to talk to him. There's a ton to have to chat about here. Um, We will be right back. We are now thrilled to be joined by Doug Waite, who's now doing work with the NHL Network, but of course you know him as an American legend in hockey, which is why he always has an open invite on the show. Doug, first of all, thanks for doing this. Oh, my pleasure, man.

Love to talk to hockey. Yeah, we're excited. Like, it's such a fun time of year. And we were just talking about how, like, these four teams that are remaining, like we were just saying you could pull up, out of a hat and there's not a cup final you wouldn't be excited about. That's not always the case. There's reasons to be excited about all of it. And so let's just start there. When you look at these

four teams, which one are you like, man, I'm glad this team is getting this opportunity or you're excited to watch how they perform on this stage? Actually, all four. I mean, you hit it on the head. Obviously, coming out of the west, you know, it's either Nathan or Connor. Yeah. Two stars that really kind of a changed our game, evolved their game, and speed, power, and Conner's really taking it to a new level on all aspects of the few people that said maybe the McKinnon, you'd start a team with McKinnon before him, I think, have to be changing back a little bit because Conner's playing physical, he's playing all, you know, the whole 200 feet, he's working and he's really leading

his team as well as Nathan is doing the same. But storylines of Mike Smith or Kemper, I mean, the defense like you, I peeked in and you guys were talking about kale. He's doing a lot of things on D that haven't been seen, you know, with his skating ability. Although our boy, Adam Fox on the other side's looking at 18 or 19 points, he's doing some incredible things as well. And on the East, I mean, you guys were talking about the fact that we got a team that's won 10 straight series in this day and age. and I don't think I give them a lot of credit I think Coop's a great coach

I think their group is nails every time they need a big effort obviously Bassie is nails in the crease but they just know how to step up at the big times and it's been incredible

over you know you win a cup without Steven Stamcoast and now you're sweeping the Florida Panthers 120 point team without grade point just doesn't make sense and when do they get tired so

you know, you don't talk enough about it. There is a caveat in that as far as on the on the management side. And it's an incredible advantage they've taken care of is the state tax. And I think it's worth talking about when you got guys making 8-5, which is like 11. And you got guys in Toronto that make 11, which is like 10. And it's tough. It's tough to compete, especially when you're, you know, COVID has kind of capped us a bit for a few years. in a moment where

three years back, management's making moves thinking we're going to lift six, seven, eight percent. And it doesn't happen. But all great stories. And, you know, it's tough to see Carolina go down. My boys, but they just ran out of gas. I felt like they were a little flat in actually both series.

And they just ran out of gas. They had some injuries and just couldn't do it. Yeah, we're there, I mean, we can talk, of course, we can talk about the hurricanes. Were there red flags in that series against Boston? Like, I don't, I wasn't sure how I felt about them coming out of that one, like, like personally, but it felt something felt off with the way they were playing there. It's strange.

It's strange. And, you know, you talk about stats and everything else are more of a field guy, but they did have 25 roadwinds on the year. And they were a joy to watch fast. I did feel a little I waived a little bit going in because of the amount of penalties they took I didn't understand it for that team, a team that skates that well that really defends well.

I think they were them and the Rangers with a one and two goals against. I mean, it doesn't kind of make sense. Usually if you have a bigger, slower D or you have a slower set of forward, you're going to take a lot of hook and penalties. You're going to get a lot of, or if you're a big brute. and they're neither. So that was something that worried me.

They always had a great P.K., but it's about timely goals in the playoffs. And it did worry me the way they played on the road in Boston. It was just almost, it was just flat, you know? So, yeah, I was worried going into the series, and I think I picked Carolina last night. I just thought, 7-0 at home, get one early. I did think it was imperative that they scored first.

and all I said before the game was they got to score first and you can't don't take any penalties in the first 10 minutes just don't whatever you do. The one thing you don't want to do. I mean, pretty good, pretty good picked by me. I mean, whatever. You were right in one way.

You said, okay, they definitely can't do this. You mentioned how Connor has transformed the game and I would love to get your perspective, you know, as a player and a coach that, and I don't even know how to even describe Connor McDavid. It's been done every which way, but is there anything you see in his game that you're like, I've never seen anybody else do that?

Yeah, I think, you know, and I'll put myself in the same sentence only as an example. But I wasn't the fastest, I wasn't the fleetest of foot. I had good edges I could cut back, but when I had the fuck, it just did not slow me down so I could maybe look a little faster

or be a little faster with the fuck. I think 90% of the athletes are, the fuck slows you down. And yet I still wasn't fast, but I was able to maybe sneak up on people. Connor, I believe, is the only person in the world

that actually gets faster. I think his heartpeak gets so excited and he gets that puck on a stick. I honestly think he's faster. If you gave him that fastest skater at the All-Star game and gave him a fuck, he'd probably be a second faster. And it's incredible.

The things he can do at high speed, not only with his stick and his feet, cutting back, you know, the movie made when the puck came off the wall and he threw it through his legs against Calgary and he ended up giving the backhand pass across the cane for that goal. He's doing that at Mach 1 and it's just incredible, but he also has the astute ability to be one of the greatest passers in vision. and like he sees everybody, and he almost does two more cutbacks to set up more room for his player. You know, Brian Leach, I played with him in New York when I was young, and he always used to say,

it's not about who could, the greatest pastors aren't the guys that can sauce it through a stick or do that? They just give people the puck in a great spot and they create room for everybody and they know where they want it to be most comfortable. Not everybody's as good as Connor. Yeah.

So he wants to make them as, he's always thinking like that. I see him looking, you know, he probably doesn't even realize it, because he sees the game that way, but he creates so much for so many people. There's really nobody is valuable. I've seen in my time, you know,

since Wayne and Mario, you know, Bobby changed the game, Mr. Orr, but really it's just incredible watching him, and I won't miss a shift. I love watching. How is his speed different than Nathan McKinnons? Because it does seem like they're both, like, incredibly fast, skaters, but Nathan, it seems

like there's just a difference to it when you watch. They're different vehicles. I think when Nathan's pushing off, I think every time I'm watching him accelerate, I think they're going to have to fix the ice behind him and he's going to pull a groin because he's

just so powerful. So strong. Just like, yes. And it's still, it's crazy because it's not as smooth, but it's smooth. Because it's so powerful. And Connor is just like, geez, he's just on top of the ice. Yeah.

You know, it's definitely a different look, but a lot of the same results for the D-Men. Right. Right. I wanted to touch on something you mentioned about Tampa, because, you know, whenever we talk about dynasty and the potential of them being a dynasty, we do, it always has a caveat of, yeah, they're a dynasty in the Kappa era. and there are a lot of factors that go into that. And you mentioned, you know, you do get players at a discount. I think probably, you know, it was Stamcoast, it was Hedman, that capped essentially what, you know, there was kind of this internal cap on some level when, hey, these guys are willing to do it. You know, Braden.

Yeah, Braden point. And then, you know, I think that comes in other forms with, with how Julian Breezebois has built that team or acquired players. And it's so clear cap is at the outset of every acquisition, right? It's getting these young players on the cheap and paying a premium, starting with the Goodrow deal that you really saw it there. I think it's changed the way teams think about building teams on some level or have to in the cap era. I 100% agree. And let me step back because I kind of came off. I don't, it's what they're doing is incredible.

Yeah. From their organization, for the people they've drafted from when Steve was there to what Julian's doing now is awesome. You lose one of your most important lines, and you lose all three guys, and they go out and you find, you plucked Corey Perry, you re-sign Maroon, you go get Hagel, you get everything they do and just formulates. And you got to give the coaching staff and the team, the leaders credit as well, because you guys are in Toronto. Like, you got to, you got to formulate a team and you've got to be able to bring people with you. And they do that. So everyone deserves credit. Julian deserves credit.

I'm not trying to take away from what they're achieving at all. But it is a, it's an issue. Yeah. When you're talking, you know, it's not a luxury tax option. It's not a, like, you have an $80 million payroll. And if you're getting an extra 25, I mean, it's a big percentage. And it's a stars driven league as far as payment. And they've done a great job of getting guys to come in, you know,

know, a million bucks, eight-fitties, they've done that, and they drafted well. You homegrown, you know, Anthony Sorrelli and just had men, so many guys. So I can't take any credit away, and I didn't mean to. I just do think it's an issue that's never mentioned. And to me, you know, being on both sides of the playing and then in management and coaching, it becomes, you know, when you're talking to John Tiberius, you're talking to Matthew Barzell or you're talking to these guys and trying to get deals done and you look over and oh, there he goes.

Stamp Coast just had 52 goals and he signed for $8 million. Great. You got a guy that's got 25 and he's going to get $8.5. Like, whatever the example. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard to swallow sometimes. Was that, so, I mean, you mentioned Tavares and you mentioned Barzell, like, was that, you were around, especially for the, for the Tavares saga, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, was that, was that a top of mind? thing for you guys back then, like the tax, the tax and the things? No, I don't think so. I was using that more as an example. I think just because those were the players that I was around, you know, I think it just, they've done a great job at taking advantage of it. Yeah. So that's all I'm saying.

And why wouldn't you? Look, you got, you got long arms going to the hoop. Like, why would you sit there and. do it. Like sticking with Tavares, he's become a bit of a, you know, as everyone dissects the Leafs in Toronto, you know him well, you see how, like, where his game is at now. There's people that are essentially saying that, like, that we're at a point now where that signing has become a disadvantage for the Leafs on some level. Where, like, where is his game at when you watch him now and, like, what does the future hold for him as part of that in terms of his contributions?

Well, so what are we talking? We're talking about a guy that, I mean, I'm guessing I think it was around 75 points, right? Three goals, three assists in seven playoff games, right where he should be in the order, you know, two behind Matthews. He's a good leader. He's respected in that room, and he's a hell of a player. They've got him in good spots as a second-line center. I think it's perfect because he's playing behind one of the, you know, a 60-goal score.

and a luxury of having a real complete guy with a great stick and I think he's going to have a great defensive mind and can win the selfie as well. I think he's that good, Austin. But John is very capable. He'll score you at 25 to 35. And he leads. And he's in the right spot in the power play. He still makes some dynamic moves.

I watched him cut back three times in the playoffs and set up. I forget who it was in the slot. for a nice goal. Whether it was Riley, I forget to play. But, I mean, he's a dynamic player still. Yes, they knew that when they signed him. And it's a chance you take. I'm sure Kyle and Brendan are thinking we might have a cup by now.

And everybody would be pretty okay with paying John Tavares $11 million. You know what I mean? So I don't, I don't, of course, people overreact. That's what they do, you know, north of the border. I played there a long time. But that's because they love the game and they love their team. I get it. But I think John's plenty capable of carrying his weight.

And he's a great player. He's a great hockey player. He's a great kid. He's great in that room. And he didn't hurt that hockey club this year. Yes, there's differences in his game than it was five years ago. He was never a great skater. He made himself a great skater.

Yeah. He committed. And he still moves well. Like, he's fine. There's games where you're not going to be as fresh as you get a little older and you get dung up. but I believe in the kid and I don't think we talked about Toronto last night. I don't think they got to blow anything up. I thought it was a different team.

I witnessed in the playoffs this year and they lost to a team that hasn't lost two and a half seasons in the playoffs. So in seven games at home, at home ice. So a lot of things you can point your finger at, but you're not trading Austin. You're not trading Mitch. I wouldn't trade Nylander for six, nine, and getting 35 goals, you're getting a deal.

You ain't training Johnny. And what are you going to, you're going to upgrade it for Morgan? No. You've got a couple things you can do, and we just mentioned Breezebaugh. So let's find ways internally. You know, they're bringing in Jason Spetson, knows the league. That's a good idea. He's fresh from that room.

He sees guys around the league. And I think Jason served a great purpose from how he did. He was gritty. He worked hard. You could tell he changed. that room a little bit as well and help those guys. So you got to go get some guys that aren't going to hurt you financially and you can get some help. But I think they're right there on the door and, you know, people talk about goaltending as well. But you got 25 teams

talking about that. Right. Right. I mean, you mentioned, well, you mentioned Nealander specifically because he's such a, he's such a fascinating guy to me. And part of it, part of it's the contract. I know, everyone, you know, you look at pieces that could move in and out. There's, I think, think people jump to him first because he's not making 10 or 108 or whatever. But isn't that part of his value to that team? Is that he's a phenomenal player who's signed to that number? Like, those are the guys that you keep. And somehow he's the one who, when people are just like, let's blow it up for, for blowing it up sake. He's the guy who's like, all right, let's, let's move out. Wrong, wrong, wrong. And to me, outside of entry level deal,

he's probably only behind one other guy making under $7 million. And that's Brock Nelson. I think he's got a 6-2-5, 6-5, and he scored 38 goals. And Brock, I think, the world of, I think, can be a self-meaning as well. He's hard to play against, and he's almost scored 40 goals

for $6.5 million. It's a great deal. But Michael's the same way. And I don't think he's not a defensive, problem. He's fast. Everybody got on him because he pulled up in one of the games and it's just the end of the like, yeah, do I want to see every player in the playoffs going crazy, whether it's five nothing, but he plays hard and he plays his way. And it's more of where we're going with this league. And I said it last night. I feel like the oilers are changing back a mode and they're getting hungrier and they're getting out of their comfort level as a group instead of

just Leon and, you know, you're just out there wasting a minute so Leon and Connor can get back out. They want an identity. They want to have a part of this. And I'm sure Leon and Connor stands up in the room and say, you know, you guys get a ring two if we win. Let's go. Like, come on. And they're doing it. They don't have to score.

I mean, Hyman's got goals and Evander's playing great. But the rest of the group, they got to be physical. They got to make a presence. They got to let those guys know that they're coming with them. And Toronto needs that, and they saw it start this year. And to me, Michael's part of it, but I'm not in that. Yeah. My elevator doesn't go to that floor in that part of the world.

But it's just my opinion outside looking in. I think they can do good things, but they need some breezebois moves. Yeah. Yeah. Is that, so you did, going back to Edmonds in Calgary, like, did you see something different from that group in that series that helped them make it out of that series is in five there? Absolutely. I saw, first of all, you know, I think we all know, and it's hilarious that I'm saying

that Leon Drys Idol's got a little injury, he's got 26 points. I'm sorry about your life. Yeah, yeah, he's got as many points as the other guy. Come on. I know. But what Conner's doing, he really, him playing physical and just all over the ice, he's been tenacious and it's just more emotional than he has been in the past. You just see it.

And he's really brought the team. And the team's decided, and whether that's the coach, Jay or not, like, they are a different group. They're invested. They're not just wasting time and watching. It's hard when you get two guys on two different lines playing 23 and a half minutes. One thing I'll see, and I'm not demeaning those guys. guys, but they're off in 45, 50 seconds where it's been, I've been so sick in five years

watching guys stay out for a minute, 35. And you don't, you shouldn't have 24 minutes and 19 shifts. You should have 23 minutes and 31 shifts. And the coach should say, I'll get you back out. But I need these other guys going as their line and getting over the boards and getting involved. And I think they've proved that you can rip up the league and not win. or you can rip up the league and drag guys with you,

and now they're winning. And what they did to Calgary was frankly, I didn't see it coming. Right. I did not see it coming. All right. To wrap up, we did want to talk about not seeing something coming.

The Barry Trots thing on the Islanders. Yeah, yeah, heads up. Barry, we didn't see it coming. I imagine you're probably going, eh, nothing blue does surprises me. What was your initial reaction to that? that and where that's headed? I was stunned, yeah.

Were you? Okay. Yeah. Then, you know, you sit back and you think, well, something's got to be going on. I mean, lose a, or I mean, Barry's a great coach. Yeah. He's, you know, taking the team within one goal of the Stanley Cup final. Yeah. Against the same team we talked about to just beat Toronto.

I mean, they don't lose and they don't lose those games. And they lost one nothing. Right. A year and a half later, you know, or two years later after a COVID year, then this year they had 13 games on the road, and everybody thinks opening up a new building after 13 games, they'll be fine. That's not a new, that's not a whole ice advantage. You're still learning how to where to park and you don't know the bounces,

you don't know the fans. Like, it's new for you too. So you're two and a half months into a season without feeling really comfortable. It was a tough scenario. So I was surprised, but then you've got to look back can you see Lou, something's going on. And people want to speculate. Maybe Matt Barzel and wasn't happy.

And frankly, Barry has a great style and he is a great coach and the guys love him. Such a likable guy. I've had great conversations with him in the past. When we coached against each other, he's just a nice man and good what he does. Yeah. But, you know, Barzzi, when I coached me at 85 points, 86 points,

and he doesn't it over, I don't know if he's had over 60 cents. Yeah. Matt Barzell should have. 75 in his sleep and be he's that gifted and everybody and I'm not pointing fingers

I'm saying is there a problem there they don't score a lot I don't know could it have been a personnel decision that wasn't agreed upon it could have been anything and Lou's Lou's Lou

you know Lou's got his mindset and he said some great things about Barry and I just think one thing I mean we've seen in the past Larry Robinson and like Lude is not afraid. I think they were second in the league.

And he fired him. And, you know, so I mean, he's going to do what he's going to do. But Barry seemed fine with it. I think he's going to, I'm pretty sure Barry will have a job. He's going to be okay. I think he wants one. My God, you might just hang out for a year, right? But the bad thing about Lou is it's going to suck because we're never going to find out what happens.

I know. I know. I know. You don't get any news. That is in the vault. That's right. That's right. And someday.

All right. Last thing, we didn't want to ask you about the Kachucks is we've enjoyed watching. It's over now, but Brady and Matt and seeing big Waltz and, you know, Shantau, the whole fan. Like, we can't get enough of, you know, the first family of American hockey. How much did you enjoy seeing that? And do you have any good Brady or Matt? Like, did you babysit them one day in, like, the 2006 or something? Well, Matthew, Ray was actually a little guy, but he was his sweetheart.

Matthew used to beat me up. He was bigger than me when he was like five. There we go. I had to check my son from Matthew. That's great. But, yeah, they lived around the corner. I mean, kids grew up together, and they grew up in the locker room, as you can tell. And they're just too, they're just like their dad.

like they're so distinguishable in their skating and they're you know I used to laugh at Walt he'd plump around and that fuck there's never it would just somehow get to him and he just had the greatest hands like without having the greatest hands I was like how do you do it but he has a nose for the net he knows the game a really bright hockey player he was and he taught his sons I mean they they have great hockey sense they have the tenacity that Walt had and they're great kids and they got a great and a great sister and great family. So I'm happy for them. And I love watching it too.

I just, you see how cheap Walt is when he won't throw his hat on the ice for his son's hat trick. I don't think we talked about that enough. That was not nearly. It was unreal. You could see him. It's a good hat. You could see him turn to Taryn and be like,

I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. It wasn't even a debate. Do you know where that hat's from? Because I, because I saw someone, I saw someone say that. I know it's made with a lot of material. That's a big head. I saw someone say that it was from like some bar in St. Louis or whatever. Like O'Brien's Bar and Grill.

It was it was Bouchergras or someone was like there's like that actually is his favorite hat. He's not giving them up easily. That's awesome. That's amazing. Well, Doug, thanks for doing this. It's awesome seeing you on the air and great work with the NHL Network and appreciate the time. As always. I appreciate it, guys.

There's a lot of fun. This is the only good segment on the show. Last week, as many noted, many people are seeing this. Dozens, dozens. Many of people are saying this, and Craig, they're saying it more and more, to quote one of our favorites. We had Tuesday boys on a Monday last week. We were doing the Victoria Day show. I don't think that's right.

I don't remember exactly what the holiday was, but I realized, I realized well after the fact that that's like the equivalent of, I mean, like the calendar equivalent of Memorial Day for us because it like kind of starts the summer season and. Yeah, that stuff. We actually said that out loud, didn't we? We were talking about cottages opening and you can wear white pants. I just couldn't, I couldn't make the connection. You didn't make the connection until you were grilling yesterday and you're like, hey, this is kind of like an American. Victoria Day. Yesterday I was like, oh, that's what Victoria Day is.

Very confusing set of circumstances yesterday or last week because there's me and you on a Monday. We were subbing for Ian and I guess Haley technically. And then Tuesday was supposed to be Julian and Ian subbing for us. But then Ian's power went out. So I was on with Julian. So I think the end result was like kind of an I'm my own grandpa thing where I was, I was substituting, I was substitute hosting for myself. Grandpa.

Is that a, all right. Anyways. It's a, it's a song. Well, I'd like to thank Max Z, Ryan H, Michael K, everybody, Michael K, especially for using five Zs. It's three Zs, but that's okay. Is it three Zs? I believe that's what we said.

I think it's five Zs if you're especially excited about hearing. that's not on Monday. Tuesday, boys, the Monday men says, says right. And he's very funny. Connor H says your talk about Dallas always committing 100% to trying to feel a competitive team, got me wondering who should stop trying and commit to a rebuild. As long as Crasby and Ovi are still playing,

their teams are required by law to keep it going, but should Philly keep trying. Same questions for other middling to bad teams like Columbus and the Islanders. Time to separate the wheat from the chaff. And these boys are all chaffed. This is a great comment from Connor. This is, it's good.

It's good. Well, crafted. Throwing some wheat and shaft. Analogies. Love it. There should be more teams tanking. And I think we may, I think we may see that to some extent next year because of Connor Bedard.

Uh, the only thing is, man, if you tank, there's no guarantee you get out of that swirl. I mean, we've seen these teams, these Ottawa's and got, even Buffalo. and we believe in Buffalo right now, I would say the show, but man, you be careful how far you tank, folks. The days of being like, yeah, let's just try to get the first round pick for, you know,

I feel like that's where we were moving at some point where it was just like, yeah, let's be shitty, no matter what the draft class coming up looks like. And I think that's very done. Like I think where, I think because of the cautionary tales in Buffalo and wherever else, Connor Bedard is

maybe a little bit of a different situation Maybe but you're not But All right We've been here We've heard about Connor Bedard for For years It seems like he's a special player

But every draft class gets talked up to some degree And there's a lot of time Between now and then Like look at what happened with Shane Wright Last year The dude couldn't have more shine on him Right

like, is he, are we sure? Are we sure he's going to go number one? I mean, there's stuff happens. And it seems like Bedard is, you know, separated himself enough even from the last several groups to maybe not kind of, not kind of hit that same sort of speed, that same sort of speed bump. But I don't know, man. Here's what I would say. You look at the teams that are playing right now, each had to go through it.

I mean, the Oilers took, again, they took forever to come out of it. But here they are. Rangers were very pointed. I was glad they gave Jeff Gordon a little bit of credit on the broadcast last night. Like, you know, he acquired a lot of that roster. But that's, I love how the Rangers did it. They were like, we're ripping the Band-Aid off. We're shipping out and whatnot, whoever.

We're going to send a thing to the fans. We're going to apologize to our season-take orders and the fan base. The fans were like, the smart ones were like, no, thank you. This is good. They did it like ahead of schedule. They could have tried to eke out two more years. And now they're back. And, you know, Colorado, of course, gets McKinnon at the top of the truck.

Like, you do have to go through almost like two layers of it because you have McKinnon, then you have McCar. Just be ready for like 12 years of misery. You just can't, and you can't do it for any one specific player. It has to be a more holistic kind of, you know, dedication to it. Because that is still the route. That's unfortunately the route across sports. As you hit a certain point, you know, where you.

where you need to tear down whatever, whatever you can tear down. And I think, I think, I think Connor, this is Connor, Connor, right? Connor mentioned flyers. I think that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, the flyers are a good candidate. I would, that probably is the most likely scenario here, or the best candidate to say, okay. They're the best candidate. I don't know how likely of a scenario it is.

They're talking, I mean, you got, you got Chuck Fletcher talking about, you know, kind of rebuild on the flies or retoolings or whatever. And that just, that just seemed, that seems like a mistake. stake. The flyers don't have cap space. That's been the weird part of like, oh, the flyers are going to go out and throw money at Nazim Kodry and players, players X, Y, Z. They can't do that yet. They don't have, they don't have the money for it. So you're talking, so then you're talking about in Philly, they're like, can they, can they dump James Van Reims like, can they do this? Can they do that? And it's like, what are, what exactly is going on here?

Like, what are you rearranging for? Yeah. What's the, what's the end goal here? other than to, you know, hopefully in two years, eke past the islanders for the wild card spot coming out of that division. I don't, I don't get it. How about Nashville? Can I nominate Nashville and just say, hey, they had like, they caught lightning in a bottle this year. So, you know, we had Matthew Shane on and we were convinced by the end.

And I'm like, yeah, I kind of like the predators. And then it's like, oh, they're not even. As we get further along here, we're like, they're not even close. I think when you have And they kind of gave us I think they gave us the answer By the end of the season where you're And does it suck for them that UC Saros got hurt

And basically Nuked whatever chance they have I'm pulling anything else Off against the abs like Of course But if your team hinges that dramatically On one player Then

What do you what do you have in the first place? But yeah, you look at where they're at with Forsberg, potentially leaving and, you know, I don't know, blow it up. I think the caps are,

the caps are in, are in for a very interesting season. Oh, the capitals are a good one. They're in for a very interesting season. Well, Connor already just said, as long as Ovi's playing,

you should be required by law. I mean, he's, he's gonna, I agree with that, but I, up to a very significant point. But what is going on?

Nicholas Baxter is he going to return at all? Tom Wilson's having ACL surgery. That is a flawed roster to begin with. Ovescans having off-season surgery. Like, I don't, I mean, they're a team who I think if they could, if it were possible for them just do like a one-year

mini tank and try to just say like, all right, this is like, this season's out. Yeah. Tom Wilson's going to be out for half of it. Oveston's coming off surgery. Backstrom, who knows what's, going on, blah, blah. If there were some way for them to just, like, you know, hit pause for one year, it would be, I'd be all for it. But they can't. I don't think ownership would let them.

Like, tell you else this would not go for that. Especially, because like in Ovechka, I mean, because the Oveston goal thing now, like, it's not an option. But it would be funny if it were. I suggested that coming out of the lockout when they, if you remember, they came out of the lockout, Ovechkin was struggling. They started off the year like Ovechkin or something. I went to D.C. to kind of do a what's going on with the Capitol story. And I remember talking to George V. I'm like, hey, perfect opportunity. You're terrible.

You guys are loaded, but just mini tank for a year. Punt on this year. Yeah. And get a top three. I forgot who was in the draft. And now you've got like a star coming in on an entry level. And I think George, I don't, you know, I don't want to. We were just chatting from, but like the impression I got was, hey, this is a team that's

always going to have the foot on the gas as long as Ovi's around. And they did the opposite. They traded for it. That was the year they traded Forsberg for. or ERA. And so it was had they, but they won a cup. So, all right. I want to read these question and the answer because Matt S.

and Michael Kay did the work for us. We got the question and the answer and I think we can move on. Matt started by saying, appreciated your, Craig, your explanation about the difficulty of winning a Stanley Cup. Also good timing before Tampa grinds through. Florida for the sweep. Follow up question, which is harder to win,

the Stanley Cup or the Iditarod? And as I was thinking about it, Michael K answers easy. The Iditarod is much, much harder. One is a sport, while yes hard is not possibly fatal outside of being a Buffalo Sabres. The other has wolves. Negative 50 degree Fahrenheit weather. Ice that can break. And the most dangerous of all is moose.

One of the deadliest animals out there in North America, hurting more people than bears and wolves combined. I don't know if any of this is true. and I don't know the moose statistics. Have you ever seen, have you like for scale? Have you ever seen a human next to a moose? No. It's unbelievable. I don't have to say the effort.

I haven't done that on the podcast yet. I don't think. Hey, we don't even have to mark this one explicit yet until the last five minutes. It is unbelievable how big those. I don't think people grasp how gigantic moose are. Michael Kay says moose are huge and territorial. So in the end, it is not anywhere near close to a question. The Iditarod is much harder and dangerous.

How often do people die in the Iditarod? Let's see. I feel like that still has to happen from time to time, right? Well, the way Michael Kay made it sound, you're... And also, you're depending on dogs to get you there. Like, it's one thing to be in control of, you know, winning a hockey game. There's a... I'll tell you what, lots of dead dogs in the Iditarod.

It is a... Much harder for a dog to... It is a humane, I'm trying to think of like the right way to put that. Let's say humane situation, nightmare. Lots of dead dogs. Oh my gosh. Nobody wants that. Okay, I'm just reading ahead.

Scott T. solved the anthem issue. This is great for me. Did you read this one yet? I did. Yeah, we'll get to that. Matt asked his other question. What's the best landing spot for Phil Kessel?

Doesn't have to be realistic. Vegas. Of course. It's Vegas. It's Vegas. Oh, and he can just post up in the Bellagio poker room or the Aria poker room. He probably has some money to play in the Aria poker room. We need to, we need that to happen before.

Oh, please. Before it's all over. But yeah, Scott explained it. I saw this last week. I would like you to read it. Yeah, that's fun. Craig and I is constant back and forth over, over. who, like which of the two of us screwed up the Canadian anthem performance worse.

Scott, Scott has it nails here. I think he... This is 100% factor. He figured it out and it doesn't look good for me. Scott says, I'm a music teacher who's taught virtually a good amount for the last several years and I hope to put to rest the anthem controversy once and for all. It was entirely Sean's fault. Preach.

Because the delays between people in Zoom, if you do a live performance, the person counting off the tempo, which was me, has either mute or ignore the other person, which is Craig, in order for the song to stay in time. Sean needed to establish and maintain a steady tempo despite what Craig did so that Craig could follow along. However, Sean kept adjusting to Craig, who kept adjusting to Sean, who kept adjusting to Craig and so on, creating a vicious cycle of slowing down and getting farther apart. The real lesson, I mean, there's several. There's several lessons.

The real lesson is never perform live over Zoom, but if you're going to, one person has to keep a steady temple regardless of delays. That should have been Sean, but he didn't do that. Love the Tuesday pod. Love Sean, but it was his fault. So I'll, I'll, that's fine. I wish I would have, if I had any idea that that's the way it needed to work, I would have, I would have done so. But I did, I did count. I was the one who was trying to adjust in it, you know, whatever.

You saw what happened. The major issue is the, I mean, this settles it, right? We can never bring it up again. That's how I'm good with it. The main issue is neither of us can sing, obviously. Jack C. writes, folks, can we talk about Craig's whisper talking? Craig, at least a couple times, a podcast, you trail off at the end of your sentence into an audible, inaudible mumble, which is great for a podcast. Is that true?

How am I supposed to poke fun at you for being an idiot if I don't know what you said? Aha, Jack! Ha, now you have, you have, you have cracked his master plan. Jack, I, I fade off into a mumble when I decide that's not where I want to go and whatever I'm saying and I'm going to let you figure out what I was going to say from there on out. So, I'll do it in question asking. If I feel like, if I feel like I asked what I wanted to say, but I don't know how to end it, I'll just mumble and let the person jump in.

Yeah, they need, they need to start talking. sometimes or else or else it's just going to go on. Whereas Sean will rephrase the question 40 times. Yeah, right. I'll mumble my way out of it. Yeah, I'll just rephrase it again and then somehow end up at the end and be like, so what's up with that? Huh?

What's up with that? Or it'll just be a statement where my voice raises a little bit at the end. So it sounds like a question. I don't know what I'm doing. All right. Corey E. says that now apparently Edmonton's going to beat Calgary. This is obviously last week.

Sean, do you have your trade grades ready when Vegas acquires Kachuk, Marks, and Salvean for Leonard, Granger, and Canadian icons slandion. Yeah, one gets an A minus and one gets a C plus. A minus C plus. We know that answer. If you ever want trade grades early, let us know.

Josh R. It's in love for Craig. He says you're great and work to keep Sean on track. But holy hell, Juliet and Sean on the Monday, show was an absolute gem. You don't need to have them come on randomly and just have Craig try to keep the show on track while Sean Join do whatever they desire, which is, which is true. That was, I'd be up for that.

Like, I just, I just keep the trains running on time and let you and Julian. He was, he was in the first chair there. So he was, like, he introed and got us in and out of segments and out of topics and stuff. He did it, he did an awesome job while also, you know, we were, we were all over the place. It was, it was controlled chaos. We were talking about a lot of different stuff. Julian's the man. I'd a blast.

I'd a blast with him on Tuesday. There's some great comments that. These are fun. David O. writes, I'll let you take this one because it's your bit. David O. says pretty sure 1-1-2-4,

Boogie-Wogie Avenue would be next door to 11-22. Which is, of course, as we all know, 11-2-Bugue Avenue, that is Pier LeBronza Cottage address. 1123 or 11-21 would be across a street. at least in America. I'm not sure they do things in like country in Canada. Me neither. I've never, I've never been and probably will never go. So did I, so the, the implication there is that I screwed up American, American, like American housing, I like house number conventions, which sounds part right.

Jen F is clarifying, of course I don't want parents feeding their children cereal at all before sending them to school. Frosted mini-weeds with chocolate milk is. purely dessert level consumption because I just I went into teacher mode. Call her out, whatever. I was just saying, just don't do this. And so thank you, Jen, for clarifying that because. You know, not everyone just assumes that comments are about teachers or people in your family whenever they're made.

Yeah, I'm reading every comment is to the lens of how does this impact me or my family. Specifically. Hey guys, don't know if I'm supposed to put it in a question for the Tuesday bullies here, but I have paid two troll tolls to post a question this week. There was a lot of talk about strip club sources last week, which was a topic for Julian and I, because that was coming out of the... The Florida debacle with the Panthers and Lightning.

What people say that? What was your conclusion that they know of strippers? Is that what a strip club source is? No, I said this last week. That guy, Andy Slater, has been a reporter in South Florida for a long time. He does a lot of, like, intersection between the intersection between sports and basically crime in South Florida. where there's he's he's he's popped up in reports for for many many years so if anybody

would have strip club sources it would be it would be any slater just because of his beat in the fact that he lives in he lives in south florida um jason goes i realized that kinna doesn't have dollar bills only loonies and tunis according to sources what do canadians use at these clubs uh coins of people just yeah you're throwing the throwing the five dollar the blue bill, I guess. Oh my gosh. It would be like similar to whatever the troll had like a bucket full of gold coins. Is there seriously not there are not paper $1 bills in Canada?

There's no paper money in Canada at all. It's all coins. It's all tunis and loonies and blueies. Yeah, they get progressively larger though. So you can see it seems it seems convenient up until a certain point. but they have, they have $20 coins that are the size of like,

the size of like a clock radio. You're weirdly shaped. They stop being round. It's a mess. Oh, my gosh. Good point by Jason K. that says, why do you fill in on the Canadian holidays?

Like we did. We pitched in on Queen Victoria's birthday or whatever it was. Canadians were off for Memorial Day. Did I bring this up? It was on my mind at the stuff. started the show and I don't think I actually said it, but yeah, this is, this is BS. Put Mendez to work. Put Mendez to work for God's sakes. The Sends haven't played a game in a week. Is that out of the last year? Powering his electrical grid up and running? Yeah, it's, I don't, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't know how that

works, honestly. I don't know what the exchange rates like on holidays. Apparently, apparently we get screwed on it. Um, which organization in fan base are you wishing, on him pulling for the flyers they all deserve each other um we saw that it was it was reported that john torterella interviewed with the flyers for that coaching yeah they can see which is just i mean good for good for john if he gets it i don't know what that organization is doing we talked about it before it just doesn't i don't know yeah put him put him in friendly who cares it makes i i love john i think he's a good coach it makes no sense for him to go to Philadelphia.

And for all the reasons we stated, we're not trying to eke out. Like, John's the guy you bring in when you're trying to maximize your roster. The Flyers aren't. That's not what they need. It doesn't make sense to us. But the way they're taught, the way Fletcher and the ownership group seem to be approaching all this, it makes sense to them, which I think is probably, that should be a concern. I do.

I mean, we want John back in the game. I do personally. I'd like to see John Torteroella coaching somewhere next season. If it's in Philly, then God bless you. All right. Ranger fans, I want to make sure, in light of the Rangers trip to the Eastern Conference

Finals, make sure you listen to the Garden Faithful, hosted by the great Arthur Staple, who I was exchanging text with right before the show. I don't want to give away what he's working on, but it sounds like a really good story, something I would want to read. Definitely, going into this. So Arthur was just inches away

from getting done so quickly. And now he's, now he's back on the job for, for Easter conference final and about to turn out something, something sweet. That's, that's, that's the Arthur experience, right? He has fingers crossed and was open. He'd get an early,

getting early summer, but it hasn't worked out that way, and here he is. He did warn, don't expect to hear from me from about July 20th until, ever? be in the first ever. October, October 11th or whatever. I have great news, everybody, that made it this far into the podcast.

If you want to hear even more of Sean and I. Even more, guess whose turn it is in the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcasts for bonus content? And let me tell you, we did a great job. You know who I feel bad for, Sean? Doug Wade for having to listen to the last like 90 seconds of that? who had to listen, who hopped on just in time to hear Sean fumbling over the script to conclude. I mean, he's got the, he's got the subscriber code now. Yeah, no, he was, he was excited.

He's going to use the athletic subscriber code. Actually, I'm sure he's already an athletic audio plus subscriber on Apple Podcast. I do want to thank Doug for joining the show for producer Jeff. for again lining up another great guests. I don't, he's relentless in his ability to give us a good show every week. So thank you to Doug and to Jeff. And despite our best efforts to sabotage him. Gosh, we just, we try to derail it every week.

At what point I'm waiting for Jeff to be like, why, like, hey, I got no guess this week because why, why am I even doing this? It'll never, it'll never come. He's too much of a pro. You can get an athletic scholarship. Sure. There you go. If you go to Theathletic.com slash hockey show, you can go to college for just $1 a month for six months

or subscribe to the athletic. You can get an athletic scholarship if you start training really early. Work your hardest. Listen to your parents and your coaches. Uh-huh. And you too could go to college for free. Tomorrow, Rob Bezo and Jesse Granger welcome to Jane and Goldman, the hardest working person

and show business to the Wednesday roundtable. I'm at the point now I'm just like I make me upset to hear the chain is doing guest spots on this stuff like go to sleep. Unreal.

And please make sure any reference to the show of course to use the proper hashtag that's Tuesday boys with three Zs, not five. Anything else, Sean? I don't know. Rate and review, et cetera.

I think that's it. Smash the subscribe button. Do we have a subscribe button anywhere that people can smash. That's a good question. Probably not. And again, you can say whatever about us in the reviews, as long as you give us five stars.

I don't care. I don't care what to say. Okay. Well. Edmonton, Colorado, tonight, buddy. How about that? I'm excited. Enjoy the games, everybody.

But most of all, Sean, enjoy the games. Thanks.