The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: 7 or 8 Minutes?

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Mike Johnson is the Charles Barkley of Canada and took out Greg Cote for his Connor McOverrated take on TSN earlier this week. He joins the show for a spirited debate with Greg who may or may not expose his lack of hockey knowledge. Then, hey...Game 1 is tonight. It's time for Thursday Thunder and some actual #basketball #talk on today's show previewing the matchup. Plus, Carter Verhaeghe is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He breaks down what the Panthers are going to do on their plane rides to Edmonton, the best pranks of this year, the Panthers confidence all season long, and playoff bears. He ALSO gives Chris Cote a new nickname. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit betterhelp.com to see what it can do for you. That's betterHELP.com. This is the Dan LeBattor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. The guest you want in sports today is not LeBron James. It is not anyone playing in the NBA Finals. It is not Dan Hurley. It is Mike Johnson. He is the guest that this show most desperately wanted to get on today

because we are getting a second helping of Greg Cody. And these two have made magic all week. Mike is with TSN in Canada, the NHL Network as well. He is flying down here to kick Greg Cody's ass. He is the Charles Barkley of Canada, according to Adnan Burke. I appreciate that from Adnan. Is that as strange to you as it was to us? I mean, well, I mean, I wish I was getting paid like Charles Barkley. That would be nice. Right. Yes.

Adnan, he's a neighborhood guy. Right. We know each other for a long time from Toronto. So I think he meant it like a compliment without the Hall of Fame career, of course. All right. Mike, we want to, because we're Team Greg Cote here, just so you know.

OK? We are Team Cote, and we appreciate you doing this. You are a brave man. Is there any chance, any chance that Greg Cody might be a little bit right about what he wrote about Conor McDavid? No. Zero. Zero chance. Zero. Less than zero. You can say that for him to be considered one of the greatest player of all time or to fulfill all the potential he has Winning a Stanley Cup would be part of that

conversation but to suggest for a second that Connor McDavid is overrated in any capacity is Doing a disservice to how great he is and the attention that he deservedly is getting so no the overrated bit It is indefensible. Like, I mean, I was preparing for this. I was watching Scott Mitchell highlights all day long just to make sure I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. But I don't think, like this is on the

Marino Mitchell scale of ridiculousness in real time. Like that's what we're doing. Mike's done his homework. He threw in a Marino Mitchell reference. It was well done, that's why I'm laughing so hard. It was a good job by Mike. Well Mike, it's not just that. He's now officially calling him an underachiever. Yeah, he's a little bit of both. A little bit of both? Why are you on Team Cody or Team Mike? What's the matter with you? I'm on team myself at this situation. He's Team Mike. Here's the thing Mike. I am the biggest champion Connor McDavid has.

Okay, I'm a bigger champion of his. You're Canadian. I'm a bigger champion. Yeah, Cody. I mean that's a Coté. I mean that's a popular name in French-speaking Canada. I'm his biggest champion for this reason. I am holding him to the highest possible standard. Okay, I recognize all the stats are great, future Hall of Famer, fastest player, wonderful talent, I get all that. But if you're going to call somebody generational, MacJesus, the chosen one, the next Gretzky, and he plays nine years without a Stanley Cup, he eliminates himself from the conversation for greatest ever or for being beyond just a great player in his time. He has to win at least a Stanley Cup and maybe more than one, and I want to challenge you,

Mike, to answer this question. Okay, if, and the Panthers, as you know, are a slight favorite in this series. If McDavid goes another year without winning a Stanley Cup, you wouldn't begin to wonder if that's missing from his resume? Well, no, of course it's missing from his resume. The question you need to ask yourself is is it fair to hold a hockey player, because hockey's not basketball. LeBron can take, you know, Zdronas and Gauskas and Mo Williams and get to the final. You can't do that in hockey.

Not if you're Austin Matthews, not if you're Conor McDavid. I mean, hockey... You can't do that if you're the best player. Okay, hockey's got... That's not how you win. Hockey's got five skaters, just like basketball has five players. Ooh, math. Math.

And, you know, Wayne Gretzky... So how much does the best basketball player play, right? Wayne Gretzky, in the same city... Point-counterpoint. Won four championships in, I think, a a five year span in Edmonton. So if you're that good, you lift a franchise in a way that Connor McDavid hasn't yet. Dad I feel like you're not really listening to his point. Like what do you say to his point that LeBron plays 48 minutes,

like 42 of the 48 minutes, while a hockey player isn't going to be on the ice that much? They have shit. No, you're right. I mean, he probably plays what, seven, eight minutes a game? So it's hard to hold it. Seven or eight minutes a game.

Yeah, this is what we're talking about. Seven, eight. What? Oh, crap. How many minutes does Connor McTain- I think at some point, I don't have to say anything. About 20. No, but like, the hockey player, yeah, he'll play 22 minutes a night.

And if you think, okay, what does he have to do? Seven, eight, real time. One of the greatest players sort of in the last 40 years, Gretzky and Lemieux, right? So where's Conor McDavid rank all time in points per game in the playoffs? Conor McDavid's job is to produce offense. He's third all time in the history of NHL behind Gretz, behind Lemieux in points per game in the playoffs. So you can wax poetic about the gaudy stats

in the regular season. They're gaudy in the postseason as well. It's his team. The reason why he's on it is because they were terrible. I did. Greg, we were talking to you in your ear. Wait, hold on, Mike. Is Greg saying that Connor McDavid plays

seven to eight minutes worse than the original take? Well, I mean, I think it sort of, I kind of win the conversation by default there. He must have meant seven or eight minutes per period. That's all Greg was saying. Yeah, I meant per period. Yeah, per period. Yeah, because I always talk about basketball times

my quarter. Yeah, that's right. Of course you do. Totally makes sense. Play 11 minutes a night. Mike, answer me this question. Mike's winning right now, by the way. Of course you do. Totally makes sense. Play 11 minutes a night. Mike, answer me this question. Mike's winning right now, by the way, just so you know. No pressure.

It's not so fast. Let the man talk. Plenty of game left. It's a yes or no question for Mike Johnson. Okay. If Conor McDavid goes his entire career without winning a Stanley Cup, will he still be in the rightful conversation as one of the greatest ever? Yes, absolutely.

For what he's done. The nature of hockey being what he is. Now, Conor McDavid, he's won a world championship under 18. He's won a world junior championship. He's won a world championship. He has not won Olympics or World Cup because he hasn't got to play in those. And the Stanley Cup, the bigger the NHL gets the more you're gonna see great All-time great players not win Stanley Cup just Henrik Lundqvist not an all-time great goalie because he didn't want to Stanley Cup

Well, I think he probably is this is the nature of hockey Yes, the guys who did it in the 70s the 80s the 90s. They had an advantage. It was easier back then no salary cap Smaller league the way it spread out, now it's gonna be harder. Now I expect him and I think he expected of himself, Greg, you're not wrong. He would expect it of himself to be able to do this, but I'm saying even if he goes over and he gets his team to a Stanley Cup final,

two conference finals, does nothing else more than what he's done already, he is still on the Mount Rushmore, expanded to five with Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, of all-time greats in the history of the NHL. That's where he's got to end up, whether he wins one or zero or three. Mike, I would say you're wrong because for me, the way I do it is if I'm sitting with my grandchildren years from now and they ask me about the greatest hockey players of all

time and Connor McDavid has not won a Stanley Cup, I will rattle off a ton of names before I get to Connor McDavid has not won a Stanley Cup, I will rattle off a ton of names before I get to Connor McDavid. If he wins one or two, I agree with you. But unless he wins those, I will start rattling off names like Bobby Orr, like Wayne Gretzky, like Mike Bossy, like Ovechkin, like Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, guys who have actually won the Stanley Cup trophy.

And that's fair, that's how you want to remember them. But if you dissected the game, if you paid very close attention to suggest for a second that Mike Bossie was better than Connor McDavid, we'd be just wrong. Wrong on every level. Now he won more. He's got four cups.

And we can say that, and that's totally fine. And he won four cups in a row, absolutely. He's one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. Connor McDavid's better than him. But he's is now and he will be when he retires. Mike, I'm gonna ask you a question honestly and I mean this in all due respect. Does there come a time when hockey fans in Canada look at Connor McDavid's career, let's say four or five years from now, he's now an aging player, he still hasn't won a Stanley Cup. Is there any point at which Canada says, you know what, for all his greatness he

didn't do what he would have wanted to do, he under achieved, his career did under achieve. What does it have to get to for Canada to believe that? For Canada, probably Greg honestly, if he doesn't have international success, because we can appreciate that how hard it is to win the Stanley Cup, no matter how great you are. We've already gone down that road. But when he plays for Canada, he is on the best team. He is supposed to win. He is supposed to be the best player in those tournaments where he does win. And so if he plays the Olympics in two years, this four nations thing next year, that's a bit different. but if he goes without winning

an Olympics gold medal, then I think Canadians say, you know what, he probably didn't win at the highest level when he should have, not necessarily referring to the Stanley Cup final, which might be part of it, but also international play. Is it fair to say that the Stanley Cup Championship is of less and less importance in Canada because the country

hasn't won a Stanley Cup in 30 years? I... I... Oh my... Let my boy cook. Let my boy cook. He's burning the food! No. So, no, I would think it probably becomes more important. Because it's been so long. We have an entire generation of people like...

Kids my age have virtually no recollection of a Canadian team, any Canadian team, let alone your favorite team winning. So I think it becomes more important, but we're also comforted in the fact that every year the Stanley Cup winning team has more Canadians on it than any other nationality. So we feel pretty good about that as well.

Mike, how'd you feel when you said this? Greg. You nailed it. You had to feel good about yourself there, right? I mean, I listened to it back. I'm like, was I rude? I'm like, probably not. Come on, Greg. It was so condescending.

It was so well done by you. And by the way, just for the record, Greg doesn't care. He loves that you're talking about it. He loves that you're talking about it. He loves that Canada's talking about it. Greg wrote a column. He's a great columnist. And he set out what he was trying to achieve, which is make Canada angry.

I mean. I gave him props in doing it. I'm like, listen, he won. We're talking about it. He's got what he wanted. We're in Canada in the off week of the Stanley Cup final. Talk about Greg Cody, not Coté, which he would be in Canada. So yes. There you go. the I reacted to a very crazy headline in a column. But I think, you know, by Greg,

and Greg is getting the reaction he wanted. Yeah. See, to me, this is like a boxing match. Mike's come on here, my dad's here, they're giving their points, they're exchanging jabs, nothing too crazy really. Until my dad said that Connor plays seven or eight minutes. That was my dad.

That was crazy. That was my dad. That was the boxer pooping himself in the middle of the ring. And the cop eating less. No, no, I meant per period. You're ridiculous. Oh, come on. Whether you believe me or not, I don't care.

Mike, of the takes that Greg has had, Conor McDavid playing seven or eight minutes a night, Conor McDavid being Mick overrated, or Canada not caring about the Stanley Cup, which is the most ridiculous to you? Hmm. I mean, the most ridiculous would be McDavid being overrated. Wow. Illuminating by Greg would be that he thinks that players play seven minutes a night. That would be the most illuminating comment that I've learned today from Mr. Coté. So I will see tomorrow night at the game

presuming he's gonna be there. Yeah, I will be there. Yes, I sense a friendship coming out of this. Blossoming out of it. Greg, handshake coming. There's nothing we can do to convince you that Greg might be right. Like what if the Oilers win, they win in five games,

but he doesn't have a single point. So we had nothing to do with them winning the Stanley Cup. Perhaps. Will you come around to Greg's point? Will he still be leading the playoffs in scoring? I mean, no, I won't come around to his point one bit. Okay, here is nothing that he could say that would support what he did other than the fact that Connor McDavid himself

would expect to be able to win a Stanley Cup at some point in his career. Even though that's an unrealistic expectation of any individual player, he would expect that of himself. I will concede that and that alone to Greg. Is Connor McDavid, is Connor McDavid aware that some gas bag in Miami called him overrated? Yes or no?

You know, at this point he might be. I'm embarrassed to say it, but like, he might be. He has to be, the entire country's talking about this. That's overstated. I'm happy to inspire him like that. I talked about it for 90 seconds. All right, let's go to the judges here. If he goes off, if he goes off in the playoffs, Greg,

will you take some heat for this lightning rod of a topic that you got Greg Connery gave it all fire up with? You probably should. I'll put the heat on myself. Right. I'll write him in. But if the Panthers win in five and he goes like one goal, like all of a sudden Greg wins. Look up.

Look up. Well, just so we're clear, I also have the Panthers winning this series. Oh, there you go. That's my man. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mike. Yeah. All right, let's go to the scorecards here,

because Mike made some really great points. Greg didn't make a single good point. I have Greg Cody, 10-9. Thank you. I think Mike won this. I'm going with Mike. 10-6, dude. 10-9, Greg.

10-6, Mike. Roy, what's the matter with you? Come on, man. What are you talking about? It's not a six dude 10 9 Greg My friend Roy Bellamy for nothing eight minutes for game Man can't miss speak Thank God for right Integrity in that studio I'm going to go to the studio. Thank god for Roy. Someone with some integrity in that studio. Roy. Perfect. Thank you. The only one I can count on. Thank you, Mike. That

is so funny. Alright, he is the Charles Barkley of Canada. You can check him out on TSN in Canada, the NHL Network as well. He is flying down here. He's going to fight Greg Cody. Mike, we appreciate you doing this. Backstreet's back. Alright. Since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame

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96 calories per 12 ounces. Hoo! Don LeBretard! I got somebody here making fun of me. How old do you have to be to reference Shecky Green man? I went comedically there with the funny name of a comedian that's on you for not knowing who Shecky Green is. You don't have to know who Shecky Green is. Here's your ally.

No, no, I don't like my allies here. King of the Borsch Belt. Stugatz. I have the soul of a Borsch Belt comedian. I should be in the Catskills in 1945 Opening for Sheaggy Green. That's who I was destined to be. This is the Don LeBattar Show with the Stugats. That's right. It's Thursday Thunder and it's sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show

draft crings the crown is Yours Thursday Thunder cooked up by juju brought to you by Tony Guys, we have an all green Thursday Thunder Wow all green we've got the NBA finals tonight game one Mavericks at Celtics juju notable massive Celtics fan has cooked up the parlay for Thursday Thursday We're starting with the first leg Jason Tatum over nine and a half rebounds for Jason Tatum interesting

Interesting over and a half rebounds. Yeah, I'll Horford over four and a half rebounds Interesting yeah, I'll Horford over four and a half rebounds big rebounding night Lot of missed shots Tatum Tatum has had over nine rebounds in six of his last seven. So something new keep an eye on Last leg here Jalen Brown over twenty two and a half points Thank you So that's Jason Tatum over and a half rebounds. Al Holford over four and a half rebounds. Jalen Holford.

Jalen Brown over 22 and a half points. That gives you a nice plus 500 for Thursday Thunder. Bucket. Bucket. Really cranked up the thunder there. Bucket. Kind of sounds like a lion's roar a little bit too. Pride of the lion. Out now, all this day.

Well done. Promoted. It's been promoted. Game one of the finals is tonight. Carter Verhage get to join us coming up. The Stanley Cup finals get underway on Saturday. I think the Celtics, I don't know what we're doing with this team. Dallas has had a nice run. Luca and Kyrie have been great. This is not Luca at 100%, but the

Celtics have been the entire season a historically good team, a great team. And offensively, I think they have too much for Dallas to handle, but here's where I think they win the series. I do. Because Luca is so good. And he's thick. And he's tall. He's like 6'7", 6'8", Luca. And he has amazing ball handling skills. And he can get any shot off. But here's what the Celtics have.

And it's why I think it bodes well for them in the series. And I don't think it will be much of a series. I think the Celtics will either sweep or they'll win in five games. Little gentleman sweep. They have so many guys they can run at Luka Donkic, whether it's Tatum, whether it's Brown, whether it's White, whether it's Drew Holliday. There are a lot of guys that they could throw at Luka, Greg, and for that reason,

they're great offensively. But defensively, they have four guys who can match them in terms of height, not skill, but in terms of length. And I think that's why the Celtics win this series and win it rather easily. I agree. I think Dallas is one of the most under qualified

finals teams in a while. That's crazy. No, I do. Two of the more skilled players in NBA history. Luka Doncic is a great player. Kyrie Irving, although past his prime, is also still a great player, as he's shown lately. But when you look at the meta, and I try not to be a slave to statistics, but Dallas only outscored its opponents by two points this season. That's unimpressive

Because I think plus minus is pretty significant over the course of a full season over 82 games Yeah, and and plus two is nothing now now their offense is middle of the pack offense Their defense isn't as good as Boston's the Celtics have been the best team in the NBA all season They they can score three-point baskets like nobody. And I just think it has the potential to be a route, like Stugat says. A sweep would not surprise me. A five-game series, to me, is almost the betting favorite. I would be surprised if this wasn't at least a somewhat competitive series with the way that Dallas has played, particularly in the second half of the year since the trade deadline.

They added PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford at the deadline and those are two guys in their top six in minutes. It's their starting center, it's their starting power forward. And the length of PJ Washington and Derek Jones Jr. was really on display last series. He led them defensively. Derek Jones Jr., you know, he did learn that defensive stuff

from the Heat culture right at the beginning. But when you talk about Boston, Drew Holliday and Derek White, those are two elite defenders. Those are two guys who have played defense at the top of their game in the last couple of years. They've been named first and second team all defense. That said, they're really more there to stop Kyrie Irving

because Luka Donkic physically is too big for both of those guys to really slow him down. It will come down to both Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown on that defensive end. The big X factor that we haven't mentioned is Boston has run through the Eastern Conference and we've given them a lot of slack for going up against those teams without their number ones,

but they have been without their starting center in Chris Stapp's Porzingis, who is a huge X factor in this series. Because without him, I think they would have huge issues defending Kyrie and Luca in the pick and roll. We saw how great they were in the pick and roll against Minnesota, who had the best defense in the NBA all year. If they would have been going after Al Horford and Al Horford alone at that big man position

for Boston, they could have really taken advantage. Now with Chris Stapps, Porzingis back, that's a huge difference for that Boston defense. And that's the biggest factor here in my opinion. Tony, I know you have kind of a strong opinion about this series as well, but when you look at these two teams, kind of what are you seeing?

I think the biggest deal with the Celtics too is their lack of front court players, right? Like I think that when you talk about Porzingis, he's already said he's not at a hundred percent. So when you I think that when you talk about Porzingis, he's already said he's not at 100%. So when you look at that, who's behind Porzingis? It's Horford. It's Horford. It's a hall of famer.

And after that, it's not much. It's not much, right? When you've got two bigs, three bigs realistically with Dallas that can stretch the, not stretch the floor, but stretch the paint in a way where the pick and rolls become more effective when Luke and Kyrie can drive. That to me is the X factor of the game, the front-core players on Dallas' side.

Getting poor Zingus back was important for Boston, but getting Derrick Lively back in that game five and that neck injury not being more of an issue is gigantic. I believe he shot 100% in the Western Conference Finals. He's been spectacular as a rookie. And man, our hot takes are really setting off. They're trying to stop us from preaching. Is there a fire here in the El Conference Finals. He's been spectacular as a rookie. And man, our hot takes are really setting off. They're trying to stop us from preaching. Is there a fire here at the Elstur Hotel?

What is happening? I mean. We get these kind of alerts. Daily. Where it sounds like it's a big emergency. That we're so, it's like the boy that cried wolf. Like if something bad happens here, we're not gonna react to it because we're so used to this.

I tried really hard to fight through, but this eventually, the vocals start to come in. I understand, right? I wonder what was going on. Greg said, please cease operations. Greg's saying, I'm continuing operations. Greg's saying that they're the worst team to make it to the NBA Finals.

I wouldn't go that far, but they're one of them. I wouldn't go that far. The Cavaliers with Mo Williams, the Philadelphia 76ers with Iverson, Eric Snow was the second wouldn't go that far. Like the Cavaliers with Moe Williams, the Philadelphia 76ers with Iverson, Eric Snow was the second best player on that team. He averaged six points a game. I love the Heat as much as anyone. Gabe Vincent and Max Streus were starting in the NBA finals last year. They were starting last year. They were a five seed a couple years before that and also made the NBA finals. I would take the Dallas team from this year over the Heat team from

Last year. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, that's fair. That's fair I didn't say they were the worst team ever in the finals one of them what I said was they they are under qualified Compared to most finals teams, but when you're a five seed that upset the Clippers first then Denver and now, Minnesota It shows you just exactly what it is that this group can do with their length on the defensive end and two incredible offensive players. I think this should be a relatively even series. You guys mentioned the outscoring. It might be one of those things where Dallas could end up winning the series, but being

outscored, where Boston blows them out a couple of times, but they win close late because Luca and Kyrie are tremendous in the fourth quarter. And what's the one question we keep asking? Whether or not Jason Tatum can close things out down the stretch of Boston? The question I'm asking is should we cease operations? Yeah let's do that. Probably. Sound the trumpets, it's horse racing time. So saddle up for action with DK Horse,

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saying it's all been said. OK, you got to understand one thing. Stoogats. Me maximum. That's right. Until I say it, it hasn't been said. Boom. OK, understand that.

You're the mayor. Until I say it, it hasn't been said. Me maximum. Me maximum. Me maximum. Me maximum. This is the John LeBathard Show with the Stugarts. The interview just started. I just want to start this by saying I love you and thank you. What are you doing? I'm just I just I'm a three year season ticket holder. Right.

And he's changed my life and I just want to say thank you. It's true. What happened to you? Take it away. That's just what I wanted to do. I want to take it away by chanting Carter. Carter. Carter. Carter. Bring it home, Carter. Carter, I know you were there a season ago, but can you kind of put us inside your head right now? You're about 48 hours away from playing in the Stanley Cup again for a second consecutive year. What's the feeling right now for you and this team? Yeah, I think it's a lot different this year.

I think last year we were kind of, kind of just enjoying the moment. I think no one really expected us to be so good last year and get to the final. And I think this year it's kind of, we have a game plan, we're more focused, everyone, it's kind of more business like this year, I think, which is great. You're coming from against a team

that has very good transition offense and an excellent power play in the Rangers to a team with an excellent transition offense and a elite power play. What have you learned from the Eastern Conference final that you can take into the Stanley Cup final? Yeah, you're right. They're really similar in that way. They create lots off the rush.

They have a ton of speed. And I think discipline obviously is gonna be huge, just like it was last series and throughout our whole playoffs. I think discipline has been a big part of what we're doing compared to last year. We were kind of menaces all over the place, getting in scrums. And I think this year we're kind of staying out of that

and trying to focus on what we can do. And yeah, it's gonna be, especially since it's gonna be huge, staying out of that and trying to focus on what we can do. And yeah, it's gonna be, the special team is gonna be huge, staying out of the box and we have a great PK as well. And we're hoping just to keep the penalties to a minimum, play five on five, I think. That's probably the biggest thing. Carter, you guys did not touch the Prince of Wales trophy.

Is this a superstitious team or were you like told not to do that? You didn't see the clip, Maurice was was like don't bleep and touch that thing I know but how does that start like is he a super city is everybody superstitious in hockey? I don't know the Genesis Yeah, some games are superstitious. I mean I to be honest Personally, it doesn't really matter to me, but I think Yeah, well, let's do the opposite what we did did last year. Obviously it didn't work last year, so I think that was kind of the mindset going in.

Carter, what's the plan for this seven and change flight to Edmonton? Because I might be making it and I am not looking forward to it. I'm sure yours would be next to mine. The plan is a private jet. No, I know, but I'm just saying, what are we thinking? Are we thinking, like, on this plane, like, if Barkov's behind me,, like are we reclining the chair?

We got seven hours here. If we're going to New York, we're not really reclining the chair, but are we reclining on this one? Oh, we're always reclining. There's lots of room on the plane. Oh, that's right. Once again, private, my bad.

Always reclining, but yeah, I mean, it's gonna be a long flight, but I think maybe get some, catch up on some sleep. Usually after games it's pretty tough to sleep and play some poker with the boys. Maybe have some have some fun. Take some guys money. Who's the fish?

Who's the fish in the group that we get all the money from? Oh, I'll go act like he doesn't care enough. Got that payday to you can afford it. Yeah. Diola said that they know about the team's physicality and they say that they are ready for it. So are you expecting a player like a Van de Kane or a Donnell Nurse to come in and try to establish their physicality? Yeah, probably. I think that's part of their game. I think we're just going to try and play to kind of our identity and what we do. And some guys are physical, sometimes it's

quick pace. And I think, yeah, definitely they have a lot of physical guys. I think both those guys obviously are bigger guys and like the Lele Vlade and that's part of their game. But I think we kind of expect that. And it's not really a battle of physicality for us. I think it's, we're playing to win, whether it's physicality or anything else, special teams or just anything like that. But yeah, obviously those two are really physical players. Carter, despite being sort of a betting favorite

all season long, there were lots of folks in the media before the year started that kind of thought what you guys did last year was a bit of a betting favorite all season long, there were lots of folks in the media before the year started that kind of thought what you guys did last year was a bit of a fluke, getting there from the eighth seed, and were picking you guys in some cases to not even make the playoffs. But to a man, all of you were saying, we expect to be back.

How did that sort of mentality going into the season, hearing some of that noise, help propel you guys throughout this long season to now be ready come the postseason. Yeah, obviously, like, it's kind of crazy, actually. I think anytime a team can go to the cup final, it's not really a fluke, you have to be three really good teams to get there. So obviously, it definitely motivated us and but we really don't really pay too much attention to that. I think we kinda, I think as a group,

we do a really good job just sticking to what we do best in our game and we know how good we are and we're confident in that. And it doesn't really matter what other people think because there's always gonna be talk, who's better, whatever like that. And I think just kinda sticking with what we do and kind of humble the confidence kind of thing.

Playoff beards are huge. I got mine going right now. Who's got the saddest playoff? Do you think you're on the team? I'm on, I'm part of the group. Don't do this to me. I'm having a moment. He's paying money on my apologies.

Besides mine, who's got the saddest playoff beard on the team? Saddest? That's tough. The fins don't usually grow too much facial hair and I'd have to give it to Lundy. He's been growing it for- He's trying.

He's been growing it for probably half the year. He started early too. I have not noticed. Carter, come on, half a year? I mean, he's 12 years old. I mean, this guy, Lundo. I mean, this guy, he's London. Yeah, that's tough. Carter, who's the funniest guy on your team?

Probably Nick Cousins. Who's the guy who thinks he's the funniest person on the team? Who thinks he's the funniest? Probably Chucky, but he's still funny. Chucky's funny too. He Chuckie, but he's still fine. Chuckie's fine too. He laughs at all his own jokes. Yeah, he likes his own jokes, that's for sure. Now, Barkie's got this odd, soft-spoken delivery

when he talks. Dry, dry. I feel like, does Barkie ever just start cussing a sailor and it's just funny, because of how soft-spoken he is? No, no, he never really cusses like, like, but his comments are like all time, like when, like, sometimes he'll like someone will ice the puck and then he'll turn his stick over, like he doesn't have a stick, like might as well not have a stick, like just like humble things, like not like just kind of dry sense of humor like that which is absolutely hilarious coming from him too because he's so soft-spoken. Carter

Bobrovsky, in the media we can't get more than two words out of this guy. He's so reticent after a game, win or lose. He's focused. He could play the best game anyone's ever played in goal and he would be like not give you a good quote to put it bluntly. Is he like that with the team like is he super quiet even with you guys or is he does he show aside that we don't know I think he's I it's tough with with Bob he's such a humble guy and I think he comes like he really cares about people as people kind of thing you know what I mean he's such a humble guy. And I think he comes like he really cares about people as people kind of thing. You know what I mean? He's not really into he doesn't get his head too big

or too small. He just treats everyone kind of equally whether like you're not playing or playing or you're starting a team. He doesn't really care. He just I think that's kind of who he is. He kind of just treats everyone humbly like everyone's equal, like a person, you know what I mean? Which is something I love about Bob. That might be something to it. We don't talk enough about you guys off the ice and Jonah Gadjiewicz has received the game puck and he wasn't even playing because he just recently became a fodder. Why don't you talk about how tight knit of a group this team is? Yeah, this team is so tight. I mean, everyone loves each other in the room.

There's pranks going on, games, games going on. And I mean, it's it's awesome time playing for for our team. And yeah, I mean, like to do something special, it doesn't take three guys or one guy or five guys. I mean, it takes a whole team. Everyone's here every day. Everyone wants to pull in the rope, whether you get contributions and practice or like there's so many more things to it than just the product that people see on the ice. And I think Guy's has been awesome all year. He's been in and out of the lineup. And I mean, for him to, I mean, be with the team

when he just had obviously a birth of his kids, I mean, it's awesome and we're all so happy for him. And yeah, it just feels more like a family kind of thing. You said all that and all I heard was the word prank. What was the best prank this year? What's the best thing that happened inside that dressing room? Oh, I got a...

There's so many. You're editing yourself. They seem to always revolve around the same couple people. It's always Kazi, Monty and Chuckie. They're always, something always happens to one of them. I think the other day, I think Kazi, he, I guess someone took his, when we get to the rink, we get changed into our clothes like our Panthers gear and stuff and someone took his clothes and Moved his car and put his clothes By drove his car to a different parking lot with his clothes

It was over at Edmores Great usually sometimes in between rounds we're getting bored, so guys are... Oh, log weight? Yeah. Carter, my name is Chris Cody. Can you give me a cool hockey nickname? Oh, that's a tough one. Codes, maybe?

Oh, I like it. Codes, yeah. Codes, yeah. Chrissy? Chrissy, no? Nope. Codes, he gave you one. All right, he did, he got it.

Codes, yeah. Carter, you're from Canada, you're playing Edmonton, and'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. to frustrate Canadian fans because we're new to hockey, but how does it work in Canada? Do all the different cities get together and root against the Panthers? How does that work?

No, I don't think so. I think there's so many rivalries in Canada as well that I think probably Calgary fans don't want to see Edmonton winning, you know? I don't know. I don't know exactly how it works, but it's like I couldn't imagine Tampa fans wanting us to win, you know? I don't know. I don't know exactly how it works, but that's like I couldn't imagine Tampa fans wanting us to win, you know? Right.

Right. Yeah. But Canadians as a country, they feel like hockey is their game, right? And so it must drive them crazy that a team playing in Sunrise, Florida and another team playing in Tampa, Florida own hockey, that has to be frustrating to Canada, right? Yeah, for sure. I could have not given them that up. Yeah, I'm sure they probably want the Cup back in Canada for sure. I mean, I could only imagine. They're pretty die-hard fans. When you win it, you can bring it back there, okay? I mean, how about that?

Talk about Gustav Forsling's play so far. To me, it seems like he could very well be in line for the Con Smyth trophy. And Vladimir Teresenko, I noticed during the last series how great he was defensively, and he finally got a goal in game six. Talk about those two playing. Yeah, obviously, starting with Gustav, he's been unbelievable all year too. I think he's finally getting some of the credit he deserves. I think a lot of the time last couple of years, he kind of just flew under the radar and no one really kind

of respected him. And I mean, he's such a good skater, so good defensively, offensively, he does it all for a team. The penalty kill, I think he could play on the power play, but he doesn't even play power play because we need him for all the other aspects of the game. You know what I mean? And he's been such a horse and he's such a great player. And Vlad has been awesome too. I mean, like that's the thing about our team.

Like we're, we feel like such a team that when one guy's not going one night, someone else will, everyone's kind of pulling the rope. And Vlad has been, unbelievably, scores big goals. A huge one in Boston. And I mean, yeah, blocking shots. I mean, it feels like everyone's just pulling the rope in the same direction.

Cards, codes here. I just want to let you know that we're gonna have that barn rockin for you guys on Saturday. Let's go! Carter! Carter! Carter! Carter! Carter! Carter! Carter! Carter! You bring that cup home to its rightful place. Sunrise Florida, let's go! Yeah! Yeah!

All right, Carter, I love you. Carter, good luck to you, man. We appreciate the time. It's been a fun run, and hopefully it continues with you guys, and finishes with you guys hoisting the cup. That would be great, man. No response from me. Thanks for having me, guys.

All right, thank you, Carter. Love you. Backstreet's back. Alright. Since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together. But not just any beer would do. Whether you barbecue, text in style, or just celebrate Wednesday with burgers and dogs, I love Miller Lite. Every single time my team plays on television, I am sitting behind that television screen with a Miller Lite or three. Miller Lite keeps it simple, undebatable quality, taste as great as your barbecue. It's the beer that strips away everything you don't need and holds on to what matters the most. With the Miller Lite in hand,

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