The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: Stu Heights

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

"You need to slap this kid upside the head." Stugotz is here. No, for real. He showed up. To the studio. In Miami. To do the show. With us. Today's cast: Zaslow, Stugotz, Chris, Billy, Izzy, Jeremy, and Mike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The tequila. That invented tequila. Broximo.com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo. This is the Dan Levatore's show with the Stugats podcast. So I don't know if you're aware, but today is a big news day. This is a big news day because we had to respond here.

We had to respond on the Dan Levitart show with Stugats. Nice, dude. Hello. Because on the news. New Heights podcast. Yeah. Do I have the name rights? Is that how they say it?

I think so, yeah. That's the right inflection. New Heights. On the New Heights. On the new, maybe they've been saying it wrong. On the New Heights podcast. Yes. They have Taylor Swift on today.

Tay-T-Tay. That's a pretty good get. And so in turn, we had to respond as well. Mm-hmm. And that response comes in the form of one Stugats. Hello. Hello, Stugats. We got the guy whose name is on the show.

Hello. Stucats, good morning, good to see you. It's a big get by you, Zaslo. That's what the producer is called. That's a good poll. He felt like it today. I did. I came here, man.

I woke up this morning and I said, ah, I'm going to come in to a show. And here I am. How do you feel? How are you doing? It's good to see you. I feel great. I do. It's good to see you.

Thank you for allowing me on your program. I appreciate it. My program. Your hair looks fantastic. I was having a very interesting conversation with you right before we turned on the mics here. Yeah, we were talking about your kids at Zazlo. Well, like, because I mean, Stu Gotson, I haven't seen each other in a while. And so he does the whole, hey, you know, how are the obligatory?

How are the kids? It was not obligatory. I was asking you sincerely, how's the family? Turned into Poppy. How's the family? How's the family? But Zaslo, I believe one of his kids has arrived at an age where the kid wants nothing to do with Zaslo, nothing to do with the parents, doesn't want to be home. And if the kid doesn't get his way, he'll just take the keys of the car and drive away.

So that happened last night for the first time in the Zaslo Mansion. You need to slap this kid upside the head, Zazzo. He's running around doing whatever the hell he wants. Like, you claim that he stepped to you and you won that battle. Well, that's true. Yeah, it's true. He bought tickets to go to a UFC fight across state lines. He's just up and leaving the house when he doesn't like you.

Like, what is going on in this Laszal family manner? So, Stu Gott says to me, you know, are you in a place where he, you know, he doesn't want anything to do with you? And I said, you know, us and said, yeah, pretty much. But last night we had a blow up. Like last night was a first, all right? And that was him just up and leaving. up and leaving in a huff. No subject?

Is that too much information if we get the subject? Well, no. So what happened? So my older son is 16, all right? He drives, got his own car, okay, and... It's your car, though, I mean. Well, I mean, I paid for it, but, like, we're a three-car household. He has his own car.

Yes, technically, yes, I pay for it. It's under my name. It's my car. It's a three-car household at the moment. But we have a three-car household. He has his own car. You call and you report that stolen. Like, call the cops, say, someone stole a car from my car.

Let's bring your kid to jail. Exactly right. And matter of fact, I can track it. I'm going to tell you exactly where this comes is. One of the youths from around the block probably. What are the youths? Same last name as me, too. The two what?

The two what? So, so we, he got home yesterday and he's in that teenage mood, you know? The mood where, you know what I'm talking about. I know the mood. Where he just doesn't want to be around anyone and just sits in a dark room by himself, doom scrolling, all right, just staring at the, the phone and just being... Zoom scrolling.

Just being miserable. Wow. It doesn't get much better around 40, kid. And so, and all my wife and I wanted to, we just want to, like, we just want to talk and be around you. And, and I don't, we just want... He's done talking. He's done talking to you.

He's done being around you. Right. He's done with all of it. And so, so then finally, one of us shouted at him, if this is what you're going to be like, then we don't want you here. okay and so of course what's there oh you don't want me here well i'm leaving and like that's exactly what happened he got you right yeah right right he showed us he he took his key like where are you going he goes well you don't want me here i'm leaving and and he he up and left and so so we had this

hey then my wife is like she's all hysterical now and right jonathan what should we do what she talks like you did you tell it's odd yeah did you To tell White Tamara, he's probably just driving around the block a few times. Where's he going to go, honey? As somebody who had, you're bringing me back right now to the, I'm fighting with my parents, I'm just leaving, don't have anywhere to go. He went to a fast food restaurant. Yeah, that's exactly where I went to, but it's the only place where you're allowed to go.

I like the idea of, like, the Zaslo Manor, everyone has the same. Mansion. I'm sorry, Zaslo Mansion, everyone has the exact same cadence. They all talk like Zad. Guess what we're going to, we're going to go to our in-laws. I'd leave that house too I mean You're a thousand percent right

Because about five minutes later You know we have the apps Where you could check where they're going Little Life 360 Exactly That's what we have Great app, okay And we check the app like five, ten minutes later

And we can clearly see He's in the drive-thru A talk of course I do it Smoking pot Living Moss Kids haven't changed Right if it was anything like me

You know We're parked at the local fast food place then we're lighting up a bowl, okay? Well, that's what he's doing, too, Zat. I don't think that that's what he was doing. Once again, it doesn't get much better at 40. But my wife should say, what are we doing? I don't know.

I don't have the handbook of how to deal with this. She kept asking me for answers. I don't have the answers. You're the head of the household. You're supposed to have the answers, man. She looks to you to have the answers. Have an answer. Make up an answer.

Right. It's pretty obvious that when you've got the life, 360, you can pretty much monitor him. There's so much less to worry about. Let him think he's living. Yeah. What were our parents doing? Because you're 100% right about that.

Like when I left in a huff or like Chris just said, he left in a huff. And although Chris's age, you probably had a cell phone. I didn't have a cell phone at that time. There was no tracking people, though. I don't believe. Right, right. But like when I left in a huff and certainly, Stu Gatz, when you left your house house. No cell phones.

No cell phone, definitely no internet, no apps, no Life 360, none of that bullshit. Like, how did our parents not freak out? In our age, and I believe Stu can confirm this with me, people in the streets knew you were a runaway because I took all my clothes and put it in one blanket and then put it on the end of a stick. People didn't actually put that over my shoulder. No, I did it. No, absolutely. That's how people knew you were a runaway. It's almost like hitchhiking without having to put your thumb up.

Hey, I need a place to stay. I dreamed of doing that so many times as a kid What an odd dream You got to have a strong stick What stick do you use? Oh, you got to get a good branch You got to go to the yard You got to start well, in my family

You got to start thinking about Which one of these were my dad have used To whack me on the ass I'm going to take that one away Yeah, it's a whole other Whole nother topic We can talk about it after How long was your kick gone?

Off air? Well, I I fell asleep and... You were really worried. See, that's another thing. You could chase that kid down. You text them, can you bring me back a Taco Bell Crunch Rap Supreme, please?

I'll get back to answering Billy's question there, but that's another thing. I don't understand the parents, probably our parents, when we were young, how they stay up in the living room and they wait for you to get home. Right. I always fall asleep.

My dad would tell me back in the old days with no cell phones, there was a parenting network. My parents knew where I was at all times. I'm telling you, like, they had a network of parents and someone was in charge of tracking where all the kids were. So they knew. Or at least they claimed that they knew.

I like the idea of Zaz sitting there waiting for his son, like having the arguments in his head, and then just kind of falling asleep. And as soon as he hears something, he's like, oh, you'll never do this again. Pops up arguing. No, no, I don't fall asleep trying to wait up in the living room. I'm not even attempting to. I go to bed. Like under a blanket.

Yeah, like comfortable. So I definitely don't care about your kids. But I keep the ringer on my phone. I keep it on, okay, if he needs me. What about the text, though? I keep that on too. Wow. Yeah, I keep it on for, you could set on the app, you know, certain people.

You could have the sound off and the sounds on for those people. Yes. You're not getting the alerts for the hockey chat all night. No, no, no. That would keep me up all night. So back to Billy's very important question. I woke up randomly at like three in the morning. and I rolled over and I checked my phone

to make sure my son came home, you know, so he came home around one. When did he leave? Maybe like nine? Wow. Jesus. We're going to have to check his cell phone activity. Where was he exactly for those several hours?

Do you have an alarm? Do I have an alarm? Yeah. My phone has an alarm. No, no, like your house. Oh, yes, of course. So, like, I'm assuming was the alarm on, off? Because, like, I would turn it on.

So when he gets home, home, set it off? Or, like, how handy are you? Then the cops got him and take him to prison. Yeah, how handy are you? Well, I'm Jewish, so the answer to that is self-explanatory. But we, he has, he has, like, the security features on his phone. You turn it off when you're coming home. I think what you do next time, do you feel like this is going to be something we go through again? I feel like he's going to up the answer. Yeah, I'm pretty certain it's going to get started. This is what I think you do. Go to the Home Depot or the Lowe's or one of those, and you buy a new lock. And the next time, this.

rat decides I'm going to go home and I'm going to show my parents. You literally change the lock on the door. And then see how long before he realizes like, oh, I'm not, I'm not welcome in this house anymore. Then he takes the rails, the trains. He gets on a train and goes out somewhere else with his bindle. You know that Dennis the Menace, the movie? Have you seen the movie Dennis the Menace? Yeah, sure. Christopher Lloyd, where he was someone who was, you know, riding the rails. Look it under that bridge. That really took the dream that Izzy had of being a stowaway on a train away for me real quick. I was like, you know what? I do not want to just be hopping on random trains and running away because there's Christopher Lloyds of the world out there doing that.

That is a good movie to discourage running away. Yeah. Do you think Dennis Menace holds up these days? I haven't seen in a while. Probably not. Walter Mathout? It doesn't. I believe he was the grumpy guy, right? You know there's a difference between a mansion and a manor? Yeah, man. I didn't know what the difference was. A mansion has opulence. Yeah. A manor has multiple mansions on it. Yeah. It's like the main house. You want to. Manor, not a mansion. You do want a manner. Already been through this.

I'm a mansion kind of guy. Stand-alone home. It's a mansion, but a standalone man. Zas is a poor rich. I want my opulence, dog. But you have opulence with a manor, too. You also have more land. All right, I'm not going to, you know,

I'm not going to litigate this with you. I'm more impressed if I'm pulling up to a manor than I am if I'm pulling up to a mansion. As you should be. It's a guest. Have you talked to this kid again since last night? Like, when you woke up, did you see him? No, he's a teenager. There's no way he was awake when I left the house.

Well, I don't know. It's cool. He did drop out? No, no, they're in private school. They haven't started yet. Question. You said that you were less upset than White Tamara, but yet you were the one on the couch. Was she comfortably sleeping in bed?

No, yeah. I wasn't on the couch. We both went to sleep. So neither of you care. We don't stay up like that. Well, why do I need to stay up? Why do I need to stay up and stare? Like I said, we got features on my phone, man.

When your son comes home and nobody's waiting. for him. He's like, they never gave a shit about me to begin with. Right. Well, we already told him, you know, if this is your attitude, we don't want you here. Who's we already established that? Who said get out? Why do you or your wife? My wife. Wow. Yeah. But then she was the most upset when he

finally did leave. But Izzy is right. When your kid runs away and then comes home, right? You have to be, someone needs to be standing at the door waiting for the kid. It's intimidating. You need to do it. I mean, you used to do that? No. No. Sitcom music in the background. Just like, oh, okay, now.

Now we know it's the time to discuss this and then settle our situation and then we both go to bed calmly. Look, every football game is a grind. And if you're like Dan and the crew, you know there's no such thing as one size fits all. Your sleep should be just as custom as coach's game plan. That's where sleep number comes in. You get to call your own plays. Softer, firmer, cooler, warmer, warmer, your side, your comfort. Change it whenever you want.

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And I said, if you roll your eyes one more time, there's going to be a problem, a big problem. And she said, really, what are you going to do? Stugats. Oh, God damn. I mean, that's where she... I didn't have an answer. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. I was a good parent, Aslo.

My kids never ran away. You were? Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm not parenting anymore. They're adults. I mean, I'm done. It's over. Yeah, it's over.

I did it. I think that you're probably not going to like this answer. You got to give up on this kid. This kid's a lost cause and just focus on the other ones. Move on. Yeah, we don't have the same issue with number two. Just drive into, like, a farm and open the door and say, be free? No, no, it is what it is.

He's 16, you said. He'll be around for two more years. Just stop talking to him. Exactly right, yeah. I mean, you're just, okay, we do what we can. Sorry, lost cause. We're going to focus on your brother now. We love him more than you.

Finish product. He's like, bam, out of bio. You know what he is. Right. So how do I handle it when I get home today? Start calling him a Medrice. I mean, you're assuming that when you get home, the lock's not going to be changed. Sounds like this kid runs a household.

to honestly, he does whatever he wants. I think when you get home, you basically just start questioning every time he does something. He goes to the freezer for an uncrustable. Just like, hey, hey, if you're not living here, those aren't yours. If he goes to, like, fine and go wash his hands,

they're like, what are you talking about? People who don't have houses don't have running water to wash their hands. He just start doing that over and over again, and he's like, fine, dad, I get it. So you want me to ride him? Like, I'm going to keep this going on. It seems like it'll probably make things worse,

but you got to. We've already given up on him. Make him pay rent. I'm with Billy. Ignore him, move on. Buy something really cool for your other son. Just show him that. This is what happens when you behave.

Oh, take your other son to the UFC fight he wanted to go to. Well, it did take my other son to SummerSlam last week and I didn't take the older one. That's because the older one didn't want to go though. That's fair. The older one's not really interesting anymore. You didn't want to go with you. You know what you should do, say, in the Zaslo Mansion, no more Arab fighters. You know what Stug got.

Just put it on the door. in front. So everybody knows when they come in. No Arabs. Yeah, no. To the audience just joining us, there is context. Yes. His son loves the Arab family.

Yeah, his son's an asshole. So Stu Gads did suggest before as well, have you thought about grounding him? Yeah. And then I said, like, I don't know, maybe this is like a new generation type of thing. I don't know, like, we've never been a grounding family. Like, I don't think we've ever actually grounded him. Hmm. There's your problem. Well, it's very obvious, I mean.

Well, Stugats, did, like, did you ground your daughters? I was grounded. I never grounded my daughters. So, again, we were good parents. We had no reason to ground. I don't know why you keep saying we were good parents. I mean, my kids aren't taking the keys and leaving a conversation and coming back at 1 a.m. Not happening. But you never grounded them. Never grounded them.

Don't you have one child on the other side of the planet right now? Australia. She's back. She was a Bondi Beach studying for a weekend, yeah. Studying for a weekend. It wasn't a weekend? I'm sorry, a semester. Thank you. She actually studied for what, you know, for a weekend for two days the rest of the time she parted.

Several months. Gotcha. A party, not studying. Steve Gatz's parental strategy is out of sight, out of mind. Send them away. Like, Chris, were you ever grounded growing up? I remember my mom being very mad at me a lot, but I don't remember actually. Very mad at me a lot.

But never granted? I can remember, I can picture my mom being upset with me, but there was never like you're grounded for two weeks. Oh, yeah. I'm not asking, like, did you ever, like, were you never in trouble? I never, that's what I mean. Like, I don't know. To answer your question, no, I can't remember getting specifically grounded.

I can't picture Greg Cody being a hard ass. Oh, no, my mom was the hard ass. Are we still grounding kids? Is that? Right now, for me, it's the tablet. If you do something, you have no, you can just go in your room and you can color. I think I already established with me it was a stick or belt to the ass. Coloring is a punishment these days.

Yeah, you actually just like make them do things with other human beings. You can't. That's the punishment. No electronics. You need to be a normal kid. You have to go outside. and play with other kids. I'm serious, though.

That is the big punishment these days. If I say you're going to lose your tablet, she will do whatever I say. I think we're talking about a different age group here, though. This is what I'm dealing with. Yeah, but he's 16, and Zazel's not going to take his phone or his computer. Right. The kid doesn't care if he does.

Oh, well, that's a great example because one of the things that we did last night was because he, we didn't love his attitude. My wife turned off, like, the features on his phone. You know, she can control that because the family's sharing. whatever. And okay, that obviously expedited the whole him, I'm leaving situation. And then what happened was he left and I got to check the light 360 because I want to see where he is, but guess what? It's off because she turned off the features. So then I got to tell my wife, you got to turn the features back on so I can keep track of him. You can't just turn on the one

individual feature? Look, you're asking me questions. I don't have all the answers to. I'm just telling you what I know. Can you text your son and ask him what particular feature got him so heated that he didn't have anymore, that he was willing to move away from his parents? Why don't we get them on? Snapchat? Instead of you doing this, just bring your kid on and we'll do like a family therapy here.

I think it's the Snapchat. That's the thing that the teenagers are like in love with these days. What happened with Snapchat? Still cooking. Yeah, younger people still like it. But it's, did it like go out of style and then come back with younger people? I feel like Snapchat started and we like moved away from it,

but it's still a thing with younger people. I think that's how the teenagers text. I don't think they use the actual texting on the phone. I think they all text. They do. They message these Snapchat. That's how they said nudes. Like if someone cares so much what you're thinking that you need to send it in like disappearing Snapchat,

no one gives a shit about your high school drama losers. Get a life. I don't know, man. Anyway, that's what I got going on. Good to see you, Stugats. Good to see you, Azlo. I'm glad the family stuff's going well. Well, it didn't help you at all.

You still don't have a strategy for what you get home. Well, I'll have an update tomorrow. Like, I'm here all week, all week, all right? You know what you're going to do? No, I have some time. I just surveyed the room. You guys were not much help, and I got to figure out what to do now. I've got to figure it out on your own, man.

I mean, do you think your kid is expecting some sort of conversation when you get home today? Well, I think he's probably praying there's not. Right. But he thinks there probably is, right? I don't know. Because he's going to avoid you the entire day. Oh, yeah. Like, I'm going to get home, and he's going to be in the exact same position he was in yesterday afternoon when we got mad at him.

That's for sure. Right. Either that or it would be smoking pot in an alley somewhere. I mean. What's today? He just, he's home? Like, he's just home all day?

Yeah, he's not working today. Until Zaslo gets home. Is he listening to this? Right. No, no. Like, okay, so that's another thing. Like, you think that he'd be listening. No, these, my kids don't care.

They don't care that I'm on the radio or podcast or, or Peacock. The younger one cares or, I mean. No, not really. They don't think it's a big deal. It's not a big deal to them because you've done it your whole life. You've been on the radio, you've been on TV. It's so not impressive to them. It's dad's job.

Yeah, it's so not. Oh, they like it when we're sitting, you know, ringside at SummerSlam, but otherwise it's not impressive. It's not impressive to them. Yeah, Sue, do your daughters, it doesn't really matter to them that you were on ESPN, on the air, because it's all they know. It's all they know. At the time, the first few times we were at ESPN, it was a big deal to them because it was such a big deal to me. But after that, after a couple of weeks, it was just, it became normal to them, you know, so not impressed. It's hard to impress your kids, man.

God, kids, they humble you. They kind of suck. So Taylor Swift was really on that podcast, huh? Well, I think she's going to be on tonight or it's tomorrow. Wednesday, I thought it said. Tomorrow. Jason's got a new coat. Who?

Not, and I'm not talking about a jacket. So we counter, though, I think, in a very big way. Like, it's quite possible that Kelsey brothers are like this Dan Lebutz are showing Stugats. They're climbing too far up the charts. They've been looking at the charts. They're like, we need something. Call Taylor in. And we called in the reserves and we brought in Stugat.

That's our, they brought in a lefty hitter. We're bringing in our lefty. Sue, you're friendly with Travis a little bit. Yeah. Is this going to be his last season? Feels that way, no? He's not going to tell me. I mean, I mean, I'm just asking.

Yeah, I'm asking you as someone that knows him better than anyone else in the room I don't think it's going to be his last season. I don't. This is where you'd be like, I talked to him last week. He's not sure. I talked to him in Tahoe. Yeah, you post for a photo. Yeah, but you know how Tahoe goes, Mike.

Like, you'll say anything. You're in a good mood. The weather's beautiful. You're about to play golf. I got the sense he was going to play five more years when I talked to him in town. I know how it goes for you in Tahoe. But then I also realize we're in Tahoe and people just say stuff. Yeah, it's all just chit-chat.

Yeah. So five more years. I don't expect a whole lot out of him this year if we're being serious for Roman. I subscribe to the theory of once you start thinking about the retiring, I feel like you've retired? Yeah, I feel like you're like that's probably the time. Like remember, this was a conversation at the end of the Super Bowl last year. This was a real thing that he might retire. He decided, no, I'm still going to play.

And it's also coming off, obviously, like his least productive year, I think since his rookie season. I think once you start thinking that way, like I think you're kind of done. He has big-time Hollywood aspirations, too, taking a ton of meetings around town. Everyone knows it. He was good in Happy Gilmore. He was very good. I liked him. I got to tell you, the window for me to watch this movie is probably closed.

There are too many people saying that it's really, really bad. Not worth it. He was good, though. I want to see the came out. What do you mean? Not worth it? Like, he doesn't have an hour and a half in his life. It's not worth the hour and a half?

I genuinely, like, if I'm going to spend an hour and a half of my life on a movie, I want it to be like one that's not bad. I started watching that Jurassic Park, the new one. I liked it. It's good, right? I fell asleep twice. Same. Stu, when you were in, uh,

in Tahoe talking to Travis Kelsey. Yeah. Are you sure it wasn't Jonas Valencianus? It could have been. Don Lebertard. Mike Ryan's in there, and he's the one with a baby. He's the one who's got to, like, worry about what the future is. And Mike Ryan bet on Draft Kings, because Mike Ryan bet on us.

This is the bet you're afraid of doubling down on. Putting up a billboard in Edmonton. Stugats. I care more about Matthew Kachuk than I do my daughter. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Well, if you were at your alerts on the hockey chats as while your son ran away from home, we're buzzing a little bit. Matthew Kachuk is playing the long con. So I saw this, Stugats.

I saw this yesterday. I don't know if you did. Matthew Kachuk, he plays with the Panthers. Thank you. There's back to Stanley Go champs. I don't know if you know that. And Matthew Kachuk is, he had hernia and torn a doctor. Those are very serious injuries.

Played through it like a champ. That's a winner right thing. A doctor or ad doctor. Whatever I said is what it is. You're a doctor, I'm sorry. Say it again, though. He tore that during the fight. Torn a doctor.

A doctor. We all knew that he got injured at the four nations. What we didn't know is that he tore his adductor. That was for you, Zez. That was. Aductor. Yeah. That he tore it in the fight. He dropped gloves in the first few seconds of that game against Canada and Montreal.

And then he played through peaks and valleys when it came to his playoff performance, but had a good Stanley Cup, especially as that series got more. It felt like he got healthier throughout the playoffs. He obviously started, remember the first postseason game against Tampa. He had the two goals. Like, oh my God, Chuckie, I love you so much. and then he was pretty quiet for like two rounds. But then Eastern Finals, and especially at Stanley Cup final, he was awesome again.

He tore that a doctor off the bone. It's something that's reportedly going to need surgery. He's playing a long con right now because he still has not gotten the surgery. Right. So he spoke with ESPN's Greg Wysinski yesterday where he's still undecided, Stugats, what he's going to do if he's going to have the surgery. If he has the surgery, it's going to cost him between two and three months. Right.

So, like, if he had the surgery now, let's say three months, we're talking being out until maybe the beginning of December. And that's a con, why? Well, it's a long con because he's going to be out for the entire regular season, just play towards the end of the regular season and to the postseason. Do the Panthers really need him during the regular season? Well, I mean, they showed that they could play well without him towards the tail end of the season.

After the Four Nations, we didn't see him again to the playoffs. But here's why it's a long con. You hold out from the surgery because of that recovery. time, even though the NHL is going to eventually do away with a long term. Pay attention here, Stu, guys. This is what's very important. They're going to do away with a long-term IR. That doesn't take into effect this season. So, Florida is going to manipulate the rules in their favor. Have them have surgery as close to the start of the season as you can, and you get to extend that recovery time, and you get to make evaluations on your roster. It's because of this that you

haven't traded someone like Evan Rodriguez. Because if Matthew Kuch is on this active roster, the Florida Panthers are over the salary cap. By like three. some odd million dollars, which in hockey is actually a lot. So the question would be like, well, if you're going to end up trading Evan Rodriguez, why not trade them at the start of the season if you still need to make this move with Matthew Kachuk. Here's why you don't do that move. Here's why it benefits the Florida Panthers for Matthew Kuchuk to put this surgery off.

Someone else can get hurt. It's hockey. Very physical sport, as we know. And you also have essentially three and a half months of data points that you can take into account and see, is it going to be Evan Rodriguez? Is it going to be somebody else who's not. whose form is not up to snuff here, we can evaluate this season as it goes on. So Florida's doing the smart thing here, and Matthew Kachuk, even though it seems counterintuitive,

is wise in putting off this surgery as long as possible, so Florida has the most flexibility. And before people start calling it the Kachuk rule after next year and saying, oh, the Panthers, those assholes they did it. Can you tell them who did it against us the last few years? Kuturov, Stone. Those are the two. Yeah, Vegas did it a ton. Look, Florida, it's fair. I complained about those teams.

I don't know if fair is the thing that... It's within the rules. It's fair. I didn't like it. We went into a Stanley Cup against a very loaded Vegas Gold and Knight team. We were not using the long-term IR. They were. They were loaded. They were super deep because they used this. Tampa, we all know what happened there when they eliminated Florida.

We all know what happened last couple years. Took that ass. Florida got to say we won a Stanley Cup without using this rule last year. I mean, two years ago. Last year, they used it. it, and we're going to remain consistent over here. I don't like it when teams abuse this loophole, but it's going to be a loophole, and Florida's already gone through that threshold.

So they're going to abuse it as long as they can now. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. You don't like it when it's done to you, but if you're doing it, you're fine. I'm not fine. I'm going to be consistent. I'm with you, by the way. I don't like it, and if other teams want to criticize, they can criticize Florida. I think the dirty stuff is a little played out, but they can criticize Florida for abusing

long-term IR. They can criticize Aaron Ekblad for the performance-enhancing drugs. Those things are fairer game. And Florida did kind of, for the first time, in my opinion, really leaned into the black hat that the rest of the league, their fans and the media put on them years ago, where I thought it was unfair before. Now it's justified. So you think that the reason that he hasn't had the surgery, because the first thing that comes to mind for me is the season ended, you won the Stanley Cup in the middle of June. That was two months ago. Why am we had the surgery? yet. Like, I'd like you to be healthy and ready for the start of the season. He played golf in Lake Tahoe, too. Normally, those are things fans get mad at. Right. Like, you're delaying surgery to play golf? Get ready for next season. Like, that was a Shaq move all the time. Remember, Shaq, he had the surgery on his big toe, like, the day before training camps. I was like, well, you had the whole summer, you know? So that's the first thing that came to mind for me is, I wish you would have done it already. You'd be almost completely recovered. But you're saying, you think this is actually a coordinated effort with that.

the team. Yes, Florida has capable wingers that come in. Look, Matthew Kachuk, despite his gritty reputation, and that's well learned. Defensively, he's not like the rest of the forwards on the Florida Panthers. He's one of the slowest players in the league. So if you put in an offensive-minded winger like Boquist or Sam Cicavich, they're going to produce. They've proven whether it's on line two, whether it's on line three, they're going to go in there. If they get the ice time, they put up points because they're surrounded by good players. Normally it would sound counterintuitive to start a season without one of your best players in Matthew Kachuk. Without the guy who changed the entire

trajectory of your franchise system. But it benefits them for this point in their franchise timeline for him to get this surgery later so they can keep this core together for even if it's just a few more months. How do you envision that going down, that conversation? Are the Panthers telling Matthew Kachuk, hey,

delay it. Hey, we can't get you a doctor till mid-August. This was plotted out the second he got hurt. Well, but what if Kachuk said to them? Yeah, like, I hear what you're saying, but I really like playing hockey. Right. He's within his rights to do that, but I think he's a team player. He changed the franchise. This is all coordinated with Kachuk, his reps, and Florida won. And look, it was very important to

Matthew Kachuk for us to re-sign the guys that we did. That math does not math. If Matthew Kachuk is on the roster day one, you're going to have to say goodbye. You're going to have to kick some guys out of the group chat. And this is a tight group of guys, and they don't seem ready to kick anybody out of the group chat right now. Do you know who this was not coordinated with? probably the folks at EA sports their cover athletes going to be out all year long we're already cursed with a cover athlete

so the part that I don't want to say this part bothers me because like that team's not could be able to do anything to bother me with the joy they've given me these last few years but I don't so there is something to be said for hey it's most important to have him healthy for the playoffs

and maybe if he misses the first two maybe three months of the season he'll not only be healthy but he will be somewhat rested, you know, by the time the playoffs roll around, and that's obviously what's most important because we're trying to win a Stanley Cup. And all of that makes sense. But I also don't want to become the team that only cares about the destination because the journey to me is extremely enjoyable still. Like, I don't want the only goal to be the playoffs. I want

the whole season to matter. But the journey is hard, Zaslow, and they've done it two years in a row. And they've played more hockey game than any team. But we can essentially say three. They've been there three years in a row. And they've been there three years in a row. So why not take some shortcuts when you can? And this is a shortcut. Good for Kachuk. The Panthers will be fine without them during the regular season. And even if they aren't, if they go in as a four-seed or a five-seat like they did this year,

they're still going to be the favorites probably, as long as Kachuk is healthy to win the college. They weren't the favorites entering last season because they got hurt. Matthew Kuch was out. People were down. I think by the time Puck Drop started on the first playoff game, Carolina was a favorite out east. I don't know if they're the favorite right now. We can check the odds on Draft Kings. I don't think they are. I think they're second.

You have to keep in mind, they play in a very difficult division. This is one of the toughest divisions in hockey, if not the most difficult division in hockey. It's very within the realm of possibility that without Matthew Kachuk, they don't finish top three in a division in which teams get a massive boatload of points compared to some of the other divisions. It's why Carolina baked into their team plans is we have a much weaker division. If we just improve on this core, we have a path to the Eastern Cruel. conference finals, and then they get tricked into thinking they're a lot better than they actually are. Florida can have a tougher path, but luckily, this franchise has shown you in back-to-back years. They can do it with home ice, and they can do it without ever having home ice.

My biggest question on the team is, how long do we get this version of Bob? Because when that starts to slide, then I don't know what it looks like. I mean, there's no real reason to believe that it's dropping off yet, you know? Why would you think that? Is he just... What is he old? Is he old? Is he 37, I think? I guess what you hang your hat on is this this postseason run was the best version of Bob throughout their two previous. Start a little slow, and then after the start, it was great. Kind of nuts, Bob's part in this whole run here, Florida made the playoffs that first year as an eight seed when they made it to the Stanley Cup funnel only to eventually lose to Vegas

is he was benched. Alex Lyon. He was not the starter at the beginning of the postseason. Alex Lyon got Florida, got Florida into the playoffs. playoffs, and Bob had to reclaim his job during that postseason. Well, they went down three games to, or I think they were down to one at the time, and then they went to Bobrovsky. And, of course, they came back and they beat balls.

Kind of nuts, considering where we are here. He's certainly a Hall of Famer, and he's going to have his jersey retired by this franchise. They make that initial run. They get proof of concept because they benched him. Jeremy's also here today. Hello, Jeremy. Hey, Zaz. Jeremy, you were out yesterday.

Did you hear anything that you were not into? yesterday you had a problem with that you want to get your thoughts in on? Yeah, some things that I had an issue with, but other things that I thought were really great. So I do have a top five topics from yesterday to respond to. So, O-L-I. We sounded really, really old. Posting to Facebook? Well, I mean, that's... What's wrong with that? It was a Greg Cody Monday. Yeah. Yeah. Facebook's too young for Greg Cody, but it's just, you know, Facebook's not the place for those first day of school photos anymore. Drop the the. Just call it Facebook.

Asking Greg if he would date Chris. That was not the question. There was more, is he your tie? Hey, actually, I'm not criticizing it. I'm saying it's actually a pretty normal question. In fact, the President of the United States has said he would date his daughter if it wasn't his daughter. So moving on, another OLLI. I suppose the conversation you guys had about deli meat.

Ah, board's head. Really, really great discussion. You've got to go up to the deli counter. Ask for thinly slice. Always. That gets exactly where you guys wanted to be between like that shredded deli meat and way too thick from just buying the pre-packaged one. Number five, criticisms of Greg. Ten minutes apart.

You guys got mad at Greg for not lying about a story with Tim Bowens and making up details. and then 10 minutes later got mad at him for making up a story with details about umpiring. Be consistent, guys. Come on, if you're going to criticize Greg, do the things that actually should be criticized. Fallacy and falsehoods. Number four. That's not why we got mad at Greg. He didn't give us anything on the Tim Bowen Stone.

It was so annoying yesterday. Number four, the audience's favorite topics. Really glad we talked about WWE and TV rights again. It's fair. Really glad we did that. one. Number three, Ethan. I cannot believe. Jeremy, on that one? You're right. I can't believe you guys fell for the ruse of him caring about his dog. All he wanted was to be on this show. You know how I know that?

I've been him before. Number two. You probably tore the ACL himself. I actually had that hypothetical question before the show today. I asked the room while you were out, I said, if Ethan knew he was going to speak so much on air, do you think you would have enjoyed it? his dog soon. 100%. 100%. Number two, you guys didn't know there were dildos at CVS?

Nobody knows. Got them doze. Yeah, man. You knew that? Nice. Oh my God, he knows. Who doesn't? Number one, Juju's best idea.

You guys totally blew past this one in the post game show. The idea of giving winners of a championship, not just the big, gaudy championship ring that they could leave in their home on display, but essentially a wedding band. that's engraved with the team name and the year in which they win. You could even engrave it maybe with the gem that's the color of the team. I thought that was an unbelievable idea, and you guys just blew right past it. Like the Rinaldo wedding band?

We could just have a nice toned down. Jesus. I'm so glad we went to this. That is a wedding ring. Now is a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Quervo. What are you doing here?

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