The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Finally Talking Heated Rivalry

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

The Hockey Show is back, and the gang is only weeks late to the party, but they finally discuss the sensation sweeping the hockey world: Heated Rivalry. With lead actors Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams set to take part in the Olympic torch relay, the gang also gets to discuss their excitement for the upcoming Olympics. Ethan has a stat of the day about how dominant Quinn Hughes has been since coming to Minnesota, Rose has an update on the LA Kings in Rosa En Un Minuto, and Dave attempts to win money again in Puck Luck. In wins and fails, the gang celebrates Sergei Bobrovsky fighting Alex Nedeljkovic in what may have been the most uncharacteristic moment in NHL history. Then, Adnan joins the show to continue the discussion on Heated Rivarly, share his thoughts on the Olympics, and tell us how ugly he thinks Mitch Marner's return to Toronto will be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more at adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat. There's nothing better than a goalie fight. Hell yeah. Yes, go, Bobby. This is the hockey show. David Jorke of the Hockey News is over there Rose and Ethan Dernado the studio over there

And Percy Don't forget Percy It's the most important guest on the show today Okay This is the hockey show you can check us out on YouTube Our YouTube page is the Hockey Show DLS On TikTok, The Hockey Show 7 And on X Instagram and threads

at Hockey Show DLS. We have been the only hockey podcast that hasn't talked about heated rivalry. You got to watch it first. Yeah, we got to watch it first on it. I mean, speak for yourselves. Well, you've watched it. I'm halfway through the season. Roy is TBD.

Yeah. With Hudson Williams and Connor's story being the Olympic torchbearers up in Milan, figured it would be a good time to finally actually talk about this show. I haven't watched it yet, as we said. But Ethan and David have. Ethan has seen the entire run of the first season. I don't know where you are. I'm on episode three.

I'm halfway through. All right. So you're not going to go. It takes me forever to watch anything. Yeah. I think you're still working on player of us over there? I am. Dude, thanks for the reminder.

You got it. All right. So convince. Well, not, I'm going to end up watching it anyway. But why don't you tell me about the show? Convince me of watching it here. I mean, it's, you know, it's a gay hockey show. Like that's, that is what it is.

It's two hockey players, two of the best hockey players in the world that end up kind of falling in love. And it's the trials and tribulations or, you know, obstacles that they have to maneuver, trying to keep it a secret. And I don't want to give too much away. But it's, it's certainly something I've never seen before. Yeah. It's, you know, in terms of like breaking down barriers and giving you something that's maybe not going to make everybody comfortable, but certainly something that's prevalent in the world today.

I've already heard about hockey players who are coming out of the closet. because of the show and it's empowering them to be more comfortable and I think that's awesome. But yeah, I mean, it's different. It's really entertaining. The acting is spectacular. But it's certainly different. The world has changed in the last four years, hasn't it? Oh, I mean, yeah. I'm going to give you a reason. And I know we talked about it with Edmund, but the guy who is Russian is not Russian. He's Texan. He's a freaking Texan.

He's a great, great actor. And he's very handsome. So that's, that's, uh, that's, uh, The main reason to watch is very handsome. Yeah, so Connor's story is the guy who plays Oya Rosenov, who is the lead Russian character. He's the superstar. It's, Roy, you know what fan fiction is? Yes, apparently that has happened for the Cracken. There was a story that came out of Seattle a couple years ago about fan fiction that one of the players' wives was not happy about. Yeah, so fan fiction is, you know what it is.

This is basically a fan fiction of what if Sidney Crosby and Alex of, Vechkin were gay. Like, that's basically what the story is. It's a Canadian superstar and a Russian superstar picked at the same time, basically. Well, one was picked, you know, Rovechkin and Crosby were They were drafted together. They're both global superstars, been the superstar forever. Right, exactly. There's less of a struggle, like they both win early in their careers versus how Crosby won early and then Ovechkin won late. But it's basically like that. And it's a really interesting story. I mean, the show itself, like, it's more of a romance story. where their jobs are hockey,

than it is a hockey story or a hockey show. But it's really good. I mean, it's a great romance story. The writing is great. The character development is really good. The storyline, I think, is really great. I have my problems with it in terms of the story itself. Like, it moves a little fast,

and there are some things that I want them to build on a little more that I hope they do in coming seasons and stuff. But, yeah, I think, I mean, it's awesome. What do you think about the show, Percy? Percy loved it. She watched it with me. She thought it was great. Percy, come here.

Very nice. And the fact that it's Sidney Crosby makes it even better. Okay, all right, fine. All right. I highly recommend it to everybody. And the best thing it's done is it's brought, it's opened hockey to an entire new world, and it's brought a lot of new fans into watching the NHL. And I think that's the best thing is hockey is for everybody.

And I think this show has done a great job proving that. One thing that we've got to touch on, though, on that topic of how this show is kind of opening the world up to other hockey players, which is what we're all about. Hockey is for everyone, right? Yeah. But apparently there's a podcast out there that's gotten very popular talking about this show, and the news just came out. What chaos? No, what chaos.

We love what chaos. That's not the one. We love what chaos. Yeah. No, there's another podcast. Oh, is not them? No. This one is about the Empty Nettlers podcast.

This is what Chris Cody was talking to us about before the show. Oh. Apparently, these guys have been like going a lot on their show about empty, or about he did rivalry, which is awesome, good for them. but I guess the outsports.com got a hold of some text messages from one of the hosts of the show, Dan Powers, really bashing the show behind the scenes and text messages, calling the show creators cowards. Cowards. Yeah, quote, this is the trash they make because it panders. It's provocative.

It checks inclusivity boxes. He's saying that they are pandering the gay people? Is that what he's saying? I guess. It's definitely speaking out of two sides of your mouth. And like, wow. I don't know. It's just, we try to be genuine on the show.

I feel like we don't say anything on these mics that we don't mean. Yeah, like I haven't watched the show yet. Well, no, like honesty is, you know, it's where you should start with everything. Yeah. But, no, I just, when Chris brought that to my attention and I started reading about it, it's just like, do we have to try that hard to get attention to get the viewers into? I don't know, like, just because it's a popular show. Like, we haven't talked about it for a few weeks because we haven't watched it yet. We're late to board the train.

train. That's the honest truth. But here we are talking about it. So this just kind of irked me. I don't know. It's a bad look though. I mean that's the type of thing that guest brokers would look at and quite frankly would want to avoid that show. Right? Yeah, no, because I agree with you. Like if you watch it

and you're saying you like it and then go say something else, it's like, then I'm not going to believe anything you're saying to me. Like you have to be like you got to stick to your truth. So if you don't stick to your truth, who are you speaking? If you're afraid to speak your truth about something instead of line, then just stay off the top.

And hockey has had enough problems with homophobia in the league. Oh, by the way, Gary Redmond. Gary Bettman said he liked the show. He said he binged it in one night. Yeah, he said he liked the show and it was really good. Do we believe him? Do we believe him? I don't know how much I believe him.

I think somebody probably told him what it was about and he was like, okay, this is great. But no, I just think that, you know, we've had enough problems with this subject that we don't need people making us, what chaos, any of these hockey. fans look bad by being like by being ungenuine and and being fake in a way. And so I just think if you're going to watch the show, watch it. If you don't like it, that's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. If you like it, that's great too. And if you want to really listen to it and some great content about it, go check out our boys at What Chaos. Like they are doing an amazing job with the show. They had Rachel Reid, the writer of the show on. They had Brandon Tierney or the writer of the

show. Like love those guys, love DJ, love Pete. Support them. But support us too. Sean, it's not for literature. Sean, always. As a producer, you're not giving the producer. Sean is that show. I mean, he's the hard story. There it is. You're seeing as your producer.

No, but yeah, like, it's things that you have to be genuine about, and that's why I'm open about it. I have not watched it. I'm not going to watch it, but the acting, and I have watched some scenes, it's terrific. All right, the Olympics are coming up. Yes. And next week, and it was a pleasure to talk to this man, Jack O'Callie. Hand was a defenseman on the 1980 gold medal team. We talked to him, and that interview will come out next week.

And cannot wait for you guys to watch that. But this gives us a chance. Oh, by the way, he was on behalf of Netflix for their new documentary, Miracle, The Boys of 80. It's really good. Yes. If you have watched the 1980 stuff like I have and you want to see some new content that you've never seen before, something really interesting, this documentary is for you. So this gives us a chance for this fool and this idiot.

over here, talk about their favorite hockey movie Miracle. Boys, go ahead. I'm an idiot for liking Miracle, Roy. It's like one of the greatest sports movies of all time. You're an idiot for other things, but yes, go ahead. What should we talk about, Dave? I mean, we should just recap the movie for those that haven't seen it? It is

one of the great, in my opinion, one of the great sports movies ever. That might be the last movie that I saw at least five times in the theater. Just, you know, between the time frame and the way, you know, but I was playing juniors back then. So I was living that year I was in New Jersey. My teammates and I

every day for like a week, we went and watched Miracle. Wherever theater was playing yet after practice, we found it, we watched it. It was the coolest thing because it was so realistic. And the way that they made it, they put microphones in the states so you can hear the sound of the states cutting into the ice. And if you watch

the interview with OC next week, you'll hear even more really cool details, but oh my God. Is it maybe arguably the best hockey movie of all time? It's my favorite sports movie, biased, but I admittedly have only I think watched two hockey movies. I saw The Mighty Ducks a long time ago when I was a kid, but I need to kind of rewatch them

because I don't really remember him, but I loved him as a kid. Slapshot and Miracle. Slapshot is an amazing movie. Like, that movie is pretty terrible. Youngblood? What was the one? There's a new movie Youngblood.

Yeah, I saw they're making a new Youngblood. What was the one in Alaska? Mystery Alaska, which is also a great, great hockey movie. No, but I just, I love, like, I'm an Olympics freak. Like, I can't wait for the Olympics, not just for hockey, but just for everything. I mean, I had the pleasure of working the Paris Olympics, and it was just like a dream of mine.

Absolutely lifetime. I won an Emmy because of it. Thanks for Rose. Shout out. No, it was it was an amazing experience and the Olympics are just to me like the greatest sporting event in the world. So I can't wait. First of all, it's going to be amazing to have the NHL players back in the Olympics. But just to see kind of even though it's a movie, an inside look at what it's like to be an Olympian, what it takes to get there. It's such a great movie. If you haven't seen it, I mean, I was telling somebody about it the other day that you have to go and see this. You have to watch this movie if you haven't watched it before. Like it is just, it's so good.

There's so many quotable lines, you know, when O.C. and McClanahan get it into it into the bar. And you know, this pansy over here takes the ring off my finger. And then, you know, when they're in the locker room and Brooks, her Brooks is yelling at him and he's, you know, who are we playing rammer? And he's, Sweden, you're goddamn right, Sweden. In the Olympics. You're acting like this is some throw-or-array game up in Rome.

Rochester. It's the greatest movie. Anyway, you got me fired up, Roy. You want me to talk about miracle. You're welcome. I will say, though, like, the Olympics are the best. The best. The winter Olympics, at least for us, maybe, there's nothing not entertaining. I'll sit there and I'll watch ski jumping. Dude, the last Olympics, I was falling asleep to cross-country and biathlon.

I love that. One of the most fun, I maybe shouldn't be telling the story, but whatever, here I go. I think it was in 2010. I was home alone. For whatever reason, I had some chocolate mushrooms. and I watched the Olympics for eight hours by myself, and I had so much fun. That's incredible.

Oh, my God. That's fantastic. You know, whatever, right? But, yeah, I remember watching the ski jumping. I remember watching speed skating. I remember there was a hockey game. I think it was, like, Russia and, oh, my God, what's the country with, like, the Red Cross logo on their flag? Switzerland?

Switzerland. I think that was the game. And, oh, my God. Just a lot of fun. I'm not in... Can't wait. Can't wait to see the USA. I don't know how to do it.

And that. So just go ahead. Moving on to the Panthers. Then the Panthers have played four games since last week, Friday. They got beat down by the Hurricanes 9 to 1. They beat the Capitals 5 to 2. The sharks, they came in. And the one home game that the Panthers had before they went back on the road,

the sharks beat the Panthers for 1. And the Panthers last night beat the Jets, 2 to 1 in a shootout. Matt DeKich of Chuck, his second game, he got his debut on the season against the sharks. and last night he ended up with his first point of the season on Sam Bennett's one, the Panthers one goal on Sam Bennett's goal. So let's talk about his performance so far this season in his two games, David. It's been fine. One thing that's refreshed me is that I've seen him get knocked on his ass multiple times.

He got nailed, I think at the same time by Josh Morrissey and Adam Lowry during last night's game. He got lit up by Vincent Dayharnay against the Sharts, and he just pops right back. Oh, here it is it. This is the play here if you're watching on YouTube. Kachuk basically gets bamboozled by Morrissey and Lowry at the same time. Boom, boom, yeah. So, but he's popping right back up. He's doing his thing. He had the primary assist on Sam Bennett's goal in Winnipeg. And he looks like Matthew Kachuk. It's going to take him a little while before we probably start to see like the pristine elite type stuff because he hasn't played hockey in like seven months. It's going to take a little time to shake the rust off. But I've been pretty happy with what I've seen so far, Ethan. Yeah, there's been plenty of juice. I thought. I thought last night was a really solid performance from him.

him. His line had some great shifts out there with Bennett and Verhagi. He made a great play to set up Bennett for that goal. Him and Bennett are just like this. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But, you know, I was talking to my brother and my brother's like, well, he's basically had no impact. We scored, you know, two goals in the two games since he's been back. But I mean, look, first of all, Matthew Kuchuk was never going to solve every problem the Panthers have had, right? Because Alexander Barkov is still out, Dmitry Kulikov still out, Jonah Gajovich. But then you add in that Martian and Jones hit the injured list right before he comes back. They're still missing so much, guys, so, so so much. And it's still so hard for this team to look like what they've been the last couple

years because they just don't have enough right now. Like simply the numbers, you know, you look at their defense, they're missing half their defense right now from the Stanley Cup championship team last year. Yeah, but to that point, how good defensively did they look last night in Winnipe? That was maybe their best defensive full game of the season. And they had to win that game because you fall seven points behind. and you lose to the team in the Jets that's been struggling. Like, that was a big win last night.

They haven't won in Winnipeg since 2022. It's a weird place to go. Like, that was a big, big win for the Panthers last night. All right, it's time for puck luck. It's brought to you by Draft Kings. Drap Kings, the crown is yours. David, let's finally want some money. I really love how you just keep bringing attention to the fact that we.

I'm growing broke here. I'm losing money. So let's make money. What the hell, dude? I'm sorry. All right. Well, coming to you live from under the bus, this is this week's a version of Puck.

luck, we're going to start with Mitch Marner's return to Toronto. Ethan has been building this up for me in my head, so I'm going with the Badoowski thought and taking Mitch Marner over two and a half shots on goal because like the Marner bump. Mitch Marner's going to be ripping pucks tonight. And also the Maple Leafs just happen to allow the most shots in the NHL. So we'll take Marner over two and a half shots in the same game,

in the same breath that I mentioned Toronto giving up the most shots on goal. Guess who's coming back tonight for the Maple Leafs? Anthony Stollars is making his return. And I'm going to take his over. saves and 25 and a half saves because I think he's going to play well and I think he's going to face a lot of shots. Third up on our parley is Brandon Hegel of the Tampa Bay Lightning over two and a half shots. They are playing Chicago.

Hegel has hit his shot total over in five straight and six of his last eight road games and Chicago allows the seventh most shots in the league. The odds on this parley are plus 551, so some pretty sweet sauce. Please, go make Roy some money. I'm good, actually. I'll sacrifice my five bucks. Give Roy some money, please. All right, it's time for the hockey.

Stat of the Week. The Hockey. Stat of the Week. Hey, guys. How's it going? Bye, Ethan. Hi. Quinn Hughes.

Good player. Minnesota Wild. Good team. This stat comes from at Big Head Hockey on Twitter. The most career three assists games from a defenseman in Minnesota Wild franchise history. The leader is rising. and Suter with five. Jared Spurgeon has three.

Quinn Hughes has four. Quinn Hughes has played 22 games with the Minnesota Wild. He already has four, three assists games. Guys, they are buzzing. They won again last night in overtime. Coral Caprizov had the OT winner, two goals and an assist.

I don't see Quinn Hughes going anywhere. I think he is going to stay right where he is in Minnesota because that team has been awesome. Since they got him, he has been a magical fit with Matt Boldie and Carol Caprizz. off. I see them adding. I see them keeping Hughes long term. And I see them being a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

He's over a point per game with Minnesota. He has been incredible. Yeah. Amazing. It is time for Rosa in a minute. Rosie, what you got? Yes. Okay. Kids. Oh, hey, this is a minute I'm here with Rosie. This summer, we're going

to Los Angeles, where the kings, where the kings. Yeah. Back to Back, Contra Anege. First, they're three, two, a shootout and Ceneck

doing what he's the thing that's the way to do you know to go over to go back to do this

again, again. Again, again, again, again, for nothing. For the

suorny, victory. 4-3 to the Rangers confialla appearing and Falsberg and trying

to be getting to the emergency for the best of the best of and one one single question,

why always the dogs? Because L.A. there are stars, but this A week, the dogs They've got to

a minute of hockey with Rose, your resume seminal of a poc passion and a pox passion and a little of

a minute. And now it is time for Rose in a minute. Rosie, what you got? Okay, let's do it now again, boys. Hey, kids,

this is one minute of hockey with Rose and this week we're heading to Los Angeles where the kings live through their worst nightmare

the dogs. Yes, back to back against Anaheim. First, I lost 3 to 1. Shut out with Seneca doing whatever he wanted

and Macon Fish slamming the door shot. The next day They said, there's no way. This is happening again. And it happened again. A two-one overtime loss once again to the dogs. Thanks for nothing.

Luckily, a little dignity showed up. A four or three win over the Rangers with Fiala finally showing up on fourths like stepping to save the day. So it's a week of one win, two losses, two punches from their annoying neighbors. And one big question. Why is it always the dogs? Because in L.A. there are stars. But this week the dogs won the Oscars. This was one made of hockey with Rose.

Your weekly recap of fog, passion, and a little bit of cake. And Ethan has a helmet for me for next week, right? All right, let's see what the helmet is for next week. By the way, I watched those Ducks and Kings games. They were great. Beckett Tenica is an amazing player. Next week's team. Let's see.

Bruins or Lightning. The Philadelphia Flyers. Okay. Surprise team this year, Rosie. They've been a lot of fun to watching. All right, so Rose, we'll talk about the Philadelphia Flyers next week for her minute in both Spanish and English. It is time for the wins and fails of the week. And I think on behalf of everybody, I can say that the win was the fight between Alex Nalkevich and Sergey Brabosk.

This was the best thing that's ever happened. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. This is the best thing ever. It's so uncharacteristic of Sergei Barbrav's state. Not only getting a fight, but he was the antagonist. He skated 200 feet for this fight. Dude, I'm telling you, so we had our live stream that night for the National Championship. And so I was here early watching the game.

And I'm just kind of like looking around, talking to people. All of a sudden, I looked down at my. scream and Bob is fighting and I could not believe and I start screaming Bob is fighting Bob is fighting and then the stream was already on I run in here and I tell Chris Cody like look at the screen Bobrovsky's fighting Roy you were in there right and I told you yeah I was looking I was wondering why Sergey Braboski was on the other end of the ice next to the other goals in the duck and I'm like and I think we broke into the stream right like Chris was like Bob Rovsky is fighting right now it was oh my god can we show the video again so we can bring

I think my favorite moment of the fight, and it'll show in this video, or no, it was from the beginning. My favorite moment from the fight is as Bob is skating toward Nadelcovich, like right as he crosses the blue line, there's an angle that shows Bob's face, and he looks at Nadelcovich and kind of nods as to say, oh yeah, this is happening. And then proceeds to rip the other goalie's helmet off. Like Bob knew what he was doing. Yeah. So, okay, Vovoski is, what, 6-1?

190. He's a tall dude. Yeah, he's my. height and my build and soaking wet. I mean, he looks pretty tiny. Six to one-80. It was-218. So I am bigger than him. Okay. It might have been the most uncharacteristic act in the history of hockey. Like, at least in my history of watching hockey. Like, Bob is in the locker room. The quietest guy doesn't say a peep. We know how he is with the media. We know he's a very serious guy. But to see him unleash like that, like I know he's having a tough year. Hopefully

it can be a spark for Bob because the Panthers could really, really. use it right now. You know what that is? And you're going to have to bleak this. That is a wake the fuck up moment for the floor of Panthers. 100%. I thought they were going to come back and win that game and that could have been the turning point in the season. Unfortunately, they didn't, but they got the win last night. So we'll see if that creates a juice. Nobody's talking about the loss. All we're talking about is the fight. Nobody's talking about the fight because of the national championship. But yeah, that's near here or another. Well, if I asked you to name 25 goalies, any 25 goalies that you think would get into a fight, Bob would not be on that list.

No. Yeah. I'll probably go with some H. A.H.H.L. Goleys before. I went with Bob. Yeah, no, exactly. You'd be naming retired guys. Grant Fior. Yes, yes. As small as Grant Fure is, well, he's like five foot four. He was scrappy, dude.

Yeah, but that man is scrappy. You had to be for that, in that small. Yeah, and for that era as well. Fellas of the week, go ahead, Dave. My fail of the week comes all the way from the KHL. We're heading to Vladivostok, where Admiral Captain Leibor Sulac scored an own goal that it's really kind of hard to describe. He literally turns his wrist over and shoots the puck in.

to his own net while facing the opposite direction. It's like something out of, it's like angels in the outfield type stuff. Like what happened? What took over his body that he did this? Because like, I don't know what he was trying to do. I don't know if he's trying to just kind of keep the puck after he made the mental decision to pass it. I don't know.

He's their captain. So I can't think that this was on purpose or anything. It's not a bank pass on the board. I don't know, man. But as many times if I've watched it, I don't know what the hell I'm seeing. That's just weird. Yeah, that's not good. As a goalie, like, dude, get out of my five hole.

All right. Yep. All right, my fellow week is this tripping call on Lane Hudson. Near the end of the second period of the Wild Canadiens game, Marcus Felino fell five feet away from Lane Hudson. Okay. Now, in fact, I mean, I guess I guess the rest are going to call tripping on anything at this point, right? So, I mean, but Felino tripped on the blue line. Can we get replay assists?

Can we get replay? Does that, that cannot be? There's four sets of eyes on the ice weren't striking. Nobody realized that he just fell on his own damn states? Yeah, that's bad. They can talk to each other about high sticking. They can talk to each other about delay a game. Can we talk to each other about tripping over the blue line?

Yeah, that's the worst penalty of the season. Holy shit. Bar none. Ethan. My fail of the week comes from Roy Rose's team for next week, the Philadelphia Flyers. Guys, take a look at this screenshot here. We can't show the video. But take a look at this screenshot.

There's 1-28 remaining in the game. it's four three flyers. The mammoth have an empty net. The skater, I don't know exactly which skater this is for the flyers, has the puck wide open. There's nobody in front of him. The net is gaping. It's Garnet Hathaway.

They won this game, right? Garnet Hathaway wins this game right here. No, no, Garnet Hathaway is who lost the puck. He would have won the game. No, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. You shoot the puck into the empty net. If you're looking here, this is what happened, right?

The Flyers won this game. Wrong. Incorrect. Nick Schmaltz comes out, makes a great stick check, takes the puck away. Nick Schmaltz, by the way, leads the league in stick checks, takes the puck the other way, the mammoth

eventually go in, score, tie the game, send it to overtime, and then win in overtime. That might be the worst loss of these. Well, now I have time. Wow. So my win of the week, my fail is like kind of a win, but it's a fail because in this picture, I look, maybe I'm 13, and I look

like I'm wrong, but I am supposed to be dressed up as a penguin. A penguin? A penguin? I'm not being up as a penguin. Yeah. I just put a penguin. Your friend is dressed up as a penguin. Yeah, everybody is.

But me, I didn't do anything. I just put a penguin on my pocket. You look seriously stoned in that. Yeah, and I look stoned. That's great, really. High on penguin. You're 11 years old. All right.

That mezcal. That's ridiculous. All right, before we go to break, I want to mention something that has never happened before. The United States Under 18 women's team completed the perfect gold. They won every game. They never trailed. They never tied after zero zero.

It's the first time in U.S. Under 18. that both from both the men and the women has ever happened. So congratulations. Get these ladies to World Juniors. Go beat Canada. So for those of you watching on Draft Kings Network, check out the YouTube channel because we have Ednan Virk from Prime Monday Night

Hockey and NHL Network. He's going to talk about the NHL for us. So that's coming up next. In sports championships aren't one alone, the one with the right people around you. That's exactly what Intuit Toboltax brings to taxes. With Toboltax expert full service, match with a dedicated tax expert who handles your taxes from start to finish.

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First up, great to see you, Roy, David and Ethan, of course. The last time we saw it to there was actually in the flag. in Florida. David, what was the Wings place we hung out at South Florida? Billy's Tavern. Belytelemon Peppelings in South Florida. I legit have leftover billies in my fridge right now, actually. Those wings were awesome, man.

I have mucked everybody now that I know. Roy, I was just in Toronto back home. Got to see my parents hung out with them all day on Sunday. Then I watched Wild Leifes. The wild were all over them. Quinn used is such a marvel to watch. They win that game 6 to 3. Austin Matthew scores a garbage goal. So frustration there for Leaveson. They had this great 10-game

point shriek. They've slowed down a little bit, And still, they're on the outside looking at a playoff spot, much like your Panthers. You guys know it's hard because it's so congested right now. You get a couple wins together, but you have to work for some other teams to falter a little bit. I'm next headed to two. I don't think you guys are facing this cold. 240 million Americans are about to face frigid cold, probably nobody there in Miami. So I'm trying to get out.

50s here, I mean, come out. Yeah, really, because it is going to be a little cold for you guys. We're going to be 6 to 12 inches of snow on Sunday. So rather than a late flight, I've got to go early flight, much to my chagrin. I got to fly to Denver, which is 4. and a half hours, C32D, could be a tough one. And they're off to Dedmonton, off to Dedmonton, Alberta to check out the Oilers taken on the ducks.

And we have the Zoom issue again. You got a direct flight to Edmonton, Adnan? I wish, Dave. Apparently there's a direct flight, Newark, New York, New Jersey, to Calgary. So I don't know why they didn't book me on that. But they said Denver is not expecting snow. So I'm going to fly to Denver first, go see some Broncos fans for the AFC championship game, and then hop on a plane to Edmonton.

This is what's going to be. Brad Williams would be pretty excited, I bet. even with Jared Stidham. I guess that's better than Winnipeg. I'll tell you that. It was under 20. It's going to be colder. And the Panthers were in Winnipeg last night,

and it was like the high was in the upper teens, the low was in the lower teens, and the insanity that we can't compute down here in Florida. But they're actually going to Minnesota today. It's going to be colder there, which is like, what's happening? It's a great point to be. People would always ask me, how cold was it growing up in Toronto and Eastern Ontario? I'm like, listen, there's colder places in America.

To your point, Minnesota is colder. Like if you go to Billings, Montana, that's colder than many places in Canada. But to Browey's point, Winnipeg and Edmonton, those are the toughest places to stomach whenever I'm going for hockey. It was just cold the entire time. We brought up heated rivalry earlier in the show. Have you watched it? Can you give us a review of the show? I haven't seen it.

I didn't know what it was until Jason DeMuris referenced it a couple of times. So what is this? And eventually I'm like, oh, it's this gay hockey show. I'm like, okay. To reach their own. And then they're like, no, it's hugely popular. And I have a friend of mine, because I'm represented by CIA, and he said, at the Golden Globes,

they've got all these massive stars. I'm like, no, I'm aware. Oscar nominations came out yesterday. And they said, you know, George Clooney and Leonard DiCaprio, all these massive stars. He goes, everybody was excited to talk to who, the two stars of heated rivalry. They're like, wait, we're going to go talk to those gay hockey players.

Those guys are unbelievable. So it's become a massive sensation because I would have thought, Roy, it's one of those things where, okay, maybe it's popular in hockey circles, but it's gone way beyond that. Like now, there's people who are not hockey fans, we're seeing they're becoming hockey fans because of heated rivalries. So I haven't seen the show. I should probably check it out at some point.

I've got the basic tangential edge to it. Our producer talent on our podcast, and scripted told me that it was a little more in your face that he was expecting. He's like, oh, I thought it would be like kind of a supplement. It's like, long sex scenes with these two guys. I'm like, okay, here we go. And there's not a lot of hockey. So I'm not exactly expecting slap shot.

But it has certainly become a cultural talking point. It's not to the point where I'm asking NHL players about it. Maybe I should. Pull aside Leon Dreisdell. Hey, what are they getting heated robbery so far? But it's definitely become a conversational talking point. No doubt about it. You know what?

I was just like, I haven't watched it and I'm not going to watch it. But there's an actor that he is supposed to be Russian and he's not Russian. I can't believe this guy's not Russian. He's from Texas. This is what you told me in the kitchen. He's from Texas. He learned Russian in eight weeks or something like that. It might even be eight days that he learned Russian before they started doing it.

That's impossible. I talked to Rodriguez Able. I have no idea how he did it. We talked to Rodriguez Obles on our podcast of the Philadelphia Flyers. He's obviously a fourth line. We're going to enforce you now out with a serious injury. But he's a really smart guy. He speaks excellent English. And De Murs, they were both impressed.

You know, we grew up in Latvia. How can you speak such good English? He said, well, in Latvia, they teach English. Like, you know, grade three on. And he can also speak Russian. And DeMers is like, wait, you can speak Russian? And he's like, yeah, he goes, and Jason has played overseas. Because that is a very, very difficult language.

So I'm going to already call BS. They learn Russian in eight days. That's an impossibility. They say if you can speak Spanish, right, you can speak Italian pretty quickly, French, etc. Russian is widely considered to be along with Mandarin, well, the toughest languages in the world. So I'm going to go ahead and call BS. He did not learn Russian in eight days. Yeah, I'll put my hand up on that one, Coach, ball out on me. It was about a month and a half, it says.

Okay, that I could see. But that's still a crazy amount of time to learn Russian, to speak it in a show to the point where some people have said, like, he did a really good job. I personally thought that the accent was like one of the parts of the show that wasn't great, but Yeah. It's pretty impressive what he was able to do. If you're Russian, you think the accent is bad. I've been around... If you're not Russian, you're like, okay, this is Russian, and I was like, oh, I thought it was pretty good.

I've been around a lot of Russians over the years, and I was, I've watched it. I'm not thinking, wow, that sounds kind of fake. When you told me that he was an American actor, that blew my mind. I think the acting in the show, forget about whatever you might think about what's happening in the show. The acting in this show is been spectacular. Oh, I've seen scenes just for that because other things I'm like, I cannot watch it, but that's why I watched this actor. And he started giving me this accent.

And I'm like, wow, he's so handsome. I'm like, hey, yeah, the Russian guy is so handsome. And then they're like, he's from Texas. I'm like, no, he's Russian. The American actor playing the Russian hockey player with a Canadian name, by the way, Connor's story with an I-E at the end. Yeah, I was just going to say that the show, like Adnan mentioned that the show has had crossover.

It's been more people that didn't know hockey that are becoming fans of hockey because of the show. Rather than hockey fans becoming fans of the show. It's open hockey to a whole new world. And I think it's really awesome. I've had people approach me over the last week or so that my other job talking about heated rivalry that we've never spoken about sports before. Like these are news people? These are game show people? And they're like, oh my God, have you seen this show?

And is it really realistic? And are these the real teams? And it's like, okay. Like, obviously, it's working. Well, as you guys know, hockey is for everyone, despite the NHL's best efforts. Hudson Williams and... Despite Yvonne Proveroff's opinion.

Go ahead. Bring back Pride tape. And then you can celebrate heated rivalry, okay? Yeah, and the stalls. Hudson Williams and Kahn of Story are the stars of the show, and they have been named the official torchbearers of the Olympic torch relay. And this is a segue into the Olympics because I'm a professional broadcaster. What are your thoughts heading into?

the Olympic Games. Who do you have favorite to win? And who do you think is a dark course going into the games? Of course, I've got Canada winning it because I'm obviously a proud Canadian. But I do think the U.S. is right there. I think it's going to be a rematch of the four nations and both these teams going toe to toe. It's been such a fascinating conversation because one thing I've appreciated about Americans living in this country for 15 years. You guys are as patriotic and as jingoistic as it gets.

You know, for years I would tell people there's a casual American hockey fans. you think T.J. Oshy is the equivalent of Connor McDavid because what he did on a national stage. So I remember Mike Golick, well, I don't watch hockey. Well, the Olympics, I'm in. So I can't wait for this bump of the USA hockey that we're going to see. And, of course, the diehards like us are watching it all the time and how these guys are going to perform.

A couple of fascinating subplots. Always, Annette is interesting to me. For Canada, you feel like that's not a strength. Bittington has not been very good this season. The Blues are a bad team. But he was fabulous in the Four Nations. Does he get game one start? And if he falters easily, then do they go to the next goal?

It's a world junior's right? if ever want to start or right out of the gate, as Devin Dubnick told me, he thinks he'll be Logan Thompson. He's like, it's his net to lose. He'll get the start unless he falters. That's interesting. USA goal thing, by the way, not as strong as you might think. On paper, you go, yeah, Hella Buck, Swamen, Ottinger.

But these guys, I mean, if you look at the numbers, I was looking since December 12th. I mean, Hallibuck obviously has been hurt. Hasn't been the same guy. So that's interesting. However, in the thought, that would be huge advantage for USA. May not necessarily be the case. I still love USA's back-in.

I love Canada's forwards. So you can make a case for each strength, each weakness. I will say Roy, potential dark horse, at least at the world juniors. Cheki has had Canada's number. They've beaten us three straight ears at the world juniors. Maybe Chequette could be strong. Ethan's raising his hand to make a strong. I don't know.

Yeah, I agree with you completely. Adnan, I think they have some underrated NHL talent. And they won the world championships two years ago, if I'm not mistaken. So that is absolutely a team, I think, can compete. I said that was Ethan calling his dog. Oh, well, also Percy's down here. But I was pointing to Adnan and saying that that's a really, really good point. I assume this one. Either he was like raising the roof like, yeah.

Breach, keep going, or he was trying to signal somebody for like a technical issue. I'm with you, Adin. I think they're my dark horse as well. That was going to be my answer. Guys, we are totally ignoring the host nation as the dark horse. Team Italy. I mean, what are we doing here? I'm just looking at the roster and I'm afraid to start saying some of these names. I mean, Giovanni Morini, Alexander Piton. Are there any initial players on that team? Like doing like the world baseball classic where a bunch of Jews play for team Israel and stuff?

These look like a lot of Italian names. Like, this looks like the Sopranos men's league team. Like, this is spectacular. I'm definitely going to be rooting for team Italy. I wish there's a Sopato's Men's League team. Imagine Vito out there on defense. Oh, my God. Galtieri coming up the wing.

Oh, my God. I'm in a rewatch right now. We can talk about that later, Adnan. That's a fun idea, though. We can make our Sopranos starting six. That's actually maybe we should. I bet you're Christopher's a feisty forward, man. We're in the corners.

We're on to something here, Adnan. because you're the movie guy, you're the show guy. Maybe we could, every visit, we take a different show or movie and we create our starting six. I love it. I'm putting Johnny Sachs in that. Oh, that's a good one. Johnny Sachs is in the immovable, very stubborn. All right, so I have no segue here because I'm not a professional.

I just want to talk to you about the Panthers and Matthew Kachuk. Because Matthew Kichuk is back, Adnan, and the rest of the league is very scared. Based on the first two games, the Panthers have played with Kachuk in the lineup against the Sharts and the Jets last night. They're going after him. They're testing his. injury, he's getting knocked around, and he's popping up, he's just fine. But now that Kachuk is back in the lineup, Brad Marchand should be back in the next several days at some point. The Panthers are getting healthy, Adnan. How scary is that for the rest of the Eastern

Conference? Yeah, I mean, this is now it's go time, certainly for the Fullard Panthers. And we had Bill Zito on our podcast. I've ever met Bill before. And just as we're about to speak, he kind of stares intently at the camera and goes, you look a lot like Chris Chelyers. I said, I laugh at him, I get that everywhere. I said, I was in Toronto and I said several fans go, Kelly, Charlie, I go, hey, you know, I get a picture,

Chelly, I'm sure, and of course I play along. Oh, yeah. I'm like, no, I just play along every time. Yep,

Charlie, nice to see it, good to see him. I'm like, he, I'm 47. I think Chelsea says, like 62, at least three inches taller. One of a few

Stanley Cups in North Street. But yeah, I have no scars in my face, but much, much for a cleaner to sign some hockey cards. Yeah, that's what I should do. Get to the next level. But I asked,

Zito, about it. He said, listen, of course, Kachuk is passive for our team, you know what I mean? He's so important. He does so many things, both in the room and outside the room. And he said, Marci is right there as well. He said, Marcian, you know, when I traded for him, of course, I would have made a move for him. Like, the guys is just a great player. But I can't emphasize enough how important these guys are in the room. Because I know it's a cliche. You guys think it's not that important, but it is not just what you're doing on the ice?

It's what the way these guys are leaders and they can ride the team around. And right now, we're on the outside looking in. And as I look, the panthers, what, 55 points, three points out. But again, I look at the number of teams you're going to catch two or three teams. who's the team to falter, right? Boston will slow down a little bit. They've won seven to the last eight. The Sabres have been on an unbelievable run. They're going to slow down a little bit.

So you go, okay, Panthers at least a wild card. And you look at the Atlantic right now. That's where it gets tricky, David. I go, okay, who are you going to dislodge? You're not catching Tampa Bay, maybe Detroit or Montreal. But like, it does become a situation where after the breakthroughs me, what, 25, 26 games left? Like, that's it. You're playing every other day, and there'll be a sprint to the finish.

So is it scary for the rest of the league? Yeah, but the Panthers know they've got to take care of business and go on a heater just to get in. Add, then, the big story tonight in the NHL is going to be Mitch Marner's return to Toronto. I think we all know what is going to happen, right? He's going to get the shit boot out of him. Do you expect it to be like LeBron returning to Cleveland levels or what are you expecting to see tonight in this? Yeah, I think it's going to be pretty nasty.

I don't think it's quite LeBron to Cleveland, but this is a guy who, you know, was a GTA guy. I grew up in the crater Toronto area. Dream was to play at the Leafs, gets there, plays great. Had great moments of the regular season. him, of course, never capitalized in the playoffs and became the poster boy and the whipping boy for all their foibles and all their concerns. Now, ultimately, he's sixth all time in the Leafs in points, which is pretty impressive. Think of that franchise, we can make all the jokes we want.

They haven't won since 67, but, you know, from the likes of Daryl Sittler to Rick Vibe, there have been great players on that team. So to be sixth all the time in points, Mitchie certainly got done the regular season, but the playoffs, he didn't, and then he took Vegas's money. $96 million over eight years. You know, this wasn't a situation where Toronto said, we can't forge you or don't want you. They wanted it back. He just took the bigger offers.

I hope at least, you know, when they show the video tribute, he'll get a nice ovation. I would expect every single time he touches the puck, though, it will be venomous. Vegas played the Leafs last week in Vegas, and Vegas won that game. Marner had a couple of assists, but I'm sure he's going to hear it early and often, and good for the Leaves. I mean, obviously, their fan base is upset that he's left. They were a better team when he was there. The Leaves like the Baxter. Yeah, exactly.

He ran him out of town. Let's be very clear about this. And it's so funny because, like, now you hear people say, well, maybe you should have made a better effort to keep murder. Like you think, I'm like, you know, when a guy has chemistry with Austin Matthews, and he's directly responsible for him scoring two 60 goal seasons, he's an important player. And, you know, maybe he's not going to be a Selkie Finals this year, but he's been known for his defensive excellence going both ways and obviously be a high score.

He's not going to be the car score he was a year ago, by the way, when he had 100 points, but still a really good player, good fit in Vegas. He's got a better chance of winning the Cup in Vegas this year than he did in Toronto ever. So it'll be a raucous return. We'll see how it goes. That's an angry Maple Leafs fan, but he's also spit in facts. Okay, let's be clear. All right, real quick, before we get to Rose's big Oscar question that she has for Attenham,

let's talk mid-season award predictions right now. So we got the Jack Adams. We're talking about Joel Quinnville potentially winning that thing. But, yeah, the Ducks down trend right now. By the way, Ducks is who I'll be watching, Roy. I've not seen the Ducks much, at least in person. So Ducks always look forward to watching Monday on Prime and talking to Q. I would do.

He would have been a good option. I think it's going to be John Cooper. John Cooper has never won the Jack Adams. He's clearly one of the best coaches in hockey. The Lightning are outstanding. To me, they're the best team of the Eastern Conference. I'm hanging with Mr. Cooper. That's my pick for the Jack Adams.

John Cooper is the Bill Zito of the Jack Adams Award. Bill Zito. Still not won the GM of the year. He's the GM of the decade, but he's not the GM of the year. Sorry, I got sidetracked. Go on. Noise Trophy. What you got there?

Because it looks like the usual guys. Cal McCar until he retires. It's Cal McCar every year, Roy. I mean, Quinn Hughes is awesome to watch. I like Zach Wrenski a ton. Lane Hudson. It's Calder Carvite. Yeah, Hudson's great.

It's Calder Car, every time. Calder's a trophy. Where you got? Calder's issue. I think I'll go Demadoff. I think he's leading right now on rookie points. But I got to tell you, the guy really looking forward to watching is Beckett Seneca. That guy's unbelievable for the Ducks.

He's a good player to watch. Ethan's back in me up. Love him. Love that Ducks team. Vezina. It won't be Colin Hela Hela-Buck this year. It won't be three in a row. It's Team Canada, fully.

No. I'm going to go Ilya Sorokin. It's a little more wide open right now. Good choice, actually. Yeah, Sorokin's had a great year for the Islanders. Patrick Waugh, obviously, one of the greatest glories of all time is his head coach. He started off Sloy, but Sorokin's been on a run, and the Islanders are kind of a surprise team. They're second right now on the Metro.

I'm going to go ahead and go to the Mousroken. I'm going to go ahead. You could make a case for Vasilefski. His numbers aren't spectacular, but the lightning are really good. I'll go Sorokin. And the Hart trophy is the usual guys with McKinnon and McDavid and Kutrault. But Macklin Salabrini, making a little bit of noise.

Yeah, Celebrini is responsible for 50% of his team's points, which is the highest percentage of any player with regards their team's points. I'd love to tell you if the sharks make the playoffs, Celebrini will win the heart, but I think it's Connor McDavid's to lose. Him and McKinnom, by the way, both throw to toe. I think it'll be a great race.

And Kutrup, I'm glad you mentioned, Roy, the Rodney Dangerfield, no respect. The guy's unbelievable every year, and he'll be destined to be third, if not fourth this season. So I'd love to say if Mack can get the sharks in, he'll get it, but I think it's McDavid. Okay. To close this off, first of all, I'm going to go route for Italy.

Look at that man is in the roster. So that's why I'm going to go Italy. All right. Team Italy. Let's go, Rose. Oh, yeah, take me to for sure. What's his name? It ends in a vowel.

That's not fair. Yeah, it's in the valet. Something like that. Okay, it doesn't matter. I think it does, but okay. Okay, Michael. Freiglund. Something like that.

Okay, go ahead. So Adnan. is the first time an actor, a Brazilian actor has been nominated. Wagner Moura for the Secret Agent. Oh yeah. And that judge me. I love him. He's very handsome even when he plays

Pablo Escobar. I actually have a picture there and people are like, how do you like him as Pablo Escobar? But he's great. Do you think he can win it? I think he's got a chance. I'll be honest with. He won the Golden Globe. So that's always a good son. Now they split the globes, right? It's best comedy or musical actor and its best

actor drama. So Timitay-Shallame, to me, is the favorite, and I think he should win. Yeah, I think Timetian is when he's 30 years old, huge Knicks guy. Some people will find him obnoxious, and I've been in that camp, but I think he's a hell of an actor. And he was really great as Bob Dylan a year ago, and Marty Suprin's one of my favorite movies of the year. Josh Safi did an unbelievable job, and so did Shalmay. So I think Shalma'll win. I think DeCapriar's got a good chance, because people want to see him win a second Oscar. The guy would actually vote for Roseveh. I had to vote is Ethan Hawke. He's one of my favorite actors. It's his first best actor nomination for Blue Moon. So Wagner's got a chance, especially

with the foreign voters, but I do think it's going to be Timmy. I really want to see Marty Supreme. I haven't seen that yet. It's great, David. You'd love it. It's really exhilarating, highly entertaining. You'll love it. All right, Atnan, Virk of Prime Monday Night Hockey and NHO Network. Thank you for joining us, Atman. Thank you again to Adnan and Verk for joining us today to talk about the league. Next week, we are going to Tampa, and we are going to cover the stadium series. That is going to be a lot of fun.

Should be. Yeah. So look out on our social media for that. That should be a lot of fun for us. So for Gino and Jason, for Ethan and Rose, that's David Dr. And Percy. And Percy. She's under the desk, sleeping. And the dog.

My name is Roy Bellamy. We will see you next week from Tampa.