The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Aaron Ward on the Carolina Hurricanes Becoming Stanley Cup Champions

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Joining the show is former Hurricanes Stanley Cup champion Aaron Ward, who reflects on the similarities and differences between the 2006 and 2026 championship teams, the culture that helped build a winner in Carolina, and the significance of bringing another Stanley Cup to Raleigh. #TheSheet #MVSW #CarolinaHurricanes #LetsGoCanes #StanleyCup #StanleyCupFinal #NHL #Hockey #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #AaronWard #MikeManiscalco #JordanStaal #DailyFaceoff #NHLPlayoffsReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And the Stanley Cup is a personal issue for Stanley Cup winner Aaron Ward was there when the Carolina Hurricanes won this thing in 2006. And he joins us now. Aaron Ward, how are you? I'm good. I didn't partake in the festivities downtown that lasted in the wee hours. I'm over 50 now. So I'm in bed by like, you know. Well, guess who did Greg Wishingski?

No, he's thought you're talking about over in Raleighwood, right there, Aaron? Oh, yeah. I think, listen, nobody burned a school bus, so I was obviously overshadowed by the Knicks celebration, but a good night to be had in Raleigh. Like the scenes from the arena were awesome, and those fans deserve it. I mean, you know, as much as we talked about, like, Jordan Martinuk said something about Rod Brindam, we're having like scar tissue. Like, we all share the same scar tissue, the guys that have been on this team and trying to break through the ceiling of the Eastern Conference for as long as they have. Those fans have it, too, man. It's been a long 20 years between championships for those fans.

fans, a lot of heartbreak inherent in some of these playoff runs. So I felt really good for them last night. Yeah, that scar tissue is patience. If you think about the way this team's been constructed, it's been the last five or six years. It's been an expectation that this team was supposed to win. And as you see them bow out to Boston and bow out to Florida, there's that head scratch component to something is clearly missing what it is, whether it's like a tactical approach,

whether it's not a fit for the players, the system, whatever it was over time. I think the fan base stuck with it, testimony. Roddy Brindamore is sticking to what he is and what he's all about and maintaining that style of play for this group. Dundon having a level of patience to stick with it also. I mean, listen, he's a businessman and when things don't go well, businessmen have a tendency to make change rapidly and a little bit knee-jerk and to show a level of patience. Listen, you can fall back and say, I heard the stats yesterday, Carolina Hurricanes when Gary was getting out the Stanley Cup, the number of regular season wins.

It's the most in, I don't know what, five or six years? Okay, so there's that. But that can only last so long in an environment where in pro sports, you have to put up championships or basically your expiration date is done. So the scar tissue is patience, and that's patience from the guys that decided to stick around, like the Jordan Stalls and the Martnooks and anybody else that came in years ago and saw the potential, but it just wasn't realized for whatever reason.

What was Rod Brindonmore like as a player on your job? team. By the way, like, if I'm Rod Brindamore, I can't wait to get my shirt off every single chance I get. Like, that thing came off quick in the room like, oh, you really want me to do this? Okay, I'm just torn up like a bad report card. Check this out. That's light matches off my abs. Well, did somebody, somebody has off him, no? Does someone rip it first? Yeah, someone ripped the shirt. I said, I said last night, if they ever put a, if they ever put a statue of Brindamore in front of the arena. It should be him kind of like ripping open a suit, Superman style, and he's just his eight-pack. So it covers the Rod the Bodd thing and the coach thing.

Technically, he went to Michigan State University for a year. Yes, he did. It's a Greek God kind of mascot, so you could take the Spartan mascot, stick his head on it, and it'll be a true life. Here are the thing about Roddy. So you asked the original question. Who he is in those interviews when he shows a lot. level of caring, right, and a level of investment in his players is the same way he was as a captain. Now, as a captain, he was forced to be less vocal. Actually, he was, sorry, as a coach, he's forced

to be more vocal. As a captain, he was very kind of surgical and when and where he stepped in, both vocally and with his presence and by his actions. So Roddy is who he presents himself to be. That's why when I saw the shirt come off and there was a celebration like someone, it's like a fun thing, right? You know how serious Roddy is. I guarantee that. every single player that played for him wanted that shirt to come off. Almost as like a final, like, not only do we just win, but check out our head coach because he is like, yeah. That's who, that's who guided us. My dad's tougher than your dad.

Watch, check this out. That's, there is very much that element. But, you know, one of the things, Werto, we were talking about before he came on was there's a certain kind of player that succeeds here with the Carolina Hurricanes. focusing on the back end, which you would know intimately. If you're someone that plies his trade with cross checks to the back in front of the net, there's probably not room at the end here for you.

But if you're athletic, you can move your feet and you can think, then there's a lot of room for you. And I think we have to, as much as we talk about Rodbindamore, I think Tim Cleese and Jeff Daniels as well for what they do, because as we were talking about

a couple of podcasts ago, everybody just gets better there. Yeah. They do. But they have to, they have to embrace the environment. You've got to want to be. be here. And the cool part was like, so you see, listen to these interviews and when guys are

most transparent is when they're tired and they let their guard down, that's usually after they want. And they're pretty like, like blatant about expressing how they feel. And you look at Gostis Bearer in one of his interviews yesterday saying, like, I came back. He knew what they had here and he had a desire to be here. And the amazing part is if you, also, we'll take the DECOR, for example, Slavin played all world last night. But Slavin was not consmise Slavin through the Cup playoffs, which is a testimony to the fact that as I look at that group, Gostas Bear and Walker were the two

best defensemen to the Montreal series. I mean, the idea that Gostis Bear and actually was Walker who ran over Dobish and he's in the offensive zone, that specific game, he was in the zone rushing the puck up four separate times. It is a, it's like a it's not a motley crew. I mean, they have

names back there and guys are fully capable, but the amazing part is they're all able to move their feet, they're all able to play offensive, they're all all able to play physical. I mean, look at the, the, the dish out that Walker gave on Carlson. I mean, these guys understand what the job is. They execute it incredibly well. And they're not going to go down specifically maybe Slaven Yes, Kloy for his accolades. But the rest of them, they're there and they perform a duty without expecting like a major pat in the back or needing headlines. And they do

an amazing job at it. And they're not all, they're not all the same kind of style player. Greg? I wanted to, that's a great point. By the way, that you can make the argument, the Walker hit on Carlson is like one of the top three most important moments of the cup final. Like the golden,

that's the, that's the, that's the, Andrew Lagin taken out. Rollison and Andrew Lagging. Well, there you go. It's right.

There you go. I'll put it out there. But, but Aaron, I wanted to ask you, because you bring up a great point about the defense corps. Like, like Gossus pairs playing PP1,

but he's also a third pairing defenseman on this roster. And when you look up and down, it's like, Taylor Hall comes to Carolina. He's not playing with Ajo. He's playing with two kids. You know, Eiler signs a four-year mega contract with them as a free agent.

He's on their checking line. But like all of these guys, and I think when Merrick was talking before you hopped on, like what is the lesson to be learning from the Carolina Hurricanes? It's kind of like know your role and shut your mouth, as the Rock once said. Like all of these guys kind of know where to fit on this team and they just play their role.

Like that's got to be one of the secrets of their success. Is egos checked at the door and you just do what you need to do for them to win. I think the most fun is looking at this roster and getting everybody's little story, right? So Carolina, everybody thought, right, for Carolina to go to the next step to finally win, they got to get a, like,

we lost out on Gensel, we lost out in Rantan, and wait a second, we're bringing in Eilers. Like, this is a Winnipeg team that is recently disappointed. They're supposed to, like, it's almost as if he's transferring from one disappointment to another environment where, why you bring them out here?

And instead, he, he like emerges as a key piece for this team on a third line. And then you go to Stan Kovin. Like the storyline with Stan Kovin for me was, I live here. The number of people that texted me like I had the inn and I'm sitting there with Tolski knowing what's going on. Like on the surface, you look like you lost at Rantan.

But the truth is, as time goes on, what you may realize is Stankhoven was a better piece and a better fit for this team than Nantan would have been. Yes, he has an amazing skill set. And people are going to come to me and say, like, you're high saying that about Renan. No, if you looked about, look at the philosophy of this team about the greater good, you have to fit.

The foundation before they came into the playoffs was set. And that is why this team, when approached with adversity, was already ready to answer the bell. You got punted in game one against Montreal. You leaned on the fact that you had a bunch of time off, and you came back and basically stomped them in the next few games. You just had to find yourself. And it's the collection of players that fit. And you didn't, okay, again, your top line of Ajo, Spachnikov, and Jarvis.

I'm not saying not existent, but again, another group of players who were not cons mightworthy, right? And so what did you have to fall back on? Your depth. You had to fall back on your system. You had to fall back on experience. And guys that knew that, okay, you're going to move some energy up. You're going to move Martinuk up to the top line, move Jarvis down. And all of a sudden, it manifests itself into something that is a catalyst for them, right?

All these pieces, everybody knows a role and will accept it. And if you have guys in the team, and this is where I go, maybe Renton want to play a different style, maybe Gensel might want to play a different style, you have 12 guys understand exactly what our collective intent is here. You're going to be successful. So I'm glad you got us there. So with Stan Kov,

and I want to take this into a conversation about Eric Tulski here, as you well know, there would have been a lot of general managers who said, okay, it's not working out. We're going to double down here. we're going to try to force this thing to work with Rantan and Carolina. Instead, and Tulski heard it from every corner. Tulski is an idiot. Should have known, should have got insurers.

They was going to sign long term. What a stupid move. Rookie general manager. Oh, dummy analytics guy. We saw and heard all of it. He swallows his ego, makes a trade with the Dallas starts, which to your point, like, a lot of people in Carolina, I'm like, who is Logan Stankhoven? right? People that know,

know who Logan Stancoven is. You're trading the guy who's six, six, five? For this guy? We're getting smaller? Yeah, yeah. But here's the thing about it. And there's, like, not only do you get Logan's Dancoven.

As part of all of that, you end up with Taylor Hall. You use one of the picks for K. Andre Miller. And here's the thing, you've won a Stanley Cup, and you still have a first round pick. Okay, remind me again.

Didn't Jane? Didn't Jane Kowski come with that? No, I think I don't think he was separate, but like, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but to your point, Aaron, though, like, and that all, by not paying Rantanin, by not paying Gensel, by not paying, uh, Natchez, who you instead trade for Rantanin, now you've got the cap space to sign Eelers. So like, you could say Eilers, Hall, Stankovin, Kianne Miller. All four guys just won a cup last night. All four guys were the fruits of the Rantanin dose. Joe. Jane Kowski was for a fifth round pick in Nashville, a fifth.

Okay, all right. It came in around I think around the same time last year, which he caught my eye right off the bat because all of a sudden he had something and a trust from Roddy Brittamore that once you establish that, you're going to get used and put an ideal position. So going back exactly to what you're

talking about, and analytics. It's again why I keep preaching the 50-50 eye test versus numbers, and if you believe something to be true based on analytics look at look at the eye test and if the eye test is something you believe go see if the number supported this is where I think the Carolina hurricanes have evolved I work in the analytics world with SMT and the player and puck tracking technology I was at an analytics conference in

Colorado the halo conference and for some reason I got a lot of questions about the Carolina hurricanes even though I'm not employed by them and they talked about systems and analytics and one of the kind of the the main themes that emerged was they're all shocked at how amazingly constructed the team is in terms of fit, complementary pieces, like when to know when to put Jackson Blake in the National Hockey League on a

line with Taylor Hall and Stankhoven and where in there lies a success because you've got a creativity and Hall almost kind of changed. He almost Eisenman, let me I'll clarify this. Eisenman like changes his game. Remember in Eisenman, 97 I was there

and he became a well-rounded player? Hall had to be, the prick on that line, right? So you think about the Ottawa series. He garnered a lot of attention. His physicality and his impact in that end was something they've missed so, so sorely for a very long time, and there he is. And so that guy kind of from a veteran standpoint, conceptually understood it,

he grasped it, and he implemented it, and he was such a valuable component. The Jordan Stahl, right? So how everything fits, this was like an evolution and a process that, that can, Carolina was patient with and put together. The funniest thing, too, for me is the departure of the Carolina Hurricanes, this is going to be lost in all of this. The trade of the trade deadline, last one, Deloree. Right?

Everybody's like, why the hell do we pick that guy up? One game. And I didn't think he was going to play in the playoffs. And he shows up in Ottawa. And do you see the confidence your team plays with all of a sudden? Like, oh, you want to start this? I'll introduce you to this guy. Have some fun with it.

And they played with a level of confidence that if it's a lot of confidence that if it's ever needed. So it's there. Here's what I really do wonder about. Because go back one year, we were talking about how the Florida Panthers bullied the Carolina hurricanes. I can still remember watching them watching Kachuk and Aho go back to the bench. And there was one mic pick up where Kachuk's essentially saying, I'm going to do this all

series long and you're not going to do a thing about it. You're going to do nothing. And none of these guys are going to do anything. And you know what? Kachuk was right. Carolina did nothing about it. Nothing. This year, because I'm glad,

I'm glad you mentioned the Nick DeLoree pickup at deadline. This year was the one, and we saw us with Taylor Hall and how he initiated contact all the time, and Walker, again, with the hit on Carlson and another hits as well in the Ottawa series. He was a beast. It was like they learned the lesson from Florida

that don't wait for it. Like, go and get it. And did you see who one of the first players they gave the cup to was like, Last night. Nick DeLorey. They couldn't wait to give the cup to Nick DeLoree last night. And people are going to hit on us talking about this.

You don't know the value of the mental state of a team at this stage of the season. If you realize in the moment it's too late and you're missing something, that sits in your mind, the belief. But all of a sudden, if you know, hey, there's one bullet in the chamber, it's there. We never have to shoot it. But if you want to play that game, and here's the truth about that Florida series, which happened differently this year. If someone wanted to beat the Carolina Hurricanes and felt like they could, they would have gone back to the series last year and figured out that Eckblad and Jones basically egregiously picked every single time the puck went in the zone.

They couldn't get there to initiate any level of forecheck or adversity. And this year, Carolina had, I mean, when Montreal started to do it, Roddy talked about after game two, oh, we've made one tweak. We've made a tactical change. I'm not sure what the tactical change was. But I did notice that offensive zone time increased for Carolina Hurricanes. They were more adaptive based on what they learned from Florida last year as opposed to this year. You went, what is it, 16 and 3 in the playoffs.

That's ridiculous. And your two losses came in the final round. Like you just trucked through the east. That says a lot about the reputation, the abilities and the character of this team and how they got this done. Yeah, and your other loss came after the longest layoff between two rounds and 107 years. Like, you know, your clock was a little off on that game. First of all, it's okay you bought up Nick DeLore, you know what podcast you're on, you know that we're the podcast where people punching faces is something we talk about occasionally.

Secondly, you brought up Tulski before. And so I wrote my big essay at the end of the Stanley Cup final this year was the delightfully titled The Jock the Nurember. in the Stanley Cup because they truly are hockey's odd couple. Like Rod the Bod, 35-year NHLIFR and the guy who when you guys won the cup in 06 was a nanotech scientist in Washington State, like it is unbelievable how well they worked together to kind of craft this championship. And I think a lot of it, like you said before, is, and Rod's spoken about this, Eric's willingness to think about, consider, ask questions about Rod's experiences, what he sees.

It's not simply just relying on a spreadsheet, but getting to really understand sort of the essence of what it takes to win in this league beyond the numbers. It's an interesting partnership and it resulted in the win in the top. I got a great story for you. My introduction of Eric Tulski, so I work with Andrew Thomas, Dr. Andrew Thomas. He's leading up our analytics group at SMT. Shane Kelly is our project and product managers. So the three of us go in to present the analytics platform Tolski and for 45 minutes, not a single response, not a word. And I'm just, at this point, I'm turning beat red and I'm sweating. And this is like our first president. I'm like, this is supposed to be good. These guys are analytics people, not a single word. And I walk out of

there and I'm, I'm demoralized. And they're, and they're like, what's wrong? I'm like, he didn't say a damn word. Not a friggin word. He goes, that's good. He goes, why? Because he goes, because if he had something to say and he had questions, he's picking it apart and he doesn't believe in it. And I'm like, what? They're like, the fact that he was silent, he was absorbing, he's intaking. He's like an observer. And that's how his mind works. And that for me is, I think, again, over time, patience, the coming together of Roddy's mentality, Tulski's mentality, is where I talked to you about the idea of the 50-50. You got a guy who played the game and has a feel for the environment. What he sees, what he feels, attention in the room. and you have a guy that is a hockey guy that's a tire with still treads on it, right?

We're not recycling the same old ideas. We're not put it on and putting a guy in there that had past success, but the tread is worn off and only under ideal situations where you get traction. This guy, under adversity, under problems like, you know, the natures and the rantanans, he finds unique ways to resolve the issue. And that's the amazing part about having a guy that thinks outside the box. he might be a little different, not prototypical, what the hockey environment may...

I mean, listen, I'm around here. I hear all the jokes about, you know, all the patents and no cups. Well, guess what? That joke's over. They got a cup. It's 100%. You know, I've always sort of made the joke that,

like, Eric Tulski is supposed to be the smartest guy on the planet, but how smart is the guy that chose the job that pays the worst out of all the things that he could have chosen to do? And he's chosen this because I think that, like, honestly, Aaron, like I think that he looks at I think that he looks at hockey like it is a big puzzle and it's also a challenge. So

I've been using this example. Greg's heard me say it before. If I told you there was a team in the NHL that let go of Brett Pesci and Brady Shea and Dougie Hamilton and Brent Burns and Demetri O'Olloff you'd probably say, well, I bet their defense sucks now. They might have the best defense

in the NHL and I think it's because what Tulski does is to to your point at your, at your meeting, like, he'll sit and he'll think and he'll say, okay, someone's leaving now this is my turn to do my job. There's been a lot of general managers that we've seen say like, oh, we can't let, we can't let Peschi walk because then we're going to have to find another Pesci, so we're just going to resign him. But Tulski looks at it like, it's my challenge as a general manager now to go find someone

that's going to fill that spot, who's going to take that spot, who's going to take Olaf's like that's how he looks at it. He embraces, what he does, just to be blunt, he embraces the job of being a general manager, which shouldn't be a baffling concept. And working with the hand you are dealt with your head coach. Here's how your head coach wants to play. All right.

Take that into your philosophical approach to how you want to construct your team and understand, I heard you guys talking about, here's the conditioning, here's a style of play, here's the willingness, here's the character, here's the past. and do all those things fit. And I'm not worried if Peschi walks or Hamilton walks and who in our Eastern Conference might sign them and how it might come back to bite us.

I'm focused on our team. I'm going to minimize the noise around me. The great part about Carolina is, like, this, we are the most biased hockey environment in existence. I mean, Toronto might be up there with us, but Carolina, like, it's just us and there's 31 other teams. We don't really care about them.

We're just focused, unifocused on the Carolina hurricanes. and they are so systematic and what's the word I'm looking for? Like so like I don't even know. They already know before they make the move where they plan to go. They have a system of the plan and they follow the plan. And there's no need you're trying to satisfy this reporter who's criticizing you or this part of the fan base that hates this part of you. Everybody's on board and pulling in the same direction.

And to your point, though, Aaron, like look across the ice last night at carol at at at Vegas who I know we're going to talk about in a second like everything carolina does is with purpose and with with the purpose of trying to fit the system their coach coaches Vegas goes shopping for the shiny toy like like is there a is there a reality in the world where thomas hurtle should have been a great fit for a bruce cassidy team or or a john torterello team no but he was available and he was a name and they could get him. And so I think Kelly, like, Kelly's on a shopping, Kelly's on supermarket sweep. He's just throwing stuff in a shopping cart. And I'm not sure if it's necessarily,

like, are you trying to, like, fire a coach with eight games left might be like a, I don't know. I'm trying to, I'm trying to tell you that the handshake deal that Rasmus Anderson has with Kelly McCrimman should have been ink on a contract because I think he's going to get shot into the sun. Like, like, they go out and get all the guys that are available. But I don't always think, It's not with the purpose of Eric Tolski. It's not with a purpose of the Carolina Hurricanes, where all these pieces, like we talked about, fit so snugly into what Rod's trying to do.

And then you look at Vegas, and it's just like, it's a bunch of guys with names that we know, but they all don't fit together like they should. All right. So Vegas has a boldness and a brashness to both their team and their approach and their management style and their ownership. Carolina is highly secretive, quiet,

It likes to do things under, like leaking out doesn't really happen that very often with the Carolina Hurricane. So, yeah, the polarity of these two teams is not lost on me, especially, I mean, you got torts who costs them a second rounder, still wants to stir it up in the middle of the Stanley Cup play. Like for me, if I'm ideally put in a situation like this, I'm embracing it. I'm trying to create fewer distractions from my teams, less questions like, hey, for guys, I know you're in the second or third round. of the playoffs, you're trying to win the Stanley Cup. But how do you feel about your team losing the second round or your coach being fired a fine to $100,000? Like all these things would never kind of,

you can't transplant these distractions and put them in this environment currently in Raleigh, North Carolina. It wouldn't happen. Got a couple of moments left with you here. I do want to get, because it is one of my favorite story. I was just telling him this story to Alan May not too long ago. One of my favorite Hockey Night in Canada, Stanley Cup memories ever,

you. And at the, yes, and you know where I'm going with this one, I think, too, Wardo. So at the end of, like, in the final game, they have all these, you know, pre-shot pieces of all the members of the winning team. And in this case was Carolina. And what they're asking the players is, who is your favorite player growing up? So there's a lot of, like, Lemieux, Yager, like a lot of that, Gretzky, all these, and Aaron Ward out of nowhere. Bob McGill. And we all went, I remember watching it, like, I love Big Daddy. He's a wonderful guy. Awesome dude. You just won the Stanley Cup. And Aaron Ward, your favorite hockey player, Bob McGill. And I'm like, did I just hear that? And then I found out the story, and it's absolutely beautiful.

Like when I was in Penticton, Okinawagon, I'm telling this story to whoever will listen. Can you tell the story of why you said on Hockey Night in Canada when asked your favorite hockey player, said Bob McGill. He taught me humanity at like age nine. Like he taught me that an athlete could have a relatability and a level of empathy for not just his teammates, but people in the sport and anybody else. So I'm out in Penticton, B.C. at the Okinawagon Hockey School. The big name out there is Annie Moog.

Any Moog is kind of the headline player. And I go out all the way from Ottawa. Yeah, I'm out there from Ottawa. I'm with one of my coaches and one of my friends. So we go there and we're there for two weeks. And this is the first time. My parents couldn't get me to go to sleepway camp. They couldn't bribe me.

So I'm going to this camp and I've never been away from home. And the level of fear that I had at nine when I got there and the disdain for being here and homesickness, like it was on steroids. And it was Bob McGill who in the moment looked at me and could see like something was up. And he took time. It's this whole movement we're talking about now and check on your teammates. But this is about a nine-year-old. And he says, you're right.

And so I just decided I spilled the beans. And I said, I'm homesick. I'm just, I don't want to be here. And he sat down with me for probably 30 minutes and just talked to me. And he made me completely forget that I was away from home. He made me embrace the idea that I was there at a hockey camp to get better to have fun, open my eyes to the opportunity of making some friends, enjoying the game, all of it. And his 30 minutes of just sitting down and being normal with a kid,

it basically was ingrained in me that I want that to be me when I get older. If I ever, I mean, I don't know if I'm successful at that point, but if I was ever going to be somebody, I was going to be Bob McGill. And I was not going to be the guy that walked by someone who maybe needed a pat in the back, a hug or encouragement in the moment. So I always cured of me that Bob McGill was my guy. And so as we grew up, finally, Leaf's gone on global.

I got to watch them more. I got to watch Big Daddy. It was a big thrill. Like, I only watched Bob McGill. There was a lot of bigger name players there, but I was watching Bob McGill play. And my biggest thrill is I got to play against Bobby in an exhibition game. I think it was in 93.

I think it was in Chicago. And I was in Detroit and I was a rookie. And I got to play against them. But I told Bob eventually, I let that go in 97, 98. I was telling them. But, yeah, Bob McGill is what for me, anybody in the environment of hockey should represent. Or a collective group, we should be for the greater good.

What an amazing human is. He's a great human being. I love him. Great human being. That is a beautiful, beautiful story. He's well known up here, placed in the Quartha. He's on Jackson Lake.

It's like he's just the night. Checks in all the time, like a great, great thing. I tell these nice things about him, but I haven't gotten an invite to his cottage. Bobby, I'm, it's kind of hot down here in Raleigh.

Talk to him. Corey Stilman. They're all up there. You know that whole set up there. There's another Stanley Cup champion from your team, Corey Stilman. who I still think should have won the costume of the trophy that year.

But that's for another discussion. Aaron, thanks so much. It's not a hot take. He should have won. He was fantastic. Thanks so much, as always, pal. You spent a lot of time with us today. Really appreciate it.

Great stories. Thanks for having me. Last night, every day, this week, every day. I'm my head in Colorado.