Leo Carlsson Officially A Duck And The Highest Paid Player In The NHL w/ David Ayres

Summary

Empty Netters Podcast: Ep. “Leo Carlsson Officially A Duck And The Highest Paid Player In The NHL w/ David Ayres”

Date: July 14, 2026
Host: Almost Friday Media

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Episode Overview

This episode is a classic Empty Netters mix of irreverent hockey talk, NHL news breakdowns, and a feature interview with David Ayres—the legendary Zamboni driver-turned-NHL goalie. The main themes are the fallout from the Leo Carlsson Ducks offer sheet saga, ripple effects of his mammoth new contract, and broader debates about player pay and hockey culture. The crew also dives into Bedard’s injury, Devils/Blackhawks updates, the Carolina owner’s controversial Stanley Cup engraving decision, and classic Empty Netters banter including chip draft, strange behavior reveals, and beer league etiquette.

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Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. NHL News and Leo Carlsson’s Historic Contract

(02:07-17:40)

• Carlsson Offer Sheet Fiasco:
  • The Ducks matched a huge offer sheet for Leo Carlsson, making him the highest paid player in the NHL at $18M/year.
  • Debate on whether Ducks should’ve matched, expectation that they would, and praise for Carlsson’s honest comments.
  • Chris on Carlsson’s honesty:
    “Yeah, dude, it changed my family forever. So I took the money. … It was a Powerball ticket. I signed it. It is what it is.” (12:05)
  • Disagreement over whether future stars (Matthews, McDavid, Macklin Celebrini) will reach/surpass Leo’s number.
    • Chris: “I expect … they come in at less than that because they go, that would be lunacy for me to take that if I ever want to win a Stanley Cup.” (09:22)
    • Dan: “I do think I am here to say that certainly within 12 months, we will see a contract at 18 or higher.” (11:05)
  • Broader discussion of player culture, CBA, legacy, and hockey’s tradition of “taking less” vs. NBA/NFL culture.
    • Grant: “Hockey, culturally, is more willing to do this than any other sport… I was so shocked by Leo.” (15:10)
    • Chris: “We have not seen a player take less in the NHL since those two [Sid Crosby, Bergeron]. Until McDavid just did it.” (16:14)

2. Cutter Gauthier’s Situation & Ducks’ Next Moves

(07:54, 19:21-19:33)

• Insight that Gauthier cannot be offer-sheeted, Verbeek (Ducks GM) may have to clear cap by trading players.
• Predicting Gauthier will “definitely be a Duck” but at $12.5M/yr; “I guarantee it’s five years.” (19:23)

3. Connor Bedard Injury & Blackhawks Outlook

(20:05-27:18)

• Hosts react to social media labeling Bedard “made of glass” and defend him:
  • Dan: “Way too many fucking people conveniently forget how fucking good he was last year.” (21:21)
  • Predict speedy recovery and major bounceback season; compare with other stars who overcame early-career injuries (Sid, Bergeron).
  • Chris: “I bet he’s sniffing 40 [goals] this year. I bet he has a monster season. This is not an issue at all, dude.” (25:41)
• Quick Blackhawks spotlight—strong pipeline, optimism about their prospect crop, particularly Nazar and Frondell, and the arrival of Spencer Knight in net.

4. Devils Mini-Deep-Dive

(28:07-33:23)

• Concern over goaltending heading into 2026–27: Jake Allen, Nico Dawes, David Rittich
• Positivity around forward group: Jack Hughes (potential 100pt breakout), Nico Hischier’s heroics off-ice, love for Jesper Bratt, Erod/Boqvist as depth pickups.
• Dan: “I believe in the New Jersey Devils. I believe in Harvey Dent.” (30:50)
• Light Quinn Hughes trade rumor speculation as a potential last-ditch fix if things go awry.

5. Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup--Dundon Family Engraving Controversy

(33:33-39:42)

• Tom Dundon put his entire family on the Cup, bumping out deserving staff like Joel Nystrom (played 38 games) and equipment manager Bobby Gorman.
• Chris: “Bobby Gorman…deleted, for an 8 year old, dude.” (36:32)
• Hosts note it’s not “egregious” but is “objectively super fucking lame.” (34:09)
• Jokes on the social/cultural awkwardness for the kids, and how they’ll be chirped.
• Dan: “This is bullshit…If you’re on the first time, you’re on this time.” (37:22)

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Featured Interview — David Ayres

(42:26-94:15, Key story 50:24-75:43)

Ayres’ Backstory

• Survived a major kidney disease and transplant (donated by his mom), which nearly ended his hockey life.
  • “My mom was 5ft tall … [she said] ‘I don’t care what it is. I’m going to give my kidney to my son and he’s going to stay alive.’” (57:27)
• Describes brutal eight months on dialysis but kept playing (even with PICC lines in his neck):
  • “If I go out playing hockey, I’ll be a happy guy.” (55:34)

The EBUG Journey

• Served as the Maple Leafs/Marlies practice goalie for years, describes EBUG routine: suit up, hang in Section 317, eat Reuben sandwiches, hope he never has to play, but always be ready.
• On mindset: “I crushed Reuben sandwiches every single time I went there … My first thing is, let’s go to the concession stand.” (64:49)

The Famous Night

• Called in for Carolina after both Canes goalies injured. Did not see it coming, only realized when told “put that jersey on. You’re going in.” (68:01)
• Let in two quick goals, only felt nervous after that—“Dude, you suck right now. Like, pull it together.” (69:23)
• Massive support from Carolina players and Reimer, who calmed him: “If you keep working hard and you keep at it, you can achieve things more than you ever thought you were ever going to do.” (80:02)
• Gets the win, showered with water bottles, ovation in Toronto, and afterward deluged with calls from Hollywood.

Movie and Life After

• In-depth on the process of adapting his life into an inspirational (not “Disney-fied comedic”) movie, now with a grittier, authentic, mentally-health focused script.
• “If someone turns on Netflix and says … I had a medical issue and now I don’t feel like I can do that. … This guy played in the NHL after having [a] kidney transplant. That’s why I wanted to make this movie.” (84:13)

Other Life/Projects

• Excited about a docuseries on emergency goalies (possibly for HBO).
• Runs motivational speaking events, recently started “Fragile Strength Apparel”—supporting kidney foundation, spreading message of resilience.

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Powers Chip Draft (96:05-103:59)

• Classic Empty Netters banter: hosts draft “Greatest Chips of All Time” in a snake format.
• Highlights:
  • Grant: Doritos Cool Ranch #1 overall
  • Dan: Cape Cod Salt & Vinegar, Lay’s All Dressed, Pringles/Walkers Prawn Cocktail
  • Chris: Ruffles Sour Cream & Cheddar, Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion, Fritos Honey BBQ Twists
• Honorable mentions segment gets roasted for including Tostito Scoops as a plain chip.
• Humor & Tone Example:
  • Dan: “Pringles or Walker’s prawn cocktail is one of the best chips I’ve ever had.” (101:13)
  • Grant: “That’s the most d—best chip I’ve ever… I know.” (101:21)

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Strange Behavior Game (104:25-120:08)

• Each host confesses a personal quirky action; other hosts must guess real or fake.
  • Dan: Stole money as a kid to buy lotion to grow leg hair—real.
  • Grant: Used to fear brain cells would fall out after hitting his head and would press his eyes and skull to keep them in—real.
  • Chris: Every time he buys gas, he stops the pump on the dollar value of a favorite sports player’s jersey number for luck—real.

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Beer League Hotline: “Can You Pee in the Communal Shower?” (122:31-128:23)

• Recap debate: one player peed in the communal beer league shower, splashed his neighbor, gets called out for it.
• Dan: vehemently anti-peeing-in-the-rink-shower.
  • “You can’t pee in the hockey shower at all. … It’s fucking crazy.” (125:27)
• Chris: makes the case for “everyone does it”, Pavlovian reaction, as long as it’s aimed at drain, it’s fine.
• Hosts agree to consult comments for broader hockey world ruling.

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Notable Quotes

• “You donkey. What are you doing?” – Dan on Dundon’s Cup Engraving (38:39)
• “Anyone would do this. It was a Powerball ticket. I signed it. It is what it is.” – Chris (12:05)
• “Tailgating is so awesome … Meanwhile, down in Carolina at the Lenny, they’re like, We do it every day.” – Dan (45:50)
• “If you keep working hard and you keep at it, you can achieve things more than you ever thought you were ever going to do.” – David Ayres (80:02)

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Timestamps by Segment

| Segment | Timestamps | |--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------| | NHL News / Carlsson Contract | 02:07–17:40 | | Ducks Moves / Gauthier | 07:54, 19:21-19:33| | Bedard Injury / Blackhawks | 20:05–27:18 | | Devils Update | 28:07–33:23 | | Canes Cup Engraving Controversy | 33:33–39:42 | | David Ayres Interview | 42:26–94:15 | | Chip Draft | 96:05–103:59 | | Strange Behavior | 104:25–120:08 | | Beer League Hotline (Shower Pee Dilemma) | 122:31–128:23 |

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Tone & Takeaways

• The hosts’ chemistry is rooted in brotherly chirping, quick wit, and a love for player stories and league drama. While comedic, they maintain a deep respect for the players’ perspectives and mental health.
• David Ayres’ segment is both heartwarming and inspirational—a rare honest look into the mental/physical journey behind a viral moment.
• The show’s blend of candid high-level hockey discussion with beer league mentality, absurd everyday arguments, and total transparency makes it engaging for hardcores and casuals alike.

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Transcript

[Dan Powers]

Welcome to the empty netters podcast.

[Chris]

Can you believe what this has become?

[David Ayers]

There was a full 48 hours where I felt like I was like literally superman.

[Grant]

Jumbo loves playing fortnite. So does he. He gets on the sticks.

[Dan Powers]

Did TR show you the saunacycle or was that already.

[David Ayers]

No, I invented that.

[Dan Powers]

Almost a year now that I haven't

[David Ayers]

taken a body check. That's kind of nice.

[Dan Powers]

So we are back. We are horned up and we are going deep.

[Grant]

Finished tonight with some chicken fingers and a few guinnesses.

[David Ayers]

Ran into you guys. And that's where this pod came to

[Dan Powers]

ice. Is ready. And we are back with another episode of the mt Niders podcast, brought to you by BetMGM. I'm your host, Dan Powers, on the sticks. We got Grant back. It's like we're at the Stanley cup again.

[Grant]

Oh, my God, we're back.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. And CP right over here. He's rocking, he's rolling, he's ready to go, as always.

[Chris]

Take me back to the Bellagio, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, you need that.

[Grant]

Take me back.

[Dan Powers]

These two dejects.

[Chris]

Not with you, though.

[Dan Powers]

I can't. No, not with you. Bad luck, dude. I'm a mush on the craps table. I hate to admit that, but I determined it's because my number is seven, and that is a bad number in craps.

[Chris]

Yes. And unfortunately, I would not play with you if you were sitting there betting the don't pass because of that.

[Dan Powers]

Exactly.

[Chris]

But maybe you can get a table to yourself and play don't pass and have.

[Dan Powers]

Did you see the video of that guy who just went in and played blackjack single, one on one? He was just betting $1,000 every hand.

[Chris]

Dude, it's so insane that you say that, because I opened up IG today for the first time, and the first video that got fed to me was this random video of a guy playing blackjack, and it said what dreams are made of. And it was liked by Dan Powers, and it's that exact video that he's talking about. So, yes, I have seen it. And I watched it like an hour ago, and I was like, that is insane.

[Dan Powers]

It was utterly insane. All right, we've got a really fun episode for you today. We're gonna rip through a bunch of NHL news that's going on. We're gonna hit you with a David Ayers interview. So much fun. We met him at the cup in Carolina. Great time chatting with Ayers. We've got a fun Powers rankings of the greatest chips of all time. We're going to go through. We're all going to draft our favorite chips. So, Zach, you better be ready for that as well.

[Grant]

I am so, so, so ready.

[Dan Powers]

And then you heard about it last week. We are going to be playing a game called Strange Behavior as well. And then wrap things up with the beer league hotline. Let's jump right on in the NHL news going on. We haven't talked about the Ducks offer sheet being matched yet. Yeah, correct. Because sometimes over the weekend I forget. I'm like, oh, yeah, that happened a few days ago. But we haven't talked about it on the pod.

[Chris]

On these very airwaves, I said that the Ducks. My final stance was that the Ducks should not match. And then whoop dee doo match.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. But we also said it's. Or at least I said they are going to match.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You thought that they shouldn't. We were like, they obviously will. I think that there is a world where Verbeek could not say, we will match any offer sheet and then not match it. I really respect Leo and his comments of being like, dude, I want to be a Duck. This is where I want to be. And anyone else would have signed that. And I'm like, hell yeah, brother. To quote Love island, stand on ten toes, dude. And. And.

[Grant]

And stand on ten toes.

[Dan Powers]

Because that was a big thing, right? Like, people talked about it, we talked about it. We're like, damn, is that kind of a motherfucking of the Ducks to sign it? But he was like, anyone would have signed it, dude. Like, I, you know, what are you talking about? And I'm like, you know what? You're absolutely right, man. Respect.

[Chris]

Yes. So here, can I give you some of the quotes? I'm going to give you these quotes.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Chris]

And I'm gonna. I'm gonna vote on what I think of them.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Okay. He first here. Leo Carlson. These are all Leo Carlson quotes. I always wanted to be a duck. It's home, too, so just super excited to be back. That one. I give a C. I give a letter grade of a C to you. Did not always want to be a duck because you signed an offer sheet to be a flyer. You said this Leo Carlson flyer. Your signature. So disagree. Do not always want to be a duck.

[Dan Powers]

Disagree with that. I think that's a douchey thing to say.

[Chris]

He wanted to be a flyer more than a duck for that price point. He said, done, I'll be a flyer. Then he says, next quote. It's kind of an offer that I think everybody would sign to. It changed my family and all that, too. So it's a pretty simple answer there, but I always wanted to be here, too. I just really hoped they would match this comment. I give an A plus because it's like when Dustin Johnson got asked about the live thing, and he was like, dude, I. Well, we should find that clip. It's him. It's Dustin Johnson sitting at his mansion. And he goes, you know, he talks so slow. He's like, they asked me if I wanted to work less and would pay me way more. And as he's saying that, Paulina Gretzky is in a bikini, like, walking behind him into the pool. And he's like. So I said, yes. And I was like, I hear that, dude. So Leo Carlson right here going, yeah, dude, it changed my family forever. So I took the money. And that I do not blame. I do think he would have made that much money anyway in his life, but I do not blame him for that. Next quote. Try not to think about it too much. Just kind of work out, do stuff, hang out, play golf, hang out with friends, stuff like that. I tried not to think about it too much. And then I'm going to add another quote later. It was the weirdest week of my life.

[Dan Powers]

I love that. I love that. Because it's a nice little insight for all of us fans into, like, this shit is crazy for them. As much as we like to go, wow, this is a crazy week, it's also crazy for him.

[Chris]

Yep. And he said his mom is relieved, too. Everyone's been stressing, so I think that's. That's a real thing. And then there was one more. Let me see if I can find it. Oh, yeah, this was cool. He was like, I've had pressure since the draft as well. I'm still gonna be the same person. One thing I can just do is play my way. And I kind of like that attitude.

[Dan Powers]

It's.

[Chris]

I wonder, Dan, if the leaving would have, though, been easier. I know he's like, I don't care about the pressure, but I wonder if leaving would have been less awkward. Cause now you're just on the flyers and you make a ton of money, but he's going, I don't care about that. I'm just on the flyers now, and we good. Zeks is here, and it's all fine. Versus now he comes back, and everyone's like, you got the cutter thing and you got the ducks being like, why did you sign that? Why did you.

[Dan Powers]

Fuck that.

[Chris]

You know, it's just the whole thing.

[Dan Powers]

Listen, I never thought that we would have to on our comedy podcast, try to put up a little sign that says when we're being satirical and when we're being serious. But apparently some sensitive people have made that the case. So I will say I'm being dead serious right now. I don't think it's awkward at all.

[Chris]

Yeah, there was.

[Dan Powers]

We talked about all the options. We were like, when you come back, damn, that's awkward. And I think they handled this perfectly. I think Verbeek handled it how he had to handle it. Whether you want to say him stalling cost them money is true or not, I think that that is true. I think he kind of admitted we got him for a number more than we thought. And we were like, man, is this gonna be weird when Leo comes back and he's the highest paid player in the league? There was a period where we were like, that might be weird, it might be awkward for a second. But at the end of the day, all of the teammates, they're professional athletes, they understand how this goes. They all have agents, they all have conversations. They know how this goes as well. And I think right now they're going, we're happy that our star center is back. I think it's as simple as that. There will certainly be pressure, not pressure that he can't handle of are you going to perform or are you not going to perform because now you make $18 million a year. I think he addressed that and now all we can see is how he plays. And as we've said, he will not be the most expensive player in the league in short order within a year or less, frankly. I mean, I mean, this season he will be, but it eventually will change, so whatever. Also, Ducks fans are super passionate and awesome and knowledgeable, but they're also not psychopaths. I don't think they are the type of fan base who is going to skewer Leo if He doesn't have 150 points next season.

[Chris]

I agree with that.

[Dan Powers]

I think it would be way more awkward if it were a different fan base, the Leafs, but it's the Ducks, so it's not that awkward.

[Chris]

I have a question.

[Dan Powers]

I think they're all super pumped that he's back and now it's all about, what trades are you going to make to get Cutter. Someone asked us a question today. It was like, I thought when that was offered we would see what happens with Cutter. Cutter cannot be offer sheeted, folks. Just so you know, Cutter Gaultier cannot be offer sheeted. So there is no rush on Cutter. Now. They will take Their time to see if they can make moves and then give Cutter a contract, which they will do. Cutter Gaultier will be a Duck is what I. What I think. But there is no rush on it. And also there's the element of other teams in the league now know that Verbeek has to trade players like a Frank Vetrano or like a Troy Terry or like a Chris Kreider and make room for Cutter and then ultimately Beckett the next year.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

So they are going to go. We kind of have you bent over a barrel, bro. And he's going to go, sure, maybe, but I'm not going to get fleeced. So that's why we haven't seen a trade yet. It's going to take time.

[Chris]

Yep. I have two questions. First question, I. Not obviously, but, like, very likely, eventually, as you said, Leo will not be the highest paid player in the league, but I wouldn't be surprised at all. And this is my question to you. What is your level of surprise or expectation? I wouldn't be surprised at all. In fact, I expect when Matthews is up, when McDavid is up, they don't take more than Cutter or Leo. I bet they come in at less than that because they go, that would be lunacy for me to take that if I ever want to win a Stanley Cup.

[Dan Powers]

Okay. I mean, listen, I'm not going to backtrack here. I said, I was like, if you have a player making $18 million, you cannot win a Stanley Cup. Yeah, I said that. On these airwaves, on this very show.

[Chris]

I said that. Yes, you did. I'll clip the fuck out of that.

[Dan Powers]

Me, too. And I stand by that. I think it's really high, but this is what people need to remember, man. It's like, this is what the CBA is. This is what agents jobs are. And there were a bunch of people who were pissed when McDavid signed his same number. There have been people who've been pissed at Crosby for the last 10 years for signing his same number, because they're like, you're hurting future players. I think this number obviously was instigated by an offer sheet, but I bet the number was set because of Krill's number. So I think it is not out of the realm of possibility that a McDavid or a Matthews or a Bedard or a Macklin will take less. I don't think it's crazy, especially if they're actively going, I want to build something where I am, but I do not think that that's a guarantee at all. Because there are. You already have the mathematicians out here going, when Crosby signed his superstar contract for the first time at 8.7, it was blank. Percentage of the cap.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Leo's 18 is barely higher than that.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So there are already people going, this isn't that high. And it can work. I don't know if it can work. I think it is a dangerous game, friendo, to start slinging around 18 to 20 million dollars deals. But I, I am. I do think I am here to say that in certainly within 12 months, we will see a contract at 18 or higher.

[Chris]

Okay, cool. Because I. I am here to say that we will not.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And I think it's going to be interesting to see how the league or how NHL fans and. And Ducks fans react when in my opinion, when Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini all come in at like 15 to 16 to 17. I wonder if Ducks fans will be like this. Jesus Christ.

[Dan Powers]

I think that this is the. I mean, listen, dude, if that happens, it will be electric.

[Chris]

Agree. And it's. In my opinion, it's happening.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And we'll see.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I just think

[Chris]

they just know better, dude. They're vets. Like, they know if they go, give me 19. Because. Because the Flyers.

[Dan Powers]

So then you're calling. You're calling Leo Carlson an idio?

[Chris]

No, because of his. Because of his A plus quote, in my opinion, when he went like this. The Flyers are morons. And put on paper, I could have $18 million a year. I talked to my family and they said this would take care of us forever. You could break your leg tomorrow.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I said I had to take care of my family. Anyone would do this. It was a Powerball ticket. I signed it. It is what it is.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

That's what he said. And I love that legitimately. I love Leo.

[Dan Powers]

And that even though he could have done exactly what you said last episode, where he could have gone to Verbeek and gone, hey, dude, this is going to take care of my family forever. Can you give me 15, like 5? It's $15 million less.

[Chris]

You know, I wish she. I still wish he had done that.

[Dan Powers]

So that's what I'm saying is like, I. I actually don't think it's as black and white as you going. They are pros. They know that this a team. Because I'm like, I think Leo's a pro, too. And Leo, again, I hear you. I said what I said and I stand by it. I think it's. I think it's too high. But I think this is the game, dude. Like, this is. I felt this way with fucking Matthew's contract. And then Leon Draisaitl signed for more. And there we have Bowen Byram signing 12 and a half in Chicago. I think guys and their agents are going to go, oh, well, if my family can be taken care of forever too, that sounds great. And also, man, it was shocking to me to learn that when we were talking about Leo and Cutter and we were saying on this show, sign them both for 10 million a year. And what, what it's sounding like is the starting number for them. And even Verbeek was 15.

[Chris]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So I'm like, dude, that's not random. Like, I bet Macklin 119point Celebrini is probably not going. I was going to sign for 10. I bet he's like, give me fucking 16 mil.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So now if you are a good agent, you have to go, Macklin, we're asking for 18 and a half. And again, let's see what they do. But I'm just saying there is no, I don't think there's any fucking planet where unanimously the entire league goes, every player in the league goes, let's make Leo Carlson look like an asshole and we're all going to sign less because that is what you would have to do.

[Chris]

Agree, but. And you just said a great thing. It's not I. And I, I. What I said is wrong. It's not their pros. They know better. And this is the benefit of where they are in their career. They already have. My family is completely taking care of money. So they have the luxury, Matthews and McDavid have the luxury of going, I'll take. I'm good. Like, I could die tomorrow. And my family and my grandkids are covered. So I will take 15 in a. Hope to win a cup. I don't need 19 a year just to go. Well, the bar was set by Leo Carlson, which is why I think they will. Macklin will be a great test case. Cause he is like, I haven't made any money.

[Dan Powers]

So is Bedard. We need to see what happens with Bedard this year. We're also about to get into Connor Bedard, but, like,

[Chris]

But I bet. And we'll find out soon. But I bet Mack goes, the Sharks are building something sick. I'm not going to handcuff them that bad. I'll take 15.

[Dan Powers]

What pisses me the fuck off about this outlandish statement by you is I completely agree with that because I think Mac is different. I think Mac is a Sid disciple, and I think Mac is going to go give me 14 and a half or something like that, and it's going to make you look correct. But you're wrong.

[Chris]

Well, what do you mean?

[Dan Powers]

You are. You are lucking into the statement because of who Macklin is.

[Chris]

But. But If Matthews and McDavid do it

[Dan Powers]

too, though, I think those are outliers.

[Chris]

30. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like, yeah, like, they've signed massive deals.

[Grant]

And can I make an argument here?

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Okay. I think it's also hockey, culturally, is more willing to do this than any other sport. And I think that you would see this a lot more. Like, I think it is very fair to expect a hockey player to take 15mil over 18mil and ego not be involved than anywhere else.

[Dan Powers]

I agree with that.

[Chris]

Me too. But the same, which is why I was so shocked by Leo.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know, dude. Can we break that down?

[Chris]

Yeah. Hell yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Because it's hard. We have had that conversation on this show when every fan is like, hockey player culture. Hockey player culture. Zach. When we were talking about this fucking offer to a couple of our basketball friends and we were like, it's unbelievable how much money. And they were like, wait, how much is he making a year? And we were like 18.

[Grant]

And they were like.

[Dan Powers]

They were like, that's not a lot. And we went, it's literally the biggest contract in the NHL. And they were appalled with how little money hockey players make, comparatively. Yeah, so we've talked about this, like, the hockey culture thing. Hockey players take less. Yeah, dude. Chris, we have talked about the days. Do you not remember on this show saying the days of Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron's are over?

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

We have not seen a player take less in the NHL since those two. Until McDavid just did it.

[Chris]

Yeah, sorry, you said Sid and who?

[Dan Powers]

Bergeron.

[Chris]

Oh, Berg. Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like, Berg was playing at like 6.6 or something.

[Chris]

And they had many quotes like this, we all got to do it. It only works if we all do it.

[Dan Powers]

When Caves and Kane signed there, like, ten and a half, that wasn't taking less. Those were two of the biggest contracts in the league. Leon didn't take less. Conor didn't take less on his first deal. McKinnon didn't take less. Cale is not about to take. Or, I mean, maybe he will, but it's like, we don't see it that often. I agree with you. The culture screams that, but it doesn't happen that often.

[Chris]

Tumani Kumara on The Portland Trailblazers makes 18 million a year.

[Dan Powers]

Household name.

[Grant]

I have never. Walker Kessler just got a bag. I mean this is. Talk about a Laker. Walker Kessler's got a bag.

[Chris]

I heard those letters put together in my life.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, so, I mean, yeah, man, like I would love to see it too. And I. This one is definitely. Now I am backpedaling because like this, this one is so high. Like it is crazy.

[Chris]

So what you said today, not from what you said the other day, right?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, like I said, I was like, I'm not going to back. No, no, no, sorry. I'm, I'm, I'm backpedaling what I said today and that. I was like, we will definitely see it.

[Chris]

I just, I really don't think we will. And I'm, I can't wait to be wrong.

[Dan Powers]

But I really, I'm now being like, yeah, maybe.

[Chris]

Dude, Dan, can you literally Im if Auston Matthews a doesn't leave the Leafs? No, Austin, just, just hear me out though.

[Dan Powers]

No, I won't hear you out because I've, I've already said this on previous episodes about Austin and Connor specifically. I was like, those two don't need to match this. It's the other guys that do first con. So I agree with those two. But it's like all of these other players who are eventually going to be signing a new deal, I'm like, this is now the number. Like it's. But, but I, I think Austin, I've been saying for a long time now, I think Austin's next contract is going to be like 14 mil. I bet he is like, yeah, just give me a bit more than what I make. Because it's also surprising, like when a John Carlson signs for what he signed for in 8.5 in Tampa. Like, I was like, whoa, yeah, yeah, you're 36. Like, I expect these guys to be like, just sign for 2 mil somewhere. And they're like. And then he's like, no, give me eight and a half. I'm one of the best right shot defensemen in the league still.

[Chris]

Dude. LeBron. Did you see LeBron? I know he hasn't signed yet, but LeBron or has already agreed to the, the vet minimum.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

He's like, I don't care.

[Grant]

He's made so much money. He's made so much money.

[Chris]

Like, no one does that. Like guys in the NBA who have also made billions go, don't care.

[Dan Powers]

Give my contract.

[Chris]

You know? And LeBron's like, Dude, to win a

[Grant]

title when you're chasing it's Interesting number six.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris]

That's what I mean. And like, thank you for, like. Actually, dude, I've. I've had such a roller coaster relationship with LeBron.

[Dan Powers]

We got to move on. We got to move on.

[Grant]

We got to move on.

[Chris]

And I'm so back on him after that.

[Dan Powers]

I was like, oh, LeBron's fucking. Like, I. He's not my favorite player of all time, but he is so goated. Okay, we'll see what happens. My take is Cutter Gauthier is going to sign, so trades will probably happen in Anaheim.

[Chris]

What? Give me your best guess at number.

[Dan Powers]

I bet Cutter's going to sign for 12 and a half.

[Chris]

That's actually right what I had. And that they better hope he agrees to that. And I mean, you're right about the leverage, but like, I.

[Dan Powers]

But I guarantee. I guarantee it's five as well. Yeah, I guarantee it's five years. Okay, we're going to move on to the Blackhawks. First and foremost. There are two things from last week that have made me laugh that I want to address is the fact that there were some people who took what you were saying about Spike ball as not satire. To that, I say that was obviously satire and we're moving on. What I did not like is on our Instagram post. Do you have anything to say about

[Grant]

that, by the way?

[Chris]

No, I could not care. And dude, by the way, I pray to God he was playing Spike ball and faked it. I pray that happened. And then I get to go sue who for defamation. Dude, I imagined. Nevermind. Incredible.

[Dan Powers]

Again, it is funny. And it has been fun laughing about that with other people who also found it insane. But I get it, man. Like, we're. Hey, we're new boot goofing around here. More often than not, we like to have fun. We hope you can have fun with us. Uh, so obviously it was a joke when we were joking around about playing Spikeball. But what I did not like is on our IG post the insane, overwhelming amount of comments who were chitting on Connor.

[Chris]

Well, dude, the only thing I want to say about that. Cause I saw that too, is we also. This wasn't in the clip, so we didn't even have a chance to explode. But we did. We both said in the first round before we actually heard. We both said, if it's a knock, it doesn't matter if he's out. Significant time. We both into the mic said, I now actually am like, dude, we have a durability issue. And now it is surgery four months. So per our point we both think there is a durability issue.

[Dan Powers]

Well, it's a fear. That's what I say. Like, you have a fear.

[Chris]

But.

[Dan Powers]

But the amount of people who were like, he's made of glass. He's a bust. He's this, he's that. I will not stand for that personally, because I think way too many people. And I'm going to contradict myself here, because it was an injury that did it, but way too many fucking people conveniently forget how fucking good he was last year. Him and Macklin Celebrini were neck and neck. And in fact, for a long stretch, Bedard was leading. And I know he has an extra year on Mack, but. Yes, but, dude, Bedard was on fire last year. On fire. And like, he. I think that kid is insanely talented. And it sucks that he got that he didn't keep the chin tucked.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And it sucks now that this has happened. And he hurt his shoulder last year,

[Chris]

I think it was different ones. But, yeah, shoulder, Shoulder.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but, like, oh, is that confirmed?

[Chris]

I think I saw that, but I might be pulling that out. Well, either way, I swear I saw

[Dan Powers]

that he hurt his shoulder last year. Now he has this shoulder injury. But, dude, I look at Drew Brees, also a short guy.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Gets a bionic shoulder put in, and

[Chris]

then he wins better than ever.

[Grant]

That's true.

[Dan Powers]

I am. I am here.

[Chris]

Different shoulder.

[Dan Powers]

I'm going to stand for Bedard here. I will also never call him Bedsy. I can't. I feel like such a fucking clown loser when I say that. Why? Cause I'm just. To me, like, Bedsy's a cool young person nickname, and I'm not a cool young person.

[Chris]

But that's what they call him.

[Dan Powers]

Do they?

[Chris]

I'm pretty sure.

[Dan Powers]

Do you think older guys call him Bedsy?

[Chris]

I think so.

[Dan Powers]

I just feel like a. I feel like a tool when I say it.

[David Ayers]

What?

[Chris]

I don't feel like I'm gonna be saying it. I don't want to be saying it. No, that's what he likes to be called. You're doing him a disservice.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris]

Say his full government name.

[Dan Powers]

If Blackhawks fans can tell me, confirm that he prefers to be called that by people, then I'll call him Beds. But until I earn that, I will call him Connor. I. I'm going to stand up for him here, and I. I'm putting my chips on the table. I think when he returns, he is going to have. We'll call it point per game. We'll call it plus minus. I really want to see a big uptick there. I think he's going to have the best season of his career. Because you know what? I think he's pissed. I think he hears. I remember last episode. This was also a thing that got ignored from last episode. I think Connor Bedard has entered cool Conor era. Dude, that got so conveniently like, you want to fucking clip shit on TikTok and make a fucking big deal out of it and live in outrage culture, be my guest. But if you actually want to do your homework and listen to the episode, we spent fucking five minutes talking about how cool he is now.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And I think Connor Bedard has entered cool Conor era. And I also think he's entered grudge Conor era now, too. Where he is like, he's hearing people doubt the Hawks. He's hearing people doubt him. He's hearing people say he's made of glasses. I think he's going to get the surgery and I think he's going to fucking lock in and come back and be absolutely lethal when he returns. I can't wait to revisit this at the end of his season and go,

[Chris]

look at that fucking stud, dude, I'm so with you. He is. I said, last step. These young kids heal so fast. They grind on their recovery and, dude, this guy isn't that young. But look at Tatum tore his Achilles and everybody was like, he's going to miss the whole year. He's not going to miss two years. And then he's like playing game 50.

[Grant]

I mean, if we went to Patty Mahomes, dude, when Patty Mahomes. Patty Mahomes is probably come back and look at, like, perfect.

[Dan Powers]

It absolutely terrifies me how true that is.

[Grant]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

So, like, he's going to come back and we're going to get through week four and I'm going to go. So they're winning the super bowl again.

[Grant]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And I'm going to hate it.

[Grant]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Hate it.

[Chris]

So already I said last episode. I guarantee you, Connor Bedard, they're saying November, I guarantee you he's back early October. And they're going to go, wow, he's way ahead of schedule. Even if he isn't, which I'm sure he is, I'm completely with you. You even said last step. This is the perfect time to get hurt. So these kids go too hard in the summer anyway. This will put him on the shelf. He'll get his body right. Completely fine. He played 69 games nice last year and had 30 goals. I bet with miss because don't Forget the season starts in September now, so he's going to miss some games. So I bet he only hits of the 84. I bet he's at best going to be 72 already already if he doesn't pick up another knock. So do I think he's going to score 50 goals with missed time? Maybe not, but I'm with you. I bet he's sniffing 40 this year. I bet he has a monster season. This is not an issue at all, dude.

[Dan Powers]

And I addressed this on Hockey Talk today, too. The There are a lot of Blackhawks fans, like, panicking, and I get it because it does feel like the Sharks are ahead of you and the Ducks are ahead of you now. But, dude, I think the Blackhawks are right there. I, you know, I think I'm not

[Chris]

there yet, but I think nays are

[Dan Powers]

right there on turn in terms of you're not right here to make the playoffs. I think they're right here to all of a sudden people go, whoa, trajectory is there.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I think Nazar's disgusting, dude. Obviously, Connor is amazing, but dude, Frondell is so good. I love boys vert. I love Oliver Moore. And then you've got Byram. Now they're playing with Vlasic also signed

[Chris]

for a long time.

[Dan Powers]

Levshinov, I think, is amazing. I love Renzel, like this team. And you have Spencer Knight. Dude, you have the hardest part.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You have the hardest part.

[Chris]

Really good call, I think.

[Dan Powers]

I think this team is right there. And yeah, they missed on a bunch of free agents, but when we looked at the Sharks, right, and some of their trades and signings that we were kind of like, ooh, was that the right move? I almost like it better when you're in this situation where it's like, you're not putting money into like long term deals and places where you're like, ooh, that might not be great in a couple years. Like, I feel good. If you're a Blackhawks fan, this is me telling you. I think, I think we're good. I think we're maybe a little behind some of the other teams, but you're good still.

[Chris]

They're okay. I wish, I wish there was. I wish we had more time. I wish there was a little bit more firepower around Bedsy. I'm looking at it and you got sticking play, but I'm like, oh, dude, you look at the Sharks and the Sharks are such an outlier, but they have an embarrassment of talent.

[Dan Powers]

I know. I think we're gonna see a jump, though.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

I think we're see a jump from

[Chris]

those young because of Betsy. I also just want to say, too Sid and head stuff is different. But Sidney Crosby early in his career, Patrice Bergeron too. Patrice Bergeron was legitimately like, oh, my God, we might get cut short. His career might be cut short. Like think about the panic from Penguins fans in mid-20s. Crosby and then. And then it's fine. That's what I mean. So it's like to all the glass people. But Dard can have a couple unlucky knocks in the first three years of his career and then just be healthy the rest of the way and be like, I want to see.

[Dan Powers]

Especially for a smaller player. Sometimes it's. This is the learning process. It's like you got to the NHL, you have to learn that as a smaller guy, you might get rubbed in certain ways. That's not going to work. He's learning the lesson, I'm telling you. Cool. Conor Grudge. Conor, here. Here he is.

[Chris]

He's a child.

[Dan Powers]

And now he's going to blossom.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And it's going to be amazing. All right, quick talk about the Devils. Got a little. Got a little request from some of the fans saying that we haven't talked about the Devils in a little while and no, it was not Pasha, but we do want to talk about the Devils for a second. We saw the Nemetz trade and they get the two first round picks and then we didn't really do anything with it as we saw. What do we. What do you. How are you feeling about the Devils right now? Right. The big thing for me is goaltending is Jake Allen, Nico Dawes and David Riddick. Is that how they are going? Do we think they're going into this season going, nico Dawes is our guy

[Chris]

at this point? Maybe. I don't know. I would say at this point, it's not that late. There's time to do stuff. But maybe. And I think that is if I'm a Devils fan. That is scary. That's scary considering where I hoped to be three years from now. You brought up Pasha. Pasha and I. He put his money where his mouth is. I do, but I had his back. When after that Rangers playoff round, Pasha was like, the Devils are gonna win, you know, three cups in the next 10 years. And then when they hired Keef, I doubled down with him. I was like, you guys are golden, dude. This is going to be the next dynasty in the East. And like, looking back on that, we look like buffoons.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

So I wouldn't Be thrilled if I'm going into this year, a pivotal year in terms of the future of this team. And it's Dawes.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I think I'm excited. I don't mean to just be Danny Positivity here with everyone right now, but I think this is a big year. I think this is the 100 point year for Jack Hughes.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

I think post Olympics, everything he's been through, all these dumb injuries, and this team's been plagued by injuries horribly, but I think this is the hundred point year for Jack Hughes where he finally goes, I am the superstar that everyone thinks I can be. So I think that's very exciting. Hecher is only getting better. He's literally saving lives. I don't know if you've seen these stories, but like, Nico, what do you do? Grant, do a quick Google search. Nico Hecher in the news. H I S C H I E R He like pulled someone out of a car or some shit. Like, this guy's a fucking hero, but I'm a big Mercer guy. Meyer is maybe not what they expected him to be. Brat is one of the most underrated players in the league. And I think those Erod and Boquist pickups are very, very good depth pickups that they have not had. Same which I really like.

[Chris]

Erod's money.

[Grant]

A family in distress in Switzerland. Unbelievable.

[Dan Powers]

Literally went home to Switzerland. There was a family in distress, saved their lives.

[Grant]

Unbelievable what was happening to them. They family of four had an inflatable boat that became stranded near a dam, which caused them to be in distress. And when they were in distress, Niko saw it, had a heroic effort, swam to them, pulled the boat ashore using a throw bag, secured them to police, and none of the four family members were harmed.

[Dan Powers]

They were literally in a rushing river about to go over a waterfall after playing a game of spike ball.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Yep.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And hero.

[Dan Powers]

That's satire, folks.

[Chris]

Niko was playing spike ball. And then also, by the way, Niko has now strained a lat swimming in the river and then will fake an injury at practice and go, I was hurt playing hockey. So insurance cover this.

[Grant]

Conor McGregor.

[Chris]

Yes. Oh, my God, dude, I can't even

[Dan Powers]

begin to talk about that guy is such a piece of shit.

[Chris]

That is insane.

[Dan Powers]

I still love their D Seigenthaler, Dougie, Luke Pesci, Brendan Dillon and Kovacevich. Like, that's such a good team, dude.

[Chris]

Their team is stacked. I look at the lines.

[Dan Powers]

They all still have Shane.

[Chris]

How could you possibly be bad?

[Dan Powers]

The Devils, man, are like, they're just there's something there still. And I feel like people forget they have. Like, they have Salaev too. I believe. Put it this way. I believe in the New Jersey Devils. I believe in Harvey Dent, and I do think with Sonny, it is time to make something happen here. But I do believe. Dude, you gotta. I don't. I. It's not that I don't believe in Nico Dawes. I'm not sure I believe in Nico Dawes as a horse. As a. Like, you are playing 50 games, dude. Okay, so I'd love them to maybe look at an Aiden Hill trade, maybe look at a Hellebuck trade. And then my last thing on the

[Chris]

Devil's would be Numbies.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. My last thing on the Devils is. Do you think that a Quinn Hughes move is still on the cards?

[Chris]

Um, I have long been on. I am firmly on. They are all playing together. You know that or certainly Jack and Quinn. Uh, I was always on Devils, Devils, Devils. Lately it's shifted to Minnesota or elsewhere. Um, and weirdly though, the. The downward spiral of the Devils is somehow making Quinn coming there more likely to me because it's their last Hail Mary desperation of like, we. How did we mess this up so bad? We stink. Just go get Quinn Hughes.

[Dan Powers]

Um, and then. But now the wildest have had a weird off season too.

[Chris]

Yeah. So they also need Quinn Hughes. Who doesn't need a Quinn Hughes?

[Dan Powers]

Dan, we all need a Quinn Hughes.

[Chris]

So I still think it's unlikely, but maybe I've moved my meter up slightly. More likely just because of what a debacle they've been in.

[Dan Powers]

Nice. I like it. We'll keep checking that meter as we go through the summer. Okay, last bit of news before we jump into an ad break. And then the David Ayers interview. We gotta talk about the Dundons on the Cup.

[Chris]

Yep, I'm trying to find. Oh, here we go. I got the pick.

[Dan Powers]

We didn't really talk about this all week because I was kind of laughing watching a bunch of the pearl clutching that was going on. And I just think it's. Again, it's more outrage culture that leads to, like, hate speech and negativity online that I would prefer to avoid. But as the dust has settled, I would love to say this is so lame. So again, I'm not gonna sit here and go, one of the most egregious things that's ever happened in NHL history, but it is objectively super fucking lame.

[Chris]

So when I woke up to this news and you. I hadn't even heard about it and you Guys go, Dundon put his wife and kids on the cop.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And dude, Dundon's the man. We have had a. We had a great, lovely experience. Awesome, dude.

[Dan Powers]

She is a predatory loan shark, though.

[Chris]

Well, you know, you got to make your money, and I don't. I don't like that you got to make your money.

[Dan Powers]

Dan being a predatory loan shark is pretty tough.

[Chris]

So he goes, that. You guys go. He put his family on there. And I go, sick. And then Laz and G. And who else? Who? Colby was Colby.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Chris]

They go, I actually think no one got omitted. And so then I go. Then I go, oh, then literally, who cares? I cannot believe people are mad.

[Dan Powers]

That was like my original take. I was like, if no one who should be on there is left off, then this is just corny. Yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

But I love a good cornball. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But then there were again the outraged brigade.

[Chris]

Like, yeah, they were mad already.

[Dan Powers]

Well, there was just like, people were throwing around certain names and I was like, I. I genuinely still don't know who should be on and who should.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But I feel like some have been kind of confirmed, right?

[Chris]

Oh, okay. So I. I have a few. So then it was like, actually, no, some people were omitted. So Joel Nystrom, and I believe 41 games. If you play 41 games for a team, you.

[Dan Powers]

You are.

[Chris]

You are on the cup, period. And a person who plays less than that can be added to the cup by the team if they go, this person was incredibly valuable. And if you play playoffs, you're on, period. Or maybe it's like two playoff games or something. There's a minimum playoff game. Also, Joel Nystrom, a defenseman, played 38 games for the Canes, missed it by three games.

[Dan Powers]

And dude, he's like. So I looked this up. Nystrom is. He is under contract with the Canes still.

[Chris]

Yeah. Like, he.

[Dan Powers]

So because, like, if you played 38 games and then you got traded, I'm like, you should not be on the Cup. Like, I don't give a fuck. That's what's tough. Right? Like, you could play up to the trade deadline, and if you get traded, you're not on the, like, yeah, you're on a different team. He is a fair contract. So I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? This guy's not on the Cup.

[Chris]

He's on the Canes. 23 year old on the Canes, played, missed it by three games. He gets jacked.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Brutal.

[Dan Powers]

And then he gets jacked for an eight year old.

[Chris]

And this one actually really hurt my feelings. Bobby Gorman, a veteran equipment manager who has been with the franchise since they were the Whalers. Dude has been grinding.

[Dan Powers]

That one is worse.

[Chris]

On the Cane's gear to get them ready for the game. Deleted. For an 8 year old dude.

[Dan Powers]

Deleted.

[Chris]

And then also, is that guy in

[Dan Powers]

the cup in 2006?

[Chris]

Great question. Let me see. Because if he got double goosed.

[Dan Powers]

That is absurd.

[Chris]

Yeah, I'm gonna look that up.

[Dan Powers]

That wouldn't be Dundon's fault. But if Bobby Gorman is not on the cup in 2006 either, that is insane.

[Grant]

Did our Sharpen and Skates guy make it? That was listening to the podcast.

[Dan Powers]

Holy fuck.

[Chris]

Whoa, dude.

[Dan Powers]

We gotta find that out.

[Chris]

He's listening.

[Grant]

Yeah, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Grant]

He's listening.

[Chris]

Texas. Yeah, I need to find out.

[Dan Powers]

If you are not on the cop, then I'm. I'm going to. I'm going to show up at Dunan's doorstep.

[Chris]

Yes. Dude, seriously, are you on the Cup?

[Dan Powers]

And did you find out if Gorman is on in 2000?

[Chris]

It says his. His name was not engraved on the cup. His name, however, did appear on the cup back in, oh, six. So he got on. But I mean, I just think you got to.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, if you're on the first time, you're on this time.

[Chris]

Oh, that's what I'm saying.

[Dan Powers]

This is bullshit.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Chris]

So this is crazy.

[Grant]

That's nuts.

[Chris]

I. And then we'll put. We'll have edited in this picture, but. Sully, shout out. Sully, who's also listening, sent me the funniest picture I've. Which is the. For the audio listeners, the people. You know when you see a sticker on a bumper.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, the bumper sticker, that's like the family here, me and my kids.

[Chris]

It says Caroline hurricanes 25, 26. And it's just like, dad again, dude.

[Dan Powers]

My take was. As the outrage was going on, I was like, if no one got left off. This is just corny.

[David Ayers]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

But it is clear, at least by our standards. Like Joel and Bobby not being on there is mental to me. And like there's some minority owners. But like, that's kind of. I'm like. Like when Big Cat owns Swansea, like, if they won Premier League, I'm like, you don't. You own like 0.01%?

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I don't think my name should get on the cup there. But I mean, these ones are crazy to me. And I mean. Yeah, again, like, I'm not gonna. I'm not going to act outraged. I'm going to laugh about how Fucking stupid.

[David Ayers]

This is.

[Chris]

It's a little crazy, though, for these. For the. Now that I've seen that. No, no.

[Dan Powers]

Again, like, I think that this is lame as fuck, but again, I'm going to laugh about how lame it is because I think it's just way more fun.

[Chris]

It's just such absolute power. It's like, do.

[Dan Powers]

Like, this is. This is where ownership. I'm like, you donkey. What are you doing?

[Grant]

What do you think the conversation was like. Like, when they were like, hey, I want to throw the family on the cup. Like, why?

[Dan Powers]

It's also so. I'll also say this. They're the first names listed.

[Grant]

Yeah, yeah. And I saw that.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I don't give a fuck about that. Like, if I were a player on the team, I'm like, I don't give a shit where my team or my name shows up. I'm on the fucking cup.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But it is all. It is just another use of like, dude, he's so unapologetically was like this. Me, my wife and my fucking five kids. Five kids and my dog and my cat. And I'm just like, dude, calm down.

[David Ayers]

The maid, the nanny.

[Dan Powers]

Also, I actually wonder if these kids are gonna grow up and be like this, why the fuck did you put me on there, dude? Like, they're gonna get roasted.

[Grant]

There's gonna be. His kid is gonna get roasted at the middle school table and be like, you didn't do shit to get that cup, Grant.

[Dan Powers]

God forbid, if those kids grow up and play hockey, if I ever played against them, I'd be like, this. Your name's on the cup, pal. Huh? Like, what was that? What was that run like, do you fucking grind? Like, I would chirp the shit out of dude.

[Chris]

Because it's. It's the curse. If you touch the cup, if you touch the cup without before having won it, you'll never win it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

If your name is engraved on the cup before you ever did Dick Brutes, I don't know think that is actually an incredible comment. And I wonder what would happen in their hot. That is a tough one, dude. And I. I can't believe it's five kids too, you know?

[Dan Powers]

Is it five? I just threw that number out.

[Chris]

Is he only had one. It'd be a little less bad. Joel Nystrom would be on there. Seven names, dude. Outrageous. Outrageous. Okay, let's take an ad break. And then when we. We were going to kick it to our interview with our buddy David Ayers. You are going to love this one. You know, some of his Story. You will not believe the whole thing. Also a hell of a dude. Just a. Just a great hang hilarious guy. Unbelievable life experience, unbelievable attitude and the way to give back to the world. Grant, you would love that. You got to listen to it.

[Grant]

Oh yeah, can't wait. Can we shout out somebody real quick? Yeah, can we shout out Ev? I mean you guys set that interview up too.

[Chris]

But I know Ev was no huge great point. Ev was dialed on that. And like Dan said, we met him in Raleigh, all four of us. We met him in Raleigh. We were doing Stanley cup live. He even said to us in the interview, Grant, he was like, God, I went up to your guys show Stanley cup live and fans love you guys. I was like, hell yeah.

[Grant]

Very nice.

[David Ayers]

Love that.

[Chris]

Hell yeah. So we'll be right back with David Ayers. All right. We got three, four, four games left in the World cup because I actually forgot that the World cup does the bronze medal game, which is pretty sick. Four games left in the World Cup. It's already been an incredible tournament. And if you haven't been paying attention, you can make this tournament even more dialed. Because BETMGM has the coolest promotion. It is the 2 up early payout. All you have to do is place a pre game wager on any team you think is going to win. And if that team goes up by two goals at any point in the game, you win, literally your bet is over. You've won. So we saw, we've seen these crazy comebacks. Teams go up, it's all good. And then Argentina rips Egypt's heart out. You have already won that bet. If you had Egypt two goals, you win, that's it. You keep the winnings no matter what happens next. It's incredible. This offer is available every single match. You can hit it for the both semifinal games. You can hit it for the bronze medal game. You can hit it for the gold medal game. And that is unreal. So get in on that action and if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, do it right now and use that promo code, netters. That's N E T T E R S. When you sign up and you get a $1,500 new player offer. How sick is that? BetMGM hooking you up left, right and center. BetMGM. Make it legendary. We are joined today by a Whitby, Ontario native, the oldest player ever to win their debut NHL game. Pretty sick stat. I like that a lot. A man who retired with a career undefeated goalie record in the NHL. Former Zamboni driver, soon to be Hollywood icon David Ayers. Welcome to the Empty Netters podcast.

[David Ayers]

Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me here.

[Grant]

So it's.

[Dan Powers]

We're pumped, dude. We were just chatting earlier before we got going here that we were able to run into you during the final down in Carolina, and this was able to materialize. So it's awesome to finally have you on the show.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, it was wild. I mean, just to see you guys there, the crowd and stuff like that. Like, people loved you. It was wild. Like, these guys are just killing it down here. What a place to be, right?

[Chris]

Oh, dude, the Cane.

[Dan Powers]

Those are Canes fans.

[Chris]

Is that game two or five?

[Dan Powers]

I think it was five, right? I think we were a little deeper into.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Into the.

[David Ayers]

When I saw you guys, I think it was game two, maybe because they went to Vegas.

[Dan Powers]

I thought so, too. That's right. It was.

[Chris]

So, dude, I'm actually pumped to chat with you about that. The Canes did it because when we met, it kind of felt like we were maybe in trouble here. You might go down, you know? So that was a nice little turnaround for the boys.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I mean, that was a crazy series. Like, that was just. I've never seen anything like that. It's like, hold on, get down a bunch of goals, come back, storm back. Like, I was at game three at the. In the outdoor thing, and we left after the second period because my. This is terrible, the game. Yeah, this sucks so bad. And we ended up watching the game on the phone on the way back, and I'm just like, are you freaking? Are you kidding me right now? Like, it's a comeback. And we left. And I mean, the crowd was wild, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't handle. The game was terrible. Game 3 was terrible for the Canes at the start, and then all of a sudden, it was just like, I'll just leave. And I miss all the good stuff.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, dude, we were joking. We were at a wedding. That was the only game we missed. We had to go to our boys wedding. We got to go to our boys wedding. And it was hilarious as, like, we had all these bets on the game. And as it was all mapping out, people were freaking out because we had, like, you know, the over an I point or this and that. And then it was just like, bang. Everything flipped on its head, and we were like, what is. I ran up to Chris at one point, and I was like, this game's in overtime.

[Chris]

And he was like, dude, I was about to say that Dan came up to me on the dance floor at the wedding and go. Just holds his phone up and it was four, four. And I was like, oh, my God, dude.

[Dan Powers]

It was just.

[Chris]

Can't believe that's the one we missed.

[David Ayers]

That was crazy. I mean, how do you not love that series and that. I mean, the amount of people that probably tuned in to watch what, the last couple games of that series. I mean, after hearing how crazy it was for the first three, I mean, I'm sure game four, game five, are just, like, wild. The attendance and the people that came, I know in Carolina, the crowd from the first game, game one to game two to game three, like, it all started to build outside for game one. Outside, you know, middle had like. Like, I don't know, 5,000 people by the time game three and game four around the place. You couldn't stand out there at all.

[Chris]

That's awesome, dude. It was funny, too, because I had some people watch, said they watched game six, and they were like, this is kind of boring. And I was like, yeah, well, every other game was awesome.

[Dan Powers]

We're all exhausted, so.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But, I mean, I think people would be interested to know. So, I mean, like, you're talking about how you had to literally leave the game. You are like a. You are a true Canes fan, man. Right?

[David Ayers]

Yeah. I mean, ever since I played that one game with Devils, they treated me so well. I met so many people in Carolina. I've had so many friends now from the Carol, from North Carolina, like, Charlotte, Raleigh, all those areas. I mean, I've met so many people and become so close to a lot of people, and their fan base is unbelievable. How can you not be a fan of them? The way that Rod does it, the way that the management, the whole team, the way they do things outside, the way they get their fans incorporated and everything, like, that's awesome. The way they just do it is awesome. Other teams should kind of take the hint and get after it like they do.

[Dan Powers]

It's truly so cool. And we were losing our minds with the tailgating. I mean, it is. I think it's one of those things that we've kind of offhand said so many times over the course of the history of this show. We go to football games and things like that, and you re. You're reminded that tailgating is so awesome. And we're always kind of like, why doesn't every sport do this? Hockey should do this. Meanwhile, down in Carolina at the Lenny, they're like, we do. We do it every day. And it's absolute incredible. So it was just really cool for this final for the world and the rest of the hockey community to be able to see how well they do it and how fun it is. It's incredible. But you mentioned. So you're, you're outside of Charlotte now, you're living in North Carolina. Tell the people what, what was the start of your hockey days when you were growing up? When did you get into the game? Was it immediate? Did your family play? How did you really start to fall in love with the game of hockey?

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I still live in Canada, actually, but I'm down here quite often. But I, I mean, being a Canadian kid, this is, that's what you did. Like, my dad was a goalie, my older brother was a goalie, and so I really didn't have an option. It's like, here you go, here's, you know, your brother's equipment. Yeah, I know it's four sizes too big for you because he's four years older than you, but get after it. Like. So I'm wearing equipment that's up to my hips. And I knew we didn't have a lot of money growing up and by the time I was done playing equipment, it was down to my knees, right. So like I wore those pads for three or four years, but I didn't really have a choice. So my parents were just like, you're a goalie and, you know, my brother. We're playing road hockey with my brother and his friends and who do they want? They want the young kid who's going to go in net and they can just rip the ball at and I'm not going to complain about it, right. Because I get to play with my brother and his buddies. So, yeah, you know, hockey was my passion back then and I just kind of did what I had to do to just play and I just love to do it. So, I mean, I'll take. I was taking shots off the face. I was just putting that in the stupidest times. It was great.

[Dan Powers]

So your dad Bob and your brother Chris were goalies as well. Did you ever veer out of that like, or, or was it just like. Nope. They gave me this equipment. This is what we do. This is a only trade. You're like working in the steel mill for generations, essentially.

[Chris]

Would you.

[Dan Powers]

Did you ever stray or were you like. No, I'm a goalie.

[David Ayers]

I think I played. You know, sometimes you get those father son games. And I was able to let one of the other kids boring my goalie equipment. And I wore the Players, equipment. I'm like, oh, this is awesome. I can't skate Worth, but this is awesome. I love doing this. I mean, I play out now quite a bit, and I can skate a lot better now than what I did back then. But. But I just. I don't know. There was something about being a goalie that, you know, you want to make your. Your dad proud and your brother proud. And I think that's kind of why I stuck it out for so long.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And just stayed in that dude.

[Chris]

Well, it's funny. Usually, or at least I. I feel like I see often the brothers have one goalie because you need a guy to shoot. You know someone's gonna shoot on you. But I love how you guys just went straight down the list. Like, we're all playing goal generations.

[Dan Powers]

They just get a pitching machine going. Just some firing pucks at them all just down the line. Three goalies.

[Chris]

That was amazing.

[David Ayers]

I was lucky enough that our neighbor had, like, 20 kids. So there's all. All the whole neighborhood does 20. And they were just out there. Everyone wanted to play hockey, and they're always like, just put Dave, Annette. He's a goalie. They'll just leave him in there. And so I just always had somebody who wanted to shoot the puck at me or shoot the ball at me. Yeah, it was wild. My neighborhood, dude.

[Chris]

I'll say, too. I almost. Our. Our dad was a goalie when he was young. Young and then transitioned to defense. And I. It almost got the goalie bug when I was a little kid. Like, when we would be playing knee hockey. I always wanted to be a goalie. I love John Van Veesbrook. All these legends. Cujo. And it was. I do think there's something maybe, I think in everyone, but maybe just guys like me and you, Arcy. But it's like, I. Something about an incredible save is cooler to me than an incredible goal. Like, if you make a highlight reel diving save, I'm like, man, that's a special endorphin hit, dude.

[Dan Powers]

I never wanted it.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I never wanted any of that smoke. Didn't want to touch it at all. You know what? Da. I had the. I had the benefit of I'm lefty. So whoever's house we were at playing street hockey, the goalie stick was always for a righty. So I was always like, I can't play.

[Chris]

Can't take a turn.

[Dan Powers]

Don't know what you guys want for me. I can't do it.

[David Ayers]

Yeah. But one of my good buddies was a lefty, too. And I. And he just messed everybody up. Like, they coming on him as a goalie, and they're shooting high glove, and he just blockers it away like it's nothing.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

Like, man, it's. It's like that. Still to this day, I play with him, and he still has the same thing. People are going to go glove on him, and it's just blocker. So. But you're right. Like, a great save as a goalie, there's nothing like it, man. Like, you just go out there and your game's tied or something like that. You make a sixth save, and then that just. That feeling is unbelievable. Like, all the parents and all the parents afterwards come up to you and be like, yeah, man, you're the best in the game. Like, three quarters of the game, you stood there and did nothing. Yeah, yeah. All of a sudden, you made an awesome save. You're the player of the game.

[Chris]

God, you want to screamed. I love it. That's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

Well, so many people know about your unbelievable story and your game with the canes, of course, it's legendary. But I don't think many people know that in 2004, you actually had a kidney transplant, which is such an unbelievable part of your journey. How did that materialize? When did you find out you had kidney problems? Was this something that you were aware of, or did it kind of get sprung on you a little bit?

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I had no idea, man. I was in good shape. I was going to go play or try out at least in. For the Laredo Bucks in the. In Central League. Yeah. That long ago. And so one of my buddies, his brother was the captain. They kind of got me an invite to go down there. And then all of a sudden, I got sick, and I just felt like I had the flu for, like, two weeks, three weeks, and I just couldn't kick it. So I go to the hospital. I'm like, I don't. Something's going on here. Like, I don't know what it is. And they, like, check my blood pressure, and it was 240 over 120. And the doctor kind of like taps. Taps. The blood pressure machine. Like, is this thing all right? Like, what's going on here? They went out and got two more blood pressure machines to check it out. And next thing I know, there's the doctors. A couple doctors come in, and they said, you need to go to the emergency room. Like, right away, your blood pressure is so high or afraid that, you know, gonna have a stroke or a heart attack or something like that. And me being stubborn, I'm just like, I'm, you know, 25, 26 years old, in good shape, and I thought that's just something I'll be able to kick. Right? So I, I, I go home and I eat and it just kind of a couple days go by. I finally go to the doctor. It was right during SARS at the time, which is, yeah, you know, that stuck too.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

So, and so I'm, I'm in the hospital, I get put in the ICU because I was just not doing well at all. I was in there for a while and they at first thought it was my blood pressure that was the problem that was kind of killing my kidneys. So they put me on meds from, I think it was May, the long weekend in May until October when I finally, I was on Canadian Thanksgiving. I was at my parents house and I'm eating and I pass out standing against the wall. And I was like, I should probably go to the hospital again. I go to the hospital, they do blood work. They're like, yeah, your kidneys are at like 10 between both of them. You need, you need to go on dialysis right away. Yeah. I'm like, what's dialysis? Like, what, what's going to happen to me, man? Like, I, I'm a healthy dude. Like, why am I, what's wrong with me? You know? So I go and they put me on dialysis and I, they give me this book and it's all about basically, what's, what's going to happen in your life now kind of going forward. Like, what's the process of dialysis? What's the process of having a transplant and all that kind of stuff. So I sat there and I read it and there was a nurse that sat beside me and I said, you don't, you don't have to stay here. Like, I'm good. Like, I'll just read this book. And she goes, no, I had to stay with you. I was like, why? She goes, because when people get this kind of news, sometimes they don't, you know, want to live through it, basically. So she's like, you're kind of watch, watching, making sure that you're okay. And I was like, oh, no, I, I, this is a challenge for me. Like, I'm, I'm going to read what's going on. I'm going to try and kick this. And there was a basketball player, Alonzo, Morning. He was having a kidney transplant at the same time I was. And so I had this little challenge in my own Head of, like, I want to get back in shape and go. At least go down and, you know, get to my tryout in hockey and be able to play pro hockey and stuff like that. So that's kind of what motivated me to. To keep going and get through the whole kidney thing. Obviously, my mom was a donor.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And first things. First thing she said when she found out, she goes, how do I donate? Wow. Not a thought against it. Nothing. I think my dad got it. He got tested, but he had died. He was diabetic, so he couldn't donate. And so my mom ended up donating. And it was exactly a year from the time I first found out I was sick to the time I had my kidney transplant.

[Dan Powers]

Wow, dude. Remarkable. And you know what, man? I think, you know, with stories like these people look at you now, you're obviously a healthy guy. You stay in shape, you're active, you're doing. You've done so many amazing things. It's kind of easy to sort of skirt by those times and be like, oh, yeah, that was challenging. But, I mean, it must have been unbelievable. You were on dialysis for eight months. What was that process like? How did you get through it?

[David Ayers]

That sucks, man. To be honest with you, I would never want that happens in my worst enemy. It was horrible. I was average 205. Like, I weigh 205 now, pretty much. And I was in really good shape, more so back then than I am now. But I lost 45 pounds by the time I had my transplant. I was 160. And you could only eat certain things. You could have maybe a cup of water every day because your body just wouldn't filter it out. So it stay. Whatever you drank stayed in your body. And so your feet would swell up, your legs would swell up. Like, I went to a. Like a pro am camp, and I couldn't even play the last day because my feet were so swollen I couldn't fit into my skates meets. So it's not just the physical aspect of everything. It's the mental aspect of it all. 3. Because you're such a. You're so used to being able to do whatever you want. You're supposed to be able to, like, you're so fit, you can go to the gym. You don't feel like crap. Like, you know, when you go on dialysis, man, that, like, is brutal. I still played hockey through it. I had the pick lines in my neck, and I went out and played hockey with my buddy still as a goalie. And my doctor was Just like, what are you doing? Like, you got neck pick lines in your neck. If those things get hit and blow up, like, you're gonna start bleeding everywhere. You know that, right? I'm like, well, if I go out playing hockey, I'll be a happy guy. That's the way I looked at it, man.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

I wasn't letting it hold me back. I was just like, let's go. Like, whatever happens, happens. I'm, you know, Dude, I love your boys, too.

[Chris]

I love your boys, eh, who are, like, all good, dude. None of the friends were like, dude, go home.

[Dan Powers]

No, they're like, this is iconic. Just keep going.

[David Ayers]

That is awesome. As long as I was in that, they had a goalie. I mean, that's how it is. Nobody wants to play without a goalie. So, like, who cares? You could be on your deathbed. If you're gonna play for us, though, have at it. Yeah.

[Chris]

As long as you're there for puck draw, like, don't be late, dude.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, that's exactly it. But they're. They were good. They were good. I had such good support from my buddies, but they were also like, hey, if this is what you're gonna do, like, we'll support you. Let's do it.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

You know, and that's what you needed to get through something like that, because mentally, it kicks your ass. Like, that thing was, you know, you go through enough of time.

[Grant]

Time.

[David Ayers]

I was married at the time, too. And something like that really gets you, and it really. It's hard in your relationship, too, to try and get through that, man. A marriage when you're that young. My worry was, hey, you're probably not gonna want to be with me as I get older. Like, who wants to deal with a guy who's taking medication every day just to live.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

Potentially. Can't have kids, which it turns out I didn't have any kids. So, like, that. Those things are just mental issues that you had to get overnight. Some really, really dark days because of it.

[Grant]

It.

[David Ayers]

But, like, having a good, you know, support team around you is pretty helpful.

[Chris]

Oh, dude. Makes all the difference in the world. What was the process like for Mary to. Because you have to be a match, right? Or is it. Or is it. Are you automatically a match if it's.

[Dan Powers]

If it's.

[David Ayers]

No. You have to go through all that.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Dude. Was it cool when you. I mean, obviously you're going through an incredibly difficult time, and a transplant is no easy thing. There's so much stress that goes into that. There's so much Physical and emotional gymnastics that you have to go through. But your mom, who immediately stepped up to the task instantly, then you find out is a match. Was there kind of an awesome moment when that happened?

[David Ayers]

Yeah. I mean, my mom was super pumped about it, obviously, so was I. What a weapon.

[Dan Powers]

She's like, let's fucking go get this thing out of me.

[David Ayers]

She was. That's exactly what she was like. And my mom was, like, 5ft tall and just like a farm girl. She grew up on a farm. Like, she's just like, let's do this, like. And she's like, I don't. I don't care what it is. I'm going to give my kidney to my son and he's going to stay alive. And my mom and I have always been close, but obviously, you know, that brings you even closer. But she was just out of the hospital, I think, four or five days after giving a transplant. And back then. Back then, they went through your ribs. Now they go through, like, your belly button and just suck it up and take it right out. But now, well, she went through a pretty operation, and I think she was home day five, and she was outside gardening. Like, mom, she just had nasal surgery, like, pill out a little bit. But she. That's her man. She just goes and goes and then. And so for her and I, that's a huge connection. Also a big part of the whole story that kind of people are interested in, because a lot of people don't are worried about donating, you know, kidneys or organs. And kidneys nowadays are fairly easy to donate. And, I mean, you can save someone's life, but, like, it just goes to show that you can get out of the hospital in four or five days and you're completely fine. My mom has been fine ever since.

[Dan Powers]

Since.

[Chris]

So that's unreal. And how long was your recovery? Like, you know, when. When were you, you know, up and running again?

[David Ayers]

That was a tough one. I mean, I was. I'm just. I tried to go all the time, and I wanted to work out. So I, you know, I'm trying to lift things, and I'm playing scar, this nice thing. Yeah, my scar keeps ripping open on me. And they're just like,

[Dan Powers]

you guys are nuts. So many. I mean, like, good. The fact that you just still had zips in and you're doing it is mental.

[David Ayers]

I had. Yeah, I had. I think I had 28 or 30 staples, and I was still out there trying to do some stuff and, you know, trying to get back in shape because I thought you know, in September was coming around. I thought I was going to go down and have a tryout. So this was May, and I'm like, oh, man, I could probably get myself in shape by September. It was not a good idea to do that, but I mean, it was just, you know, you ripped to pieces, but you're still going at it. And so, like, I think full recovery, maybe a year until I felt like myself again. But, like, they cut you so big. Like, the scar was, I don't know, know, probably 10 inches long, if not more.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

So it's a big one. I actually, when I got out of the hospital, I remember not being able to really move my leg properly, and I was to go back a little bit. I had rejection right away. So I ended up being in the hospital for 21 days until they figured it all out.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And so when I did get out, I'm trying to cross the road, downtown Toronto, trying to cross the road out of St. Mike's Hospital to get to the car, and I'm limping like. Like I could, couldn't. I think the stoplight went like, once or twice. People are honking at me to get across the road. I could barely move my leg, man. Like, give me a break here. So it took me. It took me a while to recover, and it was pain in the ass, but, yeah, probably a year until I was fully recovered, back to where I wanted to be anyways.

[Chris]

Yeah. My God, dude. Okay, so that is a massive moment in anyone's life. Right. And. And I'm sure there was a lot of. Of mental toll on the hockey of it. All. Right. Like, obviously your. This comes first, second, third, fourth, fifth before any hockey career, but I'm sure there was a little bit of a period where you're like, hockey is kind of. My hockey career is over in a way. Is that right?

[David Ayers]

Done? I thought it was done. I thought I was never going to play hockey, actually. One of those. One of my first questions to the doctor after I transplant, like, can I play hockey again? He's like, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's, you know, try to make sure you're healthy first. Don't worry about hockey.

[Chris]

Right.

[Grant]

Know.

[Chris]

Yeah. Right. So, you know, you could never imagine where this takes you, but, you know, life goes on and you're. And you're picking up jobs here and there, staying around the game of hockey, certainly. And then, you know, we find out that you, you become the.

[Dan Powers]

Our.

[Chris]

Our boy. I can't remember. I think I told you this In. In Raleigh, our boy was the E bug for the Kings this year. Our. Our beer. So we kind of have the lay of the land and know how it works. But you are the third string practice goalie for the Leafs and the marliest. And I want you to tell people that are listening what a normal day as an E bug is. Days you don't get into the fucking game. Like what?

[Dan Powers]

Like, because Da. Like, I don't think people know. I mean, we talk to Parrish all the time, and it's like when you hear ebug and then you learn what it is, people are kind of just like, oh, that's cool. But it's like, it's kind of a wild journey for you every single game day.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, game days are wild for sure. I mean, a lot of the times, because I was a lot of practicing with the Marlies and Leafs, especially during the last year of it. So I would practice sometimes with the teams in the morning, sometimes both teams in the morning. Yep. And then I would go to work and I work down the road at Maple Leaf Gardens, like where it used to be. I guess it's Toronto Metro University now. But so then I would get on, get out of the work at like 5:30, I guess. And so, I mean, it's not a far drive to get from one old rink to the new drink, but like out of the rink. But the traffic is nuts, man. Like, there's times where I could have walked with my equipment on my back down there faster. You know, you just get for me. I got there, you know, I parked underneath where all the players parked. They were really good to me. And so you just kind of leave your car in the truck and you go up there and I stood in the same spot, section 317, every single game. I was the emergency goalie. And I mean, buddies are like, yeah, you got, you know, seasons tickets to the lease. You get to watch every single game. Like it's good. Yeah. When the team's playing well. But if it's a bad game, man, the crowd gets on them. Yeah, half the teams, half the players are. I mean, half the. The fans were gone three quarters of the way through the game, so. But I loved it. Like, I loved every second of it, obviously. But when you do get the call and you got to go down there, your heart's racing, man. Like, you're standing in the stands, all of a sudden you see a goalie go down and you got a text being like, hey, come put your gear on.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, get ready.

[David Ayers]

It's Such a mix of. I'm excited because this is awesome. Like, you know, I have a potential to play in the NHL to. Oh, shit. Like, what if I actually do have to play? Am I going to get lit up? Like, this is going to be. This going to be bad?

[Chris]

Yeah, it's insane. Okay, so how many. And I know you won't know exact numbers, but how many games had you e. Bugged, like, just been in the crowd in 317 before that February day. And how many games had you gotten that text to, like, get dressed somewhat.

[Dan Powers]

The first guy went down.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I know I did. I think I did all. I. I was there for three years. I think I did close to half ish on the first season. I did all the whole second season.

[Dan Powers]

Damn.

[Chris]

Okay.

[David Ayers]

And the third season, I did a lot of them. I think the second season, I only missed a couple for, like, events and stuff at work. But I don't know, man. I. There was a lot of games.

[Chris]

Yeah, you're. You're at 80 games, dude. You're 80 games in the building.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of games. I did. So I did Chicago, I think maybe my first or second year. Detroit. Detroit, Toronto and Carolina are actually all in the third year. Wow. Kind of in a row. And the Toronto game was like three weeks before the Carolina game. I just kind of got in the dressing room and sat. But the funny part was I also did some ebug stuff for the Marley. So, yeah, I backed up for Charlotte.

[Dan Powers]

Yep, Yep.

[David Ayers]

Charlotte was February 1st. And so I'm on the ice with those guys. It's like, almost exactly three weeks later.

[Chris]

Yeah, it's crazy. I'm.

[David Ayers]

I'm on the ice for Carolina. So they were joking around. Like, man, you're the fastest guy to get through our system, you know? So it's kind of.

[Chris]

Oh, my God, you're chirping all the prospects like, you guys are pussy, dude. That is insane.

[Dan Powers]

This is maybe kind of speaking to your mentality, but. But when you're doing all this and when you're there every day, are you, like, locked in? Are you trying to keep that, you know, athlete mindset that you always grew up with? Or were there times where you're sucking down dogs? Cause you're like, I'm not fucking getting in.

[David Ayers]

I crushed Reuben sandwiches every single time I went there. It was so good. My first thing is like, let's go to the concession stand. Cause I'm hungry right now.

[Chris]

You get a.

[David Ayers]

So I get something to eat and

[Chris]

then go like, they Cover one meal or no?

[David Ayers]

Yeah, yeah, they covered. They basically covered a meal for me, too. They, you know, they gave me the money towards the meal, but they treated me great. And so, you know, I go up there and I had my routine, man. I just would go to the concession stand, I would get somebody. I would walk around the rink one time up top, and then I would go up and stand at 317, just kind of hover there for the rest of the game. So, yeah, it was just. It was a cool thing. I mean, you're going in there and you're part of. You feel like part of the guys. You know what I mean? Like, you're in there, you're just basically, you feel like you're like a healthy scratch who's never going to touch the ice, but, like. Like, you're still part of the team at the same time.

[Chris]

Oh, dude, absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's that there's no emergency backup def. I need an eod. I need an emergency backup defenseman. I hang around the Kings a lot, enough that maybe I could get in there.

[Grant]

Dude.

[Chris]

But it could Heal just hard one. Going down, they'd have to lose two. They'd have to go down to 4D. Correct. And then you get to come in.

[Dan Powers]

I don't even need to come in. Just let me be like, yeah, yeah,

[Chris]

just be on the bench.

[Dan Powers]

All I want to be an ebud. That's a healthy scratch. Like, if. If. If two defensemen get hurt, I go

[Chris]

in the press box.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's fine with me. I don't even need to get on the ice.

[Chris]

Move from 317 up.

[Dan Powers]

Great.

[Chris]

That's incredible. Okay, dude. So the day in question, February 22, 2020, Hyman shoves Slavin into Rymer and. And he plays. He plays like three more minutes.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

You know, he's like, I'm good. And then that. And one was a power play or whatever. First stoppage, he goes, I'm out. And you get the text, right? So, yeah. What is it? Just. You've done that before, so you're not tweaking yet, or are you a little like, what's going on? Do you.

[Dan Powers]

Even when you get to that point does. Is the excitement crazy at matter what, or are you kind of like, this has happened before? It's not going to happen.

[David Ayers]

That's exactly what. And I was actually. So Reed Mitchell was my point of contact with the Leafs for the whole time, and he's an awesome dude. And so I text him first. I'm like, hey, it Looks like Reimer's down. He goes, yeah, hold on one second. You know, two minutes later, he text me. He's like, yeah, come on down. Get your stuff going. And Reed and I were awesome, dude. And every single time, he's like, hey, you know, make sure you give him the couple. Hey. He's just, like, a good dude. And I obviously didn't mean to give him a couple goals because was, you know, when I went in, they scored two right off the H. It wasn't my intention, obviously, but I was fine.

[Chris]

Like, I was fine.

[David Ayers]

And I text him, I was just like, all right, come on down. And, you know, same thing. Get down there. Your heart does race a little bit, but because it's the third time that year.

[Grant]

Sure.

[David Ayers]

And, you know, you're just kind of like, you know, I'm just gonna go get dressed, watch the game on my phone on my lap.

[Chris]

And are you in the locker room? Like, when you get dressed, do they say, stay in the locker room or do you go sit on the bench?

[David Ayers]

You can't go on the bench. But I. I in, like, a little room behind the visitors room. There's, like, an extra little locker room back there. So I got changed back there and just watched. I had my phone out, and I was watching it on my. My phone on my lap.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And then all of a sudden, my buddies are texting me, you know, you're getting dressed. You getting dressed? And then those texts change from, are you getting dressed up? Holy, dude, you're going in. And I had no idea. I didn't even know. I was like, what are you talking about?

[Chris]

Okay, so, cuz. Yeah, then. Then Marasa gets run over. And so. So, like, you didn't. You're not even aware of what's going on on the ice when you. When. And like, so how do they. How do they come break the news to you? What happens in that moment?

[David Ayers]

Yeah, well, I talked to George, and he's the old equipment guy now, and he was the guy who went in for seven seconds for Carolina before they put him in. So he was basically one of the Carolina's first emergency goalies again. He practices with those guys all the time. He's a recruitment guy. So him and I were kind of just talking about it, and then he obviously left to go back out. And one of their PR guys, Pace, who was sitting with me, he just said, they went, sorry, I should. Should put a good point part in here because they gave me a Jersey. It had 90. Had nothing on the back of it. Okay, right. So I'm like, can someone take a picture of me with this jersey? This is cool. Obviously, I wanted a picture with. And then they come in. They're like, hey, give us your jersey. We're gonna put your name on the back. Unreal. And I was just like, all right. This was. They didn't know anything that, you know, was hurt yet or not. They just took it. And they're the first team to put my name on the back of the jersey. Sewed it on and everything. That's awesome. And so I get the jersey back, and I'm Take a picture of it and talking to one of their guys. And he leaves, comes back a couple minutes later, goes, hey, put that jersey on. You're going in. I was like, are you me right now? He goes, no, no, for real. Like, take your time, but you're going in. Like, Marasic just got run over. And I wasn't watching it, so I didn't know.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And so he's like. I'm like, okay, let's go. And I get. The excitement just builds. Like, he gets so pumped about going in. Not nervous. So I wasn't nervous. The funny thing is, I wasn't ne. Never nervous the whole time. Actually, the only time I really got nervous is after I let two goals in.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And I was like, dude, you suck right now. Like, pull it together. So that's when I started getting nervous. I'm like, please don't score another goal on me. This is. This is going to be terrible. But going out to the. To the ice, I wasn't nervous at all. I was excited. And then all of a sudden, you see all the fans out there, and you're like, wow. Like, you're kind of starstruck.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

You know what I mean? You're not. You're. You just all of a sudden figured you stepped on the ice and all the Canes guys were at the door waiting for me.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And you're just kind of like, wow, these guys are. I'm on the ice with the legit NHL guys in a game.

[Chris]

Game.

[David Ayers]

Like, how's this gonna go? You know? And so you try and lock in, but you can't. You can't. There's no way you're gonna lock in. Not ready to play an NHL game, get thrown in there when.

[Dan Powers]

When you literally never have. Yeah.

[Chris]

Yeah. Like, it's.

[Dan Powers]

That is crazy, dude.

[David Ayers]

Yeah. So it's so hard to lock in for sure. But you just try and take it all in. And I remember the guy, their goalie coach followed Me all the way to the ice, basically tell me, you know, stay square, you know, don't go down too early. Like he was just giving me all these tips on the way to the ice. And I'm just thinking to myself, like, I mean, I can remember how to play goal, but, you know, I just, I was more worried about, you know, the people behind or out there that are going to shoot on me. I was worried about them more so than I was worried about the guy giving me goalie tips behind me. So it was, it was awesome. I mean, they're like I said, they're all, they're all great. They're all bumped to see me go in and so I go in there and shit to bed. Two shots on two goals. Two goals and two shots.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, it's not really fair that John Tavares is the first shot that you get. I mean, like, Jesus, could it have at least been a grinder?

[Chris]

And he goes, fiver, dude. Like I saw you say he thought he was going high blocker. I'm like, I can't believe he goes five holes.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's fucked up. That's fucked up of toe bags, if we're being honest. Yeah.

[David Ayers]

You know, the hard part about that is that you practice them every day, so you kind of get used to where they score on you. Yeah, it's not like I made many saves in practice, but like, you get used to like, ah, another blocker side shot for Tavares. So in the game you see him with the puck, you're like, oh, man, it just flashes back to practice when he lights you up blocker side all the time. I mean, he could shoot anywhere. But I was just remembered him as a guy who beat me. Blocked her side quite often. And so sure enough, he, he scores on me. But then the other here, Peter Engvall, scores a rebound goal, which I almost had, and I was pissed at myself for not getting that one. But then you saw his celebration. He's like got the hand up and the leg up and so I remember the guys talking. I think it was another practice later on they chirped him about how he had such a big celebration on one of his own goalies. That is awesome.

[Chris]

Such a good chirp, dude. Okay, well, you said after two goals you were worried, but I'm kind of surprised you. I know you weren't watching intently, but you obviously had a sense of where you were in the game. So coming in like as an emergency goalie with a minute left is a big difference between coming in with 30 minutes left in the game, like, were you at all. Like, Jesus Christ, dude. Like, I'm playing so much of this

[David Ayers]

game, especially in the second period, I'm like, when is this? I just want to get to the intermission. I. I mean, you know, when they. They stopped, they stopped. They went to tv, TV timeout. And I go to the. To the side. I think it was after maybe even two goals went in, and I said to them, just get me to the intermission, man. Like, I just need to breathe for a second and reset myself and here. And so they played so well in front of me. I. I mean, if it wasn't for them, they probably would. I probably would have let in eight goals. But Carolina played so well in front of me, and they got me there. So that second intermission, I get off the ice and. And Reimer's still half dressed. Oh. Because they don't know what's happening with me.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

So if. If I shit to bed, they were going to. He was ready to go back in. And so he. I mean, he obviously didn't want to because he had. His knee was all messed up, but, like, he said, well, if I have to go back in, you know, I'll go back in.

[Grant]

And.

[David Ayers]

But he sat beside me, and he was one of the main reasons why I kind of was able to settle down throughout that game. He just said to me, he's like, dave, you're a goalie. Like, you know what you're doing. You know how to stop the puck, try to, you know, get rid of all the distractions, all the people, and just zone in and, you know, just lock in, play. Play your game. And so that was huge for me, to have a guy, you know, of his caliber, the veteran goalie I knew. I mean, I kind of, you know, when he was in Toronto, I was watching a lot of him play and stuff like that. So to me, he was. It was kind of a role model. Right. Right then and there, he's like, this is. This is my guy. He's got my back. And the rest of the team said the same thing. Like, hey, we don't care how many goals you let in, you know, have fun with it, man. This is your NHL game.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

You know, go through. Enjoy it. Right. So. And just to have them have my back on, send to them, I think I said, you guys score one more goal, you know, I'll shut the door and we'll win. And they just looked at me like, who the. This guy? So and so. But we did, like, they Played so well in front of me and, you know, and I just kind of. I kind of shut the door and.

[Dan Powers]

And I mean, dude, you got the win. Like, it is like, the first time ever in the history of decades of ebugs you got the win. How? Obviously you got a million texts and calls from so many people, but we always like to joke when. When teams win the Stanley cup, when you win something big, there is that moment of just chilling in the locker room that is so special. How much did you try to stay in that moment? Getting back in the locker room after winning that game? Like, gas and beers in the shower, chilling, like, was that truly all time time?

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I, you know, I did all the interviews afterwards, and the guys were kind of rushing me, like, hey, get back into the room. And so I was like, why? Why are they rushing me for it? I mean, I. I honestly didn't think anything about the first star. Yeah, you know, when I got off the ice, they had a big celebration on the ice with the guys, and I thought, all right, we're going to go to the dressing room, I'm going to get undressed, talk to the guys a bit, and then they're going to. They're going to get out of here, and I'm going to go home. And so, you know, obviously, you get off the ice and your first star. And then I. Expecting the crowd to be empty, but most of them stayed there, and they kind of gave me a standing ovation, which was so cool.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

Yeah. You know, Toronto crowd. Toronto crowd is really hard on. On a lot of their players and their team, but, like, it was. It was cool to see them stick around and, you know, they were cheering for me towards the end of the game, which was. Which was awesome. But then to go and do that interview on Hockey Night in Canada, get the towel. Also huge for me, you know, being a kid growing up. Absolutely get that. And then going into the room and those guys were all, you know, ready with water bottles in the spring. Like, I was so unreal. I had no idea that was ever going to be a thing or I didn't think it was going to happen. And so, like, just to have that and then those guys kind of just have such a. I think it was a huge memory for them just as much as it was a memory for me. Like, that's not a. Kind of a game that you really get a chance to play. Maybe, you know, never in your career. And now I don't think, you know, obviously there's no E Bugs anymore, so you know, some of those guys didn't. Will never get a chance to do something like that. Obviously, I'll never get a chance to do something like that. But it was really cool to see them kind of come together as a team and celebrate with me.

[Dan Powers]

Me.

[Chris]

Yeah, dude, I. I can't even imagine it is. We're going to get into this in a second, but it is truly like, storybook, fairy tale stuff.

[Dan Powers]

We.

[Chris]

We had Cujo on because he was one of the guy. There's a few goalies who never got scored on by ovi. So there was like, you know, there was a whole thing, and it was like 10 guys. We had Cujo on talking about that, and I was thinking about you, and I was like, man, you have an Austin Matthews safe like that. That is actually so sick, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Pretty special, dude. Couldn't. Couldn't crack him.

[Chris]

Yeah, dude.

[Dan Powers]

But it is like, I think he.

[David Ayers]

He shot it at me the same way. Like, and he kind of does that in practice where they kind of go low and then bump it and he just goes short side on. He almost got me the first time, and the second time I was kind of waiting for it. But if he had a chance to rip one on me, I can guarantee you that was him. That guy is such an elite shooter, and it's unbelievable. He. You give him this much in practice,

[Chris]

it's in the net. Like, he is.

[David Ayers]

He's disgusting. The way he shoots his puck.

[Grant]

He's.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, you are one of the only guys who can get to dance on this grave. Like, you got you. You have to stick to your guns. He couldn't do it. Like Chris just said, I mean, anytime someone hears the story, whenever you come up or a photo of you pops up and our friends who aren't as dialed into hockey ask about it, we tell the story and they're like, this is a movie. Of course, Hollywood execs felt the same way. It wasn't many days after this unbelievable moment that you start getting phone calls, you get brought into places, and all of a sudden you're telling this story to all of these execs and things like that at what was going through your head when this process was going on. All of a sudden, you're still trying to come down from the high of winning your first NHL game, and now all of a sudden people are telling you they want to make this into a Hollywood production.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, that part was wild. I mean, that was crazier than that, the actual game, to be honest with you, because I was. I mean, at Least when it's hockey. I know. You know, I know hockey. I grew up playing it. But when it comes to someone saying, hey, we want to make a movie about you and your life, and I'm like, oh, why? You know, I just. That was my first instinct was like, why? What does it. You know, I get the fact that I just played in a hockey game, but it was more to it, obviously, with my kidney transplant. And my dad passed away of cancer before I could, you know, he could see me play. And, you know, he was my coach and, you know, my best friend and my goalie coach and all that kind of stuff. So it'd be awesome for him to be there. But when you get thrown into the fire, I mean, I went with CAA and they said to us, hey, we've got like 27 different production companies. I want to talk to you about doing a movie movie. I said, okay, well, how does that work? You know? And they're like, well, we just kind of listen to their pitches, and there are some pitches that lasted like three hours long. And then, wow. I knew, you know, 10 minutes into it, that's not the direction I wanted to go. Yeah, but, you know, you just kind of let them, you know, give your pitch. And it was really cool to have that interest in. In the movie. And back then, we settled with James Corden and Disney. We had a script and everything, and a lot of things changed. They changed within their company and, you know, so the movie kind of didn't go down that the way that I intended it to go. So we switched up a little bit, and me and a buddy of mine, Jim Tamborino from Long island, he. We sat down and we wrote the script. And we wrote it in a gritty way. Like, it wasn't just, you know, a Disney kind of Hollywood way. This was like a. An inspirational movie. It's going to hit home. There's a lot of stuff about physical and mental issues for. For people. Me as well. Obviously, it's about my life, but I mean, the roller coaster that life can be and how tough it can be at times and how can be at times, you know, so that's where we really zoned in on our script. Our script is awesome right now. We've got a director right now on it. So this is. It's going to be a go. It's one of those things. I mean, you guys know how it is. It's a. It's a slow process until it's not. And then all of a sudden it just goes hard yeah, so that.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, dude, it's. It's amazing that, you know, like, when something like this happens and all of a sudden people are telling you that they want to make it into a movie, and you're working with people like James Corden and Disney and caa, it's all larger than life. So often. Was it hard for you to see these iterations and hear these ideas and stick to your guns? That. No, that's not the tone that I want this story to be, because that's not really how it was, because you can so easily get lost in the glitz and glamour of just wanting something to be made and seeing, you know, your name up on the big screen. What was that sort of emotional journey like to. To really kind of stick to your guns and say, no, I. I think this. This needs to be this way rather than another way that's not as genuine and. And authentic.

[Grant]

Authentic.

[David Ayers]

And that's the biggest thing for me, I think, since day one, I said, you know, to all the people that I listened to about their pitches, I said, I want it to be inspirational. This isn't just about hockey for me. I mean, lots of people get a chance to play hockey and different sports, but, you know, my mom gave me a kidney to keep me alive. Like, that's. For me, that's one of the biggest things I want to get across. And you know how hard it is and how much you got to work to get to your goals. Like, this didn't just come easy for me, and it's a roller coaster, and you got to work hard. And if you keep working hard and you keep at it, I mean, you can achieve things more than you ever thought you were ever going to do. I never thought I was going to make it to the NHL. I just wanted to get back and play hockey. So for me, when they wanted to say, hey, there was a couple scenes they wanted to make, especially in the Disney one, when they were doing it, that just weren't the way I wanted to do it. Obviously, I was grateful that Disney jumped on board. That's a huge honor, obviously. But in the end of the day, the script, it was a good script, I thought, and it just didn't work out the way it was. But the script that we have now, I think, is, like I said, I was the one who helped write it quite a bit. Like, we, Jim and I went back and forth with the script for. For months before we even got it out there, to the point where we were going to shop it to anybody. And so now we've probably done eight or ten different variations of it, and we've got it to a pretty good spot. And so we love the, the, you know, how real it is now and how nothing in there is, is kind of fake. I mean, this. It's just how it went, you know, and we kind of worked with how it went.

[Dan Powers]

Went.

[David Ayers]

And so I'm, I'm excited to see where we can go with this. As of right now, David Boreanis is, is going to be our director and he loves it. He's awesome. He's so passionate about sports and hockey and.

[Grant]

Hell yeah.

[David Ayers]

Such an awesome, awesome, creative guy. So hopefully he sticks with it and, and we get it done. And so it'll be. It'll be really cool once it's all done. It'll be a lot of hard work, but hopefully it inspires people when it comes out.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely, dude.

[Chris]

Well, that. Great word because I give you so much credit and I've obviously never read either script or anything, but I saw you had said that the Disney one was almost more like a comedy, like more comedic, and you were like, dude, this is not. This wasn't funny to me, really. You know, when you look at the whole journey and when I think about movies like Miracles, sports movies that we love. Right.

[David Ayers]

I laugh.

[Chris]

Miracles has come really funny moments, but also it hits you emotionally more. That's the point.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. I also cry every time.

[Chris]

Yeah, exactly. And I give you a ton of credit because I can see we've been in a million meetings with these movie execs where I can see the room turning it on you and kind of being like, well, this is a really light, funny thing that happened. Like, what a cool. I mean, the ebug itself is a light, funny thing. Like the premise of that and the pro. So I can see the room going, oh, this is what I want you to do. And like Dan said, you having the courage to stick up for yourself against Dangerous Disney, you know, or anybody that. That big and going, this is. I want this to be inspiration. If the way to get there is authenticity and real, then so be it. But that is what I would want to get out of this movie is inspiration. So I, I'm pumped. I'm pumped that you guys dug in and made that happen.

[Dan Powers]

Agree, man. It's very exciting.

[David Ayers]

That's. That's the huge part for me is like, just, I want it to be real. I mean, that's like you said, you know, it's. It's hard when you have huge companies that have big Names and stuff. It's not that I really had to fight back against them. I just said to the, to the guy writing it, who is an awesome guy, really smart and really good at his job, and they were just asking him to change a few things. And, you know, he came up and stayed with me for a while and he really wrote a good thing. And they just were, hey, can we like, maybe tweak this a little bit? And maybe tweak this a little bit? And at the end of the day, you know, just, I just wasn't. I didn't really agree with some of the stuff and they didn't. They wanted certain things and I wanted certain things and it just didn't work out the way that it did. And, and like I said, I'm grateful for, for Disney jumping on board and James Corman and his, his crew all jumped on on board and they were so good. But like, now it's just, it's just different, man. Like, you'll see when it, when it comes out, you'll, you'll just, like you said, you. It's going to be real and it's going to be authentic and, and that's the way I want it to be. It doesn't, I don't, I don't need it to be some superstar film. But if someone turns on net, someone turns on Netflix and says, hey, you know what? I've always wanted to do this with my life. And I, you know, I had a medical issue and now I don't feel like I can do that. And they turn around and watch my movie and say, hey, like, this guy did this. I don't know anything about hockey, but this guy played, you know, in the NHL after having kidney transplant. And I'm just like, that's it. That's why I wanted to make this movie. Yeah, it's for people like that. So someone turns something around in their life and says, hey, I'm gonna do this. You know, I watched this movie, this guy did it. And that's real. I'm gonna go do that now. And, you know, who knows what they can do with their lives, so.

[Chris]

That's so sick, dude.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Yeah.

[Chris]

What is. Can you tell us? Are you allowed to say what the status is? Like, are you, Are you guys script done shopping right now or, or what's.

[Dan Powers]

Where are we at?

[David Ayers]

We just finished a trail, like a little sizzle, sizzle reel.

[Chris]

Sweet.

[David Ayers]

And so they're going to start putting that out, I think pretty soon. I believe CAA finance has a hold of it. They've got the script and they really, they're really looking to get it, to get it done.

[Chris]

Done.

[David Ayers]

But, yeah, script's done. And now we just got to obviously, you know, shop it out and find. Attach some, some actors to it and hopefully get at it.

[Chris]

I love it.

[Dan Powers]

Dude.

[David Ayers]

There you go.

[Chris]

That is so awesome.

[David Ayers]

There you go.

[Chris]

So that, that's the update on the Hollywood stuff, but tell us a little bit about what else you got going on. You know, I wanted to hear about the NPHL stuff that looked so awesome. And, and, and obviously, I know you got. You do a ton of public speaking engagements, like inspirational speaking and stuff like that. So I want to hear, I want to hear all the other things. You got cool cooking.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, so we're actually, they're actually doing a documentary about emergency goalies too. Oh, no. Kevin Foley is the director. He's another awesome guy. We, we filmed like a trailer for that and then they sold that off. And I'm not 100% sure where it is. The last I talked to him, he said he thinks HBO is picking it up.

[Chris]

That's amazing.

[David Ayers]

And that's, that's strictly about emergency goalie. So all the guys that actually got a chance to get in as emergency goalies, they're all going to be part of that, too. So that's really cool. That's. That's probably going to come up before the movie comes up.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, that's.

[David Ayers]

That one's awesome. This in the Senior Hockey League around here, man. Like, that thing's growing. Like, those guys. There's some good hockey players, like Rob Shrimp played there, Brandon Press played in the league that I was in, you know, and so those guys are, you know, good hockey players and they're bringing good talent towards to that game. It's just Canada has so many good hockey players and, you know, some guys that just finished playing overseas or in the ahl, like, they're just jumping on board into this league and they're, you know, it's competitive, it's good. Some guys get paid, like, you know, it's. And they're really trying to grow it here. I think they're expanded it now this year. I don't even know how many teams are in the league. Maybe 30 across Ontario. So there's a lot of teams in this and it's, it's fun to play.

[Grant]

I'm.

[David Ayers]

I'm old. I don't know if I could do one more year, but I've had a few teams ask you if I want to do one more year. I Try and stay in shape. But like, at some point, as a goal, your body just says, no, thanks, but especially for you.

[Chris]

Goal.

[Dan Powers]

I can't. I can't believe, like, sometimes it's like, God, you guys are all over the place. Place.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, yeah. Your knees and your hips are just like having. Having no part of it. But like, the competitive spirit inside of me is just like, keep going, man. Like, go until you can't.

[Chris]

Yes.

[David Ayers]

And so, you know, when I coach goalies and stuff like that, I tell them same thing. Like, and I. Even when I was working at the university, there was a couple guys from. At the university. It's like, oh, I guess my hockey career is over. I'm not making it to the AHL or the coast. I'm like, go play in Europe. Like, go have fun, man. Like, you know, go experience what it's like to play in Europe. I mean, there's some really cool leagues over there and. And so those guys go and do that. But I' to do the same thing. I'm going to play it until basically I can't.

[Chris]

So, dude, you are preaching to the choir, buddy. I'm in. I'm in 1,000 beer leagues. And every night it's like, my fiance is like, dude, do you want to have dinner together once or another? Another 10:30 puck drop. And I'm like, another 10:30 P drop, actually. So. Yeah, dude, till the wheels come off.

[David Ayers]

Those are hard. Yeah, for sure. And I mean, the speaking engagement stuff, I love to do that. You know, I've done a lot of things at different charity events. I did a really cool one in Vegas for a company that actually makes the medic station that I take. Yeah. Which is awesome. They. They're from North Carolina. They called me and, you know, said they were trying to do it for years. Obviously, Covid shut everything down. And so I ended up going down there for the. For the year end convention and I kind of spoke there and it was kind of cool for me. Obviously, you know, they're making stuff that keeps me alive and, you know, to hear somebody like me who's like, you know, you know, kind of help them. You know, sometimes at work you're kind of. You kind of feel stale.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[David Ayers]

And you're just like, yeah, dude, you know, should I be here? I think for them, a lot of them came up to me afterwards and they said, hey, I'm like, now I can see where the hard work I'm doing at work goes to someone like you to keep you alive, to allow you to do things that you never thought you were going to be able to do. So for me, that's. The speaking engagement stuff is really cool. I've had people come up to me, not even just during speaking engagements. There's people that have come up to me during, like, autograph signings and stuff and say, hey, like, you know, your. Your story is so cool. I drove four hours just to come and see you. I had a. I had a girl in Saskatchewan. I did a sign signing after Saskatchewan Rush lacrosse team, and she came up to the line, and the security cut her short of the half an hour lineup.

[Grant]

Oh, yeah.

[David Ayers]

And I saw her back there kind of crying, and I said, one second, I'm gonna walk over to this girl. And she was talking to security. I'm like, are you okay? She's like, I just had a kidney transplant.

[Chris]

I don't know.

[David Ayers]

It was a couple months ago. And she goes, the only reason why I came to this game was so I could meet you. And so for me, that was massive. Like, I just, you know, kind of gave her a hug, and I just like, you know, I was just like, that's so awesome that you came here. And she goes, you know what? To be honest, I didn't think a couple months ago that I was even gonna live, and I didn't really have the will to live. And then she said, I saw your story, and then, you know, I had to come here and meet you. So for me, those are the things that are huge. You know, that's.

[Chris]

That's what it's all about for me, dude, 1,000%. I was gonna ask you, you know, how long it took for the game itself to soak in, when, you know, when you finish and you get to be with the boys. But then you're like, holy shit, that really happened. But honestly, it's the whole thing. Journey. The game is a part of that, but it's the whole journey, dude. Like, it must be so cool to think. I don't know if you're a nervous public speaker or not, but I was going to say, like, the nerves you have at the. At the rink, it's like you're actually impacting even more people now with. With those stories and the public speaking and stuff you do, because so many people look at you like a role model and inspiration, and that must hit even harder.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I'm an excited public speaker. Me too. Like, reel it back a little bit, because I want to, like, tell my story. I want to get it out there. I want, like, people to hear it and stuff. Like, that, that. And I want somebody to be inspired by it. So I just kind of like thinking in my head, okay, reel it back a second here, Dave. But I, but the thing is, it's just one of those things that you want to get the story across, you want to get the point across. It's like, hey, like, you know, you can do whatever you need to do in lifetime as long as you put your heart to it and put your mind to it. Like, you can get past a lot of the obstacles that you, that you get past. Right. So for me, it's, it's a huge journey. The day that I saw you guys, actually, I had a guy message me on Instagram, funny enough, and he goes, hey, you know, my mom gave me a, a kidney transplant. Just curious if there's anywhere that I could send like a card or, oh, yeah, one of your cards to get signed or. So I text him back. I'm funny enough. I'm like an hour away from Raleigh. I'm going to the game tonight, so if you want to meet me outside, I'll come meet you. Sure enough, I go and meet the guy. Dude. So I, and I spent, I spent the game with him outside, him and his brother and his buddies right there. Yeah. So I hung out with them outside that game that night. And it was just super cool for me to be, because, I mean, that guy got a kidney transplant from his mom, and so did I. And he, you know, we're both kind of, we're still living when we're out here and enjoying each other. So for me, it's like, that was awesome to hang out with him. He goes, you don't have to hang out with us. I'm like, man, why wouldn't I? Yeah, like, you just had a kidney transplant start from your mom. Like, this is cool to me. That's cool.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[David Ayers]

You know, so, you know, I love that.

[Chris]

That's an all, that's an all time story. That's so awesome.

[Dan Powers]

It's so awesome. The whole story is so incredible and there's just, there's so many cool things that come from it and so many cool things that you're doing. So it's just so exciting to hear how you're kind of, of, you know, keeping the spirit of, of what you went through alive, helping other people and then telling these great stories. It's so, so awesome. And I mean, like, you're, you're the best for giving us all the time that you have. Dude, we love having you on. We, we definitely got to get you on more often pop up a bunch of stuff about this, but before we cut you loose and let you go, is there. Is there anything that you want to let the people know about, anything you've got going on or any charities, stuff like that that you want to spread the word about?

[David Ayers]

Yeah, I mean, I do a lot of stuff for the kidney foundation. The one thing that I'm really proud of, obviously going through a lot throughout my life. I just started kind of an apparel line, which is this one Fragile Strength, which to me means, I mean, you know, you got to have the strength in all the fragile times in your life, which, you know, was basically how I went about things. So I'm just firing up my website and got all the apparel ready to go for that. So that's going to be a fun thing for me, obviously, you know, just to kind of, like I say when I'm going out and speaking and going places, you know, you know, people have that fragile strength in their life to move on and do great things. So that's why I kind of started my apparel line just for. Just for that, for people that are going through a tough time that, you know, that they can get through.

[Dan Powers]

What's.

[David Ayers]

What's the.

[Dan Powers]

What's the website?

[David Ayers]

It's just. It's on Instagram right now. My website's not fully up. It's called Fragile Strength Apparel.

[Grant]

Okay.

[David Ayers]

And that's. It's on Instagram. I just. I just open that up. My website should be ready to go. I'm going to guess this week with all the apparels.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[David Ayers]

Set up, Set up and ready to go. You know, I got some demo stuff, which is really cool, so it'll be ready to go in a week or two. Should have it up and running, but hopefully, you know, it inspires people.

[Chris]

Dude, text us. Text us when that gets up, because we'll. We'll post that up there and yeah, you get. Get the message out with you. That'd be awesome.

[Dan Powers]

I'm definitely getting some.

[David Ayers]

Yeah, right on. Yeah, it's cool. So I got a bunch of hats and hoodies and T shirts and all that cool stuff. So I did it all basically kind of on my own, you know, just. I don't really have. I'm not a huge techy guy, you know, I've had some help from some friends. I've gotten stuff going and some. And the design and everything. But at the end of the day, like, you know, it just. I'm just trying to kind of help people, you know, get inspired and move on with their lives and do awesome things.

[Chris]

So perfect message.

[Dan Powers]

I love it. Well, dude, da, you're the best. Thanks for popping on with us. Like we said, when that gets going, let us know. And also, we'll. We'll get you back on the show here soon.

[David Ayers]

Right on. Appreciate it, guys. This is awesome.

[Chris]

Of course. Thank you.

[Dan Powers]

Massive thank you to David Ayer's awesome chat with that homie. What a great stuff.

[Chris]

Dude, he is the man, and I can't wait to have him back on. I love how he's an Ontario boy and, you know, has love for the Leafs and all that, but he's embraced the Canes because they've been great to him and he's got the Charlotte place and all that stuff, but he.

[David Ayers]

He.

[Chris]

He is a beauty, and that was. I was. I feel so lucky we got to meet him. That was great.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. All right, gonna take a quick ad break, and then we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. We talk about mental health all the time. It's so amazing to chat about because it is a huge, huge issue in our world, and we to be more open to talking about these things. And BetterHelp is an amazing way to do that and to get the help that you need. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. It's unbelievable. And it works. Has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars. With all of their live sessions based on 1.7 million client reviews. It's unbelievable. So if you feel like you need to talk through some things, solve anything that's going on with your life, whether it's. Whether it be money issues, relationship issues, anything. They've got so many therapists who are great with handling various things. You can do the therapist match to find who is right for you. It's fantastic. So you should check that out right now. Do not let the stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com netters that's betterhelp.com n e t t e r- all right, we are back. And now we're gonna jump into a quick Powers rankings. We were talking about this with someone the other day. We're gonna do Powers rankings of our favorite chips. The G coat favorite chip, greatest chip of all time. And in honor of Grant being here, we're gonna let him start. Should we. How many should we do?

[Chris]

33 Powers ranking. Snake Draft.

[Dan Powers]

Snake. Yeah, Snake Draft. 3 your favorite chip flavors.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Grant]

Okay. Gotta go. Doritos Cool Ranch number one. Just. Just banging chip.

[Chris]

So I have a question, Dan. Is it. Do I have to like, obviously with the Doritos one, yes, you're going to do that. But do I. Do you give the brand to like, do you say specifically this chip or.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, like, I think I'm going to.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's bullshit if you take one specifically. Yeah, actually, no, it's not bullshit. That's the way this works. If something gets removed and it's just a general flavor, but I think think you should be specific out of honor.

[Chris]

Okay. So incredible hammer to start. You knew Doritos Cool Ranch was coming in this list? I did not think it was going to be one. So that's your G code, dude. That's your greatest chip of all time?

[Grant]

That is my greatest chip of all time. I think it never fails.

[Chris]

I will give you that. I was going. I was ready. I have that one in the holster at some point and would have been proud and honored to say it because it does never fail. You like that more than any other.

[Grant]

I like that more than any other Dorito. Yep. Any other chip.

[Chris]

Okay, Dan, I have an opportunity to murder you here. That's okay.

[Dan Powers]

I'm going to do it. I'm taking salt and vinegar, which is.

[Chris]

Which is in fact the G coat.

[Dan Powers]

I think so.

[Chris]

And you got me a great. You made a great choice, Grant. But unfortunately the G coat is salt and vin.

[Dan Powers]

I think salt and vin is the best. And I'm going to take Cape Cod, salt and vinegar. That is my go to.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Ooh.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Cape Cod, salt and vinegar is. Is goaded.

[Chris]

That is an incredible answer. All right, I have two back to back here, which is interesting. For my first one, I am going to go ruffles, sour cream and cheddar. And ched.

[Dan Powers]

Wow.

[Grant]

Okay. Okay.

[Chris]

I think that chip really had a coming out party in the last few years. Everybody loves that chip.

[Grant]

Now you're saying they're changing the new chip technology? Technology.

[Chris]

Yes, dude. Chip technology is improving every year. Sprinters are getting faster. Every year we're running, we're stronger, we're faster, we jump higher, and we make better chips.

[Grant]

Okay.

[Chris]

A ruffle, sour cream and cheddar. Now this is going to be. This is where the boat gets rocked, as they say, because you two are going to be appalled by this. But I love.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, man.

[Chris]

I actually just don't know which one to say because there are two of these that I love so much.

[Grant]

Okay.

[Chris]

And I'm now gonna sound like a freak considering I just said sour cream and cheddar as three. But my four is sour cream and onion. I love that chip so much. It's a very good one. I'm between the lay's and the Pringles.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Both tremendous. Sour cream and onion. And Treece into the contest. Give me the lace. Give me the lace Lay, Sour cream and onion.

[Dan Powers]

Four Fantastic. I am now going to go all dressed. I knew you were all dressed, and it's tough. Cause I think I want, like. What's tough is the lay's all dressed that we have here is not quite as good as the Canadian all dress.

[Chris]

Agree.

[Dan Powers]

But it's still pretty good.

[Chris]

Yes, it is.

[Dan Powers]

And old Dutch is really good too. But I am gonna say lay's. I'm gonna say lay's all dress.

[Chris]

Isn't there. Who else makes a really good Ruffles

[Dan Powers]

Makes a very good lace dress.

[Chris]

Is it that?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but I don't love a Ruffles chip. I. I like chips being more of a crisp.

[Chris]

What about the ruffle, sour cream and chips?

[Dan Powers]

I mean, they're amazing. I'm just like. A wavy chip is not my favorite chip.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, Grant, two in a row here for you, dude.

[Grant]

Yep. So let's see. I'm definitely gonna. Does. I think it counts as a chip? Can I take hot Cheetos as a chip?

[Chris]

Oh, yeah, dude. I was ready for some bullshit to come out of your mouth when you said, does this count as a chip? Of course Hot Cheetos counts as a chip.

[Grant]

It is a chip. But it. It doesn't feel like it. You know what I mean? It's in the chip family.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Grant]

I would say. And then my number.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, man.

[Grant]

I've been thinking about this, guys. Literally the entire podcast too, by the way. I want you to know this. Trying to decide. All right. That my number three. Definitely going solid. Can I count the Schneider's pretzels that are like flavored chips?

[Chris]

Oh, fuck.

[Grant]

Does that count?

[Chris]

But actually, I think no.

[Grant]

No. Okay.

[Chris]

That's a pretzel. It's inherently a pretz allow. But, dude, those are so good. Those are impossibly good.

[Grant]

So good. All right, so then with. With that out of the equation, I'm going to take the. Oh, the Takis.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Grant]

That's my number three.

[Chris]

Okay. Yeah. So that you're going Cheeto. It was Hot Cheetos.

[Grant]

Hot Cheeto. Yeah.

[Chris]

Hot Cheetos and Takis. Similar entries There.

[Grant]

Yeah. Honestly, Very, very similar.

[Chris]

It's got a type.

[Grant]

I do have type.

[Dan Powers]

My. Yeah. I'm going to get roasted for this, and I am dead ass. Here.

[Chris]

Here we go, dude. Here we go. I was thinking Grant had the. Bullshit. It's actually.

[Grant]

Dang.

[Dan Powers]

My next one is prawn cocktail.

[Chris]

Fuck off, dude.

[Grant]

Come on.

[Chris]

Dan wants shrimp cocktail Chip, dude.

[Grant]

So my pretzel can't count, but the shrimp cocktail.

[Dan Powers]

It's a chip.

[Grant]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Pringles or Walker's prawn cocktail is one of the best chips I've ever had.

[Chris]

You don't have to chase Klout, so.

[Dan Powers]

I know, I know, I know.

[Grant]

That's the most d. Best chip I've ever. I know.

[Dan Powers]

So I said, I'm gonna get chip.

[Chris]

Dan loves a jalapeno. Like, I.

[Dan Powers]

This is Cape Cod.

[Chris]

Yeah. Incredible.

[Dan Powers]

So good.

[Chris]

Incredible. So good.

[Dan Powers]

Wait, If I got five, I would have done it, but I wanted to get prawn cocktail in there.

[Grant]

Can I. Can I make a. Sorry, I didn't mean to. Can I. Can I change the chip entry?

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Grant]

Is that. Or is it. Once it's written, it's done.

[Chris]

No, I'll allow this.

[Dan Powers]

No, no, no, I won't allow. We can do a quick honorable mention at the end.

[Grant]

Okay, okay. Honorable mention.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Okay. Can I jump to that, or do you want to. No, no.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, no, you can't jump to it. Chris might be able to take it.

[Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Chris]

Okay. My last one is. Do you know what it's going to be?

[Dan Powers]

No.

[Chris]

You could. You could know. You of all people could know. I'm going Fritos flavor twist Honey barbecue.

[Dan Powers]

Those are very.

[Chris]

Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Yeah. I literally shut out Ben Barrett because we were talking about this a while ago, and he was like, you know what the greatest road trip chip is? And I said, fritos Honey flavor twist, Honey barbecue. And he was like, yes. It's the only time I ever eat them when I'm stopping at a gas stat on the way to load up with some snacks. They're always there. They are incredible. And it just makes me feel safe, like nothing could ever. Nothing bad will ever happen to me. And wherever I'm going is going to be amazing just by eating one of those incredible chip. They had a. On my last trip to SF for the World cup game, I went in to get a bag, and they. They had flavor twist honey barbecue, and they also had flavor twist spicy dill.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And I got those, and they were also great. Not as good, but also great. Honorable mentions. Grant.

[Grant]

All right, Tostito Scoops. I don't know how I fucked this up on not adding this to the original list.

[Dan Powers]

That is one of the worst picks I've ever heard in my entire life.

[Grant]

That could not be more wrong.

[Dan Powers]

Bro picked a just generic chip tortilla.

[Grant]

Yeah, I did. And it's great. Every time.

[Dan Powers]

It's like, sure, it's a good vessel for other. But are you eating those things plain?

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That is brutal.

[Chris]

Why? Why? That's regular freedom.

[Dan Powers]

That's a bad pick.

[Chris]

Honorable mention, Cape Cod barbecue. Yeah, tremendous. And jalapeno. Pretty much any kind.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. I mean, jalapeno, Cape Cod, jalapeno, I absolutely love. I'm also going to go ahead and

[Grant]

say,

[Dan Powers]

I mean, we got.

[Chris]

We did.

[Dan Powers]

We covered some pretty good bases here. Uh, I mean, ketchup is great, but that's. That's very similar to all just. But it's still. It's different.

[Chris]

I'm happy with the list, dude, but I'm really excited about the comments section

[Dan Powers]

to see what we left. Me too. I'm also. I, I, I want you all. I'm gonna get prawn cocktail and bring it in and you're gonna go, shit, this is great.

[Chris]

Unbelievable.

[Grant]

I just still think that's a Dan ass chip.

[Chris]

That's what.

[Dan Powers]

It's a Dan ass chip. That's why I said I'm gonna get roasted. I know I'm gonna get roast. I'm not trying to win the list here, but it's my list.

[Chris]

But it's just not your third favorite chip.

[Dan Powers]

It is.

[Chris]

No, it isn't. I cannot wait to strap. I'm gonna buy. I'm gonna have Edge buy us a lie detector and then strap you into it and cocktail as your third chair.

[Grant]

If we had a lie detector in this office, I think we would change as a company fundamentally.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, my God, dude. Just strap it on people while they're having conversations amongst each other.

[Chris]

Oh, my God.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, Pretty good. Tough. Tough stuff. Let's get quickly into strange behavior. Yes. This is a game where we are all going to share with each other something weird that we have done in the past or currently do. And then we will discuss and the other two will decide if that behavior is real or fake.

[Chris]

And I would like to make a request. I would like to go last because I need to. I have one prepared. But having neither of you have revealed your strange behaviors, but the way you are talking about them makes me feel like my answer is not good. Enough.

[Dan Powers]

Fair enough. I will go first.

[Chris]

How yours are and then maybe need to reassess.

[Dan Powers]

Here is my strange, strange behavior.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Grant]

Ready?

[Dan Powers]

When I was a preteen, I used to steal money from my mother's wallet to buy lotion to put on my legs because I was concerned that it was the only reason that my legs were not growing hair as fast as my other friends, and it made me feel inferior.

[Chris]

So you wanted hairy legs? That was the issue.

[Dan Powers]

All of my friends in baseball and soccer and hockey were getting hairy legs as they were going through puberty and my legs were bare.

[Chris]

And you believed that the lotion was an insta hair growth.

[Dan Powers]

I looked at my legs and I determined that the dryness of them was the reason that they weren't sprouting enough hair. So I began stealing money from my mother to buy lotion because I was also too embarrassed to ask, could you buy me lotion?

[Chris]

Yes.

[Grant]

Well, then you. Because you would have to explain why in the world you wanted this lotion.

[Chris]

Because I'm a hairless bitch.

[Dan Powers]

Yes. They would have thought, surely he wants this lotion to masturbate. Yeah.

[Chris]

And then, dude.

[Dan Powers]

But I was like, that is actually not the case.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And if there's a leftover to masturbate, so be it.

[Grant]

Yeah. Come on.

[Dan Powers]

You know, win, win.

[Chris]

So be it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

That is sad. That's not even strange behavior, Dan. That is sad behavior. You are making me sad.

[Dan Powers]

I appreciate your sympathy. It was a difficult time for me.

[Grant]

Do you still do this secretly?

[Dan Powers]

No, I. I am a diligent.

[Grant]

Your legs are looking very shiny right now.

[Dan Powers]

I Lotion heavy, dude.

[Chris]

Yeah, he does. Yeah. Just really. It's really.

[Grant]

So that's why I'm so tough on you.

[Chris]

Pun intended. I believe that this is real. This sounds like every Dan. There's not a thing that Dan Powers could say to me about him and lotion that I wouldn't believe.

[Grant]

That's a crazy ass statement.

[Chris]

Literally.

[Grant]

That's a crazy ass statement.

[Chris]

I do this with lotion and I would go, I.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, this is a puts the lotion on the skin situation.

[Chris]

What do you think, Grant?

[Grant]

I just knowing Dan and knowing how Dan operates, how he move. I know the way he moves. And we're standing, we're sitting at the table. How he moved 10 toes down. I think that is real, as I think you definitely are doing that.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, so you guys are saying real.

[Chris]

I'm. Yeah, for sure, for sure.

[Dan Powers]

This strange behavior is unfortunately real.

[Chris]

Very true.

[Grant]

Yeah. Was the real true?

[Dan Powers]

I did. I did. In fact, do this. And let me tell you what. What, guys, Eventually I grew hair on my legs. We will never know if it was because of the lotion or not.

[Chris]

Good point. Actually, you know what? Very good point.

[Dan Powers]

But I was. I was convinced. I just distinctly remember looking down at my dry ass skin on my legs, and I went, that's the only reason. It's the only reason. So I began lotioning my legs like you wouldn't believe.

[Chris]

Yeah. That is awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, that was a hard time, man. You didn't know. There was like, what. Did mom ever catch you were stealing money from her?

[Chris]

And how much were you stealing?

[Dan Powers]

Not that much. Like, Dan, I. Listen, I wasn't buying top of the line shit. I was going like, Jergens, where were you getting it?

[Chris]

How. How old were you? You couldn't go to the store on your own.

[David Ayers]

You're 12.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it was like, I would take it, and then when I'd be like, riding around downtown York beach, there were shops that I could buy lotion at home.

[Chris]

Give me that. Give me the lotion. I was like, I get three singles.

[Dan Powers]

Let me get your best sand knives.

[Chris]

No, no, I only have three bucks. I was only pulled three bucks out of mom's purse.

[Dan Powers]

Give me the Vaseline then.

[Chris]

What's the. What's the horrible boss's thing when he's with Jamie Foxx when he's.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, Jones.

[Chris]

Yeah, but you know what he's like. And he robs from his mom, but he's telling that story. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He says, I. I reached my hand and they're like, no. And he's like, into her purse and I.

[Chris]

Her good.

[Dan Powers]

He said, I.

[Chris]

My mom. Yeah, that's what. Yeah, like what? That's how I got the name motherfucker joke.

[Dan Powers]

He just robbed her.

[Chris]

Okay, dude, great.

[Dan Powers]

Are you ready or would you like.

[Chris]

No, Grant, go ahead.

[Grant]

All right. I had a couple. I had a long, long, long diet about this. And I just. Little inside note for this. That makes it even better. I have my family literally sitting.

[Dan Powers]

Dad is literally.

[Grant]

My dad is sitting right there, just right. Just a few inches away. That made me think long and hard about the information that I was gonna share. But I still think. Let me share this. I had one that was really annoying that I was like, okay, I might do this one. But when I was a kid and I would, like, you know, you're a kid, you playing around, you kind of get roughhoused a little bit. You hit your head or whatever this stuff. And after I would get my head knocked a little loose. I would sit there and think I was gonna lose brain cells. Like, I thought brain cells were gonna fall literally.

[Dan Powers]

Out of your head.

[Grant]

Out of my head. Or I thought it was gonna be mushed in some way. And I was, like, very worried that any sort of head. I was like, oh, CTE is a real thing. You know, they were telling us about it in school all the time. Like, I was so scared about, like, I was gonna lose my brain cells. So I would take my fingers and put them underneath my eyes like this and the back of my. My head, trying to make sure my skull was okay. So I would go, like, you try

[Dan Powers]

to fill the inside of your skull?

[Grant]

I would try to fill the inside of my skull as a way to make sure it was okay.

[David Ayers]

So I would literally.

[Grant]

Now, Locks does this. You guys know? Or if you guys know. Yeah, he does this thing all the time. But I would literally feel the inside of my skull trying to make sure it was okay. And I would sit there and I'd be like, please make sure my head's okay. Please make sure my head's okay. And I'd have to say it, like, five times to make sure my brain was, like, still intact.

[Chris]

So even if you hit the back of your head, for example.

[Grant]

Yes.

[Chris]

And you were like, brain cells are spilling out. Did you think brain cells only fell out of your eye sockets?

[Grant]

I. It was the only way that I could, like, grip my skull. I would still feel around my skull. You know what I mean?

[Chris]

Like, where the bump was.

[Grant]

Yeah. You'd be like, yeah, how old is

[Dan Powers]

the oldest you were when this was happening?

[Grant]

Dude, I did this at one point. I'm dead ass. It's gonna sound crazy when I say this out loud. I did this at, like, a party when I. I was, like, probably about, like, 17, 18 years old. Like, I hit my head. I was a little drunk. I fell, and I was like, oh, shit.

[Dan Powers]

Hold up my skull.

[Grant]

Let me just check my skull.

[Dan Powers]

Let me gouge my own eyes out to make sure my skull is okay.

[Chris]

That was the last time for sure.

[Grant]

That was the last time for sure. Yeah, that I remember.

[Dan Powers]

This feels entirely too specific to be fake.

[Chris]

Yes. That is 100% dead. If this is fake, then I need to feel my skull to make sure I'm not living in a fucking simulation, considering Grant has the power to make that story up.

[Dan Powers]

Correct. So we're going to say that this is real?

[Chris]

Yep.

[Grant]

100% real. Yep. Absolutely.

[Chris]

Grant, do you think. Do you believe that you prevented brain cell loss by doing that to this Day. Do you believe right now I have more brain cells in my head than I would have if I hadn't been doing that?

[Grant]

Depends on the day, I would say. I mean, you guys have known me and seen me. I think some days I'm like, oh, yeah, my brain's working perfectly fine. And some days I'm like, well, could have had a couple, you know, slip out the back there.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah. I'm actually concerned that you didn't keep it up now. Now that I'm hearing all of this out loud, I'm like, you might have to continue doing that.

[Grant]

I don't know if there's a direct correlation between the smoking and drinking that I started doing in my later years or that lost brain cells or it was the, you know, the natural causes.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

You may never know. We may never know. But I now I might do it next time I get. Next time I buzz the old tower. Just make sure we're good there. How deep in the eyes are we talking?

[Grant]

I mean, dude, I would stick them like. Like I'm right underneath. I'm underneath my eyeballs right now.

[Dan Powers]

I need you to stop doing it. I need. I, like, I. I hope to God you don't do that anymore.

[Grant]

I don't.

[Dan Powers]

And let's not start again because this might unlock new behaviors.

[Chris]

Yep. Okay. I'm gonna. I'm gonna just say the one that I was gonna say.

[Grant]

OK.

[Chris]

The. When I turned 16 and got a car and started driving around with my friends, you had to get gas. You would get gas at gas stations.

[Grant]

Why'd you get a southern accent when you said with my friends?

[Chris]

Because that's how I felt when I got my car.

[Grant]

Okay.

[Chris]

I felt Southern all of a sudden. I owned a car and I was from the south and I was pumping gas. And do you guys.

[Dan Powers]

Do you.

[Chris]

Do you do the stop at zero thing? Do you try to like.

[Grant]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Chris]

And you try to stop it right on zero, or do you just slowly creep up to the zero?

[Grant]

Dude, No, I like, obsessively try to hit zero.

[Dan Powers]

Are you not filling your tank up fully?

[Grant]

No, like. No, I'm hitting that. He's talking about, like on the round dollar.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Like every single time you're like, I gotta fill it.

[Dan Powers]

Like, I don't.

[Chris]

You just go till it clicks?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I go until the gas tank is full. And then do you go, oh, I fuck. I top off hard.

[Grant]

Yeah, top off hard.

[Chris]

So what in your top off are you just aiming at a number? Are you going to pop off until it clicks?

[Dan Powers]

Again.

[Chris]

Okay. So you go boom. And it clicks and you boom and then it clicks the second time and you're like.

[Dan Powers]

I'm like. I go boom.

[Chris]

Click a third time. You click three times.

[Dan Powers]

I'll go up to six.

[Grant]

Three clicks is all.

[Chris]

You are going to be swimming in gasoline.

[Dan Powers]

Six clicks. I want the gas literally leaking out

[Chris]

the top of the tank. Might swerve away on a wave of gasoline.

[Dan Powers]

Says, do not top off, brother. I am topped off heavy at the gas station.

[Chris]

Give yourself a little shower, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Heavy. Topped off heavy.

[Grant]

Gas stations all across LA are on fire right now because of damn powers.

[Chris]

So, Grant, when yours clicks the first time, do you then aim at a zero or you don't even get to the click. You're aiming at a. At a zero.

[Grant]

No, I, I on the. Like to talk. I top it off as well. And then I aim for a zero.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Grant]

Yep.

[Chris]

So. And I would say you. I would say he is in the majority. That would be my guess.

[Dan Powers]

Most people top off or they claim for the zero.

[Chris]

And that was. I feel like our dad would do that. Maybe he was kind of just like making it a game for us when I was little. But then I got a car and I was getting my own gas and I was like, I got to do that.

[Dan Powers]

Can I be honest with you?

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

This, it is the most fucking you thing of all time that I introduced a new game that was meant to be a literal sentence of something that you do. And we are now on minute nine of you telling a story.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

So for the next strange behavior, why don't you get it out of your fucking mouth so we can move on?

[Chris]

I eat worms.

[Dan Powers]

Great. Would have been better than this.

[Chris]

So I was trying to get a zero in front of some friends and I over shot it and it was like, like 05. And they in the backseat were like, you loser. And I was embarrassed, so I was like, dude, I don't go for zero. You. You loser. I always think of the next important sporting event in my life as a fan. Whether it's like Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox. And then I get the gas to a number of a player on that. That team for luck. So then I shot it to like whatever the number was. I can't remember what it was that day.

[Dan Powers]

So your solution to your embarrassment was, oh, no, no, no. I'm autistic zero. I have autism.

[Chris]

Yeah. And I have done that with every gas pumping since.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

20. 20, 23 years later, every gas pumping, I find a player on a team I really like and pump the gas till the scent is aligned with their number.

[Dan Powers]

So. All right. So, Grant, I don't know what's worse.

[Grant]

Are you checking to see if your skull's okay? It looks like you're getting close.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know what is worse. The journey that we just went on to hear that whole story, it was important.

[Chris]

It was important.

[Dan Powers]

Context, potentially being fake or him actually doing this because of an embarrassing moment that happened to him when he was 16 years old. I want to say both are so bad, dude.

[Grant]

I will say after knowing Chris, after seeing Chris, I. I could totally see like the stress and his like the embarrassment stress. And then the idea of like, like, like he had the whole thing with Sandra. Like, like after somebody hits a number the third time on the craps table, that's just their number and that is aligned with them and then they're going to be successful with that number for the rest of time. And he believes that, like wholeheartedly with his entire just bone bodied skin, everything. I 100% believe that's real.

[Dan Powers]

Like 100%.

[Grant]

100%.

[Chris]

Oh, yeah, dude. Ping.

[Unidentified Speaker]

Ping.

[Chris]

Ray Bor. Ping. Pedro Martinez, ping. Tom Brady. Any number we need, dude. Sometimes if my team needs a win, I get gas. Just for shits. I don't even need gas. I have three quarter tank. I go get a little bit. Drop it on 12 before the kickoff. Patriots win, baby. We did it.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable.

[Grant]

This is the ultimate degenerate gambler gambler thing ever.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. I also love how on our first strange behavior everyone went real.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

With a real stupid story.

[Grant]

We all just had to confess this shit out, dude. This is therapy. Thank you, better help. Thank you, better help,

[Dan Powers]

man. That is the fact that you've been doing that for 20 plus years is.

[Chris]

Dude, sometimes, sometimes I miss the guy.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Like I'm going for payroll.

[Dan Powers]

And then you go like this and you go, I have just destroyed the future of that franchise.

[Chris]

I have to think of the next Red Sox number. You know, I'm like, oh. And then I'm like, wow, okay, that guy's 53. Like that. I'm topping off. Sometimes I'm pouring gas out on the street just to get to the number.

[Dan Powers]

Good God almighty. Also remember when we were younger and you would like, you didn't have enough money and you'd be like, I can only fill up $20 worth of gas. Even if you went to like 2006, you were like this. I'll never financially recover from it.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Grant]

He was sweating, like going slightly over.

[Dan Powers]

You're like, oh, my God.

[Chris]

Yeah, I'm sorry.

[Grant]

I just also, what I was gonna say earlier is like, I wonder how many times, like how much time is he sitting there to think of that next player?

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Like, is there minutes going by and

[Dan Powers]

the guy's like, get in the fucking car, dude.

[Chris]

We have the whole pump grant. It's the whole pump fucking grain, man.

[David Ayers]

The numbers are just going.

[Dan Powers]

Actually, I was about to say you were too young for this, but I don't know, maybe in the south it was more lenient for longer, but there was a long period of time when we were growing up where you would literally drive up to the pump, fill up your tank and then go inside and go, hey, I just put 45 bucks. Here's 45 bucks. I have seen that you could pump before paying. When we were younger, it was incredible. But the gas thing was just on like, dude, when we were young, we. We only had cash on us. Like, I. I didn't even have a debit card yet.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And I'd be like this. I got 20 bucks. And you'd miss. And you'd go like 2006. And you'd be like. And you like walk inside or like, look, dig through your change drawer in your car and be like, I hope I have six cents in here. When in reality you would probably go in and be like this. I accidentally put. And they just.

[Chris]

Or $20. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah. Please leave. Thank you for paying at all.

[Dan Powers]

Holy shit. All right, well. Fantastic. Strange behavior. You are a psycho. You are a psycho. I am a psycho. That's fantastic.

[Chris]

What was yours again?

[Dan Powers]

The lotion on the lid.

[Grant]

It puts the lotion on.

[Chris]

I was robbing mom.

[Dan Powers]

I was just stealing from mom.

[Grant]

You.

[Dan Powers]

I know. Dad would have found out.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Never would have thought that I could do something so terrible.

[Chris]

Correct.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, should we wrap things up with a little Celsius chat and then a Beerly hotline?

[Chris]

Dude, huge. Is this the right way?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, sure is huge.

[Chris]

Shout out to the fellas and ladies at Celsius, dude. For an all time empty netters. Who's next? Dr. Lock's glue guy session. Couple of these in the morning on Friday. This past Friday got us going. And then bang, off to Sofi. We went. How is Sofi So sick. I forgot.

[Dan Powers]

It sucked. Such an unbelievable stadium. I can't even begin to describe.

[Chris]

Outrageous. A World cup quarter final. Spain, Belgium. After Belgium body bagged us, we had to go defend our honor and say, you will be knocked out by Espana.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

And then we went all decked Out. Same jerseys, same shirts. Viva Espana. Rolled out of the office. Celsius head to toe, and they gave us a treat, a real treat. One of the most fun days I have had in a minute because, dude, we posted up in that stadium and packed house. Heavy Spanish. It was kind of hard to tell because their colors are so similar, which fan was which, but I felt like it was heavy Spanish crowd. Agree.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

So we were. We were with our brothers and sisters of Spain, just giving it everything. We had unreal seats right at midfield, like, first row of that upper deck. Perfect view for soccer, by the way.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, it's all. There's nothing more to say other than the World cup is incredible. The experience was incredible, and Celsius made it happen.

[Chris]

They made our dreams come true. We said. We said. When we saw the schedule, we said, there's a quarterfinal game in Los Angeles. Our dream is to go and as a team. And Celsius made that dream come true.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, you guys got to go to a game without me, and I am the biggest soccer fan of the group, so that Celsius being able to level the playing field a little bit for me was really special.

[Chris]

They saved you from World cup humiliation, basically. And then you were saved by Celsius, and so was I. And we got it.

[Dan Powers]

It was unbelievable. All right, let's wrap this episode up with a nice beer league hotline. Grant, are you ready to read that?

[Grant]

Dude, I'm actually so excited. After watching Sean and Evan and everybody, all of the wonderful people that have produced this podcast for read these, I was pretty fired up to, like, have an opportunity to read this.

[Chris]

Here we go.

[Grant]

All right. Beer league hotline. The showers at our rink are communal. Instead of individual stalls, just shower heads on the wall around the room pretty close together. We had an altercation after our last game. A naked altercation, mind you. Fair, where one dude started peeing while showering. The guy next to him freaked, saying he got hit by some spot splatter. The P Guy said it was nowhere near him. The golden shower guy said PE Guy shouldn't be showering. Peeing in the shower anyway. P Guy said he pees every time he showers. Golden shower guy said he can pee on his shower at home, but he can't pee in the communal shower. P Guy said everybody does it, and so on. Who's in the wrong?

[Dan Powers]

This is a classic dilemma.

[Chris]

This is a classic dilemma.

[Dan Powers]

This is a classic dilemma.

[Chris]

This is actually. I'm excited to hear what you say because I might get myself in some trouble here.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, first of all, good clarification about the communal shower rather than stall shower. And I will also say that is how it is meant to be. Stall showers are ass.

[Chris]

I agree. I agree completely.

[Dan Powers]

Communal shower is the way the world should work. We should all be standing in the same shower, horns out, enjoying each other's company, making jokes like the Romans. Like the Romans did.

[Chris]

Yes, Yes. I.

[Dan Powers]

I pee in the shower at home. Sometimes.

[Chris]

I pee in most showers, and I

[Dan Powers]

will say it's almost Pavlovian. Like, when I get into a shower and the water hits me, I'm like, pee.

[Chris]

It just comes right out.

[Dan Powers]

Pee.

[Chris]

Boom.

[Dan Powers]

I am also a neat freak and a bit of a psycho, as we know. So when I pee in my own shower, I aim. I do not just pee. I, like, pee at. At the drain.

[Chris]

I pee everywhere.

[Dan Powers]

I'm sure you do.

[Chris]

I try to coat that shower. I'm sure you do the whole thing. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Because I do think that I'm trying to be considerate of my partner, and I'm like, I don't need you walking around in my pee.

[Chris]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And I also would not pee in the shower while said partner is in the shower with me.

[Chris]

Well, I hope you're doing other things.

[Grant]

I like to picture this partner as lox instead of.

[Dan Powers]

It's not Alice, it's Gavin.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I am passionately anti peeing at hockey. I think it is that. And frankly, Chris, just seeing the look on your stupid face, even considering being on the opposite side of this, is terrifying to me. Because here's the thing, pal.

[Grant]

You.

[Dan Powers]

You don't even wear shower sandals in hockey, which is nuts.

[Chris]

Don't need them,

[Dan Powers]

man. There's just a lot of people in that shower, and you wouldn't want to be standing around in another person's pee.

[Chris]

It's sterile.

[Dan Powers]

I'm just saying, you would not want to be standing around in another person's pee. And for you to do that to someone else, I think is disgusting.

[Chris]

Even.

[Dan Powers]

Even in the. I think it is abhorrent.

[Chris]

Even in the single stall.

[Dan Powers]

Even worse, because there's only so many places you can go.

[Chris]

Yeah. What if you're aiming, you aim right down the drain.

[Dan Powers]

I. It's still. There's going to be splatter. Like, it's just.

[Chris]

I'll tell you what.

[Dan Powers]

You. You can't. You can't pee in the hockey shower

[Chris]

at our prep school rink. The communal showers, Grant, were like this. There were. There was a pole, and there were, like, five shower heads off the pole, and then there was another pole. And another pole. So it was like five guys were showering all around one pole together. So it wasn't like down the wall. You were just like. We were in a circle.

[Grant]

Yep.

[Chris]

Showering. And we would all pee then, like, we were all peeing at each other. You're standing on the pole and pees just flying, hitting the pole, spraying every way while you're staring at the other guy, looking him right in the eye.

[David Ayers]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Ripping piss.

[Grant]

Dan, do you remember this?

[Chris]

We went different prep schools.

[Grant]

Oh, for different prep schools.

[Dan Powers]

I'm just listening to this story.

[Chris]

We would stare right at each other, pee going all over the place, landing, hitting everyone on the foot. No one cared at all. So now you're telling me this guy was peeing against the wall?

[Grant]

Wall.

[Chris]

I guess. I guess I kind of care which way he was facing. That would be the only follow up I would like from this person. If he was peeing straight against the wall in front of him and it was just running down the wall. I stand by my position here. You're fine. But if he was flipped out and was just kind of like letting it fly as guys were coming in and out, I'm kind of like, okay, but I'm with the. I'm not with you. I think it's the Pavlovian nature of it. If this guy pees in the shower, the water hits me. Oh, dude. And he's probably peed after every game. He's probably peed after every game. And this is the first time this guy got mad.

[Dan Powers]

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If you're murdering people and no one knows, you are still a murderer. You should be peeing in the community shower. It's fucking crazy. And dude, it's also that thing it's like we talk about all the time. If you're sitting in a pool with your pals and you're just having a conversation and your buddy looks at you and goes, I pissed like 30 minutes ago, by the way. You probably will be like, ah, whatever. But if he got up out of the pool and pulled his pants down and pissed into the pool, you would be like, are you inside insane? So it's also the fact of, like, you don't want to see your buddy pissing, like, where you're standing.

[Chris]

Okay. So you can do it in the community shower. Just do it discreetly.

[Dan Powers]

No, it's.

[David Ayers]

You can't.

[Chris]

But you're okay with the pool. You're sitting in the pool.

[Dan Powers]

First of all, I said you. If you and I were standing in a pool and you looked me in the eyes and went like this. I'm peeing. Be pretty pissed. I'd be like, I don't need to know that, dude. Like, what the fuck? But at least we're in. In, like, open water and there's a dude, you just. This is crazy that you're on the other side of this. The answer is pee. The guy who is upset is correct. You cannot pee in the shower. You can't.

[Chris]

Peeing in the shower is better than peeing in the pool.

[Dan Powers]

I'm sympathetic to the feeling of being like, I'm gonna shower. I'm gonna pee. But you can't do it in the hockey shower. You can't.

[Chris]

I think you can. And stop peeing in pools. I don't like it. Cause then I'm just sitting in it. Dude. Crazy. I'm actually really excited to see the comments on that one.

[Dan Powers]

All right, that's it. Chris is disgusting. Grant, it's great to have you. We'd like to have you more often, folks. Rocking some of the new merch. Check it out. Emptynetters shop. Amazing new hoodies available. They're fantastic. We got a little Zamboni driver right there on the sleeve. Make sure to subscribe everywhere. Please, please, please follow us on all the socials. Let's keep spreading around the fun and the good vibes. It's a great time. You're all the best. Can't wait to see you next episode.

[Chris]

Skate hard.

[Unidentified Speaker]

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