What It Takes To Be Hockey’s Fiercest Competitor w/ Chris Pronger

Summary

Empty Netters Podcast – "What It Takes To Be Hockey’s Fiercest Competitor w/ Chris Pronger"

Date: April 7, 2026
Host: Almost Friday Media (Dan Powers, Chris Powers, Malkin)
Guest: Chris Pronger (NHL Hall of Famer, Stanley Cup & Olympic Champion, Author)

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Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with NHL legend Chris Pronger about the realities and mindset behind being one of hockey's most relentless competitors. The discussion traverses Pronger’s decorated career, the toughness and adversity he faced and overcame (on and off the ice), his experiences as a leader and teammate, the evolution of the defenseman role, and the upcoming release of his book, "Earned: The True Cost of Greatness." The show is peppered with classic Empty Netters banter, up-to-the-minute NHL playoff race analysis, and even a hilarious "not ice" tangent on the state of men’s bathrooms.

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NHL Hot Takes & News Roundup

starts ~[02:06]

Wild Coaching Carousel

• Islanders fire Patrick Roy after a four-game skid:
  • Surprising move given the expectations and development of the Islanders this year.
  • Malkin: “This is crazier than the Cassidy thing.” [07:38]
  • Discussion on the timing of coaching changes, playoff pressures, and the prospect of Pete DeBoer taking over.
• Coaches being let go with fewer and fewer games left—“Copycat league” response after Vegas rolled the dice midseason.
  • Dan Powers: “I actually love that move…get ahead…if Deboer was gonna be your guy.” [16:15]

Mad Wild Card Scramble

• NHL playoff races described as the "drunkest" wild card scenario in memory.
• East: Flyers, Penguins, Islanders, Red Wings and others in a see-saw fight for the last spots.
• West: Oilers, Ducks, Knights juggling atop the Pacific; bubble mayhem with the Preds, Sharks, Kings, et al.
• Extended run through latest scores, implications, and wild standings shifts:
  • Dan Powers: “It's catastrophic what is happening to the Islanders, Red Wings and Blue Jackets.” [28:02]

Other Hockey Highlights

• Sidney Crosby—21 straight point-per-game seasons, “an incredible feat”
  • “He’s obviously on Mount Rushmore. The fact that some humans don’t think that blows my mind.” – Dan [38:02]
• Shout-out to rookie sensation Porter Martone—first NHL goal, OT winner.
• Notable injuries (e.g., Zach Hyman out a couple weeks) and implications.

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Featured Interview: Chris Pronger

begins ~[40:04]

Early Career & Learning from Legends

• Playing with Gretzky: Vivid stories from Pronger’s early days in St. Louis, where the arrival of Wayne Gretzky “shifted all the pressure” off a young, struggling Pronger.
  • “I'm slowly kind of getting myself out of it…then we get Gretz and all attention just shifts to him, which was perfect timing…” – Chris Pronger [43:04]
  • Pronger on Gretzky’s discipline: “He’d be in his hotel room at 9, would get 11 hours of sleep…from a recovery standpoint, he didn’t really get it, but you learn.” [44:58]
• Importance of veteran teammates (Guy Carbonneau, Al MacInnis, Brett Hull) and how future captains are “shaped by the captains they play with.”

Mental & Physical Toughness: The Heart-Stopping Incident

• 1998 Playoffs: Pronger recounts being struck in the heart by a slap shot, collapsing on ice with commotio cordis, and the aftermath—hospital, tests, “winning the lottery” freak occurrence.
  • “It was about 25 seconds of no breathing…my lips were turning blue. They were starting to panic.” [48:09]
  • The next game, he returned to the ice: “Coming out of that tunnel…hair standing on the back of my neck every time I tell the story.” [52:45]
  • On how the incident spurred safety changes throughout the league: “After that…shoulder pads all have a hard heart protector there, because of that incident.” [55:32]

The MVP Year & Personal Growth

• 2000 Hart & Norris Season:
  • Came in “primed,” had four-plus months of training after injury-shortened previous season – “I was pissed off...let’s get things going.” [56:59]
  • “Everything just fell in place,” dominating defensively and offensively (plus-52, huge contract bonus). Regret over not savoring individual honors due to bitter playoff loss.

The Modern NHL Defenseman

• Discussion of elite modern defenders: Darlene, Quinn Hughes, Makar, Bouchard, Schaefer.
• Pronger on boomer opinions about creative defensemen:
  • “If you have the puck all the time you’re going to turn it over because you’re trying to make plays…” [62:56]
  • “You have to take some risk” to have offensive upside.
• Observations on the changing expectations and the necessity of pairing superstars (McCarr with McDavid/McKinnon): “They’re not putting Taves with McKinnon. They want McCarr with him…because it’s driving the offense.” [64:56]

Playoff War Stories & Leadership

• 2006 Oilers Cup Run: Pronger describes how “touch and go” Edmonton’s playoff bid was (made it at Game 79), and how playing under Canadian media scrutiny “didn’t feel like pressure.”
• Chemistry and communication with GMs/coaches who were former teammates or rivals.
• 2007 Ducks Cup:
  • Veteran/young core blend; quick team buy-in—“Everyone just bought in, right out of the gate. We’re winning.”
  • Emphasizes adversity (midseason injuries) making a great team “figure out how we needed to play.”
  • Depth players stepping up: “It’s always interesting to see those depth guys come in.”
  • On team versatility: “You wanna play Rock'em Sock'em? Let’s do it. You wanna play 2-1 tight? We can do it…” [77:13]
• Olympic Golds (2002, 2010):
  • Reflecting on being part of two distinct Team Canada golds (the “old guard” with Mario and Stevie Y, then Sid, Dewey era):
    • “It was Mario, Stevie and Joe…that was kind of the core group.” [83:30]
    • On the leadership and sacrifice required—“You can’t have four skill lines…someone’s got to block shots, eat pucks, kill penalties.” [84:46]
    • Outpouring respect for teammates enduring pain for the cause (e.g., Yzerman’s knee): “You have so much respect for someone who wants it that bad.” [84:04]
    • 2010 OT gold moment: “Very calm...Somebody’s a hero.” [85:44]

The Book – "Earned: The True Cost of Greatness"

• Pronger’s approach: “Taking off the armor and telling the truth.” [88:12]
• Not a simple autobiography—part memoir, part life playbook:
  • “It’s challenging people: What are you doing to get there? Are you prepared for the opportunity?” [89:14]
• Motivation to write: quitting drinking, wanting to redefine his legacy beyond “just a hockey player,” seeing the impact of public speaking.
• Key themes: Bet on yourself, move forward (“There’s no rearview mirror”), learn from adversity, take lessons to everyday life.
  • “At every fork in the road, you have to bet on yourself…nobody else is going to do it.” [93:51]
• Emotional depth:
  • “Getting booed at home sucks…every game you’re like: oh my god...” [94:56]
  • On choosing not to quit during hardship and the grit forged by adversity.
  • Book comes with a bonus: Podcast episode with Joe Buck & Jon Hamm narrating the dark early days in St. Louis.
• Release info: Available April 14, 2026, chrispronger.com/book or Amazon.

Notable Quotes

• On living well at 50+ (“3.0 phase”): “Look at life in a positive manner. Too often we look at the negative…Life’s too short to be miserable.” [112:08]
• On responding to adversity: “Learn from it…whatever happens, good or bad, you’re going this way. Your feet are pointing this way for a reason.” [94:05]
• On building a legacy: “That part of my life is over. I don’t want that to be my legacy. I want this to be my legacy.” [91:13]

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Fun & Games – "Pass, Shoot, Score" with Pronger

starts ~[103:19]

• Pronger ranks favorite golf courses (Cypress, Royal County Down, Old Course) and St. Louis clubs.
• Best golf trips (Bandon Dunes gets the "score").
• Hilarious airline meal ranking: triple steak days!
  • “Three times—and I would still lose weight.” [108:44]
• Favorite current cuisines, barbecuing year-round.
• Top three things that make him smile in “Pronger 3.0”:
  • Seeing his kids happy
  • Seeing his wife happy
  • Focusing on life’s positives

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Not Ice: The Great Men’s Bathroom Debate

[127:25] – [138:14]

• Dan’s hot take: Men should consider sitting to pee; urinals are a hygiene disaster.
• Splashback, bathroom design flaws, and men’s bathroom etiquette aired out in classic Empty Netters fashion.
• “There’s pee everywhere!…It’s absolutely disgusting.” – Dan

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Beer League Hotline & Bauer Blind Ranking

Beer league query starts [139:04] | Blind ranking coaches [143:46]

• Advice on the "beer league selfish sniper":

  • 46 goals, 4 assists, ringing head high slap shots every game. Is this guy a menace?
  • Verdict: "Self-regulate"—keep him but enforce some justice if he's doming goalies; otherwise, enjoy the tucks.

• “Perfect time to fire your coach” blind ranking—chaotic but classic Empty Netters goofiness:

  • From 14 to 82 to 70 to 86 games, debate timing and rationale for firing NHL coaches during a season.
  • “This is the dumbest blind ranking ever—and I love it.” – Dan

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Notable Additional Moments

• Wild travel and bachelor party mishaps in Puerto Rico (including a wildly overstated “abduction” and secret bar crawl)
• Fan interaction at La Factoria in San Juan: “Are you guys the Empty Netters?!”

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Final Takeaways & Links

• Chris Pronger’s forthcoming book, Earned: The True Cost of Greatness, is equal parts raw memoir and actionable life advice—aimed at anyone seeking resilience and perspective, not just hockey fans. Preorder: chrispronger.com/book
• The episode masterfully blends NHL insider analysis, deep career reflection, locker-room camaraderie, and irreverent humor.
• “Life is too short—enjoy it, man.” – Chris Pronger [112:33]

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Timestamps

• [02:06] Coaching firings/Islanders news
• [17:33] Playoff wild card updates
• [38:02] Crosby point streak praise
• [40:04] Chris Pronger interview starts
• [47:19] Surviving a heart-stopping injury
• [56:23] MVP (Hart Trophy) year & lessons
• [62:54] The modern, risk-taking defenseman
• [73:08] Ducks Cup run & championship culture
• [80:14] Olympic memories & leadership
• [88:08] Book discussion: Earned
• [103:19] “Pass, Shoot, Score” games
• [127:25] “Not ice” bathroom debate
• [139:04] Beer league hotline
• [143:46] Bauer blind ranking (coaching fires)

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Tone & Vibe
As always, Empty Netters balances sharp NHL analysis and legendary guest insight with the hosts’ relentless self-deprecation, chirps, and nostalgia for their beer league glory days.
Fans and casual listeners alike will finish this episode with both a real sense of hockey’s fiercest competitor—and a laugh-out-loud reminder that, in this game, you gotta keep moving forward.

Transcript

[Dan Powers]

Welcome to the Empty Netters podcast.

[Malkin]

Can you believe what this has become?

[Dan Powers]

There's a full 48 hours where I

[Chris Powers]

felt like I was like literally Superman.

[Dan Powers]

Jumbo loves playing Fortnite so he gets on the sticks. Did TR show you the sauna cycle or was that already.

[Chris Pronger]

No, I invented that.

[Malkin]

Almost a year now that I haven't

[Dan Powers]

taken a body check.

[Chris Pronger]

That's kind of nice.

[Dan Powers]

So we are back. We are horned up and we are going deep. Finished tonight with some chicken fingers and a few Guinnesses. Ran into you guys. And that's where this pod came to life. Ice is ready. Alrighty. And we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast, brought to you by BetMGM. I'm your host, Dan Powers over here rocking one of the best jerseys you'll ever see. Malkin in the flesh. Wait, no, that's Dr. Watkins.

[Chris Powers]

I am. Score. I had a. You got a hat trick this weekend, man. This might be one of the last ones.

[Malkin]

You guys pumping in goals, bro.

[Dan Powers]

That's kind of sad, you guys scoring

[Malkin]

20 goals a game.

[Chris Powers]

It's getting ridiculous. And it makes me scary. It makes me afraid for an eventual

[Malkin]

I am scared downturn.

[Dan Powers]

I am scared. I am fright.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I am scared. Anyway, yes. Good to be here.

[Dan Powers]

Beautiful, beautiful stuff. And over here. He's going to hate to hear it, but it's time for another haircut. Chris Powers.

[Chris Powers]

No, I literally thought you had just gotten your hair cut.

[Dan Powers]

Actually, you had. And it looked great and now it looks fine.

[Malkin]

And then it's going to look better.

[Dan Powers]

No, worse.

[Malkin]

It goes like this. It goes great right when I get it cut. Oh, it's like weird.

[Dan Powers]

No, it literally just goes downhill.

[Malkin]

No, weird. And then it goes. Ooh, great.

[Dan Powers]

Every centimeter it grows. You look worse.

[Malkin]

And then it goes. Oh, weird. And I'm mentoring that again. And then. And then. Dude, wait till you see. Then it really goes.

[Chris Powers]

Are you gonna.

[Dan Powers]

Then it goes homeless. Homeless.

[Malkin]

Oh, no. Oh no, it does get there.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh no.

[Malkin]

He's leaving out one more. Great. There's one more. Great.

[Chris Powers]

Are you gonna put him on Queer Eye or something? Is this.

[Malkin]

Yeah, he's trying.

[Dan Powers]

You imagine boys would fucking. They would. They would geek over the opportunity to dress Chris better to give him a better hairstyle.

[Chris Powers]

I. I see. This could. This could happen.

[Malkin]

This could happen.

[Dan Powers]

That would be special.

[Malkin]

God, dude, that would be.

[Dan Powers]

Think about what Jonathan would do to your hair.

[Malkin]

Talk about a mid form dude.

[Dan Powers]

Holy shit. That would be unbelievable. We've got a great episode for you today. Madness going on in the NHL, More coaching fires. We've got debuts, we've got wild card updates. And then Chris Pronger, Stanley cup winner, gold medal winner, everything winner, new author. Bang. Come on. Joins the pod. Hall of Famer himself. Yeah, read the note.

[Malkin]

Empty netters. Appreciate you being a part of my journey. Your friend, Chris Pronger, hall of Fame, 2015. Bang.

[Chris Powers]

What a cool guy.

[Dan Powers]

He is a guy. The man can't wait for you to hear it.

[Chris Powers]

He.

[Malkin]

Dude. And he came in on a Sunday.

[Dan Powers]

He sure did. On Easter.

[Malkin]

He's got. He's doing the tour, you know, his brother's down here. He was doing all kinds of stuff, dude. He pops in coffee, cup of waters, just chopping it with the boys.

[Chris Pronger]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

No hesitation, no nothing.

[Dan Powers]

Could have done it for hours.

[Malkin]

I. He made a joke after where he goes, he was like, people don't. A lot of times people meet me and go, I didn't realize you were so tall. And he goes, it says six. Six. And the thing, you know, it's not like this was a secret. No one's been lying about my height this morning.

[Dan Powers]

Not trying to trick anyone.

[Malkin]

Yeah, so.

[Dan Powers]

But you know what, dude? He tricked me. Cause even with knowing very well, I mean, I was just telling Evan this was. This was a geek out episode for me a little bit. And I was kind of like, you know, you forget how much you loved a player. I know. And sitting with him, just chit chatting, I was like, this guy's the fucking man. And even with that, I was like, I knew how big you were, but he's a big six. Six.

[Malkin]

But what I was going to say is I would have been in person, I would have been terrified to play him.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, dude.

[Malkin]

Like, we were joking about Troy Terry having no hits. And I'm like, I'd go in the corner with Troy Terry all day. You couldn't pay me. There is not an NHL salary big enough to pay me to go in the corner with Chris Prague.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely not.

[Malkin]

Legend.

[Dan Powers]

Can't wait for you to hear it. We got a beer league hotline to wrap things up. Let's jump on into the hot ice. Patty Waugh, Paddy Waugh gassed by Matthew Darsh and the New York Islanders. Stunning stuff. We thought it was crazy that Bruce Cassidy got fired with eight games left. Try six games.

[Malkin]

Hold my fucking beer, dude. Try that. That's insane.

[Chris Powers]

It's like, there's going to be one game left. Somebody's going to give.

[Malkin]

Fuck yeah, dude.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

I said. So the first thing I thought was interesting. Well, actually, let's Just talk about Patty Waugh for a second. Yeah, Patty Waugh. Pretty interesting because when he first became a coach, I was like, oh, wow, he might be just the right type of crazy to be a coach. And then it kind of didn't work. And I was like, oh, damn, that would have been cool. I really like when legends become, like, good GMs and coaches.

[Dan Powers]

I know across sports, too. I love it with. With European football, baseball, football, not so much. I don't care.

[Malkin]

Yep. Like at basketball, like, I think J.J. redick being coach is sick.

[Dan Powers]

I do think that's.

[Malkin]

I don't know if he's that good. I don't watch that much Lakers ball.

[Chris Powers]

But, like, Steve Kerr, another one, former player, great coach, awesome.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

So I was like, this is cool. Then Patty Waugh gets the Islanders job. And I was like, sick. Yeah, Glue loved him and maybe this will work. And it kind of, like, wasn't working, but whatever. But then this year happened and I was like.

[Dan Powers]

I felt like it was.

[Malkin]

Yeah, it was okay, but I was like, nice. And then. And then this happens. So he went 97, 78 and 22 in three seasons after taking home for Lane Lambert, who was fired on January 20, 2024. But the Islanders have lost a season high four in a row and seven of 10 since March 18, which again, is obviously a stumble here, but not like the.

[Dan Powers]

It's not like that, is it? Like, do we need to panic this hard?

[Malkin]

So that's interesting. Okay, now I want to say this. When Cassidy got fired and it was Torts, and we were talking about that here, like, what do you think about the Torts thing? I said, well, I think it mattered that Torts was the assistant coach on usa. And Jack had made some comments that he liked having him around. That's a fact here. And I think a guy like DeBoer, who has to be the top choice out there, isn't going to take a job with eight games left because he'd go, I'll just wait till the summer firings and I can really see what I want. And then bang dubois.

[Dan Powers]

Unless an opportunity like the New York Islanders comes about.

[Malkin]

So that's my question. Like, is this the team that you're like, oh, yeah, this is the. This is what I would have taken if I waited.

[Dan Powers]

To me, yes, I was shocked by this firing. Obviously, the stumble. Losing four in a row, three and seven in your last 10, and you have now fallen out of the playoffs is insane.

[Malkin]

This.

[Dan Powers]

This. I've said it many a times. This is the drunkest wild card race I've ever seen.

[Chris Powers]

It's so wild. It is literally a wild card.

[Dan Powers]

It is a wild card.

[Chris Powers]

A five way tie now. It's crazy.

[Dan Powers]

It's fucking mental because we were stroking off Boston a little bit for them. It felt like they were the only teams that was really just like dropping their nuts and getting shit done. Dude, we'll get into it. The Flyers are in third in the Met now.

[Malkin]

Dude, I've been saying that for a minute.

[Dan Powers]

Like the Flyers are all the way up.

[Malkin]

So real quick, Dan, because you just said this and I want. I agree. The. Even though Vegas.

[Dan Powers]

Hold on. We've got to stay. Oh, wait, you're talking about Cassidy.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like we have to stay.

[Malkin]

Even though Vegas is tied for first, essentially.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes.

[Malkin]

In their trash division.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

It is the Cassidy firing I can wrap my head around because Vegas was like a Cup pick. You know, people were like, vegas, win the cup, they got Marner. Blah, blah, blah.

[Dan Powers]

You know, they are not that just. So they are firmly in third.

[Malkin]

Oh yeah. They're one point back. Sorry, one point back. So the. This one like no one had the Islanders even like in the playoff. Like the Islanders are doing still, even with this stumble. Are still exceeding expectations, in my opinion. And to fire him is so crazy. Like, this is crazier than the Cassidy thing.

[Dan Powers]

Well, things have to change, right? I mean, you. I think that the Islanders were always a wild card team.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So to say exceeding expectations is insane. They're currently below expectations.

[Malkin]

I guess. I didn't think they were a wild card team. I think they. They are currently. But they're not exceeding. They're currently meeting my expectations, which was just missing playoffs.

[Dan Powers]

But my point is when you then get a player like Matthew Schaefer doing what he's doing and again, they have been this good all season. So I'm like, take whatever expectations you had and throw them out the window because Schaefer showed up. He has played all season. He is the player he is now. There are new expectations, especially when the Met isn't that good. No disrespect, but Pittsburgh being in second is also not something we expected.

[Chris Powers]

Not at all.

[Dan Powers]

The Flyers being in third is not what we expected. So when you are the Islanders and you've played this well all season and you have Matthew Schaefer doing what he's doing and. No, no, no, sir. Like winning the Met or being right behind Carolina should be your expectations. So I completely disagree with what you said.

[Malkin]

So because I'm like, if the show

[Dan Powers]

like what you're doing is you're putting this judgment based on preseason assumptions, and I think that that has to be completely thrown out at this point.

[Malkin]

Yeah, I guess my. I would say the Sharks we picked to all be lasting. And we were like, the Sharks might finish seventh this year. They're not ready. And then Macklin goes, I'm going to win mvp. And we've been in the playoffs pretty much all season, and they. If they fall out now, it'd be like the Sharks right now going, we're firing our coach because we've fallen out of the playoffs. And I'm like, whoa, dude, it's fine.

[Dan Powers]

Well, I mean, don't you think we did pick them to be, like, la. I think I picked them to be all seven second to last in their division, and they are currently third to last in their division.

[Malkin]

Yep. So, like. But they were in playoffs.

[Dan Powers]

I know, but, dude, you're also completely disregarding the fact that the Pacific is a fucking joke. They are. They have a 500. They have a 527 record.

[Malkin]

It's not. It's not. Apples. Apples. I'm just giving you a comp that

[Dan Powers]

I'm like, I understand, but what I'm saying is when the Sharks. When we're being like, they were in playoffs all year, they have 79 points, dude, and they're a dash 36. I love the Sharks, but they. They have been in playoffs all year because the Pacific is horrible.

[Malkin]

Right?

[Dan Powers]

So, like, we can't act like it's like, oh, my God, the Sharks are so, so good. They are. They've been a. They've been a blast, and they've been good and fun to watch, but I don't think their playoff race has been comparable to an Eastern Conference playoff race

[Malkin]

because, yes, the entire east would win. Would be the winning.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

The entire Eastern Conference would lead the Pacific Division.

[Dan Powers]

Like, The Islanders have 10 more points than.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You know, like, it's. It's not. So. The firing is shocking to me. I think WA was doing a great job. I think. With the help of Schaefer. Absolutely. With the help, rather, of guys like Kelly Cheeseman and Matthew Darsh. Like, just a great group of people with the Islanders right now, making them a super fun team. This feels to me like a result of. Remember a few episodes ago when we were talking about who would be heartbreaking and devastating to miss the playoffs and. And you were like, the Islanders. Yeah, the Islanders would be devastating. Well, here they are now, missing four or losing four in a row, and they're out of playoffs. And I think that this is a result of, like, dude, we can't miss playoffs now. Yeah, like, I'm sorry, we can't. And Pete DeBoer getting this job is not shocking to me at all because I look at the Islanders and their youth and their future. That's got to be one of the most fun projects in the NHL. So Pete DeBoer taking the job makes a ton of sense. I also must assume that conversations were had and there's. Oh, yeah, there's like a. I'm not talking about any shady shit, but I'm talking about a, hey, Pete, you have to get us in playoffs here. Like, if you hire Pete DeBoer here and you have four games left and you, you know, go, even, frankly, if you go 2 and 2, that's a failure in these four games. I'm not saying Pete DeBoer is going to get fired, but I'm like, you hire Pete DeBoer going, you fucking better get us in playoffs here. Like, it is. And it's. It's unlucky that you have lost four straight and the Flyers have won two straight and are seven and three in their last. Like, that is very unlucky. It's even very unlucky that Pitt is like, hot again and has won two in a row. But I unfortunately think they're in a position where it's like, you can't miss guys. Like, you cannot miss.

[Malkin]

That's definitely what they're saying. But. And you just said this. I think so. But it's not Pete's future. I thought you were going to say, there's definitely been conversations about like, hey, Pete, you are our coach for a long time now. That is also true. And there's no way Pete DeBoer is not torturella. This is not a care team. Exactly. And no way, in my opinion, not getting in playoffs changes that. Like, if he goes 04 and they miss, they're not going to go, we don't actually want you anymore. They're going to go, you are our coach.

[Chris Powers]

Or if he loses two games, they're like, you know what? We're getting a different coach.

[Malkin]

Patrick come back.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, absolutely correct. But at the same time, it's like, if they go 04, if they go 2 and 2 and they miss playoffs, it's not going to be like, it's all good, dude. Like, we're, you know, Pete DeBoer's here for the future. It's a massive letdown. It's not a failure, but it is a Massive letdown. Islanders fans will not miss playoffs here and be like this. It's okay, dude. We're working on something. They are going to be fucking furious.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Just not. Not at Pete.

[Dan Powers]

Not at Pete.

[Malkin]

Because I think this is actually an interesting challenge for a guy like Pete who has. Who really has systems where I'm like, you can't. You certainly can't. You don't even. Enough. I bet they're not even practicing at this point in the season because these games are too quick and there's too much wear and tear. Like, I doubt Pete even has a chance to go. This is how I like to play, by the way.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

He's literally just going to go, hey, what's up?

[Dan Powers]

Continue.

[Malkin]

Who's on PP1? Okay, go. Good, good. That sounds awesome. Score. You know, like, there's. There is no time for him to do anything. Yeah. So it's literally just like. Is a new face in the locker room.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Did. Did that kick the kick there and kick them in the ass?

[Chris Powers]

Well, I mean, do we. I don't want to make assumptions, but do we assume that maybe the players were kind of like, hey, this was not working for us right now? You know what I mean?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Like, sometimes they feel the temperature of, like, I don't know if the coach is connecting anymore with these guys.

[Malkin]

Yeah. And it's like, boys, come on. Now look what happened. Now we got to like, we got to do something. We got to be better. That that happens somet. And I bet it's happening here because again, again, there's just no way that Deborah's like, change everything. Change. Here's how we're playing now. Holy fuck.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, like, without knowing for sure, for sure, I. I know that that's what happened in Vegas.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I don't. I am not here to say that I think that that happened in New York. Like, I'm not sure. On the island, the players were like this. We're done with wa.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But this one's nuts because was an intense guy, but nothing I have heard felt like maybe players or fans were like, I'm over this.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah. Same.

[Chris Powers]

So, yeah. This just seems like a blindside to me too.

[Malkin]

But incredibly shocking. Yeah, that was nuts. Who sent that? Nate. I was like, what the fuck?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Our thumbnail guy Nate broke the news dust. You know, this is like that cliche. It's like, you know, it's a copycat league, you know?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

You think they do this now because

[Malkin]

what happened in 4.0and they're like, Holy.

[Dan Powers]

You know what I'm saying?

[Chris Powers]

Like, are they, like, looking at that, going like, I guess we can now. Anybody can do it, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Ev.

[Malkin]

I know that's slightly hyperbolic, but I

[Dan Powers]

don't hate that take because Copycat league.

[Malkin]

Yeah. And it's like, there was not a stigma, but I bet people were like, bro, you can't be firing coaches right now. And then Vegas was like, fuck it. And Vegas is such a. Like, we don't give a shit franchise for sure. That, like, and Torts is winning. And they're like, dude, dude, we need to win these four games. To Dan's point, we need to win these four games. So just whatever is going to light a fire under the boys. Fucking do it. And if we didn't see was the future anyway, then bang.

[Dan Powers]

You know what I really like the idea of? I like the idea of getting ahead of the game because the board could

[Malkin]

get a better offer.

[Dan Powers]

Literally.

[Malkin]

Yes, That's. I know.

[Dan Powers]

Like, what if. You know, what if the Sharks were to make a change in their coaching department at the end of the season? What if Detroit fires McClellan if they miss? And all of a sudden there's five teams with great youth and good projects that are like, yo, deboer. Sup? Like, I think this is a pretty savvy move by Darsh here. If they're like, was not it for the future. This. This losing streak down the stretch is not acceptable. We've got a whole new movement here. We want a good offensive coach. There's a great one available. Let's make it happen now. Like, I actually. If that was kind of the mentality. I love that move. Because you don't want to give him the opportunity of all of a sudden. Let's be real, man. Is the Sharks not number one? When you think about opportunities, you have Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini, who's potentially about to win. MV fucking P, who is 19. That's pretty enticing to a coach being in California as well. So it's like, I kind of like the move of get ahead of you

[Chris Powers]

saying, like, we're thinking ahead. It's like when you go to the bar and it's really crowded and you're like, I'm just going to order two beers right now.

[Malkin]

We'll have two, please.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe two. Because I'm not. I'm not.

[Malkin]

Maybe three.

[Dan Powers]

Maybe a couple. Maybe a shot too. You know, do it right.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. Right now. Let's. Let's speed this up.

[Dan Powers]

Exactly.

[Chris Powers]

This line's too long.

[Dan Powers]

So wild. Stuff. Islanders fans, if you're upset about WA getting fired, I totally get that. But I'll also say you should be happy about deboer. So. Fuck yeah. You know. Wild. Let's see what happens in these four games. Wild card update. Cp.

[Malkin]

Are you ready?

[Dan Powers]

Take us through.

[Malkin]

Lot of action since last episode.

[Dan Powers]

Before you even get into this, I want to just run down and say this. In the east clinched Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo fucking Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes. They have all clinched a playoff spot. No seed has officially been clinched yet.

[Malkin]

And I will say I have removed the Habs from the standing breakdown because in my opinion they are top three confirmed. In my opinion.

[Chris Powers]

I think they clenched, didn't they?

[Dan Powers]

They could play out.

[Malkin]

I'm saying they are now out of the wild card discussion. I don't think the Habs are in a wild card fight anymore. In my opinion.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I mean if they lose out or go like even one, they have five games left. They go one and four and Boston wins four in a row. Absolutely. They but I'm just saying in my opinion have it does feel like they're probably safe.

[Chris Pronger]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Yes. And what a great run. 8 and 2. Dude.

[Malkin]

It's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

They are dude flying I someone dosh was so good. Oh and he was like getting in the mixer too. I love it.

[Malkin]

Someone chirped me online cuz I was like going through the DMS about something and I saw it and Nate Dog scored. I think it was probably only his 48th and he now has 51. And someone was like CP's Nate will finish the year at 49 pick looking worse every second or something like that. And I was like. I said 49. I was like I wonder if Cole could score 10 in the next 14 games and get to 50 and win the Rocket. And Nate already has 51. But Cole has fucking 49 already and is going to score over 50 and still might win the Rocket. It's insane.

[Dan Powers]

Those four teams have clinched in the West. Oh, and also in the east eliminated the New York Rangers, the Stanley cup, defending champions Florida Panthers eliminated from playoffs. And the Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated. You are out of playoffs officially. And the west clinched Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota. That is it. Eliminated the Blackhawks and the Canucks. That is it. Which is hilarious. Like the fact that the Flames in Seattle are still in it. Yeah. I'm like this is crazy what is going on.

[Malkin]

If Dallas and we're not. We're only talking wildcat here. But I'll just throw this tidbit in. If Dallas pukes up home Ice to Minnesota with another late season, absolute fucking free fall. They have some splaining to do.

[Dan Powers]

They do. They do. Do you think that in that matchup, either one of them really needs that?

[Malkin]

Nope. I'll probably still pick the Stars.

[Dan Powers]

Probably.

[Malkin]

But I will say the fucking Wild last year against Vegas in that first round, were they. They looked. They stepped their shit.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, they were quite honest.

[Malkin]

And I was like, man, this would be scary team to play.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, now get us into the wild card rundown.

[Malkin]

Okay, Dan, react to every result, please. Thursday night. Because we recorded and it came out Thursday morning. Thursday night, the Sens beat the Sabres 4 1.

[Dan Powers]

Monumental for the Sens. And I will say Sabres agree. You should want to win the Atlantic. So not a good loss.

[Malkin]

Yep. Penns lost to the Bolts six three.

[Dan Powers]

Big for the Bolts.

[Malkin]

Yeah, for that one.

[Dan Powers]

See?

[Malkin]

For that one. Seed Bruins lost to the Cats two one.

[Dan Powers]

I think Boston is safe. It's more like a. Can you get this boogeyman out of your closet, for fuck's sake?

[Malkin]

Habs beat the Rags 3 2.

[Dan Powers]

Crucial.

[Malkin]

Incredible. Wings beat the Flyers 4, 4, 2.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely crucial for the Wings, but that's about as good as it got for them for the rest of the weekend.

[Malkin]

Jackets lost to the Canes 5 1.

[Dan Powers]

Tough, tough opponent, but brutal for the Jackets.

[Malkin]

And they had just lost to them, like Tuesday also. And I was like, you got to burn and learn. You got to burn and learn.

[Dan Powers]

You get the split.

[Malkin]

Caps lost to the Devils 7 3.

[Dan Powers]

Jack Hughes is the best player in the league since the Olympics.

[Malkin]

Correct.

[Dan Powers]

That's what I'll say about it.

[Malkin]

And also the Caps, who I knocked out of the playoffs like a week ago, buddy, really came back. And then they have had a horrible, horrible run in the last couple of days. The jets lost to the Stars 3 0.

[Dan Powers]

Expected.

[Malkin]

Yep. Tough 1. Knights beat the Flames 6 3.

[Dan Powers]

Important.

[Malkin]

Important. Sharks beat the Leafs 4 1. Huge Mammoth beat the Spunk 6 2.

[Chris Pronger]

Huge.

[Malkin]

Preds beat the Kings 5, 4. And 2.

[Dan Powers]

Completely unacceptable game by the Kings. But their fight back was something we haven't seen. And then we also saw it.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Where it was something we'll get to. So good signs for the Kings and crucial game for the Preds.

[Malkin]

Friday, the Flyers beat the Islanders four one.

[Dan Powers]

Completely unexpected flip with these two teams.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

I think you need to start loving. Put some lovin on the fly. I mean, you are now loving them, but I'm saying you need to think they're better than they are.

[Dan Powers]

I said completely unexpected. Expected, not unacceptable.

[Malkin]

Saturday, the Wings lost to the rags 4:1.

[Dan Powers]

That. That loss was the. Take the watch off of fraud. Watch with the Detroit.

[Malkin]

Oh, shit, Dan.

[Dan Powers]

Dude, Losing to the fucking Rangers when you were fighting for your fucking life to get into the playoffs finally and not do this collapse that you've done the last two seasons. Losing to the eliminated Rangers 4 to 1. You are now Frauds.

[Malkin]

Dude, we were.

[Chris Pronger]

Keep going.

[Malkin]

Yeah, we were out of town and we just could not believe that. Sends lost to the wild 4 1.

[Dan Powers]

Wild getting hot.

[Malkin]

Bruins lost to the Bolts, 31 big for the Bolts. Bolts getting hot. Pens beat the cats 9 4.

[Dan Powers]

This was the moment when the Penguins. I was like, you guys are. You guys are horny.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Penguins are the horniest team in the east right now.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Actually, maybe the Flyers are, but the Penguins are horny.

[Malkin]

Caps beat the Sabres 6 2.

[Dan Powers]

Don't like it for the Sabers. Like. Like I said, Sabers. You want. You want to win? You want that one seed Isles lost

[Malkin]

to the Canes 4 3.

[Dan Powers]

Just brutally tough matchup in a bad skid.

[Malkin]

Jets beat the jackets 2 1.

[Dan Powers]

Completely unacceptable. By the jets or the Jets?

[Malkin]

Jackets and the jets. Just like, they're not. They're not going to get out. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like, stop. I'm. Everyone stop talking about the Jets. You're dead. God.

[Malkin]

God. They could get in. I bet they do. Mammoth beat the Canuck, 7 4.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable.

[Malkin]

Kings beat the Leafs 7 6.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. Such a fun game. And again, the fight back we saw against the Preds came to life in this game as well. Obviously, they gave up a late goal that let it go to ot. But the OT goal by Q. Panera and Juice was so nasty. Huge, huge, huge stay alive win for the Kings.

[Malkin]

Yep. Knights beat the Oilers 5 1, 40 under. Torts.

[Chris Pronger]

Torts.

[Dan Powers]

That's all I'm going to say.

[Malkin]

That's amazing. Torts. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Scream it.

[Malkin]

Ducks lost to the Flames, 5:3.

[Dan Powers]

Ducks got to get their shit together.

[Malkin]

Preds beat the Sharks 6 3.

[Dan Powers]

Preds won't go away.

[Malkin]

And I now think I'm not sure who has the tiebreaker over the Preds and Sharks. Because the Preds have it over to the Kings. So it might be. Now the Preds control their own destiny because the Kings puked that up. And the Sharks might have with this loss.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that might be the case.

[Malkin]

Spunk lost to the Hawks for two. I think the Spunk is dead.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Malkin]

Sunday the Wings lost to the Wild, five four. So coming back from four one.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Okay. So I. May I take a pause?

[Malkin]

Yes, you may.

[Dan Powers]

I actually Said yesterday during hockey talk, I was like, the Red Wings have. They have five games left after that loss.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Chris Pronger]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

I was like, that loss is so poop. It's again the wilder hot.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

So it's tough. The Red Wings have five games left. They have 88 points. They're two points back from wild card spot behind Ottawa. The Red Wings need to go four on one if they want a chance.

[Malkin]

Okay, let's see here. Dan, don't.

[Dan Powers]

You don't. You don't even need to go. Go into it like. Or you're going to get their schedule.

[Malkin]

I'm just curious who they got.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

So four and one and they have.

[Dan Powers]

And I mean that. I don't mean literally because, you know, but yeah, anything. Anything could happen but that. I mean, I mean, on principle. Yeah, like, for the love of God, give. Give yourself a fucking fighting chance. And your only fighting chance is four on one.

[Malkin]

Jackets at home. You don't have to say win or loss. I'm just saying Jackets at home, brutal game.

[Dan Powers]

Because you're fighting a feral animal in a cage, also fighting for its life.

[Malkin]

Flyers at home, same brutal game. Devils at home, who've been nasty. Yeah, but they're out.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, you have to win that game.

[Malkin]

Tampa on the road, and Tampa will need that horrendous. And then Cats on the road who

[Dan Powers]

are eliminated should win that. It is going to be an absolute battle, but you need to go 4 and 1.

[Malkin]

Yep. Okay. Still on Sunday, Pens beat the Cats 5 2.

[Dan Powers]

Horny Team Malkin.

[Malkin]

Hattie. Malkin. Hattie Flyers beat the Bruins 21 in overtime.

[Dan Powers]

Who had that OT goal?

[Malkin]

Porter Martone, first career NHL goal, OT winner, friend of the program.

[Dan Powers]

Come on.

[Malkin]

That was sick. Sens. And I was actually so. I actually loved that result because the B's got the point, too. And I was like, this was great. Sens beat the Canes 6 3. Massive.

[Dan Powers]

The Sens. Dude, after all the shit talk about, Brady wanted to leave this. Like, the Sens are showing a lot of fight. You love to see it.

[Malkin]

Caps lost to the rags, 8:1.

[Chris Powers]

Wow.

[Dan Powers]

If that isn't the. Like your Caps were kind of surging here. If that isn't the sign of like. Ah, hang it up, dude.

[Chris Powers]

They're kind of in that tie, though.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, they're. They're so much like.

[Chris Powers]

If they had won two of those games, they'd be.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, dude, they're very alive.

[Malkin]

They are very Rags and the Devils. Okay, east standing update. And again, I took the Habs out, so the Pens are in second 78. Played 96 points. Flyers in third, 77. Played 90 points. Bruins wild card won 78, 95. Sends wild card to 7790. Aisles out 78, 89. Wings out, 77.88. Jackets out 77.88. Caps out 78.87.

[Dan Powers]

And that's it. Devils are done.

[Malkin]

I mean, the Sens are in control. And I think that's scary if you're, you know, the Wings and the Jackets,

[Dan Powers]

and they've been good in their last 10. I mean, this is, this is what it comes down to always. Right? It's the last 10 games of the season. If you're in this race, how do you perform? Boston is 6, 3 and 1 in their last 10.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Ottawa is 6, 3 and 1 in Their last 10. Flyers are 7 and 3. Penguins are 6 and 4. The Islanders are 3 and 7. The Red Wings are 4 and 6. The Jackets are 3, 6, and 1. It is like you, we get all these messages from the fans who are like, these fucking teams are killing me. And as a bitch boy fan of every team, and I'm watching and paying attention out of love for these teams and these fans, it is catastrophic what is happening to the Islanders, Red Wings and Blue Jackets. Like, I can't. We just watch every game. The Wings lost two in a row. Blue Jackets have lost three in a row. Islanders have lost four in a row. Like, you are watching games that are playoff games. Yeah. And when you were Columbus in Detroit, specifically, because the Islanders have been in playoffs within recent years, you're like, dude, are you guys fucking my dad?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It's insane. And Wings fans, who I have such a soft spot for, there's been so much success for us growing up with the Red Wings Cups, perennial playoff teams, but it's. We're coming up. This would be year 10 if they miss playoffs. This is year 10.

[Chris Powers]

It feels weird for the Wings to be, like, not good.

[Dan Powers]

I agree.

[Chris Powers]

You know what I mean?

[Dan Powers]

And it's like, I just can't believe. And if you're the Wings, I know it's a different division, but if you're the Wings and you could even say Blue Jackets because they are the same division and you're watching the Flyers out of fucking nowhere, just surging here, and all of a sudden they're in third. You are so jealous and mad and confused.

[Malkin]

Wings, because the Winx were, like, leading the Atlantic a couple times. Maybe not first, but I think they were.

[Dan Powers]

I think I, I, they might have been.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, they were def no, no, they were second.

[Malkin]

Many.

[Dan Powers]

There were moments where they were first in the Atlanta and it's like one game with a game, you know, whatever. It doesn't matter like it is. It is unthinkable that the ides of March came through and castrated you yet again. And now you're 4 and 6 in your last 10 on a two game losing streak with five games left that are truly all must win.

[Malkin]

I will say. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fire him.

[Dan Powers]

Fire him.

[Malkin]

I will say. Sens have Tampa at home today. If you're listening to this, Cats at home, Islanders on the road, Devils on the road, Toronto at home, which you should get little.

[Dan Powers]

Feels a little bit. Who that was the sen. Yeah. A little bit easier than Detroit's running,

[Malkin]

but barely because Tampa at home, like Tampa wants.

[Dan Powers]

What do you think little bit means? You fucking point.

[Malkin]

A good point.

[Chris Powers]

Barely a little bit. Same thing.

[Malkin]

Good point.

[Dan Powers]

And.

[Malkin]

And to your point, Dan, earlier, the Sens home stand that they're on was home versus Buffalo, Minnesota and Carolina.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Which is a nightmare. Yeah, Buffalo lost. Minnesota beat Carolina. Like they could have easily lost those three and be, you know, and they're like, did we beat two first place teams and now we got Tampa if we beat them. I'm like, totally. You deserve it. Okay, west standings I put the Pacific into because it's just insane. Oilers in first 77, 87. Ducks in second 77, 87. Dude, by the way, the Oilers being

[Dan Powers]

in first place is so funny. And Evan, how many times this season have I said, oilers fans, calm down, nothing matters. Literally nothing matters. Leon being hurt. Nothing matters. Like it is. And here they are in first place. Hilarious. Dude.

[Malkin]

Sean from the pint texted me and he was like, look at the Oilers. We were just chatting about them. And he goes, the first division title in 40 years is within reach. That's insane. Just typing it. And I was like, you haven't won the Pacific in 40 years. And he was like, yeah, dude. It's like it's the car in our old format since 1987. And I was like, that is insane.

[Dan Powers]

Ridiculous.

[Malkin]

Like that blew my mind.

[Dan Powers]

But it is also insane, especially with torts that Vegas just might win.

[Malkin]

Dude, I know. So. So Oilers first 77 87. Duck second 77, 87, Knights third 77, 86. So that is extremely up for grabs. Yeah, insane. Mammoth Wild Card 1 7686. Pretty much ready to put them in, but we'll see.

[Dan Powers]

I feel like the Mammoth are safe, but again, what's nuts is like the Mammoth have six games left. So. So do the Preds. So do the Kings. Sharks have seven. Anything can happen.

[Malkin]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

In these games.

[Malkin]

So.

[Dan Powers]

Especially with these teams.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah. Great. Because these teams aren't even that good.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, we're talking about Chris, even though the Ducks in there. I hate to say it because we love the Duckies, but, like, Ducks are a dash 14 on the season. Preds dash 22. Kings dash 26. Sharks dash 36. Like, these teams, anything can happen every single game.

[Malkin]

And Dan, if the Kings. Let's knock the Kings up to 77 games to make them even with those three Pacific teams. And let's say they win, they're 77, 83. So they're 3. 4 points behind. Like, the Kings could get in a top three spot.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

You know what I mean? Like, the Knights could fall into the wild. Anybody could fall into the wild card. The Ducks could fall into a wild card. So Pred's wild card, 2. 76, 81. Kings out. Also 76, 81. But don't have the tiebreaker versus the Preds. Sharks out 75, 79. So if they win their game in hand, they're at 81. And I don't know who holds that tie.

[Chris Powers]

Break.

[Malkin]

Yeah, the Sharks hold it over the Kings. I know that. I don't know if they hold it over the Preds. They just lost in breads. Jets out 76, 78. And I think you're harsh by knocking them completely out, but, I mean, I'm being a cunt. Blues out 75, 76. You know, spunk out 75, 75. Think spunk's probably dead.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

This one is a cluster, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Like, so you know what's nuts about this?

[Malkin]

I also want to show you guys this. Keep talking, though.

[Dan Powers]

Current playoff. If the playoffs were set right now in the west, we would have Colorado playing Nashville. I think that's a sweep.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

We would have Edmonton playing Utah. Absolutely. Anyone can win that series.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

We have Anaheim, Vegas. I personally believe anyone can win that series because of how Vegas has been so confusing. But then also there's a world where Vegas is just like. Really?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Like, we. We've been here since been.

[Malkin]

I got Jack, Ike.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Malkin]

So.

[Dan Powers]

But. But you then swap la and I will include the Sharks. Dude, it is hilarious that the fucking Blues are one point behind the Blues.

[Malkin]

I know.

[Dan Powers]

Are one point behind them and the Jets. It's ridiculous. But you swap either of those teams in and play any one of this Pacific jumble, and I'm like, I have. I don't know, dude. Even the Kings, Oilers, even if that were to happen, I'm like, this year I'm like. I don't know. Like fucking Christmas. It is. I think The West Round 1 is going to be so fun.

[Malkin]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Because it's going to be pure chaos.

[Malkin]

So let me read you guys this. I saw this because I was looking something up that I'll talk to you about later. But Thursday, April 16, is the last day of the NHL season 2026 regular season. There are six games. This is the last day of the year. There are six games. One is AVs versus Spunk.

[Dan Powers]

So what day is it?

[Malkin]

Thursday, April 16th. Okay, one of the games is AVs versus Spunk. Whatever. Here are the other five games. Blues versus Mammoth.

[Dan Powers]

Hilarious.

[Malkin]

Oilers versus Canucks. Sharks versus Jets. Kings versus Flames. Ducks versus Preds. Every single one of those teams you just named are all playing or playing each other on the last day of the season like this. That playoff spot is going to be decided. Playoffs start then on Thursday, April 16th. I mean, like so much like seeding. Seeding in the Pacific. And the wild card. Probably just wild card, too.

[Dan Powers]

But it's legitimately been this way for two weeks now. We're already in playoffs. Like fans. It's playoff hop. Already. It has started.

[Chris Powers]

I feel bad for the graphics people at all these places. They're like, what teams can I put in the goddamn, like in the hopper, ready to go?

[Dan Powers]

Honestly, I'm not going to know until

[Chris Powers]

the last goddamn minute.

[Dan Powers]

It's. I also feel bad for in arena operations because you're trying to have fun at the games. And I'm like, no, dude, it's not fun time. This is do or die time.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You know, like you're showing kids on the jumbotron and stuff. And I'm like, lock the fuck in.

[Malkin]

Every.

[Dan Powers]

Every game needs to be a win. Absolutely insane.

[Chris Powers]

Bullshit.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely insane. All right, you add some Crosby stuff.

[Chris Pronger]

You want to talk?

[Malkin]

Yeah. Just a couple quick hitters to get out of the hot ice. Sidney Crosby hit 72 points with his three pointer last night, and he can only play 70 games this year. Which means yet again, 21 straight seasons. 21 straight seasons extends his record of point per game. Incredible. An incredible feat on the broadcast. They were like this when he did it. They were like 21 seasons of over point per game. And it was. Army was on the show, but I forget who army was with, but the guy goes, that will never be touched. And I was kind of like, what it could be like. Is it Khan?

[Chris Powers]

What's Kyle, it could be. It could be. But I think that. Was it a local broadcast?

[Malkin]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Powers]

It was home cooking.

[Malkin]

Yeah. But I was like. And I'm not saying it definitely. I'm just saying it certainly could be touched. Like Shirley Conner.

[Chris Powers]

I'll tell you what, if he keeps playing a few more seasons, maybe it becomes harder.

[Malkin]

Yeah. But Shirley Conner's been point per game every year. Right. I'm gonna check right now.

[Dan Powers]

I mean like I know early days Nate didn't. But I feel like. But still 21 straight is like.

[Malkin]

Is amazing.

[Dan Powers]

I think the. I think the cooler stat is it's literally every year of his life. Right?

[Malkin]

Yes. Yeah. And Connor is 11 so far and every year of his life because he got 48 and 45 as a rookie stuck in there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, well, I mean like.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

But very sick.

[Dan Powers]

It's so sick.

[Chris Powers]

This weekend was great for me.

[Malkin]

Yep. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Correct two back to back. Just complete spanking.

[Dan Powers]

Just ass whoopings.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But Sid, I mean we don't need to harp on it. This is yet another example of when I'm like, Sid is obviously on the Mount Rushmore.

[Chris Powers]

Breaking news. He's good.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And he's obviously on Mount Rushmore. And the fact that there are some humans out there who don't think that blow my mind.

[Malkin]

Completely agree. Next one we already mentioned. But Porter Martone. Congrats, buddy.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Just some more. Some more stick taps to Porter. Unbelievable. You love to see it. And listen, man, a surgeon Flyers team and you got that kid special dude.

[Malkin]

Sick power play, weapon.

[Dan Powers]

Makes you think. Some of the other teams in the league who have some of these, get them off maybe call them up. Get him up maybe.

[Malkin]

And then Zach Hyman out a couple of weeks. They said, hey, interesting.

[Dan Powers]

Do you want to know what I think about that? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

[Malkin]

But it did in fact matter last year.

[Dan Powers]

It will. Nothing matters until playoffs.

[Malkin]

But there's just so much happening in that west race. You're like God damn. No dry. No Hyman. Like what the fuck?

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely doesn't matter.

[Malkin]

Okay, let's take an ad break.

[Dan Powers]

That's going to do it for hot ice. Let's take a quick AD break and then we will jump into our interview with Chris Pronger.

[Malkin]

How many times do I have to tell you about my favorite BetMGM promotion? It is called the hat trick jackpot and it is numbies. All you have to do is bet on someone to be an anytime goal scorer and then you activate the hat trick jackpot. And if they score Three or more if they get that Hattie. Which Hattie's been popping off. Malkin just got a Hattie. Someone just got their first Hattie. It was amazing. I'll remember soon, but there was Hatties flying all over the place. And if your guy score as a hat trick, you get your share of 10 GS in bonus bets, which is absolutely incredible. Okay, so what you do is you log into your BetMGM account and if you haven't signed up yet, it's even better because what you do is you use that promo code, netters, that's N E T T E R S. And then you place your bet. So if your bet loses, you can get your welcome offer your 1,500 in a first player, first bet, losing offer. And if this guy scores a goal, you win your bet. And if the guy scores a Hattie, you get your share of 10 GS and bonus bets. Unbelievable. BetMGM is unbelievable. The hat trick jackpot is unbelievable. Make it legendary. Please, please.

[Dan Powers]

We are joined right now by a Dryden, Ontario native. Come on. The second overall pick in the 93 draft by the Hartford Whalers.

[Malkin]

I remember who went second that year.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable. Who also played for the Blues, the Oilers, the Ducks and the Flyers. He's a world junior gold medalist, a world championship gold medalist, a two time Olympic gold medalist, a Norris Trophy winner, a Hart Trophy winner, Last defenseman to do it. How are you a Stanley cup champion? Making him a member of the Triple Gold Club in hockey. Fantastic. And a 2015 inductee into the Hockey hall of Fame. Chris Pronger. Welcome to the Empty netters.

[Chris Pronger]

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Dan Powers]

Very, very exciting stuff. Five time NHL all star. Pretty sick.

[Chris Pronger]

Come on. The hit goes on. 26 years ago. Can you believe that?

[Malkin]

Oh my God.

[Chris Pronger]

Since Bobby Orr. Since I. Yeah, that's a long time ago.

[Malkin]

That's actually insane.

[Chris Pronger]

I mean it was two gaps, right?

[Dan Powers]

Bobby was 73.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Then you. And now it's been 20.

[Chris Pronger]

It was 27 years.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. And now it's been 26 years.

[Malkin]

Oh, so maybe that's sharp action.

[Chris Pronger]

27 years.

[Malkin]

Next year.

[Chris Pronger]

26 years since.

[Malkin]

Yeah. So next year. So next year. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Going off of past president.

[Dan Powers]

We are all bet mgm. That's sharp action right now. Next year hammer that someone's some defenseman

[Chris Pronger]

is winning the heart.

[Dan Powers]

Next.

[Malkin]

That's incredible.

[Dan Powers]

That is unbelievable. Well man, like we just mentioned, all the teams. You're a Duck for a long time.

[Chris Pronger]

I was.

[Dan Powers]

Now here we are back in Southern California. Yeah. Do you love it here.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Do you miss it?

[Chris Pronger]

I miss the weather.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. It was my first year in Anaheim. 364 and a half days of sunshine. God, it drizzled one morning on my way to the rink, and I'm like, what?

[Malkin]

Yeah, that's awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Isn't it funny when it rains here, you walk outside and you're like, what the is that?

[Chris Pronger]

Hold on. Now. The byproduct of that is, if you recall, there was a massive fire that came up the five.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

And unfortunately, our team doctor lost his house and two guys right in that area in Tustin that took the brunt of it. So there are consequences to this. And then obviously, the Pacific Palisades and

[Dan Powers]

all the rest of it.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

We're gonna head back down to Hermosa later, and that's.

[Chris Pronger]

That's always a treat.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes. Yes. Beachbound.

[Malkin]

God, it's insane.

[Dan Powers]

We'll get you right back into Shellback. It'll be great.

[Malkin]

Perfect.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, yeah.

[Malkin]

And then. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That's all right.

[Malkin]

That's how you spend Easter. That's a. Easter and Shellback. I've always said that.

[Chris Pronger]

Wow.

[Dan Powers]

I was thinking, where am I gonna do my Easter brunch? It'd say Shellback for sure.

[Malkin]

I totally said that. That's incredible. That's unbelievable. Well, dude, after a couple years at Hartford, you go to the Blues, and the. My first question is, And I've heard you talk about this before, but I'm just so interested as a young guy in the league, you get on a team with Brett hall and Al McGinnis, and then you guys trade for Wayne Gretzky, and it's like, what the fuck? And you said a little bit about the pressure shift of that, too, but I just wanted to hear what it was like as such a young guy playing with people like that. And then Wayne O. Comes in.

[Chris Pronger]

What people don't realize is that even when I first got there, we had Guy Carboneau on our team.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

We had Dale Howard, Chuck on our team.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, we just start going through, and Mike shuttle them off in a hurry.

[Malkin]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

They weren't there very long. And. And so go through all of that, and obviously, you know, Holly and Al and Furzy, Jeff Cortnell, you know, we had some great veterans on that team. Yeah. And then we get Gratz, and it's. You know, I'm at this inflection point of being booed relentlessly, and then I'm slowly kind of getting myself out of it. I'm getting in Better shape and I'm playing a little bit better still. I think the fans were a little uneasy. And then we get Gretz and all attention just shifts to him, which was perfect timing as I was trying to get out of my doldrums and just being able to watch the Great One handle the notoriety, handle the media, had all the scrutiny, good and bad, and just, you know, the whole sideshow that is the great one at that point in his career was. Was awesome. And it gave me the, you know, as all the fan attention went to him, it gave me the. The quiet time and the. The piece to kind of really figure it out and. And that's really when my, you know, I stopped listening to all the commentary and all the boos and all this stuff. And that's when my game really started taking off.

[Malkin]

Yeah. That's amazing. What was he like in. In the locker room with you guys, you know, at that point? Yeah. What was he like in the locker room?

[Chris Pronger]

He was great.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, you know, obviously, you know, I'm 21 years old. I'm obviously going through all the stuff I'm going through. I'm kind of staying out of the way, letting them do their thing and. But he was awesome to, you know, practice games, obviously, and just to really be a sponge and just watch everything that he did. You know, if you're a sponge in a situation like that, you can take away so much just in how he handled himself. You know, we would get into. On the road, he'd put his bag in his room, they'd go for, you know, we'd go for dinner or they'd go for dinner. I mean, he was in his hotel room at 9. Really get out 9 o'. Clock. And he'd be up at, you know, he'd get 11 hours of sleep or whatever, you know, however long he was sleeping.

[Dan Powers]

And I love that.

[Chris Pronger]

So, like, just from a recovery standpoint, he didn't really get it.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

But you learn. Oh, okay. He's, you know, expectations and pressure on his performance and what he's going to do on a nightly basis was. Was critical.

[Malkin]

Yeah. That's cool to hear, actually, because I feel like the narrative now is like, guys get to tr. Recover now. Nobody was doing that shit back then, but it's like. No, they were aware.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. He was paying attention.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And it's amazing.

[Malkin]

You.

[Chris Pronger]

You always hear and sorry. And by the way, nothing good happens

[Malkin]

after 10 o', clock,

[Chris Pronger]

especially if you're him.

[Dan Powers]

That is how I look, by the way.

[Chris Pronger]

Read the book because there's plenty of that in there.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

It's true.

[Dan Powers]

And listen, sometimes we chase it, and that is confirmed every single time.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

But it's awesome. We always hear stories about him and, you know, other guys like that who have that larger than life vibe, but then they still maintain this unbelievable leadership quality that shows you how to play, how to act beyond professional and never really exude that sort of presence of being larger than life.

[Chris Pronger]

Great teammate, great person. Yeah. And just, you know, how they carry themselves. You just see, you know, they're just. When you're that person, you want to be one of the guys.

[Malkin]

Totally.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and, you know, the ribbing and all the things that, you guys know goes on a locker room, it just. He's a part of it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

You know, the best.

[Chris Pronger]

Nobody's off limits.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Malkin]

And that's.

[Chris Pronger]

And, you know, with that expectation early on, you know, obviously he had a great relationship with Holly and knew him well and knew Alan, some of these older guys. So in court, so, you know, they. They knew.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And then we picked, you know, we had Charlie Huddy, my D partner, Charlie Huddy, who was my coach in Edmonton, Jay Wells. Like, we had all these guys that had been around a long time, and so they knew him very well.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So it was, you know, it was a really good mix for him.

[Malkin]

And I think, too, as a future captain of three franchises, it's. I always feel like NHL captains are, in a way, shaped by the captains. They. I mean, it's a great, great learning curve. Absolutely.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know. Yeah. Who. Who better to learn from?

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah. That's incredible.

[Dan Powers]

It's called a great one for a list of one.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It's called a great one for a reason.

[Malkin]

God damn. Okay, so now I have to hear it from you. In the 98 conference semis, you take game two, you take a slap shot right. Right here, bang to the ticker. We actually had Alec Martinez on the other day, and he took, you know, he had the skate to the face injury, and it's like you see these catastrophic injuries sometimes, and I think it's hard for people to even process what is like going through that as the player. So I know you've talked about a little bit, but just tell our fans.

[Dan Powers]

Do you remember that? Yeah, like, vividly still.

[Chris Pronger]

Vividly. Really vividly.

[Malkin]

Jesus.

[Chris Pronger]

I remember how much it hurt. It just was like a sharp. I got hit right in the heart with the slap shot. You know, we're killing the penalty. I stepped out and you know, like, we do a thousand times into the lane, blocked a shot. You know, Dimitri Mironov's got a bomb, and he hits me. Boom. And it hit me directly in the heart. Right on, you know, right under your nipple.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And boom. And. And it stung.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And I was like. And we're in Detroit. So I'm like, cover the puck.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, like, it takes over. You're like, cover the pocket whistle. Then get up and get to the bed. Don't let these fans, anyone see anything.

[Dan Powers]

Be able to think.

[Chris Pronger]

Always hurt.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So in my head, I'm thinking that I blacked out on the ice, but I got up. You know, I blacked out, but I still got up.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And kind of stumble. Be tuned. Thank God I fell sideways.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Otherwise I would have been the Kevin Stevens.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Boom. And fell kind of. My hands were kind of here, and I fell. And I had a little. Little bit of issue with my ear, but other than that, everything was great. And then all of a sudden, I. All of a sudden, like, boom. I come to and I'm, like, staring up at the Joe Louis rafters, all

[Dan Powers]

the banners and everything.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm like, did we win? Wait a second. Like, I was in the corner last time. I remember, I was in the corner, covered the. Yeah. Why am I out here in the middle looking up and my stuff's cut open, and I kind of glance over to the side, see the bench, Holly's crying, and all these guys are like, you know, they don't know what to do, what's happening. And then, you know, I kind of came to, and my. And the trainer was right here, and he's like, okay, now you're back. All right, take it easy. You know, don't move. And, you know, I got the doc, team doctors, and the Detroit doctors, and everybody's out there, and I'm just trying to figure out what is going on. He's like, listen, you got hit. He passed out. And so he came to tell me. He's like, listen, your. Your lips were turning blue. You were like. You weren't breathing. Like, we were starting to panic.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It's about 25 seconds of no breathing while they were there. And then all of a sudden, it just. He was getting ready to do mouth to mouth, and like, boom.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Took a breath and kick started. And so what happened was it was commotio cordis. Yeah. My heart. I got hit in the heart. It was about to beat. Like, there's just a sequence of events. That electrical current, it was going to beat. It got Hit. And it happens a lot in little league baseball where you get a line drive back and it's a little kid.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

In a chest. Unfortunately, a lot of times those kids die because their heart, their bodies and their heart are not strong enough. They're not mature enough and developed enough. So you know, I, he tells me that and he was like, we were getting ready, we were starting to panic.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, of course this is not good. And so luckily I came back, you know, getting the bus. Go to the hospital and the bus, we need the ambulance. For those not really knowing what a bus is.

[Dan Powers]

This is the yellow school bus, folks.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes. This is not the yellow bus. And so get in, you know, get, get to the hospital. Now I'm hooked up to all this stuff and they're kind of tracking me now. They kind of tell me this is we. They're not sure what happened. Yeah, but they think, you know, this is kind of what happened. But, but you know, fly back home the next morning, go right to the heart specialist in, in St. Louis. She puts on a heart monitor to track me for 24 hours to see if there's any arrhythmia issues or anything like that. And I'm working out, I got my suit on, I got my, my dress shoes on. I'm running on the treadmill. Not a great runner to begin with.

[Malkin]

Yeah. You're like, this is, this isn't the,

[Chris Pronger]

this is not ideal for me. Can I ride the bike?

[Dan Powers]

I'm a bike guy, I'm not a runner.

[Chris Pronger]

So I'm doing all that stuff. And so as I do that, she's kind of walking me through what happened. This is commotio cordis. This is what happened. Your heart skipped a beat. That's how much oxygen it took to. You're done. And so as she walked me through all that, she's like, listen, we don't want to make any decisions yet. Wear this heart monitor, go home, eat, rest up, we'll see you in the morning. Because I kept asking him, well, can I play? Yeah, right, what's the deal? And we're going to game three. We're down two, nothing. I'm like, important game at home. And so I go home, sleep, get up, go back, you know, do another battery of tests, get on the friggin treadmill again, this time in my running shoes. Do it again. And you know, she looks at my, the, not the ekg, the heart monitor I was wearing with tracking my heart and all that stuff, looking for any blips, looking for any issues. And Then she starts walking me through. Like, there are no short term side effects, no long term side effects. It's a freak occurrence. Like winning the lottery.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Could it happen again? Maybe. But again, same sequence of events, and it's not like it's just gonna happen because it happened once.

[Dan Powers]

Like being struck by lightning.

[Chris Pronger]

Exactly. It may happen, it may not happen. It just, you know, it's kind of random. And so she's. She's walking me through all this stuff, and I'm like, so I'm good. And she's like, well, if you want to, you can. You know, it just depends on how you are mentally and how you're gonna play. So I, you know, go home, do pregame, meal, nap, whatever, go down to the rink. I tell Joel I walk in, I'm like, I'm gonna take warm up, see how I feel, and then kind of go from there. And, you know, the moment I get my gear, I'm like, I'm not taking the stuff off.

[Malkin]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I get out, warm up, you know, kind of rip around, feel good. You know, there's fans coming in and like, oh, they see me out there. Like, holy.

[Malkin]

Was. And none of that was public yet, right?

[Chris Pronger]

Like, no, it wasn't public that I was gonna. It was.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, when again back. You play games with the other team. Like, is he playing?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, right, sure.

[Chris Pronger]

And so it'll come back in. And I see Joel, I'm like, give him the thumbs up. I'm good to go. And then coming out of that tunnel before I get hair standing on the back of my neck every time I tell the story.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Coming out of that tunnel, I was always, I think at that point, like, the second or third last guy to come out, and just the crowd, it's dark, it's a playoff. So it's just.

[Dan Powers]

Hell, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Energy in the building, and just everybody erupts as I come out of the tunnel that I'm playing, whatever. And then it's a matter of, okay, either get hit or hit somebody. And, like, just get into the game and.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, that first hit and you're good. And then you're like, now all of a sudden, you just kind of settle in and play the game, but rip the band aid off and just get back in. Who knows if it's. I didn't want it to be a thing.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You know, I was about to say it's. I mean, it's almost like you get in a car accident and it's like, get back on the road. Otherwise, like, the longer you go, it can feel weird. Was there any physical pain after, like.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes. Like, it's so nuts.

[Dan Powers]

Like, your heart literally stopped.

[Chris Pronger]

It stung. That was the only pain. Yeah. You know, and I guess I was a little short of breath.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, it stung and I was like. Just from that part. Yeah. And then that's it. I didn't. Other than them ripping off all the monitors, that stuff hurt.

[Dan Powers]

But then chest hair getting ripped off. That sucks.

[Chris Pronger]

Exactly. But it was so crazy. And it's so funny. Well, not funny, but 20, almost 25 years later, almost to the. To a tee, the Demar Hanlon incident happened.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So then all these media people coming out, like, you know, and you gotta remember, this was on when Fox had hockey, so. This was on Fox? Yeah, it was a Sunday afternoon game.

[Dan Powers]

Holy.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, the whole glowing puck and all this was on Fox. It was on live tv. Yeah, this happened. And so, you know, now you're going to Monday Night Football. And I just have. I actually was watching the game.

[Dan Powers]

Really?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

When that happened, and I'm like, holy. You know, we don't know what happened.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, sure.

[Chris Pronger]

You. I mean, he was out for a long time. Yeah. I was probably 25, 30 seconds. He was out for like eight minutes.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

That was a long time.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

But to think from that. So from my incident, they didn't have defibrillators on in the arena. They didn't. You know, they had the doctors up in the nosebleeds. They had, you know, all the. All the things that happen three years later. You know, they started. They instituted change right away. Okay. We got to have defibrillators. We got to have the doctors closer. We got to have all these things. Three years later, Yuri Fisher has a heart attack on the bench. And the doctor is right behind the bench. Boom, swings in and guarantee that saved his life.

[Malkin]

Agreed.

[Dan Powers]

And then the Peverley incident happened, too.

[Chris Pronger]

Jay Bowmeester, like, all these incidents. So you go to the Demar Hamlin incident, you don't realize what these guys

[Dan Powers]

are doing away from the ring.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, the training that they're doing and all. Like, that guy sprung into action immediately the moment he went down. They're hauling ass out there right to him. Immediately go into their checklist of things and checking for things and go right into it. I mean, impressive.

[Malkin]

Yes. Yeah, it really is. Right?

[Dan Powers]

God, I mean, crazy. You paved the way. You took one for the team.

[Malkin]

Took one for the team. Quite literally.

[Chris Pronger]

But what I would say is that after that, if you look at shoulder pads. They all have. What's a hard power protector there. Because of that incident. Yeah, because it just hit. It didn't dissipate any of the. The blow. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Good girl.

[Malkin]

That's crazy. Oh, my God. Okay, so flash, by the way, I

[Chris Pronger]

don't get any royalties for that either.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, so true.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, what's going on here?

[Malkin]

That is hilarious. So then flash forward a couple years. We were just talking about it. You have your team, and you have an incredible season. Oh, my God. President's Trophy, Norris Hart. So I have two questions. One, was there anything about that season that you remember that you were like, oh, my God, I am dialed right now. And then two, could you process in the moment, or did it feel cool in the moment that you were like, God, I was getting booed in Hartford, and now I'm about to fucking win the mvp. Like, was that an awesome personal achievement for you?

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. So the year before Al won the. Norris. That year hurt my ankle, and I missed 25, 30 games. I missed a lot of time. So by. But it was in the middle of the year. So, you know, always. It used to. You know, it was always like, at the end of the year, you're all banged up and you're hurt, and, you know, you got a rehab for a month or two before you can get into your training.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Chris Pronger]

Well, I was. You know, we lost the first round, and, you know, I. I was healthy. Yeah. So I immediately got into my training. I had, like, four, over four months of training. So I came into camp primed.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I was ready. And. And with the injury of that previous year, I was, like, pissed off. Like, hey, I need. Let's. Let's get things going. And I thought we had a good team.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, Al, coming off that, you know, he was there, and that year, he got hurt.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Right.

[Chris Pronger]

So, you know, typically, when you have two guys like me and Scotty and Anaheim, or me and Al, like, you're gonna split the vote, you know, so for sure, you know, when one guy's hurt, you're not voting for that guy. Yeah. So that, I think, helped me because he was hurt. So that takes those votes out, away from him, just like it did the year before when I was hurt. And then, you know, just. I played with that. If you look at that team, I played with that checking line of Pellerin Conroy, who was up for the Selkie and Atronum, and, you know, just. We had a great fit. We were dominating against the opposition's top lines or Just everything was rolling with that team. And, you know, offensively, I had a great year. I think I was plus 52 or whatever. I was not bad.

[Malkin]

Not bad.

[Chris Pronger]

Decent.

[Malkin]

Decent.

[Chris Pronger]

Well, you know, from a data perspective, nobody cares about plus minus.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I had a bonus, so I did care.

[Malkin]

Thank you very much.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, thank you very much.

[Dan Powers]

Don't give a.

[Malkin]

That's fine.

[Dan Powers]

A lot.

[Chris Pronger]

So that. That year, you know, so I win the Norris, I win the Hart first team All Star. Win the plus minus. I had a very large bonus.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Malkin]

That's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

It's beautiful stuff.

[Malkin]

Yes.

[Chris Pronger]

So it was good. So that year, just when things just. Not that it was easy, but it just. Everything just fell in place. Yeah. And then, you know, we. The bed in the playoffs, we lose Sharks.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

So I'm at. I'm at the awards banquet and I'm pissed off still. I'm like, I can't believe. And I'm. I think Jersey won that year and just watching, like, pissed off. And so I win the Norris, I go up, do my speech, and I come to the back and Dave Keon Jr. Yeah. The real Dave Keon, son.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Works for the league and, you know, known him a long time. And he's. We're in the back and I'm talking to him, and normally you're kind of lingering around doing media and whatever. He's like, hey, you better get back in your seat.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And I'm like, what? He's like, you might want to get back in your seat because they're getting ready to do that award. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm like. He's like, I go. Go back around, find my seat. And. And then, you know, Mess gets up and. And calls my name. Hard trophy. Boom. Here we go. And. And so I was. That award. So again, talk about injuries.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Jager missed. I think he missed 16 games that. That year because of injury. Oh, there you go. The Pittsburgh writer voted for me for one.

[Dan Powers]

Nice.

[Chris Pronger]

Him for two. Me for one. I won by one vote.

[Malkin]

Wow.

[Chris Pronger]

And that because of the Pittsburgh. Right?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Do you know he missed?

[Malkin]

I can't remember.

[Dan Powers]

God, we should find.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Seriously.

[Dan Powers]

And you got the bonus.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, actually. Yeah. I didn't want it to become a thing, so I didn't send him anything. So if you're out there. Yeah.

[Malkin]

Get you something.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That's amazing.

[Chris Pronger]

I got a lot of street cred because of you now. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That's amazing.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. So it was. That. That was awesome. But I was so pissed off that we lost right in the first round. That I didn't. I didn't enjoy it enough, I don't think.

[Malkin]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, I get that.

[Chris Pronger]

Just, you know, you're immersed in. You're like, he can't believe he lost. He had such a great opportunity. We had such a good team. And to lose in the first round, you're just pissed. And I was in the middle of negotiating a new contract, so there was all that in the background, and it was so. Yeah, whatever.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Fox still so sick. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

We talked about the. Obviously the 27 years from Bobby to you, and now we're almost at 27 again. But we saw you talking about Darlene the other day, and, you know, we have so many of these unbelievable defensemen in the game right now, which fires me up. Schaefer's obviously super fun to watch right now, but it's like, other than those two guys, like, who are some of the defensemen in the league that you. You know, everyone talks about Quinn and Kale and stuff like that. I feel like there's a lot of them.

[Chris Pronger]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

There's a lot that are so exciting to watch.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, just the. The Tal and those teams. Like, it's almost an embarrass of riches right now with the level of skill and talent on the back end.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely.

[Chris Pronger]

With some of these players, you know, Lane Hudson, Zach Warrenski, just. I was at. I was in Philly a couple weeks ago, and Columbus was playing the Flyers. Just watching how he's smooth. He is. His edge work and he baits guys in and beep and then he's gone. And he's got a very good grasp of the game and kind of what he wants to do, you know, and just how he manages the play when he's got the puck and just very deliberate. And you know him. You look at, obviously quinn, Hughes and McCarr, you look at. You know, I think Bouchard got off to a terrible start this year and probably ultimately will. Will hurt him in the voting.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, not. It's always whoever finishes the strongest typically wins. You know, that's happened quite a few times. Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, people can over. But it's. I think it's how egregious those turnovers are. I know that that's all people can remember.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Especially with him. He's got this stigma around him.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

That. It is kind of unfair, I think, because you wouldn't get the offensive side without that.

[Malkin]

Yes. You have to take some risk.

[Chris Pronger]

You have to take some risk. It's more to me, it's More the early, early part of the year, he got a little bit better, but it looks like he's resting when he's playing defense. Yeah. Like, he's not in. He's not engaged and he's not overly physical, but a lot of those guys aren't.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. So true.

[Chris Pronger]

And. And I think maybe to a fault, he. He makes it look easy, like he's not trying.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So, you know, that can be a play into it a little bit. That is why, you know, and you got some. Some other young guy. You know, you talk about Schaefer and, you know, it's, you know, Darlene Edge work, you know, and people. People look at so Bouchard, darling. Like, I've heard people talk about Darlene. Oh, he makes a lot of mistakes.

[Dan Powers]

Like.

[Chris Pronger]

Well, yeah, he's got the puck all time.

[Malkin]

All the time.

[Chris Pronger]

If you have a puck all the time, you're going to turn it over because you're trying to make plays. And. And if you're behind, you're forcing it and. But when you're up, you're not forcing it. You're managing it. And he's got. When you see him walk the line, awesome. And just how he controls it and the deception. And these guys have no. Well, I shouldn't say care. They have no the ability to. To feel that pressure. They don't. They don't really have that. Like, they're. They'll do spinoramas and they'll do the deceptive moves when they're the last.

[Dan Powers]

Last man back.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Chris Pronger]

And we watch. They never turn the puck over.

[Malkin]

I know.

[Chris Pronger]

Like Hughes and Bakar and Darlene and these guys, like, they are on another level when they're. Man. Patrolling the blue line and on the offensive zone. It's. And. And I think, you know, like, even Makar and. And especially Bouchard. Oh, well, he plays with McDavid or he plays with McKinnon or he plays with. And look at their shot chair and look at all this stuff. I'm like, I don't know. When I'm watching them live, they're controlling a lot of the play.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, my God.

[Chris Pronger]

I mean, the puck is coming through them.

[Dan Powers]

Yes. So.

[Chris Pronger]

And if you saw McKinnon, like, it's when you're getting it and, you know, people look at it. Well, could McDavid. I mean, look at. Look at the Olympics. They had Makar with McDavid.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And McKinnon struggled, I thought.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

We didn't have McCarthy, but he didn't have Bouchard. He didn't have. They didn't have that next puck mover.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So, you know, I think there's. There's something to it a little bit. You know, regardless of, you know, what people say, you need to have that. The top players, when you look at the top teams, the top players need to play together to get. To optimize the offense.

[Dan Powers]

Yes, absolutely.

[Chris Pronger]

And there's moments when you need to separate them, and there's moments when. But I was in Denver last Monday against the Flames, and Jared Bedner was saying, like, they split up Taves and Makar, but they're keeping McCarr with McKinnon. They're not putting taves with McKinnon. They want McCarr with him for a reason. Because it's driving the offense.

[Dan Powers]

Yes. And also, players like that elevate each other. It makes sense. When you have them together, you have to have them together. So true. It's such an exciting time. It's incredible. Earlier, you mentioned your time in Edmonton after that lockout year. You get traded to Edmonton. You guys have an insane cup run. Such a good team. I think you led the team in points, 21 points that season in the playoffs, which is amazing. And then you lose in Game 7 after a battle, and you then request a trade. We don't need to get into the bullshit of all, like, you know, what was happening, what's true, what's not. What I'm curious about, and what I care about is you played for a lot of unbelievable franchises with great fan bases. But how different was it with the pressure of a fan base like Edmonton and those Canadian fans, the Canadian media and all that?

[Malkin]

Jesus.

[Chris Pronger]

I gotta be honest. I didn't feel the pressure. N. It wasn't. You know, we. What people don't realize is we didn't make the playoffs until, like, game 79.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, it was touch and go. Touch and go.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. That was a crazy year.

[Chris Pronger]

I. I think it. It was either late in the third or. Or in overtime. I think it was late in the third. Hemsky scored. We're playing Anaheim funny enough. Yeah. And we. He scores late.

[Dan Powers]

Boom.

[Chris Pronger]

We win the game. And that kind of got us into the conversation, and we got the eight seed. But I enjoyed playing in Edmonton. I enjoyed, you know, the notoriety of, you know, the media and the team and the Oilers, you know, and at that point, they hadn't had a lot of success.

[Dan Powers]

True.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, they. Todd Marchand scores that goal in overtime. That's one of the only times they had won a playoff round.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And I think, you know, when I got traded there and talking to some of the key guys in the team, it's just they were happy to have somebody that had my kind of notoriety and my position within the game and where my career was at. So that. And. And the nice thing was I had played with Mac T, who was our head coach. I'd played against Kevin, who was our gm.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I played against Craig Simpson, who was our assistant coach. I played with Charlie Huddy, who's my D partner. Yeah. Who was our D coach. Like, so there was a lot of familiarity, a lot of connection with that team. And so it was, you know, pretty seamless when I came in, you know, we picked up Michael Pekka. We picked up, you know, and then at the deadline or close to it, we get spot check, we get Samson off Samson, we get Rollie, we get. So, you know, we added a bunch of key guys to our playoff run later in the year, and that, I think, really kind of put us over the top later. And. And it took a little bit of time to get Rollie into the mix. You know, the first couple weeks, feeling outstage of how he likes. You know, how he likes to see the puck, where. Where he likes to lean, all these. The little nuance he was that people don't really kind of know much about.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Where he likes to leave rebounds or. Or how he. Where he wants you to move guys and all the rest of that stuff and, you know, picking up the puck from him. You know, he was a really good puck handler.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and he. And he had to reverse his hands.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like Cujo. So he could flip it. If you remember in the playoffs that year, he had Pekka up the middle a couple times for breakaways. So sick with how he did that with his backhand. So. But I enjoyed it. I had to. I. I still talked a lot of the Edmonton media. Yeah. Even. You know, even after all of the mayhem.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. No, it was. I. I enjoyed my time. It was obviously a great run. Great for the city. And that building was so loud.

[Malkin]

Oh, dude.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, my God, it was so loud. Like, when you people send me the clips of us coming out for the Stanley Cup Final, I think game five, it was no game. Game six.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It was so loud. I mean, it was bananas. And I had all my buddies come in town and.

[Malkin]

So sick.

[Dan Powers]

And.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, they were like, oh, my God, this is insane.

[Dan Powers]

It still is. It's like, that's like the number one thing we say.

[Chris Pronger]

And those old buildings, too, they're so intimate.

[Dan Powers]

So loud. Like, the walls are literally shaking.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, yeah. It was bananas. Yeah, it was bananas.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, God. It's unbelievable.

[Malkin]

It's insane. Dude, in game one of that series, you become the first player ever to score a penalty shot in the Stanley Cup Final. Canes cover it in the crease. How did. What happened? When they were like, you're taking it. How did. How did that go down?

[Chris Pronger]

So we used to always practice.

[Dan Powers]

I can't.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, shootouts or penalty shots after practice, around, and we. We'd practice them, and then we made a game out of it, you know, keep you score. You keep going.

[Chris Powers]

Keep going, right?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So I always scored.

[Malkin]

Yeah. And that's simple, dude. I scored.

[Chris Pronger]

It's pretty simple. But, you know, plus I was out there with the fourth line. Plus it was just like. Well, I mean, you're the guy that's always scored. You take.

[Malkin]

You do it. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and. And I tell people, too, like. But, you know, we had eight days off before that.

[Dan Powers]

Wow.

[Chris Pronger]

The start. So, you know, we're working out a lot. We're like, I'm in the gym working out, and I tweak my back doing some stupid move. I'm like, God damn it.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And so my back's a little. Not great. So I was on a muscle relaxer. So if you watch. If you watch the whole.

[Dan Powers]

Loose as shit.

[Chris Pronger]

I was loosey goosey. If you watch. I'm down at near. Near the circle.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Of the Carolina.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Kind of farting around, just kind of biding my time, waiting for him to blow the whistle. And then I kind of cruise up and then go. And. And just. I. I was very relaxed. I. You know, people like. Oh, were you nervous? Absolutely not. I knew what I was gonna do.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Same move every time.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

If he doesn't bite.

[Dan Powers]

Boom. Pull.

[Chris Pronger]

Go. You know, forehand, backhand, five hole.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, it's kind of like UC Yokin. And how he used to do that.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Go on that certain angle. And if he didn't bite, he'd shoot.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

If he'd pull it and he'd do the one hand back. Yeah. And just the angle that I would take, I either had that low blocker, which I hit. Yep. Or I pull. The goalie's got to move open, hit the garage door button.

[Malkin]

Slide her home.

[Chris Pronger]

Slide her home.

[Malkin]

That is so awesome, dude.

[Dan Powers]

It's incredible. Yeah.

[Malkin]

You know what I saw, which I didn't realize, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I just read this. You Were supposed to be a free agent. Like, did your free agency get that year?

[Dan Powers]

Because the lockout.

[Chris Pronger]

Three guys we had. We had three guys that got. Because of the lockout, I'm like, well, I was expecting to be a free agent.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Martin St. Louis, me and Sergey Gonar.

[Malkin]

Yeah. What a. Three guys, dude.

[Chris Pronger]

Three guys that were going in and it was like, okay. You know, if you look at it, free agency was 32.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Chris Pronger]

Okay. Going into the lockout.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Well, then they come on out of the lockout. They're like, okay, it's going to be. I think. I think it was 31, but it might have been 30, 29, 28. Then it's going to sit at 27. And I'm like, but coming out of the lockout. Yeah, we're not going to lower it. Yeah. We're going to come out at the normal time. I'm like, why are we doing this? Why are you caving into that? There's three of us.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It's not like there's 50 guys. Yeah. There's three players. Well, I think we know why.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

For sure.

[Malkin]

God, dude, that's nuts.

[Chris Pronger]

So. But I always. I tell people this all the time. I go. I don't live in the what if world.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Because if I don't go to Edmonton.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I don't get that experience. I don't maybe change the narrative about me as a leader, as a player. I don't go to Anaheim. I don't win a Cup. Yep. And then I don't go to Philly.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, maybe I go directly to Philly or maybe I go somewhere else. But, like, everything happens. Yeah.

[Malkin]

It changes it. Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

Every. Exactly everything. If you change that one path, everything else has changed.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Pronger]

So I. I mean, I still get people, you know, as much as you get the odd guy who's pissed off. I still have people, they're like, oh, my God, I loved watching you, and I thank you for coming. Yeah, Mike, I enjoyed it.

[Dan Powers]

And, like, if you read.

[Chris Pronger]

If you read the book, I tell the story. Why? What happened?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Okay, here we go.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, it's all in there.

[Dan Powers]

Well, perfect.

[Chris Pronger]

I figured. People always ask. I'm like, it's in the book.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It's not that big a deal.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Well, perfect transition to the Ducks, because you get there, you got Timu, who wrote the forward. You got Nedemeyer Young, Getzloff Young, Corey Perry. You guys have a fucking dominant playoff. You know, like, he's just rolled on everybody Wild in five Canucks in five, wings in six, sens in five. What was that year like? And then take me all the way through, doing the job and getting your name on Lord Stanley.

[Chris Pronger]

So when I was in Edmonton, we obviously played Anaheim in the conference final. And, you know, I knew the type of team they were, how, you know, these young up and coming players and, you know, some veterans and then some really good young players. And so I get traded there, and it was like, you know, Scotty was the only guy that had won a cup.

[Malkin]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, a couple of them had been to cup finals before, but it was like, okay, this is our team. We're. We're winning, like. And everybody just bought in right out of the gate. We're winning.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And we're doing everything that we can to win this year. And so, you know, immediately get there and Tamu and I hug it out in the first day.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Come here. Come here, T. Let's hug it off.

[Dan Powers]

Let's rip this off now.

[Chris Pronger]

Let's rip the band aid off again. We're gonna rip another bandaid.

[Malkin]

A lot of band aids. A lot of bandaids.

[Chris Pronger]

There was a lot of animosity between me and team over the years. Yes. He ran me from behind in the Olympics and shot me for about 10. And I got my pound of flesh over the years.

[Malkin]

Yeah, I bet. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Got him in the playoffs a bunch. And then, you know, just kind of, okay, we're teammates now, and let's. Let's take this thing to the promised land. And we got off to an incredible start. I think we were. I can't remember our record, but it was. We lost, like, five games in 35.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And then, you know, I got hurt. Scotty got hurt. Kind of hit a rut. And probably couldn't have happened at a better time.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

To have some adversity to figure out.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And have a really firm understanding of how we needed to play. This is how we're successful, and we need to stick to this. Obviously, two. Two goalies in Jiggy and Briz, you know, and Jiggy, you know, the beginning of the playoffs, Jiggy goes through, you know, his son's issues, so he can't play.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And Briz played lights out against Minnesota, but there was always this linger. Jiggy lingering in the background of, when are we. When are they going to put Jiggy?

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Game four in Minnesota. You know, we're getting shelled, so. All right, here we go.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

There you go.

[Chris Pronger]

Let's throw Jiggy in, see if he can, you know, at Least just get some game time, get back into it. And then he played game five and then rolled from there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

God.

[Chris Pronger]

And you know, we always had guys step up.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely.

[Chris Pronger]

It's, it's always interesting to see those depth guys come in. Like Joe Matsuko played zero games during the regular season. He came in and played in Stanley cup finals. Mark Hartigan, same thing.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, that's right.

[Chris Pronger]

Mark Hartigan, we got him, we got him at the deadline as a depth guy. You know, I think a. For that. But, but the minors and then came up, you know, Ryan Shannon, like we had, we had a lot of guys that came in and played games and, and then our lone move, we pick up Brad May at the deadline, which. Who was a great fit on our fourth line and obviously his experience and, and, and his style fit our style, you know, but there was another, you know, obviously there was a bunch of other guys that were on the market. Then they were talking about trading for and I think at the end of the day just didn't want to screw with our chemistry. And you know, obviously Berkey had Mayday in, in Vancouver. And so, you know, I think they, they chose chemistry. They chose betting on who we had and not, you know, because once you add a bigger name. Whose ice time are you taking? Yeah, yeah, we kind of had our, our lines were set. Kunis McDonald, Solane Penner gets that. Perry, Moen Paulson, Nedermeyer.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And then on that fourth line we had Mayday, Marchant Thornton. We had George, we had Shani, we had Brian Shannon.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

George Perros. We had Hartigan in Moscow. You know, so we had all these guys. And then on the back end we had, you know, our top four. We had Bo and Needs, Odie and myself. And then we had Ken Huskins, Joe Depenta, Rick Jackman.

[Malkin]

Yeah, fuck.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and, and so it just. Everything kind of fit and everybody had their role and everybody, you know, we had, we had buy in right from. Everybody bought in. Everybody knew and just. And we could play anyway. And that's the fun part about that team. We could. You want to play Rock Em Sock?

[Malkin]

Let's do it. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You want to play two, one tight? We can do it. You want to play run and gun? Let's do it. That's so and so when you have a team like that, it's fun to play six years.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, talking about chemistry, how cool was it for you? When you look at your career and all the stops that you've had to have a player like Al that you played with in St. Louis and then you get to Anaheim and a player like Scotty, it's like, what a cool moment for you in your career of like, these two different stops. Playing with two Alzheimers.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That must have been so fun.

[Chris Pronger]

It was. You know, to mentor under Al and kind of learn and kind of utilize him to get my game to the next level and to play with Scotty and see the nice. The thing that I look back on my career is just the players that I was able to play with and learn from and be a sponge and kind of take little things and add it to my game and, you know, leadership. No different young captain in St. Louis, very intense, very, you know, you know, a lot of pressure. 23. I've already gone through all the other.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Getting booed and all that stuff. And so, like. Like, I had that chip on my shoulder like, okay, we're gonna win and I'm gonna force you to win and, And. And kind of bring you along. And. And as I moved on, I get to Edmonton and, you know, they already had their leadership group. I didn't wear a letter.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. It was Jason Smith and Steve Staihos and Ethan Morrow and Ryan Smith, and those were. That was our leadership group when I was there to help support and supplement that. And, you know, playing with a captain like Jason Smith, blood and guts warrior, willing to do anything. Very quiet. Yeah. Very reserved in that regard. Not, you know, a rah rah guy in the locker room. But follow me. This is, you know, we're going to get you the promised land. And then to Scotty, again, very cerebral, very deep thinker. Doesn't say a lot, but when he does, pay attention. Experience at 1. At all levels, as we all know, like, you pay attention to those guys, you know, and then get to Philly and, you know, brought in to kind of be a mentor.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Pronger]

And. And kind of provide that insight to Richie and Karts and. And the young guys we had there. Matt, Carl. So it was, you know, with each step, learning not only my role, but. But learning from all of those people and even the young guys taking stuff that, you know, as the game evolves and changes and adapts, you have to adapt and you have to grow and. And implement new things into your arsenal. And, you know, I was certainly able to do that with each stop up.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yeah, that's.

[Dan Powers]

It's so great talking about a lot of these guys that you've won with. Let's go to the Olympics because obviously this year was unbelievable. Having pros back. You know, NHL guys back. But, you know, you went in 2002, 2010, beat USA both times. Which.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Sorry, boys.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But Salt Lake and Vancouver, two amazing cities for the Olympics. You have that iconic assist where Mario the dummy. Unbelievable. Korea scores the goal. So what are. I mean, we can go on and on about Olympics, but for you, what were some of your fondest memories of those games? Like, are there any funny stories that have always stuck with you because it was so cool this year? You know, being there for us, getting to experience it with the guys and just hearing that unbelievable amounts of camaraderie that happen when you're there in the village fighting for the gold medal.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

They must be some of the best memories of your career.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, it's, you know, like, in 98, you know, I'm 23 years old, you know, Gretzky.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm sitting in between Ray Bourque and Scott Stevens. You know, Al's over here, and, you know, you're playing with all these. Iserman, Sakic, all these guys are there. And, you know, that's kind of my first taste of being in that.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

Type of room and being able to see how they prepare, like, all those little things that you can. You hope to be able to bring into your game and just how conditioned they were and how. How they. How each one prepared differently, but in their own unique way and what worked for them and, you know, heartbreaking loss. And I think that, again, that kind of eats away at you and sits with you that year. So coming into O2 in Salt Lake, you know, we're like, all right. We were so heavily favored in 98.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I mean, it was like they all wanted to hand it to us. I'm like, it's not that easy.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And. And so in 02, you know, everything with Gretz and Kevin Lowe picking the team, and then, you know, everything goes on with Cucho in game one, we get smoked by Sweden. Pat Quinn's his coach in Toronto, yanks him, in goes Marty, and. And now they're, you know, now there's that strife, and Gratz sits on the media bandwagon and just kind of sits on the grenade for us. And, like, that's my fault. And, you know, he kind of eats it all to give us some time to find chemistry. And. And, you know, we had you look at that team, like, Eric Lindrose playing on the fourth line.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Like what?

[Chris Pronger]

You know, like, with Owen Nolan.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You're just looking at that roster, and you're like, Holy shit. Like, where guys were. Where guys were situated and there. What their roles were. And so it was, you know, not like in Salt Lake. So you're in. You're in elevation.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

You're talking about Scotty.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You're talking about Scotty. I remember being on the bench one game, and I'm. I'm supposed to go out for him. He rolled through three partners. Get out of there. And he wasn't even tired.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, he wasn't even panicked. He was probably out there two minutes.

[Malkin]

Dude. That is insane.

[Chris Pronger]

He. So one guy come off, next guy come off, and I'm, like, looking at, like, Scotty. Guess I'm gonna miss my role here.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Goes through it as the other guy's changing. He looks and he's like, oh, shit. He felt bad. He's like, oh, he wasn't even tired. Yeah, he didn't even have to come off.

[Dan Powers]

He's just buzzing.

[Chris Pronger]

He was just kind of floating around as only he can just kind of. Of zipping in and out, rolling. And I'm like, I mean, don't come off.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

You're like, I'm tired. Good. Dude, whatever.

[Chris Pronger]

You're not telling me. You don't have to come. He just felt bad. He's like, yeah, sorry about that.

[Dan Powers]

I'm like, oh, my God.

[Chris Pronger]

Hey, you look like you're having fun.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a skate they have at it.

[Chris Pronger]

But, you know, that was a great year. And then to be able to finish against the US in that fashion for that gold medal was. Was awesome. And you talk about that pass. That had nothing to do with me. That was all Mario figured. I don't even know if I saw Paul there.

[Malkin]

I was just so funny.

[Chris Pronger]

All I saw was 66. I'm like, get him the puck.

[Malkin]

Get him the puck.

[Chris Pronger]

Get him the puck fast.

[Dan Powers]

God, is it crazy having that. When we talked about Lindros playing on the fourth line, is it crazy having that many leaders in the same room? It's like you mentioned Stevie, Y. You got Sakic.

[Chris Pronger]

You got you.

[Dan Powers]

You've got Mario. It's endless. How does it work in the locker room with that many leaders?

[Chris Pronger]

Well, Mario was our captain. He was the big dog.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And, you know, but. But Stevie, you know, I. I would say the leadership was. Was really Mario, Stevie and Joe. Yeah, that was kind of. And Marty in the back end.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, they had one. You know, they were kind of had one and Al, too. And, you know, you're not that you're deferring, but, you know, that's the. The core group.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, for sure.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and obviously what Stevie was going through with his knee and trying to play and all the rest of that, you know, you have so much respect for somebody that wants it that bad.

[Dan Powers]

Definitely.

[Chris Pronger]

And you're. You're in the locker room going, okay, this guy's showing up three hours early to prepare his knee and get. Just to be able to play or skate.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And then to be able to play at the level he played at with that going on was pretty impressive. So, you know, that alone, and then just how we came together with each game, much like 2010, with each game, we got better and better and better. Yeah. Guys are really buying into their roles and really starting to, you know, when you're not used to being a checker

[Malkin]

dude, I say this all the time. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It takes a little bit of time to figure out for sure, you know, what. What your role is with respect to momentum and putting pressure on the other team and how it needs to occur. You can't have four skill lines.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, there has to be guys willing to eat pox and block shots, kill penalties.

[Dan Powers]

I mean, did we not just see that this year with USA? Like, you know, so many guys were given J.T. miller, Vincent, Trotrak Gree for being on that team, and that was a huge reason that they were able to win is because of what they did. You know, like, it's blocking shots, killing penalties, winning D zone draws. Like, that is such a huge factor when you think about these stacked teams. It's crazy.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. I mean, there has to. You have to take guys that are going to be able to do that. Yeah. At a high level, you know, it's not like, oh, I'm willing to do it.

[Malkin]

It's.

[Chris Pronger]

Can you do it?

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Are you willing to do it?

[Dan Powers]

You know, like, I don't give a

[Chris Pronger]

shit if you're willing to do it.

[Dan Powers]

Can you pull it off? It's a great point.

[Chris Pronger]

Are you able to physically do that? Yeah.

[Malkin]

And then 2010, was that like, going into, you know, were you guys nervous in ot?

[Chris Pronger]

It was none. No, not really. We came in the room, you know, they score that Prezi scores that go late to tie it up. We go in, it was very calm, very quiet. Like, it's in here. Yeah. Somebody's a hero.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

And, you know, we felt like we deserved a win. So we're like, you know, like, you just have to go out and execute, you know, and, you know, let just leave it all out there.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, don't you know, it was. Everybody was very poised, very calm, very. You know, Scotty said something. I said something, and just was like, very. Don't worry about it. Like, just. Yeah. Let's go play. It's in this room.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Pretty unreal that your two golds were two such distinctly different eras of Canada hockey. Right?

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. We were rolling over, like, you look at that team. Gatsby, Perry Richards, you know, Sid.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and the. The old guard to the now. The. The new guard. And. And, you know, that's. That's the fun part about the eras that I got to play. And it's definitely those, like, highly regarded. Oh, my God. You got to play with that guy.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And. And then rolling over in his youngest. Holy. You play with that guy, too?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. It's like, it's so cool that you won a gold medal with Mario, with. With Steve, with.

[Malkin]

With Joe. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And then you also with Sid. Dewey. Like, that's unbelievable. Like, it's such a cool combination of eras that you got to play in. That's awesome.

[Chris Pronger]

And to think the NHL scripted it perfectly so that Sid scored the goal.

[Dan Powers]

Finally. Someone said it so good.

[Malkin]

Sometimes just. I think about that all the time. Like, of course, Sid.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah. Well, that goal went. And I was like, are you kidding me? Of course he had to do it to us.

[Malkin]

That I felt like I was going to happen this year. Like, when Sid wasn't playing, I was like, this is the Connor moment, you know, Right. Where they're like, oh, now Connor scores an overtime. And I'm like, yep, that's fucking perfect.

[Chris Pronger]

You did it at the Four Nations. Yeah, he's gonna do it here.

[Malkin]

Exactly.

[Chris Pronger]

NHL can build on it. He can now have that moment.

[Dan Powers]

And.

[Malkin]

Yeah, that was.

[Dan Powers]

Who were you rooming with during those Olympics?

[Chris Pronger]

I room. My roommate was dowdy, so we had a room.

[Malkin]

No way.

[Chris Pronger]

That's awesome. We had a room. We had way. Thornton and Taves were roommates. Me and Doughty were roommates. And then I can't remember who the other one was. So we had three rooms in a common area.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm trying to remember who the other one was because it was. Because Joe and. And Taves were right next to us.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, but he's a character, right?

[Malkin]

Beauty.

[Chris Pronger]

Not a care in the world.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

We're just here playing whatever.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He is the best.

[Chris Pronger]

Let her rip.

[Malkin]

Yeah. It doesn't know it's the Olympics. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, exactly.

[Malkin]

That is so good.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Okay, well, now we're gonna get to this dude.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, yeah.

[Malkin]

The book Earned.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, you mean this thing sitting here?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, here it is.

[Malkin]

I think.

[Dan Powers]

I think we have it here. Right? Yeah, there it is.

[Chris Pronger]

There it is.

[Malkin]

April 14th. You can pre order right now on Amazon and it's.

[Chris Pronger]

Or go to my website, Chrispronger.com books or whatever.

[Malkin]

But you find it either way. Yep. Boom, right there, April 14th. One thing we said before we were recording and you said online was. And I wrote down the quote, writing this book meant taking off the armor and telling the truth.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

That is an awesome mantra going in because you were saying, if I'm gonna do it.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. Let's bear it all, you know, peel back the onion layer and let people see definitely what happened or how I was feeling. It's not a tell all or what, you know, it's not an autobiography biography. It's a part memoir, part life lessons learned from my career and life playbook of sorts. And it, you know, challenges people. Yeah. Through my lens and my experiences and makes people really look at, you know, we always say, oh, my God, I want to play at the highest level and I want to do this. And here's my goal. I'm like, well, what are you doing to get there? Yeah, yeah. Are you taking advantage of the opportunity? Are you prepared for the opportunity when you get it?

[Malkin]

Yeah. Right. Great point.

[Chris Pronger]

Talk is cheap. Like, take action.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely.

[Chris Pronger]

And so it forces people to kind of really look because I was forced to do that myself. I had those early days when I was being booed and life was not as simple. And I talk about, like, you look at the troll, you talk about the trophies and the championships and the rings and all this stuff. People always forget, oh, I was down here. I had to get there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And how did I get there and how did I will myself and how did I put the work in and how did I find. Figure out how to put the work.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And so I talk about a lot about that in the book. A lot.

[Malkin]

There was, there was. You know, you said you've been kicking tires on this idea 12 years or whatever. What kind of pushed you over the hump of like, all right, now's the time.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. You know, I stopped drinking two and a half years ago. And I. I talk. A good friend of mine is a performance coach and I just start talking to him. It's like, man, you should do public speaking.

[Dan Powers]

You got such a good story.

[Chris Pronger]

You got all these things that have gone on in your life. And I was like, I don't know, I been asked to. You know, I've done a Couple things. And gone and talked at various events and stuff, but it was very informal.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

No real structure. Plan and takeaway, if you will. And so I was like, I don't know, like this. Look at this guy. He's so talented and whatever. He's like, yeah, that guy talks about doing that. He's never won.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, right.

[Chris Pronger]

He talks about it. I'm like, actually, good point.

[Malkin]

Yeah,

[Chris Pronger]

good point. Yeah. So then I was like, all right, well, you know, what could I talk about? So then as I was kind of digging into writing some speeches and kind of putting things to paper and. And having real framework. Well, it's actually a book here.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So as I start building up my speaking platform, I started kind of like, oh, that'd be a great. You know, all the stories in here are not on Google.

[Malkin]

Yes.

[Chris Pronger]

You can't Google them because they're. They're things that I just kept very private.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And so, you know, as I kind of had that clarity, stopped drinking, I started kind of looking at what impact did I want to have for the rest of my life. Like, we always hear, okay, they're Chris the hockey player.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I don't want to be Crystal. I'm like, that's. That is over.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, that part of my life is over. I don't want that to be my legacy. I want this to be my legacy. And that's a piece of it. And then what impact can I have after that? And so as I started to dig into that and started to build out the speaking platform and put real structure into some of these speeches, things really kind of started coming up the fold for the book, definitely. And as I did more and more speeches, I'm like, all right. When you see the impact it has on people and their takeaway, you're like, like, all right, that. That needs to go in the book. And then that needs to go in the book. You're like, oh, okay, this. Nah, this one didn't really hit. You know, and you're like, oh, this. This really makes sense for people that are able to. Really. Every time I do a speech, I want people to be able to take something home that they can utilize in their everyday life and make an impact. Yeah. And I didn't. I don't want to go up there and just tell a bunch of hockey stories. Yeah.

[Malkin]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

You know, and. And you do that sometimes at youth hockey events or things. They want to hear that stuff, and then that's great. But I want people. When I do a speech or keynote, I want people to Walk away having something tangible that they can implement in their lives, that they're able to level up and be difference makers and live a better life.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Well, I mean, I love that mentality because it's like. Like you said, the hockey part is. It's part of your story, but the story's not over.

[Chris Pronger]

Exactly.

[Dan Powers]

So it's like, what pages are you writing next? And that's a great way to look at it and see. It's like, this is gonna be the Matthew McConaughey of the hockey.

[Malkin]

It's incredible.

[Chris Powers]

This.

[Chris Pronger]

What is it? Green lights? Is that green lights? Learned green lights.

[Dan Powers]

Right. I think it's like, you know, you could have so easily just told the story. Right. But to teach a lesson as well and give guidance, it's like, I think that's what makes something a great read. And it's also just the great approach in life to have. And when you are going into these next chapters. So it's like a lot of book references.

[Malkin]

Yes. Nice. Well, one of my questions is going to be, what do you hope people take away from the librarian? Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Jesus Christ. Hold on. You need my glasses.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah, yeah.

[Malkin]

There we go. There we go. Second calling. Well, since they're not Googleable, I don't want you to give them away because, yeah, the book gotta have, like, he's like, some of your favorite parts that,

[Dan Powers]

like, even I walk through.

[Chris Pronger]

So I walk through my youth hockey. You know, I'll, like. We hear Connor Hellebach talking about, yeah, I never played aaa.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I never played aaa.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Played high school hockey.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

In Canada.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Who plays high school?

[Dan Powers]

Who the hell does that?

[Malkin]

Literally don't want. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, I walked.

[Malkin]

What.

[Chris Pronger]

What was the decision? Like, why did I do that? That, you know, and. And I tell people every. At every fork in the road, you have to bet on yourself. You have to challenge yourself. And. And throughout the course of the book, I'm challenging people to really think. Think things through and really have an understanding of what you're doing, but also bet on yourself.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. Hell, yeah. Nobody else is going to do it. You need to do it. Yeah. And so that's a key theme in the book. And then, you know, just why we do things. And then, like the what if game.

[Malkin]

Yes.

[Chris Pronger]

We're pointing this way for a reason.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

There's no bl. There's no rearview mirror. We're not like, oh, what if. Like, as we talked about my career and what if I didn't go here? Don't worry about that.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Learn from it. Whatever. Whatever good or bad outcome happens, learn from it, understand it. But you're going this way. Yeah. Feet are pointing this way. Your eyes are pointing this way for a reason. Yeah. Move forward. Think about today and the future.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Because those things did happen.

[Chris Powers]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

They happen.

[Dan Powers]

Can't change them. So learn from them.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

Get going this way.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely. Again, without it giving anything away. Were there any emotional parts of the book?

[Chris Pronger]

There's a lot in here. I peel back the onion layers.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. So, like, were there any parts that. When you were kind of getting into it.

[Chris Pronger]

There's moments I talk about Edmonton. I talk about, you know, quitting drinking. I talk about just some, you know, how dark it was during those moments. Getting booed every single night on home ice. Like, it's not. I love getting booed on the road.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

That's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

That fuels you.

[Chris Pronger]

Getting booed at home so sucks. Like, it's not pretty.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

No.

[Chris Pronger]

And every day, every game, you're like, oh, my God.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

People waiting out by my car tell me I suck. And, you know, guys driving down the highway.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm like, yeah, buddy. Really?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Walking in the front door of your home.

[Malkin]

Jesus Christ.

[Chris Pronger]

If you buy the book, there's, like. I did a podcast with Joe Bach and John Hamm.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And you know, John Hammer. I worked at a bar in St. Louis that I used to frequent, and. And Joe was in his infancy as well. So we do. We did this podcast that you get as a giveaway when you buy the book and then just walks through those early days of, you know, him serving me beers. I'm sitting by myself at the end of the bar, kind of, you know, no friends. No friends. New to the city. The whole city coming down on top of me. And I'm like, can I get another one, please?

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah, just keep that.

[Dan Powers]

Leave it, John. Keep those coming, please. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Every time it's halfway empty, bring another one.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Because that can derail someone's entire career.

[Chris Pronger]

I could have easily quit. I could have easily asked for a trade. I could have easily, you know, take the easier path, whatever that is.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

And, you know, I think, you know, it's. It's building the character and the grit that you need for later in life. Like, if had I not gone through that, you know, some of the challenge I face with injuries into my wrist and my knee, the Edmonton saga, getting traded four times, like, all the stuff that goes on, dealing with negotiating contracts and just all of it, it's, you know, that those early days, those moments help you Know, shape my character.

[Dan Powers]

Absolutely.

[Chris Pronger]

And the grit I needed to get past those things. And then, you know, losing a heartbreaking Game 7 in Edmonton and then getting back to the finals, like, understanding what it was going to take.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

Learning from it. What was I missing? And then you utilizing that life lesson to do that right there.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[Chris Pronger]

Able to do that.

[Malkin]

God.

[Chris Pronger]

Which was my dream growing up.

[Malkin]

Yeah. God.

[Dan Powers]

How did it feel when it was done? Like, when you. The first time you saw, like, the Hard Cop, you're like, right.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, the book. Yeah, it was. You know, I had. You know, you're reading it to proofread it and make sure there's no grammatical errors, because God knows people are gonna tell me, oh, my God, why is there a comma there?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm not an English major.

[Malkin]

I didn't give it to the librarian.

[Dan Powers]

I'll take care of that in one day.

[Chris Pronger]

But, no, when I first got the first copy, I'm like, oh, this is. Holy shit.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

This is gonna. You know, and I reading it a bunch to proofread and do all this stuff, I'm like, to me, it makes a lot of sense in how you can position it for people to really kind of learn and challenge themselves. And, you know, whether they learn from my mistakes or they can see the mistakes that they've made, channeling themselves, kind of channel it to them. You know, I want people to read it and be like, okay, I. I want to do this. Yeah. And I want to challenge myself, and I want to get to that next level. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

That's amazing. All right. Before we get off some, like, you know, the book, the hockey stuff, and into some fun stuff, I have to bring this up because we are from Maine, and you just.

[Chris Pronger]

That's in the book, too.

[Malkin]

Okay, Sid.

[Dan Powers]

So we don't need to give it all away, but, you know, we just.

[Chris Pronger]

I don't. So in the book, all these stories, I go into the stories. But this book would be this big.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

If I put all the detail and nuance. So I talk about it. But it's not. You know, I. I almost went to. Me.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You almost went to you.

[Chris Pronger]

Me?

[Dan Powers]

How? Okay, so you played high school hockey. Canada.

[Chris Pronger]

We just mentioned. Then I go to Junior B in Stratford.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

My brother is now in Bowling Green. Okay, well, Bowling Green's a pipeline with Stratford. Right. Flanagan's.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Right.

[Chris Pronger]

Right. So. And Rob Blake had been there, and Nelson Emerson, you know, on and on and on.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

So I'm in Stratford, finish the year, go back home, and then I make the under 18 team, which. There was no Hlinka Tournament. It was called the Phoenix Cup.

[Malkin]

Oh, no way. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And it was in Japan.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Of all places. So.

[Dan Powers]

Great.

[Chris Powers]

Perfect.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Which was awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Really. Honestly.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. It was pretty cool. So Ian Leperrier was on that team.

[Malkin]

Holy shit. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And so, you know, we go over there, the two players from our team, you know, I'm there. Todd Warner, there's a bunch of guys. They're all like, that year up the draft, you know, they're all like, top 10 picks or touted to be top 10 picks. And we go over there, and Paul and I. Paul, Korea and I are the only players there that didn't. Weren't currently playing.

[Malkin]

Major Juice.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Malkin]

Wow.

[Chris Pronger]

We're the only two players that made the ulcer team for the tournament.

[Malkin]

Shout out, scouts. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Gonchar Crevo. Krasov was there. I'm trying to wrap Patrick Sundstrom.

[Malkin]

Oh, my God.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, you know, we had a, you know, pretty stacked draft.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And so. So all these guys are, you know, there. Whatever. And so go. I'm, you know, I'm talking to Paul. He's like, yeah, I'm probably gonna go to Maine, you know, but. And I had my. My visits all set. I was gonna go to Maine, Michigan, Michigan State, Denver and und. Okay. The fight ensue.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And a bunch of buddies were going to und, so I knew people that were going to be und, so that, you know, that was a viable option, obviously. And I didn't need a. I didn't want to waste the visit on going to Bowling Green. I'd been there a bunch of.

[Malkin]

Yeah, sure.

[Chris Pronger]

So I knew. So those are the six schools that I had kind of circled. And a couple guys that I played junior B with in Stratford, one went to Michigan State, another guy went to Bowling Green. So there's guys all over the place.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Chris Pronger]

So I set up my visits, and then I go to this tournament, the Phoenix cup with, you know, Canada, and I'm like, I play good. And I'm like, well, these guys aren't that good. Well, you know, thinking, you know, and played against them a lot.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

I never played against these kids, so I didn't know how good.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, right, right.

[Chris Pronger]

And how good I was. And no comparable. So now I'm playing with them. I'm like, well, if they're rated that high in the draft. Well, like, where am I rated?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, where am I going to be? So I'm like, well, I was. I was second over. Supposed to be Second overall in the OHL draft.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Pronger]

Told them I'm not going. Like, I'm going college. And I was going to college.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Until this tournament.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So Peterborough decided to take me in the sixth round. Sault Ste. Marie had two picks. One here. Peterborough. One here.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

They took Chris Deruder with this pick. They were taking me with this pick.

[Dan Powers]

Wow.

[Chris Pronger]

Peterborough was here and they took me.

[Dan Powers]

Yep. Jesus Christ.

[Chris Pronger]

And so, you know, I. So then I go, you know, back then, you had a 48 hour window to pick, Right. So I go there, skate a little bit, then I go to the training camp. 48 hours, I'm like, you know, we had high picks on our team, we had guys, and I'm like, I could play here. Yeah. Like, it's not that big. But I also wanted to challenge myself. Really what I didn't want to do is I didn't want to go back to Junior B.

[Dan Powers]

Right.

[Chris Pronger]

Because I had. I had started here, of course. And by the time that year was done, I was here.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Chris Pronger]

I needed to keep challenging myself. I needed to bet on myself.

[Malkin]

Yes, exactly.

[Chris Pronger]

I needed to keep pushing that envelope. And so I was just like, every time I thought about it, I'm like, Like, while the appeal of going to college and, you know, being able to train. I was skinny.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Being able to train, being able to practice more so than the games, you know, that was appealing to me because I thought that would be good for my development. Yeah. And then I was just like, I just, I need to play against, you know, like, Lindros was in the league.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Just went first overall, came back. So I got to play against him and I got to play against all these guys my rookie year in Peterborough. So it was a good challenge. It was a good way to keep pushing myself and, you know, and the amount of games, like, it's more NHL schedule. We played 72 games and.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

That's crazy.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, you're just constantly playing. So that. And. And we had a good team.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So it was, you know, there was a lot going for Peter and Dick. Todd was there and, like, just a lot. You know, Richie had just left a couple years earlier, so there was a lot of familiarity with.

[Malkin]

Yeah, sure.

[Chris Pronger]

With the franchise. And obviously they're a storied franchise and a lot of history there, so.

[Dan Powers]

God, could you imagine if we had him in me?

[Malkin]

Well, listen, he doesn't play the what if game, but I now I'm always going to play the what if game. God damn it. That would have been incredible. Yeah. Holy.

[Dan Powers]

We would have seen you all the time.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Paul really would have won the Hobie.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Added another 20 points to his already stacked.

[Dan Powers]

Holy.

[Malkin]

That's so cool.

[Dan Powers]

All right, well, now we're gonna jump into a game we play with all of our guests called Pastrud Score. It's basically just a ranking system. So we got stuff that we know that you like. I'm going to ask you to rank in Passchute Score. Pass is your third favorite. Shoot. Second score is the first. So I'm going to give you a two parter on this first one. First, we're going to do golf courses, okay. So pass. Shoot.

[Chris Pronger]

Score. Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Cypress, Royal county down, and the Old Course.

[Chris Pronger]

Cyprus score.

[Malkin]

Okay. Wow. No hesitation.

[Chris Pronger]

Played all three.

[Malkin]

I know, I know.

[Dan Powers]

Right out the gate.

[Chris Pronger]

So Cypress score that Royal County Down, Shoot. Okay, and pass.

[Malkin]

Yeah, we're passing the Old Course.

[Dan Powers]

Of course. Dude, what is it about Cyprus? Dude, it's just.

[Chris Pronger]

It's awesome.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Just the. The routing. Like you're. You're hitting your shot. You can see the traps. You can see just the way it's laid out. You can see it. And there's a lot of nuance. Yes, I know the 18th hole sucks, but every other hole is awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Every other hole is awesome.

[Chris Pronger]

And then when you look back, you can't even see the bunkers. The way everything is.

[Malkin]

I heard you say that on the link.

[Dan Powers]

You can't.

[Malkin]

That is the coolest thing.

[Chris Pronger]

You can't see the bunkers, like the way the. The lip is. The way it's.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Rolled over. However they have it set up, it's awesome.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. You see the water? Yeah. You look back, that is water.

[Chris Pronger]

And you can't see any stripes.

[Dan Powers]

You can't see anything. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

It's really cool.

[Malkin]

That really makes you kind of get dialed in on course design.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

And Royal county down was fun, too.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, Cypress is here. Royal County Down.

[Malkin]

It was right there.

[Chris Pronger]

It was awesome.

[Malkin]

I love it. That's so.

[Dan Powers]

All right, now, the Old Course is special.

[Malkin]

It's special to be there.

[Chris Pronger]

Old, special, Classic. But it's a dog park.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Honestly.

[Malkin]

No, literally. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, literally.

[Chris Pronger]

I don't think people realize this. People walk their dogs.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Let's call it what it is.

[Chris Pronger]

I mean, just the history, though.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

All right, now the St. Louis version of that.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Bellerive, Boon Valley, and Old Warson.

[Chris Pronger]

Old Warson. Score.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Chris Pronger]

Boon Valley. Shoot. Okay, Bell, Reed pass.

[Dan Powers]

Yep.

[Malkin]

Okay, where. Where would St. Louis Country Club be in there if that was in the mix?

[Chris Pronger]

Probably

[Dan Powers]

third. Third.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

All Right.

[Malkin]

Nice.

[Dan Powers]

I feel like everyone we talk to St. Louis, low key. Great golf, sports, golf.

[Chris Pronger]

I mean, sick golf courses.

[Dan Powers]

People are unaware.

[Chris Pronger]

Very underrated.

[Dan Powers]

Yes, definitely underrated. Sounds like it.

[Malkin]

That's amazing.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Malkin]

You're getting out lot.

[Chris Pronger]

Every year it's the same thing. I'm going to play lots and I. Yeah, right. Like I did one summer. One summer I played. I practiced and I played. I got down to a three and I hated it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Because if you don't practice and play, you're a three.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

But you're not a three.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Right.

[Chris Pronger]

So when you're getting like, yeah, 10 bucks a. I'm like, this sucks. I get no strokes. I'm the low guy. That's no fun.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I don't want to be the low guy.

[Dan Powers]

So true. God damn.

[Malkin]

We got to get you to the.

[Dan Powers]

The.

[Malkin]

The pro athlete golf tour.

[Dan Powers]

Oh, yeah.

[Malkin]

You have to. But it's the same deal because every summer this tournament and the guys that are nasty are like, this sucks. Everyone else is getting so many strokes.

[Chris Pronger]

Exactly. I'm a seven right now. Yeah, that's.

[Malkin]

That's good.

[Dan Powers]

Then you have sandbaggers like dz. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

You know who you are.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Okay, your next category is golf trips that you've done.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes.

[Malkin]

Okay. So pass. You'd score your Ireland trip. Bandon Dunes and Cabot, Nova Scotia.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, man, these are tough. Yep. Tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough. It's pretty tough to beat Ben. And that's a score.

[Malkin]

Ah, dude. Our boy here. Our boy here.

[Chris Pronger]

So many opportunities, so many courses, so many. Like, oh, man, that's. Yeah, two. The two times I've been there. It's been awesome. Yeah, I love all. It sucks, cuz. I love all three.

[Malkin]

Yes, of course. Of course.

[Chris Pronger]

Ireland was sick. That's two. So that's shoot, shoot. Yeah. And then pass his cabin. But that was awesome, too. We had a fantastic time at camp.

[Malkin]

I believe.

[Chris Pronger]

All of these golf trips were many years ago. So they. Two and a half years ago. You can only imagine.

[Malkin]

Yes, yes. We were getting in

[Chris Pronger]

a lot of fun. Let's just say we had a lot of fun.

[Malkin]

Do the golf trip. That's the message, by the way.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, yeah. Do a buddy's trip.

[Malkin]

It's so incredible.

[Chris Pronger]

You need to do a.

[Malkin]

There's no question. It's hilarious. All right.

[Dan Powers]

This one's fun for me. This is going to be your plane meals on road trips. Passion.

[Malkin]

Score.

[Dan Powers]

This is more of a question for me.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Your first steak. Mid flight chicken or your second steak.

[Chris Pronger]

Score.

[Dan Powers]

Second steak I had a feeling. Okay, score a second steak.

[Chris Pronger]

Shoot second, first steak. And then pass the chicken midflight.

[Dan Powers]

Chicken.

[Chris Pronger]

But yeah, but I will tell you.

[Malkin]

I need the story, dude.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm telling you. We, you know, if it was a longer, above a hour flight before we took off, I would get my meal.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Typically the steak.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Probably wasn't eating it. Fish at that point. Steak. Takeoff steak.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Maybe chicken. But depends on what we got.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Going on. And then, you know, mid air, getting ready to descend. Another meal. Yeah. Typically a steak or chicken.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

I would have to eat three times. And by the way.

[Malkin]

Hold on.

[Chris Pronger]

Three times and I would still lose weight.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Two days.

[Chris Pronger]

And other guys, they wouldn't even eat,

[Dan Powers]

and they're gaining weight. There were some days where you would go, triple steak, steaks, takes down. Yeah. That is incredible.

[Malkin]

And no one else on the team. You're the only one doing this.

[Dan Powers]

Everyone else, are you eating the most on the team when this was happening?

[Chris Pronger]

I would imagine.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

A lot of guys maybe would eat once.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. No, I. They were always worried about gaining weight. And I'm like, I need more food.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Three. I mean, three steaks.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. And by the way. And I had a protein shake and

[Dan Powers]

I had your snack after the game.

[Chris Pronger]

A piece of pizza, whatever. Like, and then I'm doing all that.

[Dan Powers]

Are you doing.

[Chris Pronger]

And I'm still losing weight, by the way, so.

[Malkin]

Nuts, dude.

[Dan Powers]

And I'm still losing weight on the three steak days. Are we doing the same cut every time? Are you mixing fillet? Yeah. Filet. Every time. Every time.

[Chris Pronger]

Well, at that. You know, whatever they have, but it's.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah. That's so good.

[Dan Powers]

Is what's. What's your favorite? Like, let's get in some food talk here. What's your favorite cuisine these days? Like, what's your go to.

[Chris Pronger]

I've been. I gotta be honest, I've been a lot better probably over the last five years of opening up my palate to new varieties, new varietals.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm not. Not us, like, super spicy guy. But I'm willing to partake in a little bit of spice.

[Dan Powers]

All right.

[Chris Pronger]

Kick a little. Kick. Not a lot. A little.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

So I. I mean, I'm all over the map. I'm willing to try it at least once. It used to be, like, super plain Jane.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Chicken, rice, broccoli. Yeah. You eat that 15 times.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Over and over and over. You know, that or steak, like, fish, salmon. And that was it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Now I'm willing, you know, Know, whatever this Is great.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Malkin]

You cooking or we ordering?

[Chris Pronger]

I'm the barbecue guy in the house.

[Malkin]

Okay, nice.

[Chris Pronger]

I make all the meat.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

She does all the fish and all the other stuff.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

Beautiful.

[Malkin]

Good deal. Great deal.

[Dan Powers]

Great deal.

[Malkin]

Perfect.

[Chris Pronger]

And I barbecue snow, rain or shine.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I'm out there, dude.

[Malkin]

I love.

[Chris Pronger]

I'm out there and it's 30, and I got that queue open, and people are looking like.

[Dan Powers]

Like, I'll have an umbrella over.

[Malkin]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

100%.

[Dan Powers]

Kidding me. Can't stop.

[Malkin]

We, you know, because our parents are still in Maine, so we're home for Christmas, same deal. I'm outside. You can't even get the grill hot. You know, it's 10 degrees outside, and I'm like, come on, baby. Come on, baby. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Watching the steam coming off of it.

[Malkin]

So good. But that's great. You don't appreciate that. You need a. It's got to be pretty close to the door. When you're in the colder climates, like in la, it's like, whatever. You can be out in the backyard.

[Dan Powers]

Whatever.

[Malkin]

In the colder. Comments, I'm like, that grill's right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You also need the shovel right outside that door. So there's the little path. If it ever snows, there's just a little path to the grill, and then you're fine.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Okay. And here's your last one. And this is actually past shoot score history for us because we are, for the first time ever, letting a guest craft their own. Because I saw this cool interview where you said you turned 50 and you were entering your 3.0 phase, where it's like, have fun, smile, you know, be happy.

[Chris Pronger]

Enjoy.

[Malkin]

So give us your top three, or just three things that make you have fun and smile right now.

[Dan Powers]

Now.

[Chris Pronger]

I like seeing my kids happy.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Chris Pronger]

That's always pretty good. That's a score.

[Malkin]

Yeah. There we go.

[Chris Pronger]

I like seeing my wife happy.

[Malkin]

Okay. Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Happy. Happy wife.

[Dan Powers]

Happy wife, happy life.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

That's awesome. We're going hat trick on this one. This is a triple score.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah. And I would say just look at life in a positive manner. I think too often we look at the negative things and we look at losses more than we look at the winds.

[Malkin]

God, isn't that the truth?

[Chris Pronger]

Jesus. Yeah, Life's too short to be miserable, you know? Like, that's. You know, and my nickname at times was Captain Happy. Guys were like, oh, my God, are you ever going to be. No. I'm like, we're. We're. We're. Want to win.

[Malkin]

Y.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, I got to push Push and, you know, so I think now that I'm. I don't have to worry about that. I'm like, no, what do I care?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I love it.

[Chris Pronger]

Like, let's live life and enjoy.

[Malkin]

Enjoy it, man. So true.

[Dan Powers]

Up.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Good stuff.

[Malkin]

That's great.

[Dan Powers]

All right. Well, prongs, this has been unbelievable. We've had a blast with you. We're so happy that you're down here in Southern California before we cut you loose, let you go. Yeah. Tell everyone what you got going on where they can find you.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Plug the book again when it's out where people can get it. Make sure everyone knows.

[Chris Pronger]

Book Amazon. It's called earned the true cost of greatness from one of hockey's fiercest competitors. Whether you like it or not.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Pronger]

Whether you believe it or not.

[Dan Powers]

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[Chris Pronger]

Yes, you can get this bad boy on Amazon. You can go to chrispronger.com book and you can get it off Amazon on there or anywhere else your books are. You buy your books and then if you're looking for, you know, speakers or what have you, go to chrispronger.com I got all my stuff on there. And yeah, broadcasting, you name it. Yeah, we're doing it all. We're trying to make an impact on people and trying to get people to live their best life. Yes, dude, life is too short.

[Malkin]

3.0.

[Chris Pronger]

Get out there and do it all.

[Dan Powers]

3.0. I'm into it. Great stuff. Massive, massive. Shout out to Chris Pronger. Get the book.

[Chris Powers]

And any.

[Dan Powers]

Any hockey fan on earth. Honestly, I loved what he said. It's like it's not even just about hockey. It's like I'm. I'm big on a lot of these, like, self. Not self help, but like, just enlightenment books. Positive vibe books. And that's exactly what this is. So you heard it. Make sure you go grab it. It's on Amazon. Chris pronger.com book 14th pre order right now.

[Malkin]

And you get the pod. You get the hand. Jon Hamm, Joe Buck pod. This is an incredible package. I love it. Check it out.

[Dan Powers]

Unbelievable stuff. And again, huge shout out. We'll have prongs on again. He's the man. Let's take another quick ad break and then we'll get back in with some not ice. This episode is sponsored by Better health. It is tax season, folks, and I know a lot of you are feeling some financial burden or stress right now. So make sure that you are aware that you are not alone. 88% of Americans are feeling some Sort of financial stress at the start of 2026. It is a very, very serious thing. It's so crazy. We're all just scrapping around. We're trying to make things work. We're working multiple jobs. Millennials know how this feels. Rent is so expensive. Groceries are so expensive. Even if you feel like you've got a grip on it, random things happen. Me, myself. You're looking at your finances, you feel great, everything's good. Then something pops up. Boom. Get in a car accident. All of a sudden it's thousands of bucks to get your car fixed, everything worked out. With insurance, this, that, and the other, all of these unexpected variables can happen and they add more stress. So do not let the stress get on top of you. Make sure you are taking care of your mental health and wellbeing, and BetterHelp is a fantastic way to do that. BetterHelp does an amazing initial match for you so they can get you set up up with a great therapist to match all of your therapy goals. They have unbelievable situations here. 12 plus years of experience and industry leading match fulfillment rate. It's unbelievable. They have over 30,000 therapists. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. They've served over 6 million people globally. And it works. It's fantastic. They have an average rating of 4.99 out of 5 stars with their live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. I've used BetterHelp. It's fantastic. It makes you feel good, allows you to unload about all the things that are bothering you, stressing you out. And again, right now, the beginning of the year, that financial stress can really feel like it's piling on. Don't let it take over. Handle it. Take care of yourself. Work on that mental health. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. So sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com

[Malkin]

that's better.

[Dan Powers]

H-E-L-P.com netters every time I'm trying to

[Malkin]

make a decision in my life, I need the data, okay? I need the full picture. It's like Sherlock Holmes says, data, data, data. I cannot build bricks without clay. All right? And Cargurus does that for you. When you are trying to get a new car, it's unbiased deal ratings. You get the vehicle history, you get the price history, you get all that. Everything you're looking for, you get un up front. So then when you know you find the right thing, you can do that with confidence. Okay? They've got all these insane features that make this so simple. They've got Cargurus Discover so you can skip the filters and you get to decide what you want in your own words. You can literally type. So instead of just clicking buttons, clicking checkboxes, you get to say, this is what I want. And then Cargurus instantly surfaces the right cars. Bang. Also, they have dealership mode that is on the app. So that puts you in control. You can compare cars side by side, check pricing, estimate the final cost. You can navigate the dealership with so much, much confidence because you literally just get to pick. Here's the things I'm interested in. Here are the exact ones I'm looking at. Full compare and you're ready to go. They have over 4 million listings. That is a joke. It's the biggest selection of cars. So it's easier than ever to find the car that is perfect for you, the one that you've been dreaming about. It's no wonder that Cargurus is the numero uno most visited car shopping site according to SimilarWeb's estimated traffic data. Buy or sell your next car today with [e-mail] Go to CarGurus.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal. That's C-A-R G U R U S.com cargurus.com welcome back everybody. And man, we have been on a world tour lately with travel, but we were in Puerto Rico. Have you been there?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, my, my father in law was born there.

[Malkin]

No way.

[Chris Powers]

So we went. Yeah, we went there a couple Januarys ago. Did like a beach vacation and San Juan. Loved it.

[Malkin]

Dude.

[Dan Powers]

We had a very good time.

[Malkin]

I was blown away.

[Chris Powers]

Is that your first time?

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

First time or where were you?

[Malkin]

We were in San Juan.

[Chris Powers]

Okay. Yeah.

[Malkin]

And we went to. There were two areas we went to.

[Dan Powers]

We went to old San Juan.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. So it's like the colorful houses.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah, it was great. It was great. Good times.

[Malkin]

Unbelievable.

[Dan Powers]

Just like good vibes.

[Malkin]

So my, here's my real highlight for me. We were on a. We were on a buddy from homes bachelor party and we. Saturday, sorry, Friday, Friday, Friday day we were at this like beach. The old San Juan Hotel, I think or the El Santo.

[Dan Powers]

No, it was the El San Juan.

[Malkin]

El San Juan Hotel. We were there at their pool at a cabana. Okay. We are there most of the day. We leave the pool and we are now about to go out to get dinner and go to a bar and a buddy, his name's Scott, he goes, I forgot my fanny Pack, which contained my phone and wallet and 500 bucks in the cabana. And we're now back at the Airbnb and we're like, dude, that's tough. So we're going out.

[Dan Powers]

He goes, but keep in mind, super nice hotel. Yeah, this was like a. If you did, forget it there. Just go back and get it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I would like to stress, many of us were going. Feel like we did a pretty thorough check when we left that cabana. I doubt you left it there. Either you brought it home or someone else has it. Yeah. So do your due diligence.

[Malkin]

Check.

[Dan Powers]

Look around the house and ask.

[Malkin]

Yes. People were like, I didn't grab it. You know, whatever. And he did call too. He called and they were like, we don't see it in the Commando, but by all means, like, come look around. So he goes, okay. Someone in the house calls him an Uber from our Airbnb to the hotel because he doesn't have a phone. So he goes, poof. See you later. And we go, poof. Off to dinner, everyone else. And then we're just, like, living our lives, dude. Like, we have dinner, we go to this bar, and we were at this bar and several hours have passed, and then we get a text.

[Dan Powers]

But one of the guys on the trip was getting phone calls endlessly from Scott at the hotel.

[Malkin]

Yeah, because he.

[Dan Powers]

One of our buddies gave Scott his number. And Scott was then calling him, being like, it's not there. I can't find it. What do I. And we were like, get a fucking cab and get. Or like, we'll order you an Uber. But what do you want us to do? Yeah, it was hilarious.

[Malkin]

So. So eventually we get a text from him. So, like, oh, oh.

[Chris Pronger]

So he found his phone and we

[Malkin]

get a text that's like, you know, he sends kinda like five texts in a row, which ends with like, be there soon. Drinks on me tonight, boys. And Dan and one other person answer. Like, hell, yeah, Scott, you found your phone. Cause, like, we're just out and no one's even reading the text. Yeah, just like, whatever.

[Chris Powers]

I'm trying to have fun in Puerto Rico.

[Dan Powers]

And I was succeeding. I was having a blast.

[Malkin]

So then I look, I didn't see any of this go down. So then I look at my phone and I see a run of text from Scott. And then Dan and I have the similar reaction. I'm like, oh, wow, Scott found his phone. And Dan has said, oh, Scott, amazing. So then I scroll up to see what Scott has actually said, and Scott says, hey, guys. So I Got abducted by a cab, and I had to pay $500 to get myself freed. But don't worry, I'm now safe. I'm on the way to you guys. Drinks on me. And everyone's going like this.

[Dan Powers]

You found your phone, Scott. Congrats.

[Malkin]

Cause, like, no one's reading the text.

[Chris Powers]

So I'm like, did the cab driver have his fanny?

[Malkin]

So, dude, I'm like, yo, guys, guys. Like, Scott has been abducted.

[Chris Powers]

But it's all good now.

[Malkin]

Yeah, he's back, but he got abducted. So I'm like, this is fucked. So we get. He finally shows up, and we're like, dude, I'm so sorry. What happened?

[Dan Powers]

Timeout. Here's some more context for the people.

[Chris Powers]

Okay?

[Dan Powers]

Scott is 6 foot 7, 250 pounds.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh.

[Dan Powers]

So forgive me for when these texts. Text from his phone, and then him showing up at the bar completely fine, being like, I was abducted. There was a part of me that was like, what, how, and who?

[Chris Powers]

Maybe in his own mind, he was abducted.

[Dan Powers]

So continue.

[Malkin]

So he gets to the hotel. Nothing that he owns is there. So now he has to go back to the Airbnb, but he can't call an Uber because he doesn't have a phone. So he flags a cab, calls a cab from the hotel, like a regular cab. He gets in the cab, drives back, gives the address, drives back to the Airbnb. And this part, I do not blame him at all. He has a debit card on him. That is all he has, because everything else is in the fanny pack, which is gone. And he has a debit card on him. So they get there, and he goes, I will just pay with this debit card. And the cab driver goes, I do not accept debit cards. And he's like, well, that's what I have.

[Chris Pronger]

That's all I got.

[Malkin]

You know? And this works. So the guy locks the car. He locks him in the car and goes, I'm taking you back to the hotel. And now Scott is like, I don't. I'd be a little scared in that moment. Scott's a little scared. He's very mad. And he's like, let me out. And Scott is like, please, I'm begging you. And the guy will not. So he takes him all the way back to the hotel.

[Dan Powers]

Hotel.

[Malkin]

And then.

[Dan Powers]

Which he made clear.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

He was like, you can't pay me. I'm not completing your drive. I'm bringing you back to where I got you. Which is only eight fucking minutes away.

[Chris Powers]

Sure.

[Malkin]

So then Scott gets out of the. He is Let out. Then the guy goes, get out. So Scott gets out and then goes into the hotel and calls the police to report his own abduction.

[Chris Powers]

I've been kidnapped, damn it.

[Malkin]

He goes, Dan and I were joking that calls the police and goes, excuse me. The El San Juan is gorgeous. He's in this gorgeous lobby.

[Dan Powers]

It has this unbelievable lobby that has. There's a Foxwoods right next to it. So in the lobby there's slot machines, there's some tables. It has like an old Havana look to it. It was beautiful.

[Chris Powers]

This is the casino. I've been to this.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I've been there. By the way, he doesn't tell us this until like 4am that morning. We're back at the house in the hot tub and I go, can you please tell me what happened?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And he tells us this. And because my whole thing was, when did you call the cops? You didn't have your phone? And he was like, oh, it went. The safety of the beautiful hotel lobby.

[Chris Powers]

Sure.

[Dan Powers]

So, yeah, we kept being like. We were picturing him sitting like, legs crossed, sipping a martini, being like, hello, Puerto Rico police. Yes, I've been abducted. And they're like, we can see here that you're calling from the El San Juan lobby.

[Chris Powers]

Well, I was abducted.

[Dan Powers]

And he's like, oh, yes, yes, I'm having a lovely time. But it was quite terrifying. Fucking ridiculous.

[Chris Powers]

I needed three. This is a three shot martini to recover.

[Malkin]

It gets delivered like he's offered the cops and he's like, three olive spoons. Yeah, I have been abducted. Yes.

[Chris Powers]

That's amazing, dude.

[Dan Powers]

We were like, wait, so where was his phone?

[Chris Powers]

How did he get his shit back?

[Malkin]

He finally gets all the way back to the Airbnb. His fanny pack was in his room every day.

[Chris Powers]

What a nightmare.

[Dan Powers]

It was just. It's a real Savannah guts just at the house.

[Chris Powers]

Jesus.

[Malkin]

Anyway, incredible time in Puerto Rico. Massive shout out too, because we're in the La Factoria bar, I think. Incredible. This is the best bar I've ever been to my whole life. And someone walks up to us and goes, excuse me, me, you guys, the empty netters. And I was like, come on, no shit. Yeah, three girls, Nina, Lily and Grace, they go to Cornell. They actually showed us this bar had a ton of secret areas. And they showed us the best secret area of them all and made the night even cooler.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know, you know, it was crazy. It was like the house we were in too, had all the. You would walk through the house and you'd be like, I've seen Everything. But there were all these, like, secret rooms in the house. Like, you'd be in one bedroom, and you're like, this is the bedroom, but then there's a random door, and through that door is another bedroom. It was all over the house. I was like, what's going on here? And then this bar was exactly that. It was. You'd be in a bar, and then you'd walk up a little set of stairs, and there were bathrooms, and then there was another bar. There was like a flamingo dancing part of the bar over here, and then out back, there was like a rave bar. And then you'd go through the kitchen of one part and then up a set of stairs, and then there was a rooftop bar.

[Chris Powers]

It's probably just a lot of add on. Like, it's just construction that just was like, we're just gonna keep going.

[Dan Powers]

They're just blowing holes, building as we go.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

It was crazy. It was the coolest bar I've ever seen. And yeah, shout out the gals. Because they showed us that. It was unbelievable.

[Malkin]

Yep. So awesome.

[Dan Powers]

But yeah, Scott, you got abducted in the most pleasant way possible.

[Chris Powers]

And we're in a beautiful country with lovely water.

[Dan Powers]

Yes.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. The best, like, going into that water is.

[Malkin]

Oh.

[Dan Powers]

When we were at that hotel, it was one of these beautiful setups where the. You're at the pool, and then you can just step off the pool area right onto sand, onto the beach. We were playing beach volleyball. It was unbelievable.

[Malkin]

Amazing.

[Dan Powers]

It was unbelievable. All right, gents, I told you two last week that I have a not ice topic that I've been desperate to talk about. And it. Since I've been desperate to talk about it every single day of my life, it comes up in multiple ways. And I'm. I want to start this by saying I. I know. Know that I am going to get absolutely flamed for this take by a

[Malkin]

lot of people,

[Dan Powers]

but I'm prepared.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Because I. I am fairly certain that I am correct. We need men. We need to have a global discussion about the way we pee.

[Malkin]

Ooh.

[Dan Powers]

Interesting. And I am here to say that the immediate, easiest fix is we need to start sitting down when we pee now.

[Malkin]

You are going to get flamed for this.

[Dan Powers]

That's what I said.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Now, I don't want that to be the case because I know that there are multiple reasons.

[Chris Powers]

Wait, wait, wait. But every time I see a urinal, I sit in there. Is that not where you're supposed to be?

[Dan Powers]

Dude, you're not supposed to sit in.

[Chris Pronger]

Oh, really? Yeah.

[Malkin]

It's crazy.

[Dan Powers]

I know that that's not the answer, but hear me out. Dude, every bathroom, men's bathroom in America is so disgusting. And it is 100% because of urinals. If you go to any sports game, if you go to any bar and you go to the urinal and you look down, there's pee all over the

[Chris Powers]

floor and maybe some pubes.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Why is that happening?

[Dan Powers]

You know what? To be fair, that's happening anywhere, I'm sure.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, but you got. What, are we ripping them out in there?

[Dan Powers]

Well, I bet it happens to the gals, too. It gets caught in your underwear fabric. Maybe you pull your pants down, a couple get ripped out.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. But if it happens to the ladies, it ends up in the toilet and it's flushed.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Malkin]

Okay.

[Dan Powers]

Sure.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. There's pee everywhere. Yep, there's pee everywhere.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And it's because even if. I mean, listen, when you're drunk, guys are missing. But, like, even if you're not drunk, you're not shaking well enough or you're, like, dribbling, you're standing too far away. We've got a fucking fire hose down there, and no one's controlling it well enough, then there's pee on the ground. We're walking in it. You're then walking all over the place. You're walking into your home with pee on your shoes. Dude, we. Again, if you sit down, that's probably not happening as much. I don't think that that should be the case, because what's the best thing about peeing when you're a guy? How quick you can do it. Yeah, you can just do it.

[Chris Powers]

It makes it. I mean, there's longer lines.

[Dan Powers]

If it's all toilets, there's a reason there's longer lines in the women's bathroom because you have to go into the stall.

[Malkin]

You have to.

[Dan Powers]

You have to sit. And it would make peeing, especially at things like bars and sporting events, way longer for the men, too. And I know no one wants that, but from just a pure hygiene and cleanliness level, we've got to fix how we pee. It's absolutely disgusting.

[Chris Powers]

I think they also need to design. I agree with you. I think that they need to redesign urinals so there's not as much flashback. Evan, can we make them absorbent or something?

[Dan Powers]

That is my next point. Yep. I. The. I was at a bar the other. The Waterfront, in. In Venice.

[Malkin]

Yeah, I'm familiar. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And I went into their bathroom. It was like, end of the day on a Sunday it was horrendous. It was so filthy and smelled awful. And it's because there's pee everywhere. The urinal in there is so horribly set up. I had these, like, really nice, like, moisture wicking pants on. I peed. I looked. Dude, there's pee all over my pants.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And I wasn't missing. I wasn't even drinking. It was like. It was just the splash and the spray of the urinal. Like, the shape of the urinal. And I was like, this is fucking insanity. So that is an issue as well.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

We need to do something. Cause here's the other thing, dude. Guys are also peeing, and you're putting your linus back in your pants, and you're just, like, dribbling pee in the box.

[Chris Powers]

I refuse. I've learned. It took a long time to learn this. I refuse to wear a cat khakis and boxers. Not doing it.

[Malkin]

Wait, wait, what do you mean?

[Chris Powers]

Because every time I wear khakis and boxers, I take a pee. I put it back in.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

And a little dribble comes out.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Chris Powers]

And the boxers don't. Like, they're not as, like, thick as, like, briefs.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

So that. That first layer of absorption is gone. And then you see it through the khaki. Like, if it's on jeans, nobody sees.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Powers]

If it's on khakis, you're gonna see it.

[Dan Powers]

You got pee spots on your neck.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah. And, you know, I'm getting older, so.

[Dan Powers]

Like, I recently learned that women, when they find out that we don't wipe after we pee a lot, many women are. They're horrified.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, we shake.

[Dan Powers]

They're like, you don't wipe? And we're like, no, we shake. But, like, the shake isn't. It's not fail.

[Malkin]

Well, it's because the. It's because of the aftershock. You're right. It's because, like, you could. I could even wipe. I could even pee and then go take one square and go like this.

[Chris Powers]

Like, you're just on the napkin of a little worm.

[Malkin]

And then you take two. Then it goes in, and then you take two steps out of the bathroom and goes. It goes.

[Chris Powers]

Yep. Just one more.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

And then I'm like, damn it.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, we got to get it. We got to get our check, guys.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's just. It's so bad. And it. Honestly, I though the wiping stuff, that. That's a whole different bag issue now.

[Chris Powers]

You got to introduce a roll of toilet paper near the urinal. And that. That's. That's a Lot of cost.

[Dan Powers]

And because here's the thing. I remember when I said at the top of this. This comes up every day in my life. It's on the planes, too.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

You go into a plain bathroom after, after at least one hour of the flight, you look down, floors wet.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Because guys are in there, they're peeing. They're not lifting the seat. They're like, shaking with the flight. They're peeing all over a guy who

[Chris Powers]

doesn't lift the seat. That should be executed.

[Dan Powers]

I, I literally everywhere. If you don't.

[Chris Powers]

I'm like, I'm trying to poop in this toilet. And now I gotta, like, clean up your mess.

[Dan Powers]

It's horrendous. If you think that you have good enough aim, you're an asshole. But it's like these. We. We just have these unruly penises.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

And they're just spraying pee everywhere.

[Chris Powers]

I gotta, I gotta.

[Malkin]

It's like a fire hose.

[Chris Powers]

I think it's. I think it's also a big drunk problem.

[Dan Powers]

It absolutely is.

[Chris Powers]

And I got a crazy story for you. I was in Catalina Island. You ever been to Catalina?

[Chris Pronger]

Nobody.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, I fucking love it. So I was on the Avalon, the side that's like the touristy side with all this. And I was working a job there. I used to work for the Laugh Factory and they did like, comedy out there. So I'm out with some of the comedians late at night at like a dive bar and. And you know, go to the urinal, go to pee. It's got partitions, you know, it's got the things. And I'm looking down and I'm peeing and I see another stream of pee coming in from the other side.

[Dan Powers]

You're joking.

[Chris Powers]

Into my urinal. And I look over to me and there's this like distorted, like drunk face of like an old fisherman with like the Ray Ban tan, you know, where he's like beet red except for this area. And I look over and his face is this close to mine. He's like, hey, man. And I'm like, what? What the fuck are you doing?

[Dan Powers]

Like, dude, this is awful.

[Malkin]

This is a single use urinal and

[Chris Powers]

I was the only one in the bathroom. It wasn't like there was like a full bathroom with one. It was.

[Dan Powers]

There were three urinals. That is like one of the most terrifying things.

[Chris Powers]

It was a nightmare. It was. I, like, I woke up in a cold sweat.

[Malkin]

Does that happen to me?

[Chris Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Okay. Mind you, I actually love that. I think that is an all time move. What do you think about the trough, dad? Damn. You know, some places have they put

[Chris Powers]

ice in there too?

[Malkin]

Yeah, just have a massive trough.

[Dan Powers]

The trough, I think. And especially with like ice down there.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I mean ice.

[Chris Powers]

What's the point of the ice?

[Dan Powers]

I don't really know.

[Chris Powers]

So it doesn't smell.

[Dan Powers]

Someone should tell us that. What is the point? Cuz I, I look it up. I recently just. Oh, we were in Chateau Marmont.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

There was ice there.

[Malkin]

Either way, to control odor and reduce splashback.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know that, that if, if there's like, like water, I, I feel like if you hit like an ice cube, it still sprays. You know what actually the move is, is snow. Snow. Snow reduces splashback.

[Malkin]

We need snow in every urinal.

[Dan Powers]

But that feels a hell of a

[Malkin]

margarita out of that.

[Dan Powers]

That feels unreasonable. So my, my, my larger point here is we, we just got to do something about this.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

I don't know what it is, but, but there's just pee everywhere.

[Chris Powers]

Maybe we talk about, let's go to Congress, lobby it so that it can get into the department of Education so that we can tell people to put this a part of their home health curriculum. Like when you're telling little boys about like the sex ed and all that kind of stuff, you're like, by the way, let's do half a day on like bathroom etiquette.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, honestly, why not? Maybe we just need deeper. Like I, I've come around. I think urinals are an absolute nightmare.

[Malkin]

I, I hear you. I thought this was gonna be dumb. I hear you, but I just, I've. The speed is so key.

[Dan Powers]

The speed is. No, but it's the, the, the shape. We need someone to re. Rework. Re. Engineer urinals.

[Malkin]

What if they were just the bowls? Like what if they were just toilet bowls without the door stall? Like here are the toilet bowls with doors. No business with no seat. They're just sitting.

[Dan Powers]

Let's say you just put toilet bowls and then the, the stall dividers. Like how's that Different.

[Malkin]

Different.

[Dan Powers]

I think you're still missing like you're. And also like there's splash in the water. It's like we need something deeper.

[Chris Powers]

What if it's a height difference thing?

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

What if you need something you can adjust so that it gets right up next to your junk so there's less distance. So there's less chance for missing, less chance for splash.

[Dan Powers]

I think we need more distance.

[Malkin]

Dude. I actually have an incredible hand now

[Chris Powers]

because if the more distance then, then your stream is longer. It has more chance to miss.

[Dan Powers]

No, but hear me out. Picture a toilet bowl.

[Malkin]

Yep.

[Dan Powers]

The opening.

[Chris Powers]

Right.

[Dan Powers]

But that toilet bowl goes down five feet, right? There's no splash there. Yes.

[Malkin]

But if it's still. If that's still like far away from me, people are going to miss on the way.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah. It needs to be right up next to you.

[Malkin]

Right.

[Chris Powers]

You know what? We need to get the Japanese on this because they have great bathroom technology. We need. They need to be the innovators and leaders of this. We're not equipped.

[Malkin]

Here's what I want. I want be. I want there to be deep bowls, but also that start really high. And the lines in the bathroom say heights like, you know, six, six, four to six.

[Dan Powers]

Now. Now we got to go. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Awful. Awful idea. Now we have a line issue again.

[Malkin]

Because then here's what I want.

[Dan Powers]

Awful idea.

[Malkin]

All the five, 11 guys get in the six foot line and their dick can't reach the bowl. And I go like this.

[Dan Powers]

Boom.

[Chris Powers]

511.

[Dan Powers]

Sucks to suck.

[Malkin]

You've been got. This wasn't even a fucking bathroom issue. I was just trying to call you out. Oh, it's a good day. They're like, there's a lot.

[Chris Powers]

Yeah, yeah, it's true. Like, you ever see, like, it's like when a little kid goes to the urinal and he's got to use the really low one and he pulls the pants all the way down on his ankles. You're like, dude, you got to learn to. You don't have to pull the pants all the way off.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I suppose I'm. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, but to me it's. This is a. This is an international issue that we're not in handling. There's piss everywhere.

[Malkin]

There's piss everywhere.

[Dan Powers]

There's got a piss problem everywhere. And it's our faults and we're not doing anything about it.

[Malkin]

Covered in piss.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, it's awful.

[Malkin]

Y.

[Chris Powers]

If anyone has any suggestions.

[Dan Powers]

How awful is it when you walk. I'm. I'm sorry. I'm done. But when you walk into a bathroom and there's just piss all over the floor, it's so. And then there's like.

[Chris Powers]

And then it gets like. You can see like footprints in it.

[Malkin]

Yes.

[Dan Powers]

Like the dirty. Like, you can see the super converse and ev. It's like I'm. Yeah, I know that it's an air matt.

[Chris Powers]

11 guys only wearing.

[Dan Powers]

But it's like when I'm in the airport and I'M wheeling my luggage in and I'm like, I want to leave my bag out of this bathroom so it's not wheeling through piss floors.

[Chris Powers]

How do you feel when you. When you bring an open drink? Like you got a pint. Like, if you go to, like, crypto, you know, or whatever, and you're just

[Dan Powers]

piss vapor in the air. Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

And you've got an open pint of beer.

[Chris Pronger]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

What are you gonna do with that?

[Malkin]

It's bad.

[Chris Powers]

You gotta cover that up.

[Dan Powers]

We need to fix this. We need to fix this. Okay. Speaking of beer, let's get into a nice beer league hotline.

[Chris Powers]

Literally created an insta just to get your take. Ooh, I'm in a rec beer league. It's a mix of older guys who played high school, some women who played college, and beginners who just started. There's a guy in the league whose season stat line is 46 goals, four assists. Does nothing but rip shots. Bar high. No idea where they're going. Hardest shot in the league. Domes the goalie three times a game. Should this asshole be in the league?

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. He's got 46 tucks.

[Malkin]

He's a fucking weapon, dude. What are you talking about? He's the best player.

[Dan Powers]

He's ovi, dude.

[Malkin]

He's definitely not on this guy's team either. Like, if he was on this guy's team, he'd be like, we have this dude. He's dope. He scores every game.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

I will say, though. Hold on. I will say doming the goalie sucks in beer league. Like, I've done it occasionally, obviously, and I literally, like, stop play in mid action and go up and I'm like, sorry, dude. Yeah. Because there is no need to be hitting someone in the fucking mask at midnight on Wednesday.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

I hate it. So if he actually is doming the goalie three times a game, I am like, pal, you gotta fucking cool it.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

In my opinion.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you do have. That's. Frankly, that's the only issue I see here.

[Malkin]

Everything else, you're good.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Four apples is fucking hilarious.

[Dan Powers]

It's hilarious. But, like, who cares? Again, if you. If you're really scoring 46 goals in a season in beer league, that's fantastic. I mean, I know it's beer league, and we always joke that the score lines in beer league games are 7 to 5 all the time.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

But there are plenty of beer league teams out there who will tell you their. Their goals come few and far between. Like, they need guys who can score more if you've got a weapon who's scoring 40 every season. That's fantastic. I don't care if he's not passing the puck right. You do need to stop doming the goalie.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Ringing. Getting your bell rung by a clapper as a beer league goalie is so brutal.

[Malkin]

So brute.

[Chris Pronger]

So brute.

[Malkin]

Dan, let me ask you this because I am curious, and I think your answer's gonna be the production plays, but this guy strikes me as the guy who knows he has a fucking rocket shot, obviously. So essentially, every time he touches the puck, it's going on net, which means he has 46 goals, but he has 40,000 shots, which means I'm wide open several times like, yo, yo, yo. And it's just like, high off glass. High off glass. I kind of think we're not.

[Dan Powers]

I'm not.

[Malkin]

I'm definitely not banning him from the league, but I do think I would be like, this guy sucks to play with because I have never once received a pass.

[Dan Powers]

I am sure that's the case.

[Malkin]

Yeah. Like, those four assistants are rebounds.

[Dan Powers]

I also know this guy. He. I'm sure the team has had talks with him, and it won't change.

[Malkin]

Doesn't care.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, yeah. We've got guys on our team who I'm like, will you fucking look up? And they're like, yeah, I know. And then they don't.

[Malkin]

Yeah, it is.

[Dan Powers]

It is what it is. The production's there, and that's a good thing. But listen, is he fun in the locker room?

[Malkin]

Good question.

[Dan Powers]

Is he a good dude? He just shoots too much and also

[Chris Powers]

shoots too high, I think, is the other. It's like consistently too high. Always too high to where, like, somebody's maybe going to get injured.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

You almost think. I'm almost mad at the goalies in this league. Like, you know where it's coming. Like, just, you know, like.

[Dan Powers]

But it's Fulton Reed situation. They. Yeah, I'm sure they know it's coming high, but if it's also possibly coming off your dome, you're probably flinching a little, and I don't blame you. Y. I think you got. The one thing here is I don't know if he's doing this, but if you're taking clappers. Ooh.

[Malkin]

Also good question.

[Dan Powers]

I am. I'm a little bit like, come on, man, stop.

[Malkin]

I think Dan, too, maybe you could get someone on the other team could. If he domes their goal, they could just give him, you know, one to the back of the leg or one, you know, kind of right here. Not super hard, but just be like, dog. And I think. Because no one, any speaking to him will never get through to him. But I think enough of those. I might be like, all right.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, I'm not. I'm not one for advocating for violence in beer league, but if you are a habitual liner. Yeah. If you are doming habitually, then you should have a league rule here. If he domes, give him a two hander in the back of the leg.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And he goes, what the fuck's that for?

[Malkin]

I go, it's every time.

[Dan Powers]

You just ripped a clapper off our goalie's head, you dipshit.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And he can't really get mad. And if he then does that again in the game and you give him another one, he's not going to ask why you did it.

[Malkin]

Yep. Yeah. So keep him in the league, but self regulate.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah, self regulate. Keep him in check a little bit. And again, don't go too hard. Hard with the two handers.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Chris Powers]

Oh, dude, we're not trying to injure his.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Enough that he feels it, but not injure him.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

And that's good. I think we're slightly.

[Malkin]

Yeah, I like that.

[Chris Powers]

The ruling. The ruling has been made.

[Malkin]

Four apples.

[Dan Powers]

All right, C.P. you got an interesting Bauer blind ranking

[Malkin]

for us here, Evan. Today, in honor of our friends at Bauer who give us the pulse and all of our favorite gear and all of our favorite training tools. And my skate sharpener, which I just love. My God. We are going to blind rank the perfect amount of games left in a season when you should fire your coach. We are blind ranking how many games into the season. Into the season. So zero means the season has even started now. 82 means the whole season has been played.

[Chris Powers]

All right, 30,

[Dan Powers]

I think that's two months. I'm thinking high here.

[Malkin]

Two months.

[Dan Powers]

30 games is. You can kind of see what's going on.

[Malkin]

Would you prefer an earlier 5? I might even prefer an earlier fire.

[Dan Powers]

No.

[Malkin]

Really?

[Dan Powers]

Dude, has Lindy Ruff taught you nothing?

[Malkin]

Yeah, but what about. What about who was coaching the Oilers before Knobloch? That was like 10 games. They were like two and 10. And they were like, bye.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah.

[Malkin]

Woodcraft. Yeah, Jay, I might prefer an earlier, but actually a good point. 30 is pretty good.

[Dan Powers]

I think it's.

[Malkin]

But I don't want to go one, though, because I think. No.

[Dan Powers]

God, no.

[Malkin]

I could even go three.

[Dan Powers]

I'll go three. No, I. I want three.

[Malkin]

Okay. Three. Three. Three.

[Chris Pronger]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

Fourteen.

[Malkin]

See, I kind of like that.

[Dan Powers]

I. I think it's so premature if you go, oh, and 14, then yeah, sure, there's an issue, but 14 games in, realistically, let's call us 4 and 10. Yeah, that's bad. If you're a good team with. With high hopes, that's bad. But you're also gonna, like, fuck me.

[Malkin]

Yeah. So you want to go four?

[Dan Powers]

I do.

[Malkin]

Fuck. I think we're at a pickle now.

[Dan Powers]

I think this is the craziest blind ranking of all time. Nothing is in here is going to make sense, and it's going to be awesome.

[Malkin]

Okay. 4.

[Dan Powers]

Okay.

[Chris Powers]

82.

[Dan Powers]

5. Well, no, I mean.

[Chris Powers]

Okay, I guess that presupposes you've. You've lost, you're not in the playoffs.

[Dan Powers]

Yeah. Could you imagine if you were?

[Chris Powers]

You just.

[Dan Powers]

You make playoffs, the season is officially over. You have made playoffs and you go like this, you're fired.

[Malkin]

I bet it happens this year, dude. I bet it happens. I bet. I bet Detroit sneaks in and they fire McClellan. Well, here.

[Dan Powers]

Here's the question. Do we look at this as a. We're putting it five. Because either you've made playoffs and you're. You're out of your mind, or it's like a. Too little too late, dude. If you wanted to fire this fucking guy, you should have fired him in the middle of the season. But then the argument is like, well, now we have a full offseason to find a new coach. Like, what the. But then the other argument of that is you could do that anyway because you could just do an interim coach and then you could still fire a new coach. Hire a new coach in the off season, whatever.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Or do we say that this is two and go? Yeah, it's a reset.

[Malkin]

Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

Because again, this is the dumbest blind

[Chris Powers]

ranking happened in the summer.

[Dan Powers]

Right?

[Chris Powers]

Like, this could just be the last season was 82 games. We're done. Now we've got a new coach.

[Dan Powers]

This is the dumbest blind ranking ever. And I love it.

[Malkin]

I think we go. I don't know.

[Dan Powers]

Let's go.

[Malkin]

Let's go. Five.

[Dan Powers]

Really?

[Malkin]

Yeah. Cause you go, yeah.

[Dan Powers]

All right.

[Chris Pronger]

Five.

[Dan Powers]

Five.

[Malkin]

You're a coward.

[Dan Powers]

You should have done it earlier.

[Malkin]

Yeah, yeah, let's go. Five. Five,

[Chris Powers]

seventy.

[Malkin]

See, I love this. Two. I now love this.

[Dan Powers]

We've seen. We've seen that. It works great.

[Malkin]

12 games left and you go, dude, we gotta figure this out.

[Dan Powers]

Final push.

[Malkin]

Yeah, we go, okay, so you wanna leave one open?

[Dan Powers]

We literally have an example where with eight games, it won a cup.

[Malkin]

Yes. Correct.

[Dan Powers]

So fucking yep. And you don't.

[Malkin]

Vegas is Four and. Oh, okay, we're going to go. You want to go one for 70?

[Dan Powers]

No, I want to go to two.

[Malkin]

Okay. Two. The perfect time to fire your coach is this many games in.

[Chris Powers]

86.

[Dan Powers]

You son of a bitch. Dude, you've lost four playoff games, okay?

[Chris Pronger]

Or.

[Dan Powers]

Or. Or you're.

[Malkin]

You're mid series.

[Dan Powers]

The series is 13 and you're like this.

[Malkin]

We got.

[Dan Powers]

We need. We need something here. We're down. We're down 3:1 in the series. We're down 3:1 in the series.

[Chris Pronger]

In the first round.

[Dan Powers]

We need some juice. Deuce.

[Malkin]

We need.

[Chris Powers]

That's what I was saying.

[Dan Powers]

Coach is fired. Get a new man at the helm.

[Chris Powers]

Number one.

[Malkin]

86 specifically down three one though. Yeah.

[Dan Powers]

86 games. You're down three one in the first round.

[Chris Powers]

You know what? I should have just said 85 is gold, dude.

[Dan Powers]

Incredible. Well, that's the. That's about as crazy as a blind ranking as you're gonna get from us. Hope you enjoyed this amazing episode with Chris Pronger. Like we said, go buy the book. Check out everything Prongs is doing. He is the best. Give us five stars. Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe to the YouTube. Go get some merch. We got some great new stuff coming out, some new playoff shirts coming out for every team. It's great stuff. It's going to be fun as hell. We'll see you later in the week as this wild card race continues to be insane. Until we get there, skate hard. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in with a full lineup of non alcoholic beer styles. You can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip off with a variety of non alcoholic crafts styles. Available at your local grocery store or [e-mail] near Beer Fit for all times. Support is available 247 with VRBO care. We're here day or night, ready whenever you need help because a great trip starts with the right support.