Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 530: Featuring Brandon Hagel and Kevin Lowe

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 530: Featuring Brandon Hagel and Kevin Lowe

Release Date: November 5, 2024

In episode 530 of the "Spittin’ Chiclets" podcast, hosts Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, and Mike Grinelli delve deep into the current landscape of the NHL, offering their unfiltered perspectives on team performances, player dynamics, and memorable moments from the season. This episode is further enriched by insightful conversations with former NHL stars Brandon Hagel and the legendary Kevin Lowe.

---

Current NHL Season Overview

Winnipeg Jets' Meteoric Rise The hosts shine a spotlight on the Winnipeg Jets, whose impressive start to the season has captivated fans. Paul Bissonnette highlights Kyle Conner's remarkable performance, noting, "Kyle Conner right now holds the record for the longest point streak to start an NHL season" (12:15). His consistent play has been a cornerstone for the Jets, contributing to their eight wins in the last nine games.

Minnesota Wild's Surging Performance The conversation shifts to the Minnesota Wild, commending Kirill Kaprizov's stellar play. Mike Grinelli remarks, "Kaprizov has demonstrated exceptional skill, making him one of the most exciting players to watch this season" (22:12). His leadership and scoring prowess have been pivotal in the Wild's strong record, making them a team to watch as the season progresses.

Goaltender Interference Controversies A significant portion of the discussion revolves around contentious goaltender interference calls, with particular emphasis on a disputed goal involving the Tampa Bay Lightning. Paul expresses frustration, stating, "Goalkeeper interference is becoming a recurring headache for the NHL" (32:27). This incident, where a push was deemed not to qualify as interference, has sparked debates about the clarity and consistency of officiating in critical game moments.

---

Personal Stories and Anecdotes

Paul Bissonnette's Lost Phone Saga Adding a personal touch, Paul shares a relatable mishap about losing his wife's phone: "I ended up being the biggest loser of the clip because I killed a woman. I killed a woman," (01:04), humorously mixing it with pop culture references. This story not only provides levity but also underscores the hosts' camaraderie and ability to find humor in everyday frustrations.

Upcoming Adventures and Collaborations Mike Grinelli discusses exciting plans for upcoming adventures, including a hiking trip to Gatlinburg with producer Donnie Does. "We're going to be Dolly's world, exploring and having fun days," (04:03), he enthuses, hinting at potential collaborative content that blends outdoor activities with engaging discussions.

---

Interview with Brandon Hagel

From Undrafted to NHL Star Brandon Hagel offers an inspiring narrative of perseverance, detailing his journey from being undrafted to becoming a standout player in the NHL. He recounts, "I grew up playing on outdoor rinks in Alberta, honing my skills until I caught the eye of scouts in Red Deer" (75:25). His determination paid off when he was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks, leading to a breakout season that fueled his ascent in professional hockey.

Navigating Trades and Team Dynamics Brandon shares insights into the challenges and opportunities that come with being traded, particularly his transition to the Tampa Bay Lightning. "Playing with legends like Kucherov and navigating a new locker room dynamic was both intimidating and exhilarating," (75:40) he reflects. This experience has not only enhanced his gameplay but also broadened his understanding of team chemistry and leadership.

Coaching Mentors and Personal Growth A significant influence in Brandon's career has been his relationship with coach Brent Sutter. "Brent pushed me to my limits, ensuring I was prepared both on and off the ice," (85:11) Brandon emphasizes. This mentorship was crucial in developing his skills and fostering a mindset geared towards continuous improvement and resilience.

---

Interview with Kevin Lowe

A Storied Career with the Edmonton Oilers Kevin Lowe, a cornerstone of the Edmonton Oilers' dynasty, shares memories from his illustrious career spanning 19 NHL seasons and six Stanley Cup victories. Reflecting on his early days, Lowe recalls, "Wayne Gretzky skated up beside me during my first training camp and assured me I'd make the team," (132:52) highlighting the camaraderie and mentorship that defined the Oilers' success.

Leadership and Management Philosophy Transitioning from player to general manager, Lowe discusses his approach to team building and management. "Creating a strong leadership structure was key to sustaining our championship culture," (133:20) he explains. His tenure as GM emphasized developing young talent, fostering team cohesion, and maintaining the high standards set during the Oilers' peak years.

Challenges and Triumphs in Management Lowe delves into the complexities of managing a modern NHL team, balancing player development with competitive performance. "Navigating contract negotiations and maintaining team morale requires both strategic foresight and empathetic leadership," (139:30) he notes. His experiences offer valuable lessons on the intersection of sportsmanship, business acumen, and personal integrity within the high-stakes environment of professional hockey.

---

Upcoming Events and Seasonal Highlights

Winter Classic Excitement The hosts express anticipation for the upcoming Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, describing it as "an iconic event that brings together hockey fans from across the nation" (184:18). They encourage listeners to secure tickets early, highlighting the unique allure of experiencing top-tier hockey in a historic venue.

Charity and Community Engagement Emphasizing the podcast's commitment to giving back, Paul announces a special focus on breast cancer awareness merchandise, with proceeds benefiting related foundations. "We're dedicating November to Hockey Fights Cancer, ensuring that our community support goes hand-in-hand with our love for the game," (197:56) he affirms, showcasing the hosts' dedication to meaningful causes beyond the rink.

---

Conclusion

Episode 530 of "Spittin’ Chiclets" offers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of the NHL's current season, enriched by personal stories and in-depth interviews with Brandon Hagel and Kevin Lowe. The hosts' blend of humor, passion, and insightful analysis makes this episode a must-listen for hockey enthusiasts seeking both entertainment and thoughtful commentary.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette on Kyle Conner: "Kyle Conner right now holds the record for the longest point streak to start an NHL season." (12:15)

• Mike Grinelli on Kaprizov: "Kaprizov has demonstrated exceptional skill, making him one of the most exciting players to watch this season." (22:12)

• Paul Bissonnette on goaltender interference: "Goalkeeper interference is becoming a recurring headache for the NHL." (32:27)

• Kevin Lowe on mentorship: "Creating a strong leadership structure was key to sustaining our championship culture." (133:20)

---

For more insights and discussions from "Spittin’ Chiclets," tune in every Tuesday on your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Barstool Sports.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Shave his head.

[Brandon Hagel]

Shave his head.

[Mike Grinelli]

Shave his head. Ryan Whitney Paul Vincent Ra Mike Grinelli.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Spittin Chicklets. What up, what up folks? It's the wit dog here. I'm joined by Biz Nasty. Welcome to episode 530 of the Spit and Chicklets podcast. Incredible. 530 episodes. Holy biz. How was the weekend? How are you doing? Have you got, have you heard from Shohei Otani or Ashanti?

[Mike Grinelli]

Neither, but what a crazy game that was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was maybe the Most ridiculous like 90 second clip I've ever seen him. I mean me throw it in the rip.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, that's a, that's a big L for you right on the forehead. Now the fact that they, they mentioned hours later after that clip came out that she would be singing the national anthem. I was scouring the Internet, scouring my Twitter, seeing had they mentioned this at all where maybe people thought that we did that on purpose. But there was no mention of Ashanti singing that anthem. So just an all time coincidence happening. But I tell you what, if it wasn't for that fumble fuck of an inning for the Yankees, I think they would have came back and done it. Just how many errors?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think three. Judge had an error, Volpe had an error and then was it, was it.

[Mike Grinelli]

The all time Cole? That Cole pitcher, what the fuck was he doing? Why didn't he just run out to first base? That's what you're supposed to do as the pitcher.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that it was just a brain fart like. Yeah, you kind of fall asleep at the wheel a little bit and then boom. You think the first base is going to get there. But you know in sports, buddy, that extra split second, you're done, you're done. It's a game of inches. But I, I was enjoying the out of it. I mean I was loving it, loving seeing that happen to the Yankees. If the, if the Yankees hadn't won in 09, they'd be the biggest joke in baseball the last 20 years. I mean they got a rod, carried them to that one title in 09. So they got one since the collapse to the Red Sox. But I was actually thinking at the same time, while happy the Yankees were losing, I'm like if they somehow come back and win in this O Shanti Ashanti being dead or Alive. Like Aaliyah. It would have been an all time kind of chicklet story for us if we could have got the Yankees back into the series. And yes, you called sh otani maybe the greatest athlete in the world. O Shanti. But I, I ended up being the biggest loser of the clip because I killed a woman. I killed a woman. So I believe she's having Nelly's baby too. So, like, just, I hadn't heard her name in years.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like Nelly the rapper?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, like they're together. If you want to go and take a ride with me. Three. You know that song?

[G]

Wow.

[Mike Grinelli]

Two heavy hitters going at it like that. I didn't know they were together.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I, I don't.

[Mike Grinelli]

I.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Who knows if they're together?

[Mike Grinelli]

But are we gonna end up Maya culping us again, the whole podcast? Or are you making up?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Maybe she can. G can do a little. G can do a little digging. Hey, Barstool listeners, did you know Discover.

[Mike Grinelli]

Is accepted at 99 of places that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Take credit cards nationwide? That's right, 99%. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you'll automatically earn cash back. That could mean earning rewards when you.

[Mike Grinelli]

Buy those last minute tickets, those overpriced.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Concessions, and that takeout you ate at.

[Merle]

Home after you bailed on meeting your buddies at the bar.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, wherever you spend game day, remember.

[Merle]

It pays to Discover.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Based on February 2024 Nielsen report.

[Merle]

Learn [e-mail] credit card.

[Mike Grinelli]

So that could be pretty close to Nashville. Actually in the next week here, I'm going to a place called Gatlinburg with.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Where is that? Tennessee.

[Mike Grinelli]

It's actually closer to Knoxville, but it isn't in Tennessee. I'm going with Donnie Does. We're doing our first hiking experiment. We're going to be hanging out, doing some content. We're going to, we're going to Dolly's world. I'm sure she loves pink. Whitney. Dolly Parton, speaking of her own version of Graceland. So we're going to be exploring that. We're going to be on the Scooby Snacks and, and we're gonna have ourselves a couple fun days.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So basically you're just gonna be like, kind of like the way Nick and KB from Barstool would do the Rediscovering America with Donnie. It's gonna be you and him just, just, just filming stuff in, in the middle of Tennessee.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, we just, we were originally gonna, we planned on doing it in Vancouver. It didn't end up working out. We were gonna do the Grouse Grind Then go do another hike. Called the Chief and he livestreams his hikes. And I mean, he's just such an interesting guy. And I've obviously followed him since the beginning. He's got some of the best content, if not the best content at Barstool. He's done some wacky one offs where he went to that underground village in Vegas. Did you ever see that one where it's like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's like the penguin. It's like the real life penguin.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, yeah. Like, he's just. He's went to Mount Everest. He just did base camp. He didn't do the whole thing. I think it takes, like, quite a while to get acclimated as you go up and then have to come back down to all the altitudes. So he randomly ran into Kovalchuk's wife when he was at base camp of Everest. I think she ended up doing the whole thing. He was like messaging me like, hey, do you know this guy? Like, do you know Kovalchuk? I'm like, no. Other than the tweet I send out where I got my original Twitter canceled, that's the only connection I have to Kovalchuk. But I've just met her at the top.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He took a helicopter up there. I'm guessing you probably can't take a helicopter the top of Mount Ever, so that's probably that.

[Mike Grinelli]

You can't do that. No, no, you can't. No. You have to get a Charman and you have to go the Heel Toe Express. But he's done so many fascinating things. I'm fascinated by him. He's done all these treks overseas, so I figured he'd be a fun guy to collab with and who knows where it goes. But I think we're going to do the hike and then. And then film a podcast at the top of the hike and then see where it goes. And then hopefully it just leads to more and more adventures and eventually maybe even outside of North America. So how we landed on Gatlinburg, I don't know, but. But we had to stay in that pocket of the world because we're actually going to be heading on Saturday. So we're doing this on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And then on Saturday, I'm heading to see you in Florida with our boy Keith Yandel, who we were supposed to do this podcast with him, but considering we're going there to film a sandbagger in Florida this, this next week here, we figured, why not just do our podcast with Keith Yandel in person and we're going to Have a few special guests and we're going to be recording from my understanding at his crib. So it'll be a fun little week. So we got a lot in store for our chick listeners, including a little collaboration with Donnie Does.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I'm wondering, is this going to be micro dosing or is this like a macro dose type hike? Like, will you get mangled or will you just get happy?

[Mike Grinelli]

I think the plan was, is every mile that we trek, we do a Scooby Snack. Now that might get a little too out of hand. And by the time we'd have to record a podcast, we might just be drooling on ourselves. So I think we're going to like, well, we'll play it by ear. Let's just play it that way. We will be taking Ubers or, or, and, or have a driver because that's what the, the plan is. To get a little bit of silly. To get silly. Excuse me. Especially going to Dolly World. Like, I, I have no, I have no idea what to expect. I would imagine it's just like a bunch of like oversized bras and photos of her huge jammers along with a lot of her hit tunes and records on the wall. What else would Dolly Parton be famous for?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think she's considered a real legend in the, in the music industry now. This is like, we might as well be talking about like advanced geometry right now. Like, there's Dolly Parton. There's probably a couple Dolly Parton stands that are listening to this pod that are disgusted that you even mentioned, like, what else could I see at her.

[Mike Grinelli]

House besides I said, I said hit records and then, and then oversized bras. Because I think that she is known for her music and her fantastic jugs and I, I don't mind saying that about an el. Elderly woman because she, she runs a tight ship.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like I'm telling you right now, like.

[Mike Grinelli]

She might be the Google image.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I am on Google images that there cannot be a hotter 78 year old woman in the world. 78 years old. And if you saw her at Stampede, you'd be just like, hey baby, nice to. Nice to meet you. I'm Biz Nasty. Like, you would be right up in that biscuit.

[Mike Grinelli]

I would try to talk some game to, to Dolly Parton. I think she would shoo me away. I think she's probably fed up with the youngins like me. She wants a nice, mature man, probably someone a little closer to her age. But I think that anybody listening can respect the fact that she has a nice heavy set and that she is well known for. Maybe not just as much as her music for that, but pretty close.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, also coming in on the on the Notes app here. Nelly and Ashanti began dating in 2003. That's 21 years ago. Before breaking up and reuniting. Reuniting recently. They are now married and welcomed their first child together in July 2024. If that kid is not musically gifted, I'd be shocked. I mean as you said bangers back in the day. She's alive and well, just gave birth and Nelly has one of the all time albums. Country Grammar, I believe it was called. It was my senior year of high school. I was at the national program in Ann Arbor. Now currently in Plymouth, Michigan.

[Mike Grinelli]

How many times did you put belly button soup in your belly button? To tip drill.

[Paul Bissonnette]

To who?

[Mike Grinelli]

To tip drill. The. The music video tip drill.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So I don't know that one and I don't want to watch it now in case I get too excited while recording, considering there may be some children watching. But I was going to say we just listened every day front to back. It's not a bad song on that. On that album. And it was Nelly like all year long. Like all year long. So just an amazing, amazing couple, I think. And we kind of put them together maybe did we put them back on the map? That might be overreaching a tad. But I. I would like to think Ashanti's just back in the scene thanks to Shohei Ohtani and Paul.

[Mike Grinelli]

I would like to see her. Her downloads, her streams because that's what the. How they. That's how they. It really. I guess. What would you say that value the artist nowadays it's not about records sold. It's more about how they streaming. I would imagine her streaming numbers have escalated. Mentioned the O'Shanti, the collaboration. So I would agree with you. They. They have a lot to thank us for and the fact that their careers have been reignited. Anything else that you got into this weekend?

[Paul Bissonnette]

This weekend took. Took the boys and my buddy Reggie's kids and Billy Ryan, he scouts from Montreal. We went to the Michigan BU game Friday night. Michigan whooped them and they got this Michael Hagg kid. I don't know if you've heard about him. Stud first round pick from Montreal. So Bill's a Montreal scout. He'd been telling me all about him, seeing him play. Big righty, super skilled, nasty laterally. He got injured. He didn't even. He came back in the game, but he didn't play the second night. Michigan won both games. They won an OT5 4 after winning Friday. 5 1. But this kid, he looks legit. He is very good. Great skater, has sick hands. I think you're gonna see him being a really good player in the NHL based on what I saw in this one game, even though half of it he had come back from. From going down the tunnel. Had Wyatt at the game. That was his first game. Kind of a nightmare when he realized it wasn't a Leafs game. Like, I kept saying, we're going to a BU game. And for some reason in his mind, and then we got there very early to be able to get seats. There's a Mark Bavis box. Mark Bavis is. Is. Was a amazing person. He died on 9 11. He was a scout for the Los Angeles Kings. He played at bu. His twin brother Mike was my assistant coach while I was there. Awesome family. So they get. They have a box in his name that alumni can go to. So we get in early because I think there's about 15 seats in there. And we had. We had six kids, so I wanted to get the seats early. And Wyatt saw the Canadian flag, so he's like, maple Leafs, Maple Leaf. So then he still, for some reason thought it was a Maple Leafs game, but it was a. It's a. It's a red and white arena. And I. It was kind of a disaster when he realized that it wasn't a Leafs game. And he's still waiting for that jersey for everyone listening. Biz did call me post recording last week. He said, put me on speakerphone. And he's like, Wyatt, I. I'm telling him to give you the jersey. I'm telling him to give you the jersey. So kind of made a nightmare scenario for me there.

[Mike Grinelli]

And then they drop back to back games on their road trip. So at this point, I might fly to Boston and ring your goddamn neck out if you don't hand them that jersey. Because everything will turn when Squanto has his jersey. That's the. That. That. That's. That was the whole point in getting it for him, is we needed that luck early in the season on our side. The leafs always start out 500 after 12, 15 games. The sky's falling. Everybody in media is losing their fucking minds. Their power play can't get going. All I want is Squanto to have his fucking jersey. Now I'm going to try call child services on you November 16th. That.

[Paul Bissonnette]

November 16th. November 16th. He'll have that jersey and just watch the run they go on after that. They'll either win Every game or they'll be like some turning into the 1973 Philadelphia Flyers. So I don't know how that's gonna go. I also went through like. I think married people might. May see where I'm coming from on this A little bit more. My wife lost her phone yesterday. Now here's the thing. She lost her phone in the house. And when I kind of lose things, it's like I'm on my own. I'm like flipping out and I'm looking everywhere. But she's doing everything. She's cooking, she's cleaning, she's taking care of the kids. So I understand. Well, when she lost her phone, it was. The world has stopped, right? And the world is now going to be looking for my phone. And as I'm spending hours looking for this phone, hours I'm outside in the backyard with a flashlight and I'm just wondering, like, if this was my phone, would she be helping me the way I'm helping her? Like, how good of a husband am I? I don't really appreciate this right now. I wanted to watch the Penguin, which we already mentioned, this incredible show on hbo. It's starring Colin Farrell, who has a credible in it. It's. It's just an unreal show and it's not for people who don't like superhero stuff. I'm talk buddy Justin Miser, good friend of mine from Medina, Minnesota. He won't watch anything that's fake. Like that's his thing, which I kind of am. Like a little bit. Nothing fiction, nothing like fake, like nothing superheroes, nothing like Game of Thrones. He won't watch anything similar fake. Okay? This show, while you may see the Penguin and think of DC Comics or whatever the Batman is, it is straight mafia show and it's phenomenal. And I can't recommended enough to anyone. But instead of watching the second to last episode, I am in a. I have a flashlight and I'm on this grass that's now getting a little frosty as it cooled a little bit overnight. And I'm looking for my wife's phone. And he looked and looked and looked and she didn't find it. And she went and bought a new one today. And what, her phone's eleven hundred dollars? I don't know. And what happens? The cleaning lady comes today and finds her phone.

[Mike Grinelli]

Where was it?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't even know. She just came in here, right? Yes. Hold me the phone. I'm like, can you return the other phone? I mean, it's just one of those things where I Think husbands. Know what I'm saying? Like, why she does everything for me.

[Mike Grinelli]

You know what you should get her for Christmas is on those Apple watches. When you lose your phone, you can make a setting where all of a sudden it'll keep beeping until you find it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You can do that. You can do that even without an Apple watch. You can do that on Find my iPhone. But we did that, and I taught her all about it, and I said, you can go on, sign in your Apple id, and you could pick the device you want to find, and you can set off a little flare and boom, boom, boom, bing, bing, bing, bing. It's making noises. Well, she. She hadn't turned that on, but somehow that was kind of, like, my fault a little bit. It's just like, I think married guys know. Well, I will say this again. She does everything. I'm lost puppy without her.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like, what do you. When you say everything? Is she paying all the.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't think.

[Mike Grinelli]

Is she going on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

She would have been helping me find my phone like I was biz.

[Mike Grinelli]

Is she going online, making sure all the bills are paid? Like your gas bill? Like, when you say we.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I, I. My accountant pays all the bills. I'm talking to three children under the roof.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, those people.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, you know, the, The.

[Mike Grinelli]

The.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The. The dinner, the packing of the lunches, the buying of the clothes, the doing of the laundry, the changing of most of the diapers. All the things that really. The list. The list goes on and on. You know what I mean? Like, signing them up for gold.

[Mike Grinelli]

But I believe you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So it was. It was kind of a long Sunday night looking for a cell phone that. That then was found by the cleaning lady. So I. I know. I digress. I want to shout out Mikey Granalli. We will get into hockey, folks. Mikey Grinelli. What an episode of Chiclets.

[Mike Grinelli]

You. That dropped a couple clicks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Couple clicks. Not too many, because the clicks are really, really deserved by the. The army student recruit warriors, however we want to call them. But I had a former army hockey player actually reach out to me, and he was just so grateful and saying thanks for. For shining some spotlight on these. These men and these women who. Who are just incredible. Like to see what they do, to see how beautiful that campus was. The video came out amazing. So shout out. You, Pasha, Fishy, everyone involved. Good job.

[Merle]

Thank you. Yeah, it was an awesome video. The reception has been incredible. Shout out to coach Riley, who is in his final year, 21 years at the helm O'Reilly has been behind the bench since 1950 at army, so it was crazy. We got to sit down, chat with him for about 40 minutes. We did the tour with Captain Mikey Sacco. Got to go in the dining hall, which is called the mess hall, which is, which was incredible, but it was really cool at the end. You know, we got to hit the trail, the fallen. I talked about it briefly last week, but the trail of the fallen is, you know, you take this rock up this two mile hike and at the, at the top of the, at the top of the mountain, you basically put down a rock for someone who gave the ultimate sacrifice. And at the end of the video, you know, Mikey Sacco made an amazing speech and then coach kind of took over and, and kept it going and you know, talked about what it means to be an army hockey player and you know, blocking a shot. You know, there's, there's so many simple things like that that it's such a minor thing to them, you know what I mean? Where there's so much, so much bigger stuff out there that they're worried about that they have to go face after their hockey career ends. So we dedicated the video to, to Major Thomas Kennedy and first Lieutenant Derek Hines, who, who gave the ultimate sacrifice and lost their life in battle. Two former army hockey players where like right when you walk in the team room, Derek Hines team room, Derek Hines quotes everywhere, pictures of him everywhere, you almost get chills because you're inspired by this guy and, and everything he stood for. So yeah, thank you guys for pointing out the video. Go watch it now on YouTube and rumble. And it was, it was really, it was really fun to film. We didn't want to just rinse and repeat this year, you know, hit no dac. You know, all these amazing schools with these amazing facilities, but there's so much more to college hockey than, you know, an anti anti gravity room or a high altitude room. There's the stories of the players at army who aren't gonna go play pro after hockey, but man, are they some interesting guys. So yeah, go watch that now. And we had a blast filming it.

[Mike Grinelli]

So definitely the most emotional one you've done so far. That was your sixth Chicletsu video. And like you said, still cool to highlight all the, the facilities that some of these programs have, but this one was obviously a little bit deeper. Would there be another university that, that obviously it's not going to be army, but has a similar story, like does Navy have a hockey team?

[Merle]

No, Navy doesn't. But it was cool Biz That's a great question because in the video I learned about the rmc, the Royal Military, the. The Canada's Armed Forces.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I never heard of that team either.

[Merle]

Me either. And they, and they play against army every year. And you know, I went in there thinking air Force, Army, Air Force, Army, Air Force. That's the big rivalry. And then you talk to the guys and, and in the room they have this giant cup and it's from 1923. It's huge. We talk about it in the video and, and they're, they're one of their biggest rivals as they talk about is. Is rmc. It's USA versus Canada. That's their, like, you know, best on best. And it's. Yeah, it was really cool to learn about that. Learn about the power of one they had. There's so many intricate things about this school that just make it really unique and special. So yeah, it was, it was fun to film. And then there was the IOTC challenge, which that was about as embarrassing as it gets. Like I, I sent you guys the email the day after the, the day after the video released. I emailed my old trainer and I said, sign me up for sessions. This is, this was bad to be, to be.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's like G enlisting in the army. Him going to eight training sessions. He's gonna be walk walking the Olympics.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's talking about blocking shots not being a big deal. Like he wasn't flamingo and out of the way at Burlington high of a 73 mile an hour.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, he was an offensive defenseman. He was like, he was like Yance. He. His job wasn't to block shots.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I, I mean I was a shot blocker. So I'm able to kind of tell and sniff out the people who got out of the way. Derek Hines, actually from Massachusetts, played at St. John's Prep. They still have a memorial game every year for him, I believe. And I talked to a friend of mine who had played with him there. He said he was one of the fastest skaters he's ever seen. So, you know, an amazing person. And same with Major Thomas Kennedy. So a great video, G. That's a. It's a job well done. It's a job well done.

[Mike Grinelli]

You and Fishy did an incredible job.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Keep it going, Keep it going. And I guess we could keep it going with some positivity. Right? That's what you get out of watching that video in Army. And there's some positive things going on in the NHL right now. Best. There's some teams that are very Happy with where they're at. They're very happy with how things going. On the flip side, there are ones that are maybe panicking a little bit. Little disappointment so far. But on the bright side of this league and these teams buzzing right now, the Winnipeg jets feel like a broken record. I know, I know. I. But what do we. You. You can't. You can't not talk about them.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, I mean, when you're about to reach wagon status, you can't not mention the teams that are going to reach wagon status. And the front runner right now is the Winnipeg Jets. Witty.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I looked at their record in the last nine games, so they're eight and one now. I will say. I will say they haven't beat the best of teams lately. I'm not dogging them. I'm not calling them frauds. I love the vibe in the building. Kyle Conner, I cannot wait to watch him in. Best on best. The kid is a joke out there. Dominating, I believe. One more game and he ties Kevin Stevens for the most games in a row with a point to start an NHL season. He's at 12. Kevin Stevens did it 13 games in a row already. What a legend that guy is. And Kyle Conner right now continues to impress me. And he has every season, very quietly, kind of because of the Jets. But their wins in the last nine games, eight of them, they beat the Sharks. I mean, come on. They beat Pittsburgh. Horrible. But maybe looking a little better. I don't know. They. They beat St. Louis, they beat Seattle, they beat Calgary. They then lost to Busy's Leafs. They beat Detroit, Detroit, Columbus, and then they got Tampa on Sunday.

[Mike Grinelli]

What are you going to do here? What are you going to do? You're going to. You're going to try and rag on them after the start?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, no, I'm keeping. I'm a realist and I'm somebody that's. While being excited and happy for a Canadian city. And apparently the attendance issues you brought up have gone up. They've gotten a little better, I think. Maybe Only one sellout so far this year, which was the Leafs. And you know, the contingent of Leafs fans across Canada might have. Have definitely had something to do with that. So a little surprising. A little surprising, but it's better than it was last year.

[Mike Grinelli]

Wendy from Winnipeg is fucking punching her steering row right now. The fact that we were trying to start off all positive and then you're ragging on the teams they beat. It's early in the season. Witty boy. All the teams are good. The parodies.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I like this team a lot and they own Edmonton. So I'm not dogging them.

[Mike Grinelli]

I'm just bringing up the most exciting team in the league right now. They have the highest amount of goals scored through their first watch. What? 12 games, 59 goals they got so far right now. Okay, and you mentioned Kyle Connor, shaken bacon out there. One of the nicest. Like he's probably one of the least talked about superstars in the league because he's playing in Winnipeg. Just his one on one game and how slippery he is. I. He ended up getting hurt the other night when Kucherov got him from behind. But thankfully for Winnipeg fans like a sigh of relief as he goes down the tunnel because of the spotter. They check him out and he's good to go. But I want to say it's the longest. It's. It's. It's the longest streak to start a season with a point. Consecutive streak in their franchise's history. Right. To start the season, there was a guy in their franchise who had a 15 game point streak. Do you remember who that was?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm gonna get, I'm gonna. I don't know. I mean it's gotta be Timu.

[Mike Grinelli]

No, now keep in mind when they're.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's not their fight.

[Mike Grinelli]

We're going, we're going Thrashers and we're going jets here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was it Kovalchuk?

[Mike Grinelli]

No, it was not Hosa. It was nobody. 15 game point streak in his second season. Patrick Line A holds the record for longest point streak in that organization's history. That was the season he had 44 goals, 70 points. And that still holds up as the longest point streak. Now, to start the season, I want to say Koval Chuk had a very similar pace. Maybe he had points in the first 10 games to start when he was an Atlanta Thrasher, but nonetheless, Kyle Connor now holds that record. Another record for one of their players, Nikolai Ers. He becomes the highest scoring Danish player to ever play in the National Hockey League. Do you know who he passed?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Come on. I'm trying to. So he, he's got a. What does he have? 450ish points now?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Danish player had that. I can only think of. I don't know.

[Mike Grinelli]

I'm going to give you a clue.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Mike Grinelli]

He played for the New York Islanders and the Detroit Red Wings.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Franz Nielsen.

[Mike Grinelli]

Franz Nielsen.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Franz Nielsen.

[Mike Grinelli]

He was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I remember he was silky, but I wouldn't have thought he had that many points. I mean, that's a good number.

[Mike Grinelli]

Me neither. And he didn't really start his career off that hot when he was with the Islanders, it was kind of towards the middle and end of his career where he was getting in that 20 goal range every year and just kept chipping away. But yeah, I mean, shout out to Nikolai Ers, man, like I talked about him last podcast. Now, out of that core group of players who they want to keep, he's obviously one of them. But I think there might be an issue right now because Kyle Connor is obviously getting those minutes where he's playing 20, 21 minutes a night, where ERS is kind of that second fiddle guy, where some of the nights he's coming in at 16, 17, where my understanding is they tried to lock him up and offered him a contract. Whereas of right now he's saying, I think I can go somewhere else and get a better payday and get those minutes. So he's proven it all right now and that's a great one two punch for the Winnipeg jets and, and a big reason why they're the highest scoring team in the National Hockey League right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So anytime I see somebody that just is coming up on that free agency July 1st and they just light it up, I, I, it makes me so genuinely happy for them, them. Like it is your time to show up and perform and if you do, you're going to make so much more money than if you did not. And 17 points already he's got, is that what he's at? 17 points in 12 games now another guy on the team I do have to bring up and, and this Winnipeg love isn't we, we always get chirped for not talking about him. And the playoffs were the playoffs. I'm not being negative, but Josh Morrissey and what he's done, it's such an, an odd, rare case to see his career arc and how it's happened because everyone's always known, even ever since he was drafted, like great skater, sees the ice well, overall awesome defenseman, right? And he comes into the NHL and you see right away like he spends one year in the AHL, has 22 points, okay, nothing crazy. And then he gets 20 his rookie year in the NHL and 26, 31, 31, 21 one. Then he hops up to 37. But we're now talking six, seven years where you usually see, all right, this is who a guy is, this is the player he is. And all of a sudden I don't know what this guy did, but he is an offensive power from the back end now. He went from 37 points, he jumped up to 76 last year, he repeated it. 69 points. Nice in 81 games and 15 points in 12 games. So as, as, as a former offensive defenseman, defensively challenged, unlike him, I, I never remember seeing somebody just kind of quietly, which is 30 and then the 37 points. It's nice, it's great, Great chip in, nice player. But to then pop up to 76 and 69, it's, it's very rare to see that later in a career.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, no doubt. I think probably a lot has to do with Paul Maurice and giving him those reigns. And of course, like we always talk about their top nine and some of the offensive guys first few lines. So he's getting to play power play with those guys as well. So the way that they're snapping around, I want to say their power play is first in the league and it's clicking at 44%. They look like the goddamn Edmonton Oilers from last year and the year before that. So it's, it's pretty remarkable what they're doing right now, even from a full body of work. They've allowed the fifth fewest goals as well. That probably has a lot to do with Hellebuck as well. But overall their, their team defensive game and the way they're able to play in their own end has a lot to do with their success early on. Best differential in the whole NHL. They're, they're, they're outscoring what they're giving up 2 to 1. They're plus 29 goal differential.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you look at all defense too, high scoring defense.

[Mike Grinelli]

So they're getting between him and Pian and you know, I, I, I thought their defense would have dwindled a little bit without Dylan. Not, not from an offensive perspective, but just having a big body back there, a good, I would say a, a good second line pairing guy, A guy who could add toughness and, and, and maybe determine the opposition to getting to the net front. But everyone to a man on that team is playing incredible hockey right now. They came in and hit the ground running and took all that adversity they'd faced in that first round last year after getting embarrassed and shoving up everybody's hoop. And I think it goes without saying we said it last podcast about Hellebuck and his numbers. I wrote down some of the stuff that he's got going on right now. Obviously he's won two Vesnas looking for his third. He's sixth in goals against average. He's eighth and save percentage. He's first in wins and he's sixth in playing Time. So they rely pretty heavily on the guy as well. And one thing that did pop up, though, and we can get in discussion about this, there was a goal against Tampa Bay, and you were pretty fired up about it. You think it's ridiculous. You've seen a few shady ones scored or even disallowed on your Edmonton Oilers. It's this whole goaltender interference. I feel like we haven't talked about it this much since the foot in the crease year with the Brett hall situation. So there was one that was scored by the Tampa Bay Lightning that you thought for sure was getting called back. And actually his father, Chuck Hellebuck, took to Twitter to be like, what the fuck is going on here, NHL, this is bullshit. Now, I'll let you describe the goal and what you thought of it watching it in real time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Chuck Hellebuck. What a name. Quickly, like, Chuck Hellebuck. I mean, that guy has to be the man. Hey, I'm Chuck Hellebuck. Oh, can we be friends? So he went on Twitter and he actually tweeted out. He retweeted the video of the goal, the goal that stood somehow. And he said, I tuned in late to see this on replay. Geeky number 14 lifts his pad with his stick and then pushes his pad into the net, never touching the puck, then falls on him. And that's not goaltender interference. Question mark, exclamation point. Come on, Go at NHL Jets. So I was watching the game. Fast pace, Good game.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Winnipeg comes back to gets the and gets the victory.

[Mike Grinelli]

Merles, before the game goes, there's gonna be 12 goals here tonight. There almost was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And there was 11. And there was 11. But yeah, I, I, I, I hate being the guy to kind of like, bring up something that, that is currently a headache and will only get worse for the National Hockey League. And that is the goaltender interference. I wrote back to Chuck, I said, chuck, you just got to flip a coin, bud. Because I, I, there's a chance, no offense to these guys who do good work and, and they work their ass off in making the NHL the wonderful product that we see, but they have an issue with golden interference. And I think there' flipping a coin. Because this one biz, I don't know if you've actually, have you watched the replay of the goal biz? Have you seen it yourself?

[Mike Grinelli]

The pushing of the pad and the fact that he doesn't make contact with a puck. Like, that's what's crazy about it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And you, it, it's like he's like, it's like he's pushing a shovel that's getting snow off of the outdoor rink. How he's pushing his pad.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, it felt even worse. It felt worse than the one that they even allowed against Edmonton that Michkov scored that first one where I felt like almost he'd pushed.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And that was the same day ISS on in Tampa about two hours earlier. Got one taken back. But it's. It's crazy, buddy. It's crazy. And what I'm. What I'm worried about and could see happening is a Stanley Cup Final game being decided on one of these goals, where it's game five of the Cup Final, third period, three minutes left, and there's millions of people watching the replay and nobody has a goddamn clue, including the guys making the decision in the office. That is what scares. And that brings us back to the Winnipeg jets and Connor Hellebuck, because he was the one that was on the wrong side of this push by Geeky. And the. The goal stood. And he's probably furious. You saw God Arnel on the bench and he's like. When they said goal and then they gotta go on the penalty. You gotta get a penalty kill because you get the penalty for. For challenging the goal. So he's like, what the fuck? And Hellebuck mentions. And I don't know if he mentioned this after the game or a prior time. Apparently he put together like a presentation. I mean, something where he put a lot of effort and time into talking and bringing to the NHL what he thought could be a baseline for making this, as he put it, more black and white from the goalies perspective.

[Mike Grinelli]

From the goalie's perspective. Yeah. To break it down a little bit more. Do you want me to read off the tweet and what you're talking about? This is from Marat Eights. I want to say that's his name. I hope I'm not that up at. @wpg marat. And it's. Connor Halbuk said that a couple of years ago he made a lengthy presentation with detailed interpretations of goaltender interference charts, video, his viewpoint, the whole nine yards. Says he. He knows the NHL has this presentation, doesn't know if they do anything with it. So I would imagine that's probably in Gary Bettman's junk box right now, and he has not gotten it. But. But I would. I would pay money to see this breakdown and presentation done by Connor Haluk. I would love to see the pie chart, the bar graphs, the whole nine yards. Folks, give me this breakdown by Connor Haluk. And I want to See Chuck there as a psychic.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It, It's. It's like the JFK files that, like, the government has, like, what else do you think's in Gary's box that, like, we can never see besides the Heluck presentation?

[Mike Grinelli]

Go. Here we go.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We might ignore that. We might ignore that one right now, but staying in the central biz. Positivity, positivity. Tuesday here at Spit and Chicklets on election day, the Minnesota Wild. And you know what? I am happy for them. And I tweeted out, I think in game three. I really like this team. I enjoy watching them play. Bill Garon. We are biased. He is a friend of ours. He hops on the show in the Central division preview and he busts our balls. Legend, player. Now he's doing a hell of a job as a gm. This team is must watch. And it's must watch because of Kirill Capri soft. And I, I texted the group the other day, like, this guy, like, reminds me of Kucherov a lot. And it's not just the Russian thing. It's the way that he can slow down a game. And we have Brandon Hagel coming on this episode along with Kevin Lowe. We did that back in the cup finals. But both these guys and Hagel's talking about Kucherov and his ability to slow the game down and, and Capri sauce, the same thing. I watched the Leafs game Sunday. Awesome game. They ended up wild winning overtime on a beautiful Matt Boldy breakaway. But Caprice off, he's in the offensive zone and the puck just follows him. Which I think some people, maybe if you never played hockey, you're not sure. It almost looks lucky. But it's hockey IQ and it's knowing where to be on the ice. And like the famous Gretzky quote of. I was a good player when I went to the where the puck was and I became a great player when I went to where the. The puck was going. Caprio knows. And then he wins battles. Dude, like, he. He has that Kucherov fire in him too, where he's leading the league in scoring. He's up for a contract at some point. I think he. Does he have one more year?

[Mike Grinelli]

I believe five year deal where he made nine and a half. I want to say he's got this year and then next year.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So he's eligible for a new deal this summer.

[Mike Grinelli]

Correct.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I don't know if, if you watched. I know you watched the game. I don't know if you agree with me on. On kind of just the puck following him and the way it's always on his stick. It's crazy.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. And not to take anything away from his line mates, I think he's had great chemistry with, with Zuccarello, but he could play with two of me and he'd still put up the numbers that he puts up. He's a freak of nature. And. And they were having a discussion. I want to say it was Futs who was doing a sportsnet show and they were talking about, you know, is he a top five player in the NHL? And based on his five on five production, I think over the course of the last five years he's fifth on most goals four. And when you could produce five on five over his last 20 games, he's got 23 five on five points. So it's not like he's just this power play merchant. His ability to score five on five is really how you evaluate players in today's NHL because of how hard that is to do. With 21 points through his first 10 games of the season, which is a franchise record, do you know who's next on the list for them?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm assuming Gabor.

[Mike Grinelli]

Gabor and Koivu with 14. So he has seven more points through 10 games. And that was done, I think by Gabric and 03 and then it was done by Koivu in 09. So just an absolute electric factory to start. And I don't know what else you could say other than he's must watch. He's. He's got to be up for the heart. He's got to be a top three candidate this early in the season. And he just continues to produce and put that team on his back. Now another thing too, that's been huge for the Minnesota wins.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Wow.

[Mike Grinelli]

We'll get back to some even crazier career stats that I was looking up just because of his start. But they got Spurgeon back the last three games.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yep. Okay, so they got Apples against Toronto.

[Mike Grinelli]

Buddy. The unbelievable play on the OT goal when Max Domy punted it to try to make the safe play by finding.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Doing. What was he doing? No, I think. Funny. It was funny. It was a funny clip.

[Mike Grinelli]

I know. I know it's a funny clip. But I think that he knows that he's going to get caught by Spurgeon. He doesn't see the. His own teammate behind him a little bit who he could have shoveled it off to to buy himself a little bit more time. And just a great heads up play by not only Brodine, I forgot who the other forward was. And Spurgeon hustling back and knowing those guys are on the same page and sets him up for that breakaway pass. But to go back to what I was saying, so Spurgeon and Brody linked up. They played 12 minutes total against the top two lines for the Maple Leafs. They didn't allow one shot on net.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's crazy.

[Mike Grinelli]

Opposition 13 1. I think that they had two shot attempts against and they had 24, 4. So to do that against the top two lines for the Maple Leafs at home, when you're coming off of an injury and you've only played three games in which he's plus five and now he's got two assists, the fact that they were doing what they were doing without him as their top pairing defenseman, now he's back in the lineup. They're looking even better with that shutdown pair. So just a credit to what they got cooking in Minnesota. Minnesota, they worked their bag off. Heinz deserves a lot of credit for the way that he's implemented structure and, and how they look and how they play. Not only five on five, but through their special teams. But it's just been fun to watch and I'll hand it over to you. I wrote down a couple more Kirill stats which are just remarkable, but I'll have to shuffle through my pages here to find them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, you.

[Mike Grinelli]

You did what seven straight multi point games he had going before that Leafs game game. And only five players since the start of the O 2000, 2001 season to get that many points, to get 21 points in the first 10 games of the season. Only five players have done it. Can you name those players? I know you can name a few of them. Since 2001, 2000, 2001, five players have started out with 21 points or more in the first 10 games of the season. Season.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm going to go Jagger in like that New York season. McDavid.

[Mike Grinelli]

McDavid's done it twice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Crosby.

[Mike Grinelli]

Nope.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Kucherov.

[Mike Grinelli]

Nope.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Jagger didn't do it when he had 125 points. Krov hasn't done it.

[Mike Grinelli]

Nope.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I got McDavid.

[Mike Grinelli]

McDavid's done it twice. Your boy Leon Draisaitl has done it twice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How about what he's doing right now? What a horse. Who else? Who are the other three?

[Mike Grinelli]

I think this one will very much surprise you. Who also did it twice in that period of time? Mario Lemieux.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Mario Lemieux was thinking Lamux was still open it up.

[Mike Grinelli]

He came back around and he did it two more times had hot starts like that. And this one I think will surprise a lot of people. Thomas Vanek did it in Buffalo. 2012, 2013.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Thomas Vanik was disgusting. Disgusting, disgusting. For anyone who wants to remember Thomas Vanik, like even before NHL, go watch him in the Frozen four from Minnesota in the national title game against University of New Hampshire. That guy, fifth overall pick maybe in 03 04. He was unbelievable. He was. I forgot about Thomas vanik. He had 21 point what he finished with that year.

[Mike Grinelli]

No idea what season it was. I think it might have been big head hockey that posted that. And I was just fascinated by the fact that only five guys had started out that, that hot to start an NHL season in, in the first, first 10 games of the year. That and that was starting in 2000, 2001 season. That, that, that's when that, that stat.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Nice stat, nice stat.

[Mike Grinelli]

I was digging because I, I mean everybody's talking about Kirill the Thrill in the Minnesota Wild and we don't get to shine enough love on them, especially you know, the way the last couple seasons have going. But the fact that they're dealing with the, the, the buyouts and they've had this hot of a start, it's great to see. And you talk about this hot start start. I think 41 goals through their first 11 games of the season is the most in franchise history as well. So they've had a hard time scoring goals over the years and this year not so much a problem for them. And it's because a lot of guys are healthy up front. And another reason for that is boldy. We had, we had Billy G on before the season saying, you know, when you're dealing with young players, it always comes down to consistency. Last year he had a bit of a rocky start start. He still ends up finishing with a crazy amount of goals because he got hot towards the end. Billy G said, hey, if he puts together a full season, he could be a 50 and 50 guy. Well, he's not shy off that pace right now with the hot start that he's had and obviously good chemistry going on between those guys right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Billy Garon being the man in charge of Team usa, like you gotta think he's on the team. You gotta think that he knows like this guy is that good. I get to watch him every day in practice and games. I want him on this squad squad. He's younger, you know, he's ready then for the Olympics the following year. I, I, I love Matt Bowley's game that little shimmy shake head fake on the breakaway was dirty made. Stole our flag of flying to the wrong corner as he shelved it. The crowd looked like it was electric, which it always end is in Minnesota. And I guess the last thing for them Gustafson's been their horse. He's got a.924 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against. But we got to see Mark on Andre Flurry play what'll probably be his last game in Pittsburgh this past week. And that was just, that was so cool. We saw our girl Jen. They had him cut that cut, cut off the netting. So he got to keep the net, the, the net from the net, the goal. Holy wit. And just seeing Flurry's big smile and I was actually thinking like he's 39, he turns 40. Actually he's got the same birthday as Ryder, November 28th. Because they were saying, oh, he turns 40 November 20th. It says said no. And he is still doing it. He's still out there. And when he gets the chance to go in, he gets the win against the Penguins. And it's just so cool to see him kind of get this year where Montreal will honor him being a French Canadian and, and just how good of a guy is. It was an awesome, awesome night. And the picture of Latang himself, Gino and Sid, it was great, I guess. Army told us that the night before the game. I think himself, himself, Talbot, who was in town to see Flurry, they're such close friends. Sid, Latang, Billy G and maybe Malkin and Army all went out to dinner, right? I said, oh fuck, poor Army. Only guy at the table without a ring, but it must have been a blast. And the fact that Billy G's flowers, GM and they were all on that same cup team that I got traded from. Suck it again with. It's just a cool thing to see him go back to Pittsburgh one final time. And he gets there as an 18 year old old with the yellow pads, this superstar first overall pick and he's back there for his final game with his three kids and his wife in a different jersey after a career that'll end up in the hall of Fame. So a really cool thing for him.

[Mike Grinelli]

You mentioned that he, he, he'll be going back to Montreal. And when we had Matson, he talked about Gila Fleur and how when he had this standing O in Quebec, that was 15 minutes and not to be outdone in Montreal, they did 17 minutes. Do you think Mark Andre Fleury gets like a lengthy standing Ovation. Do you think he gets like a 10 minute standing goal?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I know he never.

[Mike Grinelli]

No, I understand.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Play for the Canadians.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So I think it'll be a, a nice big round of applause, maybe a stand up, but it won't be like he. Yeah, like Carrie Price would get that before Flurry in Montreal. You know what I'm saying?

[Mike Grinelli]

All right, fair enough. Fair enough.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, I appreciate that. So on the list of the positivity and the teams that continue to rip up this league, we have the Washington Capitals next. But you know what? They got beat by the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday and I think that that means we should maybe talk about Carolina because another mayor culpa for your boy. I was like, oh, man. Before the season, I don't know, they lost a lot there. The, the heartbreak of not getting Gensel to sign back. And this looked like a team that, that wasn't primed and, and as ready to dominate the regular season as they had going into this season. It just seemed different, I think. What are they, nine and two now? Biz. They're, they're, they're looking phenomenal. And this Mark Martin nature is dominating. He's. He's lighting the league on fire. And it's after a summer in which there was discussion of being. Him being traded, him not wanting to be there. He was, I think, mentioned as the guy that would have been the big one if, if Elias Pedersen had been traded from Vancouver before the deadline and going back to Vancouver, maybe, maybe Vancouver fans would actually kind of. I wouldn't mind having him right. Right now, but at a discount. What have you seen in car? Like, what do you like with Carolina? Are you as surprised as me that they look this good with this much change?

[Mike Grinelli]

No, they just come out so hard. Like they just skate. They just skate, right. They just cover so much ice throughout the game. So it's just business as usual. They're getting great goaltending from Anderson. Gossip, spare. Like how is. How did nobody sign that guy? What an incredible move. He ended up going there at the deadline. A few years back, I think it was Arizona who ended up dealing him and he fit right in like a glove. And then he ended up, I think was in Detroit last year and they ended up getting. Getting him back where he's a great offensive defenseman, can really carry a power play, but not really that much of a liability defensively. And I think it just goes back to the fact that they all work well as a unit. Man, it's five guys every time you step over the boards. The way that they're playing man on man D, where, listen, we don't need to get into the fact whether we think that that fizzles out come playoff time time or whether they don't have enough game breakers to get themselves over the hump. But when you got guys like Svetchtikov doing what he's doing and then specifically nature, like, I think the issue with nature was kind of like we were talking about Ehlers, where when Gensel, if Gensel's there, you know, he's kind of got his. His time and. And the players ahead of him who are getting that ice time, he felt that if he got that ice time, he could produce what they were doing. And I think that that's where the battle was. So he takes that bridge deal and right now, man, the way that he's going, if he could do this throughout the course of the whole season, he might be like. He might be like the other one we were talking about in Capri. Soft re up and come July 1st. So just. I guess I'm. I guess I'm not as surprised about their hot start because they always start. Start hot because they're always prepared coming into the year. I'm just more interested to see where it goes from here. Like, is this still a team that could end up winning their division? Like, do you think that they could overtake the Rangers? Like, do you think that they're that good?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know. Like, I. Shurin right now is so darn playing so insane that I don't even know if the Rangers are as good as, like, their. Their record says, because he's just. He's unbeaten. The guys, he's a freak show. Even when they lose. He's making like five ridiculous saves a game. So I think they could. And now if you look at Carolina, like, looking at their roster right now, what's kind of crazy is, like, Jarvis, it's 10 games, so they're eight and two. I said nine and two. Jarvis has. Has only three goals in 10 games, so you know that'll end up changing. But like Roslovich, he's got six goals already. That's a guy like, where, you know, where does he fit in? He was. He was on the Rangers last year. Like, he seems to have success early on and then kind of fall down the lineup on other teams that can.

[Mike Grinelli]

Just, like, their team in general.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, but net. Just like, I think part of it is that defensively, I think Brindamore was always asking for a little bit more. Like, he's like, I. I know that there's more that you can give on the other side of the puck, and maybe now it's lack of options and lack of gentle. And no matter what, he's getting the minutes, but it seems like Brindamore is pretty honest in terms of, like, you're going to get the minutes if, if I trust you out there. And offensively, I don't think there's ever been a question and now he's just. He's doing it at an even crazier level. So the team now. Freddie Anderson's now injured. I don't think it's that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Come on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that is that.

[G]

It's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's crazy. It's. And they're never like super season ending and one of them was the blood clot. So that's not injury prone. Right. That's just bad, brutal luck. But that's the qu. Like, what do you. What do you do? What do you do in net? Can. Can you. Can you rely on him? Like, we think we can win a Stanley cup every year with this roster. We. We've been close. Eastern Conference finals, second round. It's just we haven't been able to get over the hump. We need goaltending and when Anderson's in, he's great and he's just not in that much. So that's a question we can kind of keep our eye on.

[Mike Grinelli]

No doubt, no doubt. You did mention I don't really have much else on Carolina, but just wash from last week when we recorded OVI only had two goals. A little bit of a slow start, but then boom, boom, boom, boom. He's got five goals since we last recorded, so now he's got seven. And now he's actually on pace to beat Wayne Gretzky's record at the end of this year. I will say this on behalf of. Of a hockey fan, or I was assume the NHL is hoping that we can stretch this out at least to the beginning of next season to really highlight this. I personally, I don't know, man. I want to see him get very close and not break it this year.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Disagree with you.

[Mike Grinelli]

I disagree with you. I think you're a. We need to stretch this out, buddy. Next year, let's say he's eight goals away during the doldrums of the season where we're battling against football and all these other sports, college football, NFL. I want October, November to be OV watch at the beginning of next season. I want them to have success. I want them to make playoffs this Year I want them to get what, 35 goals. But I want them to leave a little fat on the bone for us NHL folks fan. So we can squeeze every last bit of entertainment out of this next year. We gotta win.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So he's 34 away from tying. I believe it's. He's at 860 now. 894. Make sure G believes the record, okay? He needs 35 more to break it. That would give him 42 this season. And to me it's like 39 years old. This sick fuck. He ends up doing it with 42 goals as a 39 year old. Like that adds to me when you're saying like he's 8 to 10 away. It's like, no, buddy, he ripped up 42 as a 39. I'm 41. You've seen my body. You're 39 as well, biz like scoring 40. Did you see him now you can't even just dislocate your back after doing yoga.

[Mike Grinelli]

One I would have pulled my L5s one the way he was back checking two games ago. Did you see that back check all the way from the ozone all the way to the, to the top of the. I, I. Hey, I would, I would put money on the fact that he's on the gas though. After that, I think after that slow start, something happened and then all of a sudden he's back checking that fast. Five goals in a week. You got to imagine he's doing a couple those balloons. Remember the way Dalman described it? I think he's for sure on it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'd love one of those balloons looking for my wife's cell phone. Just balloon me and then I'll just search around, find it in two seconds.

[Mike Grinelli]

The other. I mean, I know we mentioned Stromer last pod, but you still got to stick with him. He's. I think he's eighth in scoring right now in the league. Maybe 10th, 17 points. And it goes back. There was a that big head hockey was talking about it too. It's that I think it was the 2015 draft. You got Kirill, Connor, Strom Eichel and Ran and all at the top of the league and scoring right now. So sometimes it takes him a little bit of time to get going. But they're getting some good production from that 2015 draft.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And we talked to Brandon Hagel actually about being on the Blackhawks with Stro and if he could tell how good he was going to be. And so you can listen to that to hear a little bit more about him. And then I think Connor McMichael is someone who, it's a, it's a cool story because it's a high draft pick that didn't, didn't go in and light it up like these, these aliens who dominate the league as 19 year olds. That's not real life. That's not normal. Normal. Give some time, give some patience. And now you're seeing a player, this guy's making plays and, and Carberry Merle's actually texted us, please, please, please, somebody put a thousand dollars for me on DraftKings for Carberry to win the Jack Adams. I believe he's 8 to 1 right now. This guy's gonna do it this season. So we'll see if this continues. Lindgren's been good. I think it was kind of a weird goal. Orlov shot a rocket one time. Everybody's like ass on the ball boards. It went in for the game winning goal Sunday against Carolina. But it's, it's been a cool story. The OV thing, the defense and, and basically like an overhaul of the Capitals from last year. Getting in the playoffs but being ripped on the entire year by fools like us. And then to get swept, it's like this team is like not good. And now they are good and now it's exciting. And the Ovi story, I, I disagree with you. I think 42 to break the all time record.

[Mike Grinelli]

You know, it would be cool though if he did break it this year. Game 82 is against the Pittsburgh Penguins. That would be cool if it was in a game where it was against Sidney Crosby.

[Paul Bissonnette]

If he broke and they're cruising into the playoffs and he becomes the all time leading scorer and the Pens are going golf and oh boy, that would be a, that would be a storyline right there. So you just changed your mind. But he has to do it. Game 82, you're saying game 82 or.

[Mike Grinelli]

I don't want it done till at least the 12 or 15 game mark of next, next season. I, I'm curious to know what fans would think. I think if it's, if it's this un. Incredible season and like they're you know, fighting for like maybe even like winning the division by the end of the year and he breaks it. Sure. But I don't know, I just like to see them kind of gain as much attention at the start of the year and take a focus away from the NFL, much like they did this past Sunday. They were going head to head. I think Gary was taking some of my advice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes, it's an enormous argument. We got into last season when you said you wanted to just like have 12 games every Sunday in the fall. And all of a sudden yesterday, what, what were there yesterday? It seemed like there were four or five.

[Mike Grinelli]

Some good Battle of Alberta was on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Battle of Alberta was going on. Toronto, Minnesota played a great one. And then Carolina, Washington and how old listening to you.

[Mike Grinelli]

Islanders against the Rangers too to kick things off and then win. And then, and then Winnipeg, Tampa, they had a lot of action going on Sunday, going head to head with the Goodell. I think think that a lot of NFL games get so blown out and boring by the end you would want to switch over to a good hockey game. And a lot of people had that opportunity. So that's my philosophy. If I was in charge, maybe I get fired after a week after making that choice, but I'm still sticking to it. I don't give a fuck. Hockey rules. Hockey. Sunday is God's day and the day for hockey.

[G]

Hey, this is Fran from Chicks in the Office.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Ypb, Abercrombie's active line just dropped a.

[G]

Ton of new things for the new year to build your routine around.

[Paul Bissonnette]

YPB's newest fabric, Studio Flex is buttery.

[G]

Soft and perfect for your studio girl lifestyle. It comes in leggings, tops, these amazing skort dresses.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'll be wearing YPB Studio Flex to my next yoga class. I'm not someone who sets resolutions, so I love that. YPB by Abercrombie is made to bring.

[G]

Your personal best all year long. Add YPB to your routine, shop online or in store.

[Mike Grinelli]

And to keep with the the the hot as a pistol theme, now we got to keep this team on the radar. They're 6 and 5 to start the year, but their fan base have been barking. Ottawa Senators. They can score with the best of them. They can score in buncho. Timmy Stutzel is looking like the real deal. But Whit, they're only one game above.500. Can they continue to outscore their problems defensively? Like do you think that this is a playoff team? Everybody's all horned up offensively for the Ottawa Senators because every game they're putting in four or five goals in the net. But can they keep it out of their own net to finish off the year here?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'll tell you this, like I look at them above and beyond, higher and more likely to get in the playoffs than Detroit or Buffalo. So like you're talking about that three, that that three legged circus in those three teams. And one of them, if not more having to do something this season. Ottawa to, to me like I know we chirped him in the preview, but the way that they look and Stutzel is ridiculous. Like his contract, his speed. Now the diving. If you ask players around the league, they don't tell Canadians fans, they don't love the accused diving of Tim Stutzel, but he's a game breaker. He's a legit offensively, like super talented game breaker. When you have that and then you have the meat and potatoes in Brady Kachuk and the Batherson guy is. That's the one to me like that when he's out, you're constantly hearing they need baths and they need baths. And now you see what he's doing. And I, I do like this team. I mean now that I've watched them now, maybe I like them because the games are entertaining and they're high scoring and they're high flying. I think all Mark will figure it out. I think that this defense will be better. I mean, fuck, man. Like if you look at this team compared to the Bruins, who, who do you like more right now?

[Mike Grinelli]

I think the Bruins will fit. I, I think the Bruins will figure things out. They have a lot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think you're more, you're more likely to see Ottawa in the playoffs than the Bruins. Bruins.

[Mike Grinelli]

No. Eh.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. I do, I do think of the Bruins like you got pasta and we, we can at some point talk about the Montgomery sitting in the whole third period. There's pasta and Marshawn's still a hell of a player, but they got, I mean after, after, after pasta. What does Ottawa have four forwards who are better than the next Bruins forward.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's fair. That's a good point. Including this Adam Gaudet kid too. I don't know if you follow his story. Spent the whole year last year in the American Hockey League. I think he played maybe two NHL games last year and he's already got six goals for them. So you like to hear these stories of guys kind of rejuvenating their careers, especially after getting sent to the, to the jungle and coming back up. And he's just hot as a pistol right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's great. He's a local guy from the Boston area, played at the same high school I did, Fair Academy. Then he spent a year in the ushl, goes to Northeastern, Lights it up, ends up winning the Hobie Baker. So you're like, he's on the path here, right? Like this kid is going to score horror everywhere he's ever been, been able to put the puck in the net, get points. He's gets to the NHL and like, you know, things are hard. Dude, it's, it's. He. He had a quote in the Ottawa paper I was reading. Like, it's hard, really hard to get in this league and it's. It's even harder to stay in the league. And Travis Green had had him in Vancouver when he originally came in and talk about him. Now he's. He said he's just a more mature per, like player on the ice. And he talked. Gaudette himself was mentioning, like, in the ahl, like, learning, like, I'm gonna have to be responsible defensively. And I think the article also mentioned like, like a lot of guys in his shoes after a couple years in the ahl, you're like, all right, I'm gonna go try to make a bunch of dough in the khl, go over to Europe. But no, he was like, I'm gonna get back to the NHL. And he's worked his way back. I think he's playing on the fourth line too for Ottawa, and he had six goals in five games. And, and it's something where you're looking at like, wow, this is. He's got the offense. So if you can get him to play sound defensively and, and have one of the. Be one of those four third line guys who can score when he gets the chance like that, that's. That would be a nice piece for Ottawa. And they actually put him on waivers after camp, so anyone could have grabbed him and then somehow made the decision from the waiver wire till the opening night roster that he was going to be playing. And he's that dude that's grabbing the bull by the horns, like, that's taking advantage of a second chance. And so it's a cool story because he is a local guy. And Ottawa. Yeah, I. Right now I'm. I, I'd rather be an Ottawa Senators fan than a Boston Bruins fan. I guess that, that kind of ends the. There's other positive stories, but in terms of this show right now, it ends it.

[Mike Grinelli]

I just think that there's a lot of. There's a lot of, like, energy being wasted in Boston. It goes back to the Swayman signing and how that was drawn out. Obviously Marshawn dealing with the injuries to start the year, like coming. Coming back from all those surgeries, him getting into to Monty and then, you know, press kind of making that a bigger issue than it needed to be. Now you got the benching of Posternach by Monty, the whole third Period the other night, the fact that Monty's waiting for his contract and they haven't figured that out, that's got to be looming and I'm sure weighing on him. He does seem a little bit more. He seems like Monty's always been a little bit animated on the bench, but he seems more animated this year where his frustrate. You're seeing. And more frustration on his face and like I just said, like, like showing more of his emotion. So I just think there's a lot of oxygen being taken out of the room. From an overall perspective from the Boston.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Bruins, I. I agree with you on that. And I do want to say, like, I don't hate at all a coach benching a star player. I think that at times it really wakes up the whole room. It can really wake up a player because you're publicly embarrassing him. And, you know, being a proud, like, star, like Posrnock, it pisses you off. Now, after kind of being called out before Game 7 or in the Toronto series last year, now it's a second thing. And so now it's like, all right, there's obviously something in Pasta's game that kind of drives Monty a little crazy at times. And I think there are Bruins fans who say, like, the. That the occasional turnover, like blue line turnovers, like, things like that. I think Monty had kind of seen enough. Now, you also got to mention it's two nothing Seattle. Right. So if they're down.02 and your job is kind of on the line right now, you don't have a contract next year.

[Mike Grinelli]

I was just going to ask you that. You think if they miss playoffs, he's done.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think he could be done this year if they don't really get going. I think. I think if they lost to the Flyers Saturday and the cracking Sunday, he could have been let go.

[Merle]

I think Elliot. Elliot had an appoint. Elliot had a really important note, I think, in 32 thoughts today that said Don Sweeney wasn't on the trip this weekend. Weekend. So it kind of made it seem like he's not like code red. Red.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, maybe that's ridiculous statement by me, and I'm not saying I agree with it, but I'm saying there's. There's definitely signings of Dorothev and signing Lindholm, which you can talk about on its own. On another conversation, there's pressure to. To, like, win this year. And I don't. I don't think they have a team that can do it, but I. I don't think that the leash is super long. Like they haven't signed him, they haven't given him an extension. If all of a sudden the BR7 and, and 11 and this guy isn't.

[Mike Grinelli]

Even signed the President's trophy to, to having the numbers they did last year with losing their first two line center and then all of a sudden you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Know how this league is.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, I understand but who else are you going to replace him with? I mean he's got to be a pretty good, pretty well sought after coach. I, I don't see. I think Quinn Quinville's name has been, has been coming up a ton even from people.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I've talked Bowman back in the league. He's getting a job this season if he wants one. I think, I think you're crazy. If you fire your coach right now and, and Joel Quenville would be willing to come to your team if you don't hire him. I think you're nuts. And I'm not saying that the Bruins should get rid of Monte at all. I actually think it would be like holy like that.

[Mike Grinelli]

But you're, you're also insinuating that it's, it's close that if they would have lost two. That's me.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's me guessing. I mean Elliot knows way more and he's saying it's not. So I'm wrong.

[Merle]

Biz. One thing you always say, I feel like too is big guys take longer to get going. The Bruins have the biggest roster in the NHL. The team goes as Brad Marchand goes. He's coming off three surgeries. He's 36 years old. He's going to start a little slow. I get the worry for the first ten or so games of the season, but I think the Bruins are going to close.

[Mike Grinelli]

I could, I couldn't agree more. And I think that as, as we know early on they get all horny to call so many penalties, takes the floor out of the game all of a sudden. All these high flying young guys who came into camp, they're trying to show their stuff. Even some of the younger players in the league. I feel like the pace of play will slow down after 20 games. And, and listen, Boston's not the fastest team but they do play in structure. They usually have pretty good special teams and I think that the, and obviously they get good goaltending with Swayman. I think that they're going to figure things out out and I think there's nowhere near to throw a panic button out there and I think it's a little bit lunacy. To say that you would pick Ottawa over Boston making playoffs. You're a for that. They should kick you out of Boston for making that comment. They should kick you out of town.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How. How is that like that crazy. Like it's, it's a, it's a, it's a high scoring league. Like the Senators have a goalie who's proven in the past he's a very good goalie. They have a couple defensive that are great especially at moving the puck and they have sick forwards.

[Mike Grinelli]

They have a very playoff since Eric Carlson.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What does that matter? At some point the Bruins aren't going to make it and Ottawa is going to make it. I think the Bruins do get in but right now if you're looking at roster construction dude and you're looking at like putting the puck in the net which the Bruins look like, it's not easy. Right now I'm looking at Ottawa's forwards and saying that is a super talented forward group. Now my mind you the, the Pasha's on the side here address Pavel Casper Zaka. So obviously he's happy as a pig in because Zaka's come out slow. But Zaka's one of your top two centers and so is Lindholm. Lindholm is a nice player. When Lindholm put up huge numbers he had two stars in Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Goudreau. Like it's different. Yes. He has pasta. Is he even playing on his line right now? And Lindholm's an awesome player player. Is he a true number one center? No, I don't think he is. So I, I don't think like saying the Bruins could end up struggling a little bit this year. Is that crazy man like Zadorov, very nice player. I think Bruins fans when they hear, hear his name and see the signing they, they were like oh maybe I thought like maybe a little bit more offense or now a big guy. So maybe he's come out a little bit slow. But right now while early in the season season to say the Bruins are going to walk into the playoffs is kind of crazy. The only reason I'd actually agree with you is because Swayman and how good he is and how their defensive zone will figure itself out and I think McAvoy's had a little bit of a slow start. You know he's going to end up being the star player he is. But all I'm saying is if you want to Australians right now 6 and.

[Mike Grinelli]

5 because they got a few fancy forwards. Wet's Willing to throw his hometown city.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's, it's a, it's a little bit of an alarming start for the Bruins if you can't see that and see the talent. On Ottawa, you were more negative towards.

[Mike Grinelli]

The Winnipeg jets than you've been towards the Ottawa Senators, and they're six and five.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, Ottawa's still kind of heck Jekyll and Hyde and running around their own zone. But I, I believe in scoring and they can score.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's true. They're exciting to watch. You know who can't score?

[Paul Bissonnette]

The Islanders.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, my God. They got shut out four times in their first 10 games and they lost Anthony Duchess, Claire four to six, Matthew Barzell four to six. Literally the only two players worth watching and giving my time towards.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Brock Nelson. Brock Nelson.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's true. But he won't, he won't be there in a few weeks. They got to get him some life somewhere else. Brock Nelson has been carrying that franchise for far too long. Lou lets him. They need to let him go eat. They need to let him go win something because they ain't winning with the New York Island Runners. I think I, I regret that pick, picking them to make playoffs. We got Lou and Patty Waugh at war right now with, and they can't win a hockey game that, that we're.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Gonna, we're gonna throw the rumor one on that, the rumor boys one on like, I don't know if they're technically at war. I, I, we mentioned a couple quotes last week that Patrick was thought, they're at war. Like, there's just. I don't want to be at war against Lou. He's like the old gangster guy will blow up your car.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's true. Yeah. You don't want that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Not only, not only is Barzal and Duclair out, Adam Pellock's out. Romanov's out on D. Mike Riley's out on D. That was kind of scary. Hit his head on the ice, I believe. I don't know who that was against the other night.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, hey, have no fear. Dobson is here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Noah Dobson is going to be on your team. Canada blue line.

[Mike Grinelli]

And, and yeah, yeah, you got Noah Dobson making the team. Canada.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Not a chance.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, well, you have, you have Lowry and Tom Wilson, so that's your two picks. And I'll take Dobson. And I think the betting markets right now would put me at like a -900 favorite of being correct over your two picks.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay, well, he's been struggling to start the year, to say the least.

[Paul Bissonnette]

To say the least their whole team has been. Attendance issues, biz. We went to the arena, middle of nowhere. I know I've brought this up. Not great. Not great. Not nice to see a pretty new building and not many people going to the games and a very aging team that now has big injury problems. So Frankie Borelli is. Is a sad man somewhere right now. He's sitting in a room, room. And he's probably close to tears thinking about those two finals, Eastern Conference finals trips they made. And one of them could have had them playing the Canadians in the Stanley cup final. I don't know if you have anything else in the Islanders.

[G]

I don't want to.

[Mike Grinelli]

I don't. Actually, the Islanders getting mentioned took my mood down a little bit. We should probably get it back up by sending it to Hagel pretty soon.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We can throw it right now over to Brandon Hagel. Really cool story. We thought he was from Saskatoon. He was born there, has family there, but grew up in Alberta. Not drafted in the dub, not signed by the Sabres in the NHL draft. He'll go into it, but he's turned out to be a star in the league and he's lighting it up for Tampa. So right now we're going to go to Brandon Hagel. What's up, guys? It's Whit. And before we continue, we got to talk about Sport Clips. It can be very intimidating sometimes to get your hair cut. And everyone knows what I'm talking about. You're going in somewhere, you're not exactly sure what you want or how to tell them what you want want, and then you walk out like you lost a bed or got a free bowl of soup with the haircut. So it's completely different at Sport Clips. You know, you know what you're getting every single time you go in there and you know that your stylist will be able to deliver a great haircut. And now Sport Clip stylists have been specially trained. There's great news that they've been specially trained in the nuances of men's hair. Taking the worry out of getting a bad haircut. I just said worry because that's how I say the word. Some people say worry, worry. You got no worries with Sport Clips. So whether you're going for the tight fade, a slick back mullet, or just think that looking like Patrick Mahomes will make you a better quarterback. Sport Clip stylists are here to do whatever you need to feel confident. Nothing says confidence like a great haircut. And nobody does great haircuts like Sport Clips. It's a game changer. We are now pleased to be joined by a man who's popped off in the National Hockey League the last two seasons. A sasky boy. So Colby Armstrong's young and a former Red Deer Rebel. Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Brandon Hagel. Thanks for joining the show, buddy.

[Brandon Hagel]

Thanks for having me, boys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Where are you guys at now?

[Brandon Hagel]

We're in St. Louis. Go St. Louis. We've been on like a. I think this is like nine day or I think St. Louis and then back home we play Philly on Thursday and then we have like a six day break.

[Mike Grinelli]

Probably a. A good thing considering everything that was going down there. Like to start the year. That was crazy with all those hurricanes. Hurricanes. And my understanding is, is the organization was even nice enough to. To fly all the families, the dog, the cats, like everyone's pets all the way up to, to Carolina before you guys ended up playing your first game there, right?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah. Yeah, it's been. It was crazy, to be honest. I mean, you drive around where a lot of us live and it's like it hasn't happened like this in over a hundred years. Like flooding like that. Like houses are toast. Like anything that was on like sea level level is done. Like beds and couches and everything just on the side of the road. And then a week later another one's coming. So like all this debris is like all over the place. But like you said, the management was nice enough. I know we did it a few years ago, we went to Nashville. But yeah, it was hilarious. Like everyone, dogs, cats, whatever you got, you're coming. Like we had a Great Dane on the plane. Like, I couldn't imagine what he was going through.

[Mike Grinelli]

Who brought cats on the plane? Plane?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know.

[Brandon Hagel]

I don't know if anyone actually brought their cat. I think they, I think they left.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Left it back. They. You'd have to leave it before letting the team know you have a cat. Like, that's the thing.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Baski's like, I'm only the only cat on this plate.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh yeah. Flying underneath the plane with his cat.

[Brandon Hagel]

Exactly. And then we get on the plane and we got to be there at like 2:00 and like the pilot comes on and like we have all these dogs, everyone's ready to go. And it's like, yeah, we're not leaving for another two and a half hours. Like the traffic in the air is just like sort of like, like all these dogs are probably drugged out because trying to get them to relax till we get to the get To Carolina. But yeah, it was, it was pretty absurd but pretty crazy that, I mean, lucky enough for the Lightning organization to do that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Did you have you purchased a house down there? You a homeowner there? Like, what's your deal now that you sign your big ticket?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I should. Like, I bought a house last year and it was finished, built like September 16th. So a week later, the hurricane came on. Just like. Yeah, it was brutal. My entire. There was like four feet of water in my garage. Both my cars are totaled. And I just got my car, too. I ordered a car. Like, I waited like eight months for it, and both of them totaled. Like, I had like, not even a thousand miles on it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What'd you go with?

[Brandon Hagel]

I had a Porsche kayak GT and. And then post.

[Mike Grinelli]

Just spending that dole right away. Right? You got that big. Just letting it fly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Any other, any other expenditures, like anything else you bought for to treat yourself? I saw you at Stampede. I would imagine quite a few charges.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I treated myself very nicely. I mean, that was right around July 1st, so. Thought I'd go to the Stampede, treat my boys a little bit.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's.

[Brandon Hagel]

Other than that. No, pretty simple.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. That was the first time I actually got to meet you, and it was a, A great weekend. Had a blast with you. Now, Whit brought up the fact that you're from Saskatoon. What was it like growing up there? I mean, you must.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah. So, I mean, I, I, I was like, born in Saskatoon. My entire family's from there still. I think there's. My dad has three brothers, two sisters, and there's only two of us back in Alberta. And then the same with my mom's side. They're all out in Saskatchewan, too, too. So I was there when I was only like one or two years old, and then we moved to Mournville, Alberta, and I lived there pretty well my entire childhood until I went and played hockey and Red Deer.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Who was your squad growing up?

[Brandon Hagel]

I was an Oilers fan, I love, but I was like Novechkin fan as well. So I. Oh, I was kind of like, I like the Oilers, but I liked Omeshkin, I guess.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, you saw some tough oiler teams. Some of those teams I was on, it was horrible. Horrific.

[G]

Yeah.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I, I remember it all. I remember it all. I was probably standing outside freezing my ass off, and you drove right by me and didn't give me an auto.

[Mike Grinelli]

Were you a seeker when you were younger.

[Brandon Hagel]

After a match?

[G]

For sure.

[Brandon Hagel]

I'm standing out there.

[Mike Grinelli]

What about.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's got his Oilers Ear muffs on. He's just like, hey. When I'm like, off, kid. I heard you booing me.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, you. What about, what about playing on the pond? Was that a big thing for you growing up? Like all the outdoor stuff? Stuff?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we were on the outdoor. Outdoor rink pretty well. I mean, every weekend, every chance we kind of got. That was kind of the thing. I mean, I grew up in a town with like 5,000 people and we were like, I don't know, 20 minutes away from St. Albert, like 40, 40 minutes from Edmonton. So as a kid you couldn't really leave. There was a skate park in the pond. So in the summer I'm ripping the skate park. Winter, I'm ripping the pond. So kind of how it was, you.

[Mike Grinelli]

You had a, you had a skateboard. You were doing all the tricks and everything. You were one of those guys.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I was into that when I was younger.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You have airwolf walks?

[Brandon Hagel]

I. I don't know. I would just go to the skate park and do my thing, I guess. I don't know. I was kind of the thing, I guess, growing up.

[Mike Grinelli]

Would you wear the Janco jeans? I used to wear the Janco jeans. The big wide bottom ones. I. I used to look like a loser.

[Brandon Hagel]

You wear the mega boot cuts.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Hey.

[Brandon Hagel]

No, I didn't take her that far. I didn't take it that far.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like the, like the bottom of the jean covered my whole shoe on too. Hey.

[G]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh yeah, you used to. What was the shop I used to go to? Was it Arley's? The name of it. It was a. It was a skater shop. I ended up working there when I was playing pro to keep myself out of trouble too.

[Brandon Hagel]

I was a West 49 type of guy. I would go there. New skateboard, couple pairs of shoes.

[Mike Grinelli]

Exactly, exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, everything that like, I, I've kind of read or seen. Like, it seems like you were a late bloomer. Like, I don't know if right off the bat you were. You were not one of the top players, but you were passed over in the WHL draft. Is that true?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's kind of a little bit weird. I mean, when I was younger, like the WHL draft, I think I was 5 to 100 pounds maybe. Like, I was always tiny. I didn't really like. I mean, we went to. We had like the Alberta cup thing and then everyone, we ended up winning it there and everyone on our team went to like top 80 and I think I was like the only one. And maybe One other guy that never went. So I was never involved really in any of those things. And I never went in the dub draft and I got, like, listed by Saskatoon and I was like, ah, like, I'll. I think I'm gonna go to school. I had a good little setup in White Court, not too far from home. So I went back to White Court. I played two games and. And then Red Deer called and they were hosting the MEM cup that year. And I was kind of just like, that'd be a pretty cool experience. It was close to home, too. So I went and checked it out, practiced for a couple games, and then they offered me a contract and. Or whatever you want to call it, and I ended up staying there. And I was kind of. That was kind of it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So when you guys win that Alberta cup and like, these guys are getting picked, was that. Were you rattled? Like, it doesn't seem like you're a guy who's maybe getting too down on himself, but at that time you're like, this sucks. Like, why didn't I get picked? Or more just like, I'm going to keep doing my thing.

[Brandon Hagel]

I think it was a little bit frustrating, but that was like, the start of everything. I think that's why, as years went on, I cope with it a little bit more. I mean, I went. And after that one, it sucked. I'm a little kid. I mean, all you think about is the whl. And I watched that growing up, I. The Oil Kings. You know, you go to a game as a kid and you're like, there's no way I'll ever be able to do this. Just type of things like that. And when you have the opportunity. I never got drafted. And it was. And then, I mean, as my career went on, I think that's honestly the best thing that ever happened to me is as my career went on, I went through so many more, like, heartbreaks, I mean, let alone getting drafted to Buffalo, and. And the story goes on and stuff like that.

[Mike Grinelli]

You. So you played in the ajl. You said you had a nice little school setup. Does that mean you were planning on maybe going to university after playing in the ajhl? Like, what did you mean by a good school setup?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I think I wanted to. Like, the coach there at the time was he was really good for, like, scholarships. And in the ncaa, it was like, tons of guys were getting scholarships out of there. And I got called up, I think, like, a couple times, maybe when I played aaa, midget AAA at the time and whatever, I had a good relationship with him. And I just kind of wanted to go over there, thought maybe NCAA and get a. I wasn't the smartest, but I saw some guys getting some scholarships over there that weren't the smartest either.

[Mike Grinelli]

So, hey, if you could put the puck in the back of that, they'll help you on your essay.

[Brandon Hagel]

Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Keith Yandel couldn't get into college pocket.

[Mike Grinelli]

So he had to go put up a hundred points in the queue in order to get it. Now, one thing that I don't understand is why they do the WHL draft a year earlier than they do in the ohl and. And the. The queue. Is that still a thing? And obviously you said that you were like 5 to 100 pounds soaking wet. Like, that's probably a big reason as to why you hadn't hit your ghost spurt yet is kids are getting drafted at what, 14 or 15 years old in the.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I think it's like. Yeah, I think it's 15 years old. Maybe it could even be 14. I. I can't even remember. But yeah, it's a young age. I mean, to be honest, I think it's a little. Maybe a little bit too young. Young, but it's kind of is what it is. It's been going on for so long. But I mean, like you said, there's so many late bloomers, especially a year can do a massive difference and just being able to show your abilities and stuff like that.

[Mike Grinelli]

How. How big of a wakeup call was it when you got to Red Deer? I mean, you hear all these stories about Brent Sutter and, And how he, you know, he trains these kids to become eventually grown men and pros. Like, was it a pretty big wakeup call going there your first. First year?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, my first year was. I mean, everyone knows the Sutter brothers if, if you're from that area. And with Brent, he was obviously intimidating at the start, and I ended up growing a huge relationship with Brent, and he was one of the best things. I give him a ton of credit for my career. I mean, he. He pushed me and he pushed a lot of these guys like they weren't all going to make the NHL. He just wanted you to be able to be your best at your job, whether. Because he knew not everyone was going to go to that next level. He pushed you to work and be the best version of himself because maybe hockey isn't the thing, but he knows if you go to your job that you're gonna be. He tried to put those. Put that style into you, and that's what he did for me. And I remember when I went to got drafted Buffalo and I never signed. It was kind of one of those things again. And I remember him being the first one calling me and was like, hey, don't worry about it. He's like, if you do everything you can this summer, then I'm gonna do whatever I can for you this summer. And he went out there and found a setterman that. That was able to play with me. And I ended up having a heck of a year. And I think I signed like 15 games in or something.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's awesome.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So that's what's wild about what Army Armies told us about Sutter. We had him on the show. Very entertaining. Like, I didn't expect him to be as funny as he was, but army just said how loyal he was and he could you. And if you weren't playing, he'd let you know.

[Brandon Hagel]

But you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You did know he had your back, huh?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, he was. He was one of those guys that like, him at the rink is like, he might be the, like, one of the nicest people out there. Like, honestly, outside the rink, like, and then inside the rink, I mean, me and him had his. We had our battles, like, but I knew he cared about me and I knew those battles weren't like, screw you, kid. Like, wake up. Like, I knew he just wanted the best out of me, and he knew he saw something in me. And I could tell every time he had his back, whether we went toe to toe, getting mad at each other, yelling at each other, there is what it is. But he was. I give him a ton of credit for, for my career and help me get to where I am today because he did push me to that limit. And there's no better coach than having a guy that has your back and, and you know that where.

[Mike Grinelli]

I didn't really play with army that much when I was in the Penguins organization, like, because he was up and down at the time. But my first real experience of playing with a guy long term was Boyd Gordon, who played with Brent Sutter. And fuck, we would have beers and I just listened to him tell stories about the antics that he would like the, the. The time playing soft and he came in between periods and he threw a bunch of wood sticks in the middle of the room. He took all their one pieces away, and they had to try to saw and tape their sticks in time to get out for the period. And by the time the period started, they only had, like, half the team was out there playing and the other Guys are still trying to saw their stern. Oh, with some shitty ass saw. You know the saws they give you on the road.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

You might as well. You might as well have to sandpaper the knob down. That's how bad.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, no doubt.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Literally.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know that song. So it's like, yeah.

[Brandon Hagel]

Oh, comes out like this. You're like, ah, that'll do.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, it. Were there any like, like crazy stories that you had like that where he ended up like snapping on the boys? Maybe it was a. A bag skate returning from the road, late night, being like, put your gear back on. Anything?

[Brandon Hagel]

No, there. There was nothing. Nothing to that extent. I know we biked a couple times after games in our gear, but like, that was kind of just like my, like, I mean that was just like. That's just kind of how he was. And he was old school and he was old. Like, that's. That's the way he was. And it was funny. I mean, I enjoyed it sometimes. I mean, it was scary at times, but I mean, getting on your bike with the boys with your gear on and kind of is like one of those things. I remember one time we were playing a game. We had like rookie party that night and whatever Brent like, knows about it and it's like, go time. So we get it all set up before the game and we order all the alcohol to the Billets house. Like, everything's all set up. And then. But I remember Brent saying, he's like, if you guys play that bad, like, we can take this away.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like.

[Brandon Hagel]

And I'm like, oh, we go out there, we might have played the worst game of our of all time. Like, we got. So then he's like, it's off. And then we're like, like, did. No way. So we, we got it all set up. Like everyone's invited. Like, I don't know. I don't know what to do. So we're. We go up to our captain and Reese Johnson at the time. We're like, you gotta go talk to him. Like, you gotta tell him. Like, we need to have this party. So we're like, we go upstairs. We're like standing outside, like, outside of his office room where like, like Johnny goes in there. Hey, Brent. Like everyone in the room. Oh boy. And he absolutely just shreds us all. We end up having the party, but we gotta be there at like 6am oh. And we are pushing nets down the ice, crawling across the ice. Like, no sleep. Like, just like. I remember I got like my pinkies. Like, I got a Stitches in my pinky. The game before I'm crawling across the ice. I'm like just in the trenches down there and then whatever got out of it.

[Mike Grinelli]

But h. How do you lay an egg knowing that you have Rick party at night and then especially after he tells you guys, you know, we could take this away. Like how the do you.

[Brandon Hagel]

I don't know. I mean, I guess we just thinking about people we invited. I guess. I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, we had rookie party with the Penguins in New York City one night and we were playing the Rangers at 1:00. So like you know. Right. You expect to go balls to the wall and we lost eight. One. And that song. And then Terry and just lined everyone up and he's like meeting. It was one on one meetings. Every guy on the team. Basically.

[Mike Grinelli]

Basically get the out of here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I remember a guy walked out early and he's like, at least I got to go first. See you boys. Because the. I was one of the last few guys. I was. It was two hours after the game ended, dude, I'm still waiting for my pee pee whacking and I was minus four or something.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh no.

[Brandon Hagel]

Oh, even worse.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But you can have tough games when you know rookie parties coming. I think, I think Hags is right. You're just thinking about it.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What is Manhattan have in store for us? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you, you brought up, you know, WHL draft and there'd be other things you battled through and I guess you, you kind of mentioned it before in Buffalo and, and they didn't sign you and it must have been something where after Sutter tells you, I'm going to find you a center. But like that, that year that, that you had, the next season was so dominant, it was a 50 points more than the next teammate. So that summer was, how driven were you training and skating to be like, fuck this. That like the Sabers. I'm going to prove them wrong.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. How much time at the skate park doing all these?

[Brandon Hagel]

Like the frustrating part was like I remember Buffalo. I mean the GMs did change, so that may be a little bit into it obviously. And I know they still do it with some guys, but I remember them asked me to come down in the summer and like we all know what Buffalo's all about. I'm a young kid. I'm like the summer's kind of my time to hang with family and friends. Especially as like a 17 year old. You're just finished your first year in the job and stuff like that. So whatever. I'M like, no, I'm gonna go over to Buffalo. I spent an entire summer there and I'm like my, the only person there, like as like a young guy basically it felt like at times and like it was, it was tough for me mentally. Like it wasn't easy, but I wanted to.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that was a decision, you know, team asked you to come, what are you gonna say? And then you get kind of slapped in the face.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, there's one thing getting drafted, but the next thing signing that contract. I think that's like, that's, that's a, that's a big thing. It doesn't matter where you get drafted. You'd be a first rounder. You see many of those guys not, not sign contracts, but so I go down there, spend some time there. And then the next year I think I might have spent another month after development camp or something like that. And then kind of the end of the year happens and my first year getting drafted, I had a pretty good year. I mean I, I got drafted. I think I had like 70 some points. So I had a decent year after the year I got drafted and the next year I, I got hurt. But I mean I had a fine year I think. And then they called me after the year and they just said that they're not. My agent called me and said they weren't going to sign me and I was just like whatever, I guess. I mean, what am I going to do? I've been here before. Like so I just went home, did kind of the same thing. But at the same time I knew like I came into the season as a 20 year old year, I had a good summer and I was just kind of like, well like I need to like have another plan because this is my 20 year old year. So I'm like I'll, I'll sign up for school like at Christmas. I'll give myself till Christmas. If not, I need to sign up for school because like I needed like I wasn't the smartest guy in school so I needed to upgrade to actually find myself a good job and something after to go to school and figure.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Something you're thinking at one point, like hockey. Yeah, I guess hockey could be done. Like it just happened so quick. Right. And yeah, naturally it's going through your mind.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, that was, that, that was the tough part. I think that was the hardest part because I didn't want it to be done. I knew it was my 20 year old year of I love hockey, but at the same time it's the Reality of life. Like, sometimes hockey isn't gonna be forever. So I signed up for school and then ended up signing like 10, 15 games in, I think, with Chicago. I remember, I can't remember who it was. Came down to Red Deer to watch me, and I'm like, oh, just another person talking to me, saying they're interested for whatever. And then it was like seven games in the season. Then Stan Bowman was there, and I was like, oh, maybe or serious. And then the next day he's like, he offered me a contract. And then I was just like, sure.

[Mike Grinelli]

At that time, did you get the max? Like, because the max deals weren't.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, it was max everything, so.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, that's unreal.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

And, and, and at the time in Buffalo, was there a change in management? Like, what?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, Tim Murray was there when I got drafted, and I can't remember.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Remember Bottral?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, Bottral was the next guy there.

[Mike Grinelli]

So that's the thing. It wasn't. Maybe not his, his draft pick. So they wanted to move on bringing their own guys, which is kind of the kick in the dick for you. But all things worked out for a reason. Now when you ended up going and turning pro and, and going to Rockford, what was your experience like there? I mean, you, you. The first year I. I noticed that you didn't really play much, but the next year you basically had almost a full season there, right?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, well, I only. I played. Played one year in Rock or just the COVID year. Like, I played. I went to Rockford, played. I remember at the start of the year, we had a lot of young guys too, and like, overwhelmed with players and we needed guys in and out of the lineup. So when I got there, I remember the coach pulling us in and just kind of like, hey, like, this is the reality of the situation. Tons of young guys were going to be just swapping guys around.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No matter how you play, kind of.

[Brandon Hagel]

No matter how you play. Like, it was just kind of that situation. Like, oh, boy, one of these years, just like. So I play game one. I think the next game is my turn to come out. I come out and then after that I never came out. I ended up scoring like 20 goals. And then Covid. And then I got called up and then I played against San Jose, my first, My first NHL game that season. And the next day Covid hit. So the season shut down. And then I went over to Switzerland, Ireland, that summer or winter during COVID.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Until the season started, when you went. Wait, you went over to Switzerland? Like, because the next year yeah.

[Brandon Hagel]

After the bubble.

[Paul Bissonnette]

When?

[Brandon Hagel]

That summer where we didn't start till when? I don't know. January, maybe.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Here it was different. What was that? Because I remember watching the cup final. It was like, wasn't it August?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, something like that. And then we never, Never went. Played again until Jan. January or something. Camp was like, January 2nd, so I was like, I was sitting at home and obviously couldn't go anywhere. And my agent was like, two weeks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Wear a mask, stop the spread. Remember? Two weeks, stop spread.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So, yeah, standard.

[Mike Grinelli]

So you're an idiot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, how was Switzerland?

[Brandon Hagel]

It was good. I mean, I. I went over there. I played in the second league. I had fun. I knew I had to. Like, I was just so bored at home. My age is like, you want to go play? He's like, it's in the second league. I'm like, sure. I'm like, might as well get. Get out of here. So I just went over there, played for like a month and a half, came back, and then I was on the taxi squad, and then for two games, and then I went in for the third game, I think, against Florida. And I've never been. Never been out since as a big.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, you know, NHL fan growing up. But you come into that room and how you've gotten to the NHL, so interesting. And then Patrick Kane sitting there, like, had to be one of your kind of idols growing up. Was it. Was it cool getting to know him, play with him? What kind of guy was he to you and all that?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, he's. I. I still text him to this day. I mess with him all the time, but him, Taser, all those guys were incredible. I kind of take my time, but once I get out of my comfort zone, I'm out of my comfort zone. And then I just let it rip from there. But he's. Yeah, he's obviously an idol and one of those guys, and then obviously being able to play with him for a lot of the season and him being a. A part of why I'm. I was on PP1. I know that for a fact. And. And stuff like that. That. And he was always good to me. Taser was incredible, obviously, as well, and just a chance to play with those guys and then obviously getting traded, it's getting to play with some more superstars.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So Kane had gone into the coach and been like, I want him on the power play with us.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I do.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Brandon Hagel]

I remember him. Him saying that at one point. Yeah, it was. It was a pretty cool moment. I think that's. That he appreciate that the most, I think, especially a guys that wants you out there. Whether it was for me to probably get the potential puck back, other than that, not too much. But I knew that was my job. So I knew if I could get the puck back and get it to him, I'm gonna get a little bit more ice time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Another guy, like. Cause you're not with Chicago obviously now. And it. It's looking like a kind of Kunitz for Whitney trade, a horrible one the Blackhawks made. And then Dylan Strom's not there either, and he's playing phenomenal in Washington. Like, when you were there with him, were you like, holy shit, like, almost surprised that he wasn't lighting it up there as he is now?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, a little bit. Obviously Stromer, he's. He's one of those guys that has the potential. He has so much skill as vision. I mean, we all know what he has. But yeah, it was a little, little surprising. I know he struggled a little bit in a sense of like, maybe he was playing with Kaner and then when he wasn't, it was. It was tough for him and maybe it was his confidence a little bit. But I knew Stromer was always going to find his way and maybe it wasn't in Chicago. And if you look at that Chicago team now, you bring all those players back, we're probably one heck of a team. I think you got Kaner to brink at Stromer myself. You can go down the line. We're probably a pretty good hockey team. It just didn't work out at that time, and Chicago may have been in that time. New GM wanted to start over and start his own franchise and you can respect that. And. But lucky enough, Stromer's lighting it up over there and I'm happy for him. He found his way and he found a. Found a team team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He.

[Brandon Hagel]

He can. He really fits in.

[Mike Grinelli]

I think it was inevitable. They were heading for a rebuild and like you said, they probably just wanted like a clean slate and ended up getting rid of guys for. For cents on the dollar. And you find your way in Tampa Bay and they were notorious for making great moves with guys who were still under very fair deals. I think you were making a million and a half the time. So when you end up getting moved over to Tampa Bay and you talk about going from one locker room with legends to. To another locker room with current legends like Stammer, Kucherov, Vas. He like even Cooper as a head coach, like at first, like, is it a little overwhelming Are you a little nervous going into a locker room right now? And, and, and how did you get acclimated right away?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I think the. I mean, like I said, I never really went to all these, like, Hockey Canada or like all those things growing up. So I never really was like, out there. And hockey's a pretty small world. Usually, like, you get traded to a team, you probably know one guy. I didn't know a single soul. Like, I didn't know one guy, never talked to one guy. I knew the guy that they also traded for like two days later. Paulie and I just met him at world championships for the first time. So, yeah, it was intimidating, especially they're coming off back to back cups. I mean, you don't want to step on anyone's toes. You don't. Like, these guys are. These guys got it going on, whatever they got going on, you just got to try and put one foot in front of the other and try and follow along. And those guys were incredible at it. And I look back at that team and I couldn't imagine I got to meet some of the other guys that were on the winning teams as well. But, like, they had. It was incredible, that locker room. I mean, the, the guys in that room and the culture in that room and like, just the guys were incredible. And you could just tell, like, walking in that room and how close everyone was and team parties were having and like, just absurd. And it was like, it was an inevitable that they were winning two cops and going for a third.

[Paul Bissonnette]

When you got to the finals, it was evident, right? Like two. Two in a row. And then you guys were gassed and Colorado was so ready. It would have been such a sick series had had Tampa not won the previous one or two just based on energy. But it must have been tough to kind of get into that series and just see like, fuck, like we. We almost have nothing left in the tank right now.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah. Yeah, it was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, obviously you're not thinking that way, but at the end, you look back, it's like, dude, it wasn't. It wasn't the same.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, like, you have those guys, especially the short seasons with the, like, their breaks were like, I don't even know if they had, like, more than a month at some points. Like, they're probably all staying in Tampa. Never really got that time. And then you lose pointer in the first round. Like, that guy was unstoppable in the, in the playoffs. He's like, scored so many big goals. So you always put that back in your head. If you have Pointer. That's just, just another. He's a superstar in this league. He's a 50 goal scorer. He's like this guy's going to go down as one of the best Canadian players to play the game and you don't have him in your lineup and we're still able to do that. It's. It was pretty impressive to be honest. Especially the one round that sticks out to me is going down two nothing to. To the Rangers and being able to come back and win four straight after these guys just went through two cups long like exhausted like we could have kick bucket right there and said what a run, you know. But the gamers they had on the team is. It was. Was incredible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is it true? This could be but like I've heard point is the most old school like guy like somebody said he had like a flip phone or something. Like I don't know what to believe or not. But is he. Is he a simple man?

[Mike Grinelli]

I heard he only drinks bourbon or something.

[Brandon Hagel]

Is as simple as it gets. Like just give him a rum and Coke and, and some Crocs and he'll. He'll be just fine. I mean this guy is. He's one of the best guys I know. I mean you have a couple drinks with him, like he's, he's one of a kind. But like you said, he's as simple as it gets.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's just shows up on Twitter and all this.

[Brandon Hagel]

No, no. I don't even know if he. I don't think he has any of it to be honest.

[Mike Grinelli]

What, what. What's he into? Like is he a hunter like you say? Simple.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know. That's why they're such good.

[Brandon Hagel]

That's a good question. To be honest, he like. I don't know what. He just loves his family. He's a huge family guy and you can respect that as much as you want. But yeah, he's just simple. He does it. Does it old school I guess. Like shows up, does his job and does it incredibly.

[Mike Grinelli]

I mean that's, that's what's cooch like.

[Brandon Hagel]

He's. He's good.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's. It.

[Brandon Hagel]

It's honestly comedy that some of the like just what you see on the Internet and stuff. But he's coach is an incredible guy especially if you're close with them and, and stuff like that. He's not what the Internet portrays him to be.

[Mike Grinelli]

But what does the Internet portray him to be after the like the All.

[Brandon Hagel]

Star Game and stuff like that. Like just always grumpy like, he's, like. He's not always grumpy at all, actually, but it's just. It's just funny how they portray it. But, yeah, he's. He's a great guy. He'll hang with the boys and have a couple drinks with the boys for sure, too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Who were you playing the other night where he just took it end to end and threw that behind the back? No, look, Dish, this guy. So insane to watch. He's the silkiest, like, but he. But he plays like a bastard, too. He's got the mean streak. But that assist, I mean, I guess you see it in practice. It's just, like, not shocking to me.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, he's like. He's one guy that is just, like. It's incredible. I mean, it, like, especially that pass. But him. And, like, I skated with him a little bit in the summer when I came back, and it's just repetition after repetition. I mean, it's. It's incredible. And the craziest thing to me is he's a guy that was, like, playing on the fourth line, like, when he first came in the league. Like, well, maybe if there's no injury, he might not get an opportunity. Like, that was the situation. He is. And to turn in to be one of the, if not the best player in the NHL and, like, is incredible to me. Like, you see all these guys, obviously first overall picks, like, what you expect a lot, but him, like, maybe on his way out, if maybe there isn't an injury or maybe not an opportunity, he comes in. He's the best. Like, putting up 144 points is, like, incredible.

[Mike Grinelli]

You said practice repetitions. What do you mean by that? Like, he's just doing these, like, skill drills over and over to. To master all this stuff.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, like, when we go out, like, when I skate him, with the summer, we'd skate whatever, five times a week for two hours. I bet you we did that five times a week. We probably did, like, the same drills pretty much all week.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He wants to. He just. He's just into mastering it.

[Mike Grinelli]

What type of drills we talk in here? Are you allowed to say, like, are like. Like, I. I noticed that he's one of the best guys at pulling pucks off the wall. Like, if he gets rim to round, it's like, it'll go from his backhand to his forehand. He's ready to make a play before you could even react.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I mean, that's definitely one you do regularly, like, every. Every single day, picking pucks off the wall. That's definitely. But I mean that's a huge. I think that's one of the most important skills. I mean if you watch Cooch and what he does and the like picking those pucks off of the wall, I mean you may have seen it like the backhand, cross seam to stammer, back door off of the wall is like absurd.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, it looks so easy too, but it's so hard.

[Brandon Hagel]

It's so hard. Then he slows the game down and makes it look so, so easy. It's like, like I'm just like, when I watch it, I'm like. And everyone's like, oh, he didn't mean. I'm like, no, he meant to do that. Like, that's just like he does it all the time.

[Mike Grinelli]

I don't know if, if Coupe is currently the longest tenured head coach or at least obviously one of them. Like, it's so hard year over year to come in and like have like a new message to get the guys fired up. I don't know exactly what the expectations were on the outside coming in this season for you guys with, you know, no stam coast. I think a lot of people were uncertain, like, what's his message like in camp and like what does he say to the guys to get you guys fired up again and because obviously early on it's worked and you guys have been off to a great start considering all the moves you guys made.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, I think this year's in camp, it's, it's a little bit of was. It is like it's not the same anymore. I think that was the message, like we need to build something new here. Not, not necessarily the culture because I think Tampa has that culture that Coupe brings in and especially with Hetty still being here and all that. I mean the culture they had got them Stanley cup, so that's not going to change. But just a little bit of maybe the scenery, what the dressing room looks like, what other things look like. Maybe switch something like that up or something like that. Just, just a change of everything because it's not the same anymore. It's different. We need to as a team in here. But this year was exciting. Obviously losing Stammer, I mean it's a business. Like there's not much I can say on that. That's not, that's not my decision.

[Mike Grinelli]

But you don't go into Breezeball's office, say you for trading my buddy the you doing.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But he's like, you took some of the money.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, well, in that case. Have a good day.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Hey, how about. I. I like. I like. I like watching you guys play. It's like a fun team. And. And I mentioned Kucharov, but they trade Surgichev, JJ Moser, second round pick, and then this mutant. Geeky. This guy. Is that a tinted visor? I think maybe a white guard like this mutant out there. But I. I like his game. I like how he plays. It looks like he's. He's got some meanness to him, but pretty skilled over overall.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, he's. He's gonna be one heck of a player. I mean, he's a nice. Like you said, he's a mutant. He's massive. Like, he's like. He's humongous. Tinted visor. This guy's shin pads are longer than my leg, man. Like, this guy's. He's gonna be a heck of a player. I mean, obviously he's up playing with me and Tony right now, and he's doing some special things, and the kid just wants to learn, and that's all you can appreciate. And he's. I mean, he's doing some sick things out there too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We were talking to an ex teammate of yours and. And he said, oh, you gotta ask him about when we almost dummied somebody on the golf course. So I don't know. I don't know where this goes.

[Mike Grinelli]

Who.

[Brandon Hagel]

Who was it?

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was. It was Entwistle. He told Pasha. Oh, my God. Ask him about the time we almost scrapped the guy on the golf course in the Miners.

[Brandon Hagel]

Oh, I mean, this wasn't me, but it was. This was actually. Actually kind of wild story. But I was there. But we. We hit our golf ball and we're playing like. Like tees. Like. Like the golf course is as tight as it gets. So, like, one's this way, two's this way, three's that way, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we hit our balls. And then I guess it may be one slice to almost rolled up to this guy. It was kind of minor. This guy tees one up and fires it at us, like, right across from us.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Could have killed someone.

[Brandon Hagel]

Could have killed someone. Like toast. So at the time, I think it was Tompkins. He walks over there. We all just walk over there. I mean, I'm just like a little guy. I'm not doing anything. But Tomer's like, snapping, like, that's not okay. And I'm like, yeah, that's not okay. So I'm heel toe over there. I'm like, I got a couple boys by Me, so I'm going to. And then, yeah, this guy was just like panicking and. And he pulled out his club and like, I think he might have like, swiped at someone. And we were like, like, all right, I'm gonna go look for McBal. Taylor made four over there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This should have been on like, what is that? That Instagram account, like golf Gods or something, where the other day I saw a guy just baseball bat someone in the head with his driver.

[G]

No.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, dude, yes.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah. There's some pretty absurd things on there too.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. And any other. Any other funny stories from guys on the team? Like, Vasilevsky seems like an interesting guy. Obviously last year didn't go as plan, but he looks fully healthy, ready to go kick him like he has been in the past.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, Vassy's. Vassy's Vassy. I mean, you, you. He's always dialed in on game days.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's.

[Brandon Hagel]

He's focused. I mean, with Vassy behind you, you always got a chance. And that's what this team believes and that's why we continue to go for it every single year.

[Mike Grinelli]

I love it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, dude, thank you so much for joining. It's been. It's been cool to watch the player you've turned into, man. And congrats on that contract. Life changing money and you deserve it. It a long, long road. So good luck the rest of the way and we appreciate it. Now we know we play. You play golf. Sandbagger action. We're just trying to line these up.

[Brandon Hagel]

I'm in.

[Mike Grinelli]

I'm in.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Love it.

[Brandon Hagel]

All right, boys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Before we go any farther, I got to talk to you about DraftKings. The quest for the Stanley cup has begun. The puck has dropped on the 2425 season. And you can get in on all the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NHL. It's super easy for first timers to started. Try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to DraftKings Sportsbook App, select your team and place your first bet. And if you're new to DraftKings, listen up right now. This is important. New customers bet 5 bucks to get 200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code Chiclets C H I C L e T S that is code Chiclets for new customers to get 200 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks only at DraftKings, the crown is yours.

[G]

Gambling problem.

[Mike Grinelli]

Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York call 877-8-HOPENY.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Or text hopeny 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and resort in Kansas, 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG Co optimization. Thank you very much to Brandon Hagel. Having a hell of a start. Hell of a start to the season. We'll see what this entire year has in store for the Lightning. Fun team to watch. But biz over in Finland there was a two very special games for a lot of Finnish guys that were on the Florida Panthers and the Dallas Stars. Florida owned Dallas over there. I mean two big wins, Stanley cup finally finals. I, I agree with you on that. I agree the, the way the Panthers look it's like oh my God, we've talked, I think we talked about them last week but they're just doing this again. I don't know if I had any clue how good Sam Reinhardt was. Like it's even like last year. You know he's unreal. Game winning Gold cup final, 58 goals, 57 goals. But to see him continue to just do this again this year, it's, it's been incredible to watch it. It's. And I know you know him pretty well well but did you ever see this much of an offensive power out of his game?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, I, I thought he was pretty well, well rounded in Buffalo. I think being surrounded with better players has helped them develop. I also think that like you know Paul Maurice has obviously had a, a lot, a lot of confidence in him. I think he complimented him last year saying he's the second smartest hockey player he's ever coached. And this is with a guy with that has Barkov on his team for years.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It wasn't first I thought that he.

[Mike Grinelli]

Said Ron Francis was the smart. That was my interpretation from it or hey put them in the same category. High praise for Sammy Reinhardt. Obviously he's got the lineage right. His old man played I think over 700 games in the NHL. His brother was also a first round draft pick. So he's just been hockey, hockey, hockey his whole life. But I think that his goal scoring and his offensive abilities have probably overshadowed how good he is defensively and responsible as far as a 200 foot game and he could take punishment normally not the guy Delivering bone crunching hits but, but just so good along the wall and taking punishment and making the necessary plays. Last year I talked about it when Daryl Belfry did the breakdown of how good he is coming out of that left corner as a right shot and making those plays and like, you know, dipping around guys and creating separation one on one. And even this year when Barkov went down like his point production really didn't get phased that much. So you know, some people might have said, oh yeah, well look who he's playing with. But I don't think it matters, man. He's just continued to evol, you know, took kind of being shunned out of Buffalo. I remember media was getting hard at him. I remember that riff he got into one of the reporters about a, a back check and things just kind of got to a place where he needed a new change, change of scenery. And ever since getting to Florida, man, it's been heaven sent at the way that he's been able to play and really the way that he's fit in with that organization. So all the way to going over to Finland and getting the Golden Bucket.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that Golden Bucket, so the Golden Bucket was put in Barkov stall and he said no, Reinhardt should have it right now. I, I, we, we need Merles. Merles will correct us on this week's game notes. Check, check them out Friday. I, I thought Switzerland is the league where I believe you wear a gold helmet or a different helmet if you're the leading scorer of the team. Like it's either the league or the team. In Finland, as far as I know, the gold helmet is given to the MVP of the league at the end of the season.

[Mike Grinelli]

So my understanding is in Finland is the leading score of the whole entire league. Where's the gold helmet? Where like you're saying in Switzerland, it's just the individual on the team who's leading the team. And also in Finland, the, the Golden Bucket is sponsored by a gambling company. It's kind of like a monopoly. I think it's like the only gambling company or operation in all of Finland that everybody has to go through. But the person who has the gold bucket the longest over the course of the entire season gets paid out a 10k bonus from the gambling company. So that's kind of a nice little, yeah, a nice little treat for the, the top scorer who sustained it for the longest period of time. So that's kind of the way that they operate overseas where I think that there are different leagues who do the Golden Bucket Thing where those are just the discrepancies in which and how they end up rolling them out. So pretty cool thing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, it's really cool. Maybe in Switzerland, it is the, the leading score of the league is the one wearing a special helmet. I, I, I don't know why I'm thinking like it has like flames on it or something. G looked this up. Could have just created this in my mind.

[Mike Grinelli]

An Ed Hardy helmet. It's Ed Hardy. What was the other one?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Affliction. Affliction.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, Affliction. Bucky.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I actually figured we would. It, it reminds me, like talking about the golden bucket. The only other time we've ever said the term golden bucket was when you me pictures on Uriah and you said, look at this girl. She's got a gold the golden bucket. Now it's like back to real hockey. So I kind of forgot about that over in Finland and you saying that reminded me. I've heard him say golden, golden shower.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's thinking of a golden shower.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, what was cool about this series though, was it kind of goes back to talking to the older European guys, like Sundin said this and Holique, and they never got to watch NHL games. They never got to see what was going on. And it's changed so much now with the Internet and all these kids. And even when I was playing, playing over in Russia, we'd watch the highlights of every NHL game the morning of practice that had happened the night prior. And so it's just kids dream all over the world that are playing hockey, playing in the NHL now. So these kids in Helsinki and all over Finland have looked at, at Barkov and just he's been their idol. I, I mean, I'm guessing. And there's a bunch of great finished players, but Barkov raising the cup last year and how good he is on both sides of the puck, which, you know, Finns take pride in. He comes over there and he gets a goal and three assists in the first game on Friday and they win 6 to 4. It's like talk about a dream. And I remember coming back and playing the Bruins, and no matter what team I was on, it was the best. Like, you had family and friends in the building and you. I had played college games there. I'd grown up going to games. It's like I'm playing in an NHL game in my home, hometown, home city, and for a European to get to go home and do it and then light it up the way he did in the first game, like that, the night out that they Must have had after the game Saturday.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh man. I mean kind of goes back to last year when Nylander did it in Sweden. Yes, I think he had the OT winner over there. Yeah, I would imagine.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

I imagine he had a couple golden showers after that one. I think in. I think with the two teams with there was what, seven total players from Finland. I got the list here. Haskin and Lundell, Barkov hints me, Mikola Lindell. So we got a Lundell and a Lindell and then E2 Listerinen. So those were all the players of that were born in Finland that got to go back home and play.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And the Panthers like with Lundell and Luster Ryan and it's just like they, the fact they have those two guys like they're just so deep up front. I'm talking about forwards on Ottawa, the forwards on Florida. It's. It's, it's. It's insane. Like. And then they get Evan Rodriguez who's just nasty there. It's just a, it's a great, great team. And I think to. To see them in the finals would not shock one person.

[Mike Grinelli]

I just, I just like how they, they sent over like two good teams rather than sending over. I think that it was the finished president or prime minister. Not sure what they have over there. He said it was one of the best experiences that they've had in the country in a long time. I don't. You can get the exact quote from G. He was talking about it on the. The out boat line call but just all in all a good representation from the league going over there and making a splash.

[Merle]

He called it their super bowl biz.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh fuck you Goodell. It's ours now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Should have played it on a Sunday.

[Mike Grinelli]

Should have played. Yeah. That's what they should have done. Should have played it on Sunday was come. Oh speaking of depth, depth and forwards, how about the list of. Of the forward group for the Colorado Avalanche that are banged up right now?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know if I ever remember seeing this many in on one like I. Is it six of their top nine forwards are out injured. Yeah, I mean the, the, the luck. I mean you saw the other night it was Ivan, Ivan and that Nikolai Kovalenko both playing I think on the first line or one was on the first one was on the second. Like they've played like 30 games combined I think in their career and they're forced right now. If you go through the list, Landiscog obviously Nichin obviously Miles woods hurt, Tucker Pullman's hurt, Jonathan Druant's hurt. Ross Colton goes out. Arturi Lenin's day to day. The Ross Colton one sucked because what a start he had.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, he, yeah, he gets bumped up to that top line. He had great chemistry. Probably a guy who's never really gotten a play at that situation in the NHL and then boom, he goes down. So they got to get out the voodoo doll or they got to get some type of exorcism in that locker room to rid them of the bad luck because that, that is just a catast start to the season with all the injuries that have mounted. But they did get good news that Valerie Nichushkin is not only skating, but he's anticipated to be in the lineup on November 15th. So talk about a huge boost to their power play, their goal scoring, the sheer size and physicality that he brings. So that to me, with that net front presence is just a huge boost to take a little bit of pressure off the rest of those guys. Guys playing through, through what they got going on right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Last chance saloon. And you really root for the guy. Don't know him, never met him, but you just hope you could figure out, you know, what, what's, what's been going on in your life and put a reign on it because if something happens again, I don't think you ever see him play in the NHL. So you're rooting for, for that storyline to come through and him be that dominant player everyone's seen him be and be good off the ice. And, and I think the bright side for the Avalanche is what Kale Makar is doing right now is, is incredible. He's the first defenseman since Bobby Orr and I believe they're the only two to ever lead the league in scoring in November. Right now he's tied for the lead with Caprisov. But I think a hundred points is very, very realistic. I mean, at this point just to get off to the start the way he has and to just know how many opportunities he's going to have on power, more plays. It's. It's crazy to think that he could, he could get 110 points. I mean, McKin, thank God McKinnon, Ronton and him are healthy. Because if you lose one of those guys, you're like, now, now we're really. So they gotta try to just stay with their heads barely above water till they get everyone back and then you could see him possibly go on a run.

[Mike Grinelli]

Ultimate superstar. I, I want to say four games into the season, they, they ended up getting shelled and he had a tough night and he said, I think this team would have been better off without me in the lineup. Well, that's never to be said again about Kale Makar and what he does for the Colorado Avalanche. Like off, off of that and that accountability, having the stretch of games and he's had in the production. And we're talking about a guy here who if he gets to 100 points, like he's still one of the better defenders in the league too. The way that he clothes on guys stick on pack, he cycle bus like there's nothing defensively that he's not doing that the top guys defensively are doing either. So it's, it's remarkable generational talent. And as you said, if there's one team that could battle through this and, and, and keep their team afloat to get themselves in a playoff spot, it's with the help of those that three headed monster that you just mentioned. So I don't know what else you, what, what else you had listed on that outline.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just, you know, Colorado's battling injuries. Couple on other injury tidbit news. Brutal news for the Blues. Broberg gets hurt. They said four to six weeks, but the guy had started the season on fire. He' 20 minutes he's skating looking like that player we saw in the Cup Final and boom, gets hit with the injury. So that sucks. And you hope he's able to come back quick. And then for my Oilers, McDavid went down right after we recorded. Very, very scary. It didn't look bad in Columbus, but you could tell like something the ankle went into the boards. They said two to three weeks. And I think right before, I think right at around two and a half weeks, it would be the Leafs on Saturday, November 16th. Hockey that game.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hockey night in Canada.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well guess what buddy? Guess what? He'll be back then because he skated today and he's, he's fast and he's ready and he's already talking about Vancouver Saturday night, November 9th, this upcoming Saturday. So to even think about him being back that early, I guess that would be just about two weeks, maybe a day over two weeks now. Edmonton have won the, the two games without him. Leon, he's doing that leon thing where McDavid's out. He just completely Don dominates And many people reminded me on Twitter and I got to live through it. If Kenny Malkin in Pittsburgh when Crosby was injured and his entire career when Sid's been out, Geno elevates and part of that is and they're very similar like, you know, I know they don't have the Stanley Cups, but McDavid and Crosby and, And dry Seidel and Malkin. It kind of goes hand in hand where Hyman talked about how many teams are lucky enough to have a guy like McDavid go down. You have a. Another top five player in the NHL to step up. And I think these, these guys, they thrive on it. All right, it's my time. This is it. My turn. Doesn't sound right. It's more like, no, no, no, I gotta pick this.

[Mike Grinelli]

There's no delegating. It's. It's. I'm the horse. I gotta take over. There's no one else to look at other than myself in the mirror. Let's put the big boy pants on and let's go, baby. And I, I, I couldn't agree more with that comparison. Every time Crosby went down, Malcolm would find a way to elevate his game. You know, Sid said it after the game when they, when they both set those milestones. He said, every, every time. I don't, I think that this guy might not have another gear. He finds one. And we're seeing, we're seeing dry saddle and dry saddle mode right now. He's bending those knees a little bit now, isn't he? Witty boy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. A big guy that takes a little longer, according to you and G to get going high.

[Mike Grinelli]

Do you not agree with that philosophy or do you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't. I don't agree with it because of what these guys are doing in the summer. Or maybe it, maybe it happens, but I don't know why it would happen because, like, these guys are coming into camp in the best shape of their lives and to get going in games as a bigger guy. Are you saying just like, physically, like, like.

[Mike Grinelli]

I think that the overall game slows down a little bit more where like a little bit less is called. So there is a little bit more of that hooking and clawing and grabbing and setting these little picks that are not only.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Less penalties are called at the beginning of the year.

[Mike Grinelli]

No. Moving towards. Towards like the middle. Middle and end.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Mike Grinelli]

And I just think overall, like from the fatigue of the season, like the wheels that some of these guys have, they slow down a little bit and they come back down to reality. That's my theory. Maybe there's some analytics on, on how they track these guys speed throughout the course of the season where I get backed up on that. Maybe other people who are listening think.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm a Gary could be looking into this for you.

[Mike Grinelli]

Now he is going to, he's going to. I. That's my guy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, Edmonton Hyman's going now and this pod Colson's solid and I think Canucks fans were always, and I get it, disappointed like top high pick in the first round. Like you never got that offense out of him. But the Oilers got him for a fourth rounder and if he's serviceable and he had a good fight this season already, that's like, that's a nice move. That's a nice. You don't need him to be taught the 10th overall pick that the Canucks needed. You just need, need him to be a solid third, maybe second line, possibly fourth line guy and for a fourth round pick. That looks nice right now. So things are coming together for Edmonton just as they would.

[Mike Grinelli]

You better hope my theory's right because they lost all their speed and youth in this off season.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And now I think, I think Arvidson's pretty quick. I think Skinner is great. I don't think Skinner's like lack of speed is an issue or anything. I think McDavid's still the fastest player in the world. I think that they're going to get Kane back, back healthy. I think that this team is exactly where they need to be and I have no worries. And to see McDavid go down while I almost had a heart attack, to then see two to three weeks and then already see him skating today in the pre game skate.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's getting the blood spinning done. He's getting the, the place.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I was thinking that, I was thinking.

[Mike Grinelli]

Placenta being injected into his ankle. He's, he's, he's fine. He's got all the world doctors on his side.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Placenta in the ankle, blood spinning. I guess we could now throw it over to a former Edmonton Oilers legend, Kevin Lowe, a guy who played forever there and won six Stanley Cups. Five in Edmonton and one in New York. So we want to thank him. This is back from June, but Kevin Lowe. Right now. Before we go any further, guys, I need to tell you about Jackpocket. If you're feeling lucky, if you're feeling lucky right now, you need to get involved with Jackpocket, America's number one lottery app. With Jackpocket, you can order Powerball and Mega Millions tickets right to your phone. They even have official state lottery games every day. There are millions up for grabs right on your phone. New customers can get a free lottery ticket using Code Puck. That's Code Puck for a free Powerball or Mega Millions ticket. Don't Wait. Download Jackpocket now for your chance to win big. Good luck gambling problem.

[Mike Grinelli]

Call 1-800-200-GAMBLER NEW YORK Call 877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY 18 or older 19 plus in Nebraska 21 plus in Arizona. Void where prohibited. Promo code required for two dollar non withdrawable credit. Prize amount may differ at time of drawings. Terms jackpocket.com tos free-ticket-promo/.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, it's time for I know Next guest this Defenseman was taken 21st overall by the Oilers at the 1979 draft. He spent his first 13 NHL seasons here at Edmonton, winning five Stanley Cups. His next four seasons with the Ranges, where he added a sixth Stanley cup, the franchise's first in 54 years. He returned to Edmonton to finish off his 19 season 1468 game NHL career and was inducted into the Hockey hall of fame in 2020. It's a pleasure to welcome to the Spit and Chicka podcast Kevin Lowe. How's it going, Kev?

[G]

It's going great. Great to be here. I'm wondering how come it took you guys so long to have me on here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that we just had to get up to Edmonton. We needed to be in person. It's that much better in person. But also the other things already didn't include most playoff and regular season games combined in the history of the Oilers and the Oilers first draft pick ever. Is that true? Wild so you're an Oilers lifer, ended up playing become a gm and it's just been amazing for you to probably see the growth in the city and the team over the years.

[G]

It sure has. You know, I, when I came here in 79, Edmonton was 400,000 people. You know, it's a million two now, triple the size. And, and I didn't even expect I was going to make the team. I was three days in the training camp and a guy by the name of Wayne Gretzky skated up beside me and said, hey, how about you and I get in a place together? Which today you'd think is kind of weird, but I said, well, I don't even know if I'm going to make the team. He said, don't worry, you're going to make the team. And you know, like you're on the team. The rest is kind of history, you know, I mean you, you guys know how matter of fact Wayne is. Not that it gave me any additional confidence, but it sure was a good pat in the back for a, for a player coming to his first training camp.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Had you heard all about him. Like, I think, what are you, a couple years older? Maybe one or two. But you'd heard about him even when you were younger, in your teens?

[G]

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, He's, I think, 18 months younger. Younger than I am. And so I think when he was 12 years old, 11 years old, there was a massive story on him across the country and in, you know, one of the. The major magazines and stuff. And, you know, that's just seeing that it was hard to believe that who is this kid? And then, then I played junior in Quebec City with the Ramparts, and, And Wayne was playing in. In the World Hockey association for the. The Order. So I saw a lot. I saw him play and thinking, oh, my goodness, like, hard to believe that someone that young could do what he's doing. And then we ended up rooming together for a couple years in the early, you know, when we first started and became good friends in each other's weddings and.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

And then probably my favorite Wayne story, and I can tell a million on was when he phoned me to help me. To ask him to ask me rather to assist. Assist him to run Team Canada for the 2002 Olympics in salt Lake. And we hadn't been together for, well, probably eight or nine years. We. We still talked on the phone. But to get that call to, you know, for that such an important mission was. That's. That's probably my favorite story.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You're like, I'll put the toonie in the middle of the ice.

[G]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

Well, I was the guy that got the. I actually my part of that story was that the, The. The. I think everyone knows it was a. Was the. Was an ice maker from Edmonton that was. Was hired by Salt Lake City Olympic Committee to run the ice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Because the ice was so good here.

[G]

Yeah, exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

Yep. Dan Craig and, And the. The logo for Salt Lake, this is the reason why the loonies were there. Like, the logo for Salt Lake was kind of a weird logo and but they needed somewhere for the refs to. To pinpoint where to drop the puck. So they said just like paint something there. And so that's where he came up the idea. Well, I'm going to put, you know, I'm going to paint something, but I'm going to put the loonies in. But he put a looney and a. And a dime and a nickel. So after we won the. After we won the gold medal game, I was standing on the bench with my wife and we're all celebrating and this guy comes up to me with a. With a water bottle. And he goes, let's go get the looney. And I'm like, oh, great, great. I said, you got a. You got a nice pick. And he goes, no, no, I got a hot water. Water in here. But he wanted me to go out there as protection in case someone saw him, right? And I said, yeah, let's go. And so he dug it out and I had it and I brought it the bench and I gave it to Wayne. And that's my part of the famous looney story.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And you mentioned playing for the Quebec Ramparts. I actually didn't know I knew you. When you. When I was on the Oilers and you worked for the Oilers, I didn't know you. You were French or grew up in a French community. But did. Was any of your family speaking French?

[Mike Grinelli]

Like la, La.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's how I describe my play here.

[G]

He's la. That shit. These scores. Our family was English, but our community was like 50, 50 French English. Most of the kids I played sports with, baseball, hockey, they were. They're mostly French. So I had a pretty good, you know, feel with French. But when I went to Quebec City and played my Jr. For three years, I lived with a French family, didn't speak any English at all. So. So that's where really I became more fluent.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was your dad the person who got you into the game, like when you're younger, or is it just kids in the community? Everyone's playing hockey all winter. Like, what was your kind of beginning of. Of hockey? Who got you into it?

[G]

Yeah, our family went. Was pretty well, fairly. We were a really wealthy family, but we're upper middle class. My dad and his brothers had a big business, a dairy business. And I. Not a farm, but they manufactured milk and ice cream and very involved in. In a city of about 12, 000 sponsoring sports, baseball, hockey, and including the first ever artificial ice that they put on the grounds of their. Of their business. So at, you know, at three years old, my dad would bring me to work, throw me on the ice and send someone out to get me off the ice. So I was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Figure it out, kid.

[G]

Yeah, I'm. There's 32 of my generation. I'm the third youngest. All the boys played hockey, all the girls skied. So I. I grew up in a hockey environment.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, it says in. In Quebec. Your coach, Ron Ra. Raquette. Was he your coach?

[G]

The reset? Yeah, reset.

[Mike Grinelli]

Was he there the full three years and was he a. No.

[G]

He was an awesome guy though biz like he was. He unfortunately died too young from cancer. But he was just a classic junior coach. You know, he like, he, you know, we'd be talking players and you know, he wanted guys to go through the wall, not fight all the time. But I just play with some, you know, pride and stuff and, and he played a little pro hockey. Played in, he played in Long island actually, I think for the Ducks or something and eventually lived there. So Val James was a teammate of mine and, and a bunch of guys from, from that part of the world. Chris Brinster and you know, American guys. Yeah, it was, it was pretty cool.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, because I mean you started in junior and I mean you were putting up that many points, but I noticed that you'd accelerated in that, that department like throughout the three years there and then your last year. You put up quite a few numbers.

[G]

Yeah, yeah. Just, you know, that wasn't really your.

[Mike Grinelli]

Game when you got to the National Hockey League. But is that what made you kind of stand out and get drafted so early?

[G]

Well, it was my game until Paul Coffey came here.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay. All right.

[G]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Okay.

[G]

I guess I'm not the power play guy anymore.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It is cool though. I saw that now the, the best defensive defenseman in the Quebec Junior League is the Kevin Lowe Award. That must have been a great honor. And we actually talk on Chicklets. There should be a. Because the Norris is now most points. There should be that in the, in the NHL, I think.

[G]

Absolutely. Yeah. You know, you have the, you have the Selkie and.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[G]

The. No, it's an honor. It's. It, it's an honor. I mean, I considered myself a two way defenseman. I mean I used to rush a puckin junior and stuff and try it a little bit in pro. But you quickly find out you can't do that stuff. You just gotta figure out how to play the game and become a part of a team. And you know, we were fortunate to have a lot of guys that could score. So I quickly realized that shutting the door, helping to shut the door would probably help prolong my career.

[Mike Grinelli]

Aside from yourself maybe, who do you think they would be able to name the trophy after as a shutdown defenseman if they did decide to eventually do that?

[G]

Oh, I don't know. I mean a lot of. There's a lot of good defensemen come out of that league. Vlasic played in, in, in Music Quebec.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right.

[G]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, I bet more so if they did it in the NHL. Oh, maybe like who did you, who did you look up to as a, as a Shutdown defenseman. Who did you try to emulate your game after?

[G]

Well, probably. Yeah, Good question. I. I'm not sure. I. Larry Robinson, I guess because I grew up in the Montreal area and the Habs were big and you know, Larry was. But all those guys, Savard and Lapointe, I mean they were just, they, they weren't prototypical shutdown guys. They, they, they. I think that they were, they were the way our defense were like, you know, Randy Greg could move the puck. All that. Charlie Huddy could move the puck. Don Jackson, the six. We had the same six defensemen for three straight Stanley cup finals. Never changed.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's unreal. Same pairings.

[G]

Same pairings.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Who was yours?

[G]

Lee Fogland was my.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[G]

And we were, we were penalty kill guys and last minute of the period guys and Paul Coffey played with Charlie.

[Mike Grinelli]

I didn't.

[G]

And, and Don Jackson and Randy Greg, they're both like six, four, six five big guys that can move the puck and, and anybody could play at any given. Anybody could be on the, on the ice at the, the last minute of the game like it depended who was playing well that game. Yeah, they would default to maybe typically Foggy and I because we're generally did it. But if we weren't having a good game, they would just grab you grab someone else. So I guess that's how you win.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Having the trust in all six is the biggest difference. I mean you see it in the best teams now. There's no real really weak links. And that was you guys, no doubt.

[G]

That's right.

[Ryan Whitney]

I kept you second year in Edmonton. You guys are a bunch of kids. You already have six future hockey hall of Famers on the roster. When do you guys start thinking big like, you know, we can, we can do some damage here.

[G]

Well, our. We. We made the playoffs the very first year. Different era. You know, 21 teams and 16 make it. We played the Flyers who, who had that record year of 35 undefeated. And we, we had. It was a three out of five back then. We had two overtime games, one double overtime game. And I'll never forget we lost the last game at home of course and Bobby Clark saying, you know, of course Gretzky's going to be good, but watch out for this Mark Messi and all this the. He could always tell foreshadowing. Then the next year we made the playoffs and played the Montreal Canadiens. You know, where I grew up, the, the famous Habs, I mean we were. I was my pants to be honest and seriously thought we were going to get Embarrassed. And, and we swept them. We swept them, believe it or not. And, and, and, and then we played the Islanders next round and the Islanders, they went 15 and two that year to win and their only two losses were against us.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They didn't lose another playoff game.

[G]

They didn't lose. They, the only, the only two games that they lost were to us. So a little bit of foreshadowing there. And then the next year we went right to second overall. So you know, to answer your question, within a couple years you're still having to prove yourself and not thinking you're going to win a bunch of cups but figuring we're getting better now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did they do a couple seasons one through 16, a couple of those early playoff years?

[G]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Been pretty wild, huh?

[G]

Yeah, those, those first two years for sure. And we finished 14th that second year and played the Canadians if finished third. Yeah, I know. It was a, it was a balanced schedule, right? There was. Yeah, there was 80 games. There was 21 team shoes. So you play everybody four. Twice at home, twice. In a way, pretty simple. And the top 16 make it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Now the draft's so different where you got scouting list three years prior and it was so different. When you were coming up like going into your draft, were you, were you expecting to be a first rounder? Had you, did you interview with teams then? Or was it not even like that?

[Mike Grinelli]

Did you get a phone call?

[G]

Well, it was the dairy farm.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[G]

There was no, no interviews. My age, my agent was Alan Eagleson and he had like, he had like 12 guys in the first round and I was the last, you know, so. But what happened was our year, the, the NHL was getting challenged by, by players that were 18 years old like Wayne, like Kenny Linzman, to play it as an 18 year old in the NHL. So the 79 draft year, the reason why it's such a good draft year, it was two drafts in a row. It, it was the 79s and the 80s were in that draft year. And sorry, the, the, the 59s in the 60s. And so the Met Mark Messi was. Wouldn't have been drafted that year. Ray Bork wouldn't have been drafted that year if it wasn't for this, this new rule that the NHL. So I mean you, you, you can look if you Google the best draft year ever. There's, there's an argument, there's one other year. I, I forget.03 but the 79 always comes up. But it was two draft years in a row.

[Mike Grinelli]

You brought up Bobby Clark mentioning Mess and Mess came On and you mentioned something interesting and how like him and Wayne had such different leadership qualities that it like really complement one one another. Did you find that? Because obviously during those, those that dynasty you have to have a lot of guys pulling the rope and those two guys were the ones two punch.

[G]

Yeah, the. No question. You know, pretty predictable I guess you'd say. You know, Wayne was more of the, you know, he was a skilled guy and more of speaking in that tone and Mark was, you know, the hard nosed guy. So it, it was good to have both and they would play off one another. You know, it was. You can't have the same guy talking all the time. So you know, if Wayne came in the room and wasn't saying anything, that would be Mark's cue to. If he felt something needed to be said about how we're playing and what have you.

[Mike Grinelli]

But.

[G]

And they both had so much mutual respect for one another and that's why they were so. They were why we're so good. Because you could see the respect they had for each other. You know, Wayne was, I mean Wayne be scoring eight points in a game and you know, and he'd be free. You mentioned something that messed it or. Yeah, he did it all the other guys. But, but I, I and, and I think if you think about the success of the orders it we, we were ready to play anyone because you had the most skilled guy in the world and Wayne and you had the, the hardest nose, best two way player in the world. So pick a game, pick a style. We're ready, you know. And, and, and you know, it's a chicken and the egg thing as far as I'm concerned. You know, Wayne, you know, Wayne's the best player that ever played but Mark's not far if you ask me. And, and I'm not sure Wayne is as successful winning cups if Mark's there and, and I don't, you know, I would say and Mark would agree that he probably doesn't become the player he is if it wasn't the fact he played with Wing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We've talked a lot on this show about accountability within great teams like McKinnon's known as someone who is saying to, to Makar or something. Usually not Makara, but like you got to be better. We need you better. Was that happening in this DY with the Oilers like where it doesn't even need to be. Glenn Sather. It's like you guys are calling each other out a little bit.

[G]

Yeah, that's a good question.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's a hot button. Issue.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh man, those old school locker rooms, like guys would be having you matches in there like getting each other's faces but that's a lot of time what got it done. Like I've talked with Rick talkin he's like, you know, that's, that means everybody's caring in there and the emotions are high and usually that's how you get it done.

[G]

Yeah, we had a good chain of command, you know, good leadership. Command, command. And, and we, I don't know, this is kind of lame but we typically delivered so we never really ever had to have those.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's, that's good.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We just walked.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's pretty sick to say, you know.

[G]

No, I'm not being honest. Like it's because I don't recall any. Yeah, you know there's a story that Mess, some rookie threw his jersey on the floor, you know and Mess grabbed him by the throat and Mess would have went over, picked it up and said, you know, we don't put the jersey on the throw, you know that kind of stuff. But Mess was for, for the fact that he's reputed to be a hard nosed guy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't, he's like a softy deep down, right? Yeah.

[G]

Oh, he's crying all the time and yeah, he, I think he had so much. He, he, he evolved in his leadership and he had you know, you, you, you, you, you become a good leader by gaining respect and you don't become, get respected by berate hating the people you're trying to lead. So yeah, he, he, I, I don't recall much of that. Not too many yelling matches and, and, and again if we weren't, you know, if we weren't delivering biz, you know, for sure he'd be going out running over someone and then you know, a whole bunch of him, including myself, be falling suits. Yeah, it, it, you know, the coach might come in and you know, say get your heads out of your ass and then that was enough.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's, that's what I was going to ask you about next. What was say they're like what was your relationship like with him?

[G]

Yeah, I mean he was brilliant right? He, he, you know, he, he was really a master motivator. He knew how to. But again not a, I mean he'd come in and you knew if he was pissed off because his face would turn red, probably the color of mine right now. And, and you knew it was sour. But he, you know, he'd say stuff like, you know, you're playing, you're playing like a, a chicken that does. He's not inferring you're a chicken. He's giving you a chance not to be a chicken.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[G]

You're playing like a chicken. You're not a chicken. So that's, that's important, right? That's. You're not demeaning the guy, but you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Are like right now it's bad.

[G]

You're exposing him.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right?

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[G]

Get out there and play. Right. That kind of stuff.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What was, what was his history in the game? Like, we became this incredible coach and went to the Rangers and did all these things with. Had he played in the NHL or.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, yeah, like a Phil Jackson type played. Sorta.

[G]

He played 10 seasons. He played on as. As. Yeah. Bruins, Rangers, Blues, Canadians, Rain. Yeah, I said Rangers, I think Penguins. He is a really bright guy, a real street savvy guy. Very, very good business guy. And he played for the great organizations. You know, he played for the Canadians. So he took a little bit of that. He, he played for the Bruins. He took a little bit of that. He played for the Rangers and then, then evolved into the wha. And saw what the Winnipeg jets were doing with the Hedberg Nielsen and, and, and because the jets were playing a different style. Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, with the Euros.

[G]

The Euros. And so that's. He wanted to play, you know, and he's coming through the, the big bat Bruins in that era. And, and not that he was a skilled guy by any stretch. I think he had 86 points and in, you know, whatever, how many games, but he, he was the mastermind in terms of what he would like to see. He wanted that we had the toughness, but he also wanted the skill level. And in our, in the days, and you can talk to any NHL players that played in our era, they would, they would all go out and watch us practice because our practices were so high tempo and they're all choreographed. We've been doing them for decades. Decades.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[G]

And. And you know, so, you know, it's going here and it's going there. It's like the Harlem Globetrotters.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right, right.

[G]

And then coaches started telling the players, don't go watch those guys. Don't go watch those guys. Because they didn't want to. Want them to get intimidated.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, exactly.

[G]

Anyway, say there was. He was the mastermind along with John Muckler and, and Teddy Green. Both have since departed, but we had a great coaching stuff.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, we were hearing some great Ted Green stories from Louis de Bruss the other day. What an animal. He sounded like.

[G]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Greeny and he. And he. And he was again, another tough guy that played smart guy, very respectful of everybody. Never, never demeaning to anybody. But if he came in and his lip was quivering, he's like, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

And.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Louie was like, I. I think he wanted to go out and fight somebody on the other team. Like, he couldn't. He's coaching, but if he. If you gave him the option, he would have thrown some skates on and gone and went and dummied someone.

[G]

Yeah, no question. Yeah. He had a terrible accident, too. Getting hit over the head.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

In an exhibition game. And Wayne Mackey, right.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I get a question about. Because I, I had the chance to play for Steve Smith, who was the defensive coach when I was a great guy. And he won three cups with you. The. The last three, but in 86, it was that incredibly unfortunate bounce. We put it in off fur and you're going for three in a row against the Flames. And I always wondered, a guy feeling that bad, like, what. What were you guys saying to him after? Was it something where you, as a defenseman, you. You take him in and have a beer and it must have been hard for him, though.

[G]

Yeah, I mean, he handled it amazingly well. But, yeah, really, really, really difficult. You know, the media came in as they did and went right to him. And we're the veterans. Like, you know, you guys get the F out of here. Give the guy a break. You know, whatever. But the reality, reality is. The reality is we played shitty.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We didn't have a good series.

[G]

We got cocky. We lost what was making us work. We. We didn't. We were very disciplined in the previous cup years. Super disciplined, super committed. And, and, and hey, don't get me wrong, Calgary is a good team. They deserved it. But it was. We dropped off and. And we didn't play as well. Shouldn't even have been game seven. And then that goal happened early in the third period. Lots of time to score. So it's not.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, really? I always see the. The. It makes it seem like it was two minutes left.

[G]

No, no, it was lots of time to score.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

You talk about knowing about Wayne, but yeah, there wasn't a lot known about European skeleton back then. What did you know about Yari Curry before he come over?

[G]

Not much. Couldn't speak English.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just snipe.

[G]

Yeah, yeah, I just sniped. Yeah. And he looked the, The. I think for. If I got this right, there. There was a period of time where there's some talk where he might go Back, you know, it wasn't quite right out of the gate. It wasn't quite working. And then I can't, I can't remember the timing when, when he started to click with, with Wayne. But, yeah, what a player. Just. Yeah, just, just an amazing, great individual. And we had, you know, we had so many. You. We worked hard. You know, people often, often ask, you know, how do you become a team? Like, you know, businesses or business guys are saying, how do you become team? Like, how do you. Like, we worked at becoming a team. We spent a lot of time together. We'd go for beers together. We'd have dinners together. We'd have Halloween parties together. I mean, I think most pro sports teams do it, but some better than others. And, and so that's, that was a lot of time for everyone to gel and bond and particularly for a guy, I think Paul Coffey and Yari living together. So, yeah, y. Cough says he learned his eng. Yari learned his English from cough, and Yari said he learned his English from watching cartoons. So.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Same thing, right?

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, Cough's a funny bastard.

[G]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Was he the funniest of the bunch he's got. He was probably the one guy who could talk back to Wayne a certain way. Right? Like, I, I've heard some funny stories that I'm going back and forth about Wayne bitching about a past and say, hey, I'll put it in your boot neck next time. And just like, funny, you know, you love to hear.

[G]

He gravitated that. But, but again, to be honest, Paul was very quiet in his early years. He was, he was very quiet. Yeah. But then he, but he always had the, you know, if you do it well enough, the dry wet. And then Dave Simenko was a leader and all that. He was the, the dry wit guy. And I think Cough picked up a lot from him. But yeah, cough's hilarious. He, he, he, he would be. We, we're going into the biggest game of the year and, you know, we're on the bench together. And, and his mother and my mother were. All the, all the families came into the games and we're friends and stuff. You know, we were in the playoffs every year, so everybody got to know one another. And, you know, the national anthem goes, we sit down, get ready to go, and Cough, we go, hey, your mom has a new purse. I'm like, cough. How do you know where my mom's even sitting? And how do you know she has a new purse person? And. And then the other one was. Lee Fogland was a really, really Serious guy and a great leader and my defense partner and the hard ass, hard ass defenseman to play against. And he had bad shoulders, so he hated going over the boards. He'd always tried to go out through the gate. And so this, you know, when we'd be up 71 in a game and fogies turned to go out late in the game and cough would grab the back of his jersey and not let him go out the gate and Fogel would be like banging his foot like that. Who does that, right?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, he's silly Bass.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Gretz, when we interviewed him, talked about, about Fogland and what he meant to him as a leader, like teaching him and stuff. Right. He seemed like a serious vet that meant a lot to those teams, whereas most hockey fans don't really know that much about him.

[G]

Yeah, he, well he, you know, he was a, he was a captain and, and a. Greatly. We were fortunate. We had a lot of really good leaders there and, and that, you know, again, that plays into the whole, you know, how did the orders become really good. Good leadership. You got bad leadership early. You learn a lot of sort of bad traits and stuff. Colin Campbell, league executive, was what was my first roommate, a guy by the name Al Hamilton. We, we had some Ron Chipotle, BJ McDonald as so many good, good leaders. But the ultimate Lee Fogland, if you can imagine. You guys probably know the story. I think it was 1983. There was a Cup year. Fogland had been the captain for three years. We went to the finals a year before, before the start of the season. He gave the captaincy over to Wayne. Fogland was only. He was only like 29 years older.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He just knew, he just.

[G]

It was time for Wayne to take over. I mean who does that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, seriously, like back then when you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Guys are, you know, running this town, could you guys just go out to a bar and hang out, relax or would. Would people swarm me to much so you could just be amongst the people?

[G]

Well, the reason why we're so gray is we never went to the bars.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just on the road.

[G]

Yeah, no, we, we would go out for sure. We, we would, we would go out, we'd be in the community and people would recognize it. Actually the football team were bigger stars than us back then. The Eskimos, they really. They. Oh yeah, they were. They used to the cfl. They, they won five great cups in a row. They. Cal stadium here seats 55,000. Be packed. We learned a lot from the, from the Eskimos actually.

[Mike Grinelli]

We, I wonder if that influenced Wayne to buy The Argos. Yeah, the Argos. He's probably saying, like, this is a cash cow. Let's go. Him and. Who is it? John Candy.

[G]

John Candy and Bruce McD.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, that's right.

[G]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[G]

No, we. We. People are, you know, they're. They're respectful. They come up, you know, they want an autograph for Chad with you a bit. But, you know, we would obviously spend some time, you know, have. Take a shooter, cheers. And then say, we're just, you know, we're trying to have some time together. Right, right. We respect that. And people would always be respectful.

[Mike Grinelli]

Did. Did it. Did it almost feel surreal, the fact that you guys, like, during that run, you guys win those four cups in the five years, like, you guys are traveling around like the Dream Team. Like, I'm sure every hotel you're showing up at, the. The amount of Seekers and the people around down, like, would that. Because it probably, like. I mean, I know when you guys first got there, it must have been popular because everybody was excited about this youth movement. But when you guys started to deliver, it must have been pandemonium everywhere you went.

[G]

You know, that was just starting. That stuff was just starting. Like, the first Seekers were in Chicago, really, that they. The first. The very first autograph seekers would be in Chicago, and they'd be like. They'd be waiting for the bus at three in the morning, as most cities do now, and we're like, how the hell. Even over where we're coming in, and. And typically they're there to get Wayne's autograph, you know, eventually, you know, others. But it wasn't. It. I don't know when all that changed. I know some of the All Star Games, I was fortunate to play in a bunch of All Star Games, and when it got to the point where the guys didn't want to go to the All Star Games anymore, because it just. The All Star Game used to be a great way to hang out with, you know, the. Your. The guys in the industry, the. The other players and, you know, let your hair down and go out and. And it's an honor to play in the All Star Game. But it morphed into. In the late 90s, it. It morphed into. Or mid-90s, it just became an autograph session. Right. It was like a headache, a complete headache. And. And I think that's why it. It. For the player's sake, it sort of dropped off. But, yeah, we didn't have to deal.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's why they want to go to Cancun now.

[G]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Book their trips on exped one of.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Those All Star Games. I think you were in. It was. Gretz had four goals. It was like a huge deal. Like, it seemed like the game was that much more competitive than now. It's just. It's just.

[Mike Grinelli]

It was actually competitive.

[G]

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, we, we had great. We really did have great games, especially when you added guys like Rick Talkett in the game and Rod Langway and Cam Neely and, you know, like, it would start off respectful, but then it was like, okay, well, we want to win. We want to win. And I remember a game in St. Louis. I think that would have been in 88, the year Wayne got married. And it was an Elva game, was like 7, 7, 6, and there was big hits and, and like goalie out at the end. And it was like. And think about it, you know, in our era, we practiced hard. Like, you're never trying to hurt anyone, but you're playing for keeps, you know, defending. And, and, and so it wasn't a big deal to play that way in the All Star Game to play without hurting anyone, but to play hard.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Throughout that time of your career or when you were playing in your, in your peak, like, salaries, did players know what other players were making? Everything's changed so much where it's helped players knowing, like, this guy makes this. This is my comparable. But it was different then. Right.

[G]

I was in the players union with that whole change. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And something you wanted to get a little bit more.

[G]

Yeah, I, I was certainly supportive, but I, I would have said that I was on the fence a little bit because, you know, I was always sort of embarrassed of what he made.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

You know, relative to other people. You know, I didn't. It's. It's not something I want. Wanted to flaunt, but it was clearly the best decision ever made. And Mike Lute was, was really. He was a driver on that. And, and Mike was a, you know, top goalie at the time. I think he was making 400,000. He would have been one of the highest paid players in the game. And there was a lot of pushback. Obviously, the owners must have known that it's not going to be good for them, but it actually ended up being exactly what the union needed. And I remember, you know, we're. We're debating it at the, at the union meetings, and, and Mike Leo, you know, made a passionate plea about it, and he said, I'd like you guys. You're all too conservative. Like, what's the big deal? Like, I don't like, who cares what you're making? He goes, I'll tell you, I'm making 400,000. Like, okay. Is that okay?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, it was weird then to hear like, oh, he's talking about 400,000.

[G]

Holy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, right away, everyone's like, I'm exactly. Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's when cell phones were, in fact, that everyone's trying to call their agent.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What the.

[Mike Grinelli]

I was trying to grab Bell.

[Ryan Whitney]

I asked Best the other day. I want to ask you what the game four, the Staley cut when the power went out in Boston. What was your whole experience?

[Mike Grinelli]

Loves this.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's an interesting story.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We only had one snuck in that night.

[G]

Oh, you're there.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's the one to shut the off somehow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wasn't there that he was responsible for.

[Mike Grinelli]

Playing the power bill. He was the janitor.

[G]

Yeah, that was, you know, we got to the room and nobody knew, like, okay, so what do we do? Like, what's going to happen here? And it was all very strange.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was bizarre for.

[G]

For me. For me, it was almost a bit of a reprieve because, like, you know, playing in the NHL, period, is tough.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

Playing in the Stanley cup finals is tough. Like, it's, you know, it's. It's, you know, it's emotional and it's hard on your, you know, your brain and your stress, your nerves and stress. So it's like just to get a reprieve and go sit in there and kind of think about it was actually kind of nice, but it was really strange. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wild night.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I like to ask and mess about the 90 championship, the one without Wayne. And. And he was talking about how the year after, I think he lost first round. And then it was. It was such a different focus, that training camp. So it would have been two years since Wayne left and. And you got the job done. But for you personally, do you remember, like, finding out how he was traded and wondering how different it would be and then kind of at the end coming together to get one more without him?

[G]

Yep. I can answer all those vividly. I was. I was in Newfoundland at Bob Cole's golf tournament and actually playing in foursome of the Marty McSorley who was getting traded. And it was so. It was weird. We, I think the, you know, was a scramble. We're about at our 14th or 15th hole and the one of the guys from the pro shop comes to get Marty. Does it say, you got a call? Marty was like, well, what do you. No, I think you should come take this. We didn't think in any of it. Never saw Marty again. But there was like within an, like within two holes. No cell phones back then, you know, so nobody knows what really going on. But it's like, it was like weird. You could just. Something's happening, there's on the course. Like there was something weird. Like in hindsight.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

It, you know, realize this.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like, like the word had been trickling out through the force.

[G]

Yeah, it trickled out. Yeah, it started to trickle out out. And for me, I wasn't that surprised. You know, the, for the guys in the know, there was the sense that something was not right. And, and it's business, you know, it's business. It's a business. And, and, and so to your point or question, like and, and I, I know Mark will agree to this and, and some extent. Yari. Mark had a really tough time with it. I, I, I, I. For me, Wayne was a great friend. And it's like, are you going to do like you cut your nose off despite your face? Like we got a job to do, we got to play. But I really think we lost that year because guys were they. Our hearts weren't into it. And then the last piece was. And we love Wayne. We, we owe so much to him. But. And he wasn't doing to flaunt it, but when he was dancing around in the form ice after they beat us in game seven. Oh yeah, it was like, it was like. And I, I remember looking at the guys and go, all right, you guys, you liking this right now? You're liking this? They needed it. And you know, so then we came back to next year and, and we, we never, you know, winning. That wasn't about, you know, winning.

[Mike Grinelli]

No.

[G]

Without Wayne it was. And he was the first guy to phone us after we won. It was like, no, no, we're winning to, to validate ourselves, you know, was not to, you know, not to, not to show Wayne up or anything.

[Ryan Whitney]

I want to tell that to the Rangers. Obviously MAA traded there a year before you was. It was so sort of a sense of getting the band back together. You know, Bum Graves was there. Easy T was the, the best kind of reach out and say, hey, you gotta get down here. We got. We gotta get number six.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah. How about that back together, baby?

[G]

Yeah. It's a good question. Yes and no. Yes and no. We talked about it. I had a mic. My contract was up with the orders. I had played 13 years. I was an unrestricted free agent. And yet the order still had first rider refusal, if you can believe it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

With ufa.

[G]

Yeah. So both the Rangers and the Canadians wanted to sign my, Sign me and off verbally offer me a contract, but they didn't want to tender it in writing because they said slots is just going to match it and trade you to the Bruins or the, or the Nordics and, and, and which, which happened back there. That's not collusion, but it's, it's the way things work. And I knew that those guys were going to pay me double and everybody had gone, so it was time for me to leave. And so as a consequence, I, I sat out. It wasn't. I didn't have a contract, so I didn't play till December. And there was rumors at New York and where were you skating that I was skating. I was skating in Banff because we had a home and in Bath, my wife and I was, I was skating with the, the produce manager who went in nets for me, him and I.

[Mike Grinelli]

And Sailor's there too, isn't he?

[G]

Yeah, well, he's from Bath, but he, of course it's the season.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[G]

And, but, but when I got to New York, it was a little bit disappointing because Mess was really struggling with the team and the coach and, and he, he didn't think they had the, he didn't think they, they, they could do it beginning. So he was like, you know, he was like, hey, listen, I really want you to come, but you know, you're not coming into the best of circumstances really. And yeah, yeah, and, and so say they're. Glenn finally phoned me in in February or December. Others say, okay, I've got a trade for. I got two trades. You can go to the Montreal Canadiens, you can go to the Rangers. You pick. And of course they picked the Rangers because those guys were there. But Montreal won that year, right, in 93. So you're like, oh, I, yeah, yeah, yeah. Missed out and yeah, the, the, the, the chemistry wasn't right in New York at the time and they made a bunch of changes and changed the coach and, and you know, the rest was history.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, was it hard saying bye to Edmonton? Obviously?

[G]

No, because most of those guys, you know, to Craig McTavish for sure. Craig Simpson was Charlie gone. Charlie Huddy might have. But most of the, like all the guys from the, from the earth earliest years where everyone was gone and no, it was, it was good. It was the best thing I ever did in my career because, you know, it just opens your eyes to another part of the world and love New York City. We lived in Manhattan and in. By My early years of my career, we drive in New York, I go, who in the hell would ever want to live in this city? But we just, we just love living there. And then of course first game against the Islanders and have no idea what the Islander fans are chanting, you know, 1940. I go like said the trade awards, they chanting 1940. What's that mean? That's the last time the Rangers won the cup.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So we're in one here.

[G]

Yeah, yeah. And then it was really cool. After we won the cup, the first game the honors came in, in 94 after the cup they chanted 1983 to the first half.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We got him now. Yeah, but Mess was talking about, we had to ask him about the guarantee in the Game 6 against Jersey and, and he was, he was talking about how before cell phones, you know, you'd get take the bus over to Jersey and everyone's reason the paper and so you must have been one of those guys that read. It was like, Jesus Christ. What say?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, what do you get us into?

[G]

Well I, I was in the car with him after the practice, after he talked to, talked about it or did what he did because we, we were living in Manhattan. Brian Leech, Mess, myself, Mike Richter, the four of us were the only ones the rest lived in up in Ry Ry. And so we just went into him to do the media, us to do some medical stuff with the trainers and then so when we, so no idea, hopped in the car and he goes, well I might have done it this time. And like, well what buddy? He goes, I'm not even a tie. Just, just read the paper tomorrow. So yeah, I was, I mean it fired me up, you know, it was like I already said pretty much game on. Game on.

[Ryan Whitney]

Does it feel like Brian Lee sometimes where he gets overshadowed? I mean I know he played, you know, several years ago, but I feel like his name maybe doesn't get mentioned as much as it probably warrants getting mentioned. Talking about the best defenseman of all time.

[G]

Yeah, that's a good point. Lychee incredible two way defenseman he became. You know, I don't know if Hughes in Vancouver, man, that's what I see. I see a lot of Brian Leach and Hughes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[G]

You know, I don't know if he's as big as Li was, relatively speaking for the Times. I'm not sure how big Hughes is but I mean Li was, I mean it was strictly an offensive guy early on but I mean he became a shot blocking, you know, pounding defenseman for all whatever he was £190 or something. £185. And, and yeah, he, he, well, he, you know, your point is a good one. He, he, he, he is one of the greats, if you ask me.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think maybe his personality too. He said he's on the quiet guy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[G]

Deflected the attention and stuff. And of course, Mess, Mess's presence and, and you know, Mike Richter was quite talkative. And the Rangers had a lot of stars, you know, Kovalev. Oh, yeah, Adam Graves, you know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So was he never hard on you? You've been around so long.

[G]

Never once. Yeah, never once any. And so when they hired Keenan this summer, and I didn't have a very good year when I went to the Rangers, missed half the year. It takes a while. And that was for me as a gm, it eventually or a coach, it was a good example. Like, it was a good experience to say it can take. Like, Pronger struggled when he first came with us a bit.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Really?

[G]

Yeah, yeah. Like, he, he didn't score for like, I think 21 games or something. Not that he's a goal scorer, but he ended up like 16 or, or something. But it takes a while. Even the best players, it just because, you know, the getting comfortable with the training staff and all the little idiosyncrasies and the coaching and the drills and the, the players and all that stuff. And, and, and things weren't going good in New York, so I was, I, I, I thought I had to retire. Like, I thought I was terrible. And then Keenan came along, they made him coach. And I remember talking to Wayne and I said, oh, shit, I don't know. This is not going to be good. And he goes, I can tell you one thing, you will not have one problem with him. I said, well, what makes you so sure? He says, you have five cups and he has none. And, and that was a fact. He, he literally never, I mean, he, he would talk to me courteous, you know, as a courtesan, but, yeah, he never said one word to me all year. And, and there was another guy who was a, who was a longtime Ranger and a very good player, and he and his wife, and my wife and I were good friends and we would go for dinner and, and he was one of those great guys that he wouldn't say if his mouth was full of it. And all of a sudden the two of him and his wife were just saying all the crazy things Keenan's done. And we get home, my wife says, like, you know, that stuff's going on. I Said I have no idea what he's talking about. But Keenan identified the guys that he didn't like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[G]

And he worked him behind the scenes, you know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that's tough.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's tough. Tough. Yeah. I was gonna say six cups. Like, what do you do for the parties? Like do you do the same thing every time? Like, are you eventually, like, I ain't throwing a party. Leave me alone.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't need it this year.

[G]

Yeah, well, the Ranger one. So I was, was at 94, I was born in 59. I was 35 years old. Right. So we went out a little bit that night. Of course, as you're going to do, the adrenaline's still high, but then Mess phone me about noon the next day, said we're all meeting at whatever four o'clock, walk somewhere. And I said Mess, I, I, you know, I can't go, man. I, I gotta, I gotta sit this one out. But give me a good night. I'll be ready to go. And phones me the next day. Same thing. Like literally like I'm not bailing out. I, I mean I could party with the best of them. I was just, I was zapped for energy, you know. I was 35, I had a couple kids at that time and I was like, it was a lot of work to play.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, it's seven games in this final round.

[G]

Oh man. Yeah, we had seven with the Devils and you know, I was playing with Zuboff. So we're, I was playing, you know, top, top. Well, Leech and Bukam were the top pair but I was playing a lot of minutes.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right, so you were playing with a young Zubov.

[G]

Yes.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh my God. What was that like?

[G]

We, we played in, in training camp the very first exhibition game and we played every, pretty much every other than when he was playing with Li in the bar play. We pretty much played every minute to together until right away he like, oh.

[Mike Grinelli]

This guy's got it.

[G]

Yeah. Yeah. No, because I, I mean I, I, I mean I wasn't a high end offensive guy, but I could move the puck and, and, and you know, knew to get it to him and, and could defend when but he was a good, he, he could defend too, you know. Fantastic stat. There's only been two players in the history the NHL defenseman to lead their team in scoring the same year they win the Stanley Cup. That's Sergey Zuboff and Bob Yor.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Wow.

[G]

Mess Lef had 86 points, I think and he tied with Mess messed a bunch of games, but that's a That's a great nugget.

[Mike Grinelli]

Look at you.

[G]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

All right, you got job. No job security here. You might have to pick up low for a pod.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know you won the five cups here, but did you ever experience anything like the canyon of heroes that you did man Manhattan that day?

[G]

No.

[Mike Grinelli]

What is that? That's what the name of the parade is.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Broadway.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's just you know like all the ticket tape, like millions of people all over the place. It's you know, pretty iconic stuff in American sports.

[G]

It was the end of a beautiful warm day. And yeah, the ticker tape thing is, you know, goes Presidents, the United States astronauts.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, exactly.

[G]

New York championship teams. Like if you look at the old footage, it's. Yeah, that's what you envision and. And that's what it was like. It was very cool. And then finished up at. At City hall and it. Yeah. Surreal really. It got the key to the city. Never really did much but got the key to the city.

[Ryan Whitney]

They broke the lock on it anyways in New York.

[G]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

When. When you went back to Edmonton, did you have any thoughts or ideas of. Of. I mean you ended up coaching GM president was. There were so many things in your post playing career you did. But what were your thoughts as it finished up as a player? What was to come next?

[G]

So my contract ran out with the Rangers and actually the Flames were trying to sign me and I was considering going there because I had been away for four years and they made a compelling presentation to my wife was from Banff and you know was about come and play for a year or two and then we will get you involved in the organization and. And Slats. The door was always open for me. So I. My contract I signed when I left the Rangers to come to the orders was I signed for one year to play and. And two years to coach. It was actually. Yeah, you can't do that anymore.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right.

[G]

SPC stand up players contract. He can't have any addendums or anything. But so. And it just said to coach. It didn't say was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was what role.

[G]

Yeah, exactly. I just wanted to get my foot in the door and.

[Brandon Hagel]

Yeah.

[G]

And move on to the next. And he always knew that that was inevitable that I would be, you know some involved in Hawkins some. Some capacity. So the Oilers the orders had a young team, you know, Dougie Waite and. And Garen there. Billy Garon was. Well, Garen got traded for Jason Arnott. So I think. I think. I think Doug Billy came the next year.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[G]

And they were. They Were evolving and, and, and Slots, you know, wanted a little bit of leadership. I still had a little bit of game in me, and it was great. Dave. The. I played for the Oilers for 30, 13 years. They made the playoffs every year. I left for four years. They didn't make the playoffs. I came back. They made the playoffs again.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Thanks, guy. You're welcome, guys.

[G]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, and of course it went well. So then Slats extended me for another year to play. And then I had, I had an inner ear issue. So. So a balance thing that ended, you know, I, I didn't play much that year and.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And then what was that vertigo or was it.

[G]

Well, it's, it's a, it's vertigo as a symptom. But if they, they figure it's an inner virus, you know, often, not often we hear that people get. Viruses can hit your heart and kill you a virus and settle in anywhere. In my case, they figured it, you know, my, my middle ear and. Or my inner ear. And so I was just, I was like drunk all the time. You know, I had my. But I worked, I rehabbed. This happened in October of that season, and I rehabbed the entire year and actually played the last game of the year. And I remember the media and everybody coming in saying, man, you're back here.

[Mike Grinelli]

Ready?

[G]

And I said, I'm done. I'm done, I'm done.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So it was almost cool to get that one final game to get the rehab like, well.

[G]

And then they inserted me one game in the playoffs, which was, you know, I think I played about six shift, but it was a game seven and for some reason they wanted me in there. And then, yeah, assistant coach, hedge coach, and then general manager the following year.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's a lot of pressure between being gm. Is that a lot of stuff to juggle. Oh, in a Canadian market, way harder than playing.

[G]

Yeah. So I had an option to go to the Rangers, and when Sather went to coach the Rangers, I was the coach of the orders and, and I had an out of my contract. And so he's always, he was always been a mentor. And so I went in and, you know, said, what would you do if you're me? And at the time he said, well, there's three jobs in hockey to your point. There's playing, there's coaching, there's managing planes. The best coaches, the second best manager is third best. And I thought at the time he was just saying that to try to get me to come coach in New York. But after about four or five years managing, I really quickly realized, yeah, I did. And that's why I, you know, I stopped managing in, in 08. And, and then, you know, Daryl Keats wanted me around. He could see that I was getting ground down, that I didn't like what I was doing. I was, I was just. I didn't like it. I didn't like. I didn't like dealing with the agents, and no offense to them, but. And so we created the, we. We, the Oilers, created the president of hockey operations. Like he.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was the first team that did that, huh?

[G]

First team that did that. We. Steve Tambolini was assistant GM in, In Vancouver. New Steve from Hockey Canada. Olympics. Nice guy, good with the age agents, smart hockey guy, hockey family, you know, so. And, and initially he was going to come in as, as code gm. And then I thought, well, no, that's ridiculous. If, if he's truly coming in here, be the gym. He's got to be the gym. And then I don't care what I'm going to be in. Daryl Cage said, well, you'll be the president of hockey.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And boom.

[Mike Grinelli]

And yeah, a couple, A couple fu. Matches with the agents. Like, what, were they getting greedy at that time with their contract tracks getting too, too crazy for you?

[G]

Yeah, that was the, that was the Bob Good now days, right. Of, you know, the, the, the, the slogan they had was a rising tide raises all ships, which was great for the union. I was a, I was a player at one point, but it was also a guy that, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm very fair person and, you know, a deal is, you know, we're both happy.

[Mike Grinelli]

Right?

[G]

But it just seemed like the players and, and I know that a lot of the guys, if it was up to them, they would have done deals that were a little more favorable, you know. You know, if it's, if it's three million bucks, it doesn't have to be three and a quarter. You know what I mean?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Always the little change on.

[G]

It was always. It was always. And that was the rising tide raises all ships because, yeah, you might agree to take a quarter of a million less because it's fair and all that, but you're hurting the next guys, and I get that, but I just, I just couldn't really accept.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, they looked at it like, all right, well, instead of 3.3.25. Well, the next guy's 3.5 instead of 3.25. And five years later, it's another couple million a season.

[G]

And we didn't have a lot of, like, we were before the cap, you know, we didn't have when I was managing in the first till, till oh, five or six when we had the run and when everybody's dealing with the same car cards, you know, we're playing Dallas every year. Dallas had an 80 million dollar payroll and we had a like a 32 million dollar payroll right as and, and we could compete with them. Like we could take them to the, take them to the woodshed. But you know, then you'd have Brett hall or Madan or the guys making 6, 7, 8 million scoring the winning goal. The difference makers, right. And then, you know, when the Dougie Weights of the world got good and, and Jeremy Roenick signs for 9 million in, in Philadelphia. What do you think Dougie Waits getting? Whereas, you know, I think I was ready to offer waiter like 4 million bucks. That was the best we could do to keep waiter. And I flew down to Phoenix and played golf with he and his father in law thinking that I was going to get a hometown no. And we're sitting there at his golf club, I think it was Greyhawk. And on the news was Ronick had decided Phil Philadelphia. And I looked at waiter. I said I guess I wasted my tip.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's like sorry Kevin.

[G]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh no. What do you end up getting Waiter?

[G]

I think he got like eight, eight and a half or something. Eight, nine, I can't remember.

[Mike Grinelli]

But was he buzzing around with the blue tucks then?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was on the, on the wheels.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, I always wondered and, and you know, you guys offer. She did Dustin Panner and Berkey came out and was so mad and, and I just imagine because Hoff would tell me how competitive you were. I couldn't imagine. When you saw like his quotes, you must have been fuming. And I don't think you said anything for a long time, but you must have been fuming inside.

[G]

Yeah, yeah, I know, I, but I mean a lot of the stuff that happens in the media, you know, you, you, you, you have to grow thick skin and you tend to ignore you don't even read it. And otherwise because going to piss you off. And I think Berk in Berkey's case. Oh yeah, I finally flipped off the handle. It had a couple beers in me and I was going to.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was that off?

[G]

Yeah, yeah, I was going to, to a friend's birthday party and, and you know the one of the media guys phoned me up to say or whatever it was and I said okay, I'll phone you half an hour and have your Pencil ready. And so he's actually, as I'm Beacon. Off, off. He's like, I could say all this stuff, I think. Absolutely. Have at her. And I was riding with a lawyer friend of mine. He said, but he's not my lawyer. And he said, if I was your counsel and it would advise you not to say any of that stuff.

[Mike Grinelli]

And you still said, run it.

[G]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Because it was enough. Right.

[Mike Grinelli]

Have you. Have you guys talked since?

[G]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We've. We've patched it up since then. And.

[Mike Grinelli]

And I knew, like, probably over a couple cocktails. I'm a.

[G]

Well, it's. It's a different story, and I'll let Berkey tell the story, but it was. It's a good story. It's a real good human interest reason. I won't divulge it, but, yeah. Yeah. We had gone fishing together and drinking buddies, and I think. I mean, I understand. And I think Berkey was just pissed off that I didn't talk to him ahead of time, that that was the reason. But I had. We had. We had offer sheeted Vanic prior to that. That, and I had phoned Darcy Regier, who's. Who's a great person and stuff. And it was like, you know, I got a, you know, a half hour, an hour of, you know, why it's such a dumb move, and, you know, like, I can't believe you're doing this. And I was like, what's Berkey gonna say when I phone him up?

[Paul Bissonnette]

But it's not even.

[G]

I'm not even gonna phone. And then.

[Mike Grinelli]

And then it blew up even worse.

[G]

Then it blew up.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, God.

[G]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, man.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, you think you're doing the right thing.

[Ryan Whitney]

A. Yeah, that happens.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, it's. It's. It's been just. You had such an incredible career, both sides of the aisle, playing, coaching gm, and we appreciate it. Six Stanley Cups. It's just an amazing feat. So we appreciate you coming on.

[G]

Yeah, thanks, man.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Thank you.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, we'll do it again.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Before we continue, I want to talk to you about game time. The Winter Classic is coming up end of December at Wrigley Field on New Year's Eve, and we cannot wait to get out there. And right now, hockey fans can save on tickets with a GameTime exclusive, 25% off when using Zone Deals with GameTime. This deal is only available until December 2nd, so fire up the Game Time app and get your Winter Classic tickets now. Whether you're from Chicago or whether you're from Moose Jaw, The Winter Classic is such an amazing experience to think of making a trip with some buddies or your wife to go and watch a a game at legendary Wrigley Field. I can think of no better way to ring in the new year. And with gametime zone deals, you choose your zone and Game Time chooses your specific seats and you get peace of mind with GameTime's lowest price guarantee. If it's your first time buying with Game Time, you can enter the code Chiclets for 20 off your first purchase terms apply. There's nothing like seeing a Winter Classic live. I've been to a few, got to play in one. One of the best memories of my career. And you can get 25% off with zone deals on game time. The official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. What time is it?

[Mike Grinelli]

Game time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Thank you very much to Kevin Lowe. What a career. Incredible to hear the stories and I guess like how he was able to be that successful and play with that many great players was really cool having him on biz. We did have a couple trades this past week. The Toronto Maple Leafs. Your Leafs. They traded defenseman Timothy Lilgren to the San Jose Sharks for Mac Matt Benning, a conditional 2025 third round pick and a 2026 six round pick. He just wasn't playing. He wasn't in the lineup.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, he just wasn't really getting his opportunity. I wish him well. I kind of viewed him and, and, and Sandin in that same boat, like smaller puck moving defenseman and I just, yeah, I, I, I think it was probably the right time and I, I'm sure he was sick and tired about not knowing exactly what his future was in Toronto and probably better off that they, they, they send him on his way but you know, seem like a good guy. Seemed like he was well liked in the locker room. I don't really have have much else to say. I don't think this is like a, a majorly impactful trade.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, no, neither, neither do I, Neither do I. I mean what, what's weird is that he was picked, he was picked 17th overall in 2017 and a pick after him in the second round by Colorado was Connor Timmons. And he kind of, I mean, I guess didn, but that's a guy that they'd much rather have in the lineup than Liligran. And he moves on. The other trade was the Utah Hockey Club acquired Oli Mata from the Detroit Red wings for a 2025 third round pick. The. He's 30 years old. He had a $3 million cap hit and he's an unrestricted free agent next summer. So I think Detroit just. We're not going to sign you. We don't need you.

[Mike Grinelli]

Detroit's. Detroit's defensive game overall is absolutely brutal. They're, they're, they're horrendous on the back end. So I don't know if moving on from him is going to help anything, but maybe.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I ran into Chris Draper at the BU game, whose son is on the. The Michigan Wolverines, as well as Marty Lapointe's son. So pretty cool that he's working and he's obviously getting to see his son play and scout, but he was mentioning it like they got Edmonton and Cider playing together and they're going against the first line every night, and it's, it's one of those just, dude, this is what they need to go through, and they're going to be better for it in the long run. And you see some nights them really shut down some legit stars in the league, and then other nights there's going to be growing pains. But I think his. His most exciting thing, or the Detroit Red Wings as a whole, is that they got this. What's the kid's name? G. From Sweden, Pekka Some. Remember last year we watched that defenseman for Team Sweden. I can't even get the guy's name right. Look it up quick. G. But he's come. Axel Sandin. Something, maybe. I'm thinking of the Sandin the Leafs traded, but he is lighting up the shl. He won it last year. He's back over this year. Could be in the NHL at the end of this season. I don't remember. I'm not exactly sure. I couldn't even give you his name. But we'll get it to you by the end of the show, I promise. I promise to do that. Guys, it's Whit. And before we go any further, I want to talk about Yeti. Yes, Yeti. Everyone knows somebody with a Yeti, whether it's the cup, the little one, the big one, the coolers, the carry coolers. They have so much to offer. They keep your drinks cold and they keep your drinks warm. Somehow they do both. And to have them on as a sponsor, it's an honor. Because I've been crushing and using Yetis since the day the company was invented.

[Mike Grinelli]

I'm.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm gonna go out on a limb. I might have been one of the first Yeti customers. And now Yeti has NHL custom drinkware. They sent me over Oilers cups, just three beautiful ones. One small fat one, one medium medium one and one big daddy. It was like the old Nintendo ice hockey game. One of each. That's what Yeti does. Their unique laser marking customization technique creates a permanent finish on your drinkware. All 32 teams available and a great gift for the hockey fans in your life. If you're looking for a solid Christmas gift, what is better than a yeti with your friend or loved one's favorite NHL team stapled all over. It's the best in the business. Grinelli got the Bruins, Biz got the Leafs, and I got the oilers. [e-mail] NHL that's yeti.com NHL but in.

[Mike Grinelli]

More important news and or a topic we got to talk about you, my friend, and this wit versus Rigs showdown. What's happening? I saw you guys talked about it on the unnamed show. Did Portnoy kick up dust on that? Like, how did it all come up?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think Minahan mentioned, oh, are you guys, like gonna play? And going back. I cannot believe it was five years ago. I was calling into barstool radio. I had Ryder in the carr who was one and a half screaming at the top my lungs. I almost said like a word that can get you in trouble now that begins with an R. And I switched it to more on halfway through, just screaming at Rigs. The whole storyline was that I qualified with a partner, the one armed bandit for the USGA four ball. Of course, of course there was going to be played in May of 2020. Covid comes, they cancel the tournament, and they don't allow the teams that qualified in to just play in 2021. So I got hope hose. I got a paddle from the Philadelphia Cricket Club. I actually got it over here. I'm gonna come over here for a second and grab it. This is what I got. This is exactly the gift I got for qualifying for a USGA event, which will probably never happen in my Life now.

[Mike Grinelli]

Boom.

[Paul Bissonnette]

2020 USA. Pretty cool. Nice.

[Mike Grinelli]

Nice fused paddle to, like, spank somebody if you need to.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, exactly. And I have three boys. I have three boys, so don't call me. Yeah, you know, don't.

[Mike Grinelli]

Child services are gonna end up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Don't call me Adrian Peterson with the switch. But yeah, I got this paddle. And in the process of that, this whole match came about where Riggs had said on Twitter, somebody said, you should play Whit. And I think he wrote like, any time or something like that. And I was like, all right, let's do it, let's do it. And we're Going to do it for ten grand. And then he asked for shots. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like you said, you'll play me whenever, and now you kind of want shots, like, already admitting I'm better than you. And so we were arguing over that and thinking things got ugly. Things got ugly. God. Feels like a different lifetime.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, it feels like there was, like, a little bit of hatred there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I hated his guts. I hated him. I'm like, and you since washed the beef.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like, if you guys had a conversation face to face.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I've seen him, like, multiple times since this happened. And I. I mentioned on the unnamed show, I respect what he's done a lot. Right. Like, I think that that whole crew, I mean, They're Monsters on YouTube. Their podcast is an un. An enormous hit, and they've grown a huge golf brand within Barstool, I believe they're g. Correct me if I'm wrong, the number one selling, like, merch at Barstool is foreplay stuff.

[Merle]

They're at all sling merch.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, Gee. Now get me the name of the Detroit Red Wings prospect, please. Thank you.

[Merle]

Gotcha.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So I am. I. At the time, I was seeing a guy for. For lessons. Actually, I still see him. Sean Hester, the man. I don't see him nearly as much, but I mentioned, oh, I'm going to be doing this match, 10 grand. And he's like, dude, I don't know, like, the usga, who's notorious for just horrific rulings in golf and all the nonsense in golf, and they're crazy about amateurs not getting paid for anything to remain amateurs in the game of golf. Like, being an amateur in golf is like. It's like. It's got this.

[Mike Grinelli]

They're like the new ncaa.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's got this, like, ring to it. Like, an amateur cannot be paid. Like, it's just. Bobby Jo once won the Masters, and, I don't know, it's just all this nonsense about amateur. He's like, you might want to, like, make sure if you do this match, like, these people are so tapped. Who knows if it's all over YouTube. Like, what if they didn't let you play because you're technically not an amateur? So then I ended up looking like such a fool, which I knew at the time was gonna happen because I was the one that had brought this to this guy. And then I'm the one that has to be like, dude, I can't do this match till after this. And then it got even uglier, and it looks like I'm Dodging. Whereas I was just making sure I didn't get kicked out of some tournaments. Within, screw over the One Armed Bandit. And. And in the process of all of this, just despised Riggs. I was like, I fucking hate this guy. Well, time has passed and time heals all wounds. And you've mentioned me before. We have to play the Foreplay guys in a sandbagger now. They do it with three guys. I think it's Riggs, Trent and Frankie. Frankie's now nasty at golf now, mind you, Riggs and I. I'm a three handicap now. I think he's a four. Grinelli. Thank you, Axel. Sandin, Pelica. Okay, Axel, Sandine, Pelica, Red Wings fans. He's coming and he's gonna dominate. Back to Riggs. I. I ended up just thinking, like, all right, I gotta give him shots. Like, so I'm already better than whatever. I'm kind of all over the map right now. But you then brought up, they have three guys. We have to play them. Frankie and I had a hard time heart. Frankie brought me to play Deep Dale, which is a sick course in Long Island. It was amazing. Right around the time it was the day before we did the FDNY NYPD game. And he's like, dude, you guys do all this. These golf videos. Like, we're the golf brand at Barcelona. How have we not done something together? I'm like, you're 100% right. Biz has been saying that to me for a while. And then with that, I'm thinking Riggs and I can finally play because Riggs is started this series called Hater. I believe it's Hater, where he plays against people. I think Riggs is maybe the most hated guy in the golf YouTube universe.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like, it just seems like he gets playing the villain.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know if he likes playing the villain. I think that these people chirp his swing and say he sucks and say he's not a four handicap and all this stuff. So he started a series, which is great.

[Mike Grinelli]

Saying he's lying about it in a good way or a bad way. Like, he thinks it's cool to be a, A, a a good handicap.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They say he's. The Internet says he's a reverse sandbagger. Whereas you say, like, the guy at the water cooler, like, yeah, I'm a two handicap. Then you play with them. It's like, buddy, you're. You're not a two handicap. You just want to say you're a two handicap. Which is which. Those people I love because those people are Free money. And if you're playing a cash game and you get some reverse bagger on your team, you like, buddy, I. This guy's giving shots to somebody who's way better than him. You know what I'm saying? Like, reverse baggers are fine. It's the true sandbaggers that are scumbags. So Riggs now plays against these people who comment on his videos, where they'll go find people who have left like hundred, 200 comments, carving the guy personally, golf wise. Just like truly Internet trolls that like hate someone so much that they don't know where he's playing them in golf.

[Mike Grinelli]

Matches has gotten heated when he's been with them in person ever.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, the matches at the beginning usually is like, yeah, I don't like you. But they're always kind of cordial. And like most Internet trolls, you meet them and it's not going to. They're going to be most of the time way different, more cordial than they are on the Internet when they're doing it, you know, so that's just the life we live, the world we live in where people will not say to your face, they write to you on a dm.

[Mike Grinelli]

So I talk to you and I don't know how this is going to all shake out. I was hoping at one point we could do. And I know Dave has mentioned it as well. I texted him, he's like, oh, that idea sounds vaguely familiar. As in though it was his idea. But I've been begging you for a long time where we could do almost like a tournament style where obviously foreplay would be involved. Maybe they would break off into do two different teams of two. Considering they have four guys and they.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Have three, I think they have three.

[Mike Grinelli]

Who's the other guy that's, that's online sometimes that they added Rapaport.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Four left.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, he's not here anymore. So it's only three. Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's gone though. So they got three and then they. That's why they play like the Bob does sports in. So it could be me, you and Yan's playing the four play team and they do scramble three on three scrambles.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay, but would you rather just go head to head versus Rigs first?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, I think we should do both.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay. All right. So there's going to be a, a culmination of different events. I. I mean there's other people. Like, I mean we're out here in Arizona. We got the, the subpar podcast, we got the Bob does. Like I figured it like Peg spread. Is it Spread neck Spragnac. How do you spell, I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How to say your last name.

[Mike Grinelli]

How do we not get all these golf YouTube people together in one universe and, and create some sort of tournament or competition?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like even like I'm talking to you way more about a sandbagger tournament. Like I don't, we've definitely had this conversation, but I, I, I remember talking a lot about getting two man teams of all these NHL legends and current players to do a sandbagger tournament.

[Mike Grinelli]

Well, it sounds like we could maybe do a little bit of both if we wanted to mix it all like a mixed bag of nuts where you could have all these different YouTube golfers mixed in with these other pro athletes. Like it's not like necessarily delegated to just hockey teams where we could have five different sets of. Maybe we bring back all the sandbagger groups that have beat us. Like I'm sure Presty and, and Shrey would love to come back. Imagine getting Commie and Whitney back in the mix. Ray Whitney. That is like we, we have a big opportunity to hit the Golf on YouTube.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Theodore and Jovo dummied us body the.

[Mike Grinelli]

Short game on those. So I was just putting it into the universe. I think that you and Dave need to go back and have a long discussion about how we could maybe do something, something from a, a barstool perspective. And then maybe in the meantime, then we do what you said where it's just, maybe just us first foreplay, where it's kind of this two headed monster where we do the three man scramble. Me, you and Yan's versus foreplay. But then again at one point you versus Riggs, head on head, nobody's getting any shots then. Is that how it's going to play out?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I, I, I, I mean if we're, if we're, if I'm one shot better. At the time I was a zero and like he's like, oh, you're better than me. That was my whole point. Like, all right, I'm better than you. But I, I should, should bring up Francis does do stuff with them now. My guy Francis. So I think in all of their videos Francis, he's not on the pod, but he does all of their golfing YouTube videos. So Francis is awesome to have around.

[Mike Grinelli]

So, and how could we not have Kirk Minahan in the mix? That guy's a menace. And he's great on the golf course as well. So I feel like there's something bigger than just doing something with foreplay here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Imagine you and Yans and Minan versus Francis Trent Riggs and Frankie 4 scramble. That would be un I I I being on min he I just be like yes, thank God.

[Mike Grinelli]

Cuz he could just talk all the.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So the thing his swing is ugly and I think like talking to Frankie and watching some of these videos like his driver just like there's days he he cannot get off the tee but around the greens he's got a very good short game and that is why I think he ends up winning a lot of matches. Like he'll hit it horrible and shoot 82 because of his short game. That's not bad.

[Mike Grinelli]

I would like a little redemption on the no laying up guys. When they were talking about the DJ colleague thing. I'd love to mix it up but.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I believe you ended up admitting you were incorrect on that one.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah but but for the sake of the content, no I didn't. And what about subpar like getting those two guys in the mix.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So that's almost where you have to separate separate them too because like all of these YouTube golfers then like that's like they would, they would kill everyone.

[Mike Grinelli]

Who, who, who are the other ones that I'm not mentioning? Is there any other golfers? What about the good good guys?

[Paul Bissonnette]

They foreplay does a lot of stuff with them. I think that they were just in a match like that. I saw clips on social media today or yesterday. So good good's huge. There's a DOD guy guy I guess he's like driver off the deck where he just rips driver off the jet. Driver off the deck constantly. Like he's been thrown into the, into the comments as possibly somebody. Yeah, foreplay. I don't think no laying ups. Ever done anything with other groups. I think they're just kind of on their own. They don't really collab the way it seems.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. Like the type of guys that wouldn't collab.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They're not down to collab I guess. So who else we got?

[Mike Grinelli]

Are they the most legit other than.

[Paul Bissonnette]

There'S a guy that left good good named Grant Horvat who he does like I seen him playing with Bryce Inch DeChambeau and Mickelson and like Morikawa. Like I think he's really good. So he has one on one matches against like the biggest names in golf. So it is just such an enormous presence on YouTube Golf Now. And I'll also go on a little rant for golfers out there. I love that golf has grown right where. Well I guess I, I'm gonna end up going into that I don't love it, but it is cool to see people fall in love. And it's all based on Covid. When you couldn't do anything but go outside and golf. Unless you lived in Massachusetts where you weren't allowed to golf. Like, what the were they thinking? Then talk about it. We were the last state to be allowed golfing. So golf has blown up, but I hate it. And I feel like somebody who loved a band when they were just playing like 200 foot little 200 seats, little hole in the wall bars. And then they go mainstream and big. You're like, no, no, no. I liked them before. I like, I already knew about them. They're too big now. All you people out there, like me, that were obsessed and had the bug and just couldn't get enough golf like a true junkie to see what has happened since COVID It crushes me. You gotta book a golf trip two years in advance. Every course is full all the time. There's mutants out there smacking each other in the head with a driver, weight getting in fights on the court course. It's just, golf needs to shrink again. Golf needs to shrink. It's too big. All these courses want this ridiculous amount of money to join, and at some point there's a golf bubble and it has to burst. I'd be shocked if it doesn't.

[Mike Grinelli]

I think some of these people are going to be getting bent over and rinsed on their golf memberships that they've bought.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I would think so. I mean, like, you look down in Florida and all over and like clubs, they're 500 grand to join. It's like, how much stupid. I know.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's so stupid.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's crazy.

[Mike Grinelli]

Club with. With. With people you don't even like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's a good way to look at it. I joined this club with all these people I don't even like. But the greens are good. So biz. That kind of wraps it up. So we'll see what happens. But I'm with you, buddy. You've been saying we got to do stuff with foreplay, me playing rigs. And it could be part of the hater series. And on our YouTube that now has 3. 356,000.

[Mike Grinelli]

What was it last week?

[Paul Bissonnette]

What was it last week? Was it 3:45?

[Mike Grinelli]

We've gained a thousand G. And fish.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We got a thousand. Last thing we'll leave you with is all of the breast cancer awareness merch that we have put for sale. It's actually extended all of November. It's hockey fights cancer month. It's a very special month. Everyone knows somebody who's been affected and we're going to keep all that stuff on sale and all the proceeds go to Breasty's, the foundation Grinnell Nelly's worked with. Biz has the hoodie on right now. There's awesome stuff on the barstool sports store, so check it out. Donate to a great cause while getting a a cool hoodie or shirt. And the Boston vlog from when we were just here. We had the five iron event and we had a sandbagger with Tuka and Andrew Raycroft. That vlog will drop on Thursday. So exciting time. We also had a BU game so we get to see some of the beautiful agana Serena on this Boston vlog. So check that out on Thursday and we will be back to you next Tuesday, buddy. I can't wait. We're going to be with Yans. We're going to be doing a bagger in Florida and we get to get to see each other. So looking forward to it.

[Mike Grinelli]

Can't wait. Go leave school, baby.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Peace.